{ Title: 'School Nights' }

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Set during Solvi's visit to Elysium.
Alder

Winter was fast approaching.

Slate skies spread above the Respite, wispy clouds crawling as snow descended to the world below. Wrapped up in the realm of slumber, Solvi was oblivious to the flurry's arrival and, by the time she roused, it had created a blanket across her coiled form.

Bleary eyes blinked into the pale light reflected across a blanket of white and, once they adapted, she noticed a scarlet shape in the distance. Toasted ears pressed forward as she followed its march, immediately recognizing it as Alder. The space between them served as an apt metaphor of the wall that stood staunchly where he had placed it. Since their arrival, she had lingered close for the most part, but hadn't wanted to be suffocating.

She was tempted to go to him, but she felt a hesitation. Maybe he didn't want company or the strain of awkward conversation - she understood. But... maybe there was space enough for something else, something that didn't require her to ask how he was doing when she already knew.

Solvi unfurled, pulling her limbs beneath herself but remaining hunched, ears slanted back into her plush fur to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

She waited, biding her time from where she sat obscured. If not for the dusting of snow that found her while she napped, she might have been in stark contrast to her surroundings. Knowing it was her boon of stealth, she resisted the urge to dislodge it.

Her eyes tracked Alder as he progressed in his trail to a destination she did not know - wherever it was, he was heading straight into her trap and a detour was imminent. With each step, she felt her muscles engaging, preparing to spring into action as soon as the moment was right - the buzzing energy growing until he entered her range.

Now.

Aiming to the best of her ability, she tossed snow in his direction using one of her front paws. The powder arced into the air, spitting snowflakes in a fanning cloud.

Regardless of whether or not the snow hit its mark, Solvi hopped back, settling into a play bow, her head rested between her paws. She remained limber, ready to dance away at the first sign of retaliation. A look of innocence spanned across her features, but a glint of mischief found purchase in her gaze as she peered up at Alder. Behind her haunches, her tail set to a playful sway.

Perhaps the only trait Alder shared with his mother Amaranth was a predisposition for sleeping in.

While Valeska rose with the sun, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to face the day with renewed vigor, this was not so for the Aktaion genes her mate had passed down. As dawn's early rays filtered in through the musty opening of his old den, he groaned and slapped a heavy paw over his eyes to block out the new day. He'd already had one hell of a week, and getting up to face whatever fresh set of problems the world had to throw at him didn't sound like something he was interested in.

The eerie coyote screech of his younger sister Amaya pierced through the merry bird-chirps that had permeated the air only seconds before, sending a jolt of adrenaline down his spine.

Gods, this was why he had left.

Try as he might to roll over and plug his ears, her shrill, inconsistent crowing sent a fresh surge of anxiety flowing through his veins each time that was impossible to ignore.

Alder gave up.

He emerged from the den thoroughly disgruntled, fur disheveled with heavy bags under his eyes that spoke of yet another restless night. He'd never really recovered from his midnight conversation with Amaranth - productive as it had been - and his body still yearned for rest, while his heart was weighted with the grim reality of Viscaria's passing.

Long legs traveled stiffly over well-worn paths from the den site down toward the lake, head hung low as he stalked dispassionately through the snow with an expression like a thundercloud - there was no way he could have anticipated an attack. He was tired, vulnerable, freshly-woken.

Weak.

Alder was struck square in the face with a plop of wet snow, and the noise he made was somewhere between a groan and a shout, fur bristling as he whirled around to face the threat. A snarl ripped reflexively from curled lips as he lowered himself to -

- the hell?

Solvi? he sputtered, half-melted snow still dribbling from his perplexed features. What are you -

She dropped into a play-bow.

She was smiling.

Her tail was wagging.

It was - he looked up toward the sun - it was early morning, he had just woken up, he'd just buried his grandmother, he'd maybe at last settled a years-long rift between himself and Amaranth, he was sleep-deprived, and his grody-ass younger sister-slash-eldritch-horror had robbed him of what little reprieve he could have hoped for up to this point.

And now Solvi wanted to play.

A soft plat heralded the remainder of the girl's onslaught as it dripped from his cheek and landed in the snow below.

Alder didn't say another word.

He sighed and turned away as if to leave - but then, utilizing his superior size and the great span of his neck, Alder swept his head down toward the snow and sent a veritable avalanche arcing through the air straight toward her.

Skill: Klutz (1/5)

The snow bent itself to her bidding, splashing across Alder and bringing him to a grinding halt. His snarl did not dissuade her, however, as she hopped a couple times before settling into the bow once more.

Solvi beamed a grin his way when he stared at her in confusion, stamping the ground with her extended forelegs in renewed challenge.

She simply had no idea she had waged snow war with a snowplow made canine.

The glee of her success was short-lived, however, when he wordlessly turned away from her. Her heart sank to her paws as she felt her good-intentioned plan begin to unravel. Whatever she had expected from her initiation of play, she hadn't foreseen him simply leaving.

Solvi's glib expression drained away, her brows creasing in concern as she began to straighten her frame. Maybe she had stepped over a boundary or he didn't have the fortitude right now - she was a fool to think that a game was something he would have any interest in right now.

Alder, wait, she said quickly. I am-

Her apology never completed its circuit, however, as she was assaulted by an avalanche of snow just as her body rose to its normal stature. The brunt of Alder's counterattack stopped her dead in her tracks, the force pushing her back onto her rump in a sprawl of legs. Her neck craned back awkwardly, balancing what seemed like the highlands' worth of snow on her head.

For all intents and purposes, she was more snowball than wolf.

She instinctively shook, sending the majority of the snow scattered all around her, though it left her whiskers and most of her fur frosty for the effort.

As realization flooded in, a string of giggles pulled from her and an impish expression spread across her features. He had deceived her. Her ears slanted back as she gathered herself for her next maneuver, determination etched into her eyes. He was bigger than her and clearly had the upper hand in that regard considering the cannon ball of snow he launched at her, but how well could he hit a moving target?

Cheap shot! she taunted, though was unsuccessful in keeping the mirthful laughter from reaching her tone.

Solvi began to launch her offensive, using her muzzle as a makeshift shovel to send (much smaller) lumps of snow in his general direction, but as soon as the snow had lift-off, she hopped away in an effort to not stay in one spot where she might invite a counterattack from the Red Snowplow.

Although it pained Alder in the moment to hear her plaintive words behind him, so gentle and ready to believe the farce, it was worth the payout.

Victory!

And then - silence.

Oh.

Maybe he'd gone a bit too all-in. Worry creased his brow as he searched for any signs of life beneath the pile of heavy snow, suddenly realizing that she was, in fact, approximately half of his size and weight, and that she was not one of the sturdy Viking-wolves of Northfall.

Oh gods. What if he'd injured her? How would he explain this to Dawnbreak? What would Tiberii do? Alder panicked -

He almost sighed in relief as the abominable snow-Solvi shifted and her golden muzzle appeared at last. Even better, she was laughing - a sound he would never tire of - tickling his ears like fairy bells as the corners of her eyes wrinkled and a playful grin danced across her features.

Cheap? Alder said as he lifted a paw to his chest in mock offense, It was priceless!

Solvi quickly switched tactics and launched her counteroffensive, skipping lightly between pot-shots as small clods of snow were sent hurtling toward the larger wolf. He was largely unsuccessful in dodging the brunt of them, being too big and too slow, but even as the white slush continued to flump against his face and shoulders Alder remained patient while he observed her movements.

Perhaps he could bait her.

As she leapt to the side, ready to send another load flying in his direction, Alder bent down and angled his head as if preparing to bury her with a shot sent toward the left -

- But if she went for it and bounced to the right to avoid the feint, his tail and hind legs would instead sweep up another vast sheet of snow in the opposite direction, right where she would land.

Priceless.

Skill: Klutz (2/5)

There was something charming in seeing Alder slip into the playful confidence he embodied. Solvi distantly was grateful her plan seemed to be working in some form or fashion, but she couldn't allow his cute very-normal face as he insisted his strike was "priceless" to distract her from the true object of this whole interaction: Victory.

Cheap! Solvi insisted in sing-song as she leapt into motion. It will not work twice. She did not realize she insulted The Mother in that moment and She flexed her fate - one did not tell The Mother what would and would not happen.

Her tactic was working - not all of the snow she flung found its mark, but at least some of her glancing blows collected around the Northfall wolf's shoulders. Still, he stood strong and almost unfazed. If she had been smarter, she might have been suspicious of his biding, but she suspected nothing as she merrily lobbed snow at him and reveled in her success.

She would certainly win - whatever benchmark there was for winning a snowball fight or who decided the victor in such a thing.

It could never be said that Solvi was of a high caliber of intellect. Her advice might at times seem sage or knowing, but she would just as easily suggest leaping from a cliff at the prospect of a fun plunge into the waiting waters below it. Her survival instincts were subpar in almost every way which once again served her poorly as she unwittingly took the bait Alder had laid out before her.

He feinted, spurring her to counter by hopping to the right as he intended. She didn't even see the wall of white coming until it crashed onto her, burying her once again with a soft Oof. Her world was consumed by darkness save for the granular texture of snow she could faintly detect.

Two could play at the game of deception, she decided, as she fought the temptation to squirm from her snowy prison.

Instead of freeing herself, she waited, stilling her body despite the hum of energy that demanded motion. If Alder dared approach Snow Fort Solvi to inspect the damage, she would pounce - bringing the mound of snow he had thrown hurtling back at him with the force of her small frame behind it.

Skill: Bulldozer

Not for religious reasons, but Alder did not make definitive statements so carelessly as she did. Her confidence would be her undoing.

It was better, he had assessed over the years, to set the bar low - one was less likely to face disappointment should eager hopes be dashed, and this guiding rule also played into his utter hopelessness at ever securing Solvi's affections.

They were friends, he thought. It would be a terrible shame to ruin the precious friend-bond they shared by dumping his (woefully unworthy) feelings onto her golden lap, so even as his heart broke whenever they parted, it mended itself a hundred times over each time they met again.

At least for right now, Alder was focused on winning.

Letting out a whoop of exultation, he threw his head back and laughed without remorse, thoroughly satisfied with himself. That's right - this was the same guy who'd kicked ass in Northfall's tournament! Hah!

Except -

Moments passed, and Alder's tail slowly ceased its wagging as he stood curiously, head tilting to the side as he observed the motionless pile of snow that now rested atop his petite friend.

He retracted his lolling tongue with a quiet slurp.

Uh... Well, shit. Solvi? You uh... you alright?

Naught but the sound of a distant crow permeated the silence as he waited with increasing concern.

Hey, quit kidding around, he said weakly, trying to inject some playfulness into his tone. C'mon, get up.

Nothing.

Oh no.

Solvi?! Alder sputtered, rushing toward the snow mound, Solvi! I'm so sorry - Solvi - shit - oh, hell, I didn't mean to -

In a sudden explosion, Alder's next words were cut off as a fat wad of snow jammed itself into his open mouth, and he sputtered as the impending avalanche continued to cascade over him in waves. For such a little thing, she sure was able to move some weight. The very same crushing pile with which he had buried her had now thrown the wolf off-balance and flat onto his back, having rendered him so startled by the unexpected attack that it had given Solvi the advantage in what might have otherwise been a failed maneuver.

Alder snorted as bits of slush expelled from his nostrils.

Cheap.

Now who was cheap?!

With a feeling of rising injustice, Alder took a deep, steadying breath - then violently launched himself out of the snow, aiming to tackle Solvi (as carefully as he could without injuring her, at least) and send them rolling down the hill in a tangle of paws and tails and breathless laughter, and for a fleeting moment, Alder's heart was free of every burden.

Skill: Klutz (3/5)

Solvi's hopes were usually as high as the stratosphere. She would set the bar high, but even if the results fell below, then she resolved to keep trying - or to accept the result as fate, taking it in stride. In most cases, she would craft a silver lining if she couldn't find one nature-made. It wasn't until recently that it became harder to do so - but she still tried. Even if she wavered sometimes, she almost refused to let the world turn her hard and shutter her from the good that still remained.

Sometimes, that meant she had to be the force of good at work, and, sometimes, that entailed waging war on friends.

Her efforts were going (seemingly, to her) well until they weren't.

The realization she had fallen directly into his trap crashed around Solvi in the form of a new frozen tomb. Through the quieting walls of snow, she could hear his celebratory ruckus and it took everything in her to not begin laughing at herself and his infectious revelry. She had never fought so hard to hold her tongue in all her days, not even when her parents discussed official business with outside leaders or one of their many advisors - those situations had been dreadfully boring, but this was a matter of success on the battlefield.

The battlefield made of snow.

... Her father, wherever he was, must have been incredibly disappointed. Years, generations which spanned across time immaterial had gone into the pedigree of his only begotten daughter and, for that honor, she harnessed what little battle prowess she squeezed from her lineage... into a snowball fight.

Alder's voice was muffled through the snow barrier, but Solvi felt her heart squeeze at the growing concern that blotted out his mirth for having bested her a second time. It made her feel so penitent that she almost gave up her ruse, but she could detect his paws crunch in the snow as he drew near and it offered her the resolve to hang in there for a few moments more.

She would find some way to apologize for worrying Alder, but that could come after she won the snowball fight.

His words grew so panicked that Solvi couldn't keep herself still anymore - it would be cruel. She sprang from her "fort," sending the heft of snow back toward her assailant with gargantuan effort.

Solvi could scarcely believe how well her maneuver worked. By playing wounded bird for a few moments, she had turned the tide of war in her favor. Perhaps there was a warmongress inside of her yet. Green eyes lit with delight as Alder was propelled backwards, landing flat on his back and with a face full of snow.

A toothy grin spread across her muzzle as she celebrated her victory, her small stature pulled up into a proud stance and her tail wagging furiously behind her haunches as she danced from paw to paw. She was chuffed - she had felled the-

Her world was rocked once again as the Red Snowplow gained his second wind. Although she braced for impact at the last possible moment, his force was still easily enough to send both of them over the hill they stood on.

Solvi couldn't remember the last time she had played so freely - it must have been ages. What had begun as a balm for her ailing friend had quickly become a freeing exercise for both of them as they sailed head over heel down the snow-laden hillside, laughing the entire way.

Their tangled mass landed with finality on the level ground, nearly knocking the wind from Solvi's lungs as she fell on her back with Alder's heft weighted across her. When she sucked in a breath, she could barely hold it for mere moments before it bubbled up as laughter once again.

They were adults, grown wolves, playing like whelps and rolling down hillsides with reckless abandon.

And she wouldn't trade the precious moments for most anything.

In a world of death and dark and melancholy, she wanted to hold onto this.

Alder's proximity, crushing as it was, did not truly sink in until Solvi's eyes creaked open and she was greeted with red fur. She felt her heart leapt into her throat, beating rapidly in what she could not entirely attribute to the adrenaline-spiking trip down the hill.

Are you okay? she asked, fighting to keep the remnants of her giggling from finding their way into her voice as she focused doggedly on his wellbeing and not their closeness.

I rolled Carl for who landed where at the end of their tumble and he really said "yeah let's just drop an anvil on her it's fine this will build character"

Skill: Bulldozer

Down they went, a veritable wad of flying paws and tails and beaming, wide-open maws as the pair rolled toward the base of the hill. Alder couldn't remember the last time he'd had this much fun, though some part of him did worry about her relatively delicate frame compared to his. Still, he tried to be careful, shifting his weight as he rolled so that he stayed mostly on the outside of her - but -

With a final oof, they landed. Despite Alder's best efforts, he now lay sprawled across Solvi; without thinking, he turned his head to look at her - and nearly touched noses.

She was giggling, lips spread wide in a delighted grin that rivaled the sun. They remained this way for several moments while Alder wondered if he was mistaken for thinking he could feel the fluttering rhythm of her heart hammering in her chest beneath him. If anything, it was probably his that was threatening to burst out of his ribcage - it was so thunderous, the sound was nearly inside his head.

Thump. Thump. Thumpthumpthump. Thump.

Her warmth began to radiate between them, and a medical event was on the horizon.

Thankfully Solvi spoke.

She seemed rather nonplussed in comparison to the red wolf's increasing physical distress, breaking the tension between them as if nothing at all was amiss; he opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again as he struggled to compose himself.

Alder felt a wave of disappointed embarrassment come over him, and he realized that perhaps he was reading a little too hard into the moment.

Yeah, I'm fine, he said - then suddenly registered her labored breathing. Oh, hells! I'm sorry! The wolf scrambled to get up, stumbling several times in his panic. What if he'd broken a rib? He would never forgive himself; not only could he have injured Solvi, but she was Dawnbreak's healer. How would he ever be able to show his face again?

Are you? Alder wheezed, circling her several times in the snow with his tail tucked between his legs. It might have looked quite comical, seeing such an enormous wolf willingly sending himself into a frenzy of apologies, crawling along the ground so low his belly left a trail through the white powder around them.
A whine escaped his throat and he crept closer to her, muzzle peering over the deep pit in which Solvi lay to observe her with an agonized expression.

Is... is anything broken?

Skill: --- (3/5)

A warm flush lit across Solvi as Alder's head shifted, bringing their noses so close that she could feel his breath fog around her frosted whiskers.

It wasn't as though they had never had any sort of physical contact before, but that had been bumps of their shoulders or a nudge; they had been gestures rooted in something platonic and intended to comfort or communicate. This- this was different in a way that made the rest of the Respite fall away so that all that remained was them and this moment.

Her gaze met his, searching and almost hesitant behind the sheen of her yet-unvoiced laughter as she realized it would be ever so easy to bridge the space between them. A mere shift of her muzzle would have created contact or pulled them apart, but she was immobilized, lost in his sunglow eyes and the beating of her own heart. For several long moments, they hovered in that in-between - neither moving to break from the minute space nor remove it.

If her heart had been sprinting before, it had grown into a full-tilt gallop now. It felt as though it might hammer straight through her chest if she was not careful, but she was powerless to restrain it.

The nervous energy that worked its way into her bloodstream manifested as she rallied her last shred of focus, hard-steering her mind from their proximity and to something less new and uncharted.

Her words served to deliver a crack to the bubble that surrounded them, allowing reality to creep back in as they both snapped out of whatever had transpired just a moment before.

The removal of Alder's weight took with it the warmth that had kept the winter chill at bay and it surged back in as he left, sharp and cold. Tension - anticipation - she hadn't realized she was holding onto was released and her body sagged. She felt a stinging disappointment that, in this moment, was too much for her to glean meaning from.

Why hadn't she pressed forward or moved away? Why hadn't he?

Short of asking him, the answer would elude Solvi and her tongue was firmly jailed within the bars of her teeth and her iron-clad jaws that refused to budge. A part of her owed to the often-quiet insecurities she carried was loud within the cockles of her mind, whispering of how crushing it would be to have it confirmed that the moment was all in her head or meant nothing at all.

So, she did not press and swallowed the kindled hope down.

His apology felt distant as she puzzled away, but she was pulled back to the moment at the sound of his circling pawsteps. She peered up in time to meet his pained expression looking upon her from the top of her snowy grave.

She wriggled to right herself and then clambered less-than-gracefully from the pit on legs that felt like gelatin beneath her. If she had simply collapsed into a heap, she wouldn't have been terribly surprised.

Nothing is broken, Solvi assured him, making great effort to keep her voice smooth as her heart raced yet. Her gaze settled on Alder as she angled her body toward him, a mischievous quality spanning across her features as she fought to put distance between herself and the confusing emotions she did not have space to analyze just yet. Except maybe your pride- she raised a single paw, booping his nose with it- I win.

Her tail swished behind her haunches as she added on, Tag - you are it! As soon as the final syllable fell from her lips, she bounded away, eager to give her sprinting heart something to focus on that wasn't the almost-nearness of moments ago.

{ Exit for Solvi! }

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Happy 200 posts, Solvi!