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'Let's go for a walk, what do you say?'
Torgal cracked open one eye to see bird-pup-fire-smell-Joshua crouch in front of him. Once he noticed Torgal looking at him, the pup showed his teeth and stood up to give the human version of a play bow, ducking his head and patting his thighs.
'Come, I am sure you are eager to leave this place for a bit, hm?'
Torgal sighed and stood as well, taking his time for some big stretches before padding after the pup. He would not have to, of course. He was higher up in the pack's hierarchy, as was evident by the fact that he was allowed to sleep in the pack leader's bed but the pup was not, not since he had outgrown his puppy privileges. But Torgal still indulged him, if only to make sure that the pup did not get lost again for years and years like he had done before. And it seemed like a likely thing to happen, since he got very easily distracted on his walks. He still acted very much like a puppy even though he was grown, exploring aimlessly and sniffing every bug or plant he found interesting. Their walks tended to be very long.
Torgal took his time climbing down the stairs after the pup. He often left the old-smell-new-home-Hideaway to go hunt with the pack, and so he enjoyed the quiet in between. As much quiet as there could be had with so many noisy humans around. But the pup was practically bouncing down the wooden steps, his energy barely contained, and Torgal was nothing if not an indulgent older brother. When they got to the edge of the big-dead-wrong-water-Bennumere, Torgal noticed that bright-man-lizard-smell-Dion was waiting next to the wooden bowl that would carry them across to the other side of the water. The pup's heartbeat picked up, and Torgal glanced at him sharply. The pup had always been sickly, and sometimes the smell of pain and fear had surged until it had stung Torgal's nose. But it had not happened in many weeks, and the pup's smell was not a fear smell now as he hurried the last few steps towards the lizard man, but rather one of excitement. And... oh.
After watching pack-leader-best-friend-fire-smell-Clive and soul-bond-frost-home-smell-Jill circle each other for many years, Torgal had learned that when it came to courtship, humans were extraordinarily stupid. They were good at many things, such as scratching itchy spots and finding food without having to hunt for it, but if it came to the simplest communication, they seemed utterly incapable. Maybe it was the furs they were wearing. They obscured much body language, maybe that was why they were so confused. Shedding them had certainly helped the pack leader and his mate in their pitiful attempts at courtship.
The pup and the lizard man however were far from any progress. Their faces both softened as they looked at each other, but they stubbornly kept half a step of distance between them even as the smell of excitement and mating pheromones that wafted up from both of them became cloying. Torgal snorted and padded towards where both of them were standing. The lizard man gave him a pat in greeting, which was nice. Torgal liked him - there had been the scent of sadness about him when he had arrived at the Hideaway, and sometimes Torgal had offered him comfort. Sometimes the lizard man had even taken him up on the offer when no one had been looking, digging unsteady fingers into Torgal's thick fur or even pressing his face into his neck. But since wrong-dead-choking-purple had vanished out of the sky, the sadness came much more rarely. He smelled better now as well, less like a lizard and more like a man. And now his heart was beating as quickly as the pup's, and his face was looking just shy of showing his teeth. When their hands touched as they helped each other into the wooden bowl, Torgal thought their hearts might give out from all the beating.
'Come, boy. Won't you join us?'
Torgal shook himself and hopped into the bowl. He did not like the swaying thing, but the pack leader had very insistently forbidden him from swimming in the water. Not that Torgal would have been eager to try - it smelled as wrong as most things in the dust-grey-empty-deadlands.
The ride to the other side of the water was short, and the pup and the lizard man did not talk. They sat and they did not touch and they kept looking at each other, but only when the other did not look as well. Foolish humans. No wonder they did not get anywhere in their courtship. No one would accept a partner who acted so timid and fearful. They should demonstrate their prowess and skill, should show their affection by nuzzling against each other, licking each other. No one could resist a lick, not even humans. The pack leader's bond with his mate had grown much stronger since they had started licking at each other's mouths. It looked strange, but it got the job done, so Torgal was not bothered by it.
They disembarked in a place where they only had to walk a short while through the deadlands until they reached soft-fresh-smell-green, a lush meadow sprinkled with fragrant flowers. The green reached all the way to a forest in the distance and hills and then mountains beyond that, mountains that were grey but a good kind of grey, the kind that reminded Torgal of frost-snow-far-home. He trotted ahead of the two humans, stretching and then lying down to roll in the grass. Then he glanced back to see if the humans would follow suit. They really should - it would be an excellent way to catch the other's eye, to show off their agility and spread their scent in invitation.
They really should, so of course they did not. They walked at a leisurely pace, with too much air between them. But at least they were calming down a little, so Torgal did not give too loud a sigh as he stood to follow them. The pup meandered from one patch of flowers to another, then to a rock, then to a hole a small creature had dug into the ground. He took his time to inspect and sniff it all while the lizard man trailed behind him and just... watched. Torgal watched the pup as well to see what the lizard man found so very interesting, but he was just walking around. Sniffing.
The pheromone smell the lizard man gave off suddenly spiked as the pup bent down to sniff a flower with his back turned. His behind was up in the air and Torgal sat back on his haunches to observe if maybe the lizard man would finally do a smart thing and go to sniff it. But the lizard man was not watching the pup anymore. He had turned away sharply and was staring at the mountains in the distance instead. He stared until the pup had straightened up again and then they kept walking together. Torgal growled quietly in frustration. He would not be so very bothered by it if their scent did not pollute the air until it was hard to smell anything else.
And perhaps because it would make his life much easier if the pup had his own mate to take on walks and keep watch so that he did not get lost again.
'You were right', the lizard man eventually said. 'I needed this. I should have agreed to accompany you much sooner.'
The pup straightened his shoulders a little and showed his teeth.
'Perhaps I should have been more insistent, then.'
'No, I should not have doubted your judgement. It has never let me astray thus far.' The lizard man averted his eyes. 'It has always been so. From the very start... I did not even know I was lost in darkness until you showed me the light.'
The sun was gentle today, barely enough for the humans to start shedding their outer furs. But the pup still suddenly looked as if he was too warm. He tried to hide it from the lizard man, which worried Torgal. The pup often tried to hide it if he was not feeling well.
'I could claim no such thing', he said quietly. 'You are...' He trailed off.
'Ah, don't mind me', he said after too long a pause. 'I thank you for your faith in me, warranted or not. And if it has led you to finally leave the Hideaway and get a breath of fresh air, I am all the more glad for it.'
And they walked. And walked. One step apart, watching each other like timid prey.
Something had to be done, Torgal decided. He was a frost wolf in his prime, but he was very much too old for this.
The solution came in the shape of a trail that faintly tickled his nose as they climbed up the next hill, a whiff of a predator's musk carried towards them on the gentle breeze. It was one of the hard-skin-many-leg-fish-smell creatures the humans liked to hunt - at least Torgal's humans, who were superior to many others of their kind in their skills and ferocity. And the pup would do well to demonstrate either of those if he wanted to win a mate for himself any time soon. And the lizard man would make an excellent mate, if he stopped acting like a chastised puppy for once.
A hunt, then. A hunt would do them both good.
Torgal barked, loud and demanding. The two humans perked up.
'What did you find, boy?', the pup asked. But Torgal already shot down the hill, following the trail. With satisfaction, he noticed that the humans followed swiftly.
The fight was barely a fight at all, even with the humans no longer able to spit fire or light. The last of the crabs fell with their shell splintering between Torgal's teeth, and the pup cleaned his metal fang in the grass before putting it back in its place on his hip.
'Well done, Torgal', he said and gave Torgal a well-earned scratch behind the ears. 'Those would have been dangerous if they had wandered close to a village.'
Torgal barked happily and then watched the lizard man approach from where he had felled a number of crabs himself. It had been a whole pack, but no match for any of them. The lizard man's white fur was dirtied in places, and him and the pup both carried the thrilling scent of hunt and victory. It was a good start, surely. They both looked less tense, and the lizard man once again seemed just shy of showing his teeth. He rarely did so, so it seemed like a victory in itself.
'You fought well', he said.
The pup barked.
'It was hardly the most challenging battle we have ever fought. It would have been quite humiliating if I had fought it badly.'
'Still.' The lizard man looked around at the fallen creatures. 'It was a good fight. We protected people today, in whatever small way. I... barely remember what that felt like.'
'Saving the world was not heroic enough for your taste?'
The pup's voice was a gentle tease, like a nip that conveyed more affection than it stung on the skin.
The lizard man looked at the carcasses around them like he was trying to figure something out, slowly twirling his long metal stick in his hand.
'Is it strange that this feels more satisfying?', he asked. 'It is... tangible. I do it because I can, not because I cannot afford not to.'
The surge of pheromones that wafted up from the pup hit Torgal without warning. The pup had not even shifted his stance, but suddenly his scent screamed affection. And... something else, something softer.
'Indeed', he said, and his voice sounded like he was about to cough but he didn't. 'It is quite a wondrous feeling, is it not?' He looked the lizard man in the eyes, finally. It was a small step, but Torgal would take what he could get. 'Whenever I am out here, I cannot help but think of the future. I focussed so much on freeing other people from their destiny that I never thought of what would be if mine ended and I were still alive to have a choice. But now I think that... perhaps this is not a bad goal. To give freely what I can, because I can. Not because I must.'
'Yes', the lizard man said quietly. 'Perhaps that would not be so bad.'
'There are so many things I want to give', the pup said. 'To the people of the Hideaway, everyone who helped us along the way. To the people who cannot fend for themselves. To my brother, and Jill, and...'
He swallowed the words he was about to say and averted his eyes and Torgal wanted to bite him. He had never wanted to bite a member of his own pack, but now the pup had ruined all of Torgal's progress. The excitement of the fight was gone and they were back to not looking at each other and stinking of longing.
Perhaps it was not polite to push the pup, but Torgal's patience was wearing thin.
The pup stumbled forward, knees hitting the ground. Torgal realized that he had misjudged the distance - the push should have made the two of them collide, because how would they ever communicate their affection without nuzzling each other - but in the end it worked out just as well because the lizard man jumped forward to come to the pup's aid. The pup looked up to the lizard man standing right in front of him, his face the same height as the lizard man's hips. His heart stumbled and sped up and the scent of affection was suddenly shot through with the tang of arousal. The lizard man mirrored his reaction, both of them staring at each other wordlessly.
Torgal watched it all unfold smugly. And then had to swallow down an indignant yowl because instead of finally doing the obvious and taking a damn sniff, the pup scrambled backwards with an incoherent mumble, quickly moving away from the lizard man. He looked very hot once more, his face almost as red as his neck fur.
Then his foot got caught on one of the crab carcasses and he fell face first into the gory mess they had left there.
Torgal stood watch while the pup shed his furs and dipped them into the water of the stream they had found. Someone had to stand watch after all, since the lizard man had quickly turned around and moved away behind a few bushes once they had reached the water. Strange humans.
The pup had finished cleaning his furs and spread them on the rocks beside the stream, then he dove into the water himself to wash away the remains of the crab. Torgal gave a low grumble as he laid down in the grass - it should have been the lizard man's job to lick his intended mate clean, it was not right he had simply abandoned the pup here. Perhaps he was not a good fit after all... but then again, humans were very stupid. Everything would be so much easier if they just listened to Torgal. Not that Torgal had wooed many potential mates himself - all of his own kind he had ever met were either small and stupid or feral and uncivilized. Many were both. But these things were simple, they were instinct.
It was the furs. No one could communicate with their body all wrapped up. Perhaps that was why the pup and the lizard man were being especially stupid, because they both liked to wear many furs all stacked atop each other.
The pup had finished washing bodily fluids out of his head fur and was now wading back to shore, towards the discarded furs he had left there.
Torgal eyed them pensively.
Just as the pup reached for the furs, he jumped forward and snatched the bundle away, darting towards the bushes where the lizard man had vanished. The pup made a startled noise, followed by a sharp bark of Torgal's name. But Torgal was higher up in the pack hierarchy after all, and so the pup had no choice but to run after him. They burst through the bushes and startled the lizard man who had sat there on a fallen tree, and Torgal gleefully jumped past him.
The lizard man barely seemed to notice him, because the pup had followed and now came to an abrupt halt. He was still wet from the water, his head fur and some leaves from the bushes sticking to his face.
Torgal withdrew a little further, dragging the pup's furs with him. He did not see the thorns, but the two humans both jumped when they heard the sound of tearing fabric.
The pup made a choked sound as he looked from the ruined furs to the lizard man and back. The lizard man had averted his eyes, but his face was pinched as if he had to force himself to do so.
'Torgal!', the pup barked weakly. 'What in the Founder's name has gotten into you?'
The lizard man looked like he was about to hurt his neck as he was still looking away while slowly creeping in the pup's direction. He was starting to shed his own layer of white fur, opening it and shrugging it off his shoulders. The scent of arousal that came off him was hard to bear, but for once Torgal was focussing more on the bitter tang of shame from the pup. He did feel a little bad for causing it.
The lizard man was offering his fur to the pup, and after a few weak protests, the pup took it. He put his arms through it and pulled it over his shoulders, but before he could fasten it the lizard man glanced back at him and drew in the air sharply.
And then they both stood and looked again. The lizard man who had shed his furs from the neck to the hips, and the pup who had the white furs hanging off his shoulders and nothing else. They were both very red and breathing very heavily and stinking to the heavens.
If they messed this up now, Torgal would bite them.
'Uhm', the lizard man said.
'I'm... ah...', the pup said.
'We should...', the lizard man said.
'Yes', the pup said.
Neither moved.
Finally, the lizard man reached out very slowly as if not to startle the pup, and plucked one of the leaves from his forehead. The pup gave a breathless bark.
'This is... not what I had planned when I invited you along', he said weakly. 'I, uhm, should cover up. I apologize.'
'Not at all', the lizard man said. His voice sounded a little like a chocobo's.
'Not at all... I shouldn't cover up?', the pup said. A little bit like a tease, a little bit not.
'No, that is not what I...' The lizard man fell silent.
The pup stared at him. His eyes skittered over bare skin, without furs to hide the way the lizard man's chest rose and fell quickly. The way his throat bobbed when he swallowed, or the way his hands twitched at his sides. The pup looked and he licked his lips and the lizard man swallowed again.
'No', he said quietly. 'We are free now, are we not?'
'We are.'
'We truly are.' The lizard man sounded surprised.
He raised his hand again and brushed the wet fur from the pup's forehead. And suddenly the pup surged forward and wrapped his arms around him and licked at his mouth and the lizard man licked back. They both stumbled and hit the ground with a groan but they did not let go of each other.
Torgal turned around and strolled away through the bushes, tail swaying contentedly. His work was finally done.
When they all returned to the Hideaway many hours later, the pack leader was awaiting them. He was pacing back and forth as he often did when he was worried, and he always worried when the pup stayed away too long. His eyebrows rose very high when he saw the three of them climb out of the wooden bowl. The pup was still wearing the white fur he had been given and his legs were covered by what remained of his own, which was not much. The lizard man only wore his leg fur and nothing else. Torgal wore his own fur of course, and a smug expression on his face.
'Do I want to know?', the pack leader asked.
'Ask your dog', the pup said, and then he pulled the lizard man along towards the room he was sleeping in.
The pack leader crossed his arms and looked down at Torgal.
'Anything you want to tell me, boy?'
Torgal barked happily.