thunder, feel the thunder

^^

for @Valeska - outrider skill for my own sanity

---

Tiberius thought that this journey was good.

His brain was loud, busy and he was being selfish, really, using his journey of business to also use to deal with his own personal conflicts. Was it a conflict? He ran his tongue along his mangled lips, silvery brows furrowing as he thought on it. It wasn't... it wasn't a conflict, he supposed, more that it was ground he hadn't walked before.

Olive was a part of him in every single way, from his heart to his lungs, to his fur and skin, soul and mind and it felt as if he were... mildly offending that with the way he had laid strewn upon Kuhn. The way he had felt safe within someones grasp. Tiberius had been stilted and confused since the interaction but he knew still that he loved Olive and he desired to call her his wife. He knew that, with every single part of him.

But he... he thinks he might need to talk to her, too. She had a way of making things make sense, of seeing things in a way that he swore she had a third eye hidden somewhere upon her. That was his resolve, he decided. Once he had formally met @Valeska and spoke with her of what he needed to, he would make a beeline for home. For Olive.

The titan couldn't help but wonder if the feline had spoken to @Valmúa of their last meeting. He almost cringed, thinking that whatever relationship they had started to forge might be void, now. Tiberius suspected that he might start to miss when he didn't have the will or ability to reveal emotions. To feel them. It was all very exhausting when you tried to understand emotions, wasn't it?

Tiberius' molten depths observed the mountains, they bordered his tundra and he had followed the directions that @Olive had given him to Elysium. There were plenty of scents lingering, one that told him was a collective scent of a Pack and he judged the surroundings by Olive's descriptions and supposed that this was likely where he wanted to be. Why was he nervous? He didn't get nervous, goddamnit. It was only... advice that he sought, about something he had little to knowledge about, to a woman he hadn't met before and then invite her to said wedding because she was quite clearly Olive's friend and she sat at the helm of a Pack that Olive frequented.

He was over thinking it.

Tiberius would grow still a bit away from their border, rolling his shoulders as he titled his head back and delivered a short howl that thickened in his throat. ^^

the staff team luvs u

She had, as of late, taken to patrolling their borders more frequently again, having briefly given the duty solely to Mordecai and the others while she (for lack of a better term) served as a vessel, receptacle and boo-boo-kissing dispensary for her five rambunctious children. Since her jaunt into the tundra Valeska had found the change of scenery beneficial for her mental health, and it was pleasant being able to make the rounds on her old trails again - that was not to say she regretted her decision at all. Child-rearing was truly a monumental task, but one she wouldn't have traded for anything.

A short howl caught her attention, deep and decidedly masculine in its tone, and she veered off-course to determine its source. They rarely had visitors with hostile intent, but there were one or two fellows she would honestly revel in never seeing again.

One couldn't be too sure.

A tall, imposing figure loomed at the outskirts of Elysium; he was muscular and scarred, with a gnarled lip and cropped ear that spoke volumes of his tumultuous past. Valeska struggled to hide her initial shock at his appearance, but she quickly smoothed away her expression into one of casual welcoming, not wanting to be impolite. As she approached, a faint whiff of something familiar tickled at the edge of her nose. Alpine and snow-capped mountains stood at the forefront of his scent, but as she drew closer, she found it laced with faint traces of... Olive? Olive!

Her smile broadened, and she felt herself relax imperceptibly.

“Welcome to Elysium, stranger,” Valeska greeted, coming to a stop, “You smell familiar - you are of... Duskguard? And you must know Olive?” She didn't want to assume, but it seemed fair to place him as the Significant Other going off her previous description.

“I am Valeska, and it is a pleasure to meet you! What brings you this way?”

the staff team luvs u

^^

He caught it. The way she displayed her shock when she settled her attention on him, likely noticing the way he was mangled. Tiberius shifted, used to the initial shock and didn't take offense. She got over it quickly, plastering on a welcoming face and Tiberius found it favourable. He was noticing a trend with the women of the North. They wore snow and stone on their pelts like they were part of the very Tundra and Mountains themselves. This woman was decorated in whites and greys, similar to Olive, to Rin, to Aries, to four of his children. She wore eyes of gold and she was little but held the body of a Northern woman.

She smiled and he froze, forgetting momentarily how to socialise. He hadn't been the best at it, really, and he was still only working on luck. The titan noted the accent on her tongue as she welcomed him, recalling a scent she knew off of Olive, their Pack and her individually. Tiberius gave a short nod, the other introducing herself as the very wolf he had come to meet. "M'names Tiberius," he rumbled, appraising her as he dipped his head further, respect in his greeting before he straightened. "Olive is... m'girl," Tiberius stumbled with his words, hesitant and awkward as he put a label to her.

"Olive speaks 'ighly o'yer an' yer own," he divulged, "I am 'ere fer business an' fer selfish reasons, m'fraid." Did he look as awkward as he felt? Fuck. "Olive came fer yer weddin' - congratulations are in order - an' fer tha birth o'yer kids," right? That was it, wasn't it? Tiberius racked his brain in case he was missing any interactions off of the list. "Gitta take tha' as yer friends or somethin', now an' I reckon it'd be a wasted opportunity if I didn't meet yer fer m'self." A possible, genuine alliance could be borne from the way Olive had weaved a genuine bond with the woman, calling her friend.

"If yer would wan' ta see wha' Duskguard an' Elysium could be fer eachother, I ain't opposed," he was stalling. He was and he knew it, the cowardice on his tongue. His ears splayed backwards as he eyed her, feeling every bit of an uneducated twat that he was. "An' I... wanted ta pick yer brain, if yer wouldn't mind answerin' some questions," it was said quieter, on his tongue in a way that was obvious he felt awkward. ^^

the staff team luvs u

As forbidding as his appearance was, she felt amusement at his frequent rigidity between sentences. His speech was informal, casual, even, but every word seemed like pulling teeth from a disgruntled bear - or at least an uncomfortable one. It seemed Olive was more the diplomat of the pair, though he was kind in his intentions regardless.

How opposites did attract, she mused; even her own Amaranth was a polar opposite from herself, strange and mystical and silent, speaking in riddles and cryptic messages while Valeska remained ever-forward and blunt - she could hardly disguise a reaction if she tried.

Yet somehow, they worked.

Valeska struggled to understand what he was saying beyond his heavy accent and shortened words, unused to the sound from her somewhat limited experiences in this strange world. Most wolves she encountered were fairly articulate, but he held a tone that she had never heard before, nor could not place, and the 'yer's' and clipped t's and h's and conjoined words took her a little longer than usual to parse through. She squinted dutifully, however, ears splayed out from her head comically, as if the more streamlined form might aid her in piecing together his sentences.

“Ah!” she exclaimed after a briefly delay, perking up immediately, “Yes, you are Olive's mate - it is so good to meet you, Tiberius! And I am certain there is not a selfish bone about you, or she would not be your 'girl',” Valeska finished with a jovial laugh, eyes twinkling. So this was the man who once ran with the oft-mentioned Shiroshika, abandoning them to forge his own path and carve out a home for his kin. Well, given what they had done to Kuhn, she couldn't blame him for his decision.

“Thank you for the congratulations! It has been an adventure, to say the least,” she continued, glancing back toward the heart of Fate's Respite. “Elysium is already in good spirits with Duskguard, so do not worry for such proposals - we are your friends.”

The man suddenly hesitated.

He cleared his throat - something seemed to be bothering him.

Valeska scooted closer. Discreetly.

Tiberius spoke.

Questions.

“Oh! Of course. I am here to listen, and as we are already friends, it is of course confidenal. Ah. Confidential.”

She smiled.

It was very wide and welcoming.

It grew wider.

Anticipating.

the staff team luvs u

^^

He felt as if he should have tried to talk slower. He knew that some wolves had issues with his accent, struggling -- she had an accent, too, so he supposed he should have taken it into consideration. She visibly looked to be drinking his words in and trying to decipher them. She did, in the end and she placed him at Olive's side. Tiberius looked momentarily alarmed at the decision that there was nothing about him that was selfish otherwise Olive wouldn't have decided to be his. He swallowed, not truly knowing how to react but there sat on his mangled was a small smile. One really had to look to know it was there and his ears cuffed back almost sheepishly.

Well.

That was... that was nice.

It made him feel all the more strange and guilty for his interaction with Kuhn.

Fuck.

He breathed what was hopefully a very quiet and not at all obvious breath of relief at her words, telling him that indeed already she considered Duskguard and Elysium to be friends. Olive and Valeska had done the ground work and solidified it and all Tiberius had to do was show his face as Chieftain and meet her. That's fine, he thought, it was better that it had been Olive. "Friends," he agreed, short and with a nod.

Was she closer? Tiberius felt as if she was closer but he couldn't confirm it, perhaps it was just his paranoia and his awkwardness. He squinted at her. Maybe she was. He didn't know. Confidential. She smiled and Tiberius felt as if he was giving her what she wanted. He blinked, swallowing as he ummed and awwed. He was here now, wasn't he and he needed to get it out there.

Tiberius cleared his throat, "well... I uh... I asked Olive ta err... ta marry me," he didn't do this talking shit, okay. He was getting better with the creatures he knew but Valeska was a stranger even if friendship was in the air. Fuck, he felt stupid. "See I ain't... ain't know much about weddin's. Ain't ever been ta one or 'round one," the titan divulged, voice rough and low as he bit down on his awkwardness. "I was... Wonderin' if yer could 'elp me give 'er a weddin' she deserves. She wanted tha kids there," his shoulders twitched and he rolled them, jutting his chin as he tried to shirk his awkwardness and wear his lazy confidence.

He had a feeling it wasn't working.

"An' obviously invite yer ta be there," he added, supposing he might have been better to start with that.

Tiberius couldn't help but think he shouldn't even be broaching the topic with her until he spoke to Olive about the... the Kuhn situation. He licked his lips, tongue running over the mangled skin and he was in a flash back instantly, Kuhn's tongue running across his scarring similar to the way that Olive kissed him. Tiberius let out a momentary sound of garbled attempts to clear his throat and he eyed her, falling silent. This was going to shit. ^^

the staff team luvs u

Mercifully, she was tone-deaf to the more minute cracks of others' wavering social foundations, and thus his ragged and stressful exhale was taken instead as a smooth and confident punctuation to his words. She had enough of her attention diverted toward interpreting his strange way of speaking that any faltering or strange tics would be lost on her; she had enough on her plate. More than anything, she wondered where his accent had come from... did he have a mother tongue of his own? Gods, it was so difficult to place.

The man spoke slower, now, with more intent. Valeska did not at all grasp that this was due to her wide and eager eyes, growing large as saucers, enough to encompass a lesser creature whole with their inquisitiveness.

She wasn't nosy, necessarily...

She just liked being told things. Information was helpful, and anything that might serve as further insight into who he was as an individual would be used in every practical sense. She wanted him to be comfortable. Happy. At ease.

She realized she hadn't blinked in a while.

Oops.

“YOU DID,” Valeska gasped, a paw flying to her muzzle in overjoyed astonishment as he announced their intent to be wed. “Oh! Happy day, and all of my joy for you both! I am sure it will be a splendid union - I am deeply honored! Oh, you will not mind if Amaranth - and perhaps our children - attend, will you? I know they would be so thrilled to meet the pups of Duskguard, and it is well to know her birthing went without trouble. Congratulations, so much congratulations!”

Her tail thumped the ground with vibrant enthusiasm. No, she was utterly incapable of faking an emotion, and every ounce of her elation was sincere; he need not worry about that. Tiberius quieted, however, and something seemed to trouble him from within. The way he trailed off and made that... sound... from his throat, seemed a means to lead into something more serious.

“Tiberius?” she inquired softly. “... Are you alright? It is normal to have doubts, if that is what you mean.”

She, herself, had been for a time torn between Rhelenso, her once-lover, and Amaranth, her then-friend - and she had been forced to make a choice. Her former flame only rarely came to mind these days, but she could not forget him entirely. However brief their tryst had been, he was a piece of her history, and there was no shame in allowing the man of ice to dwell within some small space of her memories.

“... It does not make you bad,” she went on quietly, covering the silence that hung between them.

“It makes you mortal.”

the staff team luvs u

^^

She was an emotive thing. He thought her eyes had grown impossibly wide and he grew some concern that they might pop from her skull. That would be awkward to tell Olive, that he had met her friend and he had caused her to combust. She blinked and he sighed, relieved yet he jerked his head back in surprise, having let his guard falter just a little bit and her dramatics had him throwing his head back in surprise. Well, that had certainly excited her. He couldn't help but snort at her enthusiasm,  her words coming out without so much as a breath. "Aye, darlin', bring 'em," he confirmed in a rumble, recalling the name Amaranth from Olive as the woman that Valeska had married. Tiberius wasn't even going to question how they had children. That was too much to uncover and he was already quite stumped with his own confusions, thank you. "Thank yer," he added. Tiberius was curious as to what her children were like and his own childrens reactions. He had a feeling that @Dalmatia wasn't going to be a huge fan, poor little tyke.

Valeska caught it. He should have known because she was friends with Olive and Olive tended to find creatures of similar sight to her and really, Olive saw more than your usual wolf. He cringed slightly when she asked him if he were okay and he damned his inability to hide that moment from her. He wasn't okay, not really, because he was fucking confused and he felt somewhat... somewhat like he had done a disservice to both Olive and Kuhn.

He wasn't having doubts. He knew that he loved Olive, cherished her and would proudly be called her husband but he -- was he worth her, after the way Kuhn had made him feel? He tightened his lips across his teeth, stiffening them as he glanced to the ground between them. She told him that having doubts didn't make him bad but it made him mortal. He was all too aware that he was mortal, he had bled like one, scarred like one -- but around Olive, he felt as if he were more than that. Yet he was here, stuttering over wondering if it was something to tell her.

"It ain't..." he rumbled, grimacing as he fell silent again as he grew unsure on what to say and how to say it. "She... she's m'world, righ'. Everythin' I never though' I'd 'ave," he seemed almost earnest in his desire for Valeska to know he wasn't fucking about. Why did her opinion matter? The titan was all turned around, unsure, uncertain, fucked up -- he thought that maybe he was making it into more than it was. That... that it wasn't much of anything at all. That Kuhn allowed just anyone to do as they did, settled atop the felines breast.

It sat wrong in his belly to think it.

He looked particularly frustrated as he flared his nose, curling his toes into the soil as he inhaled sharply. "M'world, m'ligh'," he murmured, gritting his teeth as he felt sudden exhaustion. Was he showing weakness before her, making her question the strength of Duskguard if their Cheiftain was all but having a momentary break down in their meeting? Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. "Ain't known love like Olive," he swallowed, his voice raspy as his throat grew dry and saliva was hard to come by all of a sudden. "Part o'me, she is but I... m'best-friend, 'e... 'e part o'me too," Tiberius sighed, looking every bit the confused young man that he was.

Sometimes he forgot that he was as young as he was, that he was as inexperienced in normal things as a teenager might be. His molten gaze was wide and vulnerable, nose crinkled as he all but frowned. "I ain't makin' sense. Ferget it, luv," he rolled his shoulders then, risking a glance back to her. ^^

the staff team luvs u

Though she would have understood if the sheer number of her brood would have been too much to bring as extra guests (not to mention keeping them in check during the festivities - but this would be a Later Problem to worry about), his approval meant the world to her, and she smiled affectionately at his easy nature. Tiberius seemed like a man who, without any mountains to move, was content to flow along the stream of life and concede to the requests made of him by family and friends alike. She hadn't known him long, but she doubted there was a single villainous hair upon his head - in her mind's eye she could perfectly visualize him seated next to the petite Olive, two vastly different sides of the same coin, both working in tandem through their own peculiar means.

They were a delightful couple.

Some moments passed before he pressed on, and something about him still seemed conflicted. The titan was by no means a fidgety individual - he was too stoic for that - but a weight appeared to bear heavily upon his heart, and though curiosity made her eager, she waited for him to speak.

"It ain't... she... she's m'world, righ'. Everythin' I never though' I'd 'ave," he said lowly, avoiding her gaze, suddenly looking to be far more interested in the sky, the grass, the mountains, the lake. Valeska nodded encouragingly in spite of this, knowing well what he was trying to convey.

Amaranth was her world, after all. One that she, too, had thought unattainable; yet how fortunate she and Tiberius had been to find their Better Halves in such a world of chaos!

He faltered again, and his eyes were now focused with great intensity upon a cluster of trees just beyond Valeska's left shoulder.

She leaned very carefully back into his line of sight.



Tiberius took a breath.

More platitudes, more declarations of love unending and bonds unbreakable, but after a short series of sentences unnecessarily justifying his feelings for Olive, he finally trailed off and reached the core of the matter.

"Part o'me, she is but I... m'best-friend, 'e... 'e part o'me too," came his soft, rumbling tone, ending hoarsely as if he fought to hold back a well of emotions.

Valeska cocked her head lightly, and for once in her life, she took a few moments to fully process the statement. It didn't shock her - even the Five taught that love was to be shared like wealth, wholly and freely with rarely an impurity associated. Her own case had been a touch different from his situation, in that her seemingly-platonic-best-friend ended up being the accidental wife-of-her-dreams that she married only after discovering her multi-faceted sexuality, but it was difficult to put that into words.

The man backtracked suddenly, muttering an apology as if to brush the whole matter aside. The High Priestess frowned, and gently placed a reassuring paw on his shoulder.

“Houtu teaches us that love is love,” she stated matter-of-factly, demanding he look into her own sunfire eyes. “I fell in love with my best friend. We are two halves of a single wolf - but I have heard of others who, how would you put it... have more missing pieces to themselves than others. I do not know that I would have the strength to practice such things myself, but...” The silver wolf trailed off, thinking deeply.

“Olive - is she also close with this friend? Does this love feel different than what you have with her?”

Tiberius was clearly trying to avoid stirring up unnecessary conflict in his love life by fueling a fire that may not need be tended, but if it was as severe as he let on, it was worth peering deeper into. Whoever this 'best friend' was, they must be nearly as close as his relationship with his future wife.

the staff team luvs u

^^

He should have known better than to expect her to let him look away. All the women in his life were more often than not stubborn creatures and the new one seemed to be cut of similar cloth. Instead of trees, his furrowed stare started to see ears and face. He twitched with an awkward glance to her, away from her and back to her again, uncertain how to take her. She was... interested, definitely, in hearing him out and it came from a place he suspected was innocent.



It didn't make him feel any less vulnerable, though.

He felt as if he were admitting to some sort of crime. In truth, he didn't understand though he hadn't tried to lie and say he did, it was just all fuckin' weird and foreign to him that it was like hitting his head against a wall repeatedly. Olive had been foreign to him too, to be fair, the way she had made him feel was something no one had done before and he had dealt with that, hadn't he? Quite well? Right?

Valeska didn't let him get away with trying to brush it off. One of her paws, white and rounded came to touch against his shoulder in a... comforting manner. Tiberius stilled beneath her, muscles growing taut as he cast a surprised yet uncertain stare towards the paw in question. He was getting used to a touch not being vicious or intending to hurt him, Olive and Kuhn were seeing to that but this one was from someone new, someone who didn't know he was carrying baggage and it was... he swallowed, breathing before he released and grew a little slack beneath her.

Houtu. It sounded god-like. Her god, it must be. He glanced to her, gold meeting molten and he sucked in a breath as she spoke. He frowned as he tried to properly place her words, she spoke of falling in love with her best-friend -- had that been Amaranth, then? -- and that some felt more missing than others. Practice such things? Tiberius looked at her quizzically, "Practice... practice wha'?"

He felt sick as he heard her name fall from her friends lips and he cast a look of despair to Valeska, molten gaze conflicted as he licked his nose almost nervously. "I..." was she close with him? He thought that yes, she was, in her own way. Differently to his own friendship with the feline but still, she had forged one for herself. "I guess so," he opted for, voice quiet. "Think so," Tiberius added as he tasted his own lips. Did it feel different?

Tiberius knew that it did, to a degree. It was... it was a different kind where he felt encased, protected and dizzy. "I ain't... it's... i's feel stupid, if I's put into words." God, he sounded stupid. "I... dunno if I even can." ^^

the staff team luvs u

Men were such fascinating creatures. Elysium was almost entirely made up of females, most of which were quite open with their thoughts and feelings, seemingly living their lives in sync (Mordecai was an exception to the estrogen count, of course); yet here sat Tiberius, a great mountain of a wolf, invincible to seemingly all but his own emotions. She would have chuckled had it not been such a serious discussion, and she would have been even more mortified to see him flee in embarrassment.

Instead, she let her paw fall gently away from his shoulder so that he could speak in comfort.

The air felt thick and heavy between them, weighed down with words unspoken, taut like a rubber band ready to snap. So much rested upon this titan's shoulders, yet here he was, nearly crumbling to pieces beneath the weight of a love he did not understand.

She knew well the confusion surrounding it - why, even she had never thought she could love another woman this way.

“Practice... you know,” Valeska said haltingly, fumbling for a delicate way to put it. “It is a triangle? Yes? I have heard love need not only be shared between two. Sometimes our hearts can contain so much love, it is not meant for only one other to hold; perhaps your heart is larger than most?”

She had no idea that the word 'ployamorous' existed, but she would have been grateful for it in this instance.

“Foolishness! Nothing is stupid if it is sincere. I shall not have any of that self-deprecating talk here,” Valeska admonished him quickly, waving a paw as if to swat away all negative thoughts he might have. “Tiberius, if there is love, it is not wrong. What is wrong is not to speak to Olive of it - she deserves to know.”

Her expression softened, and she once again bade him meet her gaze. He seemed so small, wilting forlornly, folding in on himself like a child who was being punished for something he did not know of. No; Tiberius was not bad, by any stretch of the imagination. Confused, perhaps, but that was the nature of love inherently.

“Try. Let the words come out as they may - words are not always beautiful, but words mean something, and it is important that you try. Speak so that you may hear what you feel inside.”

the staff team luvs u

^^

Perhaps his heart was larger than most.

That caused him to still and furrow his brows, thinking of a time where someone would have told him the opposite. Had you asked his poor excuse of a mother, she would have told you that he had no capacity for love in his heart at all. He shifted, drawing his gaze to Valeska with uncertainty in his molten depths. "It's... normal? Fer someone ta... ta love more than one?" he hedged, voice low to their ears. They were close enough though that Valeska need not strain to hear him.

She told him off and he looked momentarily alarmed, swallowing down the way he felt as if he was a puppy who had been admonished and looked at her sheepishly, clearing his throat as if to get past it. She spoke again and he almost whined; he knew he needed to talk to Olive. He just... he didn't want to, okay, and he was... the usually unmovable beast was moved by the tentative feeling of fear. Fear that she would think him so horrible and leave him for it. Valeska assured him that love wasn't wrong and he wondered if she would say the same if she knew it were for a tiger.

Valeska bade him to try. His tongue rolled over his lips and nose as he tried to stop them from feeling dry with nerves. "I..." he tried, hedged as his voice dropped from his tongue in a rasp. "I ain't wan' either ta leave," the titan revealed quietly, "it feels... it feels like theys both git a par' of m'eart, different bu' no less... important." Because they had, hadn't they?

Fuck. Did that even make sense? "Olive is mine," he said fiercly, "I am 'ers." That wouldn't change, it couldn't. "They... they 'ave someone too, like I's git Olive." Valmua. The fire-touched she-beast who he had once thought so angrily about. Who had been opposite side of the line to him, who had operated for her own desires and he had been... well, he hadn't hidden his distaste of her.

Now, he respected her. She had helped save Olive, she had been at Kuhn's side through his ambush, she had --- she had never apologised for her behaviour. It was all conflicting, okay and they were on the same side of the line now and he could talk with her, banter with her without wanting to force her face down in the snow and eat it. It didn't mean, though, that he wanted to steal away her happiness.

He had thought a small thought to himself when he had laid atop the feline, that he felt uncomfortable and distaste at the thought of someone else doing with Kuhn as he had -- aside from Valmua. Some stranger, someone else? No, no he had hated that thought feverently. He hadn't thought of Olive and Kuhn. Hadn't thought of what he had felt had it been Olive and Kuhn. Tiberius swallowed, thinking on it and he found that he wasn't...

It didn't make him angry. He trusted Kuhn with Olive's life. He trusted Olive with Kuhn's life. He trusted Valmua with Kuhn's life. It was still strange to him, certainly, and he would maim, torture, fucking devour anyone else if they thought Olive was theirs to touch -- Tiberius had never declared to be a man untouched by feral jealousy -- but not them. Him. Was Valmua included in that?

He hadn't really thought of what Valmua meant to his interaction with Kuhn. Had he been able to pale, he would have. Oh, oh she was going to fucking eat him if Kuhn told her. "She's err... fiesty," he allowed, "we weren't always... friends," was he allowed to call them that? Prior to her coming to kill him, of course. Tiberius sighed as he rolled his shoulders, feeling exhausted in every way possible, "I love Olive. I... think I love 'im, too." He hadn't felt the desire to explore someone more outside of Olive's body, he hadn't wanted to be explored by anyone else before, either. But he recalled the way his spine had tingled and how he had gotten momentarily lost in the ministrations from the feline. He hadn't been the protector, for once. He had been the one held, the one caged and he still felt the phantom touch of his tongue along his mouth.

What did that fucking mean, though -- would he need to sacrifice his friendship with Kuhn, in order to keep Olive? Would... would Valmua be so fucking disgusted that Kuhn would need to sacrifice his friendship with Tiberius? He thought that friendship was a lousy way to describe what bond he had with Kuhn.

He just... he supposed he wasn't sure what to call it, instead. ^^

the staff team luvs u

Valeska was many things, and self-conscious was rarely one of them - however, he asked her what normal was, and that word did not have any application in her life. She looked at him blankly, realizing she had no follow-up for such a query. Well, she supposed if she dug through her memory cache of experiences with other wolves and their families, she could conjure up something that rang consistent across them all -

Yeah, no.

“It is my opinion that 'normal' is whatever we make it,” she said mystically, looking toward the heavens as if for divine approval. Normal, to her, was a word that could be assigned at leisure, and she had successfully created her own normal over the last few years to suit their lifestyle; not that anyone else would necessarily agree.

Tiberius continued to grow ever more uncomfortable, a panicked desperation written so plainly across his face it appeared as if he might crawl out of his own skin. Valeska, ever omniscient, was undeterred. She thought for a moment, then went on. “My sister, Harper, she told me that she and her husband had an... arrangement,” she said slowly. The information had only come to light much later, long after Crux's passing, but she recalled how happy they had been together and could attest to the success of their 'situationship'.

“She was married, but she and her late husband, they shared - others. They, too, had more love to give,” she continued. “They were very happy.”

As the great beast of a man struggled on in his pursuit of the right words, pain etched across his scarred features, an exhaustion seemed to overtake him at last. He looked defeated, utterly spent; but there was a sort of peace about him now, too, as if he had finally pulled a thorn from his paw that had been bothering him for days.

“Olive is good,” Valeska conceded, “And if you love your friend so, then he is also good. What is left is to speak to them both. Perhaps there will be hurt, or perhaps - perhaps they, also, have more love to give.”

She smiled softly, venturing to give his shoulder a reassuring nudge with her nose.

“Just be gentle. You have a family; a wonderful mate and daughters. Think carefully before you approach her, and let her have the final choice in how to proceed,” she cautioned, perhaps the first useful piece of advice she had given so far. “I do not believe she would throw away what you have built together, even if she is hurt. She is a strong woman, and she is also very wise.”

the staff team luvs u