Let's thread again soon! Shandom was quiet and serene now, significantly less tense than he had been before. He supposed his outward tension hadn't been overtly obvious, but the white Gamma was now completely at ease as he stared without much variation at Ciara. He supposed she was a pretty girl, someone that would easily be able to find a mate - as that was what she spoke of now. Shandom appreciated the vitality and youth of all females, and could become sexually around by just about anything with feminine reproductive parts, but as of late he'd found a greater interest in more mature females, in females that were not so young as to have not been born when he still lived in Etienne. Perhaps it was the strange twist of genetics that infected his veins, but Shandom found himself more interested in love and lasting relationship than anything else, it seemed. Sexual relations were no longer as important. It was, if he were being quite honest, strange.
The male was silent for a few moments as he pondered Ciara's question. He was not one to give any advice on love: all the knowledge he had on the topic was grossly perverted and rather toxic. The male knew his experiences were not normal - then again, what about his life had been normal? His love for the beautiful Linquilea was perverse at best - the pair grew as litter-mates and siblings, and yet he found it appropriate to fall in love with the sable female! She'd never looked at him as anything besides a brother and a best friend, and that had altered the course of life for every creature involved. A rich pack heirarchy, destroyed by one night of careless anger. Shandom could not forgive himself for that. And yet it was all based upon love! Love, anger, hatred and jealousy: they wove a terribly beautiful carpet that defined the world, he found.
A rich sigh fell from his slightly parted lips, and the half-blind male tilted his scarred face to the sky. I am not one to speak of love, Ciara - I am old, and have not found it myself. Shandom thought that would be enough of a preface for the younger girl to assume that he was not the foremost expert on the subject, and if she truly wanted advice it would be better found in a mated wolf. But his lips curved into a smile as he turned his gaze to the girl and thought of how she must feel. New love, young infatuation - it was all so exciting and wonderful! The light male could not fathom what it must be like, and every bit of him ached to be jealous of the girl. But he'd spent too many season's turns controlling his darkest vice, and so it did not consume his sometimes volatile mind. Be up front with him, my young friend. Feelings are not worth having if you harbor them and allow it to turn into something darker, and perhaps unhealthy.
Shandom sighed, and let the words sit in the air for a few moments. I must depart, Ciara. I apologize that I am brief, but my belly aches with hunger and I long for a quiet hunt of small creatures to end this day. He hoped she wound understand his rather abrupt departure, but the subject hat turned to one he did not wish to discuss. Tumultuous feelings could not help but well inside the creature's mind, and his paws ached to beat against the dirt and think of the beautiful Linquilea. It would not do for him to lose himself in thoughts of her while in front of a packmate. They still did not know of her existence, for the most part, and Shandom sought to keep it that way. She was his beautiful, terrible, evil secret: the little bit of darkness that resided in the back of his soul and was his own downfall and sedation.
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