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Who: Ylva and assorted CR

What: She's decided to have a small party -- a bonfire -- of her very own before it gets too cold to cook outside.

When: Nebulously mid-October

Where: Elsie's clearing (so graciously donated)

Please feel free to tag me directly or to make toplevels for a mingle. New CR is welcome to crash the party or handwave coming along with someone else (she will not stand on ceremony and possibly does not know that idiom anyway).

Ylva has been thinking. On the one hand, she likes many of the things that are at parties -- food, music, friends -- but on the other, they are very noisy and a little overwhelming, and often (though not always) indoors, and maybe, just maybe, she could make herself a little party. The invitations that get slipped into people's mailboxes are printed with carefully but inexpertly formed letters:

I'm having a bonfire before it gets too cold. Elsie said we could use her clearing. Bring things to eat and cook if you want!

On the day of, the wood is gathered and piled high before being set aflame. The food set out is largely simple fare -- bread, cheese, roasted meat, some small cookies and sweets -- but it's the sort of food that fills and warms you on an autumn evening in the woods. There are even some sharpened sticks ready if someone brought sausages (the risk of hot dogs has not occurred to her). It's a camping sort of evening.

Ylva is almost shy, hostess or not, and looks almost startled when someone addresses her, as though this were not a completely normal thing to do. She does try to mingle, though, and is easily flagged down for a conversation.

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"Most people will get sick if they eat meat raw, yeah," he answers sadly. "But things like steak can be cooked less in the middle. I actually tend to like my steak really pink inside." So if she ever wants to give him some like that, he will happily eat it.

He smiles and tilts his head curiously, "Who've you been cooking for? I know you and John Rambo get along really well. He actually told me I could use his place as a waypoint to come visit you sometimes if I want. What other friends have you been making?" She will likely notice a particular note of pride in that last question. She's been getting out there more. He's so happy for her.

"I think the thing where it's cooked on the outside and still almost raw inside is the best, because you get the good things of both ways."

She blushes, though, at the mention of friends. "I've mostly just been cooking more for me? For practice? But... yeah, I've been trying. Um. I've talked to Edgar a bunch too. And Leon, now that he's back."

"Yeah, exactly," Max says. "In cooking we even have a name for that. It's called cooking something 'rare.' I like my steaks rare."

Her blush is so cute that it starts him blushing too. "I had a feeling you and Edgar would get along well. He's a great guy. You might have to introduce me to Leon; I don't think we've met yet. Did he go away off the island for a little bit?"

"Rare," she repeats, feeling the word out. It's a good one. "Yeah, he did. He went hunting with me once, when he was here the first time. I don't know if he wants to be here, but I'm kind of glad to see him, anyway."

Ylva rubs an itch on her nose with the back of her wrist, idly. "But I mean. Just friends, all of them."

"Even if he doesn't want to be here, I think having a friend who wants to see him probably still feels good." Making the best of it is sometimes all they can do.

"You know it's okay, though, if some of them become more than just friends. Right? Actually, Edgar is a lot more than just a friend to me. He's... he's more like family to me. We also have sex so not like a brother but... pack, I guess. He's part of my pack."

"I know it's fine, but..."

Ylva makes a frustrated sound, pausing in her work before she puts it down and goes over to rest her cheek on Max's shoulder. "But I never know if... I don't know if people like me that way. I can flirt with you. I don't know how to flirt with people first."

"You aren't the only one who has a hard time with that," Max says, turning into her to kiss the side of her head.

"But I know that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. Personally, I don't think subtle is the right style for you. Your boldness has always been one of my favorite qualities. Have you tried... saying it outright? Sometimes flirting can just be going up to someone and telling them you like them." Break the ice with a sledgehammer if you have to.

She turns her head to smush her face against him. "I did that once, I guess. With Erin. But we'd talked about things and..."

For a moment, Ylva is caught in the agony of being more than one thing, and not feeling good at either of them. "I think most people probably don't want to dates wolves. And I can't be anything else."

Edited (goddammit) 2024-11-12 20:35 (UTC)

Max joins Ylva in a moment of agonized silence. He misses Erin a lot, and he knows he's not alone.

But his heart hurts for Ylva, too. For how much she struggles to find her footing. "Maybe that's true. Even if it is, you deserve to have people love you for being a wolf, and if they can't, you deserve better. It might suck if someone turns you down, but there's not a lot of better ways to know than to try asking."

He makes a deep growling sound low in his throat before adding, "If anyone says anything mean to you about it I will go bite them. Hard."

She giggles a little at the talk of biting. It's not a solution, but it would be very satisfying.

"Back home it was easier. I don't know if that was because we came in kind of like heroes. I didn't have that, here." Ylva sighs, heavily. "I'm just weird."

Her giggle is exactly what he hoped to hear. It doesn't mean he isn't taking her seriously, though.

"Maybe that was part of it. It's hard to know without asking." He presses himself against her just shy of where he might almost bowl her over. "I won't lie. You are weird. But I like that because it makes me feel better about being weird, too. I... did I tell you I met one of your pack at the visitor center? I think she was your mother. She thought I was so weird, too."

"My mother--"

Ylva looks up in surprise, then adjusts her arms around Max to pull herself up a little. "I didn't... what did you talk about?" Wolves are not exactly known for their conversational skills, after all. "We were a long way from any towns. She never saw a lot of humans."

"It's okay. It went really well," he says, wanting to reassure her after how startled she sounds. "I transformed into a wolf to talk to her, so I think that made her a little more comfortable. I told her that you're my mate. She was a little unsure at first, but she likes me. I think I got her blessing for us. She says if you're happy then she is for you."

She's quiet for a bit, grinning into Max's arm.

"Of course she likes you. Everyone likes you," Ylva says, but she's grinning, because that's one of her favourite things about Max, honestly. "You're probably her favourite human she's ever met. You know, a lot of the time, wolves don't really get to meet the mates of their children, especially if they leave the pack."

He can feel her grinning against him and it makes his chest so warm and fuzzy. He would argue with her but... actually, he can't think of anyone that hates him right now so maybe she's right.

"I hope so, since I'm pretty much part of her family now. You don't...think it was too weird for her that she met me? If that's not something that usually happens?"

"Just because something doesn't usually happen doesn't mean it's a bad thing," Ylva says. "I don't think it was too weird at all. She liked you, remember? That's the important thing."

"Yeah. Of course. You're right. Look at me; now I'm the nervous one."

"You?"

Ylva snorts a little, then leans up to kiss him. "If anything, she was probably more nervous of you."

"I know." He happily reciprocates that kiss. "But that's just it. We were both nervous. The same can be true for you and whoever else you might date, too. Even people who look like they shouldn't be nervous... probably still are, a little."

That's... actually reassuring to hear. Ylva kisses him again, and then chews gently on his earlobe. As you do.

"Humans do things with so many layers of rules," she says. "Which I don't always know. But if you really think it's okay to just... not use them? I guess I can do that."

His ear immediately flushes with heat that trails down his neck. Fuck, he loves that too much.

"I know, it's pretty annoying about us, right? Vampires are even worse." He sticks out his tongue so she knows he's teasing.

"But, yes, of course, it's okay, Ylva, you're not a human. You don't always have do it our way. I've... I've really tried to be more like a wolf for you in some ways, you know, to meet you halfway. Others should be willing to do that for you, too."

She goes very still, then lays her head against him.

"I don't know if anyone's ever said it like that to me before," Ylva says, her voice soft. "That people should meet me halfway. I know you always do. I love that you do that. I never thought I could expect it from anyone."

Max kisses whatever part of her is closest, feeling a stab of sorrow in his heart for her.

"I'm sorry I waited this long to say it. Because you should, Ylva. You should expect the people who care about you to do that. They should want to."

"I love you so much," Ylva says, her eyes squeezed shut.

She pulls herself back, and offers him a broad smile. "I'm glad you said it. It's... a good thing for me to remember. I don't know why it feels harder to just be myself with this sort of thing."

"I'm glad I did, too." Her smile means everything to him, he can feel it like warm sunshine on his skin.

"You want people to like you. That's not wrong; everyone wants people to like them. And we all try to make ourselves more likable for others, but I just don't want you to change things you like about yourself already for the sake of anyone else. People should meet you where you are, just like you meet them."

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