down in the forest, with the devil in me

Tahi-shei had been wandering for a while -- he was returning to Pegasus again now, and was feeling... antsy. Peggy was four cycles old now, and he was reminded of James's assertion that he wasn't ready to have children -- which was, well... unfortunate, but he'd deal with it. However, he had something for James, and had been meaning to bring it to him for a while now.

He was wearing two star charts around his neck -- one was orangey and purple, rather like his own stone, and the other was a pretty pinkish-purple. He'd selected that one for James, when he'd found it. The acquisition had been suspicious, but he'd been unable to find Mother on the objects, so he couldn't imagine they'd be able to be used to hurt him. Although, now that he was thinking about it...

His magic pulsed out. He was... nervous.

Thankfully, it didn't show any, and he raised his head to the horizon. He was approaching James's house -- he could tell by the whitecaps growing nearby, placed there by yours truly. "James?" he called. "Are you here?" He took a trotting step forward, calmer then usual. Again, lots of whitecaps meant lots of spores.

James wasn't actually in the house, but in the dust bowl off to the side, rolling around to get at the itches on his back and to clean his feathers. He stood up and shook himself off, sneezing and coughing a bit before looking up, ears perked forward.

"Tahi!", he cried, and galloped towards his boyfriend, tossing his head and prancing like an idiot, the sound of flapping wings and furious honking following him, curiously enough.

His nose touched the deer's and he hummed gently, tail swishing, "Hello, my love."

A Hellswan landed beside James, honking as it squinted at Tahi-shei, suspicious. She was always suspicious, because she was a suspicious sort herself, always up to something.

"I got a familiar~!", the stallion sang, "A swan from Cepheus! I asked Isra for her and she was kind enough to grant me my sweet Darling- that's her name by the way- for a stone."

Darling honked again and waddled up to Tahi, standing taller than the deer at a proud 4 feet. She seemed extremely amused of this fact and strutted in front of him before going off to nibble at the grass, seeking bugs and seeds to eat, or even a mouse that dared to get too close.

The honking made his ears prick up in visible confusion, and he craned his head awkwardly to try and find... whatever this was. He caught the flash of white, and was distracted enough that he startled when James touched him. "Ah! H.. hey babe!"

The explanation made more sense, but he still inched back. "Uhhh... aren't those things dangerous?" He distinctly remembered a time when he'd been watching a large fish in the Cepheus river draw too close to a Hellswan and be swallowed up as its entire body unhinged like a jaw. They were terrifying. He eyed her suspiciously as she sized him up, and raised his tail with visible concern. Was she going to try and eat him--? Sunny's familiar was pretty well behaved, but mostly he didn't know much about the magic.

"Nice of her. Erm. Anyway. I, uh, have a gift for you -- the pink think around my neck. The orange and purple one is mine. You can take it with magic if that's easier."

James nodded, "Of course! She's everything I wanted in a familiar. Able to take care of herself should I not be there, able to fly, able to swim, and able to walk on land. Also she's like a garbage disposal and eats anything."

Darling's head flew up and she honked in outrage, feathers fluffing up.

"I'm sorry, you have diverse diet," he corrected, watching her feathers smooth back down as she squinted at him, grumbling.

James faced Tahi again and grinned, "If anyone dares mess with her, they'll soon regret it, but she's polite, all things considered."

He cocked his head and peered at the necklaces hanging, gasping softly. They were beautiful... he reached out with his magic and pulled it off of Tahi's neck, looping it around his own instead, peering at it curiously.

"It looks like it's full of stars," he mumbled softly, and brushed his nose against the other again, "Thank you... this is so kind of you."

"If you're sure," he said, audibly unsure. "... Anyway, uh, yeah! I found a bunch of cool stuff in Ursa. It was kind of suspicious, but I pulled out everything in my wheelhouse and they seem harmless enough, so. They look cool, anyway. Intricately made -- I don't know of anyone who could make something so painstakingly and so perfectly." He looked a little bashful.

"I couldn't just get stuff for myself and not get a present for my boyfriend."

James smiled at Tahi, utterly lovestruck by the fool in front of him. He leaned forward and bumped their noses, tail swishing as he circled the other and hummed happily, absolutely delighted by his gift.

"I'm certain this will keep me entertained now that Comet and Peggy are off on their own," he said, and frowned a bit, "... That's right. Peggy's an adult now. Perhaps not mature, but grown."

But it was at this stage of a young gembound's life that they leave the parents that nurture them to find their own way.

"... Remember when you asked me if I would have a child with you?", he asked softly, peering down at the necklace, the echoes of children laughing in his ears.

He hesitated. "Uh... yeah! I do." Tahi-shei couldn't help the spike of anxiety, although he wasn't sure why he was suddenly nervous. The most likely scenario was that James had changed his mind, but he was also uncertain for reasons he could not quite put his finger upon. Still, he could not help the whisper in his mind that the stones he'd collected were stowed in James's home -- if his partner had changed his mind, it would be easy to go grab one. They deserved new life, he thought -- even if their having been found in Canis indicated to him that they'd probably been deemed unworthy by the Masters.

A thought occurred to him, and he wondered, Perhaps these stones were killed by Master Vargas himself? Tahi-shei doubted that the Leviathan would have remembered if they had been unless they'd been especially noteworthy, judging by the sheer volume of bones in Canis. For their own sake, he hoped not.

James shuffled gently and worked his jaw, mulling over his words. After a while he spoke, voice soft, "I thought about it. Long and hard."

He paused again, looking at Darling, then towards the field where he'd last seen Pegasus and Comet.

"... I want to have a child with you," he mumbled, "I want a little foal again a-and I want to share that with you, too."

He was mostly separate from Ari's children now, the lions able to fend for themselves, so his little family was now just Tahi, Comet, and Pegasus. A beautiful family, a family he felt truly worthy of.

"... Do you still want a child?", he asked gently.

His ears pricked up suddenly. "I-- yes! Of course! I mean, uh--" Tahi-shei quickly composed himself, straightening up a little and clearing his throat. "Yeah, that'd be great. Let me, uh, just-- hang on." He quickly excused himself to move towards James's house, specifically where he stored his own belongings inside, and mulled over his three stones for a moment before ultimately just rolling them all over to where James was.

"I definitely want to make a kid with you. I also want to revive all of these at some point," he mused, "but probably just one for now." He was intrigued by all of them to varying degrees -- the tooth, the claw, and the peridot oval -- but he was vining with the claw at the moment. "What do you think?" he asked anyway, just so he didn't bully James into the decision.