Chapter Text
A cool breeze floated across the Lungmen rooftops. Though the bright lights and neon below dimmed the stars overhead, the twin moons in the sky still shone bright. Atop the rooftop of a certain logistics company, two Lupus lay together, soaking in the moonlight.
“I missed this,” the dark-haired one said. Tania Texas, the lone survivor of a long-dead Siracusan mafia famiglia. But that life of violence and isolation was long behind her now. All she had kept from that life were her swords, but after four long years, she had regained the only other thing that mattered… the other Lupo laying beside her.
“Me too,” Lappland replied, taking in a deep breath. “Glad we’ve still got nice tall buildings here like back home.” Lappland had lost so much, even more than Tania had. His family, his health… but the one thing he never lost was hope. Even if it faded to a distant glimmer, he never fully lost hope. And now he was here. Safe, with Tania again, with a new family and a new home. New pronouns, too. It made Tania happy to see him happy again, to see that fanged grin and eyes glittering with love.
“Hey,” he started, “when was the last time you had a good howl at the moons?”
Tania’s ear twitched. “Oh, man. It’s been a while… I do it every once in a while, but not like we used to back home.”
Lappland grinned wider and rolled to his feet, tail wagging behind him. He rolled his neck, licked his lips in anticipation, took a deep breath, and…
“HAOOOOOOO!”
“Ooh, nice one,” Tania said, rising to a sitting position. “Sounded like it felt good.”
“Well don’t feel like you have to get left out! C’mon, let one loose!”
She grinned and cleared her throat. Deep breath in, and… “Aaauoooooo!”
“Geez, you got a little rusty!” He settled in next to her.
“Ah, shut up,” she said jokingly, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. “It’s been a while! I just need to get warmed up.”
Lappland chuckled and raised his head to the sky again. “HaooOOOO!”
“A-Auooooo!” That one felt good, coming from deep in her chest.
“Hawooooo!”
“OUUuuuu!”
“Oh, that’s what that noise was,” another voice said. Tania tilted her head back to see Sora exiting onto the roof, a bemused smile on her face.
“Heya, runt!” Lappland greeted. “Come join us!”
Sora settled in next to Tania. “So what are you two doing?”
“Howling at the moons,” Tania replied. “It feels nice. Scratches an itch way deep down. Lets out a lot of stress at once. Want to join us?”
Sora blinked, a moment or two passing, before she chuckled and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “C-c’mon, Tania, you know I’m not really a Lupo…”
“So?” Lappland asked. “You’re Lupo enough for us~ Come on, give it a try, it’s fun!”
“Eheh, well…” She blushed, but she cleared her throat and tilted her head up to the sky. But she balked after she took a breath. “I’m nervous!”
“What,” Lappland teased, “you can entertain a whole concert hall on your own, but you’re nervous howling in front of just the two of us?” Sora made a pouty face, which got a laugh out of him. “All right, all right, let’s do it together! One, two…”
“Aaauoooooo!”
“HAAOOooooo!”
“Aaawooooooo!”
“Hey, not bad!” Lappland reached behind Tania and gave Sora a pat on the shoulder. Her howl was so clear and bright, likely the result of lots of voice training both for everyday speech and for singing. It was beautiful…
“Try it again,” Lappland continued, “really push from deep down! HaaawooOOOO!”
“Awoooo-oo-ooooo!”
“Aaaauooooouooooo!”
“Awooowoowoooo!”
“Shaddup over there!” someone yelled from another building nearby.
“You shaddup!” Lappland yelled back. “HAAOOOOO!”
Sora just descended into giggles. Tania let out one last heartfelt “Auooooo!” and pulled her closer. Sora nuzzled her cheek affectionately. Tania blushed, but reached her hand up and scritched behind Sora’s ear. Still shaking a little from laughing, she pushed her head up into Tania’s hand.
“Hey, no fair~” Lappland whined, bumping his head against Tania’s other shoulder. She chuckled and reached her other hand around to scratch him as well.
“So needy~” she teased.
“Mmm~”
Tania let her eyes drift close, soaking in the light of the moons. Her tail wagged contentedly behind her. This was the life.