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It was late winter in Kromer, the trees shook with morning snow, and the hills were scattered with patches of forest. The sun was hanging low in the early evening and a cool breeze swept through the boys' makeshift tent.
Seth sighed contently and snuggled close to Gabriel as the chilling, breeze wafted through the thin fabric. Gabriel wrapped his arm around Seth's waist and moved one of the sheets on the tent so they could see the sunset.
Gabriel noticed Seth staring off into space as he often did. "Still thinking about it aren’t you?" Gabriel knew the look Seth got when he was thinking about the ordeal they'd went though in the church.
"You know Gabs, if I'd been five minutes longer I might have lost you." Seth looked up at Gabriel, almost about to cry. Gabriel hugged Seth tight and pulled up a comforter over their legs.
Gabriel looked down at Seth, and brushed away the tear that ran down his cheek. "Shh, were okay now, and we'll never be apart." Seth nuzzled Gabriel’s chest. "We'd have been a regular Romeo and Juliet."
Seth smacked Gabriel lightly on the shoulder. "You better not be calling me Juliet." He giggled and laid back down on Gabriel's chest. They were silent for a while, Seth drawing with his finger on Gabriel's chest absent-mindedly.
"I love you Seth." It was a simple statement, sounding like something else would have followed it. Seth just cuddled in a little closer to Gabriel, and left a butterfly kiss on his neck. "Forever." He added, twining his fingers with Seth's.
"To eternity." Seth said, looking at the sunset that crested the horizon. The two drifted off to sleep as the final rays of the sun left the earth.
"Gabriel! Gabriel! You must wake up!" A hazy voice broke through Gabriel's sleep and he realized it wasn't Seth. One of the various pack members stood over them, seeming somewhat alarmed.
Gabriel let out a dramatic sigh. "What?" He tried to be at least civil, but at this early in the morning it came out more like a growl than anything. "Is something wrong?" He noticed the strained look on the boy's face.
"That idiot priest has gone and killed himself!" The boy said, soon realizing Gabriel was still barely conscious and not getting the picture. "Which means now people think we did it, I mean, we wanted to, but that’s not the point."
"Well, were not being swarmed by townspeople, if they were that concerned wouldn't have come to get us bad little wolves by now?" Gabriel seemed unphased by the whole story.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean there aren’t a few townspeople who still want to make this out like we did it." The young wolf fidgeted nervously on his haunches as he waited for Gabriel to reply.
Seth's voice cut into the conversation. "You're new to the whole wolf thing aren’t you?" He sat his head up on Gabriel's chest to get a good look at the boy. He chuckled lightly against Gabriel and waited as the boy gave him a confused look.
"While this may be cause for a little caution, there’s really not that much to get all disturbed over, and I know you're new because we all go though the 'paranoid' phase when we first realize that we're wolves."
"Either way at least you know now, so your not out of the loop, I hope I'll be seeing you around, but I've got other people to see." He was off before he finished the sentence, leaving Seth and Gabriel momentarily speechless.
Gabriel smiled and laid back down on the makeshift bed. "Ah, pups." He had a glimmer in his eye. "Not unlike you before I got you used to everything." He drew out the last word trying to grab Seth's attention.
Seth gave him another playful smack on the shoulder. "You're so bad Gabs, what am I to do with you?" Seth thought for a minute, then cut in, "On second though, Don't answer that, I already know what I'll do."
Gabriel laid back and stretched out. "Well, do your worst." He chuckled and watched as Seth bolted up and into the forest. "Hey! Wait up!" So Gabriel was off.
Seth was already inside playing one of the arcade style games that were housed in one of the old shops in town. Gabriel slid in, through a few awkward glances, over to where Seth was already very involved with a pinball game. He slipped his arms around Seth's waist and whispered to him. "You bad little wolf. You like playing with your games more than you like playing with me."
Seth just smirked and continued playing. Once he lost a ball, and waited for it to reset he started to speak. "Actually Gabs, I do like playing with you, the thing is, you got more buttons than the games here, but they all do the same thing." He stopped a moment. "Not that I'm complaining though."
At that point a random person came by, tossing a newspaper on the top of the pinball machine. "Hey!" Seth said trying to stretch and see around it, until Gabriel picked it up. He made some funny noises while reading it, but Seth was too focused on his game to realize it.
"Well isn't that interesting." Seth looked up at Gabriel for once since he started the game. " 'A priest' tail' The story of a local priest with a less than saintly side. Looks like they found him after he killed himself, but he seemed to have sprouted a tail. What a surprise." Gabriel tried to rein in the sarcasm but it wasn't any use.
"I’m sure the world will manage to go on with one less bigot running around." Seth said absent-mindedly while playing his game. "Funny though, if I’m not mistaken being a wolf and committing suicide are both against his religion. Cosmic irony strikes again."
"Well speaking of cosmic things, think we should go to the winter equinox/ moon festival things the pack is setting up?" Seth just looked up at Gabriel with a funny expression and returned to his game. "Oh right, your not a pagan, duh. See there’s a lot of wolves in the pack who are pagans of one sort or another. They celebrate the first days of the season, it's a three day festival where they celebrate the season's change and the return of the light."
"Whoa, deep Gabs. You ever been to one?" Gabriel nodded over Seth's shoulder. "Sounds interesting, to say the least. Wanna check it out?"
"Well, its not until tomorrow evening anyway, so we'll just have to amuse ourselves for the moment." Gabriel chuckled, Seth played his last coin on the pinball machine as they spoke. Gabriel just watched, an amused look on his face.
"Guess we can't say no to a night of fun eh Gabs?" Seth had his trademark 'lecherous grin' plastered on his face, even though he was staring at the pinball machine while he spoke, until he lost the first ball of the game when he looked up.
"But, oh, I didn't tell you now did I?" Gabriel had Seth's attention now, his tail wagging against Gabriel just a little. "This festival isn't your average 'Christmas day' come and go. It lasts from the full moon around December 20th for 3 days and 3 nights. Its a huge gathering, there are even some non-wolf pagans that get together with us."
"No way, you mean to tell me that there’s a 3 day festival, starting tomorrow, where there are a bunch of wolves and humans that are all pagans, all getting along and just having a huge party?" Gabriel smirked and gave a agreeing noise. "Way."
End