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Chapter Fifty-One: Dancing in the Dark

"See." The white wolf said with a chuckle. "I told y'all it would barely hurt."

Dawn forced a rather meek smile to her muzzle, trying her best to hide her overall discomfort as the tattoo gun repeatedly passed over her palm in agonizingly slow, repetitive motions. It was true that the tattoo process had hurt less than she had expected, but saying it 'barely hurt' was an understatement. While it hadn't quite felt like being stung by thousands of hornets, it certainly didn't 'tickle' either. Every inch of her palm the needle glided across felt as though she had a deep, blistering sunburn that was being repeatedly slapped by minuscule paws in a rapid tempo.

Dawn bit her lip slightly, her nostrils flaring with a sharp breath as she did her best to push the stinging sensation out of her mind. From what she could tell, the wolf had only just finished the outline of the moon on her palm, which still left a considerable ways to go. It had only taken about ten minutes for Vernon to get his done, and with her considerably smaller hooves she had imagined it would take that much less time for hers to be completed. Of course, when watching her mate get his tithing mark, Dawn had the benefit of not being the one under the needle. And though the wolf let out a few stray whines and whimpers as his father worked, his time under Dorian's pen seemed to fly by in comparison. The wolf had only really just started, yet it already felt as though several minutes had dragged on with the ewe's palm at the mercy of his needle.

It didn't help matters that Dawn needed to watch the wolf work, to keep her eyes fixed on the needle as it danced across her flesh. It was simply something she always did, whether it came to routine injections or other painful procedures. Unlike her mate, who preferred to look away, she had to know when the pain was coming. She had to brace herself for it, and for the sake of her new father-in-law, to try and keep up the appearance of a brave face. After Dorian had spoken so highly of her resolve and willpower during the ceremony, it would have been an embarrassment to be caught wincing under the diminutive bite of a needle.

The white wolf let out another soft chuckle, drawing the ewe's attention away from her own palm for a brief moment.

"Just a joke Hon." Dorian added, offering the ewe a soft, genuine smile. "You let me know if it hurts too much, and I'll try my best to adjust fer it."

Dawn tried to force another smile to her muzzle, but as the needle made another agonizingly slow pass she couldn't help but falter slightly, the ewe letting out a soft hiss as her palm flexed under the needle.

"M-maybe...barely is a bit of an understatement?" Dawn relented, blushing slightly as rubbed the back of her neck with her other hoof. So much for her steely resolve.

Dorian drew back the needle, wiping Dawn's palm free of blood and dye with a cloth before dipping the needle into the container of colored ink on the table to his side.

The white wolf shook his head, letting out a sigh before flashing the ewe a smirk. "Well..." the wolf muttered. "It ain't as bad as Vernon made it look at least, right?"

Dawn giggled. It was true, Vernon's few sharp whines and whimpers only managed to make her that much more nervous about the whole procedure. And she had been by his side throughout the whole thing, squeezing his free paw in reassurance and stroking the top of it with her thumb every time the wolf squeezed back.

Glancing across the dance floor, the ewe could see her mate cradling his paw as he idly chatted with Gus and Melanie by the stage the Hunters had set-up. She couldn't be sure exactly what they were talking about, but regardless she could see that the wolf was positively beaming. Whatever amount of pain he had felt was little more than a distant memory as she spied the wolf stealing another peek under the gauze that covered his palm, his persistent smile parting to show teeth with each glance under the blood and ink-stained wraps.

She couldn't help but catch that infectious smile as she lingered, letting out a pleasant sigh as the matching grin crept across her muzzle. However, the ewe was quick to hide that smile, turning away when Vernon suddenly looked in her direction. She had insisted the wolf go have fun while she got her own mark rather than stay by her side, and the last thing she wanted to do was draw the worried wolf back over. Despite the comfort Vernon could have offered her during the particularly unnerving and uncomfortable process, the ewe couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some alone time with her new father-in-law. She could only hope the lack of audience would make the wolf comfortable enough to open up to her about what he had said to her before the ceremony, even if it might take a bit tentative prodding on her end.

"Well..." Dawn murmured, glancing momentarily back at her once again distracted mate. "Vernon did let out quite a few...yelps.."

Dorian laughed as he brought the needle back to her skin, causing the ewe to tense slightly in preparation for the next wave of stinging.

"Now don't look down on the boy too much." The wolf chuckled. "This whole family was saddled with extra-sensitive paw-pads."

With a buzz, the pain returned, and Dawn grit her teeth as the needle began to glide across her palm once more.

"S-so..?" Dawn stammered slightly. "Zach was the same way?"

Dorian shook his head softly, his steely grey eyes fixed on the work at paw.

"Zach took it better..." Dorian said with a smirk. "Vanna...well..."

Dawn quirked a curious brow. "Vanna?" She had never gotten the chance to ask her sister-in-law about her own experience under the needle, something she thoroughly regretted now that she was under it herself. But the last thing Dawn could conceive was that a mammal like Vanna had taken to being tattooed with anything less than stoic resolution, an unflinching resolve, and a cold, expressionless face regardless of the pain. Yet the way Dorian had broached the subject seemed to allude that the ewe's mental image hadn't been entirely correct.

"She kept a straight face purty well..." Dorian rolled his eyes slightly. "But she did break an armrest halfway through the whole thing." The wolf chuckled.

Dawn giggled, throwing a brief glance in the direction of her towering sister-in-law standing by the food bar. The tigress was apparently listening intently to some conversation going on between Ada, Audrey and Clover, the hyeness flicking around the limp, desiccated clump of flowers she had swiped from her mother's hooves seemingly to emphasize a point in whatever she was saying.

"It hurt that much for her?" Dawn asked.

"I can only assume. Although she'd never admit to it." Dorian chuckled. "I mean, she had been diggin' her claws into that armrest from the moment that needle touched down on her palm." The wolf shook his head. "I could see her claws diggin' deeper every time I touched skin. Muscles in her arm tensin' with every pass."

Dawn tried her best to stifle a giggle as the tigress' eyes shifted her way, Vanna titling her head slightly in confusion before offering Dawn a meek wave with the offending paw, the red coloring of the mark standing out in sharp contrast against the soft pink of her paw pad. In response, the ewe offered a small wave of her own.

"O'course I was the worst of all when it came time fer my tithin' mark." Dorian admitted.

The comment immediately piqued Dawns' interest, drawing her attention back on the white wolf as he drew his needle away again.

"You?" Dawn asked in disbelief. "You were more afraid than...?"

"Afraid?" The wolf chuckled. "Not in the slightest."

Swabbing the ewe's hoof with his washcloth, the wolf puffed out his chest dramatically.

"I was a young, wet behind the ears welp of a pup who fancied himself as 'Alpha' material. There weren't no way I was gonna so much as shed a tear over some measly little needle." The wolf laughed, shaking his head in what seemed like disbelief of his own behavior. "And so when my ol' mam' told me to hold out my palm and brace myself, I jutted my arm out at him bearin' the most confident, smug grin I could muster."

After gingerly swabbing Dawn's hoof free of blood and ink, the wolf let out a sharp exhale.

"And the second that needle hit my palm...I was wailing like a newborn pup." The wolf sighed.

Dawn did her best to stifle a giggling fit as she looked to her father-in-law in a sort of gleeful surprise.

"No..." She murmured, fighting back the urge to laugh as best she could.

The wolf drew a paw over his heart. "By Oldwyn's great grey muzzle, I swear I ain't lyin'." The wolf said with a chuckle. "The North Meadowland's Police Department actually came out to the ranch because they said they had received calls from all over the county sayin' it sounded like someone was bein' kilt!"

Dawn let out a giggling snort, laughter spilling from her muzzle uncontrollably as she struggled to picture Dorian behaving in such a way. She could have never imagined the cold, stoic white law wolf as anything other than an imposing pillar of resolve and willpower. It was a simply unfathomable prospect, and yet the sheer idea brought about by his admission had the ewe laughing to the point of tears. Dawn bit on a hoof nail as she tried to compose herself, stifling the laughter as best she could.

"My howlin' carried clear over to Alpine Glade." Dorian added with a laugh of his own. "O' course the chain howlin' it caused carried all the way down to Savannah Central." The wolf ran a paw through his silvery mane uneasily.

"S-Stop! S-top!" Dawn choked between fits of giggling. "Y-you aren't serious!"

"Cross my heart and hope to die." Dorian said, gesturing his free paw across his chest as he flashed the ewe a smirk. "You can't tell me you ain't never heard about the 'great howlin of eighty-nine'?'"

"N-No!" Dawn laughed. "O-of course n-not!"

The white wolf rolled his eyes comically. "Ah I shoulda guessed, ya'll probably weren't even born yet."

The ewe swabbed away a stray tear from behind her lenses as she struggled to compose herself.

"M-Mister Hunter, I-."

"Pa." Dorian corrected, offering the ewe a gentle smile.

Dawn's laughter was snuffed out in an instant, the wolf's friendly invitation causing her heart to skip a beat. His sudden request had caught the ewe off guard, and Dawn couldn't help but let out a soft, choke of a sniffle as an almost painful pang of joy squeezed her heart like a vise.

"W-well..." Dawn murmured. "Dad..." The ewe paused for a moment, lingering on the title. Just calling the wolf that felt strange, but satisfying.

"I did hold a government position for quite some time, so I'd like to believe I educated myself fairly well in terms of Zootopia's history." The ewe offered a sly smirk. "And not once did I ever read about 'the howling of eighty-nine'."

"Ah, who you gonna believe?" Dorian said with a playful scoff. "A buncha stodgy ol' books, or yer pa's own testimony?"

Dawn tried to stifle another giggle fit, but the wolf seemed to be on a roll now, Dorian gesturing to himself dramatically as he continued to weave his rather embarrassing tale.

"Fer goodness sakes, you think If I were makin' this up I'd be makin' myself look like a fool instead of savin' face?" The wolf added, earning another giggling snort from the ewe.

"Okay, okay!" Dawn laughed, swatting in the direction of the older wolf with her free hoof. "I-I believe you!"

The white wolf smirked as he ran a free paw through his head fur uneasily.

"I'd say the most embarrisin' part of the whole fiasco was the fact that Auddey was watchin' the whole time." The wolf groaned as a hint of a blush began to form under his muzzle fur. "She had to watch this big, strong, studly mate o' hers turn into a weepy, whimperin' little mess of a pup."

"So...?" Dawn asked tentatively. "D-did it put her off getting her own mark?"

Dorian rolled his eyes comically. "That was one of the worst things about the whole fiasca'." Dorian shook his head, letting out a tired sigh. "She went first."

The older wolf cringed at what Dawn could only assume was the memory of the whole affair. "And as y'all can probably guess, she barely made a peep durin' her whole time under my pa's needle."

That had been the only admission of Dorian's that wasn't a surprise to the ewe. After all, when it had come to a mammal like Vanna, Dawn's first impression of her willpower had come largely from her cold demeanor and intimidating presence. It was a fearsome visage, but much of the ewe's perception had melted away during their duet on her first night at the ranch. And as the weekend continued, and she learned more about her sister-in-law, it became easier to see the large feline's softer, more gentle side hiding just below the surface. Now, coupled with Dorian's story about her tithing scar, it was becoming rather easy to see just why Zach had taken to calling her his little 'Kitten'.

But in Audrey's case, for all the motherly sweetness and warmth she had shown Dawn throughout her stay at the ranch, the she-wolf had also shown an equal level of ferocity and tenacity. Whether it was on Dawn's behalf, or for the sake of her own sense of justice, Audrey proved she was no mammals doormat. Not her mate's, her son's, or even the entire town's. And it became quickly clear to the ewe over the course of the holiday weekend, that the she-wolf had been that way for quite some time.

But still, it made for an amusing thought to say the least. She could only imagine Audrey's face as she stood there watching Dorian howling and whining over his tithing mark. Had she been trying to feign an encouraging smile despite it all? Or had she simply laughed at her mate's failure to remain stoic after his strong show of bravado? Either way, the thought didn't occupy the ewe for very long. The overall lack of surprise over just how well Audrey had taken to getting her mark had left Dawn's thoughts to linger on other parts of the older wolf's statement, and her nagging curiosity made her keen to press him for more detail.

"But that was only...one of the worst things?" Dawn murmured uneasily. "T-there were more?"

Dorian let out a tired sigh as he drew back the needle, taking a moment to switch it off before placing it on the table to his side with a dull 'clunk'. Gingerly grabbing Dawn's hoof with his paw, the wolf went back to work wiping away the excess dye as carefully as possible.

"Welp..." The wolf murmured, his cool grey eyes meeting hers as he swabbed her hoof. "Er...between my father's kinda...homespun tattooin' techniques and my..." The wolf scratched that back of his head awkwardly, averting his gaze briefly as a weak blush returned under his muzzle fur. "My howlin' and flinchin'...and pullin' back involuntarily from the pain...well..."

Dawn quirked an inquisitive brow. "What?"

Letting out a long, tired sigh, Dawn watched the wolf's head sag as he held up his right paw at Dawn's eye level to reveal his own tithing mark. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The crisp, crimson red half moon mark looked quite similar to the one she had seen on Vanna's paw the previous evening. But after a few moments, Dawn began to notice faint traces of blurred and faded ink around the edging of the mark. An inconsistent warbling and warping shape that seemed to swoop in and out from behind the cleaner, sharper ink above it.

Dorian pointed to some of the faded ink with a claw, the wolf's ears drooping slightly as he began to trace a rough approximation of the faded pattern as he spoke.

"The whole thing ended up lookin' like someone smeared raspberry jelly on my paw." The wolf shook his head dismissively.

Dawn clasped her father's paw with her free hoof, inspecting the mark carefully as she sucked in a sharp breath of air through parted teeth. Considering how the wolf's first mark had turned out, it made more sense to the ewe just why he had spent most of the time howling loud enough for the whole town to hear. While she couldn't make out what the entire mark had once looked like behind the sheen of fresh, neat ink over top of it, the ewe could only imagine that if it looked anything like its fringes the whole tattoo must have looked very amateurish and sloppy. And unless Dorian had been actively pulling against his father for consistent stretches of time during the tattoo, the long stretches of smooth yet misshapen edges seemed to be largely at the fault of grandpa Hunter.

"O'course it didn't help matter's that my father's attempts to help me get through the whole thing were to tell me to 'quit whinin''." The wolf chuckled weakly. "My Pa never really had a great bedside manner..."

"That looks..." Dawn murmured. "Really rough."

Drawing his paw back from the ewe gingerly, the wolf raised his head once more to meet the ewe's gaze, his muzzle still flushed red with embarrassment.

"Auddey said it looked more like a cloud when it was all over." The wolf shook his head. "O' course, her's looked like an egg, and a misshapen one at that. And she had managed to sit still through the whole darn thing."

Dawn offered the wolf a meek smirk as he picked up the tattoo gun once again.

"Well...I mean..." Dawn murmured. "If your father wasn't that experienced at it...I could see-"

The wolf laughed as he switched the gun back on. "Well, that's the excuse I used at the time." The wolf shook his head softly. "I was more than happy to put the blame on him fer bein' lousy at doin' tattoos, and pretendin' it was the only reason it could hurt that badly." The white wolf offered the ewe a sly smirk. "In fact, I even went so far as to accuse the old mam' for doin' it like that on purpose to try and humiliate me in front of ol' Auddey."

Dawn placed her hoof to her muzzle, biting a hoof-nail in an effort to stifle a giggle.

"Y-You didn't!" The ewe snickered.

"Oh yes I did!" The old law-wolf rolled his eyes. "I was young and prideful, and I was willin' to do anythin' to save face in front of my new mate!" The wolf shook his head dismissively. "I even managed to convince myself it was my pa's way of getting' back at me fer gettin' tithed so young, er' fer wantin' to be a cop, er both."

The wolf ran a paw through his silvery mane of head fur, pursing his lips slightly as he glanced upward toward the sky.

"So there we were, me whinin' and howlin' in between bickerin' with my ol' mam' under the moonlight while Auddey just rolled her eyes at the both of us." The wolf let out a soft scoff.

Dawn was struggling to keep her laughter in now, the ewe holding her hoof over her muzzle as another giggling-fit bubbled just below the surface.

"I was a hard-headed ol' fool." The wolf chuckled. "Still am. And so was my Pa. But at least I can admit now that at least half of that mess was on me." The wolf shook his head.

"But as I said..." The wolf flashed his teeth in a broad cheesy grin. "This family has sensitive paw-pads."

Dawn let out an embarrassingly loud snorting giggle as the laughter finally broke free of her muzzle. The cackling from her behind her clenched hoof erupting in a wet sputter between her fingers as she tried desperately to reign it back in. The ewe was already thoroughly ashamed of the fact that she tended to_'snort'_ when she found something particularly hilarious, but the fact that she had managed to slobber all over her hoof in an effort to stop it only made her feel that much worse. Of course, it didn't help her matters that her reaction only seemed to get an even bigger grin out of Dorian.

It took a while for Dawn to compose herself. Between the mess she had made of her only usable hoof, her glasses slipping nearly off of her snout thanks to all the shaking caused by her giggling, and of course, the persistent urge to laugh itself, she had been left struggling to figure out exactly where to start in terms of regaining her composure. Her laughter seemed hard enough to stop without being able to muffle it with a hoof, but with her only usable hoof covered in saliva she only stood to make more of a mess of herself, and the same went for if she tried to adjust her glasses first. The obvious answer then was to dry off her hoof, but on what? There was little option other than simply wiping it on herself, and there was no way in Animalia she was going to ruin her prized wedding dress by using it as a napkin.

As if reading her thoughts, or perhaps picking up on her body language, the washcloth Dorian had been using to clean her other hoof found its way into her line of sight. The law wolf offering the ink and blood smeared cloth with a sly grin.

With a blush, the ewe extended her other hoof, reluctantly allowing the wolf to wipe it dry before finally adjusting her glasses. Although it was slightly humiliating to have Dorian clean up after her as though she were a newborn lamb, that embarrassment had done well to quell the lingering urge to giggle as the ewe let out a sigh.

"S-sorry." Dawn murmured.

"S'alright." Dorian said with a chuckle. "I was goin' fer a laugh. So I'm glad I managed to get one." The wolf said with a smirk.

Dawn giggled softly as the wolf let out a pleasant sigh, his eyes drifting back to her other hoof.

"Anywho..." Dorian spoke, apparently unfinished with the tale he was weaving for her. "My ol' mam' was too stubborn to admit that he may have needed a few refresher courses." The wolf snorted. "And a newer needle. Preferably one that didn't date back to the turn of the century."

The white wolf rolled his eyes. " But my Pa was always goin' on about the importance of 'passin' things down'. When it came to tradition, y'all weren't allowed to modernize anythin' about the way it was done unless it somehow ended up in yer family by luck, like tithin' an actual tattoo artist who had to learn the newest way to do things fer his customers."

The older wolf shook his head dismissively. "Anything less would 'cheapen the meaning and importance of the rite' accordin' to him."

"He sounded rather..." Dawn bit her lip uneasily as she searched for the right words. "Set in his ways."

Dorian let out a barking laugh. "If ol' Aldus was still alive, he'd probably take that as a compliment!" The wolf chuckled. "O' course, I'm sure I ain't that much better when it comes to some things..."

The white wolf's chuckle trailed off, fading into a pleasant sigh.

"Still, if it weren't fer the fact Auddey's uncle Clarence was an actual tattoo artist, it would have been up to my Pa to touch up mine and Auddey's marks every few years." The wolf shook his head. "Weren't allowed to go to no parlor and get 'em touched up either, because again, that would-"

"Cheapen the whole rite, right?" Dawn interjected, completing her father-in-law's thought.

The wolf gave a simple nod. "Right."

Dawn let out a soft giggle.

"O' course. When all was said and done I still respected the ol' mam' enough to let him be the one to teach me how to do the tithing mark myself back when the boys were first born." The wolf sighed. "Even if I knew I wasn't gonna get anythin' really useful out of it."

Dawn tensed for a moment, the ewe wincing slightly at the wolf's admission. After all, if Dorian had learned how to tattoo directly from his father, then what exactly did that mean for Dawn in terms of her how her own mark would turn out? The wolf seemed quick to pick up on her unease however, waving a finger as he flashed her a rather toothy grin.

"But that don't mean me and Auddey didn't take night courses on the side." The wolf said with a chuckle. "As well as get help from her uncle in order to keep up on the newest techniques and tricks available."

Dawn let out a sigh of relief, which only managed to make Dorian laugh that much harder.

"Last time I was in a refresher course was a few months before Zach's tithe. So I'd like to think I'm pretty up to date on how to do this sorta thang." The wolf smirked.

"But what about your father?" Dawn asked, quirking a curious brow. "I can't imagine he was very happy with that."

The older wolf rolled his eyes slightly, feigning an innocent expression.

"Weeell...." The wolf flashed the ewe a rather devious looking smile. "What my old mam' didn't know didn't hurt him none."

Dawn placed her hoof to her muzzle in an effort to stifle her giggling.

"Y-you never told him?" The ewe sputtered.

The older wolf winced slightly, his ears sagging as a hint of guilt crept into his features.

"After the ol' mam' taught me and Auddey, he expected us to touch up each other's marks from that point onward." The wolf shook his head dubiously. "As well as do the boy's marks when the time came." Dorian scoffed. "And me and Auddey agreed there weren't no way we were submittin' each other to toyin' with jabbin' permanent ink into our skins, let alone our son's skins, without makin' sure we knew exactly what we were doin'."

The wolf ran a paw through his hair once more, his ears perking up slightly as he did so.

"I may have respected my pa. But that didn't mean I was foolish enough to deprive myself of learnin' how to do somethin' the proper way because of his stubborn sense of pride." The wolf rolled his eyes slightly. " 'Specially after bein' so....er..." The wolf muttered, seemingly struggling to choose his words. "Let's say...'humbled' by my own experience."

At that, both mammals broke into a laugh. The white wolf chuckling warmly in concert with Dawn's own amused giggling before both mammals laughter trailed away in a shared pleasant sigh. As Dawn's gaze met Dorian's once more, she couldn't help but think about just how strange it was to see the old law wolf like this. He was so different when compared to the cold, gruff mammal she had first met at the Hunter dinner table, and even drastically more so than the drunken, rage-filled wolf that lived in Dorian's study. This wolf was friendly and warm, his demeanor relaxed and pleasant. Even his body language seemed to exude a level of comfort that she was certain the Dorian she had come to know was incapable of. It was as if she were meeting an entirely new mammal. Or perhaps, this was the Dorian that the other Hunter had spent most of the weekend alluding to. The 'real' Dorian behind the wall of ire and hate that she had been shown all weekend prior. Either way, it was a welcomed change.

It was at that point the white-wolf seemed to pick-up on her lingering, curious glance, and in turn the wolf drew back bashfully. Dorian quickly averted his gaze from hers, the wolf rubbing the back of his neck uneasily as he cleared his throat.

"Anyway..." The wolf coughed awkwardly. "I learned a heck of a lot of useful stuff from the classes I took." The wolf said, tapping his chin thoughtfully with a finger. "But I think the most useful technique I learned when it came to just how to do tattoos came from Auddey's uncle Clarence."

Dawn quirked an eyebrow, leaning in slightly closer to the wolf in interest.

"What was it?" The ewe asked.

Dorian flashed her a rather smug, sly smile, his steely grey eyes twinkling with a hint of mischief.

"If the mammal gettin' the mark keep's starin' at the needle like it's gonna eat 'em, distractin' them with a good story is one of the best ways to keep their attention off of it." The wolf said with a throaty chuckle.

The ewe blinked dully for a moment before the full impact of the wolf's statement hit her. She had stopped focusing on the needle, and as soon as that fact had properly registered her eyes immediately darted back to her palm as the wolf finished another pass over the mark with the washcloth. The outline of the moon was now almost half-way filled in with red ink, and yet somehow Dawn hadn't even noticed. The ewe had been so caught up in the wolf's tale that she hadn't even felt the sting of the needle.

"I-Bu-?" Dawn glanced back up at her father-in-law in shock. "How did you do that?"

Dorian chuckled. " You act like it was magic er' somethin'." The wolf replied with a smirk.

The ewe glanced back at her palm, turning her hand over and back again for a moment as she inspected it. With each glance at the top of her hand, she almost expected to flip it back to the palm and see the mark as merely little more than an outline once again.

"But I didn't even feel it..." Dawn murmured in awe.

The older wolf gave her a shrug. "The power of engagin' conversation I guess." Dorian replied with a dull chuckle.

With that, the wolf gestured for her to extend her hoof once again, gently raising the gun in his other paw and wiggling it lightly.

"Now we just need to take care of the other sixty er' so percent of that mark and you'll be all set." The wolf added, extending his free paw back out to the ewe.

Dawn winced slightly before reluctantly extending her tattoo printed hoof out to him. Now that she was aware of the wolf's 'tactics' it made her all the more nervous about proceeding. After all, how would he keep her attention off the process now that she knew he was actively trying?

"I-I hope you've got a few more g-good conversations in you then..." The ewe muttered uneasily as the wolf took her hoof softly in his paw.

The wolf's steely grey eyes came to meet Dawn's once again, the lingering grin on his muzzle giving way to a frown as the wolf let out a rather long, sad sigh.

"I've got one in mind." The wolf murmured, gently using his thumb to help spread the ewe's fingers a bit further out and away from her palm as he readied the needle. "And I'm purty sure you've got an idea of what it is."

Dawn tilted her head curiously for moment, only for the wolf to gesture his head over in the direction of Vernon and the others across the dance floor.

"I can't imagine it was easy of y'all to willingly send my boy away while you were gettin' this done." The wolf said knowingly. "So I can only assume y'all did it to get some time alone with yer old mam' fer what I can only assume..."

Dorian looked her directly in the eyes, his own grey orbs scanning her for a moment before the wolf let out a rather soft whine.

"Is to hear out the rest of what I talked to y'all about on the porch."

Dawn bit her lip to try and keep the slight gasp of surprise from escaping her muzzle.

"I-But..." The ewe shook her head. "How did you know?" The ewe glanced down at her lap guiltily. "W-was it that obvious?"

"Nah..." Dorian chuckled weakly. "Just call it...'Hunter's intuition.'" The wolf said with a scoff.

Dawn shrank into her shoulders uneasily. It was true, the goal of enduring this whole process without Vernon to hold her hoof was to give Dorian a chance to talk. But now that the topic was out and in the open, the ewe could barely bring herself to utter a word of it. Dawn liked the version of Dorian their light-hearted, friendly banter had brought out of the wolf. He was comfortable, relaxed, even funny. And so the prospect of steering the conversation back into a direction that was sure to place the wolf back into a foul mood seemed counter-intuitive. The last thing she wanted to do was be faced with the Dorian she already knew after getting a taste of what he actually was.

"W-well...I..." Dawn murmured. "I'm sorry. If it's too raw we ca-."

"No, no..." The wolf replied, holding up his free paw to cut the ewe off. " I said ya'll deserved to know, and I meant that." The wolf said, letting out a somber sigh.

"Sides', it gets a little easier to tell each time I tell it." The wolf added, offering the ewe a meek smile.

Dawn leaned in a bit closer as the wolf began to tell his story, the ewe making sure that she would be able to hear the wolf regardless of how loud the needle buzzed over his words. But as she listened in to her father-in-law's painful tale intently, there was another mammal who was fixated on her.

From across the dance floor, Vernon watched his mate intently. He hadn't been too keen on being separated from her during her tattoo for multiple reasons. The main reason was of course, that he wanted to be there to hold her hoof. To comfort her through the painful moments, and give her the strength to power through the whole affair as she had given him. But admittedly, although he was loath to admit it, there was a smaller part of him that was worried about maintaining some semblance of comparative masculinity. After all, he had whimpered and whined several times despite Dawn being at his side during his tattoo, and yet the ewe hadn't so much as made a peep. And if he noticed it, then certainly his brothers had, and most definitely Yuri. And although they had started the long, arduous process of coming to tolerate one another, he was certain an observation like that would be far too good for the wolf to not archive for a future excuse to tease him.

"Vernon? Animalia to Vernon!" The familiar chatter of his best friend snapped the wolf out of his thoughts.

The wolf quickly turned his head back to the mammals at his side.

"Oh, sorry Gu-OW!" The wolf drew his hand back from his head. Apparently, he had subconsciously went to draw his paw through his head fur only to realize far too late that it was still technically wounded. The sting of his tender, gauze covered left paw throbbing as he pulled it back from his scalp.

Gus let out a soft chuckle.

"Distracted I take it?" The goat added.

"Aw, that's sweet though." Melly chimed in, the nanny leaning slightly off the large speaker she was sitting on as she spoke. "You're really worried about her huh?"

"W-well..." Vernon murmured uneasily.

"Because of the tattoo, or because she's alone with you old mam'?" Gus interjected.

Vernon offered the goat an uneasy smile. If Gus had been aware of exactly what the weekend had been like up to this point, he might have realized what a loaded question that was. Then again, there should have been nothing to fear at this point. His father had come clean about why he had been so against Dawn joining the pack, and had even gone so far to make the tithe happen for them in an effort to make amends. So there should have been no reason to fret over him talking to Dawn alone, at least in theory. But there was still a shred of unease that lingered in the wolf over the prospect, somewhat fearful that despite how impossible it seemed at this point, that his father was going to say something to upset his mate.

"What do you think he's going to do?" Melanie scoffed.

"I don't know." Gus replied. "I mean, I wouldn't leave you alone with my ol' mam'."

Melanie let out a loud laugh. "And why is that?" The nanny lifted her saggy, wilted clump of flowers from the speaker, waving it limply in Gus' direction. "What, is he going to teach me enough florist tips to somehow bring this thing back to life?" Melanie tapped her mate on the snout with the clump of flowers, causing a few loose buds to fall off as the goat retracted from it with a scoff. "Or at the very least make it edible again..." The nanny added with a huff.

"More like tell you a bunch of embarrassing stories about my childhood." The goat retorted, crossing his arms defensively.

"Oh please..." Melanie replied, flashing the billy a smug smile. "I already know all of your embarrassing childhood stories."

Gus held up a finger, the billy opening his muzzle seemingly ready to rebuff his mate's claim. But after a few moments of his mouth hanging wordlessly agape, the billy reluctantly closed his snout as his hoof slowly drifted back down to his side.

"That's probably true." Gus admitted, lulling his head in mild agreement."But it's not like you ever liked the taste of mums, so that bouquet was inedible from the start.."

"I think Dawn's got most of them already between my ma and sisters anyway." Vernon muttered. "If not, they'll be the ones to make sure she hears 'em all, not my ol' mam'." The wolf said with a dull chuckle.

Gus leaned an arm on the speaker by his side, nestling his head against his mate's shoulder for a moment, before glancing back up at the large wolf.

"So what's next for you Vern?" The goat chuckled. "Gonna rush into getting kids next? Maybe get a pair of them to exchange as Yule gifts?"

Vernon tensed up slightly, his eyes widening as he glanced back at his friend.

"W-what makes you say that?!" Vernon managed to sputter.

The goat flashed him a smug grin. "Well considering how quickly you went and married Dawn..."

"So?" Vernon replied, crossing his arms defensively. "Y'all keep actin' like that's a bad thing."

The goat shrugged. "Eh, ain't like It's my life to ruin."

"If you remember, you were the one who pointed out that I loved Dawn before even I knew it!" Vernon snapped back.

"Hey, I merely pointed it out." The goat's smile widened into a toothy grin. "I didn't say, 'hey go and marry her'!" The goat rolled his eyes.

"Wolves, so emotional..." The goat chuckled, giving his mate a playful nudge as if looking to draw a laugh. But instead, it had merely drawn an eye-roll of its own from the she-goat as she let out a snort.

"You wouldn't tell anyone to get married." Melanie chimed in. "You'd tell them to run as far away from marriage as possible."

Vernon watched the amusement drain from Gus' features as he turned to face his mate, his brow furrowing in annoyance. "Well I-"

"Six months is purty fast, I'll give y'all that." Vernon was quick to interject, not willing to miss an opportunity to hassle the billy. If not for his current attempt to fluster him, then as payback for his little stunt at the altar. "But at least I ain't on six years and countin' with no tithe under my belt to show fer it."

Gus' snapped his attention back on Vernon, his eyes wide with an expression of betrayal lacing his features that wordlessly communicated one single word with an intense horror. 'why'?! But it was far too late. Vernon knew he had gotten the ball rolling by the mischievous grin now crawling across Melanie's muzzle as she leaned in closer to her mate.

"Yeaaahhhh..." Melanie cooed, almost sing-songingly. "What are we, from Great Kitten? We're just going to be in a perpetually long-term relationship with nothing to show for it aside from splitting rent?"

"N-Now wait a secon-!"

"I don't get you Gus." Vernon added. " Yer happy with Melanie ain'tcha?" Unlike Melanie, the pretense of teasing Gus had quickly dropped in favor of actual curiosity. Vernon rarely pressed his friend on his romantic life. It simply seemed to be an unspoken rule that, of the things discussed at the B&B table, dating and relationship prospects weren't one of them unless they were of a fictional variety. Comic books, video games, movies, as long as the couples discussed didn't actually involve any of them or their close relatives. But now Vernon had an opportunity to pry. Gus had been the first to break the rule, at least in Vernon's mind. After all, he had directly interceded in Vern's love life when it came to Dawn, so it was only fair.

"You keepin' yer options open er' somethin'?" Vernon asked. As the words left his muzzle the wolf immediately regretted it. He could see Melanie's smug grin falter as soon as the words left his muzzle.

"OF COURSE NOT!" Gus protested with a snort before glancing back to his mate. The irritation on his muzzle quickly replaced with a sympathetic and worrisome frown. "I LOVE HER!"

Melanie's managed a rather meek smile, but the she-goat was clearly still troubled by just how close to the chest the conversation had grown.

"Y-you do?" Melanie asked quietly.

Gus flashed the nanny a warm smile. "Mellomar..." The bully shook his head. "You shouldn't even have to ask."

"Gus, I'm s-sorry...I sh-"

The goat was quick to hold up a hoof in Vernon's direction, stopping the wolf short in his attempt to apologize.

"Nah...it's not you." Gus muttered. "I don't think there was any way I was getting through this evening without confronting this anyway."

Taking a moment to clamber up onto the speaker alongside his mate, the billy sidled up close to her, bringing an arm around her shoulders before pulling her in for a side hug. Melanie leaned on her mate's shoulder, nuzzling softly into his neck before letting out a sullen sigh.

"I'm just..." The goat sighed, running a hoof through his fluffy tuft of hair. "Scared I guess?" He admitted.

Melanie glanced up at her mate, batting her eyelashes coyly. "Of me?"

Gus let out a snort. "No, of course not!" The goat was quick to reply.

Gus averted his gaze for a moment, lolling his head as if he were mulling over something.

"Well...maybe when you show off that competitive streak of yours."

"GuuuUUUus!" The name rolled out of Melanie's muzzle with a sort of giggling whine.

"Seriously, that look on your face when you were going hoof to claw with that hyena made me want to drop pellets." The goat continued, cringing slightly.

Melanie let out a snorting laugh, giving the billy a playful swat with a hoof. "Gus, I'm being serious!"

"I know, I know!" Gus replied with a laugh of his own.

"I guess..." The billy muttered, scratching the back of his head uneasily. " I guess I'm just scared of change."

"Change?" Vernon asked, quirking a brow.

Gus tightened the hug around his mate slightly as he glanced back up at Vernon with an uneasy, almost shameful expression.

"Me and Melly have a good thing going." The goat muttered. "It's comfortable...familiar. It just works, you know?" The goat asked, quirking a brow.

Vernon tilted his head in confusion.

Gus let out a defeated sigh.

"We may not be married, but I figured, for the most part, we were both happy with the way things were..." Gus continued. "Even as much as Melly gives me the business for not making an honest nanny out of her."

Melanie glanced up at her mate in slight disbelief, letting out a less than enthusiastic snort. Gus winced slightly in response, stuttering as he tried to continue with his point.

"W-What I mean is we've kinda gotten used to life together." The billy continued. "We're used to each other. We're used to living together, and all the bumps in the road that come along with it."

"And...?" Melanie asked, adjusting her lenses as she eyed her mate expectantly.

Gus let out a long, tired sigh as he pressed a hoof to his temple.

"And I'm kind of afraid that if we take a step like that..." Gus muttered, tapping his hooves together nervously. "It...it might ruin the way things are somehow."

Melanie flashed her mate a dubious glance. "Gus..." The nanny shook her head dismissively. "Honestly, how much could our relationship really change if we decided to get married?" The she-goat gestured to herself and the billy with a hoof. "You said it yourself, we're already comfortable together. We have a good thing going for us."

"That's because we're technically unattached Melly." Gus muttered. "We're two mammals who like being together, and so we choose to be together." The billy sighed. "The problems we face outside of our relationship are our own unless we choose to help each other with them."

"Sounds to me like someone is just lookin' for an easy out if tings get tough."

Vernon cowed into his shoulders, wincing at the familiar sound of his sister-in-law's voice. Glancing over his shoulder, the wolf found that Ada was now leaning up against the table next to him, nonchalantly popping an hors d'oeuvre into her muzzle before flashing the wolf a cheesy grin. At some point, the large hyeness had managed to silently sidle her way up alongside him and had clearly been eavesdropping in on the conversation. For how long, the wolf couldn't be sure. But it was clear it had been long enough for Ada to more than comfortable enough to pitch in her two cents on Gus' personal affairs.

Vernon bit his lip uneasily. He had already begun to regret the more emotional tone the conversation had taken. In his curiosity, he assumed he had only been picking at a somewhat superficial emotional scab only to realize too late that he had been blindly probing a far deeper wound. And now that Ada had inserted herself into the conversation, there was little hope of preventing it all culminating in a clumsy conversational amputation.

"What's a matta kid? Is dere sometin' that'd be too hard for youse to help her wit?"

Gus glared at the large canine, letting out a derisive snort as he squeezed his mate against his side.

"Of course not!" The billy snapped back. "I'd do anything for my Mellowmar!"

"Aww....Gussy..." Melanie cooed softly.

"Den what's da problem?" Ada replied, tugging her damaged dress up slightly before crossing her arms. "Why da cold hooves?"

"Why are you even here?" Gus snapped back. "You decide you want the other half of Melly's bouquet back?"

"If youse must know." Ada smirked. "I came ova to reasshure my bruddah-in-law dat ol' Plush is gonna be fine." The hyeness said, gesturing over to the ewe across the floor before giving the wolf a harsh but playful pat on the shoulder.

"Plush is a tuff cookie." Ada wrapped an arm around Vernon's neck, pulling the increasingly pallid and uncomfortable wolf in for a short, tight hug. "She's gonna be fine."

Vernon let out a soft, uncomfortable whine. Ada was right about that, there was no doubt in his mind. But he wasn't willing to admit that the whimper that had slipped out of his muzzle had come from the fact that her hug was just a little bit tighter than he would have liked.

Releasing her grip around the groom, the hyena turned her attention back to the goat couple, offering the pair a genuine smile.

"But as a mammal who's a victem a' bein' too patient myself..." Ada continued, bobbing her eyebrows playfully. "I couldn't help but to try and help a fellow bride in waitin'..."

Melanie offered the mammal a meek smile.

"T-thank you." The she-goat murmured. "I-I mean that's very sweet but you-."

"Eh, it's no problem." The hyeness was quick to cut her off, flashing the pair a broad smile before edging her way around Vernon. Leaning her elbow on the edge of the table near the speaker, Ada leaned down to Gus' level, cocking a brow at the little billy.

"C'mon, youse can be honest wit ol' auntie Ada." Ada chuckled. "I'm good wit dis stuff..." The hyena rolled her eyes, wincing slightly before continuing. "Well, as long as it don't have to do wit my life."

Gus rolled his eyes. "You aren't my aunt."

"Ah, but youse is besties wit Vern." Ada replied, gesturing toward the wolf with a nod. "And from what Yuri told me's you were at da ranch so often Auddey liked to joke dat youse were her adopted kid."

Gus shrunk into his shoulders slightly, leaning further into his mate as he tried to draw back from the hyena.

"So dat makes us some kinda family rite?" The hyena grinned.

"Ada, maybe this is-"

"So what's da problem?" Ada cut Vernon off, leaning in closer to the goat as her deep green eyes seemed to hungrily scan him for any hint of a tell. "Problems in da bedroom? Little billy can't rise to da challenge?"

"Pf-WHAT!? NO!" Gus snapped back.

"Definitely not." Melanie added, flashing the hyena a knowing grin.

"By the gods Ada..." Vernon murmured, pressing a paw to his forehead.

Ada let out a barking laugh, giving the goat a playful nudge with her elbow.

"Scared of her folks?" Ada asked, leaning in closer to the increasingly nervous-looking billy. "Pop got a shotgun at your's back when'eva youse see him 'or-."

"NO!" Gus retorted, letting out an irritated sigh. "Melly's parents and I get along fine, and my parents love her!"

"My parents were just happy I didn't end up turning out to be a crosser or so-..." Melanie winced, her eye's briefly shifting upward to Vernon before darting away guiltily. "Er...I mean no offense!"

"Uh-huh." Vernon replied, giving the nanny a dull, half-lidded stare which only seemed to cause her to squirm that much more.

"I-I mean my parents were worried about me being an inter, or a lesbian too!" The nanny goat blurted out. "They want grandkids!"

Ada rolled her eyes for a moment before drawing in that much closer to Gus, her nose practically pressed up against his snout as she wrapped her arm around him, lamely flopping her own ruined bouquet over his shoulder.

"Den what da heck's da problem, one horn?" Ada laughed. "Why won't yas make an honest goat out of your mate?" The hyeness flashed the shrinking billy a wide smile. "Is it da one horn ting? Cause if it is I-?"

"IT'S NOT MY HORN!" In a sudden, swift motion Gus braced the large hyena's shoulders with his hooves, visibly placing all his might into shoving her out of his personal space. However, Ada's massive comparative size and Gus' significant lack of muscle kept the hyena largely rooted to the ground, and instead, Vernon watched as his friend managed to thrust himself backward off the speaker, tumbling over the edge from his own force with a loud thud, followed by a dull, pitiful bleat.

"GUS!" Melanie yelped, as she, Vernon and Ada all leaned over the edge of the speaker to find the goat sprawled out on the grass below. His legs remained upright, following the back of the speaker straight up as though he were sitting on it while the rest of him lay with his back flat against the ground. His eyes sullen and skyward as he let out a mournful sigh.

"It-It's..." The goat murmured quietly. " It's because if we get married... If we take that plunge, and my problems become our problems..." Gus whimpered, his voice growing quiet with each pause as he struggled to get whatever he had to say out. "You'll be stuck with me."

The group fell silent for a moment, not one mammal moving as the three looking down over Gus exchanged glances with one another before the nanny's eyes fell back to her mate.

"'S-stuck with you'?" Melanie asked. "W-what do you mean 'stuck with you'?

Gus closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring as he let out a slow, drawn-out exhale. It was clear that whatever he was preparing to say was something had been weighing heavy on him, and he was trying to muster the courage to get through it.

"Melly..." the goat said with a defeated sigh.

"You're smart and talented...and crazy driven..." Gus said, lolling his head slightly. "You're always so sure of yourself, and you just never give up on things."

"And if you ever stumble or slip up, you just keep on going." The goat shook his head. "You don't even waste time second-guessing yourself, you just do it."

Vernon could see the billy's neck muscles visibly tense as he let out an audible gulp. The hard swallow ended in a shuddering, almost whimpering sigh.

"A-And you're strong..." Gus murmured softly. "So much stronger than a beat-up old billy like me."

"Oh Gus..." Melanie spoke, placing a hoof over her muzzle to hide her lips.

"A nanny like you is destined to do amazing things, ya know?" Gus said, his brows raising slightly as he spoke before shifting back into a more disappointed, defeated expression. Sluggishly, the goat raised one of his arms, allowing it to flop on his chest with his thumb pointed inward. "And me, I'm just some schlub who used to manage a Bug Burga." The goat scoffed.

Taking a deep breath, the goat lifted his arm, allowing it to flop lamely across the grass once more as he let out a dry chuckle.

"And I couldn't even do that without it getting completely destroyed in the process." Gus muttered.

Vernon cringed, slinking into his shoulders at that remark. The wolf couldn't help but feel partially responsible for that, even if neither he nor Dawn had actually been the ones to cause the damage.

"Hadn't even technically been the manager of the place for a whole year too." The goat grumbled, furrowing his brow for a moment before simply rolling his eyes.

"And you know what was the worst part?" Gus sighed. "The worst part of it all was that I was fine with that..."

Ada quirked a brow. "You was fine wit your job gettin' destroyed?" The hyena asked.

Gus lifted his head for a moment, glaring at Ada in a mixture of shock and annoyance. "What?" The goat asked. "No! I meant-ugh..." With another sigh, the billy allowed his head to flop back against the grass.

"I mean I had accepted that." Gus muttered. "I had accepted that my role in life was basically just...managing a Bug Burga for a living."

Leaning up slightly, Gus placed an elbow against the grass as his eyes traced upwards to his mate.

"I didn't exactly love it, but I never really had a goal to reach out for like you did Melly. I never really had dreams of being a teacher, or a doctor, or some cutting edge medical scientist."

"Genetic researcher." Melanie corrected.

The goat closed his eyes, his head dipping slightly as the frown on his muzzle seemed to deepen. "Right..." The goat muttered, his statement laced with a sense of defeat as he let out a tired sigh.

"The point is, I never really cared to pursue anything." The goat shrugged. "The only reason I went to college was because my grandfather made it a condition of taking over as manager of his Bug Burga branch, otherwise I might not have even gone."

"You really didn't care whether you went to college or not?" Melanie asked.

"Melly...I..." The goat muttered. "I spent my childhood practically housebound because of my health with nothing but books and games to try and distract me from the fact that I was too fragile to do anything of any sort of significance with my life." Gus lifted his other hoof, gesturing it in a small, dismissive circle as he continued. "I've never been very good at anything any mammal would consider valuable so...I never really planned for some big, world-changing future career. " The goat slunk into his shoulders slightly. "A billy as broken as I am isn't going to change the world, so I figured, 'why waste my parents time and money'?"

"You aren't broken..." Melly muttered softly.

Using his elbow to press himself off the ground, the goat carefully clambered to his feet. For a moment, Gus began to dust his suit off with a hoof before he seemed to decide it wasn't worth the effort shook his hooves off dismissively before leaning against the speaker.

"Melanie, I'm genetically predisposed to fainting, small seizures, and I've got a rotten horn." The billy gestured weakly to the wad of gauze strapped to his head before extending his hoof and beginning to count his individual fingers as he continued.

"I'm asthmatic, prone to panic attacks, have horrible intestinal problems..." Gus continued, switching from one hoof to the other as he rambled on. "I'm also neurotic, a chronic worrier, painfully indecisive an-."

"The love of my life." Melanie cut the billy off. "You think I care about stuff like that?"

Gus frowned sharply, a look of shame creeping into his features as his eyes shifted downward toward the grass.

"I care." The goat muttered weakly. "I didn't used to care as much....but the closer we got..." Gus murmured, running a hoof through his hair. "The more worried about all that stuff I became."

The billy's shimmering yellow eyes fixed on his mate's own, his lip quivering as he seemingly struggled to continue.

"Before we met...I...." The goat whimpered. "Bug Burga was 'a good enough' plan for me." The goat shook his head. "I-I was willing to accept that with a sort of... quiet resignation."

Gus shrugged, lifting a hoof as he averted his gaze once more.

"But good enough for me, and good enough for 'us' are two different things." the goat added, rolling his hoof lazily.

"What do you mean?" Melanie asked, sniffling slightly.

The lanky billy let out a tired sigh.

"Everything of mine you could call a talent is small and relatively useless..." The billy muttered. "I've got no practical or marketable skills, and if I even tried to pick something bigger to shoot for I'm sure my health would more than likely stop me from ever getting there."

"Gus, that's not true." Melanie rebuffed. "I mean, you did make it through school. You do have a business degree."

"Mel." Gus held up a hoof, cutting his mate off mid-sentence. "I barely scraped by with an actual diploma. Even you know that." The billy shook his head. "Between my health issues and my heart not really being in it, I barely made it through, and even if I had failed out..." The goat placed a hoof to his temple. "I would have accepted it."

"Why?" Melanie asked, reaching out to grab one of Gus' hooves. But the billy withdrew his hand seconds before hers made contact, pushing himself away from the speaker as he stood up.

"Because I was always used to falling flat on my face." The goat continued. "I'm used to coming up short, and crashing no matter how much effort I put into something."

Balling the hoof pressed to his temple into a fist, the goat leaned into it, his head sagging as he let out a disappointed sigh.

"But that was back when the only mammals affected by me failing at something was myself." The goat muttered.

The billy lifted his head wearily as his hoof dropped to his side, his tearful yellow eyes meeting Melanie's once more.

"Holding the Bug Burga together as it was..." The goat rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "I mean, if I did well at running it, or if it failed spectacularly, I could handle it."

The goat gestured a hoof toward Vernon. " Vernon, my friends, my parents...even you..." The goat gestured his hoof back toward his mate. "I could go to you guys for emotional support if I failed, but ultimately I wouldn't be dragging anyone down with the actual baggage of it." The goat rolled his wrist lazily. "The financial problems, the full weight of the stress, and everything else..."

"Gus..."

"But if we were married..." The billy continued, his voice wavering slightly as he spoke. "My burden would be our burden..." The goat whimpered. "And you'd be forced to take all of it one whether you wanted to or not."

"But Gus-."

"And now with the Bug Burga gone, who knows what will happen Melly?" Gus whimpered. "My grandpa could pay to fix it up, and I'd have my position back until I inevitably louse it up when my health gets worse, or for some other reason..." The goat shrugged. "Or he could decide it's not worth the headache and just take the insurance payout and officially retire."

The billy ran a shaky hoof through his tuft of head fur, biting his lip nervously.

"Even If I convinced him to let me take a crack at opening a different, lower maintenance store rather than re-opening the Bug Burga, it could always fall through."

"Gus." Melly's voice was firmer now, a clear effort to force the billy's attention, but Gus was on a tangent now, his nerves getting the better of him as he continued to prattle off all of his deepest fears an insecurities.

It only served to make Vernon feel that much more guilty that he had forced open this can of worms in the first place. This conversation most certainly deserved to be conducted with the utmost privacy, something kept strictly between Gus and his mate. But unfortunately, he and his sister-in-law were now caught up in the scene. Glancing to Ada, he could see the hyena looked equally as uneasy as he felt. Her wide eyes finding Vernon's as she flashed the wolf a sheepish, uncomfortable smile before shrugging apologetically. It was a rare feat for an outspoken mammal like herself, but it was clear to even the most oblivious of mammals that the time to interject had long since passed. And so the two mammals simply stood in silence as the painfully emotional discussion continued to unfold before them.

"And I've got everything riding against me being able to give you healthy kids one day Melly!" Gus proclaimed, his breathing growing heavy as his sentences poured from his muzzle at a faster and faster rate. "Kids I know you want, kids you deserve to be able to have!"

"But Gussy-!"

"You deserve to be able to have everything you want! Anything you can set your mind to without me there to hold you back!" The goat rambled." You deserve to be able to just walk away when you finally realize one day..."

Gus trailed off, his breath hitching slightly as his sorrowful eyes drifted to the grass. The air around the small group of mammals grew silent save for the billy's weak panting. The relative quiet lingered for what seemed like minutes before the goat finally managed the utter the words his whole diatribe had apparently been building up to.

"That you are too good for me." The goat concluded, wiping his muzzle with his sleeve as he let out a sharp sniffle.

Once again the air fell silent save for the stray whimpering of the billy, his usual humerus and beleaguered demeanor completely stripped bare leaving little more than the frail, sensitive little billy goat standing before them. Vernon felt the need to do something, anything to comfort his friend, but at the same time, the wolf still felt paralyzed. One part onlooker, one part guilty party for having helped gouge the emotions out of his friend. There was a very real fear in Vernon that at this point the billy had more or less forgotten he and Ada still stood there. And any action on Vernon's part would remind the billy, adding to his embarrassment, or possibly raising his ire after all he had inadvertently drawn out of him. Luckily, Melanie took the initiative.

"Oh Gus... " Melanie murmured, placing a hoof on her mate's shoulder. Leaving her clump of flowers laying on the speaker, the nanny brought her other hoof to the billy's tear-stained cheek, drawing his head upward in order to meet his glimmering gaze. Drawing her thumb across his cheek, the she-goat gingerly swabbed at his tears.

"Y-you should have said something..." The she-goat sniffled. "Y-you should have told me how you felt sooner..." Melanie pressed an arm up under her glasses, swabbing away her own tears for a moment. " I-If I had known..."

Gus pressed a hoof against his eye, rubbing it aggressively in an effort to stem his tears.

"I-I'm sorry Melly....I just..." The billy stuttered. "I figured bringing it up would...just jinx it all somehow." The billy ran a nervous hoof through his hair. "That if I said anything y-you'd wake up an realize..."

Gus trailed off, his head sinking slightly against Melanie's hoof as his eyes shifted away from hers guilty.

"That I was too good for you?" Melanie asked, her voice hushed in such a way that it seemed as though she had been loathed to even utter her words.

The billy gave a weak nod.

"And you'd...leave..." Gus muttered, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof. "I guess..."

Melanie drew her mate in closer, resting her head against his and closing her eyes as the two fell silent. It was a brief, but tender moment. One that couldn't help but touch Vernon's heart as he felt tears of his own begin to well up for his friends. He had always been somewhat aware of Gus' health issues, but even as his best friend, he knew the billy preferred to keep it close to his chest. He had always acted as if it never really bothered him, or that he had at least had grown used to his disabilities to the point of barely noticing them. But it was clear now that his various conditions had always been weighing on his mind to some degree, and that being as close to someone as he was to Melanie was forcing him to confront it constantly.

He wanted to comfort the billy, comfort the both of them, but the wolf couldn't even fathom where to begin. Was it even right to intrude on something that seemed so personal?

Despite this uncertainty, the wolf finally opened his muzzle to speak, but a strange sound quickly stunned him back into silence. Melanie was chuckling, laughing through her tears as her muzzle curled into a small smirk.

"You are the biggest dork...you know that?" Melanie sniffled softly.

Gus drew back slightly, a look of mild surprise lacing his features as he eyed his mate in confusion. "M-melly..." The goat sputtered. "I-I'm being serious here!"

"So am I!" Melanie replied, drawing her mate's muzzle back up close to hers before planting a small kiss on his snout. "Thinking I care about any of that stuff?! Honestly!" The nanny continued, pushing her glasses up slightly as she pawed at one of her eyes.

"B-But Melly, w-?"

"I'm with you because I love you." Melanie cut the billy off, giggling through her tears. "All of you."

Melanie caressed the billy's cheek with a gentle hoof. "The grumpy part, the achy part, the part of you that stumbles, and the part of you that falls."

The nanny flashed her mate a playful smile. "And that part of you that likes to wake me up at night and makes me late for work in the morning..."

Gus managed to muster a weak smile of his own before letting out a choking sob.

"M-Melly!" The goat tried to stifle his laughter as tears continued to flow.

"You do not, and have never dragged me down. Not once." The she-goat continued, placing a finger on her mate's nose and 'booping' it playfully. "And even if you did, like it or not we're a team." Melanie continued, pressing her forehead against Gus' once again. "Whether we're married or not, if you go down you better believe I'm going to be there to catch you. And regardless of what you think of yourself you know damn well you'd do the same for me."

Gus let out a soft whimper. "B-but.."

"You think you don't deserve me?" Melanie continued, wrapping her arms around her mate and pulling him into a hug. "Have you met me?"

Gus chuckled, shaking his head softly as he tried to pull away, but Melanie's grasp was clearly too strong for the billy to escape. Or perhaps, he wasn't really trying. Freeing an arm, the nanny pulled Gus to her side as she began to mimic Gus' previous counting with her now free hoof.

"I'm aggressive, persistent and tenacious to a fault, and have a competitive streak so nasty it would make a professional horse racer blush!"

"Hear, hear!" Ada said, raising her own clump of flowers in agreement. However, the hyena was quick to recoil after drawing Melanie's glare, the large mammal flashing the nanny an uneasy smile before shifting her gaze away.

Melanie shook her head dismissively, letting out a tired sigh.

Gus wiped one of his eyes with a hoof, his sobs withering away more and more behind his laughter.

"Y-you aren't that competitive..."

Melanie drew back from her mate, flashing the billy a dull, half-lidded stare.

"Gus, look at my dress." The she-goat gestured to herself, pulling at some of the torn, stained fabric with her hoof.

"Hell, look at Ada's dress!" She added, stabbing a finger in the direction of the large hyeness.

Glancing back to his sister, Vernon watched her flash the pair a sheepish grin as she adjusted the hem of her battered garment.

"And how many televisions have I had to personally take down to work at the recycling center because I threw a controller through it in a fit of rage over losing a game of Mewrio Kart!?" Melanie added, giving her mate a playful push in the shoulder.

"W-well..." Gus muttered. "M-more than one...I guess..."

"Mine a month ago." Vernon murmured quietly.

Melanie glanced up at the wolf for a moment, offering him a meek, uneasy smile.

"And I'm still sorry about that." Melanie replied weakly before snapping her attention back to the billy still in her grasp.

"I've also got OCD, and I snore, and...and..." Melanie paused, the nanny stumbling over her words as she seemed to be reaching for more negative qualities to add to her resume. Her muzzle moved wordlessly for a moment or two, as if she had simply been hoping that the words would just continue to flow before letting out an irritated sigh as her head slunk into her shoulders. Her attention now fixated on studying the bumps on the surface of the speaker.

"If anyone is too good for anyone in this relationship..." Melanie chuckled. "You're too good for me Gus."

Gus chuckled weakly, shaking his head. "Y-you know that's not true."

"Pft..." Melanie scoffed. "It's more plausible than the other way around."

Gus clasped his mate's hoof with his own, his yellow eyes rising to meet her gaze as she followed his hand.

"Melly..." Gus cooed. "I-I can't give you what you need..."

With that, the she-goat wrapped her arms around the billy, pulling him tightly against herself before pressing her lips against his hard enough to make Gus' eye pop wide in surprise. The shock was brief however, wearing off as the goat gave into the rather passionate kiss. His eyelids fluttered shut as he wrapped his arms around Melanie, meeting the nanny goat in equal vigor. They stayed that way for a few moments before Melanie broke the kiss, drawing back just far enough to still be able to lean her forehead against his.

"You are what I need dummy." Melanie replied, caressing the billy's cheek with hoof. "You are my voice of reason, you are my shoulder to cry on..." The nanny shook her head. "You...you're the reason I can keep getting back up when I stumble and not even think twice...because you're always there to cheer me on."

Melanie rolled her eyes slightly, offering the billy a sly smirk. "You are also what I want most in my life..." The nanny fluttered her eyelashes at her mate, her grin growing playful and mischievous. "And you know how hard I go after the things I want."

Despite his tears, the billy bore a warm smile. His lips quivering as he looked into his mate's eyes with adoration.

"I want to marry you, because I want the world to know that we belong to each other." Melanie said, her smile slipping back into something more warm and genuine. "That we're proud to be together."

The she-goat gestured a hoof in Vernon's direction.

"Just like them." Melanie said, flashing the wolf a knowing smile. Vernon blushed slightly, the wolf rubbing the back of his neck with a paw bashfully.

Gus shook his head. "B-but my health...?" The billy whimpered. "It could get worse...and I-."

"Then I'll take care of you..." Melanie replied with a smile. "Just means I'll have you all the more to myself."

The billy quirked an eyebrow, flashing his mate a curious glare through his tears. "Y-you realize that sounds r-really...err..."

Melanie's swatted a hoof to her forehead, her muzzle tinged red as she broke eye contact with her mate.

"Shush!" Melanie retorted, half chuckling. "That came out wrong okay!?" The she-goat shook her head. "I just meant I like taking care of you, okay?"

Gus swabbed at his eyes with a hoof. "B-but kids Melly, my genetics a-."

The nanny rolled her eyes. "Our kids will be fine Gussy." Melanie cooed. "And if you're really that worried, we'll just adopt."

The billy sniffled softly. "R-really?" Gus shuddered, wiping his eyes with a hoof. "Y-you'd be alright with that?"

"We don't even need to have any." Melanie added, flashing the goat a warm smile. "I just want you Gus."

Gus let out a weak chuckle. Pressing his thumb and forefinger against his closed eyes, the goat leaned on his hoof, lamely swabbing away the tears before drawing his fingers down his snout as he let out a sigh.

"Is that really all you want Melly?" Gus asked, looking back up into his mates eyes.

Melanie smirked. "Well..." The she-goat cooed, lolling her head back slightly as if she were mulling over what to say. "That...and one other thing..."

The she-goat pulled herself closer to her mate, leaning her forehead against his as she stared at him with loving eyes.

"And what's that?" Gus replied.

Melanie's grin widened, the nanny flashing her teeth.

"I want to dance with my mate."

Gus smiled warmly, letting out a sniffling chuckle. "I think I can manage that, I-"

The goat paused, the calm romantic air around him seeming to dissipate suddenly as a look of mild worry overtook his features. The goat drew back from his mate, crooking his head up awkwardly as he scanned the area with a nervous expression. His golden iris darted from the stage, then to Vernon and back again.

"Oh right!" Gus muttered. "I have to Dee-Jay this thing don't I?" The goat muttered, scratching his head.

Glancing back to his mate, the goat winced. "How are we gonna dance if I-?"

Melanie rolled her eyes. "So set up a playlist silly-billy." The she-goat replied, nuzzling up against her mate's snout. "Even without one, it takes what, a few seconds to set up a song a let it play?" Melanie asked, quirking a brow.

Gus rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well, it's not exactly that easy...but..." Gus murmured, rolling his eyes slightly as he seemed to be considering just how to say whatever he was thinking.

"So get what's his name...?" Melanie crooked her head up slightly, her eyes scanning the reception for the mammal she was looking to recall.

"The grey one, over there." The she-goat added, stabbing a weak finger in the direction of Ulric. Thankfully the twitchy grey wolf seemed to be distracted by the shrimp plate, or else Vernon was sure a caprid mammal pointing directly at him would have sent into some sort of panic.

"He doesn't have a date right?" Melanie asked, tilting her head curiously. "He could probably do a fine job as Dee-Jay whi-."

"Eh-heh-heh, I'd prefer y'all didn't pick Ulric, trust me." Vernon was quick to interject, drawing both mammals attention back to him. The wolf glanced sheepishly at his brother as the dusky grey wolf shoved a handful of shrimp in his muzzle before glancing back at his friends. "He may be good with computers...but....er..." The wolf rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "Well, I mean Gus, y'all remember how he is about caprid folk."

Gus merely quirked an eyebrow at the wolf before glancing back in Ulric's direction before a look of surprise overtook his feature, followed quickly by an uncomfortable looking pale under the fur. It clearly hadn't taken long to jog the old billy's memory on exactly which brother Ulric was.

"By the gods..." Gus muttered. "He's the one that tied me up that time, isn't he?"

Melanie quirked a brow curiously. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Among other things." Vernon added. "Which is why I don't think it's such a hot idea to go puttin' a mic in his paws on the day I tithed to a caprid gal, don't y'all agree?"

Gus gave a brisk nod, which only served to further confuse his mate.

"Wait, he tied you up?" The she-goat asked.

"And to add to that point, I don't exactly want to spoil y'all's sweet moment." The wolf muttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "But this is Dawn's weddin'." The wolf shrugged. "Me and my mate got to be the first to share a dance, it's the rules."

Brushing off the look of discomfort, the billy offered his friend a warm smile.

"That's all right..." Gus replied, turning his attention back to the nanny goat still wrapped up in his hooves. "We can wait a little bit longer, can't we Melly?"

Melanie rolled her eyes. The she-goat was trying to look annoyed, letting out an irritated snort. But the smile that kept creeping through her sneer was more than enough to tell everyone around her how she really felt.

"Alright fine..." Melanie snorted, trying to suppress a giggle. "But you have to tell me the story of how you got tied up!"

Gus rolled his eyes. " The first time, or all three times?"

Melanie placed a hoof to her muzzle as she fought to keep the sputtering laugh inside her mouth. "Pft, t-three times!?" The nanny choked between giggling.

Gus shook his head, closing his eyes as he let out a tired sigh.

"I'll tell you up on stage Melly, c'mon." Taking one of her hooves in his, the goat gingerly pulled his mate off the speaker before the pair began to leave. However, Gus only made it about two steps before turning on his heels to face Vernon, the goat glancing up at the wolf curiously.

"Oh, dude." Gus asked with a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "You probably have a song preference for the first dance right?"

Vernon shrugged. "I'm purty sure I know what Dawn wants, unless she told y'all already?"

Gus gestured his hoof lamely. "No, I didn't exactly have time to ask."

"Oh, you should ask her." Melanie interjected, placing a hoof against her mate's chest affectionately. "You don't want to take a chance of getting it wrong tonight of all nights."

Gus grimaced slightly, the goat reeling his head back a bit before lolling it quizzically.

"I'm sure Ver-."

"Nah, she's right." Vernon muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as a light blush formed under his muzzle fur. "I mean...I'm purty sure but..." The wolf winced. "I'd rather be one-hundred percent certain instead of blowin' it this late in the game."

Gus rolled his eyes, doing his best to hide his smirk. "Fair enough." The billy sighed. Crooking his head over his mate slightly, the billy placed a hoof above his eyes as he scanned across the dance floor.

"Is she still getting her tattoo?" The billy asked.

Vernon turned his attention back to the greater reception tent, placing a paw above his eyes in a matching fashion to Gus as he fixed his gaze in the last place he had seen his mate.

On the other side of the hall, Dawn continued to sit, now completely rapt in Dorian's dark and twisted tale of betrayal. He had explained to her what his former friends had been plotting, how it had all connected back to her father's overarching plan for the city, and just how utterly oblivious he had been to even the slightest hint that all of this had been going on behind his back. That up until ZPD investigators had shown up at his office to apprehend his fellow officers, the wolf had been completely and totally unaware of their plot to kill him, along with Zach, Vanna, and any other officer that had gotten in the way.

The whole tale had left the ewe utterly reeling as she tried to process everything the wolf was telling her. It was like as if the ewe was riding an emotional roller coaster. Whipping around from the initial shock, to horrified, to sick to her stomach and burning with ire, before ultimately crashing into a well of tear-filled sorrow that Dorian had matched in an almost surprisingly equal vigor. The wolf had managed to hold back his tears through most of the retelling, a persistent shimmering film covering his steely grey eyes as he forced his way through the painful tale in as stalwart a manner as possible. However, Dorian could stave off his own tears no longer when he revealed to the ewe the prospect of losing his son because of his negligence, and worse yet, the prospect of his wife losing a son and husband because his senses had failed to warn him of his treacherous subordinates. It was in that moment that the dam had simply broken, and the wavering glimmer in his eyes gave way to a steady stream as the wolf gave in to the irrepressible urge to cry.

All the while the ewe had been drawing closer to the older wolf, practically falling off her stool in the process as she found herself pulled deeper and deeper into Dorian's story, as well as his anguish. She now understood exactly why Dorian had behaved the way he had toward her and Vernon when they had first arrived, and while the things that had been said still hurt, she couldn't help but feel a sense of grief and pity for the older mammal. Like her, he had been pushed to the brink, even if it was somewhat self-imposed, and was making decisions out of fear. The only way they had differed was in the way that Dawn had been willing to reach out to those who offered her a paw to help, to draw her back from the pit she had been digging and help her to see reason. But Dorian had retained his pride after losing his sense of self, and that stubborn nature had the wolf pushing anyone looking to try and help away. He was the mammal others relied on, and not the other way around. And that mindset had only forced him to dig himself in that much deeper.

"Y-Yer off the chair again Darlin'..." Dorian muttered, wiping his eye with his free paw.

"O-oh!"

Dawn glanced down to find that she was once again literally on the edge of her seat before quickly scooting back into place, dusting off her gown with a free hoof before offering the wolf a meek, albeit concerned smile.

"I-I'm so so-sorry Dorian." The ewe whimpered, lifting her lenses to swab away her tears.

"Nah..." The wolf murmured, sniffling softly. "The only one who should be sorry fer anythin' tonight is me Dawn."

The wolf let out a somber sigh as the buzzing of the tattoo needle came to an abrupt halt, his steely grey eyes drifting up toward the moon. The pale lighting glimmered off of the stray tears caught in his fur before the wolf swabbed it away with his sleeve.

"I ain't never really been the type of mammal who was...good with expressin' myself." Dorian muttered. "Or admittin' when I've been in the wrong."

The wolf closed his eyes, letting out a slight scoff as he dropped the tattoo gun on the nearby table with a dull clatter. "My Pa...Aldus.." The wolf shook his head. "He was the same way."

Dorian wiped his paws together before letting out a tired sigh. "He was a hard mammal, shaped by workin' the land, and tempered that much more by losin' his mate far too soon, and most of that ended up spillin' over into me."

"D-Dorian..." Dawn murmured. "Wh-wh-?" Dawn paused, the ewe not terribly certain of whether now was a good time to ask about the fate of grandmother Hunter. The wolf was already in a bad enough emotional spot as it was, and to probe any deeper might act as rubbing salt into his wounds. But before the ewe could commit to a choice, the wolf saw fit to answer her unfinished question.

"Childbirth." The white wolf murmured softly. "I never knew her."

"O-oh..." Dawn sniffled softly, lifting her lenses to swab at her eyes. "I-I'm so sorry Dorian..."

The wolf sighed, his eyes shifting downward as he focused his gaze on the ewe's extended hoof. Dawn could feel the washcloth gingerly passing over her tender skin as the wolf continued.

"It's old pain Dawn." Dorian replied. "Long callused over and faded from time." The wolf shook his head dismissively. "But without havin' ma to keep my ol' mam' in check in terms of raisin' me, it was purty easy fer the ol' fella to turn me into a copy of himself." The wolf chuckled weakly. "Even if I wasn't fully aware of it fer the first part of my life."

Dorian scratched his forehead before tossing the washcloth on a nearby table with a wet 'plap'.

"Only mistake he made was makin' me so much like him I saw fit to challenge him when it came to choosin' my future." The wolf laughed. "Not only did I inherit that cold demeanor of his, but his rebellious streak too..." The wolf raised his head, his eyes shifting away from Dawn and off toward the other side of the room. Following his line of sight, Dawn could see her mate standing alongside Ada, the two mammals apparently watching Gus and Melanie having what appeared to be a rather intense discussion.

"A streak that still burns purty strong in the Hunter bloodline today I'd say." The wolf added, chuckling softly as he shot the ewe a knowing glance. Dawn blushed slightly, the ewe shrinking into her shoulders briefly before the wolf's attention shifted up and away from her once again. His eyes back on the glowing orange moon that now hung high in the evening sky as he braced his neck with a paw.

"It took years of bein' a police officer, and a father..." The wolf shook his head, offering the ewe a meek smirk. "And havin' Audey by my side to keep me grounded." The wolf chuckled softly. "To remind me how it ain't a sign of weakness to...open up when I'm hurtin'."

The wolf fixed his steely gaze on the ewe, his sorrowful stare glimmering with a fresh film of hot tears. "To admit when I need another mammal's help and..."

The wolf ran a paw over his eyes, leaning into his palm and taking in a sharp breath of air. It was clear the wolf was trying to keep from breaking into another sob, but his composure having already slipped once, seemed to make it that much harder to keep it from slipping again. Still, the white wolf continued to press forward with what he had to say. "T-to admit when I'm afraid."

Leaning his head back, the wolf let out a long, drawn out sigh as he pressed his arm tightly over his eyes. Dorian let out a single sharp sniffle before dragging his arm free of his face revealed that all his efforts had done little to stem his tears. Twin streams of liquid were now shimmering in the moonlight as they trickled down his fur.

"I was afraid Dawn..." The wolf sniffled sharply once again, following it up with a sigh. "Petrified..." The wolf whined. "An-and now, I'm p-p-petrified all over again."

The ewe titled her head slightly, trying to hold back her own stray sobs as she struggled to understand just what Dorian meant.

"Y-you're still afraid?" Dawn asked, letting out a soft whimper. "O-of what?"

"I-I'm afraid that after all I've done..." The wolf whined. "After how badly I treated y'all th-that, well..." The wolf shook his head, swabbing aggressively at one of his eyes with the palm of his paw. "Y-Ya'll will want nothin' to do with me."

Dawn looked up at her father-in-law, her tear-laced eyes widening in surprise. The ewe couldn't imagine the wolf was still serious, but the expression on his muzzle easily told her the wolf's concerns were entirely genuine.

"I know all this..." The wolf muttered, gesturing with a lazy paw to the general reception hall that surrounded them as he clapped the other tightly over his eyes. "I-It ain't even close to makin' a-amends for how sh-shameful I went an acted, at least in my book."

Dorian dragged his paw across his eyes in a brisk, aggressive motion, giving his left eye one last harsh twist with the palm of his paw before shaking it off to his side. The older wolf offered the ewe a meek, almost pleading grin, and behind the wolf's tears, Dawn could see a glimmer of hopefulness in his eyes.

"But I'm hopin' it's at least enough fer y'all to be willin' to consider given' yer old mam' a chance to put real work into mendin' our relationship?" The wolf spoke, his voice wavering slightly.

"I want y'all to be able to get to know the real Dorian..." The wolf closed his eyes, gritting his teeth slightly as his ears sagged. "Not the cowardly, fearful little welp of a pup you met when y'all first showed up here."

Placing his paws on his knees, the wolf leaned in slightly, cowing more to the ewe's level as he spoke with a soft, sorrowful tone.

"Maybe..." The wold murmured. "If y'all give me enough time..." The wolf shook his head dismissively. "I could earn the right t-to call myself yer pa?"

The wolf rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, his eyes shifting away from Dawn's as he continued.

"M-Maybe I could be the sorta pa y'all never really got to have?" Dorian whimpered, offering the ewe a meek, genuine smile.

Before the white-wolf had a chance to react, the ewe swung her arms around his neck, burying her head into his chest as she pulled him into the tightest hug she could muster.

"O-Oh d-dad..." Dawn sniffled through his tuxedo. "I forgave you the moment Audrey told me what you were trying to do for us..."

The ewe whimpered, rubbing her face harshly into the breast of his jacket as she fought to wipe away the tears that were steady streaming down her muzzle.

It was easy to tell that Dorian hadn't been prepared for her to react that way. His muscles had tensed up sharply the moment she had latched on to him. She could feel the strain and stiffness in his neck and chest as she blubbered into his suit. But slowly, she felt Dorian began to relax, his posture softening as the ewe felt herself sink deeper into his chest. Soon she could feel his arms around her back, returning her powerful hug with a gentle, warm hug of his own.

"T-thank ya D-darlin'..." The wolf sniffled. "I-I promise this ol' l-law dog won't let you down..."

The wolf's admission made the ewe squeeze him all the more tightly, that was until...

"OW!"

Dawn drew back suddenly, pulling out of the wolf's hug to inspect the powerful burning sensation on her hoof only to find much to her embarrassment she had almost completely forgotten about the fresh tattoo etched into her palm. The ewe shook her hoof feverishly, trying to use the air around her to give her some degree of relief from the sting as she looked back up to her father-in-law.

The wolf was blushing slightly, averting his gaze in a guilty manner as he offered the ewe a sheepish grin.

"I-I woulda warned ya if I er..." Dorian chuckled. "I knew y'all was gonna give me a bear hug."

Dawn sighed, tilting her head down and giving it a dismissive shake. "I guess I should have taken the whole...'distraction' part of what you said more seriously..." The ewe replied, with a dull chuckle.

"Well it's done its job anyway." The wolf smirked, giving one last lame paw at the lingering tears in his eyes before bracing his hips with both paws and puffing his chest out with some semblance of pride. "So I'd say it all worked out in the end."

"Wait, wh-" Turning her hoof back over to inspect her palm, the ewe was shocked to find that her mark was completely filled in. The smooth red contours of the empty full moon marking now flushed with a bold crimson that surrounded the circle as well as filled in the half that she was meant to represent. Her half of her and Vernon's whole. Somehow, despite how passionate the wolf had gotten in his retelling, even breaking into tears toward the end, Dorian hadn't stopped working. Perfectly , precision lines, with not a drop of ink out of place.

Dawn looked back to her father-in-law in shock.

"H-How..." The ewe shook her head. "How did you even-!?"

The wolf flashed the ewe a cheesy, confident smile.

"That's gonna have to remain a trade secret Darlin'." The wolf chuckled. "Least till y'all and Vern got some pups of yer own to worry about. Got to make sure y'all come back to the ranch every once and while now don't I?"

Dawn smiled, this more carefully placing her arms around the white wolf's neck before pulling him for a hug.

"T-thanks Dad." The ewe whimpered. "I-It's just....wonderful..." Dawn sighed.

"I'm glad y'all like it." The wolf replied. "Now let me get some ointment and gauze on that so ya-"

"Ah, I see how it is."

Dawn quirked her head up enough to peer over the arm currently wrapped around her father toward the source of the voice. Now beside the pair stood Vernon, the wolf's paws on his hips as he eyed the two mammals with a smirk.

"I leave y'all alone fer five minutes and yer already makin' moves on my gal huh?" The wolf said with a laugh.

Dawn immediately drew back from her hug, blushing sharply as she swatted at her mate with her 'safe' hoof.

"Veeeernon!" She whined.

Dorian chuckled in response, flashing his son a dull stare.

"Son, if I was into mutton, y'all wouldn't even be here right now." Dorian replied, flashing the pair a sly smirk as he gestured to Vernon's side. Glancing toward the gap, Dawn could see Audrey, Clover, and Vanna approaching.

"And what's this now?" Clover asked, adjusting her frames quizzically. "I heard the _'m'_word."

Dorian laughed. "Yes y'all did."

Vernon groaned. "Be thankful you didn't hear the rest of it."

The white wolf laughed before gesturing Dawn to extend her hoof again. With the tattoo process now over, the ewe was less reluctant to simply stick her hoof out, and the wolf gingerly took it in his once more, his eyes remaining fixed on the group of mammals now building around them.

"Now mister Hunter, just because your family has married into mine does not give you the right to start bandying about the 'm' word carte blanche."

Vernon chuckled. "Shoot..." The wolf muttered. "Then what was the point?"

"Ver-OHH!" Dawn was interrupted in her scolding by the icy chill of ointment being dribbled into her palm. The salve felt so startlingly cold against her searing hot skin that it sent chills up her spine.

"Ugh....yer right Floofs..." Vernon continued, rubbing the back of his neck with a paw uneasily. "That was lame...even fer me."

"I dare say..." Gus interjected, him and Melanie now appearing at the wolf's other side. "That was a dad joke, my friend."

Vernon looked down at his friend in abject horror.

"W-what? N-Naw that weren't that ba-"

"It begins..." Dorian chuckled darkly, wriggling his fingers in the direction of his son cryptically before gingerly rubbing the cold salve into the ewes palm. "Muhahahaha...It begins!" The white wolf barked.

"Oh no." Vernon murmured, placing his paws to his muzzle in mock fear. "I've only been tithed fer less than an hour and..."

"Dad-joke-itus spreads quickly in this family son." Audrey laughed, nudging her son playfully in his side. "Yer father made his first real cheeser just minutes after our tithing ceremony kiss."

"NooOOOooo..." Vernon howled weakly, placing his paws to his cheeks in an over-dramatic display that had Dawn giggling.

"Search your feelings..." Melanie said with a smirk, making her voice as deep and dramatic as possible as she matched Dorian's previous hand motions with her hooves. "You know it to be true." The nanny chuckled, Gus quickly joining along with her.

"I guess I'm done bein' cool huh?" Vernon chuckled.

"Oh Vern, we were never cool." Gus replied, shaking his head dismissively as his laughter trailed into a pleasant sigh. "We just get perpetually less cool with age."

"Tell me about it." Dorian replied, carefully placing a few strips of gauze over Dawn's palm.

"Anyhow..."Dorian chuckled. "Why are all ya'll crowdin' my workspace? Can't ya'll wait till I tell y'all I'm done before-?"

"I-" Vernon spoke, holding up a finger. "Wanted to check on my mate."

With that, the wolf leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on Dawn's cheek which caused the ewe to recoil in a fit of giggling.

Rising again, the wolf gestured to the goats at his side.

"And, Gus is here to make sure he knows what song to play fer..." The wolf blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Our first dance together..."

The ewe's blush only deepened has she turned to face the pair of goats, the ewe covering her muzzle as she tried to refrain from letting out a girlish giggle. Like everything else she had planned out for her dream wedding, first dance song choices had been something she had devoted a great degree of thought to. She had initially worked from a large pool of favorites and whittled them down to a few select choices that would have hopefully fit the atmosphere and circumstances of whoever her dream mate turned out to be, or a reflection of their life together. And while she had never before pictured a groom quite like Vernon, there was only one song that sang in her heart for him.

Dawn gestured for Melanie to lean in close, and the nanny obliged, lifting an ear as Dawn placed her bandaged hoof by her muzzle to obscure her mouth from everyone else as she whispered her request.

"A Suri Nicks fan huh?" Melanie chuckled. "You're not the only one."

Dawn could see Vanna's ears perk at the mention of their shared musical idol, a look of excitement overtaking the mammal's usually stoic features.

"What did you pick!?" Vanna barked, almost as excitedly as Qali would have.

Dawn shook her head, placing a hoof to her muzzle as she averted her gaze coyly.

"You'll see..." The ewe uttered with a small smirk.

Vernon watched as the she-goat whispered to her mate, and in response, the little billy nodded before turning his attention to the groom.

"See you on the dance floor buddy." Gus chuckled, and with that, the pair of goats took their leave. The duo making their way toward the stage.

"I hope y'all got whatever it is with ya." Dori called out to the goats with a laugh. "No way we're gonna be able to fetch a CD from anywhere now!"

Gus turned his head, letting out an amused scoff as he raised his phone into the air, waggling it playfully in the wolf's line of sight.

"Pft..." The billy snorted. "We're in the age of the internet ol' timer! I can find anything in two seconds." The goat snickered. "CD's, honestly..."

"Old timer eh..." The wolf grumbled, glowering at the billy. Gus' smug grin quickly withered into a rather nervous smile before the goat quickly turned his attention back toward the stage as he and Melanie seemed to double their step.

"Speakin' of dancin'..." Audrey cooed, reaching a paw out to Dorian and grasping his paw. With a heft, the she-wolf pulled him out of his seat in one swift motion, the wolf letting out a laugh as Audrey took his other paw in hers.

"I wanna dance with my mate." Audrey cooed, bobbing her eyebrows as she let out a rather seductive sounding growl. Dawn could see Vernon visibly cringe in disgust for a moment before donning a more irritated expression.

"Hey, hey, hey!" The wolf barked. Holding up an arm, the wolf drew back his sleeve, exposing the friendship bracelet the two had traded at the altar in lieu of rings.

"Again, this here's Dawn and me's night." The wolf snapped. "Y'all gotta wait yer turn!"

Dawn, glancing at her own bracelet, couldn't help but recall that she had never gotten an answer from her mother as to just how they had snuck the bracelet from her and Vernon before the ceremony. And, if there was ever a time to ask, she supposed now was a good one.

Raising her arm, the ewe gingerly dangled her bracelet in the direction of Audrey, Vanna, and her mother.

"You know, I never got an answer of exactly how you guys got these away from us in the first place." Dawn murmured.

Vernon quirked a curious eyebrow before turning his attention to the mammals at his side.

"Yeah, exactly when did y'all pilfer our personal property ma?" The wolf asked, his tone laced with sarcasm.

Breaking her grip on Dorian, Audrey gave Vernon a playful slap.

"Oh hush!" Audrey tutted. "Y'all know it weren't like that."

"Wouldn't hold up in a court o' law." Dorian added, receiving a slap of his own which only served to make the white wolf laugh.

"Well, it was mine and Audrey's idea actually." Clover chimed in, drawing Vernon's attention down.

Clover offered the wolf a sheepish smile. "Although Vanna was the real hero here..."

Glancing up at her sister-in-law, Dawn could see the hint of a blush forming under her muzzle fur as the tigress averted her gaze from the group.

"She snuck into your room while you both were asleep and snatched them out of your bags." Clover continued, which only cause the large feline to shrink deeper into her shoulders in clear embarrassment.

"So that's why my duffle's zipper was undone this mornin'!" Vernon replied, placing a paw to his forehead.

"Your's too!?" Dawn asked excitedly. "I thought I just forgot but-"

"Sweet sawgrass." The wolf muttered, running the paw on his head back through his tuft of hair. "I didn't even he-!" Vernon shook his head. "I mean, we didn't eve-!"

Vanna winced softly, the tigress' piercing yellow eyes downcast as she rubbed the back of her head uncomfortably.

"T-training..." Vanna muttered. "B-Back when I w-was on the ZPD I...m-may have taken some...eh...stealth training classes."

Dorian chuckled. "Some?" The wolf laughed. "By Oldwyn's great grey muzzle if that's 'takin' a few classes', I'd love to meet the Vanna who took the full course."

"I guess they don't call 'em cat burglars fer nothin'." Vernon muttered, earning a nudge and a glare of disapproval from Dawn as Vanna's wince deepened in response.

"Before everything went down the way it did in Zootopia, my superiors were talking about moving me over to Sahara Square's tactical division..." The tigress shrugged uncomfortably. "So I had to take classes until I chose to drop all of it in favor of transferring out here."

Dorian puffed out his chest proudly. "And the North Meadowlands Police Department thanks ya'll fer makin' the right choice Darlin'." The wolf chuckled, only for Audrey to roll her eyes in response.

"I'm sorry D-Dawn." The tigress stammered. "I-I mean they were going to do it anyway, and it was either me or Qali and she can't stay quiet to save her life and-!"

"Thank you Vanna." Dawn cut the increasingly panicked tiger off mid-ramble, offering the large feline a reassuring smile. "It really made the ceremony perfect."

The large feline's blush seemed to deepen, so much so that it was surely visible to everyone, and in a clear effort to hide it Vanna simply spun on her heels, turning her back to face the rest of the group.

"Y-You're welcome g-guys." The feline murmured softly.

"Ladies and gentlemam's..." Gus' voice cut through the murmuring mammal's conversations like a knife, drawing the attention of every mammal in the vicinity. The speakers loud and blaring as the goat seemed to be working the volume dials behind the monitors on stage. There was a sharp whine of feedback, followed by a buzzing that caused some of the assembled wolves to let out whines of pain before the billy seemed to get a grasp on the controls. Taking a moment to dab his brow, the billy let out a sigh.

"If I may have your attention please..." The billy continued, adjusting his bowtie nervously. By now all the eyes in the audience were on him, Dawn, Vernon, the Hunters, everyone was watching the twitching billy as he stood behind the stage gear, and for a moment, the ewe was sure she could hear an audible gulp sound over the microphone.

"Don't faint...don't faint." Dawn could hear the billy murmur quietly, Gus swaying slightly as he stood at the microphone. The goat held like that for a few moments before looking off to his side nervously.

"Melly, help me here..." The goat whimpered.

"Really?" Dawn could hear Melly laugh in the distance before she caught sight of the nanny approaching the mic. Taking a stance next to Gus, Melanie wrapped an arm around the billy in what looked like an effort to keep him from running off. "You did wonderful before silly-billy, and you're freezing up now?"

"I-It's been an emotional big day okay!" Gus laughed weakly, running a hoof through his tuft of head fur. "I'm kinda exhausted..."

Gus flashed the nanny a meek smile, which only seemed to earn a sigh from his mate. Melanie kissed the billy's forehead before turning her attention back to the crowd of mammals.

"First things first." Melanie announced. "Let's congratulate the bride and groom on their big day!"

Dawn watched as the rest of the family erupted in a mixture of claps and howls. Some of the brothers pumping their fists in the air, while others pounded their tables so hard the ewe could hear the silverware clatter from across the field.

"Alright, alright..." Melanie chuckled. "Down guys." The nanny raised a hoof, holding it flattened in the air before drawing it down slowly. As she did, most of the howls began to fade, and the clattering fell silent. After a few moments, only a few of the Hunters continued to howl, the ones driven by instinct over situational awareness. But they were quickly silenced by their mates, some more harshly than others. Out of the corner of her eye, Dawn saw Yuri slap Ulric in the back of the head to get him to stop, and had to stifle a giggle.

"Now, the toasts will come later of course, of course..." Melanie continued, rolling her hoof lazily. "I'm sure we're all looking forward to tearing into the buffet."

A few more hoots and hollers came from the crowd.

"And how 'bout a hoof for the chef huh?" Melanie added, flashing the group a smile. "Please try to keep howling to a minimum this time."

Applause erupted again as Dawn turned her attention in the direction of the buffet table, where Malcolm was still hard at work moving dishes around and keeping the entrees heated. The wolf had seemingly stopped for a moment to dry his brow with an arm, only to be caught off guard by the attention and blushing slightly in response. The russet wolf scratched back of his head awkwardly waving back at the other members of the family with a grin. From somewhere among the brothers Dawn heard Xavier cry out.

"That's my Gingersnap up there!"

"Xavey! Huuush!" The russet wolf flicked a paw bashfully, presumably in the direction of his mate.

As the crowd grew quiet again, allowing Malcolm some degree of apparent relief, Melanie continued.

"Anyway, lets cut through the fat so my darling mate can take a little breather before we cut a rug ourselves." Melanie pulled her mate in tighter, flashing the nervous looking billy a mischievous smile. "And ask the bride and groom to step on out to the dance floor and share..." The nanny paused, seemingly for dramatic effect.

"Their very first dance as mister and misses Hunter-Bellwether!"

Once again the mammals surrounding Dawn and Vernon erupted in a mixture of howls and applause. Glancing up to her mate, Vernon offered her a warm, albeit meek smile. The ewe couldn't exactly place her hoof on it, but there was something slightly off about his expression. A hint of reluctance, or some sort of nervousness behind his eyes? Dawn couldn't be entirely sure, and the ewe didn't have much time to think it over before the wolf extended a paw out to her, kneeling to the ewe's level and effectively hiding his face for the moment in a bow.

"Misses Hunter-Bellwether." The wolf cooed, rolling his fingers playfully and drawing a giggle from the petite ewe. Offering her 'safe' hoof to the wolf, Vernon gingerly helped her off the stool before rising to his feet and turning toward the floor.

The mammals nearest to them shifted further to the side as Vernon began to lead the ewe out to the floor, the lights in the tented reception hall growing dim as they neared the center of the worn, beaten down soil in the center where the grass was the most sparse.

Coming to a stop center stage, the lights went completely dark, save for a single spotlight that was now directed down onto the pair. The rest of the hall barely illuminated by the faint casting of the autumn moonlight, turning the assembled family members into little more than a faded mesh of dark forms as they looked onward in silence. For a moment, Dawn heard little more than the autumn wind as it rustled across the grass. The bristling of the gusts causing the edges of the canopy to flap ever so gently. But as she listened carefully, she could hear faint whine just barely audible above the air. A nervous whimper that seemed to be coming from her mate.

"Vernon?" Dawn cooed, tugging at her mates paw gingerly.

Slowly Vernon turned around, the wolf's head hung in what seemed to be shame as he knelt to the ewe's level.

"O-Oh Puppy...." Dawn murmured, placing a hoof to the wolf's cheek."Your ears are all droopy..." The ewe said sweetly.

The wolf let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"Floofs..." Vernon murmured, rubbing the back of his head with a paw. "N-Now would probably be a terrible time to a-admit that I er..."

Dawn stepped closer, placing a hoof under the wolf's chin and drawing his head up to meet his gaze. The strange glimmer she had noticed behind his eyes just moments had completely given way to an uneasy, nervous expression. The wolf bit his lip as his eyes darted from side to side uneasily.

"Admit what Puppy?"

The wolf let out a mournful whimper, his eyes drifting to the dirt beneath their feet.

"I-I never really..." The wolf murmured. "Learned how to dance."

Dawn blinked dumbly for a few moments before drawing back from her mate in slight confusion.

"Y-you-?" Dawn stuttered. "Never learned?" The ewe asked, trying her best to hide a rising bemused smirk from making it's way to her muzzle.

The wolf let out a soft, mournful whine.

"I ain't never went to prom." The wolf shook his head. "I never even planned fer it...so there was no reason to learn..." Vernon sighed. "Me and Gus played Beasts and Battlefields that night instead."

Dawn had to stifle a giggle, doing her best to hide her amusement from her mate.

"H-How am I supposed to make yer first dance special iffin' I-..." The wolf murmured.

Placing a hoof to the wolf's cheek, Dawn tried to draw the wolf's gaze back onto her.

"But you were all like 'I gotta dance with my mate first'!?" Dawn said with a giggle. "You seemed so confident!"

The wolf offered a meek shrug.

"Heck I 'unno..." The wolf mumbled. "I guess I thought once I got out here I'd just take to it like a fish to water" Vernon rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Bu-But I don't wanna ruin our big night by havin' two left feet..." The wolf shook his head dismissively. "Maybe if we had time, I coulda learned to-."

Dawn placed a finger to the wolf's lips, stopping him mid-ramble.

"Shhh..." The ewe reassured, caressing her mate's cheek. "I'll teach you Puppy."

Vernon's eyes finally met her's the wolf's ears lolling at different angles as he eyed his mate quizzically.

"Teach me?" Vernon asked. "Like now?"

Dawn chuckled. "Slow dancing isn't that hard Puppy love..."

With that the ewe took a step back, gesturing for the wolf to rise to his feet. Reluctantly, Vernon slowly rose to a standing position, albeit a cowed one. The wolf still clearly embarrassed at his lack of dancing prowess. Still, Dawn pressed him forward, reaching her arms upward toward him.

"Just take my hooves." Dawn assured, flicking her fingers as she awaited her mate's grasp. "Keep your eyes on me, and follow my feet."

Gingerly taking her hooves in his, both mammals taking extra care not to harm the tender tattooed palms on their alternating palms, Vernon offered the ewe a nervous smile.

"Well..." The wolf replied, rolling his eyes sarcastically. "Weren't like I was gonna be lookin' anywhere else."

Over the quiet ambiance of the autumn evening, the first few soft strums of an acoustic guitar rang out over the speakers, soon joined by the sultry tone of the ewe's favorite llama songstress Suri Nicks. "Crystal". It was one of Dawn's absolute favorites, a song that would make her heart flutter every-time she heard it. Much in the same way looking into those deep green eyes of her mate was making her heart flutter right now. If there had ever been a more perfect song for this moment, the ewe was at a loss to think of one.

'Do you always trust your first initial feeling...'

"Left together..." The ewe guided, swaying softly with her mate. "Right together..."

'Special knowledge holds truth bears believing'

Vernon's first few steps were shaky, almost clumsy. But to Dawn, it seemed more like nerves than anything else.

"L-left together..." The wolf muttered quietly.

'I turned around'...

"Left together..." Dawn hummed, smiling up at her mate reassuringly. "Right together.

'And the water was closing all around...'

"Left together..." Vernon muttered, a rising confidence in his tone as the wolf matched his movements with hers. "Right together."

"That's right Puppy..." Dawn cooed.

'Like a glove ...'

"J-just like that?" The wolf asked, offering the ewe a small smile.

Dawn nodded softly. "Just like that." The ewe giggled softly. "See Puppy Love, you're a natural."

'Like the love that had finally, finally found me...'

The wolf's confidence rose quickly, his strides growing smoother and more elegant with each pass as the ewe's directions grew quieter and quieter. And with the fading instruction, the ewe was able to lose herself more and more in the actual moment. In the scene, the feeling. Looking into her mates adoring eyes, she could feel he heart swelling within her chest.

'Then I knew...'

The butterflies were back as Vernon's trepidation slipped away, exchanged for a warm and adoring smile that sent shivers down her spine.

'In the crystalline knowledge of you... '

"A-and you were nervous..." Dawn cooed weakly.

"Mhh-hmm..." The wolf replied, his tone low and gravely. His eyelids drifting to half-mast as he stared into her own. She was putty in his paws.

'Drove me through the mountains...'

Dawn felt weightless, as if she were merely drifting across the autumn winds itself as the pair swiveled under the spotlight. Dancing up and down the stray leaves as they blustered across the floor. In her haze, it took the ewe a few moments to realize that her feeling of flight had been grounded in reality. At some point she had risen to Vernon's eye-line, and a quick glance downward had shown her that the wolf had lifted her into his arms. One paw still clasped to her hoof while the other arm held her up near his chest, inviting her to lean upon it.

'Through the crystal-like clear water fountain...'

"Are you sure you don't know how to dance?" The ewe asked dubiously.

The wolf chuckled, planting a ginger kiss on the tip of her snout.

"I think I got it down Floofs..." Vernon said with a smirk. "Y'all said it yerself...I'm a natural."

The ewe let out a soft giggle.

'Drove me like a magnet...'

"Just enjoy the ride Honey Lamb..." Vernon cooed softly. "I know I will."

'To the sea...'

Leaning her head against his breast, the ewe let out an amorous sigh as the world danced around her. The low shimmering lights swirling like stars in the darkness. Beyond them, she could just barely make out the faces of their friends and family. Of her mother, of Audrey, of Dorian. Their warm smiles and shimmering tears reflected in the pale lighting of the moonlight.

'To the sea...'

"I love you Dawn..." Vernon cooed sweetly, lifting the ewe slightly in order to nuzzle her.

Behind her lenses, hot tears now steadily flowed as she stared back into her mates eyes. Lifting her glasses, the ewe weakly pawed at one of her eyes.

"I love you Vernon..."

Their lips met, and the butterflies were set loose throughout her whole body. Her skin tingling with electricity as she leaned into her mate's kiss. After everything she had been through, they had been through. Somehow, someway, fate had sought put to draw them here. To place them in this perfect moment. A moment in which Dawn could only wish to live in for all eternity.

With great reluctance, the ewe broke the connection to her mate, leaning her forehead gingerly against his own and closing her eyes in an effort to fully savor the moment. To etch this vision, the experience in her memories so that she would never, ever forget this night, under the glow of the harvest moon...

'To the sea...'