Thanks for starting! <3
Some days, the pups' growing independence meant more work to keep them in check - even as an eye from the shadows - but today Nanook took an all out break. Their ranks had grown in the past month, to fill with many who took to Desna's brood with the warmth of any blood-relative. Nanook had met their arrival with a watchful caution, but none seemed double-minded, and she trusted them enough to step away from her duties and enjoy some time alone for once. In quietness. In peace.
Only, Nanook found with the increase of members, she could barely find places that remained private very long. The sound of footfalls crunched not far from where she rested, and they stopped. She shifted, and peered up. Through the trees, the stormy woman glimpsed a tall, creamy shape taking refuge in like manner. She considered, momentarily, of letting him to himself, but the past four months, her world had exploded into nothing but pups, and her mind craved for conversation with someone more or less her age.
So she rose, and dawdled a moment before she approached, taking a circular approach so as to meet the man from the front. Nanook recognized his scent more than his face, and she paused before him.
"Mawk." How did wolves invite themselves into each other's space? Uhh -
"Are you accepting company?" That seemed appropriate enough.
He appeared receptive, and a score of satisfaction filled her chest. One point for Nanook on the social scale! She tipped her head in thanks and moved to settle in the space he gestured, pleased at the small win, approaching to sit down - and realized she hadn't much clue where to go from there. She knew in theory what to do, having followed many threads of small talk in her favourite past time of wolf-watching, but having to engage in that herself...
Besides, wasn't this Mawk the man whose family had all but disappeared? Any thread of trivial conversation seemed insensitive to her - but having gone through much the same herself, Nanook didn't know if bringing his situation up was something he'd appreciate, either. Was silence better? Her thoughts rattled, and she shifted, and finally said, "I'm sorry," deciding it best to be frank with him, "I'm not very good at starting out conversation."
She was usually fine with silence, having barely spoken a word for a better part of her life. But the quiet they shared was something altogether restless, perhaps because for once, the silence was unintentional. She caught herself flinching at Mawk’s sudden catch and clenched her jaw, ears splayed awkward atop her head.
He seemed to recover - but she couldn’t say the same for herself. “I don’t remember.” Had she even been here in the spring? Nanook furrowed her brow. Honestly, that part of her life seemed such a blur ago, and the wolf she remembered herself to be was so surreal it was like she hadn’t really been here at all. “I didn't often see the place in the daylight.”
No worries! <3 Take the time you need! (:
“Yes.” She replied with quick certainty, but caught herself and clarified,
“was.” Her gaze shifted to the sunken-kissed sky, and she recalled the night - the way the stars and the auroras danced. The world have been hers in the glow of the celestials, the moon her light and Polaris her guide. A wistful softness entered her eyes. She saw them still, but with sight often worn from the day, and a voice only able to whisper goodnight.
”Desna needs me here, in the day.” She sighed with the longing, but not from malcontent. The work of keeping the pups in-line exhausted her, but they gave her life more meaning than the stars ever had.