Golden Glade the walls you hide behind

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Astik draws in a deep breath. The Golden Glade is not yet theirs — at least not in an official way, he thinks — but he feels both confident and safe enough to explore around the territory. The shadow Larksong moves easy through the maples though his movements are a bit awkward as he is big (and has only realized that he seemingly grows taller and heavier by the day) but his paws are disproportionate and (yet) too big for him. He will be a colossal, a titan when he is full grown, it is evidenced already and not hard to imagine: a tank. Astik does not like being away from Tapat but he knows his brother is safe under the watchful eye of whatever parent is with him. He is Tapat’s shield, his sword. His protector. The rook to his brother’s king; but Astik has yet to fully explore the Golden Glade in all it’s glory: to see what made the wolves of the Court stand and fall beneath the conquering of his parents and the followers they had amassed during their travels.

The air is growing warmer and though he is not sure he thinks that they might be in Spring soon. He has never experienced Spring before but he has heard of it and is looking forward to the colors of it, to the return of life …whatever that meant. He is content to think that he will soon know and focuses his attention back upon exploring.

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He hadn't contributed in any way to settling the territory as theirs. It wasn't just that the whole thing made him uncomfortable—which it did, more with each passing day—but Tambourine was still adjusting to life sans his toes, not to mention Stark and the rest of the marauders. Weeks had passed and yet the youth felt like it was only yesterday that he'd discovered the pack's abrupt disappearance. As the weather grew warmer, he felt an itch beneath his skin, urging him to get out there and find Stark's trail, somehow. He knew it was improbable, maybe even impossible, that he should ever find the answers he sought. But, damn it, Tambourine wanted to give it his best shot. He owed Stark that much.

But if Silas didn't want to come with him, Tambourine wasn't sure he could go. He was hard-pressed to separate from his best—and perhaps only—friend in the entire world, not to mention the fact that Tambourine wasn't sure he could survive entirely on his own. He supposed that if Silas refused to accompany him, he would at least ask the other boy about considering another pack. He wasn't sure he could stomach staying here in the glade; there were too many negative associations here. And he knew of at least two promising offers from other packs. Heston's and Charon's words still echoed dully in his head.

He went looking for his closest companion today, moving inward from where he stayed on the glade's outskirts. But instead of finding Silas, he crossed paths with one of Reek's and Jhala's boys, the darker one. Tambourine managed a sort of careworn smile for the pup, slowing down to a stop to say, "Hello," even if he had important business elsewhere.

Even with all of his efforts to grasp merrily onto some kind of routine to soothe his worries, he still felt like he was only going through the motions in a strange, stagnant haze. Always tired, restless, and just feeling off, Silas was running thin on excuses he could feed to himself when each day passed and nothing really changed in his grand scheme. He still sometimes felt bitter about what had happened to the Keep, and regretful that he did not go with Harlyn and Larkspur in the first place -- among other things. Now, he had to figure out where his place was supposed to be and Silas couldn't even bear to look long.

Anyway, his hunts for the afternoon had been failures again with him outrun by each rabbit and never actually finding anything else besides them to chase before motivation ran out. He had turned his nose towards the center of the Glade with defeat lingering overhead, but telltale signs of Tambourine's recent pathway through diverted his focus quickly. With nothing else to pull him forward, he went after his friend.

Naturally when he finally came upon them, he noticed Tambourine first and the younger wolf was very much an afterthought that he'd not prepared for yet. Silas tensed his stretched-out walk when he saw the dark half of Reek and Jhala's brood here (wondering if he was as peculiar as his brother..), and moved to his friend's side with a soft greeting: "Hey." He tried to force a vaguely friendly outward appearance as he eased into this conversation, although really just felt residual grumpiness from earlier mixed with apologetic for potentially interrupting something.

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The rook gave pause as he hears approaching footfalls, his dark ears swiveling to the sides before they push forth atop his crown, attentive. His amber gaze flickers from his path to the figure as it appears and Astik is met with vague recognition. He doesn’t know Tambourine per say but he knows his face and his name, at least. “Hello,” Astik returns the greeting, his own lips twitch into a soft smile for the older boy. Astik abruptly faces the realization that he does not know any of his pack mates in the familiar way that he knows Tapat and his own parents and is struck with a slow creep of guilt. He spends much of his time with Tapat, as he believes his brother needs him to be a caregiver, a guide but Astik thinks in that moment as his ears slick back against his skull that he cannot ignore every one else. It would be wise to know the wolves that would, one day, make up Goldenglade. Especially if he was going to trust them around Tapat. Just as Astik opens his mouth to speak, a second older boy appears, also recognized by name and face but by little else. “Tambourine and Silas, right?” Astik asks them with a slight cant of his head and a wave of his tail against his hocks. “I’m Astik.” He offers in case they happened to get him and Tapat confused — though the rook has trouble considering how anyone could get them confused as they looked pretty different to one another, but still it seems a courteous thing to do nevertheless. “Are you guys exploring the Glade, too?” He asks because …well… he isn’t sure what else to ask and does not want to seem rude. Seeing as he socializes mostly with Tapat only he isn’t quite sure how to talk to others and accordingly is left feeling a little awkward.

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There was barely time for Astik to react before Silas came sidling up alongside Tambourine. The hoary youth waved his tail, always glad to see his friend but especially happy to have run into him now, seeing as he really needed to talk to him. Of course, he didn't want to ignore Astik or make him feel left out, so it would have to wait a few moments longer.

"No," Tambourine answered honestly, "I was actually looking for Silas. Looks like he found me, which isn't surprising." He threw the tracker a fond smirk before his pale eye slid back to the younger, darker male. "Yeah, you can call me Tam if you want." He gave the boy a friendly smile, though there was a touch of sadness to it too. They were intended to be pack mates, yet honestly Tambourine barely felt a connection with any of the wolves here, outside of Silas.

"Is what what you're doing? Exploring?" he asked in the next breath before, much more quietly mouthing to Silas, "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Silas knew next to nothing about the youth and already intended to use Tambourine as a bit of a buffer in this situation. Puppies still made him wary, as much as he hated to admit it. This one seemed to toe the line between too young for Silas to even go near and almost on the cusp of his.. not-quite-so-puppyhood. So far, though, things seemed alright. Astik was apparently friendly enough and Silas could try to let him make a favorable impression, his age notwithstanding hopefully.

He gave a sheepish little smirk when Tambourine explained, and veiled a quick compliment of his tracking in -- the cause of his quirked lips, of course. But he settled soon after with a nod. "Yep," he said, for indeed, he was Silas. "I was hunting a bit, but it wasn't working out very well...so, now I'm not really doing anything particular.." he shrugged and gestured vaguely to say now I'm here, not that it was overwhelmingly relevant to him. Exploring worked for a new distraction though, and was a good title for otherwise just wandering around. "Have you done much exploring yet?" he asked of the dark juvenile, tailing in on what Tambourine said just before he had to address something that made him curious.

Silas answered Tam with a nod and a questioning squint starting to take shape. Knowing he had been looking for him, it felt natural to wonder: should he be.. worried?

Posting out of order with Torvi's permission. This will be my last post and I welcome you two to PP Tambourine for the remainder of the thread. :) <3

Especially since Silas seemed interested in perpetuating conversation with the other boy, Tambourine decided it could wait a little bit longer. Lowering his voice even more, he added, "It can wait until after..." He trailed off as he gestured in Astik's direction. He might not feel close to the pup, yet he didn't actively dislike him and didn't want to be some sort of jerk. The young adult turned to face Silas fully, exchanging a silent look with him, before turning back to Astik with a small smile playing about his lips.

"We can explore with you if you want, Astik," Tambourine said companionably. He had a brief flashback to his brief relationships with the younger pups of the Keep and it caused a sudden and inexplicable rush of affection for the near-stranger in front of him. He took a step toward Astik, motioning for Silas to follow suit. "Where's—" he began to ask conversationally, only to realize he forgot the other pup's name. "—your brother?" he finished after an awkward pause, feeling a little bad.

He supposed it didn't matter much. He would set aside the guilt, as well as the brief feeling of fondness for Astik. Because as soon as he could pull Silas aside, Tambourine would tell the yearling that he didn't think he could stay here any longer. He either wanted to find another pack—Silver Creek, perhaps, or possibly Moonspear—or even strike out in search of the remnants of Marauder's Keep. He would stay if Silas absolutely insisted but Tambourine had come to the conclusion that this was not his home and that he could never be happy here in Golden Glade.