Redhawk Caldera bone palace ballet

She'd been quiet in the days of first joining but she'd had trouble breaking the barrier between those she knows and those she doesn't. Her headaches have reduced but they still serve as a reminder. The bright sun causes an ache in the back of her eyes and she quickly finds somewhere shaded to hide away. The cold still stiffens her joints and doesn't offer much relief as she hunkers down near the mountain. West finds reprieve beneath the shade of a few low branch trees. 

The woman rustles around until there's an opening in the snow that'll give her a chance to rest comfortably without getting too wet or cold. It'll offer a suitable enough place to sleep long term, cornered between the stone and trees. Eventually, she drifts off to sleep.

In the time since the snow had been removed from the entrance of the cavern, Elwood had been somewhat withdrawn, only spending time with his closest family members. He had a lot on his mind: not only was he finally able to process the news Finley had shared about Lucy, but he had quickly realized that Gannet hadn't returned after the cave in. While this was concerning, he also knew that Gannet was a young adult; his brother, Whip, had dispersed some time ago, so perhaps Gannet just felt that it was his opportunity to do the same.

However, despite all that Elwood was constantly thinking of, he had a set of duties as Alpha male that he couldn't abandon. He was on his way to the borders to refresh the markings at the edge of their territories when he came across an unfamiliar scent. At first, he bristled, but then he remembered that he had given Raven permission to accept a newcomer. Perhaps this was the she-wolf he had heard of only by word of mouth. He tracked her until he found her sleeping beneath the low-hanging boughs of a few trees. Not wanting to wake her, he hesitated for a moment before beginning to amble away, paws crunching softly in the snow.

have an awkward post?

West has always been a light sleeper, more than when she has no outside influence to deepen her slumber, so when another approaches, her eyes flutter open. When she’s finally taken a few seconds to clear her vision, she sees the other begin to walk away without disturbing her. He seems unfamiliar but his scent is overwhelmingly known just by being in the caldera. The way he holds himself seems important but he had not disturbed her from her rest. Her heart beats a little louder than usual and she struggles to untangle herself and work to stand.
 
“You don’t have to go,” she says, forcing herself out of her rest. Whoever he is, she doesn’t want to make a bad impression so early by being lazy—even if she needs the rest—for she knows she needs to build a good standing beneath her paws with the rest of the pack.

A soft voice called out, and Elwood almost didn't hear it at all -- but he happened to turn back and saw that the she-wolf had stirred. She was shifting into a standing position and he took in her dark colors and thin frame. If he had to use one word to describe her, it would have been tired. He could see exhaustion in her expression and the way she held herself. He gave a flick of his tail and a small smile as he pivoted to face her.

"Sorry to wake you," he said, his tone apologetic and friendly. "I'm Elwood. Are you West?" he asked, stepping towards her conversationally to close the gap between them.

West brushes off the apology with a hint of a smile and an indifferent shrug of her shoulders. He flows into introductions and if she remembers correctly, she understands his role here. Her ears droop on her head and she lowers her skull a bit more with a weak shake of her tail.
 
“To be honest, I’m feeling a bit South,” she says with an awkward, short lived chuckle. Her nose wrinkles and she shakes out her head. “Raven found me,” she explains, uncertain of how much he knows. “And Aaron too.”

Her joke was lost on him at first, but after a second of contemplation, he understood her reference and chuckled. "Hopefully you'll start to feel more like yourself soon," he said kindly. He knew the power of having a place to rest one's head as well as the promise of consistent meals; it wouldn't take too long for West to regain her strength, he suspected.

"Where did you come from?" he asked, curiosity in his gaze as he regarded her. All he knew of her had been condensed into Raven's howls, so he hoped to get to know her now that the opportunity had presented itself.

It takes a moment for the joke to register with Elwood and at first she isn’t sure it had gone through at all. She begins to tuck it away and brush it off as a little embarrassment but he eventually gives her a chuckle that causes her tail to whip back and forth a few times. Good. West isn’t really known for her humor but she’d hate to make a fool of herself so soon into joining and her first impression with the alpha means a lot since it had been neither of them to accept her.
 
“I came from a big pack south of her, a large mountain and valley and we’d taken over a part of an abandoned village,” she explains. The natural destruction has forced the humans that lived there to leave and never return—except for the occasional teenager that was a little too daring. “My family was in leadership there but… it didn’t seem to be a fit for me,” she shrugs. If she hadn’t disappointed her family, or her lover, perhaps she’d still be there, but she’d left it and her reputation far behind.

There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about West's history, until she mentioned a village. Elwood blinked; somehow, the term was familiar and he was able to associate it with humans, but he wasn't sure exactly how he knew that definition. "A village?" he questioned, now settling himself onto his haunches. West seemed willing enough to have given up her nap in order to speak with him, so he would offer her his full attention.

"Tell me more about that," he encouraged with a small tilt of his head.

There’s a lot of rumor around the village she grew up near. The wolves near the circle of royalty didn’t spend a lot of time there. Stragglers and servants kept to the place but she eventually found her niche in part of it. However, she sorts through the stories she’s heard over the years for one that may make the most sense. Her experience with the beasts that built their dens has been minimal at best.
 
Her ears twitch upon her head and she gives him a hum of consideration. “It has been abandoned long before I was even thought of but I remember it flooded a lot, especially in the spring—enough to tear down the dens they built—and I don’t suppose they wanted to come back to it,” she explains with a wrinkle of her nose but an apologetic shrug that she doesn’t have more exciting things to say. “There’s always rumors that circle it. That our family chased them out, or that they had these… things that they could shoot thunder out of, but it all seems kinda, I don’t know—” she shrugs again—“make believe?”

"It sounds...interesting," Elwood conceded, if only for the fact that it was something he was completely unfamiliar with. Whether the stories were make believe or not, they were still a part of West's past, which had ultimately brought her here, to Redhawk Caldera.

He paused long enough to lift a hind paw and scratch behind his ear before continuing. "Well, what do you think of the caldera so far? No shooting thunder here," he said with an amiable chuckle.

West isn’t really sure what to make of the alpha’s response. Her story isn’t very elaborate or concrete and really there isn’t much else she has to offer. She can fit other details in it that are likely more lore and further from the truth but he doesn’t seem to press for more information. Instead, he redirects it back to her place in the caldera and she offers a hint of a smile.

“It’s nothing like my home,” she says, but she releases a laugh when he announces there is no danger of thunder her and that makes her tail thump a few times. “It’ll take some getting used to, I think, but it’s nice. Thanks for letting me in.”

Let's have another thread soon! :)

"You're welcome," Elwood replied with a wave of his tail. He had been right to trust Raven's judgement about West; she was polite and hadn't hesitated to share any information about herself. He could only hope that once she was feeling better, she would prove herself to be helpful to the pack.

Shifting to his feet, he glanced over his shoulder. "I should be going," he said, remembering that he needed to tend to the borders. "I'll let you get back to your nap," he added, smiling as he turned away.