Blacktail Deer Plateau Mistaken Identity

@Shale before it's too late

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With the arrival of Day's brothers one of them stood out to Pema. Shale. She had already meet Murdock, so that could have played a factor, but his appearance played it's own factor. He looked almost exactly like Day, with only Day's missing eye being the way to differentiate the two. At first it was easy since Day wasn't around, but now that he was it was easy to mistake the two at first glance. 

So when she approached him that day, she made such a mistake. "Hey Day, how was your tri..." be stopped, realizing with her nose that this infact wasn't Day and thus had to be Shale. "Oh, I'm sorry I thought you were..." she let out a sigh, accepting the awkwardness instead of pretening like it didn't happen. "You're Shale right?"

He was padding along, exploring the territory, when a voice sounded nearby. . .calling him Day. He swung to face whomever had spoke, who had already corrected themselves, and smiled, seeing the female who had met them at the border when they arrived.

"It's not a problem," Shale said kindly, amber eyes blinking warmly at her. "Yes, I'm Shale. And you're. . .Pema, right?"

He figured this was the girl Murdock had mentioned to him on the way, and one corner of his mouth curled wryly upwards. Were Murdock here. . .  But he was leaving, and Shale was staying, and this young woman was pretty and kind.

Luckily for Pema he didn't seem to mind to much. An awkward situation was swiftly averted and Pema could let out a mental sigh of releaf. She gave him a warm smile when he remembered her name. Then again, there wasn't anyone in the pack that looked like her and could be confused as her was there. 

"Yeah. That's right. I'm Pema." she achnowledged. She took another moment to look at him head on now. The longer she looked the more she could see the difference between the two of them. And not just that he had both eyes, but little differences in his pelt and frame. But it seemed like they had more similarities then differences. "So, how many times has that happened to you since you've come here?" she asked in a joking mannor.

He laughed, both at pleasure at getting her name correct and at the jest she threw his way. "Not too often, actually," he said lightly. "It's nothing new. You should have seen us as pups. Indistinguishable gray blobs."

Shale cocked his head, smiling at the young woman. "So you're one of the leaders, here, with Day and Dawn. So, he's not practicing nepotism! How did you come to run into my crazy brother and his family?"

He wondered where Sunny, Day's oldest son, had wandered off to. The Sameth family was known to be tight-knit--well, save for the time when he and his two littermates had, er, left home. Even so, Shale did wonder why the boy hadn't chosen to stay, when the girl, clearly an adventurous and independent spirit, had.

It made her feel a bit embarrased that not many others had made the same mistake she had in the past couple days. But with him soon joining the pack, she most likley wouldn't be the only on for long. Even if it hadn't happened to him recently it had been done quite a bit when they were younger it seemed. She thought it funny how he described the two of them as blobs, but she could picture it and it made her smile.

She nodded in agreement when he spoke about her being one of the leaders. "Just by chance really. I ran into Howl, one of the former members of the pack, while the pack was low on members. I didn't have much of any specific skill at the time, but my willingness to learn is what I think won him over. And now I'm here." she said with a smile and a shrug. Thinking back to that time, it seemed strange to think that the pack at one point was short on members when now they were almost over flowing. 

"What about you?" she asked. "What brought you to Morningside after all this time?" she asked, not having heard of him or seeing him in all the time that she had been in the pack. Leading her to believe that the family hadn't been all together for a really long time.

He cocked his head, intrigued. "What is your skill?" he asked, genuinely curious and not just questioning her for conversation's sake. "Besides leading, of course," Shale added jokingly, with a smile.

Her next question made him freeze for the barest instant, and he held back a shudder, thinking of all that had transpired between when he had first set off from Sameth to this very moment, standing here with this woman on the plateau. Love, death, loneliness, reunion. . .

Shale settled for polite brevity and responded, "I went out to find Grayday. With luck I found him. We grew up well north of here."

"I'm a medic." she answered "I'm not an expert, but I'd say I'm one of the most skilled medics in the pack at the moment." she said humbly. "I wouldn't say I'm all that skilled at being a leader. I'm good, but I'm no where near as good as Grayday." she explained. She didn't reallying think of herself as a leader quite yet. Just someone who wanted to help everyone and the pack, but thats all she really needed to be for now.

"Where you looking for Murdock aswell or was that another bit of luck?" she asked, wondering how many coincidences it took for all of them to come together.

He grinned. "All luck. And my sister's somewhere around here as well, apparently," Shale added. "Though I guess not here here. Which is kind of strange, but I get it." Spot had always been an independent spirit. No doubt why she didn't want to live under Grayday's rule, benevolent as it likely was.

"And don't sell yourself short," he continued. "Everyone's gotta start out somewhere. You should have seen Day when he was your age. But. . .then again. . .I didn't see Day at your age. God, the seasons are going by so quickly." He knew he was rambling, and he shut his mouth, giving Pema a kind if a little shy smile instead.

Grayday was right: she was sweet and kind, and the good looks didn't hurt. But she was young, younger even than Lucy had been when they had first met. He was old, with baggage. And Murdock was sniffing around after her already.

Best not to pursue this, though he would at least try to spare her from his older brother's affections.

Pema had heard of Day and Shales sister before, but she hadn't meet her before. And if by some chance she had it had only been once and only in passing by. Pema's understanding as that their sister was still very beloved and welcome to stay and visit Morningside whenever she chose, but often prefered to scout of explore rather then stay put within the territory. So she understood whay Shale was trying to say.

She smiled when he spoke about how she was selling herself short. For the most part she simply didn't want to boast. Pema always seemed to watch the realationship between sibling rather then empathizing with them. She understood the concept of having such a bond, but she was an only child as far as she knew and didn't have any siblings. Though she treasured everyone in her birth pack and considered them all family she didn't have anyone there with which she had an especilly strong bond with other then her parents. "They do don't they. The last few months seem to have just gone by so fast for me. I'm sure you guys are alright though." she said speaking about any possible barriar between the two caused by their time apart. "I don't have any close family other then my parents, but I can imagine that a sibling bond is something that is very hard to break."

He shrugged, answering, "We were pretty close, I guess. Especially Day and I, being from the same litter and all. We looked out for each other, right up until he went away." Shale gave Pema a sad smile, remembering that day. "I stayed up for days and nights, days and nights, waiting for him to come back. He never did."

Something about that reminded him of another brother, and he flicked an ear, wondering. "When did you run into Murdock?" he asked, his tone curious. "You two have been acquainted before."

He felt bad for her, honestly. Not because he thought she couldn't hold her own--on the contrary, this woman had a the quiet strength to toss Murdock around like he was nothing. But his older brother was a pain in the ass, and he really didn't wish him on his worst enemy, much less sweet Pema.

As he spoke about the day Day left she felt bad. Even though he tried to smile she could tell that it was a hard time for him to think about. Pema had never heard the story about how Day ended up away from his family. Haivng been with Day, for some reason she figured that Shale and Murdock were the ones that had left, not the other way around. She wasn't sure why she had this initial idea, but that's simply what she assumed. She wanted to ask about it, but it looked like it really hit a sore spot. Maybe a topic for another day. "Well. I'm glad you two had a chance to come together again now."

The conversation switched over to Murdock and she had to laugh slightly and rolled her eyes. Just thinking about him made her laugh and made her somewhat annoyed, but in a curtain way she couldn't quite explain or understand. "Oh ya. We have meet before. The first time we meet was before I joined Morningside. He went to kiss me and I nearly fell off a cliff." she said it humoriously but it was the reality none the less.

His brows rose sky-high at her tale, though he couldn't say he was too surprised. Murdock? Kissing a girl? Noooo.

"Sounds like him," he said shortly, growing slightly irritated for seemingly no reason whatsoever. "He always did have a way with women." His words were bitter, biting, sarcastic, and he softened his tone as he continued to speak, throwing Pema a half-apologetic look for his sudden ire.

"So you do medicine. What else? What do you like? What's your favorite color?" He said the last question jokingly, breaking into a grin. "Okay, I know I just threw a lot of questions at you, but you can throw them right back at me, too." He paused a beat, for effect. "Green, if you're curious."

What the fuck was wrong with him? Just a few minutes alone with this woman had turned him into a simpering idiot.

Shale's words confirmed Pema's suspitions. That she wasn't the only female Murdock had done this two. The moment itself was embarrasing and had shocked her, but some part of her had hoped that if he was going to act so forward it was because he couldn't help it or something like that. But no, he simply did it to everyone. 

He began to ask her a stream of little questions, some of which made her laugh, most because of the way he asked. She wasn't really sure what she would do now that she knew his favorite color was green, but she supposed it might come in handy sometimes. "Good to know." she said in a light hearted voice. "Um.. I like spending time with the kids. If I'm not watching over a patient I'm most likely watching over them." she explained with a smile.

She had never really taken the time to think about what her favorite color would be. It didn't come up often or seem important. But after a few moments of thinking she said. "I don't know if I have a favorite color, but if I had to choose one... I would say red. It's not overly abundant, and it always has a pop, no matter what time of year it was." Ladybugs in the warmer months or poppy flowers poking out of the snow, it was always something noticeable and vibrant. 

Now she had to think of a few questions for him. "What about you? What is your skill? What else do you do? And..." she took a moment to think of another question. "Do you have any quirks or habits. Bad or good." she thought it was a good question. Sometimes they really spoke to a persons personality.

He smiled at her mention of kids. He liked them, too. Especially his nieces and nephew. "Do you want them, someday?" he asked. "Kids, I mean. Sorry if that's too personal," he added, having the courtesy to look slightly abashed. He was curious, though.

"Red is nice," Shale agreed, nodding. "A splash of prey-blood on the snow. . ." He gave a low hum, half in pleasure, half-thinking.

"I'm a hunter," he went on, "and a pretty capable fighter. Let's see. . .I also like to spend time with children. And. . ." He grinned, trying to pull up any specific quirks he had. Nothing was coming to mind--except--

"Oh! Here's a weird one," Shale laughed. "Every time there's an alder tree, I have to walk round it three times. The spirits of dead loved ones live in those trees, and spinning round them helps them rest better." His eyes were warm. "Lu--"

Shale stopped, suddenly choked. It had been Lucy who had told him that, long ago. It had been ingrained in him so much he had forgotten where it had come from. Yes, Lucy, and now her soul was embedded in one of those trees.

She didn't think asking about her desire to have kids was too personal so she responded, "That's alright. It seemed like a logical follow up question. Yes I would like to have kids of my own. At least someday." she said with a smile thinking of how fun and wonderful it would be to care for children that were your own. Able to teach them thing and have those special talks in her own way.

She nodded along with his example of blood in the snow, even though she thought more of a nice red flower out of the snow, or contracting to a luch green surrounding.

"That's good. We can always use more fighters around here." Other then him and Sylvas not much of the pack was able to fight. Again not neccessary, but thinking of it again it was. Protection and defence was important at the very least.

She thought what he said about the alder trees were interesting. She had never heard of that before, but she was familiar with the thought of superstition, and thought it was a nice gesture. It sounded like he had more to say, but he didn't continue. Pema was a bit hesitant to speak, wanting to make sure she wasn't interrupting him. Once she did she said, "That's nice." she continued in a slightly joking tone, "What if there's more then one. Do you have to go around each one 3 times or do you make a big circle around all of them and go around them that way?" she asked more for joking purposed then as an acually question, but she would still be interested to know the answer.

He was happy his sudden sorrow had evidently gone unnoticed, and gave a weak chuckle to her question, eyes flashing in a somewhat smile. "I'm nothing if not practical," Shale teased. "Absolutely, circle the whole group. The dead haven't bothered me yet."

It was a lie. He was haunted by ghosts every day, every night. But he wasn't about to tell this girl that, just off the cuff.

"It's good you want children. You'll make a fine mother." Clearing his throat nervously, he hastily added, "Medics usually make fine mothers. You know. . .the caring and all that."

Thankfully Shale wasn't so dedicated to the superstition that he would walk around ever single tree three times. Going around the larger group three times seemed alot more managable, and sufficient enough as he said the dead hadn't bothered him yet. 

He complimented her desire to have kids and stated his belief that she would be a good mother, with her trade playing an added benefit. She smiled and nodded her head. "I hope so, but it's not as though it's going to happen anytime soon." she said, thinking that she was too young and currently being single, didn't think she would be having pups this breeding season. 

With the subject of kids in the air she ask, not thinking it would be bad to ask. "What about you, do you have a mate?" she hadn't seen him with a female that way before, but he wasn't young. "Maybe you've had kids in the past...?" she asked.
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Shale shrugged, the smile coming easier to his face now that the subject had passed. "You never know," he murmured. "Life has a way of sneaking things like that up on you."

But before he could add to the witty banter, the subject was back--and painfully, clearly out in the open, this time round. He knew that it was inevitable, that since they were talking mates and children that Pema would only naturally ask him about it as well.

That knowledge didn't make it hurt any less.

Wordlessly, Shale shook his head, once, twice, three times, as if shaking off summer flies in a swamp. "I--no." It was a lie, somewhat. . .but the denial was more for the conversation in general, not the question asked. Glancing nervously over his shoulder, Shale looked back to Pema, his amber eyes clouded. "I should leave you be. Nice to finally meet you."

He knew it was rude to leave so abruptly, but without her response, Shale departed, tail hanging low, ears pinned nearly to his temples. It was too soon. Too soon, for this girl to know his heart.

He replied with a "no", something Pema hadn't expected due to his age. Maybe he just hadn't found the right mate yet, or he simply didn't have any desire to have a family. Something very different from Pema's own views. 

Before she had a chance to respond he departed and rather abruptly right as she was about to say something. She wasn't doing anything too pressing and had the time to continue such a conversation. She thought it strange, but didn't think much of it. Maybe he thought she had duties to attend to or he himself had things to do. In either case she nodded her head to him, even though he wouldn't see it and hoped to see him again soon.