Sleeping Dragon [Joining] Waking the Fire

Sorry for short post, :s

Goliath's large body had followed the strong scent of the wolves to this spot, he could see the base of the dormant volcano from the other side of the river, but either way, it took strong paddling to get past the river, his weight was enough to make it difficult, but he got to land soon enough. The coldness of the River now that it was winter was unbearable. He had treaded through snow long enough. He quickly flicked off the water with several twists of the mass of fur that covered his body. His limbs were aching from the terribly long distance he had to walk. Longer than a mountain range, in fact, and was desperate to get to rest, however that would come.

Once he arrived close enough to the scent that had brought him here, he sat down, pushed his broad chest out, looked up in the clouded sky, breathed in, and howled a long, deep howl, travelling past into the distance. He shook his muscles, and closed himself a bit more, to prevent the heat from the center of his body from escaping. The volcano in front of him seemed like it was giving him some warmth, even from the distance he was at, but it was probably only his mind playing tricks on him, as it does when he is set alone for such long journeys.

Your post was fine. <3

The howl rose into the frigid air, deep, allowing Gyda to freely assume that the wolf calling at the borders of the Dragon was male. She was not far, and fortunately this meant it did not take her long to intercept. Her icy caribbean gaze found him easily enough, at first a mound of tan and brown against the snow varnished backdrop of the landscape around them. His scent confirmed what she'd suspected from the baritone of his voice: male, and no scent of a pack clinging to the tendrils of his fur. The Viking Queen's posture was dominate as she approached him, her eyes assessing him. He was big, though he did not appeared to be very muscled. Not like Ragnar nor Dagrun. In this respect his build reminded her of a heavier Floki though there was inherently nothing similar about the two. Build was of little matter to the shield-maiden whom had been underestimated for her own more times than she cared to count.

“Hello,” The Scandinavian greeted him in her accented voice, staring him down. She was stoic, not unwelcoming but not what anyone could call inherently friendly, either. After all, these were her borders and wolves to protect. While she had friends outside of Sleeping Dragon (and family to boot) she was territorial by nature and nurture, and she did not consider strangers friends. “What is your purpose at my borders?” She inquired with a small cant of her head towards the left. She could make a guess but hearing it for herself was simply protocol.

In the cold, it took him some time to realize the female approach, her voice was dominant, but he wasn't very used to having a leader of a pack being a woman, he looked towards her direction, nodded his greeting, and with his tired eyes, told her "Other?" implying if there were anyone else in charge he could speak to. Either way, if this was a woman of a high ranking position, he still had to show his courtesy. Slowly, he got up on all fours, looked down with his ears back, but still attentive. 

"Join" he replied, "Others" he continued; his slow speech was not hard to understand, but it was hard to communicate for him with such a small selection of words, he didn't move, not wanting to start bad impressions.

"Join your Pack" he managed, he pushed his head slightly up, as to be able to look at the female more directly. The darkness from the clouded sky made the scene seem alot more dramatic than need be, and he pulled his posture back into a more comfortable pose, yet still remaining respectful.

Any sympathy his struggle to speak would have garnered from the Viking Queen, whom herself struggled sometimes with the common tongue despite that it was (one of) her native tongue(s) was immediately thrown out the window by both his failure to show proper submission and further stoked by his simple inquiry of other. Her tail rose higher over her back, lips curling back from the sharp canines of her teeth in a brief warning. Her posture spoke that she reigned as queen on the Dragon alongside Heda. She did not expect him to know that but her posture hardly left any room for any other assumption. “I reign here as queen,” The shield-maiden told him with punctuated harshness to her words. “alongside Heda. She will not appreciate your lack of submission any more than I do, I promise you.” She spoke clearly, blunt so that her words might not be mistaken. In fact, at the moment Gyda was his best bet and she was already on the cusp of chasing him from her borders as it stood.

She did not; not yet. He would be given a chance to redeem himself if only because she had to be diplomatic. “Why should I let you join my pack? What can you offer me and those I command?” The Scandinavian demanded, silently weighing her judgment. His posture was reluctantly respectful yet it was not enough to currently satisfy the viking queen whom already had been shown that her rule would be reluctantly accepted upon her approach. Thus far, the odds did not appear to be his favor and yet she gave him a chance to speak, to impress her with words.

As the word of "Queen" and "reign" - words he knew - reached his ears, he dropped his head, and kept his gaze as low as possible,  he placed his paws in front of himself, and placed himself  low and tucked his tail, her tone and baring of teeth obviously indicated she was displeased with his signs of submission, that little he knew. He looked up to her, although it was difficult to place himself in that position, he understood most of what she said, Goliath just didn't know what to say, that was until she asked him of his purpose.

"I?" he began  "Loyalty" he replied, the first thing he knew to set clearly was his promise. "Life of mine" he continued, "devoted" he added, just to make clear she knew what he meant. "Strength, but not too Muscle" he added, recalling the ones he had bested from ramming them into trees, breaking many bones; it was hard to stop him once he was in motion, that much he knew. "I can crush all" Goliath indicated, but decided not to say more, he didn't want to brag more, he had already been presented as disrespectful.

The male made the smart decision and took her silent, physical threat with the seriousness that Gyda had meant it and lowered his posture. She did not think herself overbearingly dominate in any sort of manner (perhaps this meant this self assumption was wrong) but her rule would be recognized or the consequences would be decidedly dealt. “Those are things we ask of you in exchange for a place among our ranks,” Gyda told him. They were assumed by the agreement to take the wolves in question in. They were expectations ...and while perhaps nice to hear offered not what she had been looking for. She needed those things, yes, but she also needed able bodies. They were a pack. There were caches to fill, mouths to feed, borders to protect, hunting grounds to be explored, messages to be sent, et cetera. She needed skills just as much as she needed loyalty and devotion.

“You say you can crush,” She took it to mean he was saying he could fight. “can you guard borders? Can you protect the lives within this pack? Can you hunt? What are your skills?” These questions were spitfire, but she needed a bigger idea of him. His complacent submission had sated her (though her posture did not relax) but she could not quite shake her first impression and inspired the question, “Can you accept my rule? And Heda's?” Because loyalty to pack was one thing but loyalty to leaders was a whole other thing, and this sort of diverse loyalty as something Gyda understood all too well.

It took him a while to think what he was capable of, and yet the things he came up with were dumb even for him, all he could think of was guarding the horizon. If he had a good enough view, he could catch the smallest of things coming through the border, and his large build could easily be mistaken for a stronger predator. 

"Goliath defends greatly" he said, "and fish is caught well" he added, he was good at doing such things, as it didn't take him to run very far, as for his size, which the  (much) smaller animals can outrun. Yet, with fishing required only precision, and his weight was enough to not be carried away from the turbulence of the river. He continued his speech, "Mistaken easily for larger" he added "Scary from afar" he presumed, although he could never be quite sure. He had only seen himself from reflections of water, and there he didn't look too fearsome

"Devote to pack" he responded "Forever Respect and Loyal to Queen" he meant, if she took him in, he would basically owe her his loyalty, at least that's how it worked in his head. "Loyal to Queen-s!" he added promptly, thinking that the name Heda was feminine enough to be a female ruler as well, if that's what the leader in-front of him meant

Gyda was silent as he responded, patiently picking through her rapid-fire questions. He could hunt ...fish was better than nothing though would be hard to procure if the lakes, rivers and ponds froze. She nodded when he spoke that he was mistaken for being larger. To her he large though body types did not have much play in her judgment of others. Having grown around males much larger than her, and with Ragnar's ruthless personality there wasn't a whole lot that Gyda would say intimidated her. She particularly liked his words about respect and loyalty though she did not put all her faith into them. He, as all the others had to (and would have to, in the future) prove himself loyal. Gyda was not quick to trust and she needed to see pretty promises backed up with action before she would believe them.

“You will have to prove your loyalty, as everyone else does, but I welcome you into Sleeping Dragon,” Her posture did not relax even then though she took a step back and gestured for him to cross into the borders so she might rub her scent on him to acknowledge to the rest of the pack when they parted ways that he was a newcomer and not a trespasser. “You will hold the rank of Theta, for now,” The shield-maiden informed him, and for now as the newest addition to their pack he was the lowest ranking. “Come, I will give you a tour.” She gestured for him to follow pausing only to glimpse back at him over her shoulder. "I am Gyda." She offered, remembering that she had yet to introduce herself formally to him.

Yay! :3 Mind if I wrap it up here?

Goliath looked up for a brief second, out of either happiness or suprise, but  resumed his usual stance. As she explained his requirements, he nodded and stepped forward slowly, cautious that he didnt want to rush past their borders.

"Goliath" he answered, and replied to her tour suggestion: "Thanks" he told her, and followed her into the unknown depths of their territories

fade out?