King Elk Forest take a chill pill

@Seabreeze: Set right after this thread while Uka is leaving the Forest.

The crisis had been averted. Uka was now on his merry way out of the King Elk Forest, and with every step taken, he could feel his spirits lightening. He hated being around people like Mato and Delight; they were the sort to drain the humor from even the most lighthearted jokes, and Uka had always thought that wolves who couldn't laugh weren't worth keeping around. Some things in life, you either laughed at them or let them kill you, and he knew which one he preferred. 

The faintly traced border was coming up, so it was only a matter of moments before he was free of this pack's energy, but he couldn't quite shake the feeling that there was something he was leaving behind. Oh no, not today, he whispered to himself, as if to reiterate his purpose for leaving. No matter what pulled him back, forward was the goal.

my first posts are almost always super short, sorry!  it'll pick up in quality and length, i promise.

The fawn trekked close to the borders, not far behind the form of the receding male.  She was always nearby when a howl was sent into the air, just in case something happened, something she could help with.  Even though the wolf was on his way out of Tindómë's borders, she still felt as if though she should inquire herself as to what he was doing here, even though he had already (most likely) been interrogated by Delight and Mato.  Oh, hello!  I don't think we've met.  Her tone was more cheery and gentle than that of her male companions, and though she was not going to force him into conversation his appearance struck her — he looked so much like her Mattias from behind.

No, it's fine! I don't mind short posts, haha

Uka turned around with sudden interest, having heard the airy voice of a nymph call out to him. No, I don't believe we have, he admitted with a half-grin and a slightly furrowed brow. Hell, had he met her when he first got in, he probably would have taken the invitation to join in a heartbeat. She was magnificent, so he thought, but then again, Uka was more or less just a general kiss-ass. I'm Eucalyptus, but I go by Uka. And you are?

He took a careful step forward to attempt to close the distance, but made sure to go slow. Uka didn't know if she had already been claimed, or if not, whether she had any immediate need to be. His confidence told him that he had one hell of a chance (what, a handsome young fellow such as himself), but his ego often had a way of getting him into sticky situations.

Ah, okay!  Thank you!  I already love where this is going.

She rolls his name around in her mind before saying it out loud: Uka.  She smiles at it, nodding pleasurably, for it is a name she has never encountered but she likes it for what it is — foriegn to her.  She does not know of the man's inward, brazen confidence; the girl is strikingly intimate yet romantically unintelligent and sometimes even Mato's advances had confused her, yet sometimes because of this ignorance she came off as more flirtatious than intended.  I am Seabreeze.  It is nice to meet you, Uka.  She says his name again, enticed by the way her mouth forms around the vowel-heavy moniker.

Are you just traveling through?  She had traveled quite a bit now, at least between the Vale and the King Elk, and she was curious as to where she were going but if he withheld it from her she would pursue it no more.

Uka sucked in a deep breath, his chest puffing out slightly, then released it as he laughed, I...well, I was just leaving, but I think I could spare a little more time. Another step forward, then his eyes flickered to hers to see her reaction to his advances, if any at all. He liked the way that his name sounded coming from her mouth, and he hoped that it wouldn't be the last time he heard it. Seabreeze; I like it. But with a name like that, you can't be too happy cooped up in the woods, hm? At least, he knew he wasn't. Uka was a coastal wolf through and through, and being so far from the water was making his mind race with anticipation.

Well, the water wasn't the only thing.

His words strike her in a way she is unfamilar with, in a way she does not like, even though he intended no harm in his words.  She had tried so hard to forget the sea and its call, pushing down the way she had felt, unbridled and free with the water at her ankles.  

The realization comes to her that the tinge of salt has most likely left her pelt (though she could not tell — individuals are almost always noseblind to their own scent) and she darkens visibly; not angry but upset, and not with him but with her own feelings.

Still oblivious to his advances as he had not touched her, not spoken any heavy words to her, she gives him the best response she can manage. I have grown to call these woods home but the sea will always be my mistress.  She wonders if she should tell him of the lake that lie close, where she and Mato had experienced their first intimate exhange, and she almost wants to keep it to herself but she feels as though this stranger, this Eucalyptus has a right to know about it if he feels the same way that she does.  There is a lake, northeast of here.  When I went, I experienced it like no other.  The trees around it have cleared, the expanse of water is open and the stars reflect against it, blending them seamlessly.  You should visit on your way out.

She shoves these feelings back down, brightening once more.  So where do you come from?

Oh, I didn't mean to offend--, Uka begins, finding himself becoming...flustered? It would certainly have been the first time, but he figured if he stayed around this Seabreeze for much longer, it certainly wouldn't be the last. He decided to drop it, for fear of embarrassing himself, then cleared his throat and straightened himself back up. Even if he'd wanted to continue (which he had convinced himself he hadn't), Uka didn't have the room to before she started talking about a lake somewhere near. Maybe you could show me where it is? I've never been good at following directions.

It was a narrow shot that he was taking, but certainly a shot nonetheless. Seabreeze was nice enough to where even if she wasn't interested like that, Uka was confident that she would be kind enough to at least lead him. Besides, he could use the break; water had a way of nursing his old joints, and time always seemed to pass faster when there was someone there to keep him company.

You can post once  more and archive this or do so as-is. :)  Sorry this post is all over the place, lol, figured I would wrap it up and then we can continue over in Alpine Lake?

She softens visibly as his emotions rise, and instead of expressing her hurt she offers Uka her compassion.  No, no.  You did not offend me, don't worry.  She weighs the other's question, rolling it around in her mind.  She did not know him very well, and Mato had just returned to tend to Tindómë's creation.

Yet still, Alpine Lake was not too far.  She gives him one decisive nod and throws her head back into the air to call to her packmates — a 'hey I'm going somewhere and doing something be back soon' — just in case she came up kidnapmurderkilled.

She does not wait long before she sets in the direction of the lake, might as well get to it.