Blacktail Deer Plateau beguiling

maybe set a bit before the NSV thread?

 

Though the Spiritwalker had been a member of the Morningside group for a few days now she hadn't actually ran into anyone. She'd mostly kept to herself, focusing on basically crawling the borders and learning what was normal for it - making sure she mapped out what was theirs and what was not. She'd followed a trail outside of the pack until she'd found a fox's densite and had conquered the beast, bringing it back by the scruff with it's proud bright tail touching the ground. Over the scent of the foxes blood she trailed after one of the recent trails to find @Grayday, hoping specifically to find the male along her travels to see how he was and what he had been up to. 

Sure - she could have called anyone to share a meal or she could just continue creeping after the male. Y'know, the usual life choices.

Grayday was gnawing on a week-old femur bone from their most recent deer hunt, far enough from the rendezvous site that his children weren't likely to poach the treat from him. Although it had originally been given over to the three as a pup toy, their tiny jaws has quickly proven unequal to the girth of the bone. It'd gone to Dawn after that, in order to keep her occupied during her bedrest, but no one could keep Dawn on the ground, even with the promise of a nice chew toy.

So possession had fallen back to the father, who was rather pleased with this whole turn of events. Life, as far as he was concerned, seemed to be going very well.

It only improved when his Spiritwalker came like a ghost through the trees, the vivid red of the fox's pelt seeming drab and lacklustor next to the ginger-speckled vanilla of her own fur. She was a vision, in a word. All at once, the silvery male found himself giving up his prize, laying it eagerly at her paws before stretching into a playful bow, reaching out to nip at the carcass she'd brought along.

 

She hadn't had to wait long, finding Grayday like she was meant to do so. She gave a little wag of her tail, the fact that she'd not had to seek him out too long pleased her. His bow was met with a sweeping one of her own, front half lowering to the ground until her chest even touched the ground and the vixen between her jaws was pressed against the earth. Maybe would have been more graceful had she not kept the carcass but then, too late, both females had given their dues to the male before she'd straightened back up. With a little smirk around the kill she'd dangled the fox, dragging it not unlike she would have for the children to entice them into chasing after it before she let it go. "Don't get used to such sweet gestures." Catori hummed out teasingly before she stepped across the fox, bumping her snout against his own before she took to a lazy stretch and let herself relax against the ground. 

"How goes the lofty life of a leader today?" Catori asked curiously, looking up at him from her vantage point on the ground. Catori was relaxed fully, some of the prickling anxiety over how the rest of the pack might greet her vanished when in the presence of Grayday. She didn't anticipate them not being welcoming but Catori hadn't spent much time with other people who weren't family - their opinions wen't forced by bonds of blood or love after all. 

Having succeeded in snatching the fox away from his woman, Grayday gave into the silly urge to kill-shake it a time or two. The rouge fur tickled his nose and caused him to sneeze, at which point he abandoned the kill atop the proffered bone and moved to stand over his real prize.

"Too late," he said flippantly, leaning down to test the scents along her chest and belly, wondering what she'd been up to since he'd last seen her. Inadvertantly (ostensibly), his wagging tail caught her nose or ear a time or two, but the male didn't seem to notice - or, at least, did not care enough to stop. If one were able to see his face, they might deduce that he was doing it on purpose. (Perhaps a glimpse at his expression was not particularly necessary.)

One thickly-furred ear swivelled toward her as she asked about his day. The male took a moment to look back on what he'd accomplished that day, only to realize that... well. This was about it. "I've just been chewing on this bone," said Grayday. That, and hiding from his children. It was a ritual he tried to observe for a few hours every week, at the very least. "We can go do something useful, if you want," he added, backing off a bit when he realized how very domineering and intrusive his position was.

Thankfully for Grayday, even as he tested her it was merely his tail drug along her snout. She didn't even really have to lean up to nip at the feathered appendage, a smirk on her face promising if he did glance back and make eye contact that was all he'd see. Nothing but her smirking face, proud over herself in a sense. "Poor bone," She lamented, turning a bit to strike a paw out at it, batting at the bone. "Well, I had brought some food if you were hungry. Caught it's trail headed out but y'know how they go. Can't be too sure they won't just come right back." Catori didn't often kill mothers, specifically, but she'd scented no kits nearby and no other vulpine so she'd felt fairly secure all she was doing was eliminating a potential threat. 

"I've spent a decent amount of time scoping out the borders. It's fairly quiet around here - good for getting nice and settled, I'd imagine." Catori said evenly. She wasn't bored after all, but, it wasn't like they had to chase out interlopers daily. All in all, it was a healthy mix in her opinion. She didn't bother to push herself up to sitting properly, choosing instead to stay nice and relaxed and close. If Grayday wanted to join her she certainly wouldn't reject him but she was happy to see that she was the only one to have come chasing after him for the moment. Maybe she was more selfish than she'd realized. Imagine that.

Grayday was not hungry; he'd eaten with the kids that morning, and usually made a point of gorging himself, these days. But Catori had brought him a meal, and Day wasn't about to reject a gift from the woman he had his eyes on. After she brought it up, he was quick to pounce on the discarded carcass, which was soon open between them, its blood smeared across the male's muzzle. "Thank you," he said sincerely, remembering his manners. He forced a few more chunks of meat down his throat before setting it aside, tail wagging hopefully as he approached Catori once more.

This food-sharing thing was a good sign, right?

"I'm gonna have to start laying my kills at your feet," he commented, not quite sure whether or not he'd meant to say that aloud. Either way, he'd said it, and he wasn't going to waste his time fretting over it. Instead, he laid down beside her and began cleaning the blood off his face and paws the best he could.

 

Catori watched with a satisfied curl deep in her stomach when Grayday took to the meal she'd provided him. There was still some left over, enough that she could pick at the kill as he cleaned himself off - she'd eaten enough and didn't feel like she was missing anything after all. She'd always preferred to keep her physique a little slimmer and with all the trekking she preferred to do it was a natural thing that she burned off most of her meals. Catori was methodical as she pulled and freed the flesh from the fur, keeping the hide as intact as she possibly could. "Have the kids started practicing yet?" She asked, almost an absent minded a thought as Grayday's for her had been. She met the statement with a smile, honey-milk eyes bright. "Doesn't sound so bad to me." She said with a shrug. 

"Of course if you've got ideals on getting me all fat and lazy you'll have to try harder. I like being active." Catori promised. She wanted to make it known too she had no ideals on just lounging once she'd gained admittance into the pack. She was going to pull her weight, and then some, if she could manage it. Not because she cared about being at the top of the pecking order rather that she wanted to make sure she contributed. Her pride was more ingrained in what she did than who others perceived her to be. 

On hunting, he thought to himself, deciding that this must be what Catori meant for the kids to be learning. "A bit, here and there," he replied. "They're just about big enough to start going out on hunting trips. We'll have to do something special."

He mused on this for a moment, only to whip his head toward the vanilla shewolf when she expressed her intentions to stay slim through the winter. His heartbeat sped up as he remembered his first disasterous summer in the area, and then the terrible storm that'd killed off so much life during the winter that followed.

"Everyone gets fat and lazy for winter," he replied, his tone coming out a bit more defensively than he'd realized. His gaze was hawkish upon her, but if she looked close, she'd probably see a deeply-seated anxiety behind the sternness.

 

Far from the famine and overly harsh winter that had settled across the Wilds Catori and the other wolves of Vargas Isle had stayed in the safety of what was known. They had not stressed or felt the strife that others had, and Catori was about to answer him before the harsher tone clicked her jaw shut like a trap and her gaze became more scrutinizing. Well. Sore subject, apparently, and she had no idea exactly why - but it wasn't as if they'd traded outlines of every rough detail of their lives. Hell, or even one of the good in their lives. "Something you wanna talk about, or, would leaving it be the better option?" She asked after a few beats of silence. She wasn't accusing him - she was giving him the chance if he wanted to talk to do so. Catori wasn't going to push, but, she also wasn't about to curl on her back just for saying something that might have upset him. 

Catori had no qualms about engaging in a conversation with him, be in on pleasant subjects or not, and she hoped that he knew the same. Not everything was sunshine and roses after all. Mature adults would have discord. Immature adults would create it. 

He recoiled somewhat as he realized he'd spoken sharply, but it appeared no serious harm had been done. Day leaned forward to lick her cheek, ears slicked back in apology. "There was a famine," he replied, his voice a bit rough, "and wolves died. And then the winter came harsher than ever, just as we had begun to recover. And more wolves died."

They'd not all been wolves that he knew, and much of the sense of loss he associated with that time in his life had nothing to do with the seasons themselves - at times, had nothing to do with death at all. Truthfully, Grayday did his best not to dwell on those events, and these days, simply sought to keep his family as safe and warm and fed as he possibly could. The Spiritwalker was part of that, now, and the thought of her wearing away in the wintertime was more than he could compartmentalize.

"I don't want to talk about it," he realized, grimacing against the image of her wasted body that'd impressed itself upon the backs of his eyelids. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'm just... worried, I guess." It was no excuse, but it was the truth.

 

Catori gave a little shake of her head when he was quick to actually apologize; she wasn't so upset that she'd taken offense really. She leaned closer to him, moving to nuzzle against him gently as he explained what had happened. Well - that at least made more sense to her, he had experienced enough that he had a deep desire for all of his pack to be filled for the worst case scenario. "You don't have to apologize." She said quickly, looking up towards him from her place curled against his side. "It's good to know the history of the area. I wasn't aware." She explained as means of her reasoning. She absolutely wasn't bothered by the fact he felt so strongly on the subject. It was good to see his passions. It was comforting to know that these passions over carried to his pack and his people. It was an extension of what she'd already come to know and partially expect from him too. 

"We're in a good place for food - I'm used to the cold bite of the sea in winter. Even if somehow the herds are forced to move, the waters will provide." It would take more than they were used to when it came to the bounties of the sea and the rivers but Catori was confident even if it came to her providing the food for every packmate, she'd do it. As a means of soothing him she hummed an old song - one perhaps even used to settle her for sleep as a whelp. She was gentle as she groomed him eyes briefly fluttering closed. It was soothing to her too, between bars of the song allowing her teeth to graze his fur. 

The silvery male let out a little sigh and allowed himself to be comforted. He didn't know if Catori's plans would be enough to tide them over, but what else could they do? They were in the best possible position, and they had numbers and vitality on their side.

And, if Catori didn't want to be fat, Grayday would just have to keep himself warm enough for both of them, and strong enough to hunt. He would take care of her.

With another soft sigh - this one far less put-upon, the male leaned back and laid his head against her chest, baring his throat for her attentions. 

"We'll have to make sure everyone knows how to fish," he mumbled, more to himself than to his companion. There was more he ought to think about, but instead, he simply basked in her affection, and the sweet thrum of her voice.

 

Grayday didn't object, all but melting into her touches. It was comforting and for a tactile individual like Catori just what she wanted. She gave a slight nod to his statement because it would benefit them all to learn. Enough waterways cut through the pack's neighboring lands that she felt confident even if Grayday still had his well deserved reservations. "We'll start training in teams." No use taking everyone at once, it would be near impossible to show them all a decent technique when it came to fishing. "But combing the shore - everyone can do that at once." She could show them how to pry open clams and mollusks, how to properly bash crab shells to seek their bounties; there was so much that she doubted they had ever tasted before. "We can make sure to keep everyone as healthy as can be."

After a moment a bemused smile grew on her face, she hadn't even considered the we and not I that she had issued. We, as if they were already an established team of sorts or that she had any place other than the one she'd taken for herself when it came to being a unit with the male. No, she wasn't going to play herself selfish - but, she absolutely knew what she wanted and wasn't shy about it. 

"Dawn should learn first," said Grayday, his voice resolute. "She'll pick it up fast, and the kids adore her. They get distracted trying to play with Moonstone and the others, but they hang off Dawn's every word."

Plus, it seemed like it would allow for some activity without putting too much strain on her healing ribs. Grayday wasn't sure what exactly Catori wanted to teach the pack, but he still felt it would be safer than a deer hunt for his injured daughter.

"Dawn, Kieran, and maybe that boy she brought home. I wanna see what happens," he went on, only half-joking. He'd always sort of assumed that Dawn would end up with Kieran - not that he'd ever put much thought into it. It was disconcerting to think about her being interested in a man at all, let alone one that Grayday didn't know.

But it was about time, he supposed. She'd likely be experiencing her first heat this year, and it as only natural for her instincts to urge her toward a virile male. Grayday's mind wandered back to his Spiritwalker, and he wondered if this was a leaf from the same tree. He was certainly feeling urges, but he wasn't sure they could be attributed to the coming season - he was simply a needy creature, quick to love and somewhat neglected.

 

Though she had experienced a couple heats already there was the benefit of being in her natal pack and between her father, brother, and uncle, no one had dared approach her even if she had been receptive. That was a fear she wasn't sure how she'd respond to when she had no help from her family and no place she truly felt safe to hide out and wait for biology. With no mate she wasn't thinking of her own young - a passing fancy from time to time as some women were prone to daydream over but she did not fall into fantasy constantly. She was too busy living in the moment to truly dream of what that life might be like. She gave a nod to Grayday's plan - it was agreeable to her and would benefit the pack too. "Are you going to be watching Dawn, or, this boy?" She asked curiously - was it merely to observe the pack and the dynamic towards a new comer (like she was, come to mention) or was this as a father first? 

Catori reached up to tease his ear again, eyes fluttered closed as there seemed to be a sense of peace following the plan of action. Start there, with a small band, she'd teach them fishing and it was something relatively safe. Of course wolves could drown, but, she'd never heard of anyone losing their life to fishing- typically that came with whole other issues and a collamady of some sort. 

Grayday shrugged. "I don't think they need to be watched," he clarified, "I just wanna see if they all get along."

He was testing Dawn, in a way. He knew she had a lot of dirve and ambition, and a lot of skill as well. He thought that, if he assigned to her the duties of organizing hunts and keeping track of the caches, she might be persuaded to stick around. But he had to make sure she was ready, first, and that her days of brash anger and overreacting were behind her.

"I'm thinking about training her up to be ouour lead hunter," he revealed, deciding there was no reason he couldn't talk to the Spiritwalker about this matter. She was going to be his woman, after all.

 

This time when she leaned in to nip him it was with more purpose - an intent there the same as the spark in her eyes. Mischief became her, after all, and in this she felt her most comfortable. "Any father would watch with more than just passive observation. Hopefully they will both flourish." Catori said simply. Her own father had taken a keen interest in any beau she briefly found but Chelan had been far more....well. He'd been intense. "Hmm, hopefully she'll be up to the task." Catori didn't know Dawn after all and any sort of pride she took in hunting would be news to Catori just on that basis. 

She was content to lean across him, skull resting on his shoulders where she could lean into his nape. She could still tease his fur from time to time, sampling his coat at her leisure. "If she doesn't take to it, will you keep leading the hunts through winter?" Catori assumed he had been, after all. 

Grayday hmm'd under his breath, his eyes flashing with an inherent urge to defend his daughter's honor. She doesn't need to be watched and she can take care of herself were on the tip of his tongue, but he held the words back, knowing that they would only come back to bite him. He could get pretty protective, after all, but it usually took something like her falling off a cliff or meeting a serial killer to trigger it - with her, anyway.

"You haven't met Dawn yet, have you?" he asked instead, leaning in to nibble at her muzzle. "She's a force of nature, that girl. If she wanted to be a bird, she'd grow wings." Grayday thought back to the time that Sunny claimed he'd seen her climb all the way up a tree. He'd doubted it at the time, but now that Dawn had come completely out of the shell she'd hidden in as a babe, it seemed just like her idea of a passtime. Anything that challenged a normal wolf did, after all.

"If she doesn't take to it, I'll eat my paw," he added for good measure. "But yeah, I guess I'll keep leading them, if there's no one else. After you grow my paw back, of course."

 

The attention to her muzzle had her turning her head a bit, eyes closed in a rare moment of utter serenity. Catori didn't need to push for more - happy as she could possibly be in just what this was and not what it might have been or might never be. It was enough, right then. "If we're honest," Catori began, a coy smile on her face as she met his eyes again. "You've kept me rather engaged." Not in a bad way at all, and certainly not to the ways they could have either. "I'll have to find this flightless bird then, see what sorts of trouble we can get into together." Oh, the day would no doubt come when Grayday regretted introducing these factions together. 

"Determined to take up my time, hm?" She teased warmly, teasing along his jawline and down towards his neck and some of the longer furs there. "You'll keep me safe and warm won't you? Can't have me freezing in winter now can we?" She couldn't imagine being cold with the fluff she had but then, she could always be warmer. "Especially if I'm expected to grow a whole paw for you."

Grayday hummed in agreement, somehow very pleased with the idea that Dawn and the Spiritwalker might become friends, grow close. He'd not felt that way about Khoe, of course. He'd always been the possessive sort, and hadn't liked her trying to be a parent to his children until after they'd shared a litter of their own. But it wasn't as though Catori was trying to insert herself into his family; rather, Grayday found himself enamoured with the idea of having her for his own. She just seemed to fit in a way that didn't have to be labeled, although Grayday wanted more and more to be able to call her his woman.

"All your time."

Sentences were made short by distraction. He heard her voice as if through a tunnel, reluctant to focus on anything but the feel of her ghosting muzzle, but equally worried about missing something important in her words. She was teasing him, he knew, and he'd've liked to reply with something equally witty, but his brain didn't seem to want to process the words. "Yeah," he mumbled, leaning into her touch.

"You might regret this," Catori couldn't help but breathe out against his skin - tasting him even with the words she spoke. This - introducing her into his life, bringing her into the fold, opening up and letting her have a place in his pack and his life. She shivered even though it wasn't cold, snuggling against him further. She was just as distracting for her, eyes fluttering as she let it just wash over her. Not bad. Not terrible. Not at all. 

"Maybe you won't." The Spiritwalker wouldn't regret a thing - she couldn't promise what would happen of course but she knew what she would want. If she could find a place in his family, not just his pack, integrating like she belonged there, then she could truly breathe easy. 

The male groaned at his Spiritwalker's words. He knew that. Didn't want to think about it, but the words crashed through the haze of infautuation and clarified his thoughts for a moment. His body locked up, and his eyes - having fluttered shut - snapped open and fell intently on the beguiling woman leaned against him. At times like this, he could not help but stop and ask himself what exactly he thought he was doing.

But he was not that far out of Catori's influence, and looking at her - it only made it easy to fall back into the spell.

"I'll take that maybe," he said, craning his neck to nibble at the base of her ears. There was a rushing in his own ears that made it difficult to think, except for tiny, inane thoughts that were of little use in conversation. Things like how she smelled so nice, and how the silky furs of her muzzle felt against his sensetive nose, and how the texture of her black lips was foreign but pleasant against his tongue. She tasted like carrion and cool, fresh waters - better than any meal he'd tasted.

 

The innate thoughts that kept running through her head were a cacophony of possibilities - things that might never come to be, things that might have already happened and she just didn't realize it. She breathed out into his fur, looking up only when she felt his attention so intensely on her. She couldn't offer him promises she couldn't keep. She wouldn't do it either, but then, what would he promise her? The moon, the sun, the stars themselves? A woman with her head in the clouds she was, but she wasn't so swept away by such words that she forgot the truth that might lurk behind them. 

Grayday hadn't given her any reason to doubt him or his intentions. That wasn't what was happening. But still, there was a great deal more at stake by means of the little lives he so carefully tended to. "I want to meet your family," She admitted almost bashfully, asking for more without offering the words. She didn't need to. That was the next step, and one that would dictate every step afterwards. 

Grayday bit back what surely would have been an embarrassing sound. There was nothing sexy about Catori wanting to meet his family - his kids - but strangely, there really was. A horse laugh made it past the dam, though, and the male snorted into the Spiritwalker's ear, trying desperately to break the tension before he drowned in it. Reluctantly, he disentangled himself from the pale woman and moved a few paces away.

"Lemme just..."

He found a patch of grass and began rolling around in it, trying to dillute the amorous scent that'd taken up in his fur. It wouldn't come completely out, but Dawn (hopefully) wouldn't be paying too much attention to little details like that. He wasn't sure she'd recognize the scent either way.

"Okay. Let's go," he said brightly, popping back to his paws and returning to Catori's side. "Dawn first, and then we can say hi to the kids."

Shall we close this one? I can start a new one!

 

Catori hadn't meant that very second but then, when was she one to shy away from such a challenge? Especially because she had just asked him for it, after all, and she had to rise to the occasion. She watched as he tore himself away suddenly and held back a whine at the absence of him at her side. He rolled and she gave a little hum of appreciation, watching him eagerly and unabashedly. When he'd finished untangling himself from what she assumed was just too much her she found a little patch of sweetgrass to rub against herself. Maybe he wanted to take his time and ease his kids into whatever-this-was and she got that. No need to scar the littles, after all. 

"I've heard cold water is a better trick," She said with a little smirk, looking him over before she met his eyes again. "Where do you think we'll find her?" Catori asked before she took up at his side to go find his eldest daughter. She was far more nervous about meeting Dawn than the little ones, and rightfully so.