Swiftcurrent Creek i am not the kind of girl who should be rudely barging in on a white veil occasion

casually makes the longest fuckin thread title EVER sorry

no. aria had still not made an acquaintance with @Durnehviir, nor had she tried. 

in fact, she had not made acquaintance with many wolves at all. aria hovered around the borders, occasionally trying her hand at herb gathering. it was not her favorite thing to do, border patrol, but there was something comforting about the silence she endured while she made her way around. and, the further from the center of the territory (and constantine's children) the safer she felt. while she did not remember any real affection for constantine, she could not say it wasn't there-- and she certainly couldn't speak for constantine himself. if durnehviir hated her-- so be it, she wouldn't give her any reason to do so.

though, it was hard-- she'd admit-- staying so far away from constantine when he was the only reason she'd returned to the wilds.

can be a cameo <3

the creek pack had fallen in numbers, and mahler enforced what borders he might. the several young ones among them must be tended; the gargoyle divided his time between patrols and hunting. chusi was denbound without her mate, and it was toward the omega's sheltersite the man now headed, a hare swinging from his jaws as he moved with determined strides through the territory.
the sight of a new figure slowed the musiker; mahler appraised her at a slow lope. a delicately formed thing, her eyes glowed moonlight in her movements along the border. he said nothing, but if she caught sight of him, the man would give a nod in her pretty direction, not pausing unless compelled.

whoops sorry for the delay! <3

a soft huff blew from the woman's breath, her nose twitching as she came to a stop on her patrol. she picked up a scent at the change of wind direction-- briefly-- and was relieved to find it belonged to a wolf within their borders. in fact, he was staring right at her.

aria's pale gaze found him, her ears rounding forwards towards him. ah, maybe this was her chance. she tried on a smile, one she hadn't worn in a while. it feigned confidence, since that was what she needed while under dunehviir's judgmental command, hoping to make an acquaintance with the passing wolf.

"it's not polite to stare," she called out to him, her tail sweeping gently at her hocks. hopefully that was enough of an invitation for conversation-- and for the two to get close enough to talk instead of yell across the territory.

no worries!

she called to him. mahler blinked impassively above the hare he held, but approached all the same. she was a winter's day in the lingering warmth of summer, armed with an ice-licked gaze and one she turned upon him. it was somehow both knowing and wary; mahler felt himself prickle beneath it but drew closer in spite of the sensation.
"i did not mean to stare, frau," the gargoyle murmured, when he had set down his burden. and there he fell silent, pondering what it was she would say. he had been upon his own tasks; perhaps she needed assistance with her own? it did not occur to the musiker that the pale woman only wanted to know him as her packmate.

closer he drew, leaving aria to dip her head gently to one side, tilted delicately as she viewed the male. she was unfamiliar with the term he used, but thought better than to ask-- feeling it was unimportant in the moment to know. she made note of his accent. it was thick but not anything she couldn't understand. aria watched him curiously, only for a short moment more, before she again broke the silence. 

"my name is aria," she informed him, expectant of his own name in return.

"mahler," the man rejoined automatically, his usual loquacious self. aria. a soliloqy of notes. how had she come by such a name? she was devoid of color, but the elegance of her bearing tugged at his sense of aesthetic, and therefore he found her more intriguing than before. "i was on my vay to visit chusi and her kinder," the gargoyle revealed, not realizing he had slipped in his grasp of the common language. and while perhaps aria would not take his flat monotone as an invitation, it was what the dour man meant.

"kinder?" aria echoed gently, her voice upturned in a silent question. and then, to clarify, the pale dove added, "and chusi-- she is our omega?" how sad it was that aria knew so little about the pack. it was her own fault-- a border hugging recluse was all she was nowadays... but she didn't feel like such a bother so far from the territories heart.

when aria repeated his own word to him, mahler grew self-concious of his social transgression. "children," he amended crisply, ears sweeping forward upon any chance to divert from his mistake. omega. the gargoyle's shoulders tensed; for the length of a slow blink he looked upon aria. "she is." 
and while his tone left a good deal to one's imagination, mahler could not help the irritated tightening of his mouth. he was widely in opposition to such a punishment for a young girl who had only answered biology's demand. "vould you care to come vith me, frau aria?" mahler went on, his lavender gaze finding the woman's for a moment.

perhaps she should have put two-and-two together, that was not such a hard word to decipher. but she'd asked, so it didn't matter anymore. 

and aria caught the tone but, ah, so much was left to the imagination. she wondered if that meant he didn't like chusi, or if he simply didn't let her rank. but the pale dove didn't ask questions, knowing better than to be so nosey to such a stranger. 

she nodded, then, not asking what the word frau meant. "i suppose i have the time," she said, returning his look with a small smile, motioning for the man to lead the way. "would you tell me about yourself?" she asked him then, head tilting to one side.

mahler considered she did not know what to make of his brief manner, but decided he did not care enough to comport himself differently. it was of no offense to the she-wolf; communication was a difficult thing for the musiker, and moreso in his times of emotional wax and wane. 
upon the tip of his tongue came mahler's inquiry that she tell him what it was she wanted to know. however, some muted social response informed the beast that was not the purpose of aria's question. picking up the hare, mahler slung it along one heavy shoulder before moving slowly in the direction of chusi's den "i lived along zhe coast before i came here. grimnismal. my alpha left and swiftcurrent vas vhere i found her."
a laborious sentence; a long pause followed before the gargoyle went on. "zhe pack is in need of a midwife. i have been training myself." his gait was steady, but he turned away from aria now, not wanting to see the scorn in her eyes for his chosen profession. it was not something oft shared by mahler, for midwifery was the work of women, and he was not such.

how interesting-- grimnismal was not a pack that aria was aware of but... well, perhaps she just couldn't remember it, and had come across it in another lifetime, one she didn't remember. instead, she tacked on, "i used to live on the coast." though it was a weird, unreal memory to her.  except, of course, undersea, which she remembered quite well... unfortunately. ah, and now that the memory had been brought front and center, aria wondered how komodo was. did he remember her? 

"a midwife," aria echoed thoughtfully. there was not a scornful bone in her body, not truly, and even so, she was never one to place ranks to genders, and so she remained pleasant. "that's a hard job-- how are you learning?" she asked him instead, trying to keep up with his pace to see his face again.

her scorn did not come; mahler blinked and turned back toward aria and her inquiring tone. she had never lost the cloak of elegance that clung to each feature, a lady if ever he had seen one. her engagement was without the hot edge displayed by their alpha female; where the dragonness breathed fire, this was a cool-tongued woman. the juxtaposition would not go without further analysis from mahler, but for now he focused upon her words.
"for now it is well. i have gathered herbs into my den for vinter." a pause; his hard lilac stare roved over her own pleasant expression. "what role do you seek?" slimly built, hale, and soft-spoken, he could not see in her a warrior nor a rogue, nor a hunter of great beasts. what was the feral desire within her?

perhaps that is all that could be done. until push came to shove, it was hard to learn without any whelps or pregnant mothers. aria did not critique his methods. "is it reckless to say i have not settled upon a role?" she asked him, eyes flashing. she knew something of healing, had been informed she was a phenomenal scout-- and perhaps she was, if she had found her way back to the teekon wilds and back to constantine. but how could she know for sure. 

"i grew up a healer. i spend most of my time on the borders now," she told him, ears angling forwards, "neither suit me, i don't think." 

"no." if only because reckless was not the word mahler would use. lazy, perhaps. or noncommittal. and while he himself had no emotional investment in these words, as for him they were mere descriptors, the man knew better than to call the lady alongside him 'lazy' for any reason. such things he had been taught were not part of the social society into which he must fit.
aria mentioned the healing arts, though now she trailed the borders. "a pack may need a messenger," mahler muttered crisply. for while he did not think the dark man and his dragonness sent many missives, swiftcurrent all the same might make use of one. "you are polite and vell-spoken. you vould make a fine messenger" was the gargoyle's verbal offering of aria's credentials, before he lapsed into quiet again.

any one could be well-spoken, but the comment still brought heat to her cheeks for whatever reason. somehow, she doubted that durnehviir wanted to relay information through her... or maybe such anxieties were fruitless, but all the same, aria was wary. "well, thank you," she returned, still thinking. she was almost unable to take the compliment from him first hand, but she tried not to be so self-doubting. accept kindness to yourself, aria, she tried to remind herself. 

"perhaps i will ask constantine about it," she added, a thin smile tracing her lips. what might her friend say? she tried to move on, away from all of her own identity crisis issues that this practical stranger didn't need to dwell on. oh... but she'd already said all of her pleasantries... instead she was quiet, unable to help herself from taking a glance his direction.

she was tentative to take what mahler felt was quite logical. modesty for the sake of modesty was not a concept familiar within the brute, but he did not press his words upon her. she would come to see it, he believed, in time and with the validation of others. there was an inscrutable quality to the wan smile that touched her lips at the mention of constantine; a small tendril of awareness wreathed through mahler but it was not something upon which he rested.
aria's sideways gaze caught the heavy jaw of the musiker, but the featherlight pressure of her eyes upon him brought his own impassive lilac stare to bear on their colorless nature. of course, mahler was silent, unsure of what it was the woman wished to convey.

again her face ran hot. mahler too had nothing to say, and so she had just been staring. "sorry-- and now it's me who's staring," she said, ears flicking as she smiled bashfully, head turning back ahead of them, "i thought you might say something else." hoped, more like, but out loud she changed her words. 

"have you know chusi for some time?" she asked him then, remembering exactly what it was they were doing. briefly, aria thought of a child on the sea, staring down at it. but the vision meant nothing, and the pale dove placed it with chusi simply having a child of her own.

her eyes were not so much colorless as they were silver, a pair of winter-rimed stones. not stones no — aria's gaze was much too expressive to be likened to anything so hard. he watched the chagrin creep along her velveteen countenance until she turned away with an apology and an explanation.
ever literal, mahler wondered what it was she had wanted to hear, but did not mention his less-than-idle thought. "it is i who should be sorry, frau aria," mahler grunted in a self-depreciating tone. "i am not a man of many vords." it had been the same since the gargoyle's childhood: he was born a largely silent creature and saw no reason to become verbal in maturity.
"enough time to know she is alone and very young to be raisink children by herself." his tone had cooled, edged at the end with his distaste for the entire occupation of the omega role. out of propriety, mahler kept it to himself. he was not a man given over to gossip, and lapsed into another silence that he intended to extend unless questioned again by the refined tongue of the snowcoated she-wolf.

"and i am a woman of many," aria purled, hiding her own embarrassment. but now she had nothing to say, and assumed he too would not speak again. so when he responded, about chusi, the pale sylph merely nodded, her gaze forwards and her ears flicked upwards thoughtfully. she would not force the conversation along... silence was, perhaps, a comfortable way to continue their walk. 

regardless, aria decided she liked mahler and his thick accent. he was truly new-- knowing nothing of her past or of her. perhaps, another day, he would be considered a friend to her.

they walked in a companionable silence. mahler was not a creature who invited or considered friendship, having little use for such. but aria had proven herself an intuitive creature, cognizant of when to speak and when to be still. for that, she had gained the man's esteem. 
the pair had neared their destination, and mahler paused to turn his cool lavender gaze upon the woman. "i vill take this to chusi now." her icewater eyes perhaps held him for a moment; mahler straightened. "perhaps at a later time, ve might hunt together."