The mid-morning was heavy with thick fog that writhed around the towering sentinels, hard to discern where the next tree was in the forest until he was practically on top of it. The conditions weren't favorable, especially for running a patrol of the borders. He could follow the scent of them easily enough, pausing every so often to lift his leg and refreshing them in places where he thought they could use a little more strengthening. That part of his patrol was fine. It was the other half of Regi's patrol that he was nothing if not a bit weary of. He couldn't see more than a few feet (if he was lucky) in front of his own muzzle and thus scanning the territory beyond Donnelaith's borders for impending strangers was all but impossible; not to mention noise was distorted. It was almost eerily silent beyond the sound of his own footfalls upon the earth and each, steady breath he took.
Fog was known for playing clever tricks upon even the most astute of wolves; likely in just the way it could easily cause disorientation alone. Regi was finding that he was no exception to this, but he was determined to get through a patrol. Regardless of the weather the borders needed to be protected and he wasn't going to back out just because he found himself a little disoriented.
there were far better things to do than pace around in circles, and so Cas decided to go seek out the third aspiring outrider and see if he wanted to do a beach excursion. there wasn't anything really unlikeable about Regi, except that he had looked once at Behati and also gone on a "trip" with her -- the implied quotations were in his own mind. but whatever. he didn't want to go alone, and the man was just running the borders anyway, so why not?
he found the bear patrolling in the fog and gave a short woof to announce his presence. "hey," he added, trotting to Regi's side and casting a glance at the man. "let's blow this popsicle stand." where he'd learned that, Cas didn't know, but it sounded radical.
Regi hadn't hardly seen hide nor hair of Behati or Casmir since the move and even then he felt like the two were avoiding him — though whether that was true or not he didn't know for sure. Perhaps it was an unfair assumption for the Frostfur-DiSarinno to make but he wasn't sure what other conclusion to come too. He'd thought they were friends, after all. He found that he was upset by them ignoring him, but instead of pining over the potential loss of friends, he'd figured it would be more useful to throw himself at his trades with renewed vigor. The repetition and task gave him something to focus upon aside from his own hurt and whole general confusion on the matter. He hadn't thought he'd done anything wrong but he really didn't know.
The sound of Casmir's approach had been swallowed by the thick fog that writhed around the bear as if it were alive, though the soft woof caused Regi's ears to perk atop his skull, looking at Casmir as the other joined him, offering a greeting as Regi paused in his patrol, golden gaze holding onto Casmir's form. “I'm all for blowing this Popsicle stand,” Regi responded, letting Casmir know that he was willing to go along but that first he had something he wanted to bring up. Perhaps now wasn't the best time considering this was the first time Cas had spoken to him in what felt like forever, but Regi had no issues with being confrontational when the situation demanded it and the bear needed to know what the hell was going on — especially since he felt like he was caught in the middle of it.
“but we need to have a quick talk, mate.” The slang for friend rolled easily off of Regi's tongue because he did see Casmir as a friend which was why he was going to push for this talk first. “This is the first time you've spoken to me in a while, and I haven't talked to Behati since we'd explored those caves. So I need to know what the hell is going on, Cas. If there's a problem with me, you can tell me. I'd prefer you told me instead of leaving me in the dark confused about everything.” Regi respected when others were up front with him, because he chose to always be up front with others. That was simply apart of his nature, and he appreciated when others reciprocated it even if he didn't necessarily like what was said.
Regi said he was down, but he added a clause to the agreement, and Cas' shoulders slumped in mute acceptance. the bear proceeded to shake him down, and the Mayfair boy found himself gazing off toward the distance, wishing that they didn't have to Talk. Cas wasn't good at Talking, only chatting and maybe bantering. And Regi was pushing some serious limits as far as the darkfurred Mayfair boy was concerned. "Listen, I like Behati, all right? And she went off with you, and I caught feelings about it, but it's chill now, man. I can't decide who she hangs with."
his eyes sought those of Regulus -- he mustered a little half-smile. "Are we cool?"
It was apparent that Casmir wasn't in the mood to talk, and what explaining he did do was curt and vague. The issue, as Cas explained it, was that he liked Behati and he was (more or less) jealous that Behati had went exploring with him (Regi) but that everything was cool now. It didn't feel like everything was cool between them, though Regi took Cas' reluctant willingness to mostly talk about it to mean that, even if Cas was truly cool with him now as he'd said. “We just went exploring,” The problem was that Regi, too, liked Behati which complicated things but unlike his companion he wasn't terribly fussed if she preferred Cas over him. It would sting, in the end, of course (because who liked rejection?) but he wouldn't be bitter over it. It wasn't his choice, or Casmir's for that matter at the end of the day. It was Behati's and neither of them had any right to make a decision for her. “If she's your girl all you had to do was tell me, I'm not the kind of guy that steals another guy's girl. I'm not that kind of friend, either. I don't like backstabbing,” And his belief in that followed strictly along the lines of “do unto others as you would have done unto yourself”.
“Yeah, we're cool,” Regi agreed with a slight rise and fall of his shoulders. There would be important things in life to fight over than a girl — especially when their fighting wouldn't make her decision change or anything. “So where's the destination?” Regi inquired stepping over the borders of their home, pausing to allow Casmir to take the lead.
Cas lowered his head -- "she isn't," he mumbled in response to the other's words. he very much wished that she was; then he'd have a leg to stand on when he told Regi to get the hell away from her. but the boy didn't know why he was being so mean about it, even in his head. after all, it was Behati's choice, not theirs. Cas liked to think he had influenced her in some way, but doubted it. the gossamer girl was pretty stubborn. "sorry, man," he spoke, this time above a mutter. "i'm just not good at talkin'. my old man, though? he'll talk you literally to death," Casmir revealed with a wry smile.
the land was dipping below them, toward the sea. Cas did take the proverbial reins and set a course down to the beach for himself and the bearlike man, though he strode alongside Regi, rather than in front of him. "tell me something funny," he fake-demanded with a bright flash of his white teeth in a winning smile.
and regulus did, and with great humour, as cas soon discovered.