Ezekiel trotted through the territory, feeling pretty damn good. He'd been having a fantastic day, not to mention his life was going the best it's ever gone. A steady friendship with Valette, which could be something more soon enough. The beautiful female now shared a den with him, so his scent was beginning to become a blend of him, Silvertip mountain and Valette. Plus he was the beta now, which turned out to not be that hard at all. He organized stuff, kept everyone together, and as always guarded the borders. Life was perfect.
He stopped at a small stream to drink, lapping up the sweet cool water. It tasted better than it ever had. Out of nowhere, maybe just because he was happy, the male swatted his paw across the water, a childish smile on his face as he watched it ripple. Then without warning (but like warning who anyways?) he leaped in, soaking his thick grey pelt down to its roots. There he was, the beta, the big, handsome, stone faced man, playing like a baby goat. Because he felt like it.
oh boy ;)
She paced around the borders, deciding to revisit them after her patrol with Steady. She had been taught the basics, so marking the borders wouldn't hurt, right? Wrong. A scent wafted towards her, belonging to none other than Ezekiel. She was OK with the male now, but she hadn't talked to him in forever, a seed of dread sprouting in her stomach. Had Valette gotten a good influence on him?
Anita found herself trotting towards the scent, not sure why she was doing so. Maybe it would be good to catch up with Ezekiel, and
maybe it would no longer be as awkard. Afterall, she did tell Steady she was perfectly comfortable around Ezekiel now, and she didn't want to lie to him. She paused, noticing the male dive into the water with a childlike glee. Anita rushed down to join him, halting at the water's edge.
"Long time no see. I'm surprised you didn't sink like a rock." She grinned, dipping a paw into the water.
A voice surprised the boy, a voice he'd learned to avoid. Anita. It wasn't like he hated her anymore. She was alright. But it's not like he wanted to ever see her though. She was rushing towards him, which made him step back, holding his ground. She halted at the water's edge, with her normal smug look. Long time no see. Taunt taunt blah blah. That was about all he heard, because as soon as she started talking he submerged himself into the water, the sweet sound of water filling your ears took him to another dimension.
But he had to make an effort at least to socialize with her, especially since he was beta now. Besides, he wasn't about to let her ruin his day. He swam towards her on the shore and dragged himself out of the water, shaking his long coat and spraying water in every direction. Yeah well I'm surprised you haven't floated away with all that hot air.
He grumbled, hopefully loud enough for her to hear. Suddenly remembering he was supposed to be nice, he spoke again. So umm, how are you?
It was awkward, and he didn't have much to say, but it was a start.
As soon as she started talking the male slowly started to submerge himself under the water. "O-oh, really now? You're going to do this? Come back up, I was trying to be nice! That's pretty immature for the Beta--" she shut up as he broke the surface, glad his ears were filled with water for the duration of her yelling. She plastered a "cool" grin on her face, rolling her eyes as Ezekiel shook and managed to drench everything around him -- including her.
"Ohoho, wow, I may as well visit the glacier because I just got burned," she said, faking hurt in her dramatic response. She paused, remebering that she too was supposed to be nice. Oh god.
"Pretty good, and you?" she responded, not expecting much of an explanation out of the male.
Ezekiel's gaze turned to a bored grown as her frustrated rants began. She thought she was so cool, and it annoyed the heck out of him. But it was ok. She was a contributing member of the pack, and everyone else seemed to like her. Luckily she responded to his more friendly greeting with one of her own. I'm good too.
Was all she got out of him, he wasn't about to share everything about his life with her. Unless she got more specific. Actually he'd been looking for someone to talk to about Valette, and being beta, but he doubted that person would be Anita. As if she'd cared anyway.
Been up to anything lately? Since the fox hunt I mean.
He asked, remembering that dreadful incident with poor Adeline. He hadn't been much help healing the girl, which he wished he could've been. He didn't know much beyond apply pressure, cover and clean the wound. They really ought to send someone out to recruit a healer, perhaps with Anita working towards the scout trade, she might like that idea. He reminded himself to ask her about that, and being beta he now had the right to send her out. He kept forgetting that he had those freedoms now.
"Not much," she admitted. "I went on a quick trip to check the caches with Valette, but that's about it," she added, remembering all the things she had learned from the trip. There was a silence as she scrambled for something else to talk about. Even arguements with the Beta were better than silence. Silence with Ezekiel was just weird.
"Oh, do you know how Adeline is doing?" she asked, his mentioning of the fox hunt stirring her memory of the incident. "I couldn't really do much, but I think she'll be fine," Anita thought aloud, hoping these thoughts were to be true. Without a healer there, there wasn't much they could do in terms of help. Chaska had seemed to know a bit, but she didn't know of his aspirations trade-wise. A healer for the pack would be nice, but she didn't know how she could just find one.
A quick trip to the caches with Valette? Valette. Ezekiel's features notably softened at the sound of her name. The two had been spending lots of time with her, and he liked her a lot. He really hoped one day they might be more than friends. Boyfriend and girlfriend would be awesome. But for now, as long as they could just hang around each other, he was content. He broke the awkward silence with a comment, but Anita continued on so quickly that he wondered if she'd even heard. Valette moved into my den, we've been hanging out a lot-
Suddenly the conversation shifted, and his face re-hardened. Adeline was fine luckily, but what if they hadn't been there to help her? The thought kept passing through his mind, and made his fur bristle slightly. She's great actually. But I know how you feel. I knew about as much as you did when it came to healing her. Back at my old home we had wolves trained to do that sort of thing. And I don't function well under the pressure of losing someone I care about.
He wasn't sure why he had shared so much, maybe because it was an important topic to him. If Johan was here she could've helped. She'd always been an adept healer, better than he at least.
She decided not to comment on the whole "Valette moving into his den thing" until he was finished speaking about Adeline. He even mentioned something about his past, admittedly an unexpected piece of information she expected him to share with her. "I don't think anyone functions under the pressure of losing loved ones," she agreed, "Also, I'm glad to know that Adeline is doing ok." Anita smiled, feeling a bit better about the situation. The last she had seen the young girl, she had been bleeding and all hell had broken loose.
"Valette moved into your den?" she said, a smile spreading across her lips. "Oooh, and you're hanging out?" she teased, dramatically putting emphasis on the last two words. Truthfully, she was glad that Ezekiel had found someone despite all of their past issues. Maybe those issues were a bit more one-sided, but they had definitely happened in her eyes. It was good to see that Ezekiel was happy, especially with Valette. She was a good friend to Anita.
"I'm not asking you to spill any juicy details," she mused, a mischevious glint in her eyes, "but at the same time...I'm not totally against you telling me all the details either," she laughed, hoping that Zeke understood she was just teasing. It seemed that he took a lot of her jokes literally and she hoped he caught on to her jokes.
Anita's thoughtful comment made him feel a bit better, that nobody functioned well under the pressure, but still he felt that he should've been able to done more. He'd kind of just hung around Adeline, squawking like an angry dad. It had all ended up alright, but Ezekiel had a tendency to hold onto something for a while. The fox incident wouldn't be forgotten so quickly. I'm glad she's good too.
He said, before Anita backtracked to his comment about Valette. As soon as he heard the words coming out of Anita's mouth, he regretted them having come out of his.
Dramatically speaking and laughing at her own jokes, Anita asked for the details and Ezekiel took a moment to think. He didn't necessarily like sharing everything about his relationship with Valette. He liked them to have some privacy, but a little bit wouldn't hurt. Well she moved into my den. We don't do anything if that's what you mean. It's not like that. We're just really good friends.
He said, as almost a justification. He wanted to be more, but he still wasn't sure if Valette was there yet.
Ezekiel spoke, and her suspicions were confirmed. Well, she didn't exactly have any suspicions since she was fairly certain of their relationship to begin with, but she feigned surprise as if she weren't expecting his answer. "Really good friends...hmm..." she trailed, holding back a chuckle. She didn't doubt their friendship, but she also didn't doubt that they had other feelings for each other either.
She spoke again, this time a bit softer, "I guess everything is working out for you, Sir Zeke the Beta," she smiled, joking lightly. A part of her was envious, but it wasn't enough to invoke ill-minded thoughts. It was more like a hollow feeling at the pit of her stomach, though not noticeable enough to ruin her good mood.