He'd departed the plateau and the dark-furred woman more unsure than before. Perhaps he was being foolish. The beast's contentment to float through life untethered was getting him nowhere fast. Twice now he had been offered .. a home, a position within a group. And he knew of others, the Caldera that Towhee had mentioned. Others he could smell but had not sought. The simplest truth was this: Étoille could not handle
options. He should have stayed with that strange dark family in the forest. Though he could not picture himself (clinging, maybe, to the image of 'nobility' that Liana had instilled in him) in that setting. He could have followed Towhee to the Caldera. He could have taken Ty's offer. He could have done any number of things.
Étoille did not want to dwell. There would be something. Someone. His patience and ease had yet to fail him. And summer was plentiful; he did not need to rush.
The man finally took stock of his surroundings. The woods he'd disappeared in to from the plateau had given way to the quarry. He stood at its steep edge and peered down. The variation in these lands was remarkable, if he were the sort to remark. But he wasn't. Still. The soft glint of the water below was appealing, somehow. Carefully he carried himself down, large form moving cautiously but without the beauty of natural grace. Maybe his next step would be hidden in the deep pools of the quarry.
It took him a bit to notice her. His attention was drawn elsewhere, though not to the world around him. Something internal, a puzzle he was missing pieces for. The gentle chuff caught his ear as he reached the floor of the quarry. Dark eyes swept up, catching olive for a moment. She was small and white and vaguely reminded him of 'Liana - but her lines were too delicate, too finely crafted. That was alright. Étoille wasn't in the business of comparative studies, regardless of coincidentally shared traits.
He returned her chuff with one of his own, deeper and rumbled. She smelled of an unfamiliar pack.. there seemed to be many around here. For a moment he wondered if he was intruding on her, and it occured to him that he did not often come upon others so much as have them come upon him. The shift in dynamic did not bother him. After all, she could choose to ignore him if she pleased. Though her approach signalled differently. "Bonjour," he murmured, eyes shifting to the water. There was something glinting there. "I apologise for intruding." Étoille wasn't sorry at all. But it seemed like the proper follow through. One never knew.
The woman drew closer to him. Her movements were like a dance. Contrasted against him, he was even more oaken than usual: a large structure planted on the earth. Étoille watched her curiously. The man did not have much experience with femininity. Not that he'd never known women, but he'd never truly pursued a courtship, nor had a way of really recognizing flirtation for what it was. He also could not read that she was lonely, not that he would have known what to do with that if he could.
But he was lonely, too, even if he could not name it that way. He dipped his head slightly, not quite smiling, but expression relaxed. "Are you from around," he asked, low voice intruiged. His earlier thoughts were completely exorcized from his large, beautiful head. She was exactly what he needed: a distraction. And a lovely one at that, if he was completely honest.