Kick-starting my Pura muse. Pura is obviously a little older now.
The after-effects of Junior's disappearance and burial were still rocking Blacktail Deer Plateau. Like his sister, Pura had withdrawn, but unlike Saēna - who was legitimately going through the various stages of grief - the grey pup's absence came about as a result of a bid to avoid the hurricane of wildly confusing feelings that dressed every face he looked at. Peregrine and Lasher shared looks that he had no hope in hell of deciphering, and he got the feeling that Blue Willow's actions did not match up with what her brain was doing behind the scenes. Everything was confusing, and Pura was not a fan.
He spent the majority of his time by the small, clear spring that he and Saēna had discovered on one of those rare occasions when Junior was not running the show. Today, his front legs were completely submerged in the water, and Pura was half-snoozing in the light let through by the canopy of leaves. July was hot, and he reserved the majority of his running around for the evening - mostly patrolling or hunting, both of which he was starting to get rather good at (for someone his age, at least). He could not remember the last time he had spoken.
"Hey there."
The rest was lost. Pura woke with a grumble and turned his expression-less, metallic eyes in the direction of the sound, blinking sleepily. Apart from occasional appearances by Saēna (far less during this trying time, which she had not coped well with), nobody had disturbed him at this fortress of Fairy Kingdom before. The intrusion made him feel a twinge of.. nervousness?
Anger? He was too sleepy to tell, but turned one sleep, grey ear back and cocked the opposite brow. The girl in front of him was small, but her awkwardness suggested that she had already transcended into the adult world.
"I d-don't.. know you well," Pura stated, nostrils flaring to catch Finley's scent. It was his way of prompting older wolves for more information.
CRAP sorry I'm often not bright
As the boy turned his attention to her, she stopped in her tracks and watched. He actually was rather a lot larger than she had thought he was when she'd glanced at him a moment ago. His sleepiness was rather endearing, even though the look on his face left her ever so slightly unsettled.
"That's alright," Finley replied as she was told that he didn't know her very well, "I don't know you either. But we can fix that." The silver woman settled down onto her haunches and wrapped her tail around her back paws. "My name is Finley," she said, "I assume your parents gave you a name as well?"
</style>
Dude it's totally OK - I've added it to my signature now to help people out. I know Junior has the same problem! :D It does say puppy, after all.
Finley sat down, curled her tail about her legs, and asked for his name.
"Pura," the boy responded stiffly, shuffling slowly out of the water. It looked like he was wearing dark, thigh-high stockings.
He stared hard at her for a good long while, unashamed of his lack of social graces. Apart from a pair of soft, brown eyes, she was colourless - like Pura, but with much more contrast. Kisu's boy had a face-full of freckles that also covered the back of his neck, but other than that he was a uniform blue-grey.
"Wh-what do you do?" he ventured. Every Plateau wolf had a job - or ought to have a job. Pura patrolled, Peregrine hunted, Junior died.
Pura's faced scrunched up when it turned out that Finley was a talker. The flurry of statements and questions hit him like tiny, irritating pebbles. "Walking i-is patrolling," he told her slowly when the chat died down. What use was mere walking? Did she not stop to sniff the air, or start the walk with a suitably full bladder to mark their territory? What a waste! But if exploring was her true passion, she was made for the Outrider trade. Pura knew all about the jobs. In his eagerness to share these facts, however, he tied his tongue into a fat knot: "I-i-i-.. expl-... you can be a-an outr-rrrrr... outrider," he stuttered, and gave his head a hard shake. Frustration was building in him like a rainstorm pressuring a dam.
Uuugh, sorry!
He expected her to comment on his stutter, but Finley said nothing about it at all. Surprised - and relieved - Pura took a moment to compose himself before he started to explain.
"Y-you explore, and tell Peregrine," he informed her, curling his tongue around the syllables
"Y-you tell him facts and h-he makes.. makes decisions. It's-s.. important."
Conclude? :)
She understood. Good. A
'Yes, I understand' would have sufficed, really, but Finley seemed like the wordy time. Pura stared at her whilst she rambled on, impatience growing like a vine in his chest. When it reached the back of his tongue, he opened his mouth and in a firm, important-sounding voice told her to
"Go find him now." If she wanted to become an outrider, she would have to make it known to the Alpha - that was the rule!