Rowan ventured from his sacred hideaway.
He rarely left these days. Preferred not to. But with Marisol...he'd lost many of his friends.
Maybe he'd find Maegi still lurking nearby.
The wind was quiet today in the Flatlands. But the sky was blanketed in thick, white bluffs, blocking the low winter sun, for the most part, casting the world into a dull sullenness.
He liked it. It felt like the sky was closer, and it felt like nighttime, but also not.
He strode through the meadow, long grasses still reaching for him despite the winter taking a firm grasp now.
Despite being part of her brother's pack (or pack-concept, as it remained for now) she had not been terribly social or warm towards her packmates. Nobody had said anything to her yet, but she worried about how it would reflect on her. A visible wolf was a good wolf; despite having little interest in traveling to the surrounding territories now that they had seemingly decided on a location, she caught onto the trail of a familiar scent and followed it outside the parklands.
She slides up a few paces away, stationed beside one of the wolves she met during her introduction. He was a leader, so she was told; she'd soon find out if he was up to the task. Their home would flourish or wither, and if anyone wanted her to stick around it had better do the former.
Good afternoon,
she says, holding a slightly deferent but universally neutral position. Working hard out here?
He should probably get better at realising he was being followed.
But there she was, a member of Zephyr's group, now part of Ivory Rose.
"Afternoon Electra," he smiled, tail waving softly.
He didn't want to be the power-hungry ruler who bullied everyone into submission.
He only had his display on their first greeting to ensure his rules were followed.
"Looking for recruits," he tilted his gaze to her, still with a smile.
"Care to join me?"
This guy, Rowan, seemed an entire world different in this meeting than he had in the last, and it was clear that Electra preferred this kind of man. The deference in her shifted into a casual presence and she offered him a rare and strikingly brief platitude of a smile. Afternoon,
she says, Sure.
She scanned the horizon for activity, and then returned her attention to Rowan. Had any luck?
She seemed to settle with his friendly greeting.
Gods, had he been too much when they first met? Probably.
He thought it was something to expect, but maybe they didn't think it was a one-off.
He still felt like it was something he had to do though.
A smile seemed to rise on her face but was pulled down just as quickly.
She was probably still just unsure.
"Not yet, your brother is better at this than me. I don't socialise as much as I'd like," he gave her a cheerfully wry grin. God, he sounded so lame.
But that was the reason. He panicked over so many things in conversation...he just wanted to talk freely. Yet, he couldn't. Not yet.
"What do you think of the woods?" He turned his gaze to her again after it had been lingering on the scenery. He wanted to know how he could make it better, or at least seem better.
Meanwhile, Electra had no anxiety and thought very little, if at all, about what she said. It was both a blessing and a curse. I'm probably not the best person for the job,
she admits, I'm sure you can tell, for all of my charisma.
She returned his grin with a wink that, had his attention still been on the woods, could've easily been missed.
To tell you the truth, I like it here.
She pauses for a moment to gesture towards the meadow in which she'd met Draper. Those meadows are full of berries. I met someone there — a coyote, named Draper uh... something'r'nother.
She cleared her throat again. We're in a good position. The territory is big, but not too big for us to hold. There's a lot of variety. I don't know much about anything, but I'd say you did well.
He chuckled softly.
"I certainly can."
He missed the wink.
He turned to look in the direction she spoke of.
A coyote. She'd spoken to it?
"Coyotes are nothing but trouble," he gritted out.
His family had been attacked by them too many times. He would have no peace with the low-life lesser K-9's.
"We'll be safe in the woods for a long time to come, I'm sure," he smiled to her. "I'm glad you think the same."
They would all learn together. His pack didn't all seem very experienced, and errors may be made. Unless his council would prove their worth.