After patrolling the borders during the cold morning hours, Peregrine set off into unclaimed territory seeking game. He found a few promising trails in the forests surrounding the caldera, though even after several hours of tracking, he had yet to close in on any quarry. He was beginning to grow frustrated.
He came across a small brook cutting through the woods and stopped to lap at the rippling water. It was icy and hit him like a punch in the gut but least he wasn't nearly as thirsty anymore. After taking his fill, Peregrine retreated from the water's edge. He spotted a deer tail and began to trot along it.
I hope whats-yer-face meant me xP
Tranquil ripples followed in Tethys' wake as she swam lazily across the river, the tug of the current sluggish and weak against her powerful and trained strokes. Water seeped into her sleek black cloak, but the heat created by swimming was enough to keep the wolf comfortable. She swam with her chin poised just above the tepid river, giving her a strong view of the opposite bank. It was there the Nereides spotted the ebony form of the male approach the shore.
For her three years on Earth Tethys had been trained in the ways of deception, and from the moment she had touched water the warrior was shown how to move undetected beneath the liquid surface. With her paws moving underwater like paddles, Tethys could propel herself at an agreeable pace across any body of water, leaving only a wake. She suspected that's what kept her hidden from the male as he stepped away from the edge and moved back up the grass. The raven made landfall only a few minutes later, water streaming from her pelt as she strode across the silty rocks, making only the most minimal of splashes.
The stranger had dissapeared into the brush, but Tethys could easily pick up his lingering scent, and slipped into the forest after him.
Yes, you and your symbol. :P
Peregrine proceeded along the trail, nostrils flaring as he sifted through the woodsy scents. A cold breath of wind shook the scantily clad trees, causing his ears to twist. Simultaneously, he paused, then turned suddenly to face behind him. There was a wolf standing there, one that he fleetingly mistook for one of his daughters, despite the unfamiliar scent.
"Why," he questioned, shuffling his legs to face her fully,
"are you following me? You're like my shadow, literally," he mused, noting their uncanny similarities, save of course for the disparity in their sizes.
When the male had pinpointed her location, Tethys stepped out of the undercover and onto the deer path behind him. A toothy smile was beaming at Peregrine, but the corners didn't reach her narrow blue eyes.
You blend in pretty well, yourself, the Nereides pointed out, noticing the similar colors the wolves shared. Both had pure, black-base coats and cerulean pools, spun by an inner glow.
She steadied herself, accrediting her slight uncomfortabless to her social isolation. Tethys had spent most of her time on the Ankyra coast, unwilling to stray past the safety that water harbored. And in that time, the female-dominated culture the Nereides held made Tethys' mind quite singular, especially since she had been raised in a similar environment. The brazen attitude this stranger held made her brow furrow, not used to the direct tone he carried. But then again, Tethys purposely swam upstream to do some exploring, and had to come to terms there were different tribes living along undiscovered shores.
Would you rather me follow you, or attack you? the raven questioned in return, the smile diminishing slightly as her ears swiveled forward.
Her retort made him blink, because he had no idea how that related to what he'd said. Peregrine let it go, though her next words elicited a quirked brow followed by a bark of disbelieving laughter. It was rude, he knew, to laugh openly in a stranger's face... but was she serious?
"The real question is: if you attacked me, would I even feel it?" His tail lashed and he gave her a teasing look, then added, "Following's fine by me. In fact, I could always use a few more followers," the swarthy Alpha stated frankly. "Are you a loner?"
The directness of his tone, and later the laugh, was still quite abrasive to Tethys, and matched with an open stare, Tethys felt her tail swish. It wouldn't be easy to dismiss the confrontation, but this wasn't her land and there was no point investing time into a fight.
That was an invitation to fight if I ever heard one, she responded lightly, following her comment by moving slightly forward. But the ebony creature was more drawn to manipulation, stealth, shadow as this male had so cleverly pointed out.
Oh, it would be fun to follow you, but alas, I am in a pack. After a moment, Tethys stooped slightly, feigning deference. Her body was low, but the wolf's chin was tilted and turned upwards toward the stranger. It gave her a curious yet slightly afraid appearance, with blue pools wide and misty. But you must be in a pack- if you are asking me that.
"I believe the phrase you're looking for is, 'Them's fighting words!'" the swarthy male teased even as she came nearer. She was very pretty, though he noted this as objectively as possible, considering he was a happily married man. "Ah, well, that's a shame. What pack is that? And what's your name, while we're at it? I'm Peregrine and, yes, I'm in a pack. I'm the Alpha of Redhawk Caldera. I'd point it out to you but it's obscured by the trees. It's that-a-way," he said, motioning toward the southeast.
At the mention of his 'Alphaship', Tethys obediently slid forward. Save for the small grin, the movement was entirely realistic. Starting with her head, the dark creature began to roll onto her back in a slow but deliberate move, over-exaggerating her submission as a play on what a normal subordinate would do. Tethys ignored the cold mud that seeped into her spinal fur as she found herself upside-down and low to the earth, her ears flat and tail tucked. The move would be unheard of within the Nereides, for her sisters had no reason to display their bellies to anyone; such was the advantage of their society. And now the wolf did it out of jest, with her front paws stretched above her skull and toes splayed out.
Her disgust of traditional pack hierarchy had manifested itself not in anger, but in a playful game shown through Tethys' apt to submit. For she aimed to draw him in, a lure whilst she took in knowledge to share with her pack.
Why didn't you say anything before? Tethys berated in a sickly-sweet voice, staring up at the male with complacent pools. Even if she had never heard of the Caldera before, Tethys made an inference that Peregrine's pack was similar to the foolish families that lived outside Ankyra's sphere of influence, where males had much more power than the gods had ever meant to deem them.
I'm Tethys of Ankyra Sound- not nearly as close as your home is. The female wondered briefly if more of Peregrine's followers were close by- would that hinder with her game? In her fit of obnoxious submission the raven stretched out a paw to place on his leg, as if silently asking him not to attack her in her state of vulnerability.
Her sudden display of submission took him by surprise. Peregrine looked down at her, nonplussed, and opened his mouth to tell her it was totally unnecessary. Before he could, she spoke to him in a simpering tone. Sensing that she was teasing him, he blinked a few times and backpedaled out of reach when her outstretched paw touched his foreleg.
"Ankyra Sound?" he repeated, wondering why that seemed familiar but unable to put a finger on it. When Junior had run off with the Nereides, they hadn't yet claimed a home base, yet somehow or other he had heard the name in passing. For the moment, he didn't necessarily connect the dots. "Even if you weren't in a pack, there's absolutely no need to roll around in the dirt like that," he pointed out to her in the next breath.
She didn't mind rolling around in the dirt to prove a point, but the wolf clambered back onto her paws. Cool mud seeped into Tethys' back, finding it's way to her skin underneath her coat. The female was silent for a moment as she studied Peregrine with cool sapphire eyes, noting his wit. It was hard for Tethys not to look down on him, seeing the proclaimed alpha as little more than a grunt. Could she help herself? Probably not, for the ideas that brewed in the Nereides' mind had been there from birth. Aside from the bias the ebony warrior received came habit, and she wasn't about to break out of it any time soon.
Yes. Maybe you should come see the Sound sometime. You'd be surprised by its... uniqueness. There was no point in ruining the initial shock the male might recieve when he saw things were run far differently, and perhaps more efficiently, in Tethys' pack. Remaining still, the female allowed a toothy smile in return to the brute's last comment and a shrug of her shoulders.
I do what I want.
Again, Tethys fixated an eye onto him. Peregrine wasn't in a position to defer or direct the female's actions now, was he? Her guard came up when she sensed the male's hesitance, and now she saw what little use Peregrine provided in ways of information.
She invited him to come see the sound sometime. Although she promised uniqueness, it neither interested nor intrigued Peregrine. He was a homebody. He didn't have time for strangers or strange places. This entire encounter was exactly why he didn't waste his time on such things. He was already thinking of excusing himself.
"I'm sure it's wonderful. And I'm sure you do," he added in response to her latter remark. "Well, since you're spoken for and all, I'll leave you to it. I know it's going to be a long walk back to the coast." He wondered why she was so far away, yet he wasn't invested enough to actually ask. "I have some tracking to get back to anyhow."
With a dip of his head, Peregrine turned and strolled away, veering back toward the caldera. Yet he did not head home just yet. Instead, he sought another deer trail and resumed his tracking. He would avoid any other wolves he came across. He was only interested in meat now.