dauntless'd caught the scent of a new wolf within the territory. as it is intermingled with dawn's and a few other's he makes the safe assumption that she's been accepted into the pack and does not immediately alter his course to introduce himself. he hunts first, catching the fox and dispatches it relatively quickly. it hangs limply from betwixt his jaws as he makes his way towards one of morningside's food caches. he finds the nearest one — the one close to catfish pond — and buries the fox corpse after doing a quick sort thru and getting rid of the meat that is spoiled before it gets rancid. when he's finished dauntless heads to the pond to wash the blood that's staining his muzzle, and when he reaches the bank he begins to clean his muzzle, giving pause to the small bath when as his ears, alert atop his skull, pick up soft humming. he glimpses over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the woman garbed in ivory. with a flare of his nostrils dauntless deduces that she's the newest member that he scented earlier and lets out a low chuff to announce his presence, providing she hadn't already seen him.

dauntless had gone through a phase when he'd been meek but he'd grown out of that fairly quick. he had little time for timidness, after all, and the borders wasn't a place for it. a soldier? she inquired though it sounded like less of a question and more of an assessment. it's not something he'd ever considered himself to be, per say, but he supposes it's a good noun to describe him. soldiers protected their home and hearth and those that were more precious to them than life itself. "that obvious, huh?" dauntless inquires with a swivel of his ears and a small ghost of a smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "you're new here?" now it was dauntless's turn to make a question into a statement. she smelled of dawn and a few others but her scent was still unique enough to tell him that she hadn't been with them long ( besides he hadn't seen her at the meeting and that was tell-tale enough ). "i'm dauntless." he introduces himself figuring that it was good to interject before they get too far in conversation. though in truth, she would learn it sooner or later, he thinks, even if he'd have forgotten to give it to her, but as he's trying to make an effort to get to know wolves outside of his immediate circle ( which consisted of his sisters, family and burr ) it strikes him as prudent to introduce himself.

dauntless's gaze, irises more green today than they are brown, follow the movement of her head as she nods her confirmation of his own assessment. he makes a small hum in the back of his throat when she offers that she's been accepted into the pack as midwife for the season after her name. though he wonders how catori will feel about a relative stranger being midwife — though perhaps there was plenty of time for the two women to get to know one another between now and whenever ( the details of heat and pregnancy and all that are hazy to dauntless but mostly because he's at the stage of his life were it's all kind of awkward ) — it inevitably makes sense. his ears perk forth and then swivel to the side before they move to rest at half mast atop his skull at her question regarding his parents. "grayday's my dad and pema and catori are my mothers." their situation is unique and likely unorthodox and dauntless abruptly feels the need to explain lest his companion jumps to wild conclusions about it due to dauntless' fact stating vagueness. it is normal to him and he thinks he's better for having both pema and catori as stable maternal figures in his life.

"catori is my dad's new mate, but her and pema fill the role that khoe, the woman who gave birth to me and my sisters —" he doesn't call her mother, doesn't dare. she is not worthy of that title to him. it belongs to the two women who have been more of (a) mother(s) to him than the one who gave him life. "— left in her wake." he offers in sheepish explanation, assuming that if he left it as vague as he first spoke it that the inquiry would pop up eventually. dauntless accepts her compliment with a slight warm to his cheeks and a dip of his head but uses it to humble himself. "ah, i have my days," there is something that is both charming and bit beguiling about his grin. "but thank you. i'm sure my parents would be happy to hear it." he says with a light laugh.

he offers a lofty shrug of his shoulders on the topic of khoe. he can't say that he ever truly knew her and though her abandonment had confused him and hurt him at first, he had two great moms because of it. "my sisters are great, too." he says with an air of pride, feeling the instinctual need to include them too. his sisters were a lot of the reason why he was the way he was, too. they were massive influences in his life just as much as grayday, pema and catori were. "sure do!" he grins earnestly, chest rising with unbridled superbia. "they're the best," he admits not realizing that he may be terribly biased. "i wouldn't trade them for the world." his family is his rock, his inspiration, his drive to do and be better and it does not escape dauntless's knowledge that he's fortunate to have them. "yeah, i'm down for a story." dauntless invites, settling back upon his haunches. "i'm not in a hurry, so you can make it as long as you'd like." he encourages, brushing aside the notion that he doesn't have time ( or worse yet wouldn't make time ) to listen to her tale.

the whole topic of birth goes right over dauntless's head, and he's not sure the direction this story is meant to head. he's never considered that he would one day be a father but he's still a kid himself! but dauntless morningside is ( sometimes ) courteous and doesn't have the heart to tell the woman that this story doesn't very much interest him. a ear splays back and flutters against his skull while the other swivels to the side as she finishes with the death of this woman and the scattering of her children and dauntless wonders if he's supposed to apply that to his own situation even though the circumstances were absolutely nothing alike. "that was, ah, a nice story." but something that dauntless ultimately thought his sisters might enjoy more than him. he draws in a breath and offers her an awkward quirk of his lips in something of a smile hoping that she wasn't too offended by his cringeworthy compliment.

dauntless feels awkward even as she coos her compliment at him. there is a subtle shift of his weight and a swivel of his left ear ever so slightly to the side of his head. he offers with a small chuckle as if it would ease some of the awkwardness and guilt he felt about not being all that interested in her story about birth. she doesn't appear to hold it against him which is reassuring. there are times when he tends to lack a filter between his brain and mouth and he doesn't mean to come across as tactless but knows that he does ( usually after he's said something and it was too late to take it back ). "oh yeah?" dauntless inquires in a soft, contemplative hum as she tells him that he reminds her of one of her boys. "is that a good thing orrrr...?" he teases ever so slightly. he tries to tread more carefully now: he doesn't know anything about her or her son that he reminds her of and doesn't want to accidentally insult anyone.

forrest assures him that it's a good thing that he reminds her of one of her boys and yet dauntless can't shake that it makes him feel a little awkward to be compared to someone else. the memory of her kids seems incredibly private to him and though she tells him willingly and of her own accord he can't help the feeling like he's eavesdropping on a conversation he shouldn't be. "well, thanks." dauntless offers as graciously as he can, feeling that secondary swell of awkwardness as she states that she thinks he'll grow up to be like her son. a part of him thinks that he's just being ridiculous — she's being kind and offering him compliments; yet he's still on the path of self discovery and there's no telling who he'll grow up to be ...even for himself!

"i should probably get to my patrols," dauntless offers as a ( perhaps random ) explanation that she hadn't asked for. "i'll catch you later, forrest." he gives her a small, soft smile before he takes his leave and makes his way towards the borders.