Silverlight Terrace at war with oneself

His speech was inspired by Oh from the movie "Home" :)

He eagerly returned her shoulder bump, perhaps with a bit too much enthusiasm as he practically bounces off her. He was normally quite graceful, but his display was anything but, and he giggled and flashed her a sheepish grin before the pair trotted off toward the Moonspear. He had never had to talk about his skills or had to prove himself to a leader, but he was not concerned in the least, too fixated on the excitement of it all.

Soon, they are approached by a white male with unique freckles that draw Roo's inquisitive blue eyes. "I like your spots!" He blurted out as the male finished greeting Wildfire and himself, his tail waving vigorously. "I am Roofox, but Roo is okay to be calling me."

She intended to summon a leader once they approached the borders but it proved unnecessary, as they crossed paths with a patrolling Charon. Wildfire grinned at the young Alpha male, head bowing and tail wagging lowly. His cool nose bumped her cheek and as he withdrew, she nudged his chin. Her head then turned, smudged muzzle pointed at her hopeful recruit.

Before she could answer Charon affirmatively, Roo offered the Alpha a compliment, then introduced himself. "Roo's my new friend," she concurred. "We just met out on the terrace. He's new to the area and he needs a place to stay. I thought Moonspear might be a good match." But that was now up to the leader, so Wildfire fell silent and took a step back, lingering near Roo's hip but relegating herself to the background while Charon conducted the requisite interview.

The comment about the spots was easily disregarded (perhaps even seen as a compliment); Charon was used to others commenting on his rare and fab freckles. Charon eyed Roo up and down, not yet sure what to make of him, then looked at Dhole as she explained that Roo was looking for a home and Moonspear might be a match. Charon looked back at Roofox to try and gauge his reaction to this suggestion; ultimately, it was up to him and up to Charon whether this would take place, not Dhole's enthusiasm.

"Thanks, Dhole," Charon said and he smiled appreciatively (her eager recruitment was appreciated regardless) before he turned to look at Roo. "So what about you, Roo? Got any skills to contribute to our pack with?" He probably did, and Charon was eager to hear them. "Did Dhole tell you much about our pack yet?"

Last post for me as per what I told you guys :) Sorry about the wait, also! Maybe this dork will come back sometime.

Roo flashed his red companion a big grin as she took a moment to explain that they had met on the terrace and she thought he might fit in with the Moonspear pack. She stepped back after, at which time the foxwolf turned his attention back to handsome Mr. Freckles.

Though she had tried to prime his mind for this sort of question before Charon arrived, Roo had not done much thinking. Trades were not a known thing in homelands, and the only things foxwolves had to learn was the history of their kind and how to be one. Most of that was learning how to become proficient small game hunters, targeting the rodents and the rabbits and such.

"Oh, um," he hummed as he thought about the question. His tongue darted out to lick at his lips and his shifted from looking upward to the left to upward to the right. "She dids not say much..." He squeaked as a nervous flutter seized his voice. He had never been in an interview-like situation before, and was suddenly rather shy of the whole idea.

"I am thinking I will be back maybe sometime," he laughed nervously as he started to back away. "Thank you though! Yous are being very nice friend wolves!" He grinned really, really big at both of them, before turning tail and darting off as quick as his little feet could go.

Unfortunately, the interview did not last long. The previously unflappable and easygoing Roo suddenly looked quite put on the spot. Wildfire's lips parted when he mumbled something about how she hadn't told him a lot about Moonspear. Before she could say anything, he suddenly turned and fled. She jumped to go after him, yet halted after only a few steps, watching as his reddish figure eventually disappeared into the distance.

Brow furrowed, she slowly turned to Charon. "Well," she murmured, "I guess it wasn't a match after all." Wildfire drew in a breath, wondering what had spooked Roo so abruptly. She would just have to let it go, though. "Sorry for wasting your time, Charon," she added, suddenly worried that he would come down on her again, like he had done that day with Eigma. If he did, she would try not to take it so personally this time. She could probably use some constructive criticism, after all.

Suddenly the other dude started to get all fidgetty, and it wasn't long before he rushed off in a hurry, using some excuse or the other. Charon watched him leave, kind of flabbergasted really, because his pack was quite full and he hadn't expected a wolf to turn down a given opportunity like that. Not that he'd been all accepted yet, of course, but still...

Dhole broke the silence of Charon's surprise, and he looked at her. She looked kind of fragile, what with the way she apologised for wasting his time, and so Charon tried to hold back on the not-so-very constructive criticism. "Well, you tried," he said, though his tone of voice was very passive-aggressive, the frustration seeping through even though he hadn't intended for it to. Charon forced a smile to his face and decided to toss his anger at the random dude who just ran off anyway, as it seemed safer in relations to his friendship to Dhole: "We don't need that loser, anyway." He bumped Dhole's cheek with his nose in a consoling manner, while poorly hiding his disappointment.

Dhole was still learning, anyway; she was barely nine months old anyway, and not everyone could be a wunderkind like Charon, of course. He told himself this while he put a smile back on his face and said: "C'mon, let's go home. They can't all be winners." Surely some day Dhole would bring him an actually useful recruit, and all of her failures would pay off because at least she'd then be able to tell the idiots from the potentials because of all her experience trying to recruit idiots.

He commended her for trying, though the way he said it sounded off somehow. Wildfire decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, though, because she knew Charon meant well. She did bite her lip when he hostilely referred to Roo as a loser, though she didn't attempt to defend her new friend. She had liked him but they hardly knew one another and he had run off quite abruptly, leaving them hanging. She idly glanced in the direction he had gone, amber eyes curious, before facing forward even as the Alpha offered a nudge.

She smiled appreciatively, bumping his chin with her nose to acknowledge their respective ranks before bobbing her head. "Right," she agreed simply, then began trotting silently alongside him as they moved back toward the mountain.