Seaside Moors Rhapsody in Blue

It was a cool, grey morning and the sea now sprawled at the horizon, quite the change for Quixote.  All he'd seen lately had been mountains and trees, but there before him was the seemingly unending abyss.  The chill wind bit into his fur, reminding him of the coming winter, stacking upon the aready colder temperatures that came from the sea itself.

He'd made a point as the sun rose (not that he could see it through the clouds) to find his way towards the sea.  He'd landed himself on a landscape that much resembled the rolling coastal waters itself.  Hills abounded, and he found himself sitting on a particularly tall one that had a reasonable view of the ocean through some spindly, foreign-looking trees.  It was as close as he felt like getting at this instant.  Winter was indeed lurking, and sometime before it he'd have to find a home... Even if it was a temporary one.  Quixote wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for, though, and even with as many options as he'd passed in his travels, here he was at the edge of the world, wondering if there were more.  What did he want to do with his life?  What was there to find?  Whether it be indecision or just a quest for perfection that he wasn't able to lessen his goals for, here he was, still alone as the diffuse morning light brightened into another day.

Tytonidae felt like she was back on track. Not just her but Bhediyon, too. The pack would come together; she just had to keep on keepin' on. It was only a matter of time before they had the numbers to sustain themselves and keep the borders properly marked. That did not mean, however, that she planned on slowing down. No, sir. Tytonidae, after checking in on the pack to make sure everybody was doing alright and no blindness or scentlessness had happened while she was gone, headed west along the coast, dipping inland a bit.

It wasn't uncommon to come across other wolves while out on these wandering travels. That was half of the reason she did it. Recruiting wolves required her to, y'know, come in contact with other wolves. So when she spotted a dark four-legged fuzzy friend, she let out a "woof!" and trotted toward him with a bounce in her step.

The sound caused an initial bristle to ripple through his fur -- he'd been looking out to sea, and hadn't expected to be found since it didn't seem like this area was particularly well-traveled.  His ears flicked forward and he saught the one who made the noise, finally locking the other dark wolf in his gaze.  A quite chipper one, in fact, if her stride was saying anything.  Comparatively, Quixote was quite the dour sort and was already dreading the conversation if she turned out to be one of those sugary, flitty little sparrow types.  He could imagine the headache already.

But no, Quixote stayed sitting, allowing himself to yawn broadly to cover the fact he'd been caught unawares.  He'd gotten too wrapped up in his own internal dialog and in the process had let his guard down.  Not a good thing.  As she approached, his attentively-positioned ears and the slight cant to his head asked the question for him, a simple query along the lines of, 'Yes?' Oh yes, Quixote was totally quite the talkative man -- definitely a social butterfly at his peak.  For real, though, he just figured she was out looking for someone to talk to about the weather or something else equally common and he wasn't about to go guessing what.

He didn't speak, but that didn't deter Tytonidae. She knew that not everybody was down to start chatting it up right away. Each wolf was a unique creature, and learning about them was half the fun in her eyes. Besides, he looked young, healthy, and strong. Those were three qualities that would do well in Bhediyon. Of course, they were only secondary to whatever skills he might possess. That was where she put value, and she hoped he had that.

"Hey there," she greeted once she was in range to do so. "I'm seeking out recruits; you lookin' for a pack?" Considering the two had zero rapport, she figured it was as good a place as any to start. It gave him an opening to immediately deny her inquiry, profess that he was doing the same, or take an interest in joining and ask further questions. The options were wide open, and now it was his call.

No, it was Quixote that was the one who was to be caught off-guard again, but speech was a far less dangerous thing than being crept up on in the first place.  His brows rased at her question and he chuckled, Cutting to the chase, huh?  He did sort of appreciate that, but it was definitely not what he expected from, well, anyone other than himself. I suppose so.  What are you offering?  The thing about the way she phrased it, though, had given a good chunk of the power in the conversation to him. Did she only have a few members, then?  Was she expecting to start a war and needed soldiers?  There's that whole thing about not looking gift horses in the mouth, but anyone who came bearing gifts with Quixote's name on them always got suspicion in return.  It wasn't like he was some super handsome prince with magic powers that filled his pack's stores with unicorn meat or something.  Quixote was just some vaguely annoying guy with trust issues.

Ty grinned at his response (well, at least the first one), giving a small sheepish shrug to accompany it. Aggressive recruiting had been her only means of actually getting others to pledge. Beating around the bush wasn't really her style. She wanted others to join Bhediyon, and it was pretty difficult for that to happen unless she told them it was an option. The sooner the better, and if they declined, she could move on to the next. No sense in wasting her time on wolves who were happy to be somewhere else.

"It's a bit non-standard," she admitted, "but I'd like to move around every few months. I get itchy paws if I stay in the same place too long. Beyond that, I want those with skills to have the most authority, so you'd have to find some way to make yourself useful. How you do that is up to you." Refining her pitch was half the battle, but she did feel like she was finally getting a knack for it. Now that the ideas were solidifying, talking about Bhediyon was becoming easier and more natural.

"I'm Tytonidae Vasanta, by the way, but most everybody calls me Ty."

And so he'd answer in reverse order, Quixote Voulge.  It wasn't like his last name was going to be particularly familiar around here at least, unless he had some distant relations he didn't know about.  That was, thankfully, rather unlikely.

The bit about the pack, though, left him thinking.  Moving around didn't sound as appealing to him as just staying in one place, but that wasn't necessarily a dealbreaker.  Yes, he was often more attracted to the more traditional -- he was a boring sort -- but there was also a lot he could ignore.  Anything else worthy mentioning about it?  Though he was perhaps unclear in his inquiry, what he was aiming for was to find out if there were any final things to worry about.  Some had odd beliefs or were soon to be at war.  He figured maybe he should specify, Anything like beliefs, warnings, whatever.  He wasn't sure if that was the best way to phrase things. His outward expression was relatively neutral and he intended to keep it that way, intending to neither burn bridges nor commit to something sooner than he otherwise would.  He was the type to keep his promises, so he wasn't going to make them unless he was to follow through in the end.

He introduced himself as Quixote, sans a nickname. Well, Ty would just have to make a nickname for him when she thought of one. His questions caused her to prick her ears up, not quite sure what he meant. "Nothing I can think of," she replied, figuring that if she didn't know what he was talking about, there was nothing to cause him alarm. Aside from Bhediyon's foundation on skills and its plan to move from place to place, it was a regular ol' pack. She certainly couldn't think of any warnings that might need to be issued.

"What kinda skills do you have?" she asked, curious to know how he might fit into the Bhediyon scheme. "Or want to have?" She wasn't so naive to think that everybody who showed up would immediately be a pro at whatever it was they did (or wanted to do). She was willing to nurture that, to let them grow into their role.

Quixote didn't like sharing -- anything really. If things had ended before the next round of questions, he would have been fine, but the more it dragged on, the more he wanted to bury the information she sought. Why should he tell this Ty wolf what she wanted when she had been the one to come up to him? He was more afraid of saying something he'd later regret -- not in the way of insults, but instead information he'd rather keep to himself or somehow committing well before he would want to -- than he was of giving a wrong answer.

Although it sounded like there wasn't anything else noteworthy, Quixote still kept an eye out for fine print that might pop up along the way.  There was always something.  While she was perplexed about his question, he was perplexed about hers.  Skills? Like did she need members to be able to run across a lake without sinking? Throw a rock and hit a bird? Sing? His interpretation was the word meaning something special, something he didn't really have. Normal ones? he said, in that sort of drawn out way that one might when unsure he even understood the question. Without clarification, it was the best he could do.  It wasn't really an unreasonable thing to think -- he was from a pack that didn't have much choice in the matter. You were what you were assigned (and notably, had to be able to fill any role), and any skill of extra note was from major achievements. Quixote wasn't old enough nor of high enough rank to have been able to get any glory of his own. Luck hadn't gone that way.

The things he was good at? Well those pretty neatly folded under "stuff you needed to do to survive" so he didn't consider them anything special. He did what was necessary without any fancy titles or the like.  He totally wouldn't make it in a circus.

Ty did a "heh" in response to his answer. "Okay, what do you enjoy doing?" she asked, trying to hone in on where Quixote's passions might lay. She wanted the wolves of Bhediyon not only to contribute but to be happy doing so. Everybody seemed to have one or two (or six) things they really enjoyed doing, and that was where she wanted them to help out. Since everybody seemed to have different interests, she hoped it would eventually round them out nicely.

"I like traveling and recruiting, so that's how I hope to contribute the most. We've all got to do a little bit of everything, but if there's something you really like or really hate, I want to accommodate that." Ty had zero interest in fighting off intruders, but she knew she would step up if she had to. Then again, she had a feeling there would be at least one member of Bhediyon who was more interested in the ins and outs of guarding their territory than she was.

They seemed to have fairly different views of what a pack member should do.  He didn't like being singled out, and asking him what he wanted only started to put him on edge.  He was unimportant. He was a cog looking for a new machine.  Quixote knew of nothing that he felt that strongly about.  It wasn't like he always wanted to be an astronomer or the greatest warrior... He just did what he needed to. He learned to fight because that was his duty, he fought because that was what he was told.  He was a good soldier.  He would take orders, he would give them if needed, but the more he thought about it, the more he thought that the things she was looking for were things he would greedily keep to himself.

Quixote's tone had cooled slightly as he wrapped himself in his thoughts, I do what is necessary, I do what is needed.  He was not a wolf ready for freedom, nor one ready to share with someone who was a stranger, even if she was potentially offering a home.  It was too easy.  Too strange to him.  If he wasn't sure what he wanted, he certainly wasn't going to make the mistake of guessing.  His instinct in this case was telling him to find an out before he said something dumb or she got even more inquisitive.

He sighed, getting to his feet and stretching.  You sound like you want wolves that know what they want.  The only things on my list are have food, not die, and if he had hands, he would have counted them off on his fingers. I don't have the answers you're looking for.. Right now at least.  He wondered how long it would take to find them.

Last one for me. :)

Ty shrugged. She knew she wasn't going to win everybody over, and she was okay with that. His answers seemed to be getting more and more avoidant, though she had a hard time understanding why. It wasn't like she was asking for his firstborn child or anything... just trying to get a feel for what he was good at doing. In any case, she didn't think it would be a good fit.

"Suit yourself," she replied. "I'd best be getting on." Tytonidae didn't want to spend too much time barking up the wrong tree. She gave him a polite nod, then trotted away. She'd keep her eyes peeled for new recruits wherever she went.

Sorry Qui's a derp! :P

This whole thing had unnerved him in a way he didn't realize was possible.  Maybe things operated differently this far away from the lands whence he came.  But that was it for the conversation, it seemed.  He didn't blame her.  Quixote hadn't exactly shown off his best side, either.  Sorry, he said quietly.  She probably couldn't hear.  He watched her leave, then he headed to the northeast, away from the water, to see what else he could find.  He had quite a bit to think about.