Ankyra Sound Upon a weary night, the bell tolled.

@Helix

He had enough time away from the sea. He had to be with it once more. And with swift determination, he set for the frigid waves and callous sands.

He distinctly ignored the bay Stavanger once held throne over, refusing to acknowledge his past's demons again; instead he remembered where the coast lay, and followed it parallel. Keeping though the thinning trees, he kept they brine water forever in his nares as his ebony body dashed through the lands. Cry knew exactly how far he was meant to travel. Internally, something else pussed him. Maybe some passion he simply could not extinguish? He wanted to believe it was his fate to be cursed, his chain and collar being the desire to join a pack, to bring it nothing but prosperity, but to inevitably ghost from them once more. This time, however, he wouldn't prey on his own weakness, nor theirs. He wouldn't settle for a pack which was skin and bones. No, the assassin would seek a pack which held no needs, no wants, and in some fractured piece of his logic, he knew it would shape up his phantom tendencies.

He kept his lope up for what seemed like an eternity, and he came to realize he knew not where he was. Good. He alway had managed to wander closer to the sea, his four pads residing on the lush but nipping grains of sand and shells. Dark fur blew in the curteous but powerful summon of breeze the sea purged forth; and everything within him was pleased by it. The only other comparison he could say matched this ecstasy was his time in the winterlands, feeling the everlasting warmth he generated in comparison to the frigid world around him.

Body relaxed, and for once, there were no thoughts, no worries, no memories. There was simply him...
and the sea.

As the days get cooler, she finds herself more active. It hadn’t been that hot when she’d arrived but much different than she’s used to. Most days are cold further north, only a few weeks of warm-ish weather in the summer, and she can spend more time on her feet doing her work. The southern border comes to a close near where the redwoods end and the cliffs begin, she moves along a familiar path against their height and into the sound.
 
Her heart beats heavy in her chest as she moves with a weird sort of excitement. The feeling remains unexplained. Each time she’s here is different from the last and she doesn’t have any expectations for her little expedition.
 
As the terrain changes beneath her feet, weakening into sand that doesn’t have a lot of support. Capable paws make her way with a new grip and she readjusts easily. A dark figure appears in the distance, materializing contrast against the sand just as her form does and makes no effort to hide herself with nowhere to go. The ocean roars against her right and she focuses toxic eyes in his direction, waiting.

As any man who's profession was knowing exactly when to dodge a blow of teeth, his scruff stood to ruff and the sea whispered down his neck a warning of the newcoming member. However in the deep breath of breeze, it told with whiplash this woman's affiliation. How lucky could he have been?

Choosing not to offend the woman with a direct stare, he kept his frigid gems on the crests of water as they came and smashed the opposing lands with a crashing vengeance. Was a storm coming?

"I've come to ask inclusion within your ranks." His baritones caried their timber through the resting period of the waves, allowing him to be heard in the fleeting time they were spoke before the sea grew restless again.

As someone who didn't speak much, the assassin chose to initially answer any questions she might inquire of him, or to be silent in her presence as it was. He wasn't rude lest it call for it, and he didn't want to tarnish this oppertunity.

The dark wolf does not see her and turn away like she expects. Instead, he closes the distance between them. Briefly, he reminds her of Barracuda but with more defined features, typically attractive instead of a bit quirky in appearance. Yellow gaze drop as she scans the way he moves and holds himself, curious. Helix blinks slowly when at her request, scrutinizing gaze as she tries to find a single thing familiar about him and settles when she doesn’t recognize him.
 
“What about our ranks makes you want to be in them? What do you know of us?” she asks with a slight raise of her chin. She does not have the final say in bringing members into Drageda but they at least have to pass through her first to be led back to their commander.

"I know nothing of your pack", he answers without hesitation. And truthfully he was glad for it. It seemed as though the more things he knew about an affiliation whether it turned out to be a specific wolf or their pack, secrets spilled faster than blood and water.

"As any loner, I seek respite from the elements in exchange for service." Were these the same answers he gave Thistle when she interviewed him? So many moons had come and gone since then...and he hadn't seen a trace of her, nor of anyone from that pack, since. "As long as I remain, I am a faithful man. Dutiful and skilled."  The harbor of his skills wouldn't be mentioned, but he would speak on trades and such that all packs expected their members to begin their journey upon. He had done enough to be proficient in atleast something by now, right? Even if he hadn't, being protected and around allies would allow him to hone his abilities even more than what he had expertised on.

Finally coming to turn a face to the dark woman, his glacial eyes rested respectfully under her topaz irises. In the process, he gathered what information he could, including the marks her shoulder broadcasted purposefully in his peripherals, along with her fur holding a swig of ash and a glimmer of darkened oak in it's undertones. Her scent became much more announced to him, and he drank it in. The assassin's mind began to work as fast as it usually did, organizing each individual's scent on her pelt. It was the soup of each individual that harbored the land this woman resided in, and most certainly with hers, another's scent lurked. Potentially the Alpha?

But with his learnings, he said nothing. He stored this information away for later memory, and it sat in limbo as it awaited his jurisdiction of whether it would be useful or not for now.

Her expression is no more amused or unamused than it had been a moment prior. Nothing he says is any different from any other loner seeking asylum, aside from what little he knows of their home, but something doesn’t sit right. As long as I remain. Helix snorts. Their wariness of outsiders stems from their lack of loyalty. They join and take their resources and go. Those that remain are often met with lifetime scrutiny more than acceptance, but reach a certain level. Helix has to get used to the ratio in Drageda, far outweighed than back home, but she isn’t going to help push the number against them.
 
“Drageda is not just for the faithful, or the skilled,” she tells him. She speaks of what he may be able to do and his form speaks the truth behind it, even without the need for specifics. As long as he’s skilled in the fundamentals, as most able bodied wolves, there is an easy yes. It is the rest they look for, those worth spending their time on. “It is for the loyal. You give your life to us and we do the same for you. Otherwise, keep moving.”

It was simply too easy to fall down the cynical path, to clearly point out that faith was the very same thing as loyalty, and that he had already given her by word. Yet his aciions were a completely different matter; and he had already messed up, he had noticed. Using the same song and dance from his pledge to Stavanger and Noctisador would not suffice as his goals were not the same then and now. Now he simply needed a place to stay for now, as opposed to then, where he had no idea where else he could go. With such, his usual accuracy of words had been minutely flawed, but even so they held that honesty which he latched to, and rolled with.

However, with that honesty, a dose of lying. "You all could simply up and not want me, one day - As I've said before, I know nothing of you all, and that includes your customs." Deciding to elaborate a bit on his point, he used an example from his own bloodline. "Ive been born into a family who simply cast me out, despite being a healthy pup. I've been in packs before who simply left, dispersing without a word to any and everyone. So your trust in me would be just as much trust I would have to invest in you."

His tongue was silver, and his mind was sharp. Resuming his oppertunity to gaze back against the sea's folds and endlessness, he allowed her to take what he gave him. He wasn't, after all, disrespectful. He was being truthful. But his truths were held only in check by his purpose, and that was to get himself to a peak level before it was time for him to collect Gwen and depart for their own home. He had no problem following the rules, nor abiding by them for however long it took. However, this woman was skeptical, and that was the last thing the assassin needed right now. "Watch my habits, and you will see who I am. Accept me, and know I am not simply here to waste time with lies."

Helix takes a slow inhale, filling her lungs and holding it together. He reiterates his side of the conversation and she simply looks at him, waiting for him to make a decision that he doesn’t end up making and he isn’t making any more good points for his case. She had not come to recruit him and he does not stand on their borders. She doesn’t have to go back with him.
 
Slowly, she licks her lips and glances out into the waters to disguise some of her annoyance. As trained as she is for stoicism as a warrior, he is testing her patience.
 
“And yet you waste mine,” she says after a long moment, turning slowly to look back at him. A long breath releases and she stares at him. She’d given him the option to pledge loyalty to Drageda and he does not take it, dancing around what skills he claims to have. As much as she wants to, she does not turn to go, holding her gaze upon him with harsh, yellow daring eyes.

"Then that is your opinion of this situation," he cut the personal opinion in half with a curt sentence. This was for business, not pleasure, and if she found it to be unpleasurable sufficing her duty to her pack by adding to their numbers, then her role as a member was worthless. Just as how she illustrated her own personality in this transaction, he knew this pack was too inappropriately passionate for him, and he wouldn't allow any lead on it. Knowing his own intent, he couldn't allow himself to mold to this pack's weakness, and prey on it successfully. He rationed that he would get too attached, as that was the makings of a tight family, but was it a family if this woman spoke of 'her' time, and not 'theirs'? It took time to make a pack great, and all of it didn't belong to one individual. Was his surmise wrong?
Regardless of it,

He turned, and began his trek away from the dark woman, the word parting from his lips before he turned to vanish from this hindsight of beach.

"Unfortunately."

Thanks Cruz, you perf <3