Stone Circle safe place

With time, things changed. The initial fear at the banishment faded away as he remained safe day after all. Laurel was still not a present factor in his life anymore and Charles accepted it begrudgingly. He simply stayed away, keeping to himself and yearning for some sort of love. Riley's disappearance was strange, for it felt good in some way, because Charles no longer found his ears chewed on or his desires and activities limited, but bad in another way, because the negative attention had been a form of attention, and now he felt desolate, alone, and forgotten.

The herds had returned and Charles often found himself sitting by the stones and gazing at the bison on the plains. Today was another such day, but there was an itch that the young coywolf found hard to scratch. After gazing out at the bison for some time Charles wandered about the stones a few times. He glanced around to see if anyone was there and then he moved over to one of the stones and lifted his leg, while nervously licking his lips, and a few drops of urine fell onto the stone. It was only a few drops, and if nobody would see it the scent might fade away easily anyway. If someone saw Charles knew he was in big trouble.

He wasn't sure which scenario he was hoping for the most.

feel free to pp grabbing / reprimanding him however your character might. also feel free to assume whichever of the stones he is peeing on.

Leta had been isolating since her own incident; she hung, mostly, with her family. But overtime she again missed pack interaction—and one of the first wolves she sought was Charles. She had liked him, the first time they met; he had been nice to her, and that was what she clung to. It was lucky for him she missed the moment, not that she would have reacted with aggression... but she might have cried, and that was likely the last thing he needed; her, either. 

Hiiiii! she hollered from afar, tail waving as she bounded over to him with a happy little grin. Got any new sticks?! She asked then, bridging the gap between them. Riley's absence had been missed by her, thanks to her isolation.

He stared out into the pack lands, not sure which of the many scenarios in his mind he was wishing or hoping for. Charles licked his lips nervously but when his bladder came to an end nobody showed up. He breathed a sigh of relief, but then when he heard Leta's distant Hiiii Charles jump-scared a little and he felt his hackles raise briefly.

As Leta came closer, so did Charles, wanting to get her away from the place of incident and the stone that still had the scent of his pee lingering around. He was rather ashamed of it now that it was all said and done and wasn't sure why he had done it. The Stone circle pack had always been good to him. What a douchebag he was. Hi, he said hastily as he came closer, pressing forward his large coyote-like ears.

Sticks? Ha ha, uh, yeah, I mean, not right here, but like, I could show you -- He was racking his mind where he had some good sticks, because usually he just chewed on them until they splintered and got rid of them. -- Sticks. Smooth, Charles, very smooth.

Leta thought nothing of it as he came closer. Her nose was keen but she thought he may have whizzed near the stones, certainly not on one. Leta had her own fair share of bladder issues to deal with, not that any but her family knew, where she had needed to pee near the stones. Hi! She said again, grinning. 

Okay! She immediately accepted the offer, and squinted, do you collect 'em? D'you have any good ones? Her tail waved at the thought. Of course all sticks were good sticks, but maybe Charles knew of the best sticks.

Thankfully she didn't realise what he had done and Charles decided that it was easiest to just forget about it right away. Sticks was the new subject of the day and one he felt much more comfortable around. He halted not far from Leta, wanting to close in for a physical greeting but also wanting to appear cool and getting stuck in the middle in the end. So he stood a little awkwardly and waited, staring at Leta as she talked.

Then she looked expectantly at him, and he realised that he should say something. What did she say again? Oh, right, yeah, sticks. Yeah like... I like to chew 'em and stuff. Charles tried to sound confident and cool, but his changing scratchy voice made him sound like, well, an awkward teenager. Collect 'em? Yeah, I've got a whole big collection. Why'd you say that, you dum-dum. You don't have a collection at all. What if she wants to see them? Anyway, why don't we go look for some new sticks for the collection? Hey, maybe you could start your own. Charles grinned smoothly, though his wiry, plucky fur didn't do him any favours.

Cool!!, Leta exclaimed, thinking on what she might collect were she to collect anything at all. Birdfeathers might be cool... but when Charles suggested she also collect sticks, it was as though a lightbulb went off. She could do that too, she had just not wanted to copy him... but who cared, if he was cool with it? She loved sticks, too! 

So, stepping alongside him, Leta waved her own tail and grinned. You know what???! I think I will, she declared, and said: I'll make sure I save good sticks for you too, though. It wouldn't be fair for her to have all the best ones. Leta might be a Princess, but she certainly had no superiority complexes; her parents kept her grounded and humble, and Leta lived by kindness. Sure, her father could be strict now and then but it was all very well-meaning as far as Leta saw it anyway. 

C'mon, I think I might know a good spot where we can find some good sticks!!! she offered, taking a few steps in that direction before looking back to him to see if he'd follow. Leta never liked to demand anything of anyone.

Luckily Leta fell for the idea of her having her own stick collection too, so that they could focus on finding her sticks for her collection rather than, y'know, seeing Charles' stick collection that was about as real as the castles in the skies in stories. Yeah, cool, Charles said, and he put a grin on his face again as he felt his plans working out in his favour. Phew, crisis averted.

Leta immediately plunged into the stick collecting adventure with fervour. She even had a great stick place. You do? Charles said, sounding as surprised as he felt. Leta was already on her way and just as she looked back Charles quickly scrambled into motion, scrambling in place to collect and control his long gangly legs before he followed after her, a smile on his face as he allowed her to lead the stick hunt.

I kinda do, she admitted, suddenly unsure as she looked over her shoulder. I dunno. You're the expert, so you can tell me, Leta felt he ought to know best, considering... but she did think she had found decent wares. It was a bit of ways from the stone circle, where there was a small, condensed little forest of brambles and old cottonwood and oak trees with a cherry tree right in the middle. Sometimes, she saw some real winners there... maybe they would find one such stick today. 

But it would take some time to get there. So, why not talk? Looking over to her friend, Leta grinned at him and slowed to match his pace. Sorry, a little excited, she said breathlessly. Uhm, do you like stars?

Charles wasn't entirely sure what an expert was since that was a word that he had never learned growing up, but he waved his tail and pretended he knew anyway. It sounded like it was a positive thing, maybe like.. a stick knower? Anyway - Charles just nodded and said, Alright, let's see this place of yours. with all the confidence he could muster.

As they walked side by side, Leta got excited occasionally. She reeled herself back in and apologised, to which Charles agreed, Yeah. He didn't mean to sound like it was a bad thing she did, but he had learned through his upbringing that it was often a bad thing to be excited about anything, so he could see why she felt embarrassed about that. Anyway -- she then asked if he liked the stars. Charles looked up, even though there weren't any stars in the skies then, and then looked back at Leta. I dunno. I never thought about it much. Which was kind of a conversation killer. Um, what about you?

Leta continued to lead the way, more than willing to oblige there. She did not think anything of his agreeing with her, given that it was how it was. Of course he recognized it, and she appreciated his understanding and even getting it. But as they spoke about the stars, and he asked if she liked them, Leta nodded. 

They are just... they're so beautiful! And if you look at them long enough, you can kind of... you can connect them, and make shapes. There was one that looked as big as my dad, and so, I just, I named that after him. I don't know if stars have names but, I like to name them, she admitted, and having provided an example for him to understand just one of the many things you could do with stars, she shouldered him gently and remarked: we should look at them together! I can show you all the cool star shapes I've seen, because, with Newt gone, she had only her mother and father to look at the stars with. Sometimes West would humor her, but having another friend to do that with seemed great to her. 

They were getting close, and Leta gestured up ahead to a small forest. It was populated with bushes and other shrubs too, and her tail waved. That's the spot! she revealed with a grin. Really, it couldn't be called much of a forest. The trees were not so many in comparison, but there was enough there that one could collect a decent bounty of sticks if they were looking for them.

As expected, Leta did like the stars herself. She went on a tangent about how they were beautiful and Charles just mutely listened to what she had to say about them. She spoke fondly of her father which to Charles was such a foreign concept he found it hard to imagine. He had never had a father and having a mother was something that he had always wanted but still remained a bit of a fantasy itself -- it had been so long since he had had any support from Laurel, after all. He would never compare her in any way to the stars.

Leta suggested looking at them together, and Charles responded in an almost resigned way, as if he had no choice but to agree to her plan. Yeah. The stars did not interest him very much.

Anyway, before long they reached the stick spot and Charles' large coyote-like ears perked forward to look at the small sort-of forest. Forests, however big or small, were home to trees and trees were home to sticks, so it made sense to Charles that there would be sticks here. Cool, he said with some degree of enthusiasm and Charles started to sniff the ground, inspecting every stick he found from the moment they came close enough to the trees.

Leta was a compassionate wolf, but a child still all things considered and not at all wise to the fact that he was less than enthused about her offer. Her tail waved to hear him agree. She liked hanging out with Charles, and had been quick to consider him a friend. More quality time excited her, and she looked forward to it. Looking to him with a smile, Leta thought aloud: I bet I can find you in the stars! She imagined. Charles was so unique, and Leta was charmed by that in knowing him. 

Leta was quiet after that, beaming when he regarded her spot as cool. Very rarely was the word synonymous with anything Leta did, according to her brothers, and so to hear it aligned with something they did made her happy. If Charles thought it was cool, it was definitely cool. She could not wait to tell her brothers that they were wrong about her and that she was, in fact, cool. Plodding after him, Leta followed his lead; her tail had yet to stop waving as she giddily looked about for a good stick, eyes now and then drifting to him to see if he had found anything.

Charles doubted that anyone with any sense could find him in the stars, but he also thought the concept of making shapes with the stars was a little, well, silly, to start with. After all, there were a lot of stars out there, so of course you could connect them in any way you pleased. It seemed like make-belief except with stars. Charles did not understand the added step of the stars. It only seemed complicated to him.

But he smiled anyway when she said it, because Leta was his only sort-of friend and he didn't want to chase her away, too. The thought that anyone cared enough that they would search the skies to connect dots that would make a picture in their head of him was kind of mind-blowing, really.

Charles searched through the trees and he sniffed about ten sticks before he found one that seemed pretty alright. It was thick enough to not break right away and it was dry enough that it wasn't so brittle it'd crumble apart on the first few bites, either. It was a bit bigger than he would normally chew on because honestly, normally he'd just go for something handy and well-chew-able and the stick he picked up this time was almost his own size in length. You gotta make sure the sticks are dry and strong, he explained to Leta and Charles then grabbed his own stick and lay down on the ground. He awkwardly held it between his paws -- quite a trick at that length -- and started to chew on the edge to test if it was a good-tasting stick.

Leta peered over to him as he explained to her how to find a good stick. Already, though, he had his paws on one. He was an absolute master of this stuff, and Leta observed him check in on the merit of that stick. Wanting to contribute and help, Leta meandered snout-to-earth to another. It was not nearly as magnificent as her friends, but it looked like a decent stick as far as sticks went. This one was dry, though it was not quite so girthy as Charles own find. So when Leta chewed at the edges of it, it took only a minute for it to splinter beneath the powerful pressure a wolf could naturally apply. 

She huffed and looked to Charles with a little grin, guess that one was not as strong as I thought! she admitted, looking to the stick he had to see if his was as good as he had thought. Probably, given the fact that he was better than her at this stuff. But he was teaching her the tricks of the trade, which she was grateful for. Leta quickly found another stick, a little more substantial looking (but still not so grand as Charles own), and she trotted over to it with plenty of pep in her step.

Charles sure hoped that his stick was impressing Leta, though he couldn't entirely grasp why he wanted it to (he didn't think too much of it, honestly, he just realised vaguely that he was doing it differently than he normally would). Meanwhile Leta had also found a stick. Charles' stick was pretty alright, except for its humongous size which made it harder to handle. He chewed some chips off the edge of the stick.

It didn't take long before Leta's stick splintered into a lot of pieces and fell apart. Charles cringed and his muscles tensed as he lowered himself to the ground with ears folded back and tail low. He looked as if he was afraid that Leta might be upset, as he looked at the splintering stick. Leta didn't seem too fazed and she even grinned at him, which caused a lot of confusion for him. Both mother and Riley would have gotten upset over a setback like this or might even use him as a punching bag if he dared make a wrong move... but Leta didn't seem to mind at all. How peculiar. Charles looked confused, as if he had just been thrown in an alternate dimension and didn't really know what to do or say.. Which he didn't. He moved his head back up a bit again and his large ears flopped upwards again away from his neck, and then he continued to chew, not really sure how to deal with this unexpectedly positive situation.

Noticing his reaction, Leta's own ears flattened atop her head. Sorry, I didn't realize how loud that would be! she laughed; it had surprised her a little too, after all. But now that hse had her own stick again, she was a little bit more mindful. Her teeth probed and tested as it might on prey; she now knew what was weak enough to break right away... this one didn't seem to have many of those points, and she went to it's center to begin to chew. 

Satisfied with her find, Leta gnawed at the center of it for a little bit. Her tail thwapped against the ground as she withdrew from it for a moment, saying, I think I found a good one!!! and nosing it toward him to give it a go. What would you rate this guy? She prompted, shifting excitedly as she watched the Expert of Sticks and awaited judgment.

Ha ha, yeah, Charles said with an awkward grimace as Leta laughed away his reaction. He decided to just play along. Life so far had taught him that it was always best to just play along, after all. Whether that was a submissive reaction to his mother's disappointments, anger or whatever other emotion or a smile and a nod to Leta's carefreeness. The latter might just need a bit more positive reinforcement to ingrain in his head. But it all came down to the same thing: If you kept your head low, nobody would chew off your ears.

He nibbled a few more chews on his own stick and then got up, let it be for a bit as Leta showed up with another stick. It looked like a pretty good stick. As a matter of fact, Charles was a little jealous, even though he didn't recognise this emotion himself at all. As she asked how he would rate the stick, he said, Oh. Yeah, it looks pretty alright. His voice showed that he wasn't very impressed, even though he was pretty impressed she'd find such a good stick at her second try. But he wasn't going to tell her that. Then he grabbed it and put his paw on one end while he chewed on the other, giving it a good taste. The structure was pretty good too and even though Charles was far from a stick connaisseur he wished this stick was his instead.

Charles nosed the stick back to Leta and offered her a smile. There's better sticks around. I mean, it's pretty okay though. His voice sounded casual, as if he was letting her down easy. He tried to balance just between making her feel like maybe she just wasn't that good at this but without making her give up. Because he wanted to keep looking for sticks with Leta. He just didn't want her to realise that she was really good at it, because... well, he didn't really know on a conscious level.

Maybe he was afraid that she would realise that she was too good to play with someone like him, since she was his only friend in the world.