The Heartwood i bet my life

@peregrine :)

For the first time since arriving in Ankyra Sound, Pantaleimon had felt the need to wander, and so she had departed from the pack's safe confines and made her way deeper inland. She had travelled through the lands to reach Ankyra Sound, so she knew a thing or two about the lay of the lands, and she had left under the pretense of finding forest things -- food, herbs, things of the likes -- that they could not get near Ankyra Sound. In truth, though, Pantaleimon needed a breather from the heavy atmosphere that clung to the Sound ever since the fight with Duskfire Glacier. Although Pan had not been there herself for she had just arrived at the time, and did not know the Kevlyn wolf that had died, she knew that a lot of damage had been done, and that the wolf that had died had been young. Her heart ached for him. She felt the pain that hung around the Sound and desires to escape it.

Twittering birds announced spring as Pantaleimon travelled through the heartwood, admiring the scenery and the buds sprouting on all plants and trees that promised new life. Pantaleimon loved the ocean and preferred to be near it, but she also enjoyed seeing what other things nature had to offer.

Pantaleimon, weary from travelling, took pause near a small creek that winded through the heartwood. Pan dipped her head down to the water and lapped up some water. Her shoulders and neck were draped with seaweed she had brought from the Sound, to remind her of her heritage and where she belonged -- and because it made Pantaleimon feel even more like a Siren -- though the weeds were swift getting dry and crumbly from being away from the ocean for so long.

Peregrine busted his nose attempting to catch a rabbit and the damn thing was so painful that he howled to Fox that he would be home in the morning, then curled up in the woods and went to sleep. He slept like a rock, then woke up first thing the next morning and immediately jumped to his feet. He stretched, then touched his paw tenderly to his nose. It felt much better, though there was dried blood coming from his nostril. Fox could clean it up for him, he was sure. Without further delay, he began to stride toward home.

En route, he saw a white figure crouched over a stream and he said, "Are you fucking kidding me?" rather loudly, thinking it was the white stranger from the night before. Almost immediately, he realized his mistake. Peregrine stopped, blinking at the pale wolf with strands of plant matter (?) wound in its fur. He sniffed, identifying the stranger as a male. This was the third white male wolf Peregrine had run into on this particular hunting trek. Was it an epidemic?

"I thought you were someone else," he said a little awkwardly after a pause, though he didn't apologize. It just wasn't his style. He continued staring, trying to decide whether Mr. Seaweedreadlocks here was more or less weird than Luke the blue nosed wolf.

When the loud voice rang through the forest, Pantaleimon instinctively lowered her body to the ground, making herself as small as possible (for, like her mother, Pantaleimon was quite large and bulky). Pantaleimon looked up from the corners of her cold silver eyes which were vivid with fear, assessing whether or not she was in danger; ears flattened and tail tucked between hind legs. It took Pantaleimon a few moments to realise that the dark-furred stranger meant no direct harm, and was male beside that, so Pan removed herself from the ground and allowed her tail to dangle loosely behind her hind legs again in as neutral an attitude as she could manage.

Pantaleimon was about to stammer an apology when the other male explained he had thought Pantaleimon to be someone else. "Oh... Oh! Ah, I -- I see. Did, uhm, were they also from the sea?" Pantaleimon asked; not really curious, but mostly trying her very best at small talk. "Are you uh, fr-from a pack nearby?" Pantaleimon looked briefly at the black-furred wolf before looking away to the ground, not sure where to cast her gaze. In her awkward attempt at small talk, Pantaleimon completely forgot to introduce herself, for she was used to give such information only when asked to.

The other wolf seemed bashful, if not outright submissive. He stammered out a question, then another. Peregrine fidgeted impatiently, not wishing to linger here and make small talk with some oddball when his hungry family was waiting for him. But he felt it would be incredibly rude just to walk away without a word and even Peregrine had some semblance of social etiquette.

"No. At least, I don't think so. I have no idea. He just had white fur too," he said, sounding slightly peevish. "Yeah, I am. I'm the Alpha of Redhawk Caldera." I have a mate and pups waiting for me back home! he added silently, his jaw flexing subtly as he asked, "You?" He didn't give the stranger a chance to answer before guessing, "I take it you're from one of the coastal packs?" He had mentioned the sea... and that was definitely seaweed knotted into his fur.

It was evident that the wolf did not really want to be here, though Pantaleimon could not find a rescue from the situation. She just realised when he spoke, sounding irritated, that talking to Pantaleimon was not exactly what he had had in mind for the day. He did not introduce himself, at least not in so many words -- he just said that he was Redhawk Caldera's Alpha, some pack that Pan had never heard of. Her eyes widened as he said he was Alpha. "Oh!" Pantaleimon exclaimed in silent surprise. She knew other packs had Alpha Males, but somehow, after living to and being confined in Sirensong Cove for most of her life, the thought was kind of out there for her. "Sorry," Pan muttered, realising that her surprise must be strange to him.

"I'm Pantaleimon Nereide-- uhm, I mean, just Pantaleimon." Pantaleimon offered a small, nervous smile, before realising she had not actually answered his question. "Oh! I -- I'm from Ankyra Sound, the, uh... Where the S-Sirens live, is why I was kind of surprised. I mean, not that you w-wouldn't be a good Alpha, I, uh, but males are never Alphas w-where I'm from." Pantaleimon mentally hit herself for being so awkward, but she couldn't help herself; small talk was not her forte, for it had never been taught. "Sorry if I'm being weird. I d-don't always talk this much. You must think I'm really weird," Pantaleimon added, though this only made her feel like hitting herself in the face even more. Usually she just fell silent when others tried small talk on her, but for reasons beyond Pantaleimon's comprehension this wolf just made her blabber on senselessly.

If Peregrine found the stranger's behavior odd, at least his affiliation explained it in part. His expression shifted from impatient to curious. He had heard of the sirens, of course, seeing as Junior had run off with them briefly. Their reputation preceded them. He was aware that they looked down on males in their society, which was perhaps why this guy was behaving like a puppy expecting punishment any minute now. Peregrine found the thought distasteful and couldn't help but wonder why any self-respecting male wolf would sign up for such a life.

"You're fine," he said a bit absently, then more pointedly asked, "Are you a member of that pack of your own free will? Why, if I may ask? I know about the sea witches," he said in a disapproving, even condemning, tone.

The other male said that Pantaleimon was fine, though he sounded like he didn't mean it much. He also refrained from introducing himself, though Pantaleimon had hoped that her own introduction would cause him to do so. He then spoke poorly of Ankyra Sound, and Pantaleimon wondered if there was anything she could do to salvage this situation that seemed to spiral out of control. "I, ah, of - of course," Pan muttered, though not very convincingly so. "I'm there because... because of Mother Sea and Mother Moon. Even though they -- I mean, I... I guess it's where I belong, with the Goddesses." Pantaleimon shared an awkward smile with the dark male.

After a brief pause Pantaleimon asked him, hesitantly but curious, "What, uhm... Can I ask your name?" Pantaleimon wagered an awkward, uncomfortable smile that ended up looking more like a grimace.

Peregrine didn't mind religion on principle, even though he didn't dabble in any particular spirituality himself. His personal policy was to live and let live. However, his knowledge of Ankyra Sound was colored by his few brushes with their members. Their entire belief system was based on the idea that one sex was inferior to another, which bothered him greatly. What disgusted him more was the fact that the male in front of him was so brainwashed to accept his fate and his role that he seemed almost confused by Peregrine's interest.

"You know, I don't usually shit on others' beliefs but you were not meant to be the slave of women. The sexes are equal," he said vehemently. "If your goddesses or whatever ask that of you, they are shitty deities," he spat, then realized he was being rather vicious to someone who was more a victim than anything else. Peregrine trailed off, his expression softening somewhat, though there was still a harsh glow in his blue-green eyes.

"My name is Peregrine. You can call me Perry," he answered Pan's question in a gentler voice. "Why do you accept your station, Pantaleimon? Do you really think having a dick makes you a lesser being somehow?"

When the other male said bad things about the Sirens' religion, Pantaleimon uncertainly shifted her weight from paw to paw, feeling incredibly awkward, and stood in a submissive, nearly apologetic manner. She felt as though she should speak up, but was too afraid to do so in front of an Alpha of another pack; and anyway, she had no idea what to say, either. Pantaleimon, with frowning eyebrows, looked to a patch of moss on the ground while the other male called her deities shitty and briefly squinted her eyes. It hurt, to hear another speak this way of her Goddesses, for even though she had been born in the wrong body, Pantaleimon still felt a Siren and therefore felt connected to them.

It was welcome that Peregrine then introduced himself with a softening voice. Pantaleimon's frumpled up body straightened into a somewhat less apologetic position and she smiled uncomfortably as he fired a question at her that she could not possibly answer. "Yes," Pantaleimon mumbled in reply to the question. "Th-That's how the world works..." There was a deep sadness in Pantaleimon's eyes, for even though she had since long accepted her fate in this world, acceptance did not mean that this life and this fate would ever make her happy.

He mumbled a reply which made Peregrine's hackles bristle. They resettled when he reminded himself again that Pantaleimon was simply brainwashed and shouldn't be derided for his misinformed beliefs. The swarthy wolf regarded his new acquaintance with pity, especially when he noticed the deep sadness in Pantaleimon's eyes. He looked like he truly believed what he said and had accepted his fate... but certainly wasn't happy about it.

"I'm standing right in front of you, telling you you're wrong about that," Peregrine said quietly but firmly. "That's only how the world works in your tiny neck of the woods. Everywhere else, men and women are equal to one another." He paused, shaking his head. "Just go anywhere else and you'll see." Pantaleimon would not find such a divisive, sexist hierarchy anywhere else in the Teekon Wilds, that was for sure.

"You shouldn't go back," he opined, feeling strongly even though he'd just met this poor, unfortunate soul. It wasn't personal, more like principle. "There are nearly a dozen other packs around here. One of them would surely take you in and give you a home. All you'd have to do is carry your own weight. You'll be repaid with a home. Better yet, with respect."

Pantaleimon did know that the world outside of Ankyra Sound worked differently. The only thing that kept her in place was the fact that she felt a Siren, that she felt a daughter of Mother Sea and Mother Moon, even if she was not. Pantaleimon did not know how to explain that to another wolf, let alone an outsider; she could not, not really, for they saw her for what she was; just another male, even if they did not look down on her, the outsiders, as the Sirens did.

The words were painful, for they were words that Pantaleimon already knew -- that the world outside did not work as it did in the Sound -- but she could not simply go elsewhere, for she was born as Siren property and she would likely die that way. Besides, departing from Mother Sea and Mother Moon would be... Pantaleimon did not know if ever she could, for it would be as though admitting to herself that she was not, and would never be, a Siren.

"I..." Pantaleimon mumbled when Peregrine said that she should not return to the Sound. "I c-can't just leave, they'll..." Pantaleimon trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence. "I'll th-think about it," she mumbled thoughtfully. The thought had crossed her mind before, of course, and had she not been born a Siren in the body of a Consort, then Pantaleimon would not likely have stayed in the Sirens' hostile culture... But things were not as simple as Peregrine sketched them, and she could not explain to him why. "Thanks." It did not sound much like a thank-you, for it was mumbled and uncomfortable, but Pantaleimon did mean it; she recognised that Peregrine, while he could have just turned around and left, was trying to help her out.

"So, uhm..." Pan awkwardly said, "What brings you out h-here, Perruhm, P-Peregrine?" Halfway through saying 'Perry' she diverted back to Peregrine, though she was not sure why and mentally beat herself up over her awkward word tumbles.

They'll what? Peregrine almost asked, prepared to make a dozen threats against those misandrists. He held his tongue, especially when Pantaleimon actually seemed to give his words some consideration. Then he thanked Peregrine. The black wolf shook his head again. Pantaleimon didn't owe him any gratitude. He was just speaking to the objective truth of the matter and trying his damnedest to remove the wool from his acquaintance's eyes.

Next, he made an awkward attempt at conversation, which made the Redleaf-DiSarinno want to laugh. He refrained, then started when the male's question jogged his memory. "Oh! I was actually heading home. I was hunting yesterday and hurt myself, so I spent the night here. Ah, on that note, I gotta run. But..." But he didn't feel quite right, just leaving Pantaleimon to skulk back to the seaside, where he would be an eternal Omega. "But you should really think about what I said. And, uh... well, I don't make this kind of offer often..." Or ever, he mentally corrected himself. "But if you need an ally, a friend, someplace to go... you can find me at a place called Redhawk Caldera."

It felt weird, even uncomfortable, to break character like that. But Peregrine found he really hated the idea of those sea witches or any guy subjecting himself to their ways. So he would bend the rules a bit to help a bro in need. He wasn't about to treat Pantaleimon like a charity case, though. If he did decide to take Peregrine up on his word, if he maybe even tried to join the caldera, the Alpha would expect no less of him than any hard-working subordinate. It was just as he'd said: all he had to do was earn his keep to win respect in the real world.

"Best of luck," he said, his jade eyes lingering on Pantaleimon's pale figure a moment before he turned and swept back toward his family.

Another sometime, yes? :D

sounds good :) 

When Peregrine said that he was just headed home, Pantaleimon mentally kicked herself again. She had tried to start up a conversation -- though wasn't entirely sure why, for it was evident that words weren't Pan's forte -- and now she'd reminded him he needed to be elsewhere. How silly of her to have thought he'd waste his time talking to her, anyway; it was obvioius that life had granted him much bigger things than her, and that he had no time to chatter away with Pantaleimon. "Oh, uhm, of course," Pan muttered when Peregrine excused himself.

Then he offered that Pantaleimon could come to his home in Redhawk Caldera, though Pantaleimon was not sure where that was. Near here, she assumed, but she didn't ask, feeling akward enough as it were after her failed attempt at small talk. Pan wasn't sure what he meant -- did he offer her a home, or just a good in-depth chat about her culture some other time? No matter, it did not matter; she had a home in Ankyra Sound, after all.

"Uhm, okay," Pantaleimon said, though when he wished Pan best of luck and departed she realised she probably should've thanked him again, or something. In silence, Pantaleimon stared after Peregrine, and only after he had vanished from sight did she turn away and started to make her way home to Ankyra Sound. She would pick up something to eat along the way, some in-land delicacy the Siren Queen could appreciate, so that her trip would not be all in vain.