carefully pour

Life was... better. Good, almost - at least the part where she was trusted to interact with the pups, and neither Peregrine nor Fox seemed to care about her misguided genital romp with Elwood. It as fading quietly into the past, gathering dust with each passing day.

Today, Grimm was taking a break from everyone and everything. A flock of cumulus clouds were on a slow path to nowhere, and she had picked the perfect spot to watch - all four legs in the air and belly exposed to the sunlight.

Exactly 43 clouds in, her eyelids drifted shut, and she began to snore.

I figured they couldn't avoid each other forever. >D

Indeed, life was good -- things were going well all around the caldera, it seemed. Everyone appeared to be getting along (at least, as far as Elwood could tell), the three firebirds were growing and thriving, and his relationship with Finley was sickeningly perfect. The only blip on his radar lately had been Derp's death, but even that had been handled in an honorable way. Elwood had nothing to complain about.

Granted, he had been lucky not to run into Grimm, and he wasn't actually sure if Finley had ever made amends with her. It had been on the Beta female's to-do list, but all the commotion surrounding the puppies had pushed thoughts of the white-footed girl from Elwood's mind. Until he saw that exact foot, along with its three black partners -- all attached to the Epsilon's upside-down form.

He stopped in his tracks, not sure of how to proceed. Should he say hi to her, or just move on without drawing any attention to himself? Rather than make a decision, he remained rooted to the spot for probably a minute too long; in that time, the sound of her soft snoring reached his ears. Phew, he thought, as he turned to depart, trying to make as little noise as possible...

Oh, me? I’m just here to witness and ensure the awkward.

She’d had it in mind to encounter each of her pack mates — either purposely or haphazardly — throughout the initial stage of acquainting herself with the caldera. There was one wolf, though, whose name appeared on that half-formed list a second time: Elwood. He’d accepted her, but it stood to reason that she might have a better chance of pinning down his personality without necessary formalities hanging over their heads.

Remembering the vague details of his scent, she spent the afternoon tracking him down with a single brief hunting break when the opportunity happened to strike. An hour or so later when she finally spotted the monochrome male up ahead, she bounded forth to greet him with a gently waving tail and a chipper little grin.

“Hey! I—” she blurted enthusiastically as she advanced, stopping herself short both verbally and physically as she abruptly noticed Elwood’s creeping movements. She made to swing her head around to face the direction in which he was headed to check that nothing was amiss, but her keen eyes darted instead to a dark, snoring shape with a curiously white sock lying upside down behind him. She then looked back to Elwood, quirking one brow questioningly.

Elwood managed to sneak by unnoticed, by his escape was ruined by a second voice. The chirpy Hey! snapped Grimm out of her doze, and she half-sat up with both hind legs still in the air and genitals on display. "Who?" she managed dumbly, turning bleary eyes on Crow. She spotted Elwood too late - he would already have gotten a face-full of lady-biz if he had glanced her way, and it was with heat in her cheeks that Grimm folded her legs into a more lady-like position. "Hey guuuyysss..."

When a voice rang out from behind Elwood, he stopped in his tracks, one paw suspended in midair and a grimace painted on his face. His train of thought went something like this: Shitshitshitshitshit! He whirled in time to see one of the newer members, Crow, then slowly turned back towards Grimm, who was stirring.

He didn't even notice the compromising position she was in; he was too worried about his own humiliation as his cheeks, too, illuminated red beneath his fur. His gaze locked with Grimm's for a brief moment, then he essentially glued his eyes to the ground, his tail twitching nervously between his hocks. "Uh...hi," he replied, finding that his tongue felt like lead.

"You know, I, uh...I gotta go do...a thing," he suddenly spluttered, and then turned on a heel and marched away. He didn't look back at Grimm or Crow.