Ravensblood Forest talking of michelangelo

maybe a future pack-mate? but all welcome of c~

the air grows crisper by day, the chill setting in. samothes is pleased; he enjoys the winter months despite their hardships, finding joy in the act of having to be more clever to survive. (perhaps it is a little pretentious on his part but he is not afraid to own up to that - he is vain.)

at first blush the darkness of the forest has seemed uneasy to him. nothing so much as to cause him to regret his decision, but sometimes he felt a slight tingling at his neck, unsettled. the more days he collects under it's umbrage he must admit it grows on him: he can slip into shadow easily, cradled by the warmth in the darkness. the heat and the dark is almost soothing. 

today, however, he seeks not comfort but sustenance, minding the sap-covered trees (a wonder they haven't all turned red!) as he prowls after a decently sized hare, the snap of teeth and the crunch of flesh announcing his victory in the darkened corridor.

Submission, at first, had been an act of self-preservation. She'd known she was too weak to stand up to Durnehviir at the time, but as the days flew by and she regained her strength, she found herself with little desire to approach the red-splashed woman for another try and the totem pole. The only reason she'd been the leader at Sameth was because she'd been the oldest, and her parents had died, and she couldn't bear to leave her little siblings without a guide. Here, though, there was Durnehviir, young and strong and willing to take control.

The more she thought about that fact, the more comfortable with it she became.

And today, finally, she was willing to move in from the outskirts and step past her shame. There was nothing wrong with not being the boss. There was nothing wrong with having submitted. She was doing her best to help the pack, and that was what was important. So it shouldn't be a problem to approach another Ravensblood wolf, and to give him a smile and say hello.

Still, Sunspot found herself feeling strangely bashful as she sidled up to the strange wolf, making sure to keep far from his kill. "Hello," she said tentatively, her tail giving a small, hopeful whisk.

 samothes has wondered when another packmate to-be would make an appearance - beyond thel and constantine, he's not intergrated himself in amongst the others. he knows he should, but he is, contrary to appearance, a sort of introvert at times. his rose-gold gaze flicks up from his kill to the woman just before she speaks.

 harmless is the first thing he thinks, and so he swallows a mouthful of meat and sits back, and gives her a friendly nod. "ta," samothes says, studying her. for some reason he'd thought the wolves constatine had gathered would be similar to him - somehow this bashful creampuff contradicts, though he doesn't dismiss her out of hand. everyone has potential: it's simply a matter of learning how they tick. "i'm samothes," he introduces with a dip of his head, "and you?"

The woman felt herself relaxing as the male looked on her without judgment. Abruptly, she realized how silly she'd been these past few weeks, skulking around as though she didn't belong. She was no different from any of these wolves.

"Spot," she replied, tail whisking gently. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance," she added politely, remembering her manners. Her nose twitched as she took in his scent, attaching it to the name he'd given. "Seems like you haven't been making friends, either."

The observation was delivered without any trace of judgment, and Sunspot sat down across from her companion, having taken Samothes' lack of aggression as a free invitation to hang out.

"hmm," samothes answers, the tilt of his mouth turning thoughtful. "i have, but i suppose not here, no." he's been spending much of his time exploring the areas beside the forest, keeping an eye out for potential recruits - and with success, should thelxiope follow up on her word to appear for winter. he has also, perhaps, been a bit negligent in intergrating with the others. "so, spot," the scholar says, picking absently at the hare's carcass, "how long have you been with ravensblood?"

"Oh?" said Sunspot, wondering if he'd talked to any Morningsiders lately. "Will you tell me about them?" she requested.

He asked how long she'd been at the forest, and quite honestly, she didn't know. "A few weeks, I think," she eventually decided, ears flickering in uncertain thought. How long ago had that encounter with Durnehviir been? When was the last time she'd seen her brother, the last shred of her family? "What about you?"

 her request strikes him as odd without context, and he chuckles, but obliges easily. "suppose i really meant a friend, a woman named thelxiope. she may be joining us sometime," he explains - while he believes the fey's intentions, it would be foolish to assume she will follow through, and so he phrases it carefully. he would certainly not begrudge her if she ends up not joining him in the red-sapped forest, so long as he finds her again, eventually. 

 spot, like him, is a recent recruit - actually, for all samothes knows, they're all fairly recent recruits. he'd not thought to ask constantine how long he's been staking claim - it seems irrelevant in the face of the facts, anyway. at most an indicator of constantine's thoroughness at this, but even so, these things take time. and he's here now. "roughly the same, a bit less," the scholar answers, expression easy. "are you from the teekons as well? i'm not," he asks next, curious to get a feel for his packmates demographics.

"Oh - I'm eager to meet her," said Sunspot with a wry smile, hoping that, by saying it, she could make it true. She didn't want to meet any more women, truth be told. Even though she told herself she wasn't going to be having children - ever! - her hormones still sometimes got in the way of polite conversation.

She was only a little disappointed that Samothes had no news of her brother. She could always go and visit, if she really wanted to know, and she thought that it might be better to distance herself for a while.

"I'm from the north," she replied, her voice distant since her mind was still elsewhere. She wondered what her little siblings were doing without her, and what her elder siblings had been up to since she'd left. Murdock had almost come along with her... but the man had issues, and she could understand that. "Far north. Not around here. What about you?" she asked, her gaze growing more direct as she shook away such pesky thoughts.

he quirks an eyebrow at her expression, but does not think much of it until she speaks again - clearly her mind lies elsewhere. "north as well," he echoes, his own face thoughtful as he studies hers, "a bit aways. my family is still up there." he suspects there is something bothering her - perhaps related to her strange question? - but what exactly he can't ascertain. samothes is curious but with so little data has nothing to pry for; he watches her instead, the calmness of his expression belied by his obvious interest.

Sunspot's ears perked at this admission. "Mine as well - perhaps we're kin," she said brightly. "My family is vast; my father alone sired eighteen pups."

Her eyes traced the lines of the male's face, but she found nothing familiar in his features. Though his phenotype was - superficially - similar to her own, his countenance did not scream family to her tired eyes. Still, she chose to believe it was possible and quickly glossed over the issue, not wanting him to dispell the illusion.

"Have you met Durnehviir?" she asked, curious to have another wolf's take on the fiery young shewolf.

her statement is surely a joke or a bit of absent observation, but for a moment samothes feels the edge of panic, thinking: surely not, or what's the point of having left? his gaze turns slightly sharper, scanning her form, but she does not carry any trademark messeda markings near as he can tell, besides her slightly small build, like his. "perish the thought," the wraith says mildly, a faint smile on his lips, "unless the name messeda carries any significance for you?" of course, given the enormity of his lineague and hers, it is possible that somewhere, someone has crossed lines - though he does not know the escapades of the rest of his family tree.

she moves on with another question - whatever seemed to be bothering her before has disappated as far as he can tell, or she's not interested in speaking on it. "i haven't," he answers, a touch apologetically, "but i take it they are another of our members?" constantine had said there were three beside him, which left one last to be revealed (he, of course, assumes the shadowy leader had included spot in his assessment). "what do you think of them?" he prompts, assuming she is asking because she feels a particular way about this unknown wolf - though he supposes it could be idle curiousity, he is interested in not letting another of spot's fleeting revelations slip by without comment.

Spot drew back, offended. For a moment, she failed to comprehend that anyone could hold something less than a deep sense of duty to their blood, but something in his tone tipped her off, and she settled once more.

"It means nothing to me," she agreed, although that didn't mean they shared no common ancestors. (Her mother'd had this silly idea that all wolves stemmed from one common bloodline, but Sunspot didn't put much stock in that.) Either way, they had another topic to pursue, and Sunspot wasn't in the mood to get into ancestry or origin stories.

"She's one of us, yes. A grey shewolf, with red points," said Sunspot, not quite sure her description was accurate. They'd only crossed paths the one time. And what did Spot think of her? "I don't really know what to make of her." She'd been a bit rude, but they hadn't known each other. Sunspot would've acted the same way toward an outsider. "I suppose I wondered what you thought, but if you haven't met her, it's a moot point."

samothes notes her offended reaction and dips his head contritely, a somewhat sheepish smile tugging the corner of his lips. it's not as if she could read his family baggage at a glance, but she seems to be willing to let it go and so he does as well. no use dwelling on silver-point spectres of the past.

"ah," he says in a hum, making note of the name and description for later - surely he will cross paths with this durnehviir. something in the way spot says what to make suggests to the scholar a degree of friction, which he also makes note of. it surely can't be too bad or the pair wouldn't still occupy the same forest, but still.. it is, he thinks, useful to have an idea of where his will-be packmates stand with each other. it could come in handy one day.

"i'll be sure to report back," the wraith quips, a friendly smile playing his mouth. spot has provided some potentially useful data but he still feels largely ambivalent towards the cream-colored woman. she seems decent enough, he supposes. "any others to keep an eye out for?" he adds, curious who else he's yet to meet.

Sunspot blew out a breath of laughter at his question, and shot him an embarrassed look. "I've been a bit reclusive," she said, as if sharing some great secret. "You're the first I've approached."

She wasn't shy, per se. But lately, she'd been gripped by a terrible impulse to seculde herself. Perhaps it was the last vestiges of embarrassement from her encounter with Durnehviir. Perhaps it was simply that time of year. The point was, she'd been stagnating, and it felt strange to be getting back into the swing of things.

"What about you? I know about... Thellyzope... but who else do you know? I'd like to put names to scents, if I can."

she admits to not having met any others in the forest - well, it isn't as if samothes has set about to socialize, either. perhaps there is a part of him that is still somewhat reserved. he'd been a particularly reticent child, not socially awkward but more interested in thinking than speaking - but the issue is that in order to make oneself known as a talented thinker, one has to express those thoughts.

it wins points in spot's favor, anyway. "i've been similarly," he says, joining in the secret-shared, "somewhat .. introverted. but then i suppose you haven't met constatine, yet?" it seemed odd that she would be in their number without meeting their future alpha, but perhaps this durnehviir occupies a position of power in their forming structure as well. "he's a rather swarthy fellow, the alpha-to-be." hm. the scholar should really try to spend more time with him  - there is the fleeting opportunity here to make a strong impression and cement his place in constatine's ranks, but he cannot do that if he thinks to himself in the red-tinted shadows all day.

"I haven't," she admitted, averting her eyes so that he would not read the guilt in her eyes. Even so, whatever he gleaned from her expression, her tone left no room for argument - she would not be saying any more on that topic, and quickly skipped on ahead to the next. "Hm," said Sunspot, mulling over the word. Swarthy. It didn't tell her much about the supposed alpha of this budding pack. That he was dark, and nothing more. She'd learned from his scent that he was young and able, but past the telltale chaos of adolescent hormones. Dark-furred was now added to the list.

"We don't spend much time gathered together, for wolves attempting to form a pack," Sunspot noted, speaking on something that had been bothering her for some time.

she confirms samothes' suspicions and goes on to bring up a point that has occured to the scholar as well. he takes a seat, expression thoughtful. "we haven't at all," samothes agrees. his own time has been mostly outside of the forest - which has yielded some gains for them in numbers, but not done much to strengthen his bonds to his future packmates. "we could fix that, could we not?" he suggests, "either by addressing it with constatine or perhaps seeking the others out on our own." there weren't so many that it should be difficult - this durehviir and constantine, and whatever other constatine had indicated in his tally of three. plus spot and he make five. surely gathering five wolves in one spot isn't such an extraordinary task? the wraith looks back to spot, curious what her opinion on it will be.

Sunspot looked away from her new friend, not quite sure what it was about the idea that made her so uncomfortable. If they were called together, she would gather with them, of course. But she didn't want to be the one pulling them together. She'd been the glue that held her father's pack together long past its prime, and she had no desire to go through that again.

"I think I'll stay out of the limelight," Spot declined, offering Samothes an apologetic glance. She gathered herself and made to take her leave. "If the pack gathers, I will be there. For now, I'm going to do a bit of hunting. It was nice to meet you, Samothes."

She shot him one last, warm look before trotting away, tail swishing idly behind her.

his suggestion seems to have put the woman off - samothes cants his head, unoffended but wondering what about it bothers spot so. she did call herself reclusive, he supposes. samothes himself does not consider 'sociable' to be one of his many dazzling qualities, but he capable enough of diplomacy - well. it gives him an opportunity to seek out constantine if nothing else. 

"understandably," he says smoothly, dipping his head. she excuses herself and so he rises as well, offering a quick smile and a, "likewise - we'll see each other around, i'm sure," before following suit.