Emberwood couch day

While Séamus is technically trespassing, please do try not to kill him. :p  For @Grezig, tagging @Cerulean for reference.

It took much dilly-dallying for him to get here; though he still felt like he had done the right thing, lying to his sister had caused a momentary crisis in which he was too ashamed to show his face.  Perhaps by now she'd figured it out on her own — he doesn't want to ask, and he isn't sure that she would tell him.  He is not quite to the borders, so he does not call for her, thinking it would be better to wait until he is closer to raise the sound.  His pace is unhurried and a little too casual — never before has he been apprehended by an aggressive pack, therefore he knows no better.

Grezig was once again patrolling the borders, something she’d gotten into the habit of doing. She was not a leader of Uaine Gorsedd, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do something to help protect its borders. Speaking of which, there was a young male wandering in, not looking as though he planned on stopping any time soon. Grezig did not recognize him, nor did she smell others of her pack on him, therefore he was about to trespass. She could not allow this to happen. She was not aware of what UG’s rules were around trespassers, nor did she necessarily care at the moment. She marched forward with a low growl and snapped, “Stop! You are nearing the borders of this pack. If you go any farther I will be forced to chase you off. State your name and business here.” She stood before him now, her eyes hard and unforgiving. Assuming he gave her no trouble, she would loosen up, but in this moment, she was all authority.

To Sam it sounded like the growl came from nowhere, and his head whipped around as he froze in his tracks.  The voice that followed was surgically sharp, calculated — the wolves in this land were so strange!  How his mothers had ever settled here, he had no idea.  Oh, he blurted, Sorry!  My sister lives here... um, her name is Ibis.  I'm Séamus...  He was so sure that his sister had mentioned him (ha!) that he did not even question that he might be doubted.  Do I have the right place?  Did I mess up?  His tail wagged lightly as his ears pinned back, eyes wide as he awaited some kind of answer.  This woman was large — maybe almost as big as he was, though her image might've been exaggerated in his mind's eye.  The difference was her bulk seemed to be made of muscle, and his was made of fat... he hoped for his sake that this went well.

Grezig did, indeed, relax once the boy began speaking. She shook her head and rolled her shoulders. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to trespass into other packs’ territories?” she asked, her voice sounding exasperated but much calmer. She looked him over, brown eyes roving his body. Yes, she supposed he did look like Ibis, in coloration at least. “Ibis is here,” she assented, finally, deciding that the boy—Séamus—meant no harm. If he did, and he was trying to trick her, he would find her teeth at his throat in seconds. “I am guessing you came for a visit? Would you like me to call for her?” She glanced back from where she had come, indicating that Ibis was somewhere within the pack territory.

He reeled backwards at her response.  Trespassing?  No, fell from his mouth dumbly.  At Elysium, their borders had been open to all, and he didn't think he had been close enough to consider himself trespassing.  Close, but not quite.  He'd have to be more careful in the future.

Oh, good, he said, relief visibly washing over him both at how she lightened and that he had found the right place.  If you want to.  But if you know where she is, I s'pose you could just take me there, too.  There's really no need to be formal about it.

500TH POST OMG. Also, sorry Grezig is super paranoid.

Grezig shook her head at the boy, wondering what sort of a pack he’d grown up in where no one had told him about trespassing. In her own birth pack, such ideas had been drilled into her head. 

She brought herself back to the task at hand. Séamus said she could call for Ibis, or lead him to her. She glanced back again into the barren trees of Emberwood. “I do not know exactly where she is,” she told him. “Emberwood is a large forest. I will call for her.” With that, she tilted her head back and howled, reaching out to @Cerulean, conveying the message that there was someone at the borders who wanted to see her. Afterwards, she sat down before the boy and said, “We will wait here. If she does not come in some time, I will go and look for her, and you will remain here.” 

She didn’t know why, but she didn’t trust the boy completely yet. He seemed harmless, but she had caught him about to step into her territory, and then he had asked to be escorted in, as if he thought he owned the place. All in all, it was odd behavior to someone like Grezig, and she was determined to get confirmation from Ibis about his identity before she allowed him in. What if he wanted to harm Ibis instead of simply talk to her?

pshh you're fine

There was no room for negotiation with this woman — she told him what to do, and when it would be done.  Okay, he said, though it probably didn't matter much what he had to say.  My home is big too.  We're in Northstar Vale — um, Courtfall, that is.  

He figured that if they were going to be here for a while he could at very least sit down; he rolled to his haunches, and the tip of his tail wagged politely near his toes.  It smells like there are a lot of you here, he says casually, trying to invite some kind of conversation from the stony woman.

The call pulled her out of the last vestiges of an uneasy sleep; her mind buzzed with dissolving images that, once awake, she would not make heads or tails of. The sound was a summons - although the voice wasn't entirely familiar, Ibis had become used to (and somewhat embittered to) the constant need of everyone within the Emberwood. She shook the snow from her narrow shoulders and paced a little bit to warm her muscles, stretch her legs - then took off towards the sound's origin. When the flower sigils began to appear in her periphery she knew she was close to the border.

Then, as she emerged from the thinning trees, she saw two wolves. One larger, composed of brown tones and gold; at first she thought - hoped, fleetingly - that it was Okeanos. It was a woman, though. Beside her was -- Seamus? The girl gasped his name, and as she closed the distance her tail raised and wagged. Welcome! What are you doing here?

New posting order assuming Grezig doesn't leave next post: Seamus, Ibis, Grezig.

The name Northstar Vale seemed vaguely familiar to Grezig, as if she’d heard it in a dream once, but she couldn’t place it. Somehow she had a feeling she knew where it was, though. Roughly, anyway. She grunted to acknowledge the boy.

He mentioned that it seemed like there were lots of them here. “Yes,” she said. “I think we are at full capacity.” She opened her mouth to speak more, but Ibis appeared suddenly beside her. The Archdruid immediately confirmed Séamus’ identity, to which Grezig was relieved. She stood and bowed her head toward Ibis. “I can leave if you wish?” she suggested, not wanting to intrude on a family reunion.

She commented not on his home, but instead at the strength of their numbers.  Full capacity... but, if everyone was pitching in, surely they could always take more?  He didn't quite understand, but it didn't matter for very long because just a moment later his sister was there.  The tension he didn't know he was carrying melted away suddenly with her appearance, and his tail began to wag swiftly behind him.  Oh, Ibis!

He watched as the brusque woman bowed her head, and wondered if that's what he should be doing, too.  Sheepishly, he lowered his head a fraction of an inch, eyes sliding back and forth between the pair.  I just thought I'd come and visit... see if you've been up to anything fun lately.

The woman bowed to Ibis, and that was something new for the Archdruid. She gawked for a second and when Grezig lifted her head up again, composed herself in time to give a small smile. Thank you. She comments with a dismissive vibe, and watched as the woman removed herself - perhaps to continue her patrol.

With Seamus as her only company thereafter, Ibis let a real smile spread across her face.

I don't know about fun, but I have indeed been busy. Her tail whisked at her hocks. Walk with me -?

Closing this w/ Java’s permission.

Grezig indeed left to finish her patrol, content in the knowledge that her leader did know the male. Had it been otherwise, she would not have left Ibis alone with him. Their voices drifted and became distant as she walked farther and farther away, until they faded entirely into the background.