Sunbeam Lair Spotlight

@Tauris

With no one to follow, and no responsibility of his own Adri continued to take comfort in the life around him. Hunting and observing the wildlife was, in his mind, his one considerable contribution he made back home. So, now, without them, he clung to it and allowed it to steer the ship of his current journey.

It lead him to this ridge. Filled with life that stood out from the rest of the surrounding area. Plants budding that he was not used to seeing and glimpses of animals he did not often see. 

He had taken a seat, spot lite by the sun shining through the crumpled ceiling above. Taking in the view and basking in the heat.

She wades through deep shadow, as silently as the moss underpaw allows. The air here is moist and her breaths draw shallow.

She is not alone in this cavernous place, a wolf of red has made rest here, his pelt crowned in the sunlight that trickles like golden streams of water through the hollow. She knows better than most that competition for scarce resources turns travelers to enemies. She aims not to disturb him, she would be far from here if not for foolish curiosity that has begged her to push deeper.

Now she seeks only for a way out, hoping her presence here goes unnoticed.

The cavernous nook treated the air and breeze differently. Coming in before circling back out again. It was this unique wind pattern that picked up her scent and brought it to him. Turning his head to the side his blue eyes locked onto the dark and gray female, catching her silver stare. She looked... Thin.

He stood up to face her. "Good day Miss" he greeted bowing his head in her direction. "Are you alright?"

Her stealth is challenged by a rich voice and she clambers to catch her startled footing. In full view of her is the gleaming blood coat and drawing closer.

“I didn’t mean-” Her mouth snaps shut, eyes aghast as he dips his stance.

Did he just…call her ‘Miss’? And bow to her? Like she was some highborn daughter that might expect such pleasantries?

For a moment she grapples with how to address him- Sir? Lord? The idea of such a thing would have amused her if she were not so shaky. That was to say nothing of his eyes that looked back at her in an impossibly pale blue, like a winter’s sky. She fights to collect her thoughts enough to answer him.

Are you alright? No, she hadn’t been alright since she’d left home last year. But she supposed she might be waiting a long time for things to become ‘all right’ again.

“Um…yes. Thank you,” she gives a curt response and darts her eyes nervously. “What um… are you doing down here?”

She stumbles at his words alone. 

Is she scared? What's happened to her? Andr thinks to himself. What did they (other males) do?

Andr offers a kind smile. Keeping his distance, not wanting to alarm her. 

"I was attracted by the unique fauna in this area. My apologies if I've startled you, or unknowingly trespassed. Do you claim this as your home?" he asked.

His smile is gentle, but in his eyes she’d seen the pity. She straightens out with undue awareness, as if she now has a point to prove- that she is strong and capable and that his pity was better spent elsewhere.

She sits and folds her tail as a way to cover up dirty paws. Something in his air of speaking leaves her feeling shabbier than usual. She imagines he must be some nearby pack’s noble son, perhaps with an affluent pack soon to inherit.

“I live just down in the valley,” She indicates with a little dip of muzzle over her shoulder. That was home for now, as much as a lone wolf could claim, anyway. Eventually she would move on, pushed out by weather or packs, or if she’d ever find purpose beyond a scant isolated existence. If that day would ever come. She was adverse to waving a pack’s banner, or discarding her ideals by adopting their’s.

She rolled her shoulders, relieved herself that she had not trespassed and that this red stranger was polite. A curious nose tests the boy’s scent. He is, by every definition, striking. Beautiful, even. He could not have been much older than her, perhaps even a recent dispersal like herself.

“You’ve come a long way down for unique fauna. Are you a healer or something?” She asks.

Down in the valley. He thought of Wapun Meadow and Bearclaw Valley. Both locations he had passed through in the days leading to today. A shame he hadn't run into her before now he thought to himself. 

Her words brought two thoughts to mind. First was her assumption that he had come down from the mountain above to be here. And second, was her connection of fauna to healing. He wondered if he himself had misspoken, or if she was mistaken between flora and fauna. Two terms easy to swap with one another. 

Not wanting to sound snobbish or lecture-like, he tried to think of a way to answer. "An avid hunter. I tracked a pronghorn from Wapun Meadow to Bearclaw Valley the other day. Seems we may have just missed one another... Though the flora is nice, the fauna attracted to it is what attracted me here... An accident really as I move Eastward"

AHH haha I’m soo sorry, I was today years old when I realized flora ≠ fauna! She was referring to getting down into the cavern, sorry if that was confusing!

---

Her stance eases slightly as he speaks and briefly she wonders what different sort of game he would find in here. He wears the success of his hunts under pelt, he does not have the look of hunger that so often afflicts his solitary cousins.

“Are you from the area, too?” She questions. Perhaps he was a pack wolf afterall. Either way, he seems to know quite a bit about the landmarks here, and how to track the spring herds, maybe this was knowledge he would welcome sharing.

“I’m Tauris, by the way,” She introduces with a little include of nose. Were her manners adequate? She wasn't too sure.

A slight smile appears in the corner of his muzzle as her stance begins to relax. Things were going well, all things considered.

"Good to meet you Tauris. My name is Andromed Dorian, though you may call me Andr if you wish."

"I've been staying in the area for a short time, but I did not originate from here. I follow where prey leads me most days?" It had been nearly 5 months since he entered Teekon. Such a long time compared to how it felt. If given the option Andr might have returned home tomorrow if given the chance. But he knew that was not an option, and it was not what his mother wanted. What has she wanted him to do?

“Likewise,” She chirps, maintaining a considerable distance between them but pitching her head up closer to his. She’s decidedly amiable with Andr- a strong hunter will make for a valuable acquaintance. 

“Sounds… exhausting,” she admits. Much of her strength has dwindled now after a year of travel. Hunters were rarely successful, and she’s found small game much easier to catch. She doesn’t reveal to Andr that her primary diet consists of rodent. They weren't intrinsically palatable, but they were abundant in the valley’s meadows. 

“No desire to run with a pack?” She questions, resisting the urge to fidget so that she might pass as an elegant young lady.

Sorry for the delay. Started one too many threads around the same time

Likewise. A fellow hunter stood before him. Although it sounded as through she may not enjoy it as much as he did. Hunting was exhausting and at times defeating, but perhaps this is what Andr liked about it, or needed it to be. With nothing else do to, there was always game to hunt of various sizes. Following a failure one could turn around and try again. He also had no other influences on him, no one consistent in his travels. He was doing what he knew he did well and little else.

"Not presently. I'm not opposed and it's how I was raised but... the circumstance hasn't arisen" He neither sought out a pack nor had an invitation been lent to him. Plus the thought of being a part of something to aid less chivalrous men put a sour taste in his mouth. "Yourself?"

No worries at all take your time!

---

She can admit that there are aspects she misses about living among her own kind. Hunting comraderie, the stability of a belly consistently fed, the warmth of a shared den. A deep ache spreads through her chest when she remembers home and her siblings, how closely they nestled into one another at night. How much they had relied on each other.

But they had all dispersed, and had new ideas of what home is. It all feels so faraway now.

“No,” She says curtly, before the piercing of his blue eyes encourages her to add further explanation. “Not that I loathe the idea. It’s the politics that deter me. I don’t ever want to compromise what I believe.”

"Do you find your beliefs not accepted here?" he asked. Her response was so quick and certain. Although she filled it up with a bit more explanation he felt there was a weight behind her decision. 

Did she hold some sacred deity close to her heart? Or were the wolves in this area more savage and immoral than he initially anticipated? Of the two options he hoped it was the former, but somehow he thought the latter was more realistic.

“I would not know,” she admits with a flinch of ear.

In truth, it was not the local packs, but her Northern homeland that had carved her in doubt, and the subservience of her siblings to their pureblooded cousins. Tauris was not keen on the idea of melding into packlife again, and adhering to whatever laws they enacted. She had acclimated to life alone, even if loneliness clutched her heart in the dead of night. She had grown in her resilience, or otherwise tricked herself into thinking so, and that worked just as well, didn’t it? So she gave the valley packs a respectfully wide berth.

“I plan not to find out. I am not unhappy alone.” Mostly truthful. 

She does not wish to fill Andr’s time with her list of grievances, however. She is much more interested to hear more about him.

“You’re quite well-mannered, Andr,” she observes, “I don’t think I’ve ever been called 'Miss' before. If you are not from the valley, where is home?”

The way she spoke of being alone Andr thought, that may be the way she preferred it. That she was being polite but she would rather have this lively haven to herself. But as she continued and questioned him, those thoughts subsided.

Another compliment about his manners. He was happy to hear it, and it continued to feed his theory that the men here were less than gentlemanly. "Do you dislike that I call you Miss?" he asked pushing for a genuine response.

"I originate from the back Doris. A few weeks travel from here. It would be an understatement to say I missed it" he admitted.

“Not entirely.”

Her lips lift into a playful grin and she feels a little heat rise to her cheeks. Miss. How fair a title. She wouldn’t think she entirely deserves such a designation, disheveled as she is. Surely miss is reserved for her delicate counterparts. Oh, but she craves the idea of it even if she will never aloud utter so.

She cants a muzzle to study the red man, still rimmed in a spill of light. She shares his desire to plant paws on familiar ground, though she may never return now that she and her siblings have dispersed. She isn’t sure what home was anymore, but it’s certainly no longer a place.

“Tell me about Doris,” she asks, ears perking with intrigue.

Doris. A smile couldn't help from emerging as he thought of his home.

"Certainly. Doris... My mother raised me there along with the other sisters" theses sisters were metaphorical. All the females there were sisters to one another and thus also to him. "I made sure no one was hungry..."

But he wasn't there anymore, he thought to himself. And the thought that without him there may be a hungry mouth upset his stomach and he looked down at his paws, his smile having faded.

A thought he shook off as he lifted his head once again and continue "... at least I was one of the many that did so."

“You speak so fondly of home. I wonder why you’ve left?” She asks, though it is customary for young wolves to leave in search of something. A new pack, a mate, or to travel. But not all opted to depart from their natal land, some never left. She imagines a good number of her siblings would remain in Lyotak for the opportunity to one day lead it. A pity, truly, that their eyes and minds would never be opened to what else the world could offer them if they only took that first step towards it.

She draws a tail up over her arms and perks her ears, quite content to learn more of this matriarchy.

He felt his hesitation sit at the top of his throat. It was a subject he chose not to think of often. But seeing how intrigued Tauris was, he continued. "My mother thought it best. I was the only man within our pack... and it created..." he paused.

That smell. A memory filled with the scent of warmth. One that consumed the feminine and drew out virile veracity. But not him. He remained genteel. Protecting the sanctity of their trust. But she... 

"...some of the girls..." Those wonton eyes looking him over like he did his prey. So forceful. Unphased by his unwillingness. Determined to take what he wished not to give. 

"...it became an issue." he left it at that. Looking down at his paws. Back to the present.

"I mean not to be the cause of trouble. With that I left"

His brows deepen and immediately the mood shifts to something dark; painful. Memories that were perhaps better left in Doris, buried away in the recess of a mind where the unthinkable is kept. She is only quiet, listening and inferring the long pauses between his thoughtful choice of words.

“I’m sorry, Andr. No one should ever have to experience that.” She looks down at her toes. An apology feels so…meaningless in comparison.

“I hope the Teekons will be kinder to you. There’s a lot of bad out there. But a lot of good, too.” Her smile is thin, but it’s not disingenuine.

“I hope you find it.”

Why was she apologizing? He thought. In his mind, he knew the clock had been ticking back in Doris. The only man, and although he treated each with care he knew what men were capable of and what many had done to them. He'd likely stayed past his welcome, he thought. "No need to feel sorry. It was bound to happen at some point. I merely overstayed my welcome is all" he unconsciously downplayed.

As she spoke of the good and bad of this new world he replied "It would seem I have at least found a bit of it in you."

“You’d be the first to say so,” she reveals with a brusque laugh and flick of tail. But she’d quite enjoy being a kind miss, if only in Andr’s mind.

“I’m starved, care to scrounge with me?” There’s a hopeful glint in her eye. Maybe Andr would return to the valley with her and they could hunt together for a time. She’d adapted to life alone but sometimes she was reminded what she was missing out on by dismissing packlife, and she found herself reluctant to part with his good company.

Thanks for the thread. Fade here?

Andr struggled to see how one would not find her to be good. Although cautious she had been nothing but kind to him. He hoped that someday others would see that too. And she could find a group accepting of her values she proudly was unwilling to compromise.

"That would be delightful" he smiled.