Ouroboros Spine got no bones

@Dijax! This takes place before Sidewinder goes to BFW.

The moon was out, and Sidewinder looked at it with mild interest. A waxing crescent. That meant that it would soon be a half moon, followed by the full. Three more cycles, and it would likely begin to warm up again, setting Sidewinder free of Ouroboros Spine. But for now, he would remain. He did not make plans beyond that. For as long as the spine did not chase him off, he intended to eat from their stores and woo their members in whatever way appropriate. For the males, it was usually just speaking with them, exchanging tales or talking of what was to come. Mordecai had proved an easy one to sweeten, and he had already given Sidewinder so much. With the ladies, it was merely a matter of complimenting them and making jokes when appropriate.

Having stepped on a prickly bush earlier in the day, Winder went to work on it. Falling to his rump, he began to bite out the thorns that stuck between his toes, wincing and licking at his foot as he did so. If he failed to do so, though, he knew that the consequences would be much, much worse. Leaving them there would cause him more pain down the road, and he certainly did not want that.

[size=x-small]And before D has a talk with Mordecai :)[/size]

Dijax had woken up from a mild nightmare, one of the south and the heat that it belonged. He planned to talk with Mordecai the oncoming day. As much as he reassured himself he didn't feel this way, the Russian would almost miss the small place. It was alluring and explorative and... his temporary home.

He walked south of the den he'd been sleeping in; a wolf-sized crater in a tangle of boughs hanging from a low tree that had recently lost all its leaves. Dijax picked up a scent incredibly close to him, but there was no reason to be alarmed; it was a Spine wolf.

Adjusting his eyes to the darkness, a white coat shined prussian in the darkness. The figure was picking something out of the underside of his feet, and incredibly painful area for the wound to have happened were the wolf not to clean it it, which he was. "Hello, Spine wolf," Dijax greeted as he stopped at a respectable distance away.

When the other spoke, Sidewinder abandoned his needle-picking and looked toward the speaker. “Spine wolf?” he asked, “Do you greet all of your pack-mates that way?” It was rather peculiar, and Sidewinder was not quite so keen on being named "Spine Wolf," even if it was just a nickname that attached him to the place where he currently lived. Considering Winder planned to leave in the springtime, he did not want to have a nickname based off some place like this. Now that his departure was legit, as far as Mordecai was concerned, he needn't worry about being open with his intentions to find his "brother" and his plan to leave once the worst of the weather was over.

He looked the other up and down, even here in the darkness. It was not somebody he had seen in Ouroboros previously, so he assumed it was a newcomer. Which meant that, by default, Winder held more authority than his nicknaming friend.

“Spine wolf? Do you greet all of your pack-mates that way?,” the wolf asked. In response, Dijax looked to the floor, the male's comment eliciting a grin from him. Maybe he thought he was better at English than he actually was. Oops.

Looking up the match his amber gaze with the golden one, he said, "I am not from these lands." He was going to say 'pardon', but there was no reason to be sorry. His speaking skills were sometimes off. He couldn't help it. If Dijax's accent was clear in his first sentence, it was even more so as he introduced himself. "Dijax Kedrov. Russian," he said.

The two toned wolf decided to leave it at that, not in the mood to speak the words that begged to tumble from his mouth. "You have gotten yourself in a bit of a prickle," he commented, his pun intended. It sounded so goofy coming out of his mouth, but Dijax was a nice boy, and he always tried to lighten the mood.

He didn't answer the question. Instead, he merely introduced himself with his name, followed by where he had come from. Like Sidewinder would be impressed? If that was his intention, Dijax had done the opposite. It took all of Winder's strength not to roll his eyes. Dijax then proceeded to be "funny," and Sidewinder gave him a deadpan stare. “It’s ‘pickle,'” he replied, then went back to his foot, pulling the prickles out with his teeth. He was in no mood for jolly ol' Dijax trying to be so friendly with him. The man seemed a fool.

In return to his efforts, the wolf gave him a cold stare and corrected his one-liner. Alright. He was done playing nice-boy.

Keeping his eyes set on the hostile male, Dijax forced a smile. One that said: 'sorry — what? were you trying to bother me?'. He didn't need to gesture anything for his sentence to be clear: "You should watch where you walk," he said. He left out 'Spine wolf' because the muscular alabaster quickly learned his peer was irritated by this title. Why so? Dijax would like to learn, but he was in no mood in getting physical.

Dijax was an affable, charismatic wolf. He was respected for his kindness towards others, but not in the puppy dog kind of way. The Litke wolf was highly eloquent and intelligent, too. He might sometimes be somewhat of a dreamer, but that didn't cloud up his vision of knowledge and speech. He knew exactly what was right, and what was wrong.

If Sidewinder had known that Dijax thought him hostile, he would have gotten a good chuckle out of it. Winder was, for lack of a better word, entirely too lazy for hostility. Still, to find that he had irritated his new "friend," was amusing, and he abandoned his prickle-picking once more to look levelly at Dijax. “And you should watch how you speak to your superiors.”

By default, Dijax was lower in the pecking order than Sidewinder. It was quite amusing, especially considering Winder had been nothing but lazy since he had gotten here. Still, he was on relatively good terms with both of the leaders and a few of the other wolves in Ouroboros Spine. He doubted Dijax could boast as much, and judging by the way he interacted with Winder, he had a feeling Dijax would not go far here. Perhaps he would be pushed out by Mordecai or Kaname for his back-talk. Hell, maybe another member of the spine would see to it that he was less welcome.

Dijax could not help but chuckle at the wolf's response. "Rankings are for wolves who are not secure with themselves. The whole system is a false sense of comfort," he said, his smile remaining impenetrable. The male thought he was superior, and he had been awfully unwelcoming. Was that really the way to treat a guest? But Dijax did not want to bicker, so he added: "Do not get me wrong, I followed this system in the tundra, too. I am sorry to have upset you." He said this with no initial hesitation, and pure genuineness. Dijax was not a bad boy.

After a few lengthy moments, the arctic continued, "So; could you tell me your name?," he asked, eyebrows raised. He was trying to avoid the serious banter, but he did not know if the Spine wolf were to engage in it again. Maybe Dijax's comment on ranking would make the Spine wolf engage in it again, but the alabaster could only hope not. He had no intention of waltzing into the Spine and have everyone kiss his feet, but when it came to respect... that was something he was taught to respect — 'respect respect'.

Last post for me, since I'm pulling Winder from the game. :)

“No,” Sidewinder replied simply. He was not going to put up with some "holier than thou" kid who wanted to tell him that ranks were "just a load of bullshit." Okay, so maybe he hadn't worded it that way, but Winder was not in the mood for it. Without any further words or posturing, Winder walked off to do something better: like raid the caches he had no intention of refilling.

His peer replied to his question with a blunt 'no', followed by his moody departure.

Dijax had no desire to converse with the male in the future; all he seemed to be was a wolf with no social enjoyment or politeness. The alabaster wolf had absolutely no idea why he would join a pack then, if he did not enjoy the regularities of pack life which included, perhaps not friends, but making allies.

With a suppressed sigh, Dijax turned away in the opposite direction, to return to his temporary den. He would try and regain his deep slumber once again, however every time he slept, the nightmares that so heavily clouded his mind had another chance to penetrate his peace.