Blacktail Deer Plateau master of tides

Tagging @Dante ...but anyone is welcome! :3

The morning was cold, biting so, made more prominent as it nipped hungrily at his black, leathery nose, chilled quickly after he ran his salmon pink tongue over it in a quick swipe. Then again it was winter, and the d'Erom was feeling the chill deep into the marrow of his bones. Before he had left Starlit Cove this idea had seemed like such a good one, though it had not been so cold when the adventurous boy had initially left; then again Sionn had no real life experience and had imagined that he would be at his destination — where ever the winds led him — within a few short weeks. This had not been the case. Sionn was a dreamer, a dragon among Kings and Finley had never saw fit to put a damper upon Sionn's overactive imagination — likely because it had mirrored his own once upon a time. Real life was a swift and angry kick in the teeth ...or other. Sionn did not realize this immediately, too caught up in his daydreams. Now, however, was another story all together. The dragon felt the harshness of reality in every step he took with sore and cold paw pads.

He felt it in the never satisfied rumble of his stomach, no matter how many scrawny rabbits he managed to scrounge up. Reality could be felt in the lack of heat from another body beside his, having been used to and taken clear advantage of what his parents had offered him. Comfort, protection, nourishment. He was capable of taking care of himself — in a measure of degrees. He might have been an adult by pack standards but was he really? He didn't think so. The scent of a pack had begun to tickle at his leathery, black nostrils a mile back or so but as his steps brought him closer the odor of it's borders became more prominent and Sionn's pace slowed to an eventual stop when there was more than an adequate distance between their borders and himself.

Hope flickered like a small beacon in his dark sea green eyes, the hope that maybe he could find a home here. Never hesitating the dragon tipped his head back and let out a howl, calling attention to his presence near their borders.

Saena stood vigilantly at the edge of the plateau, staring down at the flatlands below. The Whitefish River cut through like a dark slice through the white landscape. The winter had been so mild that wider sections of the river had already cracked and ran with fresh water. She scoured the sky, finding bunched clouds on the horizon, but they ran in wisps and sheets; nothing to worry about, no inclement weather incoming.

But something was incoming, and it caught her attention very quickly, being the only moving thing down there. A small, dirty white speck was making its way toward the plateau. Hackles rising, the ambitious young Blacktail stood and traced the ridge's edge to the towpath, then descended on fleet paws to meet the potential intruder, who had the good sense to stop where he was.

He howled before she came into sight, but she was there nearly instantaneously. Mentally, Saena praised herself on her punctuality, even though it was mostly a happy accident. "What are you after?" she demanded as she approached, inspecting the lone wolf—male, white fur, bright green eyes that she stared at for just a second before looking away (they were so much like Ty's)—and shifting easily into a dominant posture. It felt good to stretch her neck upward and preen forth her ears while gazing through lowered eyelashes at others as though they were lower, even though she was actually smaller than many other wolves.

It did not take long for someone to arrive upon the scene, though in fact, Sionn was left feeling a little startled by how nearly instantaneous the girl had arrived after his howl had ended. It felt like nearly as soon as his eyes had refocused upon the lands within the claimed borders that she had materialized as if by some sort of unseen magic. In reality, the d'Erom understood that it was very likely she had not been that far away and had been heading his way before his howl had risen into the crisp winter air. Sionn felt his body posture change in accordance to her dominant posture, feeling the weight of her stare upon him. Surely, she couldn't have been a leader — for she was too young! Or so that was what he thought, at any rate. She appeared to be about his age, if not a little older, but then again perhaps packs here worked differently than Starlit Cove had. In Starlit Cove children did not run around asserting dominance, a rule in which Sionn was only too happy to follow. He was too wrapped up in his own imagination to care much for his standing in the hierarchy — a personality trait he had seemed to inherit from his father, Finley. To the young d'Erom life was full of so much more than rank, which was not something that you could take with you when you died. It was just a title and he did not put much stock in such things, never had and likely never would. He just wanted to live and have adventures; very simplistic way of thinking, and childish.

I'm not after anything, He responded in a soft murmur to her demand, though he supposed in the next second that wasn't exactly true. I was hoping I could speak to a leader about maybe joining. Somehow, it made a difference to him: hoping and 'being after something' felt like two very different things to him, even if they coincided within the same vein. One felt like demanding, like he expected something, while the other suggested that he did not. If it happened, then it did, and if it didn't then, oh well, it didn't. He wasn't going to be fussed or insulted about it, either way.

The stranger was quick to correct Saena, who regarded him with a critical eye as he emphasized that he was looking rather than expecting. She wasn't much of a linguist and thought the two were pretty much the same thing, so she didn't really understand his need to clarify, but figured it made him feel better. Maybe it was his nervous way of making himself seem approachable.

"You can talk to me," Saena offered, simultaneously making it clear that she wasn't a leader and that she thought she was important enough to be one. Maybe it made her arrogant, but the light-haired Blacktail didn't care too much about that. Those who knew her knew she was ambitious but also hard-working and sincere, if not necessarily gracious just yet.

"What skills do you have?" she prompted him, ensuring that there was no way he could ignore her superiority over him. Even if she wasn't a leader, Sionn was obliged to speak with her as long as he remained on her pack's borders, as she wasn't obliged to call for someone more important if he turned out to be useless to them. Saena did intend to call for Dante when she was done teasing him and feeling in charge for a moment, but she did mean to make use of that moment before passing it to the Alpha male.