The Heartwood [m] partyin' to hella late

Me too! Your writing is amazeballs

She responded well, he was thankful for that. It was a risky game, that sense of humour and he remembered - maybe falsely - Kero had been surprised to find it returned from him too. It appeared not everyone had such a sense of humour and FitzDutiful didn't understand why. He wasn't exactly a humorous wolf - if one asked him to come up with a joke he would flounder and fail like a fish on dry land - but he knew how to verbally spar and give back what was given. He had his warden training for defence, but his counsellor skills had given him the necessary requirements for the battle of minds and he much preferred that to the physical trials. It was something else to have the wits about you to respond to one intelligently.

When Tatum started laughing, FitzDutiful let a smile beam across his face as well. He didn't say anything, giving her time to respond to the recruitment request that he had given her but he wanted her to know that he was comfortable in this field - in this battle ground. Out of all the wolves that he had met only two had this wit about them and he so desperately wanted one around him at all times to keep him on his toes. All thoughts of his current dilemma vanished.

As she coyed with him, flirted with him, asked him what it was about her calibre that he wanted, he promptly sat on the floor. Portraying that he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. He looked at her, studied her openly, but in a scholarly appraising way this time. FitzDutiful took a few moments to put his counsellor training to the test.

"You're a lone wolf and yet you keep yourself in good shape. You're not bedraggled or tattered so you can obviously feed yourself making you a good hunter. With the muscles that you have on you " — a sly raising of a wolfish eyebrow to hint at what else he saw in those muscles she had — "you could make good use of as a warden or a warrior - both or either as is your preference." They were all physical trades that he picked up on, they were the easiest to assess for it was all in front of your eyes. It was harder to see the softer trades - the counsellors, chroniclers, caretakers - from someone's appearance alone. He didn't have a good enough sense of her to suggest any of those skills.

Not yet but her response to his words could open the door.