Duskfire Glacier with fists like atom bombs

her offer surprises vilkas. they just met, after all, but it occurs to him that it could just be a recruitment pitch even though it didn't actually sound like a pitch and vilkas' confidence about it wavered as she finished her directions with 'we take anybody who needs shelter, even if for a little while'. temporary pack status? that was ...brave, the firebrand considered. although as he thought it 'brave' didn't quite seem like the word he was looking for. in his general experience, though it did not expand beyond jorrvaskr and companions, most packs looked for members who intents were relatively permanent. offering brief shelter — what if they were a fugitive on the run and whose squatting in the pack put the whole pack at risk? — for a week or a month struck the firebrand as illogical. yet, of course, he did not state it out loud. it wasn't his place and she had ( kind of ) offered him a potential place though whether she had the power to do so or not vilkas didn't know and didn't ask.

"maybe i will," vilkas responds noncommittally. he doesn't want to make an empty promise to her and isn't quite sure how to communicate his gratitude nevertheless. gratitude isn't something he's accustomed to showing or verbalizing. "thanks." the word comes out abrupt and gruffer than he intended it to; tell-tale of a man who is not used to speaking it ( much like apologizes ). the gratitude feels lacking to vilkas as it hangs in the air between them and he averts his eyes from her pretty, gracious smile. his shoulders roll as he shifts his weight, his ears pivoting atop his skull before they slick back to rest at half mast atop his skull.

this was certainly an interesting twist of events, vilkas thinks as he offers her a sheepish lift of his lips; a twist that he would keep in the back of his mind and take time to consider.