Verdant Basin the stray

Oh, I've been a-waiting for a Lucy thread for like...A year, heh <3

As soon as she turned to see him, and winced, Fluke cowered apologetically in response, though his fluffy tail continued to sweep from side to side in a hopeful, friendly gesture. What he hadn't noticed before was the fact that she didn't have a tail- not much of one, anyway. Instinctively, though, she'd made as though to tuck it, and that made Fluke's heart sink a bit, to know that her first reaction to meeting a stranger was to cower. It reminded Fluke of how he'd seen other wolves behave when his nomadic birth pack had taken control of their lands or their freshly made kills. He hadn't just surprised her, he'd triggered her. 

Still, she seemed to recover, and he hoped that perhaps she'd just been startled- it was hard to tell, with the brave face she put on, that did everything to cheer Fluke up. He was quick to want to believe that everything was OK, and gave her a warm smile when she spoke. "Hi!" He greeted, with a soft but enthusiastic voice. "I'm Fluke; I live with the Firebirds, in the Copse," He said, gesturing through the woodlands that would lead back toward his new home. "Sorry if I startled you, there," He said, lowering his head apologetically, flicking his ears forward in hopes that he would easily be forgiven.