Stone Circle New Faces to meet

A glare bore into his skin, causing the fur along his back to raise. Whilst he kept his focus on the children and their antics, his gaze did drift for a moment in order to locate the source of his unease, only to find his daughter’s husband on the other end of the stare. He held the other male’s gaze for only a second or two, though his own eyes lacked any insight as to what he thought; per what was typical of him, Kove was as neutral as he’d always presented himself to be. Before the other could turn his sights elsewhere, the northerner had already redirected his attention back towards the pups. Whatever issues the grey male had with him, they could be addressed at a later date. In that very moment, all the Inuk could focus fully on were his grandchildren, and he wasn’t about to change that for anyone.

Eventually, his patience seemed to pay off, as one of the boys came over and plopped down in front of him. “Hello, West,” the man uttered, a smile never leaving his face. “Enjoying your outing?” He didn’t expect an answer, not really, but he couldn’t help but to speak to the child anyways; he had always done so and this time would be no different. He was preparing to try and engage the boy in a bout of play when Arlette came over and his attention was redirected towards her. He gently nudged her cheek with the side of his muzzle, silently greeting her before chuckling. “Inngutak. Hello, Arlette,” he then verbally greeted, glad to see her. Truthfully, he would always be grateful, as she was the one to bring him to Easthollow. Had he never met her, he likely never would have found his way there, and he certainly never would have been able to meet any of his grandchildren, let alone the newest additions.

When she sat he followed shortly after, his joints silently cheering for the relief they were given at last. “I am,” he replied, glancing at little West. “I’m happy that I get to experience this. I never thought I’d be able to meet any of my grandchildren. Coming here was… it was one of my better decisions.” Where would he currently be, had they never crossed paths? Such were thoughts he did not wish to consider, not even for a moment; the feeling that came with being there, not only in that moment but all of the others as well, was warm and engulfing, something he could not escape even if he wanted to (and he definitely didn’t). “When they are a bit bigger, I could teach you a game to play with them that my siblings and I used to play when I was just a child,” he offered. “If you’d like to learn, that is. Your mother and her siblings even got to play when they were little.” It was a memory that he often looked back on fondly, given that it was one of the few memories that he had of them all together and not acting up. “Would you like to learn, West?” he then asked the boy, the tip of his tail twitching from the faintest motions of a wag. And although he didn’t expect him to respond to that question either, he still watched him expectantly, enjoying the moment.