got nothin' in my brain [joining]

Sidonie could recall no lecture that had prepared her for this moment, but she tried to fight the rising tide of anxiety knotting her belly. She was a princess, the rightful leader-in-training of Sleepy Summit, and surely she could bluff her way through any situation. When none of old Gaius's words came to her aid, one of her nursemaid's tales did--some old tale of dragons, sabertoothed beasts, and a courageous she-pup that Sidonie had insisted the puppysitter name after her, of course. The silver-kissed eight-month-old grinned at the memory, and as a tawny female approached her on the cliffside, she knew the angle she'd take to win the woman over.

Smiling in what was meant to be a gracious and benevolent manner, Sidonie bobbed a brief wolfish curtsy and sweetened her voice to say, "Well met!" It was a silly turn of phrase, taken directly from that childhood story, but Sidonie continued on, in as bright a voice as she could manage despite her uncertainty. "I am the Princess Sidonie de Essaleia of Sleepy Summit. I come as royal emissary to the Bay." She tried to act as though she had both heard of this Bay before, and as though she was clearly here as an honored guest and should be treated as such. In the nursemaid's tale, the story-Sidonie had wormed her way into the home of a sabertooth cat clan with such a bluff. Of course, that Sidonie had utimately been trying valiantly to save the life of a friend, instead of to shove her way into a pack that likely wouldn't want her if they knew what they were getting themselves into.

Standing on the precipice overlooking the ocean, real-Sidonie only hoped that the pack would recieve her, make much of her, and treat her like the princess she was accustomed to being. They didn't need to know that Marius had usurped her title and gotten her tossed out. "Well," she asked with a healthy dose of her usual haught, "won't you have me in, show me around? I've traveled several days to reach the great Bay." In the late afternoon sunlight, the girl swished her ivory tail and peered a bit impatiently at the agouti female who'd come to greet her.