Bearclaw Valley home sweet home

AW but maybe some of the newcomers? @Andrei @Europa @Sonder

Home. Raziel trotted down the familiar pathway leading down to Bearclaw Valley and took in the beautiful sight of his pack and his home with bright, gleaming turquoise eyes. He had been away for a week or so, and while it wasn't as long as some of his other outriding trips, he still felt as if a part of him had been restored when he came home. Home was very sweet indeed. Raziel spared another second to look at the land in front of him before he moved forward, his pace soon quickening into a run as he raced to the river that ran through the valley.

He remembered seeing some newcomers when he last went home, and decided that now was the time to get acquainted with at least some of them. So Raziel lapped at the river's water then tilted his proud silver crown and allowed a melodic howl to rumble from his chest and pierce the silence of the air. His voice was one of an Alpha and he called for the newcomers and told them to find him by the river's bank if they were able to.

Andrei was trying to fit in. Communication was difficult or impossible. However he had manners and his granny would have bitten his ass off if he would have behaved like a thug. He just needed to find a way to get across what he wanted and all would be good.  He had only been introduced to the pack , so all would come in due time. For now he was absorbed in the scenery. It was a really nice place, no city like where he came from, no garbage bins or humans or loud vrouming metal boxes. It was quiet, Andrei was not used to so much quietness.

Cracking another frog between his teeth, he lifted his head when he heard a howl. Alpha , no mistake there. Thankfully howls were not bound to language, he understood those, and those were the most important not to offend. He trotted towards the howl, then picked up a strong scent , he followed it until he saw a gray form in front of him.  The wolf approached and greeted the alpha by showing a submissive demeanor and gave a whistling sound of greeting as well before taking a step back.

After sending the summons into the air, Raziel sniffed the air and pawed at the land surrounding the river, wondering if there was a cache buried nearby. He was hungry after all, having traveled for a few days without eating as he was trying to get back to Bearclaw as quickly as possible. An Alpha could not stay away from his pack for too long; Raziel feared that someone might try to overthrow him when he was gone. Thankfully, no one here was that bold; or maybe they simply knew they were terrible leaders. Either ways, as long as he was still leader, he didn't care.

Finding a cache, Raziel dug at the earth and uncovered a few buried rabbits and a squirrel. He contemplated for a moment before grabbing two rabbits and a squirrel in his jaws. He kicked some dirt over the remaining prey and made his way back to the river bank where he placed the food on the ground and sat down. A second after his rump touched the earth, a figure appeared in front of him. A stranger, a newcomer he had not met or accepted which meant it was someone Scarlett accepted. It was time to see if she accepted the right ones.

The wolf approached submissively and chuffed a greeting. "Hello," Raziel said with a faint smile. "What's your name?"

Andrei apprehend that part a little. Name sounded somewhat familiar and he hoped that it was the same term as in his native tongue. "Numele meu este Andrei"  he replied , making a full sentence in Romanian. He was not sure the other male would understand.  "Andrei" he repeated, helping him out. He did not know that of all the wolves in this pack, Raziel was probably the only one to somewhat understand him. After all, Rumanian came from the vulgar latin, it still had a lot of words and constructions that were somewhat close to the original form. " tu ?"  he asked pointing his paw at him.  He hoped he was not disturbing him during his meal, but he had called afterall, so maybe he wanted to share his meal.  Either way, Andrei knew not to tempt the devil by taking a bite even if the view of it was watering his mouth.

Raziel waited for the newcomer to answer, teal eyes fixed steadily on the fellow male's face. But when the male spoke, it was not in the common tongue, but in another language, one that Raziel understood. He wasn't very fluent in Romanian but he was okay at it, courtesy to his abusive birth father. Aku might be brutal and cruel, but he was very efficient when it came to teaching his sons skills, whether they were combative, hunting or verbal so Raziel could speak the basics of many languages and was quite good with fighting and other essential survival skill.

The moment the Roman heard the words leave Anderi's tongue, he cursed in his native tongue, Latin. Scarlett just had to accept someone who couldn't speak English, she just had to. For a moment, Raz was tempted to kick him out because he couldn't communicate but decided against it a second later, feeling disgusted at himself for even thinking about it. Wolves could communicate well without verbal language, using gestures instead. And who knew, Andrei might prove himself to be a useful asset yet.

"Numele meu este Raziel," the Roman told the male smoothly. "Îmi pare bine să te cunosc, Andrei." Nice to meet you, Andrei. He grinned slightly then and patted the ground next to him with a paw, indicating that Andrei should sit down and offered the male a rabbit to eat. "Au unele. Sunt frumos." Have some, they're nice.

Surprise washed over the wolf when he heard  his native tongue.  His tail waged and he let a happy high pitched sound.   "Vorbești limba mea !" You speak my tongue !  The other wolf could not understand just how much relief Andrei felt. He could communicate through non verbal communication but some wolves relied heavily on words.  Words he needed to know what happened to him.

The wolf looked at the rabbit and inclined his head in a courteous thank you, then dragged a rabbit towards him , let it be between his paws as he laid down to eat it.  " Vrei să răspunde la câteva din întrebările mele ? " Would you mind answering some of my questions ?

Raziel couldn't help but grin widely when the pale furred wolf's tail began wagging quickly and to him, an almost childlike happy sound escaped the man's tongue. He knew that it must be difficult to arrive in a land where almost nobody spoke your language, and you did not speak theirs. So it must have been a huge relief for Andrei to have realised that the pack he chose to live in had an Alpha who knew the basics of a lot of language, one of them which happened to be Andrei's native tongue. The gods had willed them to encounter one another which hopefully meant that Andrei was going to be a useful asset to Bearclaw Valley.

"Nu te bucura prea tare," (Don't get too excited) Raziel said with a laugh. "Sunt un roman deci nu este limba mea maternă. Latină este. Dar tatăl meu ma învățat multe limbi, așa că sunt destul de fluent în elementele de bază ale acestora. Ai noroc că română este una dintre ele, și că se întâmplă să știu suficient pentru a comunica bine cu tine." (I'm a Roman so it's not my native tongue. Latin is. But my father taught me many languages, so I'm quite fluent in the basics of them. You're lucky that Romanian is one of them, and that I happen to know enough to communicate well with you.) He then shrugged and smiled a crooked smirk. He sensed that Andrei was quite a likeable wolf once you knew him, and Raziel hoped that the Romanian speaker would stick around, unlike many others who sought refuge in the Valley.

"Da sigur. De ce nu? Ci doar cele care pot răspunde." Yeah sure. Why not? But only those that I can answer. 

Andrei nodded.  He understood what the Alpha meant, but the prospect of having answers to his questions just got his heart lighter. He could not help it and it didn't offend the other male so he just gently smiled. "Am auzit de lupi romane ! Bunica mea a vorbit mereu de ele . Ea ma învățat limba latină , mereu a spus că va veni la îndemână o zi ... am urât ... dar ea are dreptate ." (I heard of roman wolves. My granny always spoke of them. She taught me latin, always said that it would come handy one day...I hated it...but she is right. ) "Nu credeam că se va întâlni de fapt unul .  "  (Never thought I would actually meet one.)  he trailed off.  His grandmother had also taught him the gyspy ways, and russian, and most of what he knew now. He missed her dearly. He hoped that she was okay, that she was not worrying too much.

"Multumesc. Unde suntem? Nu recunosc nimic de acasă aici , chiar și stelele pare sa aiba modele schimbat ." (Thank you. Where are we? I do not recognize anything from home here, even the stars seems to have changed patterns. )  He flatted his ears. He was not sure if the other would mock him or not.  He was sure Raziel would ask him why he was so confused about where he was, to which Andrei will probably tell him what he knew.

Ahh sorry for the delay in posting guys! I saw this a week or so back and intended to reply asap but life got in the way :I I'm here now!!

The summons of the Alpha did not go amiss. Europa was enough of a pack veteran to know that you did not ignore the call of your leader, even if the howl was not a particularly urgent sounding one. And it was an opportunity to meet another pack member, which was always a good thing right? Especially the guy at the top of the food chain. All her previous Alphas had either been incredibly elusive or incredibly aggressive. From Scarlett's brief description, this Raziel didn't sound like a bad guy by any stretch of the imagination, but it was hard to tell someone's character through a description from somebody else. You had to meet them, face to face.

And so she did.

It doesn't take the young she-wolf long to reach the source, but by the time she gets within earshot she hears a conversation. A foreign conversation. It was an unfamiliar language - her parents had only ever taught her the common tongue - and Europa is a little put off. She didn't want to interrupt, and the whole use of a language she didn't understand just made her feel a little... well, odd. But she couldn't just avoid interaction forever, and after hesitating a moment or two in the nearby foliage she takes a couple of steps forward, emerging from the bushes and shade of the nearby trees. "Um.... hello." Her tone implies confidence - or at least she hopes it does - but her posture may contradict that; her eyes dart from one man to the other, head tilted to one side and muscles tense. "Sorry for my tardiness."

I'm bringing this to an end, since both my partners went inactive, so PP them a little.

Andrei lifted his ears and listed to the new comer. She was also a part of this pack, but maybe a new one too ? He did not really quite understand. He finished his rabbit while the alpha talked to her. Thank to Raziel, he had a translator, and could actually communicate. It felt good. Knowing that you were properly understood. He got her name, she got his, they discussed about things for a little while, until Andrei took his leave. He thought that maybe she wanted some time alone with the Alpha. He felt the need to go back to resting anyway. So he did.

He bid farewell and walked the stream of the river up until he found a spot to rest. There, he simply let himself pop down and yawned. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad ... maybe...At least he knew from Raziel that he wasn't in the same part of the world as his pack. Which was weird to him, the world seemed even bigger than before...not sure he liked it.

- fading end -