Fox's Glade take it slow

Closer to Easthollow, so any EH wolves are welcome! Leta is just looking for food

 

Leta drifted, for the first time, outside of the reaches of Easthollow. Too anxious to go too far, she still made it well beyond where she had ever gone before. Food was scarce and Leta wanted to help somehow. If she found something, that would be helpful, right? She was old enough to hunt, but could hardly hunt well against larger animals given the fact that their practice against them had been limited, given the circumstances. 

Maybe she could find one though. A stray bison, or anything else. Something that could fill the belly of her mother and father too; Leta had noticed how they gave she and her siblings food before themselves. She wanted to give back.

Kaito, too, had drifted. He could still count the nights he’d been away from Little Goat Mountain, but he had the feeling that soon enough, he wouldn’t be able to anymore. The caves had just begun to feel like home, like a place he could settle for a comfortable little while. The thought felt good — and yet, it didn’t seem right.

So of course, he hadn’t gone back, though in his heart of hearts he wanted to, if only to feel that feeling of home — but he knew if he did, that feeling would be soured, in the knowing he should be somewhere else. So he wandered here, through the meadows and forests, aimless as before, and still tried to make the most of things.

Which meant when he heard a faint movement deeper in the woods, Kaito lifted his head and called out in his young and boyish voice, “Hello?” and prepared for silence, yet hoping, with a sway of his tail and the perk of his ears, for a friendly answer.

The soft voice of another caught her attention before anything else they managed to do did; her powers of observation were not all that keen, devoted to finding food as her senses had been. The friendliness of the voice disarmed her almost entirely, but she was still a little nervous. Other than her family she knew no one else; her brothers as of yet were her only friends. 

Leta looked toward the direction the voice had come from, and said from where she stood: um... hello! the anxiety she felt unwittingly coming forth in her soft voice. Leta found she could only take a singular step forward, but told herself to be braver—there was no reason not to be, after all! 

And so she darted closer to where Kaito stood, as quickly as her nervous spirit would permit her... which, truth be told, was not all that fast at all.

He drew forward at the voice of another, ears perked and torso tall. Light danced in his eyes and a crooked smile drew over his mouth, to touch his face with a happiness which radiated right down the length of him, to the sway of his tail.

"Where are you?" he said again, and he took to the general direction he thought he'd heard her voice. The leaves shook around him with every delighted bound -- her voice sounded young, perhaps he would find someone else his age, like the girl in the meadows -- and he turned his eyes to search left and right, unwilling to sail right past her --

But of course he saw her, almost a moment too late. Kaito swept his attention across the centre of his path, right as her hazel eyes swirled through the shadows in front of him. "Oh!" and he crashed on his brakes and hopped to a stop, hoping to land a few paces short of crashing into her.

Feel free to decide whether Kaito manages to stop in time, or if he does crash into her haha :)

He sounded nice, this stranger; Leta, naive despite her experiences (likely because she could not recall it), was eager to meet him. Here! Came her light voice, darting in the direction she had heard him ask the question, and where the noises came from that meant his arrival... but all of her obersvations were cut short when the wolf collided into her. Leta's breath left her in an oof! as they tumbled, briefly, and she rested rather comfortably by the end of it on something soft, and warm, blinking in confusion...

Where had he...

Oh! Leta rose quickly, detangling herself from her position atop the stranger; her cheeks warmed some, embarassed for her inability to realize he had been right there. What kind of hunter was she to be? But her dismay was temporary in favor of the situation at hand, and she sprung toward Kaito with a chipper little, Hi!!!!

if this pp is too much let me know LOLOL

Hopefully you don't mind me butting in >D

Arlette had been talking to her aunt about learning the art of healing. However, there weren't many to teach her. She would put it alway for later since now wasn't really the time of prosperity. It was the time of survival. Arlette had noticed her mother's body shape and had the same thought as Leta to help out her family. Arlette dislikes hunting but she would do it for her family, especially for her beloved mother, or should she say parents? Greyback was like a father to her really.

When she moved through the glade she was distracted by voices. She recognized one of them at least. The big sister was protective of Leta ever since the attack went down. She knew she would not be able to protect he sister in battle but she usually tried to hang out with Leta or distract her from going over the borders too much in case that woman returned. Arlette stepped closer to see who her little sister was talking with. Normally Arlette was just as excited at Leta. She revealed herself, her red eyes looking curious.

The only thing she saw was Leta being tangled up with a male older than her. Arlette rushed forward between them. "Don't touch my sister!," Arlette huffed and raised her hackles a bit. There wasn't really a bite to her words. A rare thing for her to do. She tried to look strict but her tail revealed that she was unsure about this whole situation as well. Her red eyes stayed on the male. He was about her age it seemed. As she looked longer at him she could only feel more flustered. Her ears flopped back shyly.

And just like that, they collided, and it was... well, it was a right mess. The last thing he saw before the sky met his eyes (or something like the sky, if that was sky and not the snow along the spinning, spinning treetops) was... well, he couldn't quite remember. Hazel eyes turned to a blur of chocolate fur, and a dizzying swirl of what were probably the leaves and snow he lay strewed upon now. And there was a heavy, heavy weight across his chest -- and -- oh gosh, he was dying -- but the reasonable side of his brain slapped the other to make him remember -- heh, oh yeah --

A small laugh puffed between his parted lips while his furrowed eyes sought to focus, and the strange girl began untangling herself from their peculiar mess of limbs. He tried to help her, but he still felt stupefied from the fall. Like, she'd knocked the wind right out of him, in the most literal of ways, and... had he hit his head on the way down? Probably with hers... could he really say? Sverything still felt a little bit... surreal.

But his brain still moved at a mile a minute, regardless of how sluggish the rest of him felt -- regardless of how scattered his words would still probably come out. The girl sprang up and recovered quickly, and Kaito smiled dumbly, and managed to squeeze out the beginnings of a "Hah, ah, hel -- " before he lost the rest to a fizzle and a crack, the crack being the sudden arrival of another girl's shout.

And her words made his face felt hot.

"Ah... wha. oh -- OH. NO." oh SHOOT, heck, this must've looked so bad -- and he sought for some hasty explanation -- "no, no, no -- this isn't what -- it's not like -- I'm not -- " while the parts of him that were still sluggish tried to scramble him up to some proper place on his paws. But all he managed to do was to swing upright, and crank his head high enough to hit a low-lying branch, laden with the remnants of some prior night's snow.

The branch tumbled its snow down over Kaito's head and he seized in with a clench of his teeth, shoulders tight from the cold. Even better. His ramblings turned to the sputter of a surprised, "ah!" and his eyes grew wide -- only to fell his gaze upon the sisters before him -- and he locked eyes with the new girl, and felt his face grow warmer than before, with a heat that lingered even after he'd pulled his stare away to settle his gaze somewhere in between them.

Maybe he should smile, in some last ditch effort, and the most awkward feeling smile shot crooked across his face. Yeah, yeah. He couldn't even try to play this cool.

He was saying something when Leta heard the familiar voice of...

Arlette? An ear turned backward even as Leta gazed over her shoulder, happy to see her there until the words that came forth were heard. Then Leta felt a little abashed, and looked it, hearing the boy stammer like he did. Arlette! she whisper-hissed, ears airplaning on her crown. She grimaced plainly, feeling awkward for them all... least of all herself, though. She moved to greet her with a submissive little nosing beneath her chin before she said, he didn't mean to, because, really, it did seem like an honest mistake.

Her gaze landed back on Kaito as he looked to her sister, and then between them; whatever residual embarassment or heat they felt between one another was entirely missed by the gawky younger sister, oblivious to all things related to the birds and the bees. So a little more firmly now, Leta defended the helpless boy who had, on top of everything else, thwaked his head against a branch, right? Y'didn't mean to? Right???? She pressed, her effort valiant and well-meaning as she looked to Arlette, I think he's nice! A little clumsy, with all the earnestness and honesty only a child could possess. Her tail waved as she looked back to Kaito smilingly.

Arlette watched the young male as he started to sputter, followed by a shout of realization. Arlette's previously flattened hackles flared up once more at the increased sound. It flattened slightly when the young male started to stammer again while swinging upright. Arlette went to open her mouth to speak when the young male hit his head against a snowy branch. This caused the cold snow to wash over him. He didn't seem like a bad guy from what she had seen now. Arlette's anger melted at the sigh of it. Especially the little yell was what made the anger melt even quicker.

Their eyes locked for a moment before Arlette looked away and giggled softly. Leta in the meanwhile was assuring that this male was good, to even go as far as to question the male that his intentions are good. She was so naive and innocent in that aspect. Because if he had ill intentions he would never admit to it. Still, Arlette had a good sense of judgement and decided that the young male wasn't entirely bad. She wondered how the two had tumbled together. She had to smile again when Leta even called him clumsy. "Very clumsy," Arlette agreed. "Lets find out if he is nice," she spoke to her sister, while glancing at the male. She could feel a flush over her cheeks, luckily the fur helped her with that. She never really had met a boy her age that was not related to her. Unless, he was another sibling she didn't know about and her mother had yet to reveal.

She waited for the male to respond to Leta before giving him a more curious check. It didn't seem he was in a pack, he didn't smell of one she knew. "What is your name?," she asked. "And did you have a reason to be close to our pack borders?," she added curiously. Maybe he did know about them or knew someone in their pack.

idk if this makes sense hahaha

Even though he had turned away, his head still felt stupid. Or, well, maybe it was his heart. It felt a bit quicker, a bit zingier than usual. Were hearts ever zingy? Gosh, maybe he was dying -- and honestly, maybe that might be preferrable, if he ever looked back on this -- but he didn't really think long about either of those things, because he was already too busy thinking about how he looked, specifically, whether his smile was reading like 'hey friends I am nice and I would like to become friends or something maybe please' or if his smile rather looked creepy, like a 'hey girls *brow waggle*' ... um... yeah, something Kaito's brain was entirely not programmed to even think.

So he actually missed half of what Leta said, and caught everything all the same, and he ended up blinking for a hot minute before he even realized he'd been addressed. "Oh, oh, yeah, no, of course," he started off, hopefully a little bit smooth? If Kaito could be smooth - and he doubted himself, anyway, and doubled back with a perplexed, " - wait - I mean -- yes? Um, wait, is this a yes question, or - or is this a no question? Ahh, I'm," and he laughed. Confused? Dying? Feeling positively stupid? Probably of the above, please show me to my grace now. "I'm nice. I mean, I hope I'm nice. I, y'know, I try," and he shrugged through his nervous laugh, his ears on fire from his stumbling, and from the sheer note the older one spoke with when she turned to question interrogate him again.

His name, right, his name! -- "I'm clumsy -- " he said quickly -- and with a sharp blink, backtracked again, "I mean - Kaito, I'm Kaito, my name is Kaito, though if anyone called me clumsy, I'm pretty sure I'd..." stop. He cleared his throat with another laugh, "anyway, um -- your pack -- see, I didn't actually know -- I haven't been here very long -- well, I was wandering nearby, and I heard your sister, and I guess I was just so excited to see a friendly face that I didn't really... check for borders," and he paused (and inside, kicked himself, gosh could I please just stop talking? "But like... you're nice, right? And your pack? You aren't gonna, y'know, take me prisoner, or feed me to a carnivorous elk, or enslave me to sing songs to entertain your leaders around their evening meal, right?" And he certainly meant that as a joke, if it couldn't be seen in the crooked line of his smile (but a part of him did wonder, maybe not of the punishments themselves, but the sentiments behind them...)

Leta listened to him, smiling as he prattled on and on, and nodding emphatically, echoing where needed: Yeah!, she'd cut in charmingly, looking to her sister, see? Toldja, she hummed when he agreed that he was nice, He's nice! Yes, her tapered muzzle now turned pointedly toward Kaito, you are nice! You said hello right away, that was nice, right? He didn't have to do that; Leta, easily won over, gave her sister a hopeful little look. Unable to help herself, even despite all the certainty she had seemed to exude, she asked a little sheepishly, looking for affirmation: uhm, right??? Her chartreuse eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked to Arlette, who was handling things better than Leta and Kaito combined.

He introduced himself promptly, polite, check—I think that also means nice, he explained himself, informative, check—oversharing, even, which, that's so nice!, and though his questions bordered on strange (Leta gave an undignified little guffaw at the final ones)... funny, sort of, check—definitely nice. I was so right, she thought, a little pleased with herself for her good judge of character.

No, silly!!!! Wherever did you get that sort of idea? Leta giggled at that, looking to Arlette, he's so funny! Carnivorous elk!!? Another giggle, which stopped as her ears flattened atop her crown, a little frightened by the idea of that. Are... there's no such thing, right 'lette? She half-whispered, side-eyeing Kaito before regarding him with a smile, listening entirely to her sister all the while; she did not want him thinking she was a frightened little thing (she was far from little now, she was a big girl thank you VERY much).

'Lette and Leta's adventures ideally would never feature such a creature, if so.

Arlette couldn't help but smile at the young male. He was very cute and it seemed that Leta was alright, and he was not some weird creep that was on top of her sister. "Yes, he does seem nice," she spoke to her sister. Arlette felt a continued blush on her cheeks when looking at the male. God she had to keep herself together. "I'm Arlette and this is my younger sister Leta," she introduced. "Our pack is named Easthollow, which you are close to." She gave him some more information.

Arlette giggled when she started about carnivorous elk. Leta instantly seemed intrigued by it. She slowly widened her eyes a bit. "What? You never heard the legend of the Carnivorous Elk that eats bad puppies?," she asked her sister, sounding serious. She was still a big sister that could mess a bit with her younger one.  Then she cracked a smile. "Just kidding, Leta. No, it isn't real," she assured her with a bump of her nose to her shoulder. Arlette turned to face the male again. "We are nice as well. In fact, our whole family is nice! It must be lonely all by yourself," she assumed. "Maybe you can join us! Do you have any skills?"