Dragoncrest Cliffs okay, well, that’s a mutual thing.

here it is —
a week’s worth of plunder. 
cayetano spreads it out on the ground,
tracing a gilded shell with his finger. 

four feathers, stiff and clean as a knife,
their edges long and dipped in black 
a sea stork, now sitting in his belly
which still bucks and troubles him. 

a red conch: this was his favorite
he places it atop the feathers,
straightens out their presentation 
and calls for the sharp faced boy
with eyes like a fox 
and delightfully high standards. 

someone called for @Tousaint -- a male's voice, and alien to val.

a ripple of protective energy carried him to the borders, where he met a man adorned in plain black clothes. non-descript features -- maybe a little battered.

can i help you? val asked, barely sweeping his gaze across the offerings on the floor before resting firmly on the stranger.

it's not the fox-faced boy that answers.
it's a man with a bull-dog's grin,
and a jovial set of eyes that know more than they let on.

cayetano steps back with a bow.
this is for -- ah fuck, he'd never gotten the name.
this poor record keeping would be the end of him.
well, he didn't give his name.
light brown fur, kinda lean.
oh!
impeccably clean fur.
cayetano pushed the conch forward,
his best smile on display.
for entry into sapphique.

val was on edge -- but why? the last stranger to come through had been let in without qualm. what made cayetano any different?

he stiffened as the man made mention of a boy. from his description, val could piece together it was tousaint. but tousaint was gone to eresta. maybe he could send the man off with this discouraging news and forget all about it.

you'd be looking for tousaint, but he has gone to our pack's sister tribe. val pushed the conch back, giving his best imitation of a polite smile that hardly reached his eyes. so you best be takin' that, we don't need it.

no dice. the boy was gone.
well, that's some shit news..
cayetano looks down at the conch
as it is thrust back into his lap.
funny how this man could look so polite
and yet, be so unfriendly.

cayetano looks up, not in the least discouraged.
if it's all the same, it wasn't the boy i wanted.
that didn't sound right. he hastily tacks on:
i met a girl too, and she gave me a task
for food.
i owe her something, and i'm here to give it back
and maybe if it suits you,
join the pack.

he can tell this man's not keen
it's in the way his eyes bore
and his shoulders hunch.
cayetano spreads his palms in an open gesture,
trying his best to appear harmless.
name's cayetano, by the way.

the more val learned of this situation, the less he loved this stranger darkening their doorstep. but again, he pragmatically reminded himself that kheviel had come here with food and a limp, and had not been turned away. and she was, in all effects, maybe in worse shape. if sapphique was in the business of giving handouts, it was hardly fair for val to say no.

still. his gaze measured this man. there wasn't anything that was outwardly wrong, and his tone seemed genuine -- leaving val to at last come to the conclusion his misgivings may well be because this man was male. in that case, it was hardly charitable -- but men tended to come and go in sapphique, and were hardly held in high esteem.

val. he wondered what @Mireille or @Chacal would think. both were round with expecting litters at this point, and he hardly wanted to waste their time prattling about the vibes of a wandering itinerant. in the end, he relented. fine. but you must know that sapphique is not.. he paused, shuffling through how to phrase it: warm to outside men. you will need to earn trust to be part of our circle.

water has a way of chipping stone,
bending it to its will
plop by steady plop
until a ravine has formed through a boulder's back.
cayetano can see the facade cracking,
the misgivings give --
at last the man signals some sort of generosity
in the softening of his shoulders.

it's not news, exactly
the world's unfriendly to everyone
it's always do this,
finish this task
an endless climbing of stepping stones to the sky.
cayetano eyes this lofty designation
with a glutton's foolhardy determination.
that's no bother - i've done two tasks already.
what's my third, val?

val hoped that this might sound dissuading, but it had the opposite effect. he guessed some men were just determined.

well, let sapphique break her hard waves against their backs.

trust like that is not instantly given. val said, but he knew at this point he was just being defensive. we have several expectant mothers. it is our duty to provide food for them, daily. additionally, there is a woman, @Kheviel, who can no longer hunt. i want to appoint you her ward, and see that you earn your keep in the following months.

most pack introductions start this way
but cayetano cant shake the feeling
this dude doesn't like him.
in a dog eat dog world,
who can blame him?

his best smile forwards,
cayetano collects his things.
i hope kheviel likes conch.
it's a joke
but maybe it might loosen the tension
that cayetano feels rolling off val like
the endless pounding of the surf.

with the feathers and conch collected
cayetano looks to the man
waiting for that first direction
that points him to his new home.

as cayetano collected his things val wondered what tousaint would use a conch for. he didn't have a chance to ask -- the man was already ready to move.

oh, to have that kind of energy again.

val would tell mireille later of this; for now he motioned the man to follow deep into the sequoias. he would show cayetano the rendezvous, the roja den, and glintwater -- it would be up to him to do the rest.

he's lead through a tall forest
some trees so large they could be a mountain
there's an old gloom that settles here
like fog around his shoulders

cayetano picks up his pace
and wonders
if he'd walked into the belly of the beast
without ever seeing
the perfectly set teeth.