Ankyra Sound he's no charmer

Women had not entered Vlad's mind in their capacity as the fairer sex for, oh.. time. When food and safety was not even remotely guaranteed, such frivolities had to be shelved - and Vlad had not forgotten that his last encounter with a lady wolf had resulted in his removal from the ranks of the bratstvo.

It was therefore not without trepidation that he approached Miss Standards (@Rosalyn), having spotted her scouring the beach for items of interest. The tide was low, and a crooked band of kelp and debris cut the beach in half. 

"Stenderds!" he hollered - if she had shared her real name, he could not recall. The Russian wolf emerged from where he had so obviously been spying on her, his grin wide below his yellow eyes. "Come getting know Vlad!" Even though he managed to keep control of his eyebrows, the invitation sounded a little sleazy.

Any Saltwinter wolf welcome to cameo / join. :D

She'd indeed been nosing about in the sands, her attempt at laziness.  Experience had taught her that sometimes tasty leavings could be found with little effort, crabs or clams much easier to obtain than quicker fish or land-based kills.  Her patience wasn't great, however, and so far her search was proving fruitless.  

At his call, she looked up and over, a touch of amusement lighting in her expression at the nickname.  She appreciated the male for his high humor and open nature - conniving didn't sit well with her (unless she was the one doing it, but her skills in such were less than optimal).  Brazen openness was more her nature as well, except when rubbed wrong.  Caiaphas she was a bit more close-lipped around, but she didn't trust the sea witch as far as she could throw her.  And despite Caiaphas' wraithlike stature, Roz was sure she wouldn't manage much in that respect.

She laughed openly at his suggestion, immediately knowing the answer.  She wanted the man, but not like that.  She wanted his loyalty, his confidences... and that could ruin everything.  Different expectations were made at times and she wasn't willing to make that risk.  

In other words, she never played with packmates.

"Your queen not giving the goods?" She asked, brows giving a suggestive waggle and her grin widening.  "Come begging for a lower sort of entertainment from the common crew?". In the back of her mind, she wondered if he would force the issue.  It'd been a while since she'd had to make that point clear.

Rumbled - although the details weren't entirely correct. Vlad had yet to try anything on with Blackface. Not for any particular reason - she was female, healthy, and of an age (unlike Rosalyn, Vlad had very basic standards); there simply hadn't been time in between mutual piss-taking and accent-copying.

"How ees you seeing een Vlad theenking place?" Vlad asked, giving Rosalyn wily side-eye before he erupted into laughter - the loud, from-the-belly roar that was his trademark. "You hendsome, I hendsome.. I promising one day you waking, theenk 'oh! I remembering so good night!' - BOOM, ees Vlad." Vlad's brows bounced above his bright eyes.

In her experience, when it came to males (and even a good number of females), 'getting to know' another rarely had innocent tone. She couldn't have been positive, but she'd almost wished she was wrong. Then the joke might have been funny instead of an actual offer she had to respond to.

Damn. If she wanted Vlad's loyalty, it would be better to gain it without such maneuvers, but she wasn't above making them. Vlad was an agreeable guy and (unlike the Rat) took care of himself seemingly. A little fun couldn't hurt, could it? Depends.

She settled for another stall tactic. "Yeah? And how do I know that's true? I have a name to uphold." Miss Standards. More like Miss Always Take More Than You Give. That was a bit of a mouthful. "A night of fun could bring some costly consequences to a poor girl like me, after all." Her eyebrows lifted in return, though her smile remained in place. That was a load of shit - consequences could be remedied - but she wanted to make Vlad work a bit. His was a comraderie she wanted to build.

Vlad had not expected her to consider his proposal. He hadn't even expected to be met with civility, and the lack of profanities to counter took the Russian off guard. There was a flicker of uncertainty before he found his way again. "Aha! Then I earning," he told her, bouncing and yipping like an eager pup. Vlad rarely stopped moving, and it was rare to see his tail still or all four paws on the ground.

"Stenderds geev chellenge, Vlad do chellenge - before go away efter vinter, Vlad get kees! Gud deal?" A fair deal - and with a lot less at stake. Vlad's advances rarely got far enough for 'the consequences' to be an issue, and the subject had never ever come up in civilized pre-canoodling debate. Puppies were so far beyond the level of survival that Vlad could hope for.

Rosalyn was truly a fickle creature, with whims that changed with an almost predictable spontaneity.  A day ago she'd been intent on her restrictions, but boredom and quite frankly uncertainty of where she stood in their new group made this less clear.  Vlad wasnt a creature she could read well just yet and survival was her first course. She played the game as she went.

His acceptance of her terms brought the conversation back into her wheelhouse. Cleverness and conniving were two things she generally wasn't great at but negotiating was different. Her lips curled with a satisfied smile as her eyes lit up. "Deal. Alrighty then, tell you what. I want you to impress me. Take me with you if you go to find more recruits... I assume that you might?" She cocked a questioning look, grinning. "I'd like to see more of that charm at work. Impress me, and get your kees."

Vlad would have been pleased to hear her describe him in terms that bordered 'mysterious'. He put no effort into maintaining such an image, and what she thought of as difficult to read was likely just an absence of anything to read at all. Vlad was a simple creature. Not Rat simple, but in the same ballpark - close enough to play.

"Ees deal!" the Russian barked, accepting her terms without giving them a second thought. She would be useful to him if a deal went south, as well as an incentive to join. Rosalyn was undeniably lovely, and Vlad was certain that she would give a better first impression of Saltwinter's membership than the Rat. "I teaching Stenderds how make gud recruit of wulf. How to seeing sneaks! You knowing vat is sneaks?

Internal rejoice as he readily agreed, and her satisfaction grew.  Honestly she wasn't sure what game she was playing here.  Planning was something she did very little, preferring to instead take whatever action looked best at the time and hope luck was on her side.  Hell, she wasn't even sure position was something she wanted with this Saltwinter crew.  But wrinkling Caiaphas' britches was a hell of a good time and getting chummy with all of her subordinates seemed a good start on that.  The better she integrated, the more she could prod away.

"Can't say I do," she said, though an idea could be guessed. She heard either 'sneak' or 'snake' and both would honestly fit quite well in their motley crew. "Teach away, captain", she threw a mock salute, her interest genuine but exaggerated some.

Vlad, meanwhile, was doing very little by way of conniving game-play. He genuinely thought that Rosalyn wished to learn his techniques - what cause was there to think otherwise? They were pack-mates now, beholden to and dependent on one another in equal parts.

The creature began his lesson with a howl, sending his rough voice skywards in celebration. This was the happiest and safest he had felt in many months, and the feeling was so great that it spilled over the brim. He struggled to settle, focusing on Rosalyn's pretty face as he spoke. "Sneak esk meny kvestion, OK? Meny kvestion, not so kveek to teck deal. Saying 'vat is peck name', 'how many wulf'.. Vlad esk 'you vant join peck?', sneak no enser!" And of course, the biggest giveaway of all: "Eef wulf esk 'vat being peck weakness', you saying - hoping small enimal enter ess of you for to make house." He finished with a flourish, snapping his teeth in the air as if to demonstrate the correct facial expression to use once a wolf was a confirmed sneak - or spy.

such wise, many survival instinct, so wow

His speech was a wonder, and it was easy to lose the meaning behind the words to sheer enjoyment listening to the odd sounds that he uttered when speaking perfectly normal words.  She got the gist, however.. spies.  Rosalyn had never met one, nor did she in her uncomplicated nature understand the point behind a spy.  Nor behind keeping information away from them.  So what if they knew how many members were here?

But she sensed this was a topic Vlad was enthusiastic about by his manner (honestly, though, what was this guy not enthusiastic about?)  and therefore wisely kept her doubts to herself.  "No answers.  Gotcha.  Cept that last one."  She grinned wickedly.  "I like that last one."  If she'd heard correctly, that is.  And if not, what she gleaned was hilarious enough to serve well as a substitute. 

"So these sneaks... you've met many?"  Was it a Russian thing, perhaps, sneaking pointlessly into another's pack just for shits and giggles?  Yeah, that maybe made sense.  How the hell would she know?  She'd obviously never been, but judging from those she had met, it wouldn't surprise her in the least to find out that was the case.  They were a crazy lot, present company not exactly excluded.

@Rosalyn Concluding! :D

"So these sneaks... you've met many?"

Oh, had he ever. Vlad smiled his biggest, toothiest smile, thrilled to have an audience that was 'captive' of its own free will and not because it was actually restrained. He launched into a tale of intrigue and murder, butchering his way through thirty minutes of animated story-telling about his time in the Bratstvo - including several comical re-enactments of critical scenes. By the end, Rosalyn had all the training required to spot a sneak from a mile away.