Sleeping Dragon virtue before sin

Guardian/Warrior trade thread, ideally :')

While here, Sangilak would make good on what she had told Thuringwethil. She would pull her weight up until the moment refuge was needed no more. When night came, Sangilak lurked near the borders, careful to mind them for the hazards they presented. She monitored the obstacles as she went, but in the meantime she moved as though she were a wolf of Drageda. She did not mark the territory, but she patrolled it, as menacing as the geysers that spew intermittently. Sangilak would explore those explosive things another time, but for now she was content to lurk in the darkness, her eyes gleaming a green-yellow in the light of the moon as she prowled, her tread self-assured and confident.

Sign me up!

Hush was finishing up his patrols when he saw her. The hybrid snorted in curiosity, his head tilting as he observed the female patrolling the borders just as he had been. Hush was aware of all of the new arrivals, but he had not actually seen them. He had already seen the main pack at the last meeting and knew their pelts on sight. This one, even in the darkness, was different.

The coywolfdog chuffed, then ran to catch up to her, realizing that the geysers might have drowned out his call. When he came close to her, he barked, louder now, to get her eyes on him. They needed to meet.

Indeed she had not heard him past the geysers hiss. It was loud, but only when they burst would they truly accost her eardrums. It seemed they were settled, for now, but she was watchful of them. She had experienced geysers before and could anticipate the sound they made. So concentrated was she that she did not hear the initial noise Hush had made; only when he sounded off again did Sangilak look over her shoulder and note him coming toward her. Sangilak altered her own path, turning on her heel and padding confidently over toward him. Her ears were perked and her plume was half-mast and rigid behind her as she moved to meet him halfway.

The stature this one had was like nothing she had ever seen. He was the strangest cocktail, and yet Sangilak perceived him as wholly wolf. If she had known any differently he would meet an entirely different beast; Sangilak fought, violently, what she did not understand when it came into her path. That there were other breeds and species of wolf was not something known to Sangilak; wolf was wolf, and the man approaching was certainly wolf to her own eyes. He was certainly smaller than her, who overwhelmed most any wolf regardless with her large, bearish frame. Sangilak might have wondered his own longevity here were the scent of the Dragons not so thick upon him; were times so hard here? She observed ribs. Yet the oddest thing of all was that despite the strangeness of his conformation, she noted a musculature to him that foretold he was not weak, per se.

Arriving before him she swung 'round and chuffed lowly in greeting, not waiting a beat to draw alongside him to gather the scents upon him if he permitted it. Sangilak introduced herself to all in this way, and thought it a very common thing.

me2

With his presence on the boundaries attentive and steady, he's noticed the new scents and then grown curious in their wake. Guests, yes, but to what reason precisely? He sensed a greater plan a play here, or perhaps some scheme spanning to times and worlds unknown to him -- all of which he was evidently not privy to as a peon of the Dragon. It is still not something he feels particularly inspired to accept wholeheartedly with just his nose telling him that strangers wandered among them so casually. Not yet.

So, he tracks beneath the moonlight until his search yields him that and just a bit more. Dio recognizes the mixbreed and does not approach with the same fervor he does. Instead, he prefers to watch them play out first. He hangs back and watches the shadow adjust her course to acknowledge Hush, and since Dio's own arrival is not marked with any speed, he looms upon them in silence. He turns his ears their way and finds his tail arcing subtly at the sight of the half-lift to her own tail, over what he has come to know as his own turf no less. Dio says nothing, then glances between them to see how Hush, a wolf he knew was devoted to their defenses as well, may be handling this.

She was huge, but most pureblooded wolves were compared to him. He wasn't intimidated by her massive, bear-like frame, but he was wary. Why was she here? Was she here to stay and join or not? Her presence confused him, but he had no way of expelling that confusion. Instead, he returned the gesture given to him, taking in her scent.

As his nose twitched over her fur, his eyes shifted to his packmate. One he didn't know the name of, or knew personally, but a packmate nonetheless. He pulled away from the female and chuffed in greeting to his comrade, then finished up his intake of her scent before pulling away.

Her investigation was brief and told as she wished to know. Sangilak herself relaxes, and the sound of another's approach causes her to turn and stare in the direction of another male. She notes his posture, and does not challenge it; she had learned since Warbone that she needed rest, and fighting while exhausted would truly get her nowhere. Sangilak goes so far as to avert her eyes; she is queen of nothing on this hunk of rock, and would not pretend to be either. Her self-confidence could not be swept away entirely, and she carried herself to a degree that would prompt only the understanding that she was not a woman to trifle with. Sangilak was not a wolf who ever felt the need to stir the pot, and the savage woman was merciless toward those who tried to do so with her. 

When Hush side-stepped away, she went to approach the bulkier of the two males. Her ears flicked atop her head tentatively, and she pulled up short just before him to see if he would draw away from her or else reveal to her he was comfortable enough with her nearness to permit her the same greeting as she had shared with the smaller male. Her tail swept loosely in an amicable wave behind her, and her eyes shifted harmlessly toward the right, her body language speaking for her: no threat, not stressed. 

He maintains his watch. The smaller mix-breed takes and exchanges the greeting, and soon, attention is on him which he receives with a pointed look. She approaches him, large and looming for a female he notes, but he is nonplussed. Watchful, of hardened expression, but it only comes with the territory.

His ears quiver forward and nostrils flare while he stays planted where he is. His gesture is small, the subtle inclination of his muzzle in a brief nod to acknowledges this. She's not pressuring him, and although he has reason to be wary, she seems to be mindful enough of this. She smells of.. a few others and he surmises they are the other guest that he knew vaguely about. Maybe even others beyond that as well. He glances past her to Hush, then back to catch her eyes, then towards the scenery fringing their borderlands. Had he interrupted their patrol?

He musters a tiny sway of his tail, and he's accepting overall of the current proximity. But beneath his watchful curiosity, he wants to know what she's doing here.

Hush walked over to the border, sniffing the scent line and adding his own to the line, lifting his leg as he released a stream of urine, leaving the two wolves to speak to each other. Though, from their mannerisms they didn't seem keen on speaking verbally to each other. Hush was fine with that; he much preferred the silent exchange of body language to the complex exchange of words. He sat near the border, watching as the two tentatively greeted each other.

His mute communication was met with an invitational look back to the wolf, that she did not know was a mixbreed, and the borderline. He had interrupted nothing, as far as she was concerned; the more involved in their watch, the better. And so Sangilak turns away from Dio, having gathered his scents and knowing him better for it. His attitude was one Sangilak was appreciative of, and wise. She was understanding of those watchful eyes. He had reacted better than she herself would have: with unwelcoming teeth. It was fortunate Sangilak's intentions were not ill, but no one but she herself knew that for certain. Their trust in their leader was implicit. Admirable, too, if not somewhat foolish.

But Sangilak was integrating herself into the community. She was not useless; she would patrol with them, hunt with them, and take down any that rose against them for so long as she lingered. Sangilak would not be dead weight, and she had not been implicitly asked to join Thuringwethil, yet... simply invited to be a guest.

Sangilak approached Hush, her tail waving as she chuffed lowly, her muzzle gesturing to the road ahead and head cocking, a comical sight for one so large as she, that asked wordlessly: join me? on the patrol she had sought to complete in the first place.

He toed the line with a certain delicacy, one afforded to him by patience for now. This is new, still, and in the process of settling even now. Dio's place here is not set in stone but he does want to carve something out while he has it, and, trusting his comrades enough to become a cohesive unit felt paramount to his success here upon the slopes of the Dragon. For now, he still would, but skepticism could change that with just the right pushes one way or another.

But for now, it is what it is and he has no explicit reason to swim against this current. He wants to see what she can do, and what she is made of because these answers he can at least observe for himself even without knowing of the reasons for her being here at all. His own stare turns towards the borderlands when she moves away from his immediate proximity, and it is clear he is accompanying too. He does not think Hush will deny her company, nor his, because more eyes, ears, and scents upon the borderlands only spelled success for their cause.

He picks a nearby path, one weaving in tune with the scenery, and gets to work.

The three wolves quietly decided to go ahead on this patrol. Hush, being the most senior and highest-ranking wolf out of the three, decided that it was within his rights to lead the patrol. His tail curled over his back and he barked to Dio and Sangilak as they began to walk off. He trotted ahead of the two of them, looking back, his pale eyes inviting but with a firmness behind them that said: I'm the leader! He knew the territory like the back of his paw and he could assist in teaching the newcomer the lay of the land.

The hybrid walked ahead, sniffing the border and raising his leg occasionally to reinforce Heda and Gyda's claim over the Sleeping Dragon. His baby blue eyes flickered backwards towards the two wolves behind him, wondering if they were actually following him and that his act of bravado wasn't overlooked by the two larger pureblood wolves.

As a not-even pack member, Sangilak was not at all bothered by Hush's display. Though how would the other man feel? Her gaze panned to him. Sangilak was only mildly unsettled, but picked the leader she would follow the day by waiting for his reaction. She wondered who among the two did wield the higher rank, though she heard the intonation in the others guttural noise. Her head tilted as she looked to him. If unchallenged by Dio, Sangilak truly did not mind in following the others direction this day. She was the newest one on this smoking mountain, and was, for now, easygoing as their guest. This was among them.

this will prob be my last postie so feel free to fade or go without me~

Dio cants his head and watches the halfbreed's display with interest. His message is clear, and for his forwardness, there is a temptation to let himself follow dutifully along but the cream male feels an equal temptation to.. also not. The male may outrank him, but Dio does not feel he needs to follow a specific lead out here on the patrol. Not at thie time. He weighs his options for a beat and in that moment, weaved a path vaguely following what the smaller guardian suggested, but soon, Dio branches out purposefully to strike his own path once his mind was made up.

He glances once more towards the dark-coated female, and carries on his round own nearby -- but not too closely so to overlap their usefulness. He'd likely hear if they ran into anything noteworthy, and vice versa, but he was more suited to his own today it seemed.