Blacktail Deer Plateau safe upon your bed of moonlight

@Rosalyn!

to say she'd been avoiding her new packmates was a massive understatement. as if they were ill with the black plague, she stuck to the shadows, clinging fiercely to her gods. she hadn't uttered a word of common since her arrival, using this language barrier to further barricade herself away from the outside world.

unable to absorb herself in the ocean, all she could do to feel connected to the gods was stay awake deep into the night & gaze at the celestial sky. eyes fixed on the gibbous moon, she uttered a prayer: 我再次被困住了，日照... 我很害怕。

自您来到这个背包以来，甚至没有月亮过去。给它时间，活在当下， rìzhào soothed.

我...我会尽力的。

那就是任何人都可以做的。 he departed after that, leaving mei to her thoughts. she resisted the urge to ask cāng for a prophecy, as that went against his wisdom. cāng would be aware of this anyway, & she knew deep down that obsessing over "what ifs" would only serve to drive her mad. she sighed & closed her eyes, bathing in the moonlight.

If the new wolves were avoiding her, Rosalyn hadn't caught on.  She'd barely noticed any had joined, and it wasn't until she crossed their scents she knew.

As soon as she realized, she was curious.  They'd carved a routine here, no matter how "wrong" her family saw it, and any changes to that merited some investigation.  It had been a long while since Rusalka had seen new faces.

The one she found was speaking strange words when she arrived, and they sounded... upset?  She couldn't quite catch it, nor did she know the tongue spoken.  Rosalyn waited, patiently, until the other woman finished.

i can spree this out a bit if you'd like! o:

a disturbance at her backside made her jolt. someone was here, watching. waiting. her eyes shot open, & she turned to peer over a pale shoulder & found an auburn woman staring back with a singular, gilded eye. she'd perservered through tough times; her scars told her so. mei made an effort not to gawk. in spite of her gnarly wounds, beneath them laid a powerful, stunning wolfess.

she turned to face her fully, lips parting just a sliver with the intention of speaking, but what was there to say? she didn't want to get off on the wrong foot by asking defensive questions, so her jaws clacked together again as she waited for the stranger to speak first, instead.

Rosalyn was no longer bothered overly much with staring, though she noted the strange speaker to be young.  She didn't seem particularly pleased with being interrupted, but Rosalyn moved forward anyway.  She would meet these new packmates on her own time and as she felt like it; Mei's turn was now.

What were you doing? she asked first, looking curiously behind to see who she might have been speaking to.  Rosalyn didn't see anyone there, which begged the question of why she was speaking with herself.

finally, the question came. mei swallowed, wondering if her religion would be welcome here. praying to rìzhào, she tentatively answered, fearing the worst. i hope that is... okay. her eloquent verbiage left soon as her tongue switched to common. it was the first time she'd spoken a lick of common since coming here, & this woman was the first to hear it in its raw, bare-bones state. much as it frustrated her to have such a restricted vocabulary, she was too stubborn to sit down & waste time learning it, especially now. she was forced to live here, but she would not be forced to adopt their ugly manner of speaking as if it were her own. it was her way of reigning in a sense of control & keeping a solid wall between her kind & theirs.

Rosalyn had seen many kinds over her various years and took the stilted common in stride.  The mention of prayer did not surprise her either; the wolves of the sea had many gods, though she had none.

None of those gods were ever fallible, though, or in any danger.  This interested her.  This is the first I've ever heard of a god needing prayers for their own sake, she said, clearly curious.

the woman misunderstood what she meant, & mei blamed her inadequate speech for it. she shook her head. the word "sake" was new to her, but context clues gave her enough of an idea. not for him, for me. i mean... i hope it is okay that i pray here, she attempted to clarify, though it seemed the woman was at least indifferent to her practicing her religion.

Oh... that the prayer was ok, not that the god was.  She laughed.  I don't rightly care.  And even if I did, the rules around here aren't mine.  She didn't even know where she fell in the hierarchy nowadays, and she was hit by sudden nostalgia.  Felt like old times, not worrying about that shit.

You're new here, she said, a fact because she knew it was true.  Where are you from?  Can't be nearby.

Rosalyn hadn't been particularly social in weeks, and now suddenly found herself dropping into old habits of familiarity.  It didn't occur to her the question might be forward.

right, she wasn't a leader. but her demeanor, how she carried herself demanded respect from mei. perhaps that was just her admiring the woman. she nodded in understanding. the topic shifted, & she perked up at the question. me & my sisters, we come from south. far south, on the coast, she answered. realizing they hadn't introduced themselves, she added, oh, & my name is mei. she gave a sheepish smile, tail nervously brushing against her hocks.

Oh?  Rosalyn was surprised.  She too hailed from the southern shores, but likely a different part, for she'd never heard the language the strange girl spoke.  The coasts were large, longer than she could imagine.  It wouldn't be surprising that their people's paths never crossed, and she'd left so young.

Rosalyn. She introduced herself in return.  I've been in these parts a long time.  Welcome, I suppose.  She huffed a light laugh.  What do you think, so far? Honest opinion.

"rosalyn". she admitted it was a pretty name, though she hadn't the slightest clue what it meant. rosalyn welcomed her, prompting mei to say, thank you. the woman then asked for her honest opinion, and she swallowed. not wanting to be rude, she decided to put how she felt through a filter. it's nice, but... we did not plan to join a pack. my heart hurt being away from the beach.

That is a popular sentiment around here, Rosalyn replied with a touch of wryness.  They were a pack adrift from their true home, and perhaps even newcomers sensed that about them and were drawn in.

Did your people have trouble with pirates as ours did? Rosalyn asked, and a sudden strange longing opened in her.  She so infrequently spoke of home.  There was little she missed of that place she barely, vaguely remembered.  But she felt it slipping away; the language, all but the common words, and the scents and colors.  It was maybe better forgotten but losing it would be bittersweet.

"sentiment" was another unfamiliar term, but she managed to get the gist of what rosalyn meant. she remembered aningan explaining this pack once lived by the sea but had to move because the sea was angry, & it wrought havoc on the coast. that still perplexed mei, not having heard such things from cāng. perhaps this pack did something to anger her. she would ask her later.

not a conversational wolf, she had nothing to say in response to that. but rosalyn asked about pirates, which prompted her to tilt her head. what is... 'pie-rits'? sorry, my common is very bad, she said with little grace, shrinking down in embarrassment.

Rosalyn did not need to think for too long on how to describe her old compatriots.  Wolves who take what they want from other packs,  she answered.  Coastal scavengers.

There was a part of her that would always miss the simplicity of that brand of wolf.  Unlike many in Rusalka, they tended not to waste the energy hiding who they were and what they felt.  She wondered if this girl had picked up that coastal openness or if, like common, it was not shared.

she stashed the definition away with an understanding nod. no, we didn't have trouble-makers like that, she answered with a surface-level smile, not wanting to dwell on her past. mei wasn't adept at carrying conversations (especially in common), but rosalyn did seemed to be, so she kept quiet.

Mmm.  She merely made a sound of confirmation.  She'd almost counted them lucky in it, but in truth, too much of her missed the feeling of it to say the words.  Nothing bonded a group quite like shared revelry and the threat of repercussion.  Caiaphas had at least known that much, though she had been too careless with that concept.

What brought you north? she asked, knowing she was getting into personal territory.  She tended to press on regardless, treading those lines until refused.

"what brought you north?"

mei shifted uncomfortably as the conversation entered unpleasant waters. we ran away from a... bad life, she answered vaguely, blocking the bad memories from the forefront of her mind. you too? she presumed.

It had been so long, it was hard to recall specifics any longer.  There were certain events, however, she'd carry as long as she lived.  Betrayal, she said, and time had worn away the sting so effectively that it came out almost casually.  It was unfortunate, but in the end, for the best.  I wouldn't change it.  There were a few things she would change; Ironsea, Drageda, last spring.  The last weighed perhaps most of all, unspoken and silent.  But she wouldn't take back her coming here, not when this was where she'd truly found a life worth having.

"betrayal" was a word she'd heard before in passing, but the exact meaning escaped her. she knew it came with a strong negative connotation, & that was good enough for now. having to constantly ask for clarification embarrassed her, & she hated to feel like a burden; she'd ask her sisters about it later.

i wish i can say that for me & my sisters, but... what happen hurt us too much. i wish i can go back & change it. she stared at the ground with watery eyes but fought back the tears. shaking herself, she turned her face away from rosalyn. it was rare for mei's cool exterior to crack, & she felt especially vulnerable as it did just that in front of a foreign stranger.

sorry, she apologized, turning her back fully on the red woman, now. i should go rest, but... it's nice to meet you. she braved a glance over her shoulder & mustered a pained smile before walking away.

Hmm.  She was no stranger to scars, and she merely watched as Hua dismissed herself, not bothering to respond.  She guessed that, like herself, the woman preferred to take some time to collect herself alone.

Mostly she was sympathetic, but there was a slight tinge of judgement too.  She and her sisters would need to harden themselves against whatever had brought them here... regrets would do nothing for them.  Shaking her head, she continued on in the opposite direction.