Bearclaw Valley weep little lion man

// @Taylor and any Ursus wolves, but @Merrick and @Astara in particular <3 Set around the 22nd.

            Fields had said he lived down south with some friends - a pack, perhaps. After their little heart to heart, the blond wolf had been on Evien's mind. Not just because he had unwittingly charmed the brown wolf, though that had been a factor, but because the Kastner had also wanted to check in on him. Perhaps to also make sure he hadn't been found by that black wolf he'd been so concerned with.

            Like the place with the foxes, this place was beautiful, but smelled horrible. The scent of bears made every hair on Evie's pelt stand on end - surely this wasn't where Fields was living? - but underlying was the smell of wolves, so he had to check.

             To put his mind at ease.

             He placed his muzzle a bit too close to a plant that had been marked fairly recently by a bear and gagged. If he had been a human, he'd be covering his mouth and nose with his shirt. 

             Please don't be here.

one copperburn eye watched the jerking gait of the chocolatier that paraded the edge of the valley. 
merrick prowled closer, tail swinging at his hocks, giggling inward at the grimace of the newcomer. the bears had woken, and reclaimed the valley for themselves. ursus was but a guest in this land of heavy predators. hackles rippled for the sheer pleasure of it, but his approach was otherwise amiable, curiosity limning his features. "hello."
fascinating already, the three-legged boy.

Whatever's on the doormat has caught Merrick's eye. The back of his head, spiky and low, undoubtedly belongs to a predator. If Bearclaw Valley was mysterious and haughty, it had learned how from him. 
It's Evien. Suddenly he's back in the meadow with his head on his arm, his hand uncomfortable and dead but not enough for him to want to move, his nose in the dirt, smelling week-old rain. After telling a secret, you always felt like you were going to collapse in on yourself. As if the secret was a part of you and your house. Your body.
Evien, he says in lieu of a greeting, before searching for words that weren't there. You're here.

Evien jumped a bit at the voice of a stranger, and kept his expression remarkably neutral at the sight of one burning orange eye peering back at him. He blinked a few times, trying to gauge the dark-furred wolf's intentions, and tilted his head just slightly to the side. The guard hairs along his nape were standing, which was curious, and caused a frown to tug at the corners of Evie's lips. There was something unsettling about this stranger, but not enough to be unfriendly. Just enough to put the young Kastner's guard up. 

           "Hello," he responded in kind, stepping forward and letting his tail sway behind him as well. "My name is Evien Kastner. Have you happened to see-"

           Ears perked up at the sound of his name used, and he turned his gaze over to spot the newcomer to the conversation. So he was here, and looked a lot less like he was about to keel over from exhaustion. Like maybe the gears in his head didn't have to work so hard. "I was just coming by to check on you," he told him, an easier smile finding its way to his maw. "Is this one of the friends you were talking about living with?" the boy questioned, looking back over at Merrick. He wondered how he'd lost his eye; what the wound must've looked like before it healed.

evien kastner. "my, my," merrick purred. a fancy little truffle, wasn't he, this soft-eyed boy who managed to be so calm. distraction came again in the form of fields, and the coywolf brightened, glowing beneath the presence of the other. 
had something happened? merrick was content to allow them their little moment, smiling coolly between the pair. fields belonged to ursus, he believed, to the bear spirit. whoever this was remained of no account. but for fields' sake he would be warm, ingratiating, even.

Evien had come by to check on him. Yet another first. It was hard to believe that someone would expend their energy and time on somebody else just for the sake of it. The idea was foreign and therefore dangerous to examine. He drops it like he has just touched a searing iron. 
More like the figurehead, he replies, polite and careful. Thanks for coming and checking on me. You're a good person. I don't know how you do it. I've been sleeping better. Ever since the meadow.
It was the truth, although it didn't mean much. And it wasn't often that Taylor said the truth. Out of anyone, Evien would know that best. That fact alone grates on his nerves. How had he allowed himself to become so knowable? He's gotten too comfortable. When his brother eventually, inevitably came around and said Taylor, we are just going to try this one thing, there would be no one but himself to blame.

Figurehead. So this was a forming pack, not just some friends that were living together. An idea struck the back of Evien's mind as he looked between the two, gaze finally setting back on Fields with a light smile. So he was sleeping better - that was good. "You look better," he remarked, tail swaying lightly at his haunches. "Of course I came to check on you. I'd make for a pretty poor medic if I didn't." He was careful what he said in front of Merrick. The boy didn't know how much of Fields' past he knew, but it wasn't Evie's place to tell.

           Turning his attention back toward Merrick, Evie dipped his head just slightly. Didn't leaders like being acknowledged like that? He remembered his father saying something about it once or twice. "Do you have a medic in your group? A healer?" he questioned, tipping his head to the side. It hadn't really occurred to the Kastner to join a pack, but he did want to help others, and if he could be useful then it might not be the worst idea.

"oh. hmm," merrick hummed, glancing over at fields in the manner of a man scratching his neck with uncertainty. "a field medic might be nice."
see what i did there, baby he brightened, treating his companion to a smile that only spread when he swept it back to sir evien kastner. 
"soon we're going to march," merrick revealed, the bear placing words upon his tongue, and not his own. "could use a dedicated patch-me-up."

The slant of Merrick's chin, his dark expression, the light carving a Rembrandt triangle out of his nose and cheek, he finds it hard to look away. Taylor smirks— I see what you did there. They were still teenagers in the end, after all.
He hangs on every word. You're going to join us? He asks, colored by self-consciousness, a hint of the German accent coming back like a rat's writhing tail under a cat's paw and he cringes. Clears his throat.
Something greedy inside of him wants Evien to say for you. 

Evien will want to talk to Merrick further before joining, if that's okay?

            There was something of a joke passed between the two boys in front of him - an inside joke that perhaps Evien wasn't privy to. Nevertheless, it was good to see Fields smile like that. Maybe the one-eyed teen wasn't as dangerous as he'd initially thought.

             Part of him - the impulsive, teenage boyhood that always threatened to break out from under the surface - wanted to say of course I'll join. But the Kastners were a family flavored by cautiousness, and Evien couldn't allow himself to jump headlong into something like this. It was the cyclops' words that held him back - soon we're going to march. Evien hadn't a clue what that could mean, but he wanted to get to know this figurehead just a little more before he committed. 

            "Let me think on it tonight," he reasoned, looking between the two before his gaze settled on the supposed leader. "I'll come back and call for you tomorrow, if that's okay? This isn't a decision to be taken lightly." If Evien joined, he wanted to be wholly committed to his group. Not just on a whim.

of course! <3 last for me

evien wanted to be careful. "whatever you gotta," the young coywolf agreed softly, wishing their potential medic would stop being so formal. merrick had little patience for niceness and none for caution.
he glanced to fields. "i'll leave the two of you," the bearwolf offered, gaze lingering. the boy would understand the escort, and merrick wished to affect a sense of friendly nature. 
merrick bowed, smiled sharply, turned and set off at a gentle clip for the innermost parts of the valley.

last for me as well, thank you all for the thread

Dissapointment roughens his face as a microexpression. But he can't deny that Evien is being thoughtful, reasonable— the latter of which Taylor had serious failures in. He smiles faintly.
I hope I see you again, he says, as Merrick takes his leave. Taylor had noticed how he had done the stealth bomber act. How he had turned sharp, full of tangent lines, untouchable forty five degree angles. He steps forwards to see Evien leave the borders.
What he's feeling, a fumbling sensation in his chest, he doesn't even try to label.

Thank you guys <3 Evien is exiting here, and I'll get up a thread for him and Merrick soon.

                        Walking away was harder than Evien had expected it to be. The strange tugging in his chest toward the blond boy hadn't vanished - it had only increased upon this second meeting of theirs. His inner teenager wished desperately that he wouldn't turn and walk away, but his mother and father's voice in his head insisted that he think things through thoroughly before acting on them. And he hadn't come here today with the intention of joining a budding pack, so it would have likely been a bad idea to impulsively do so. 

                       "You will," he promised Taylor with a small smile as he turned to head out of the little territory. Letting that smitten boy within him act instead of his logical side, for just a moment. And it felt good, he thought, forcing himself not to look back. 

                        He'd be returning tomorrow anyway.