Bearclaw Valley lilacs

@Toad.
he'd had a dream about the coffee-cream frogboy. and merrick never ignored his dreams.
he drifted on; at length the bearwolf set down the ursine jaw he was carrying and grinned at it.
"don't think we were properly introduced," merrick drawled when he had found the new guy, setting the jawbone on the grass reverently. lips pantomined a humour that did not reach his eyes. "what did you think of evien?"

He was settling in alright after Evien had fixed him up- the valley was a nice place, albeit a bit quiet. Toad had no qualms with that though; he much enjoyed his alone time. But when the dark leader cane to meet him again, he was not particularly surprised. They did not know of eachother; even if Evien had welcomed him to Ursus, the words were not really true until uttered from Merrick's black lips. 

Toad pays a glance down at the odd bone as the leader greets him, before dark gaze wanders slowly up to his face. Don't think we were, He agreed with a smile while he studied Merrick. Almost handsome, if not for that missing eye that made him more monster than wolf. Evien is pretty. But also a little uptight, He says bluntly with a casual shrug. I guess he's just tryna save our asses though, so... He awkwardly trails off, not fully wanting to admit Evien was right.

aware of the silent scrutiny behind toad's easy response, merrick straightened. his looks were unmarred, he believed, and nurtured this vain vein with the passion of a gold-digger. "pretty, uptight; i do believe you've got the doctor pegged."
dry, amused; he beamed suddenly at the newcomer. "you're not bad-looking yourself. fields has good taste."
evien. and now ico, though the dynamic between the angel and the sunflower boy remained to be seen. "where'd you get the name toad anyway?"

He laughs at Merrick's consensus that Evien was exactly the way he described him. Of course- it only took a minute with that boy to nail down everything about him. He was an open book, unlike the cyclops before him, who was still much unknown to Toad.

Still, the guy seemed nice enough. Complimenting him, beaming, he elicits another laugh from Toad, this one something bashful. And he has found quite the leader- you are a handsome man too, He ventures boldly. He wants to cringe as soon as the words leave his mouth, but they had already escaped him- and so his dark eyes can only flit momentarily to pale paws uncomfortably. 

Merrick asks about his name, and he grins comically. From my mom, like everyone else, He chuckles with a nonchalant shrug. She was probably high off her ass on whatever she found in the woods when she named me. Would definitely explain how I ended up with a name like Toad.

did toad truly feel that way, or was he merely intelligent enough to know that the coinage of male flattery went far in ursus? merrick opted to elevate toad mentally to the second option. fields would not have brought a stupid man to merrick, or a weak one.
but how cunning was the little frog?
"my mother was absent as well," the coywolf murmured sympathetically, cutting straight to the heart of his assumptions as a method of means-testing. "at any rate, it's ironic for you. but maybe it's not about looks. maybe it's about how smart toads can be."
he eyed the other, smirking. "or am i giving her too much credit?"

My mother was absent as well.

Something in common, then. This man felt starkly different than Toad himself and yet perhaps they had more alike than they realized. In time he would learn; for now he offers a quiet sorry about that, for it was all he could do. 

The bear's smirk and final comment pulls another laugh out of Toad. He relaxes, Way too much credit. I don't think it was any complement to my intellect. He shrugs then. She was just... dumb. He shakes his head, throwing the thoughts away. But, hey. Even with a dumb name like Toad I can still be someone, I guess. He offers Merrick a sheepish smile. Ursus could make him into someone, perhaps.

he waved it off with a roll of his shoulder. nothing about indra mattered any longer, save for the way her face swam voiceless and quiet before his face as he stared into the darkness at night, unable to sleep, unable to unsnarl the knots from his muscles. he was driven by a dizzying electricity now, and it snapped in his hard eye as he nodded.
"you can be whoever you want, toad," merrick whispered softly. "you just have to decide what that is." it was important that all of ursus chose their roles, and well. it would feed the structure he had begun to design within his restless mind.
"i always need spies."

You just have to decide what that is... the words swirled endlessly in his mind. Toad had never known who he wanted to be, what he wanted to become- what destiny awaited him or what future he sought. Life came and went and he was simply an observer, never walking through any open doors and rather lingering in place, waiting for a door to open for him. It was why he wasn't anyone important. It was why he didn't have any especial skills, and why Evien would never be his. He had no desire to chase. 

A little glimmer in his eye at Merrick's next words. I don't care what I am or what you make of me. So if you need spies... I can gladly do that for you.

"i have all kinds of needs," merrick murmured with a lift of his chin, expression level, direct. how would toad take his meaning? he opted to move beyond it, sweeping himself into a stretch that highlighted the lithe musculature of his body. 
"come with me. let me tell you about easthollow, our closest neighbor." a small, ailing pack in his mind that needed to be driven off.
or stomped out.

The first phrase meant little to Toad; if there was any ulterior implication it went right over his head. Watched on as Merrick stretched, and then pulled himself to follow wherever the king would lead. Easthollow. There's a name, he scribbled it down into his brain eagerly, filled with some new fire. Tell me more. I'm listening, He encouraged.

"easthollow is a pack right at our back. they've managed to hang on since before i was born, but i suspect they've also never been challenged or threatened. there might be a path that leads through the mountain between the two." 
"i know their king is very old, because he was old when i was a child. they have some pups. a woman leads them." a smirk. "unsure how cool they will be with us, but i don't care."

The way he described them was almost comical. Never challenged, never run down. And yet run by an ancient man, a woman, and with liabilities. Children. A smirk touched Toad's lips momentarily. He was not a cruel creature, no, but he was a puppet. And he stuck to his and his own. Enemies weren't really people, something more like obstacles. He wouldn't bother to hold sympathy for them- they weren't Ursus, so how much did they really matter?

They sound... weak. Do you think we'll have trouble in bringing them down? I can't imagine they're too tough if they've never been threatened... He mused, words trailing off.

"i don't think they will be, but we shouldn't underestimate them. bearclaw valley was their ally once. they have others, i'm sure we will find an accord. or we won't," merrick breathed, running his single eye over the ridgeline in the distance. "have you ever ... fought like that, toad? fought like a crazy murderer."
because that is what might be asked of you.

Bearclaw valley was their ally once. That was here... suddenly Toad was curious, exactly what sort of history Merrick had with these people. How he knew of them, why he detested them so- but he was not sure he could ask such things directly, so for now kept his lips sealed on that matter. 

When Merrick asks the question of fighting like a killer, Toad has to gulp down the lump in his throat. No, I've- I've never done anything like that. And then, probably to convince himself moreso than Merrick, really- B-but I could try. For Ursus. Shit, what had he gotten himself into?

"that's what i like to hear," merrick purled. "don't worry. i won't need it anytime soon. but maybe i could teach you to spar. attack from the side of the mountains," he went on, jerking his chin toward the high stone walls of bearclaw. "you never know when it might be necessary."
"skoll almir. he's a dark guy. aloof eyes. i decided he should go refresh our scent around the meadow. do you mind going with him sometime?"

wrap soon?

Merrick seemed satisfied enough with his answer, which soothed the nerves for now. When real disaster came, though, maybe he'd be in deep shit. Oh well- cross that bridge when you come to it. 

The boy-king offers to teach him to spar, and he nods eagerly like a child, hungry for the knowledge, the experience. I'd love that, He agrees quietly, though unsure if it was even really a choice. And there was that part of him which was curious how fantastic of a warrior Merrick was. He was not huge, or muscular- but somehow the boy felt that he must be strong. He had to be; look at the power he held here, a leader of his own pack, barely even two years old. That didn't come to just anyone. And then- Skoll Almir, the dark, the aloof. Don't mind at all. I'll keep on the lookout for him. 

Is there anything else I ought to know?

fade w ur next post? <3 we shall have an updated one

toad was eager to learn. merrick was eager to teach. the boy had warmed to the bearwolf, and merrick in turn saw no way ursus could have come to fruition without such an individual. each one of them held their roles within the valley, and the bedlamite was pleased to have been accepted in toad's further evolution.
"that's all for now," merrick concluded. "it's our land, so treat it like that."
a hard, malicious glitter in his eye, silently conveying power to whatever actions the other wolf took in protection of their meadow.
"gonna go to the altar," he whispered. "i'll see you around." a last look, and merrick was off at a proud lope.

It's our land, so treat it like that.
He'd be sure to, he decided. Merrick's word was his commandment now, whatever the king decided was law was law. They fit together like a puzzle in his mind's eye- Toad, a boy eager to please, Merrick, a man eager to run something that pleased him. The glimmer in the cyclops' eye sent electricity down his spine; he returned a knowing gaze of his own, understanding. At the farewell, Toad dipped his head quietly before making his way in the direction of Evien's scent.