Firefly Glen I was feeling some feelings you wouldn't believe.

@Meerkat maybe?

Mesa had never lived in a place so overrun with other wolves. The closest he could compare it was to Diaspora, but his memories of the mountain were limited at this point; he knew it wasn't common for so many youngsters to band together (especially so near a possible rival such as Moonspear) and Mesa wasn't sure how to feel about all of it. He had agreed to join in a moment of self-indulgence, figuring it would be easy to outlast the winter surrounded by other wolves. Now, a week or so after settling in the glen, he was still too gun shy to make contact.

He found that patrolling was the easiest job; he could maintain the strength of the markers while avoiding most of the pack and mapping out the most commonly traveled sections, making it easy to avoid various hunting parties or cliques that hung out together. If this were a high school he'd be the kid sulking in the background of every scene, hiding in the smoke pit between classes. Easy enough to keep his head down and mind focused on work rather than socialization at any rate.

Perhaps she should feel celebratory, on this eve of a very important date. But there was so much going on in her life that Meerkat didn't even remember. Presently, she was headed toward the glen's borders with a half-baked idea in her head: she would go out looking for both Fennec and any word on Rusalka's current whereabouts. But just as she prepared to cross over into no man's land, she stopped and realized that simply wandering around without any sort of lead was probably a terrible idea, particularly if she went all by herself without telling anybody. Ope...

The sight of a figure patrolling nearby captured her attention. She didn't recognize the ivory wolf with the slightly stubbed tail right away, then it clicked that she'd seen him at the recent turkey hunt. Blinking to a focus, Meerkat approached him with a warm, "Hey there!" that at least didn't belie her current case of slight scatterbrain.

It was inevitable that someone would notice him and in this case it was a ginger wolf with a distracted look on their face; the fluttering of a fragile smile came next, which Mesa noticed only because the call of their voice drew his attention. He wanted to leave immediately but the stranger was quicker than him and came striding over.

Hello, he said in response, somewhat gruff. They looked a bit like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, or as if they were on their way to explore an elephant graveyard without permission, not that Mesa was going to judge them. You uh... Going out? the boy asked in an attempt to be social, but found even as he asked this, he didn't really care for the details; none of his business and all that.

His own greeting lacked warmth, though Meerkat didn't bat an eyelash at this. He asked if she was headed out and she paused, thinking it over for a beat, before shaking her head, "Nah, I guess not." She didn't bother explaining the mercurial nature of her response and instead said, "Hey, I don't think I caught your name at the hunt. I'm Meerkat. Are you patrolling?"

She wasn't...? Mesa frowned, more confused than anything, and then gave a little snort as he banished his last bit of care away. He had not seen her at the hunt—or if he had, it wasn't in a recognizable fashion; there were many wolves trying to take down the fat and ugly birds and he hadn't really paid attention to any of them.

I'm Mesa. He introduces himself and then clears his throat of phlegm. I was, patrolling, he meant. You uh... Know the area? Could patrol together, or somethin'. Be faster on my own and who knows, maybe she'll change her mind and bolt across the border or something. The boy thinks as he awaits a response.

His snort made her good ear twitch, the corner of her mouth too. He seemed a little baffled by her. Rather than find this off-putting, it was kind of endearing. When he offhandedly invited her to patrol with him, Meerkat sensed that he would prefer she decline.

"I do! Sure," she said, not because she wanted to make him uncomfortable but because she had the sudden and intense urge to befriend the obviously discomfited man. "How long have you been part of the glen, Mesa, and what brought you here?" she wondered conversationally, moving to fall into step with him.

Surprise choked him a moment; the girl was quick to take him up on the half-assed offer and was bubbly in doing so, cheerfully following after him as he began to move again. She was a far cry from the melancholic creatures he had grown up around - or the silence and the emptiness he now kept as company whenever possible. It was a bit destabilizing; but Mesa had invited her so, he had shot himself in the foot and could recognize his mistake immediately.

That said, he wasn't going to send her away either. A part of him was lonely in a fundamental way and her enthusiasm was like a beam of sunshine cutting through the dark.

I'm not sure, he remarked with a bit more chill than intended, sounding flippant, but then tried to think about it. Ran in to Osiris when I was hunting in the woods. He said the glen had been claimed a day or so before, they were still settin' up camp. So... However long ago that was. The young man did not answer the next part of the question; he either forgot about it in his haste to answer the first part, or didn't want to share that tidbit.

Concluding by request!

He'd been a part of the pack nearly all along, by the sound of it. Her eyebrows raised in genuine surprise at hearing this. How was it she'd never really met him properly until now? Meerkat's instincts told her it was because he was aloof, a lone wolf living among a pack. She remained determined to befriend him or, at the very least, put him at ease with her company.

She learned quickly that Mesa wasn't much of one for small talk, which was fine. She hummed under her breath as they loped along a stretch of borders, keeping an eye out for anything untoward. When nothing presented itself, Meerkat pressed Mesa for a few more bits of information about himself before finally letting him off the hook.

Coming to a stop, she waved a paw as he continued his patrol. Meerkat didn't think she'd broken down any walls today, though perhaps she'd removed a few bricks. Hopefully she could take down a few more the next time. She smiled to herself at the thought, turning to walk back into the glen, unaware that she would never get that chance.