Heartleaf Creek Cheers to New Friends

some fairy tales are more than true

Sage has met a friendly loner and brought her back home, please wait for @Meadowlark first.

The way home was easy for the woman, having traveled between Cedarwards and the Backwater plenty of times now. She might not have been well versed in all of the Lore, but she knew the two territories fairly well now. She simply wasn't the adventurous type. She liked her home and her creek. That's where she stuck too and there wasn't any honest reason to travel beyond that for the dutiful wolf. Being a scout was far from interesting to her, and if it weren't for lavender hyssop, she might not have left the borders for any given reason aside from needing a breather. A lot had been going on in her life recently.

Making a new friend had been a welcome change of pace. Especially another woman, given the Backwater was overrun with males. She didn't have a problem with that, it was just nice to be around feminine company. The smell of the pack's borders was a warm welcome to her as she stopped short of crossing. She looked over to Meadowlark with an encouraging smile, "Eros and Viorel are the leaders. They're fair, loyal, and hardworking." She hoped this would help to ease the nerves the other wolf was surely feeling.

Sage's muzzle tipped back, and a call for the leaders rang out in the crisp winter air.

"She speaks" She walks She thinks

Meadowlark followed close behind Sage as the two traveled to the woman's home pack. During their travels, Meadowlark would ask questions briefly and get answers, and other times she would simply look at the scenery around her and enjoy the views. While some areas didn't have much to look at, there were still interesting things to observe as they moved. This world seemed much larger than the one she came from previously. Perhaps there were some good things to discover, after all.

The white lunar ghost listened closely as Sage spoke of two wolves, named Eros and Viorel, who were the leaders of Sage's pack. Dead Empress Backwater. It was an interesting name for a pack, and didn't seem as traditional of a name, like White Claw or Snagtooth. This was more... eloquent in a way. Perhaps it was part of this lands culture to have nicer sounding names. Meadowlark nodded in reply, feeling a slight rush of nervousness. What if she wasn't good enough for the others? What if Eros and Viorel were like her father? Meadowlark swallowed hard and tried to push the nervousness down. Why did meeting new wolves have to be so hard?

"Speech."

(This post was last modified: Jan 20, 2024, 03:07 AM by Meadowlark.)

Eros' ears lifted as Sage's song rang through the air around him. His own answering howl was issued, letting her and Viorel both know that he was in route. He had been depositing the remains of his most recent kill into one of the pack's main food deposits, and hurried to push the earth back into place around the cache before taking off.

When he came into view of Sage and the stranger, it was with a friendly smile and airy confidence about his stature. His tail wagged and he nodded to his green-eyed comrade before focusing on her company. They were quite similar in appearance, and he had to wonder if maybe one of Sage's estranged family had managed to find her. The Hervok seemed at ease though, assured even. Things were going well for her.

"Hello. I'm Eros Valle, leader of Dead Empress Backwater."

He expected they wouldn't need prompting to explain why they were all now here.

Meadow wouldn't have to wait terribly long before both ladies were no longer alone. A howl was on the air, before shortly after, a male wolf came loping up to greet them. The tawny and charcoal male approached with an air of authority within him, full of confidence and drive. Surely this was one of the leaders Sage had spoken of. Meadowlark, instinctively, lowered her head while her tail wrapped itself around her toes, ears slightly back to properly display a level of submission necessary to respect the level of authority that Eros portrayed. The moon-colored girl was silent until spoken to. Eros introduced himself as the leader of Dead Empress Backwater, a strange name for a pack.

"Hullo.." she said softly. Realizing it was too quiet, Meadowlark cleared her throat and tried again. "M-my name is Meadowlark." Her silver eyes found it difficult to maintain eye contact with Eros mostly out of shyness rather than a lack of respect. She was glad that Sage was here with her. Meadowlark wasn't sure if she would be able to do this herself. "Pleasure to meet you." Meadowlark forced herself to remember her manners, as her mother taught her. During moments of silence, she could hear Mother's reprimands about how certain behaviors were not lady like, and she was letting her family down. This was not the right moment right now to think of such things, so she tried hard to shake them off.

"Speech."

(This post was last modified: Jan 20, 2024, 10:37 PM by Meadowlark.)

It seemed he had thought wrong. She was respectful, with a soft-spoken tone that reflected kindness to Eros' ears. Still, she gave him only a small fraction of the information needed to do whatever job was expected of him. His friend remained quiet as well, deferring to Meadow rather than speaking on her behalf (or even giving her own side). Perhaps this was a part of why Sage was at ease, she was in the company of someone similarly shy.

"You as well. How can I help?"

He focused solely on Meadowlark, smile and bright eyes ever glowing with a welcoming warmth. There were a lot of things Eros did not have patience for, but waiting for others to come out of their shells was not one of them.

some fairy tales are more than true

The cream woman moved from the other pale wolf, the snow crunching beneath her paws. She offered an encouraging smile to Meadowlark. She came to a neutral position beside Eros and gave him a submissive lick to his chin. "She's considering a place to stay." Sage would softly butt in, hoping to further the stalling conversation. Her tail swayed behind her slowly, the corners of her lips pulled upwards. She wondered how this would go and whether her new acquaintance would become a backwater wolf. Silence seemed to fill the space between them again. She waited, hoping Meadow would break it.

"She speaks" She walks She thinks

Dead Empress Backwater

Meadow's shyness was getting the best of her. This was a new situation for her, so it was only to be expected. She never had to find a new home for herself before. The white femme sat with her head lower a little, however the male was welcoming. It helped Meadow ease into the conversation a bit. "Y-yes. What Sage had said. I left my old home and now I need a new one." A soft wag of her tail swept the ground as Meadowlark sat, displaying a growing interest in the possibility of not being alone for too much longer. She wanted to put behind her the memory of sadness and frustration, eventually replacing it with more positive things. Meadowlark knew so little about the world, so perhaps this was her chance to learn what it truly meant to be an adult wolf.

"Speech."

Sage spoke up then, still minimal, still allowing Meadowlark full control. Eros looked at her with new eyes now, for he was still inexperienced in assessing newcomers. No red flags were sticking up yet, but he didn't want to be the one to miss any and end up with his pack paying the price. Especially with March coming in hot...

He wanted it to be as simple as giving whoever needed shelter a home, but he had learned a lot over the past year about how dangerous placing trust in others could be.

"What happened?" he asked with a tilt of his head, voice still gentle rather than accusatory or put off. Ranks shifted all the time, maybe she'd simply felt it was time to spread her own wings. Or maybe she'd gotten herself kicked out, and for good reason...