Navigation: Wolfpaw Lake OOC: I'm liquid timing this for after Aranea and Ty have a first kiss for plot purposes, keeping it vague however Aranea needed to get away. She just felt so secluded... Tyranis had made her feel so fresh and wanted, needed even but... She just needed something to tie her down. She came to lake for an adventure, something she felt she hadn't done in ages.  She wasn't even two, hadn't even been in the pack for a whole season, but it still felt like forever. She found herself actually walking around the lake, in circles. It reminded her of the first day she met Tyranis, taking a run down the rivers edge in Abaven. Though she was alone and the water wasn't rushing. She kept looking at that strange rock in the middle of the lake though. It was funny looking at it from every angle; it kind of looked like a paw print. Walk "Talk" Think

((Also gonna be super vague about the outcome of Torin's rank challenge but post meeting))

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There was a lot on the boy's mind, and the packlands almost felt too small right now. He felt like no matter where he was there was someone watching him... judging him. So he'd decided to go out and stretch his still healing legs beyond the borders, which in all honesty was probably a horrible idea... but then it seemed he was full of those as of late.

Almost seemingly without thinking he'd found his paws taking him towards his uncle's packlands, as soon as he realized that Torin frowned... He didn't really want to find himself upon his uncle's packlands so he diverged slightly, heading towards the scent of fresh vegetation... a refreshing smell after the dryness of the desert. As he approached another scent reached him and the sight of a figure moving on the horizon had his heart dropping slightly. He'd wanted quiet contemplation...

Well he'd just have to hope that the stranger wasn't particularly chatty... still he kept up his steady pace towards the lake and it's circling visitor. As he drew close enough to take in her form Torin stopped short. Doubt and something else rolled over him... what was it? Anxiety? Nervousness? No it must be his uncertainty on if this meeting with this stranger would be exhaustively high energy or not... her pacing seemed to insinuate that she had energy to spare.

Torin cleared his throat. "Hello?" He rumbled, his baritone usually so steady and inexpressive cracking ever so slightly. He felt heat rush to his face and his frown deepened. What was wrong with him?

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She halted and looked at the boy who approached her. He was slightly taller than her friend but nothing that was noticeable. She gave him a lazy smile, and a giggle almost at his cracky voice but wouldn't make it obvious as to why she was amused. If anything she may have seemed sweet, young, and pretty. "Hello," she spoke, just about to introduce herself. But her eyes were diverted to his legs where he had been walking at a somewhat uncomfortable pace. "Are you alright?" she asked, not seeing any damage done to them at least at their distance. He was either born with this gait or there was something she could do to help him. "I'm a healer so... I don't know maybe I could give you something." She had came here not to talk to anybody. Yet here she was being as friendly as ever. Maybe she could befriend this guy too, who knew what would happen to her and Abaven. She could smell the pack scent on him but wasn't too familiar with those kinds of scents. Regardless it wouldn't stop her from trying to help him feel better. Walk "Talk" Think

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The blush deepened as she laughed and Torin quickly glanced away from the unknown girl, he cleared his throat and attempted to set his face back to his usual passive expression. He might have normally been more annoyed at such an exchange but something about her just came off as innocent, so instead of being irritated at her light giggling he found it endearing... not that he was thinking of it in those terms.

She began a greeting but suddenly seemed distracted, and as her gaze dropped to his legs he took a slight step back, ears pulling back ever so slightly. She offered to help and he averted his gaze again. "No." He rumbled feeling a sort of shame crawl up his spine. "I'm fine. Picked a fight a little bit ago but I had my injuries looked to, they're just still healing." His tone was final, he certainly did not want to follow on that train of thought. He'd left the pack lands get away from the specter of that fight and he certainly wasn't going to discuss it with a stranger, especially not one who smelt of another pack.

He twitched his ears nervously, his refusal still felt a bit too rude for his liking, so he turned back to look at her and offered her an awkward, nervous smile. "I'm Torin." Well just look at that... the notoriously silent one being the first to offer his name in a conversation.

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In the darkness of her rather depressed mood she had been in the past few weeks, this young man was making her feel a lot better, like Tyranis had though this boy was a stranger so how could he make her feel this way? "Nonsense. Come here." She demanded playfully. She then walked over to the water's edge and picked a few dandelions from a couple feet off the bank. She had about a handful of them in her mouth, six or seven and dipped them in the water with a little swish too get them more than damp. She spun around a looked at the boy with an eye flick to the ground to tell him to lay down. But not even a second later she rolled her eyes and walked over to him and pushed his shoulder with her paw to get him down. She then placed the dandelion heads down on his chest and put her paw on top like a sandwich, before rubbing it around in circles. She would ignore his requests to stop if there were any, it had to hurt at least a little with that bruising, regardless if someone had already helped him or not. But when she was done, she scrapped the weeds away from his body, a bright yellow stain where she rubbed it in. She couldn't help but laugh out loud, A LOT, but once she calmed down she took a few breaths and then returned the favor, "Aranea." Walk "Talk" Think

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"Nonsense. Come here." Torin simply stood there, staring like a deer in the headlights. He wasn't used to strangers acting this way... his sisters teased him sometimes of course but they were family and even despite his preference for solitude he felt they were decently close... but this girl? He didn't even know her name! She had moved away from him and for a moment the boy considered just leaving but she was already turning around again.

She gestured for him to move towards her and lay down and he just blinked dumbly at her. "I-" But the rest of his protest died in his throat as she slid up next to him and began to gently nudge him. He stared at her for a second, then with no grace whatsoever he awkwardly lowered himself onto his side, feeling his muscles protest as he did so. He grimaced as he got himself settled but said nothing.

She began to work over him and as she put pressure on his sore spots a sharp intake of breath, through clenched teeth, would be the only sound he'd make. It seemed likely she'd not be inclined to listen to him even if he did ask her to stop so he saved his breath... as he so often did. Finally she seemed to be done and the boy watched her with some level of anticipation. Thus far he had allowed her to call all the shots and he wasn't quite sure what to do now.

After some... a lot of laughter she finally returned her name. He swallowed hard, turning his gaze away from her again. "Thanks." He mumbled, deep voice soft as a whisper. "S'a nice name." What a stupid thing to say! He screwed his eyes closed and repressed a groan, normally the boy thought decently highly of himself; but right here, right now, he felt very much like an idiot.

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-Drags Torin into drama- Even after all her laughing, she still found a giggle as he complimented her name. He was thinking right, he was acting kind of stupid. But didn't all boys when they were this age? Especially around a girl? She looked at him softly for a little bit, her eyes almost fluttering as if she wanted him to say something. But she would speak again no matter if he did or not. He seemed quiet like Tyranis anyway, she didn't expect him to say much. "Can I... try something?" She asked without a real fault in her voice. She wasn't sure how the boy would react, but she needed to know if what she felt with Tyranis was real. So she would come in slowly to his face, no fear of rejection as the two had never met before and this wasn't a normal first impression. Her eyes closed as she went to give the boy a quick, maybe a few second kiss. They were strangers, and though she had enjoyed taking the boy by surprise, she would then realize that Tyranis was the one she wanted. Granted they hadn't known each other long, but all of them were so young. It was like everything she did meant the world. And it probably did to this poor boy. They were bound to meet again but Aranea wasn't expecting to. That would be an awkward meeting... He would probably go home and tell them all about this encounter. Aranea wouldn't think twice about it though. She pulled her face back and just looked at him to see his reaction.  It would be fun either way, she had to admit that. Walk "Talk" Think

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Even despite the color rising to his face a few nervous chuckles dropped from his lips as she continued to giggle. What in the hell was wrong with him? He felt his attention was drawn to those brilliant blues of hers as she observed him and despite himself a small smile broke through his usual stern expression. She asked him a question and he gave a short but polite nod.

"uh... Sure..." He intoned clearly unsure of where exactly she was going with this. That confusion would only intensify as she leaned in towards him and- Her kiss was sweet and light and wholly wholly too much for his adolescent brain to compute. She pulled back and he found that the grass around him was very interesting

"I- Uh... Huh." He finally slid his up to look at her and a rush of feelings went through him. Was she- Was she playing with him? He frowned and sat up, he looked at his paws for a moment his frown deepening. "Not-" He cleared his throat. "Not to be rude but... what?"

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She actually fluttered her eyes this time as he looked at her and stuttered his words. But she would instantly put a small frown across her maw as he questioned it. And though she didn't kiss him for any true feeling, only to find what she was feeling with tyranis, she didn't want him to know that or feel like she had used him. "What... am I not... pretty enough or something?" Instead of apologizing, like a normal wolf being, she acted like there was no fault in what just happened. A stranger kissing a stranger and that was all. At least at this point she wished that was all it was, he was acting so immature about it. In reality, she was but she didn't see it that way. Walk "Talk" Think

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Oh shit! Shit, shit, shit! Torin looked up at her again, his frown remained but his gaze softened. "No- I-" he stammered. "No you're very pretty." It was true, he thought she was very pretty. Maybe it was a bit ironic, Torin by no means considered himself ugly but he had grown up feeling like the odd one out in a family of wolves who seemed to stand out, especially if he counted Jewell, and he was just... grey. But for Aranea? Well he liked it.

"I've just-" Torin almost couldn't believe he was about to admit this... out loud... to a stranger. A very pretty stranger who had just kissed him but that was kind of the point. "I've just never been kissed before." His voice dropped into a mumble again, dual tone eyes once more returning to his paws. Some part of him just wished that he could disappear. He was behaving like an idiot, he just could not get a read on this girl and he already struggled to properly interact with others.

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She gave a soft, reassuring chuckle as she looked down with him, but her eyes moved back up gently with her chin still tucked somewhat into her chest. "Well, there's a first time for everything, right?" Her tone filled with joy to cheer the boy up, she giggled again which was all she was filled with right now: giggles. "There's no need to be all sad about it!" She teased. She then started to hop around him like a fawn, trying to get him to chase after her or something. "Come on, don't get all mopey! You can say you've kissed a girl now! Don't you want to brag to your brother or sister or whatever you have?" She didn't have anyone to brag to... or family for that matter. And she definitely couldn't tell Tyranis. What would he think if he knew she kissed another boy... Maybe it wasn't a great idea to encourage him to brag. But she was sure they would never cross paths again. Walk "Talk" Think

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His expression softened even more as she giggled and he brought his gaze back up to meet hers. Her tone was light and for a brief moment a slight lopsided smile graced his features but as with much of his emoting it was soon replaced with thoughtful passivity. She teased him lightly and he watched her get up to start bouncing around him. It was endearing and despite himself a deep chuckle fell from his lips.

She spoke some more and he frowned for a moment clearly thinking. "Can I?" He asked rising to his paws and taking a step towards her. "I'd say that was more getting kissed by a girl... I'd like to be able to tell them I was the one to kiss you." He took another step towards her and aimed to gently lean in and lick her cheek. He'd stop if she protested and he'd back off if it was clear he was making her uncomfortable.

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She wouldn't reject his incoming affection, in fact she would push her cheek into his tongue but more like if it was a mother wishing her pup luck on their first day of training. Her eyes closed for his cheesy little kiss, and she would pull her neck back to look at him. "You call that a kiss?" She questioned teasingly. She wasn't trying to scare him off or kill his ego, but he needed to know what the hell he was doing. In the back of her mind she thought of Tyranis as she was this entire time. But she pushed him into a corner and thought, 'I'm not doing anything wrong... it's just a harmless kiss.' So she would tilt her head with a raise of a brow, daring him to go on, "So are you going to kiss me or not?" A giggle to follow yet again. If he needed to brag to his wolves back at home, he needed to do it right. Because there would be that brother or friend that said "Did you just kiss her on the cheek, or actually kiss her?" and be the way that most boys were to their buddies. Usually pretty ignorant is how she thought of them reacting to each other. Who was the better one, who was stronger, who was taller? They were always trying to size each other up. Maybe she would help him out a little back at home. Walk "Talk" Think

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Torin wasn't quite sure what kind of effect she was having on him exactly but he knew it was making him behave in a way that wasn't normal for the normally reserved and quiet boy. It was like he was a puppet and she was tugging his strings, again he wondered if she was playing him but she had now fully managed to dissuade him from even broaching the idea anymore. She was baiting him, that was for sure and he; like a dumb animal was going to bite. Hook, line, and sinker.

She goaded him with her little taunt and he blinked at her for a moment, the corner of his mouth tugging into the hint of a smirk. She wants a kiss, I'll give her a kiss. He resolved after she taunted him again. He rose to his paws took a step in towards her so that they were almost touching. He could feel the heat of her body and some part of him wanted to close that gap but he didn't dare. He slowly began to nose at her cheek, laying gentle, small kisses along the side of her face; moving up towards the top of her skull. He stopped for a moment to ever so gently nip at her ear and softly huff into it.

Then moved to her muzzle, gently laying more kisses, each one slightly longer than the last. Finally he pulled back, a brow slightly quirked as he observed her face, wanting to catch her reaction. "Was that to your satisfaction?" He rumbled, the slightest hint of teasing in his baritone.

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She would just stand there and let him go about however he wanted. The kisses tickling her ear and cheek she would giggle with a more meaningful kiss on her part for the finale. Looking at him with soft, alluring eyes, she wouldn't let him think for a second he did anything wrong. Because he didn't. Maybe in the eyes of others, but there wasn't anyone here to judge them from either of their packs, who would know about it? That was right, "Now," She pointed out with a smile, "You can go brag to all your friends." She paused, flashing her eyes at his paws but a quick return to his face, "I suppose I could always be here for practice though." She joked, but in a serious tone. Maybe she really would be here anytime he wanted her... Maybe they could have turned out into more... But that was kind of dumb, they first met! Aranea was all good for fun and whatnot, but a serious relationship? Way too much to ask of her. He wasn't asking but who knew, he'd probably go home and never stop thinking about her. Maybe that was her dream after all. Walk "Talk" Think

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Her gaze would hold his for a moment, the memory of her giggling bouncing in his head. Now that was one way to build up a young wolf's confidence. "Not much for bragging." He rumbled the hint of a joking tone woven into his baritone, a small smile tugging at his lips. She continued, a joke falling from her lips but the boy fixed her with his dual toned gaze, all hints of teasing gone instead his expression was genuine.

"I'd-" His voice caught for a moment before he found the right words. "I think I'd like that."   He blinked at her, briefly watching her for some indication he had made some misstep.

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