While Rudy and Ulric had lived in the same pack all of Rudy’s life he really had never tried to spend a lot of time with the new leader of the pack.  Sure, there were friendly encounters but not like really getting to know him.  He was now their leader and it seemed only right that as a knight and a future leader he needed to spend more time with Ulric.  Rudy had wanted to ask mom for tips on leading some time as he aged, after more hunting lessons and now that would never happen.  Art was baron and would be the one who officially got lessons but Rudy would want tips also.  Sure, he had the confidence but there was probably other stuff to learn.

Going to find Ulric now had nothing to do with lessons though.  He just needed to know Ulric as two mature wolves instead of the small pup to an adult.  It didn’t matter if others looked at Rudy and saw a yearling child in Rudy’s own mind he was an adult.  Even if he wasn’t a leader yet that hardly mattered.  Rudy would be a leader and thus he would act the role of one with that future to the best of his abilities and protect the pack with whatever felt right.

Maybe this was also about keeping his mind away from the darkness.  Mom had little time left and what she had of it seemed a cruel shallow thing.  Shaking his head to clear it from those thoughts he thought instead of just getting to know Ulric.  Of course, the boy would need to do more than walk up and say ‘hi I want to know you better' to really do any good but how he would find something in common was a thing he hadn’t really put together.  What did they have in common?  They both fought?  Did Ulric learn to fight for the necessity of helping the pack or did he enjoy it?  

Oh well, when had Rudy ever needed to plan on what to say?  He’d call out with a simple, “Hi there,” to Ulric once he spotted him.

Rudyard Carpathius

Now that the world had begun to thaw and some warmer days had finally found them, Ulric had begun making some time to put the last finishing touches on the training grounds. He had done well enough working around the snow and ice, but now he could actually set the boundary rocks in place properly and work on fixing up the field house a bit. He worked on reattaching some pieces of the wood slats along the walls that had come lose and was currently standing there, staring up at a place on the roof that had caved un under some of the snow right at the very end of the winter that had drug all the way through spring. He had a few ideas of how he might patch it up, but he had to figure out how he was going to get up there to do it first...

As he was thinking all of this, he heard a voice beside him and his ears perked with surprise before his turned his silver gaze to look at one of Resin and Tamsyn's boys that had come to greet him. He offered the gray, splattered boy a grin and turned to face him with a small nod. "Rudyard, hello," he rumbled in response. It was hard to not assume that something was wrong immediately when someone came to find him these days. With Resin's current state and the fact that Lúta had now fallen ill and his own son had been absent more often than not there was plenty for him to be worried about. "Need anything in particular or just making some social rounds?"

Ulric Adravendi

Something wrong when it was in regards to Rudy?  Ah, did he know just how easy an assumption that would be to make?  Rudy imagined up a list of needs and none of the things he couldn’t get himself were things that Ulric could make happen, at least not right now. “I’m alright,” even as Rudy said it he imagined the answer was a stretch but there was nothing Ulric could do in the areas he wasn’t alright.  

Rudy thought of offering the man congratulations on his own rise up in rank but such words never even started to leave his mouth.  The realization struck the wolf he was staring at had taken his mom’s position.  Ulric wouldn’t be in charge right now if mom wasn’t sick and dying.  Ulric was where Rudy wanted to be by a terrible tragedy.  Suddenly the friendly youth felt an urge to get angry that was totally unexpected.  No, he wasn’t alright but Rudy was a good liar.

“Well, there’s a lot more work ahead of us,” Rudy just threw out the first thing he could think to say to hide his inner thoughts and unreasonable anger.  Ulric hadn’t asked for any of this, it wasn’t his fault.  Emotions and logic were waging a war while Rudy kept a calm demeanor on the outside though his muscles weren’t as agreeable.  His muscles would start to tense and Rudy would make them relax and then on their own accord they’d tighten again.  Stupid body, he couldn’t control it all the way and talk at the same time.  

“So, I’m hoping to find some other wolves that want to help put more work into hunting.  We can train at being a better team.  Mom was,” the words choked off, it had been the wrong thing to say.  Mom was one who did a lot of the pack hunting.  Mom was the one who trained him.  Rudy’s eyes started to grow rounder as the notion he might have gone a step too far.  Ah hell, he’d come here planning to be calm and friendly, and instead his emotions were all over.  “So, uh,”  When did he ever have to say ‘uh’? Like a damned idiot. “I just –“ His eyes glanced up to the roof he’d spotted Ulric eyeing, “So, planning to let some light in and keep it like that, or are we closing it up again?”  It was a safer topic.  His mind was running from thoughts of mom as surely as a small pup would flee a giant bear.

Rudyard Carpathius

Ulric kept a curious eye on the young man beside him as he insisted he was alright, noticing how he seemed to struggle to stay relaxed, as if he was pretending to be okay rather than actually living it. He didn't call the boy out on it right away, letting him work through his words as he mentioned training and getting a better team together for hunting and started saying something about his mother before he cut himself off. Ulric abandoned looking at the roof entirely and focused on Rudyard instead, still quiet while the gray-hued boy struggled to find the words and eventually deflected to asking about the roof he had been eying. He offered him a small smile and a chuckle, saying, "As nice as a skylight might be, I think it might be better to keep our training dummies from being rained on all the time."

Letting his expression grow a bit more serious he settled onto his haunches and went on to ask, "Are you sure you're alright? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but... if you do I'm all ears." He didn't want to force the boy to open up about anything, but he also didn't want Rudyard to feel like he was alone in this either. Resin's condition had been hard on them all, but he knew it would hit her children and Tamsyn the hardest - understandably so. He cared about Resin as a mentor and a friend, but that didn't hold a candle to being his mother. "I've lost both of my parents," he offered after a moment, hoping to bridge a bit of the gap between them. "I know a little bit about what you're feeling right now... Or if you'd rather just ignore it for a while and help me figure out how to fix this roof we can do that too."

Ulric Adravendi

Rudy ignored the offer to talk about it because he didn’t want to think about the ‘it’ at the moment.  The roof was by far a safer thing to think on.  With his focus on it, he could find the calmer side of him again, it was a fragile thing apparently but so long as his mind was kept busy it was doable.  The roof would be a great start.  Ulric had asked if he was alright and Rudy owed him an answer but he waited a few moments.  Looking at the temporary skylight he found his focus again and so he kept his gaze on it as he responded somberly, “Art and I will be the future leaders.  I can’t remain a weak kid so yeah, I’m ok.” A slow exhale as he bit back another wave of emotion.  Rudy thought of going on with some imagined noble-sounding speech but there was only so far he could go into the discussion without getting to the bad topics.

So, the roof? “So, mom showed me how to make a snare once.” Thankfully Rudy’s mind was focused on the end goal and didn’t catch himself.  “What if we made some rope and I bet that could help.  Reddy my hawk can carry light things too.” It wasn’t a full answer on how to fix it, Rudy had just started considering it.  All he was giving Ulric right now was some things he could help with if Ulric felt either of those could help in whatever plans he might already have.   Rudyard enjoyed a good puzzle on how to make something work the way he wanted.  Maybe a puzzle was exactly what he needed right now.  Later, when he was alone, he could sort through his emotions more.  Later.

Rudyard Carpathius