Autumn is cooling the warm days and Haydée finds herself feeling the restless urge to explore again. This time, she is not as worried about breaking the invisible border as her curiosity must be satisfied. Maybe it is because she had already broken the rule once but, for whatever reason, this time she is not afraid. Her small form slips into maze of branches, roots, and brambles and the girl happily trots along, ears perked as she stays alert for any strangers. The maze winds and turns and, in very short order, the small girl is completely and utterly lost. However, she is not worried or she isn’t worried yet because she is on an adventure.


"Haydée Kedieo"

Why did Tate feel the need to hide out in the woods if he was going to smoke? It wasn't like ma could even do anything about it, and even if she tried, would she even care? Tori would probably say something about it being a risk to the bamboo. When he wasn't hanging around Tojo, he didn't even have to hide. It was only when he was at home that Potato needed to slip off, somewhere away from the actual packlands to smoke. To calm his mind. To clear his head. But he wasn't on his own for long. The sound of footsteps-- had someone followed him out here? Who the fuck had followed him? Fairly well concealed at the foot of a stately tree with gnarled roots, but not concealed enough. "Shit," Tate grumbled to himself, hastily snubbing out the carefully rolled spliff, tucking it under his paw. Trying to act natural, like he was out just enjoying the afternoon. Yeah, something like that. Fuck.

The woods are strange, terrifying, and beautiful. With every turn that takes the young Haydée deeper into their depths, the girl finds something new to meet her eyes. However, as she moves to round yet another corner, it isn’t a sight that greets her, but a smell. Halting in place, the girl wrinkles her nose in disgust at the unusual scent, the strong herbal smoke that she has never before smelled, has her wanting to gag.

However, she forces her body not react as a sound suddenly reaches her. From somewhere in front of her, a grumbled curse word has her narrowing her eyes at the base of one of the trees. Feeling bold, the girl subtly shifts her weight into a defensive stance as she calls, “Whoever is by that tree, you better not try anything funny!” Hay is small and still young but she will never let fear control her again. So, she stands ready to face off whoever is burning weird stuff in this strange, dark forest.


"Haydée Kedieo"

Tate can hear her moving not-so-far off. He goes stiff, thinking. Heart beating in his chest, hammering, pounding even-- was one of his siblings punking him? That would be valid, actually. Hell, Tate was pretty sure all of them had probably found that patch of cannabis growing on the edge of the Oaks. There's a reason it's called weed, after all, that shit will grow anywhere. The smell was pretty rough, but maybe he'd get lucky and the breeze would take it away soon enough? Would it be soon enough to save him from whatever shit any adult would probably give him? And then he hears her. The small voice, the kind that could only come from a child. A small girl... phew. He was safe from whatever shit an adult would probably give him on the subject. Her words bring a chuckle to Tate's chest. "Are you suggesting that you don't like jokes?" Funny... try anything funny? Tate fancied himself at least a little funny. He reclines a bit against the tree, lazy, spread out where he settles.

As Haydée settles into her defensive stance, readying to face whomever is out there, the girl calls out boldly to the stranger. The response she gets is… perplexing and the russet wolf’s head tilts to the side as her eyes narrow. With a small, indignant huff, she rolls of her eyes as she responds, “Of course, I like jokes! What I mean is don’t try and fight me. You’ll… you’ll regret if you do!”

She raises the volume of her voice even as it squeaks at the tension she feels. Whoever is back there, burning the foul-smelling stuff must think they are some kind of comedian. Paws spread slightly as Haydée’s hackles raise in response to the anger and maybe a little bit of fear, she feels. Finally, she challenges, “Come out here so I can see you!” Maybe, if she can see the stranger, they won’t seem so scary to her.


"Haydée Kedieo"

She sounded... exasperated? Indignant? Not that much different than the reactions of his own sisters, actually. Tate couldn't help but allow a lazy smile to drift through his expression, through his tone. "Fight? Man, not right now, I done enough of that lately." has he only tried to attend to about half of what she's said? Maybe. Something about regrets and fighting and it all just seemed like a lot of effort for the moment. Comfortably stoned as he was, most things seemed like a lot of effort. As a matter of fact, Tate does fancy himself a bit of a comedian. No, really, when it comes to his siblings he's probably the funny one. Or... he'd like to think he's the funny one. Don't fact check that, and certainly don't as Fuji or Beru for their opinions on the matter. Or Tachi. Or any of them, actually. Tate will consider that his opinion on the matter is the only one that, well, matters. Shhh. "That's a big demand for someone I can't even see," he lets go a slow-suffering sigh, shifting his weight while he thinks about the request. "If you wanna talk to me so bad, why not just come over here?" Stoned and a bit on the lazy side, Tate doesn't want to get up. Not quite yet, still resting his back. Enjoying his little puddle of warmth and sunshine, it seemed criminal to get up so soon.

Haydée stands ready to fight whomever is behind that big tree, her stance set and… they keep replying with perplexing things. The slow drawl that accompanies their words is confusing to her and, when she demands that they come out, their reply is yet another joke. Still, it does make sense to go find the voice and the girl huffs in indignation before stomping toward their hiding spot. For such a small wolf, she can sure make noise.

Rounding the tree, Haydée comes to a halt near a brown and white lump of a wolf splayed languidly across the ground. Their expression is relaxed bordering on sleepy and the small girl has to fight to stifle a laugh. She is supposed to serious. Standing as tall her meager stature allows, the girl demands, “Who are you and what are you doing out here with strange, smelly herbs?” Eyes narrow in suspicion as her tail lashes the air behind her yet, deep in her emerald eyes rests a hint of the humor she feels at finding the boy in this state.

As if to make her point, the girl sneezes, nose crinkling in disgust as she waits to hear to what he is doing out here. For someone so small, she sure makes a lot of demands.


"Haydée Kedieo"

Tate has jokes, that's for sure. He has jokes, and he's not afraid to use them. Leaning heavily against the base of the stately tree, he's really quite comfortable. The girl, the one he can't see, is all huffy and stomping. Tate can't help but let the brassy, devil-may-care smirk play across his features. Let her be all huff and puff about it, he was quite comfortable in his spot, lighting his spliff once more. The girl really was a slip of a thing. Tiny, with some sort of big, serious facial expression painted on. A rakish grin played across Tate's features, orange eyes dancing with the mischief and the effects of the cannabis. Before speaking, he takes a long, purposeful drag off of the cigarette. Courteous as he blows the smoke in such a way that it wouldn't be in her face, though it smells strongly. Cannabis and tobacco, a nice little buzzy feeling. Resting back on his hip, he can actually take the girl in. She's so... little. "Tate, whas'it to ya?" Damn, he'd really picked up that much of his mother's speech pattern, hadn't he? Still, when paired with the lazy little smile, it had to be some sort of charming. "Could ask'ya the same question," he wouldn't elaborate on the herbs, not yet. Had to figure out if she was a narc or not, after all. What would she do, tell his mom? Not that Sedna would care, but uncle Hattori? He might. Best to keep his pack affiliation to himself, after all. Instead he takes his time to assess the girl, not in any rush to climb to his feet just yet.

In all honestly, Haydée knows how to make a lot noise for someone so small. Usually, if she can make herself seem bigger than she is, predators and wolves with less than pure thoughts, will try to steer clear. However, the disembodied voice does not run as she stomps around the trunk of the tree and, in fact, as the really tall boy comes into view, she finds that he seems… relaxed. Surprise ripples across her face like a stone cast into a still lake but she quickly resets her ‘angry’ expression as she frowns… up at him.

He freely gives his name and strings together some words that might be, ‘what’s it to you’, or ‘wass it to ya’, or some other combination of along those lines. It earns the boy a roll of her emerald eyes but then, he returns the ball to her court by mentioning he could ask her the same thing. Standing as tall as she can, trying with all her might to appear stern and all that jazz, Haydée is completely disarmed by his sudden line of reasoning.

The hard edges in her posture and expression soften slightly and the short girl offers him a shrug of her shoulders as she easily admits, “I just needed to get out my pack and go exploring. See, I already know my family’s lands inside and out and I just needed… a change of scenery.”  The boy’s lackadaisical attitude is both infuriating and refreshing at the same time but Hay decides to keep that fact to herself for now.

Now, the boy has freely given his name and, while the girl is uncertain if it is his real name (Tate? Really?), the girl decides to reward him with her own, “I am Haydée, by the way. Now, what is that stinky herbal stuff you have?” Curiosity colors her gaze as the big, bad persona she had been trying to project, slowly begins to melt away and, underneath, a young, impressionable girl begins to peek through.


"Haydée Kedieo"

She was frowning. He was giving the same relaxed, rakish grin without wavering. Though the girl seemed like she was trying to put pressure on him, but Tate was exactly the opposite. Borderline lazy as he leans against the tree, his head resting comfortably on his own shoulder. Watching her carefully, curiously. She seemed to think of herself as some sort of authority, or at least trying to frame herself as such. Rolling her eyes, acting exasperated-- damn, she's even more cute when she's angry. Haydée, her name is. He smiled softly, tail twitching, finally re-lighting the tightly rolled joint. "It's ah, medicinal. For the pain." Tate let go a rakish chuckle, taking a long drag. Carefully, he leaned forward, shifting to show off the wound in his side. He'd been gored by the antlers of that Pirate girl, and the area was still sore. Yeah, Tate was totally only smoking for medicinal purposes. Totally not because he also enjoyed it. Nope, not at all. Tate will tell a little white lie, that's alright. "Which lands are your family's?" His question is conversational, curious. Was it somewhere he hadn't been able to explore yet? Was she from the Hallows, or perhaps Ethne? Tate knows vaguely of the other packs, but to be up close and personal? That was new. Tate remained relaxed, not necessarily probing just... curious.

As Haydée interacts with Tate more, she begins to realize that he is one strange duck. Even as she attempts to build herself up and make him answer her demands, the boy remains relaxed, calm… comfortable. In some ways she envies how easily the earthen boy is able to shrug off life, hide out her in the woods and chuckle past his responsibilities. Oh, how she long for such things. As for the girl, she had just been named Heir and the world now seems to rest heavily on her small shoulders with the fate of the pack to become her sole reasonability one day.

It doesn’t escape her notice how his grin never seems to waver and his tail twitches as if he enjoys the way she keeps blustering about and it only annoys her further. Eyes narrow as he explains that smoking the herbs is for pain and the girl doesn’t see how that helps anything… until he reveals his side. A wince pulls at her features as it is obvious some animal gored him and, while the wounds are healing, it still looks pretty painful. Okay, that story does seem plausible but there is still one issue she has.

The seriousness returns to her face as she huffs and, not one to be taken as a fool, Haydée asks, “Yeah but why do you have to take the herbs like that? I mean, usually there are salves or tea to help the pain. Why do you have to take it like that?” A dainty paw lifts to jut out at the joint, the girl’s eyes almost slits as she suspects that Tate is hiding something from her. His next words have her blinking in surprise as the change of topic seems to come out of left field.

A shrug is thrown at the relaxed boy as she says, “We have the Creek and the Falls. But... what about you. What pack do you belong to?” It had not escaped her notice that, underneath the stinky herbs, the boy had the scent of a pack clinging to him. The seriousness begins to fall away as she looks at him curiously, wondering what kind of pack allows a boy like him out in the woods to smoke herbs.


"Haydée Kedieo"