This was the furthest she had ever been from her family. Well, what was left of her family at the estuary. Everyone seemed to be gone all the time and she wasn't really sure where they had all gone. She felt bad because she hadn't been paying any attention and had gotten so caught up in her own worries and troubles that suddenly, when she looked up one day, she realized everyone was gone. Dad wasn't hard to find since he couldn't go too far, but her litter mate had left and both of her older siblings were doing their own things. She didn't know what her mother was up to, but she was sure whatever it was it was important. However, that did leave her awfully lonely and bored. She decided to leave and find Tornach, but so far she hadn't had any luck. She made her way through a brand new area, her pink eyes taking in all of the new sights curiously. She could tell there was usually a lot of plants here, but it was too chilly for them right now. She was sure Zuriel would love it here when it was warm. "Talk" "You" Think

Even with less plants than normal, his home was still beautiful. Especially since Ren refused to leave it, ever since the battlefield incident. Nope, nope, he was not about to deal with that again. It was utterly terrifying... nope! Wandering away from the den, it did not take long to spot the intruder. Fur fluffing up as he squinted - okay, it was a bit difficult to see her; she blended with the snow - at the shape, he stepped forward, his fur even more brilliantly blue.

He was somewhat scared over the person, but he was home, and he knew where home was; she couldn't hurt him here. And his mother was close by, of course. "Who are you?" he called, ears flattening to his head as he watched.

ooc: since the land wasn't officially claimed when I posted the thread I'm just going to say that they had begun the move here, but the borders weren't super marked yet so Baine didn't know lol Báine hummed quietly while she walked, her paws crunching through the snow that was covering the ground. She was just thinking about heading back toward Estuary since she was sure that her parents would be wondering about her if she was gone too long, but then a voice called out to her and her pale ears perked up with interest. She turned around, her muted pink gaze landing on the dark blue wolf behind her. She gasped excitedly and trotted toward him, her tail wagging behind her happily. She completely ignored the fact that his ears were down against his skull and he was obviously suspicious of her. "Hey there! I'm Báine!" she replied cheerfully. She was too excited to be seeing someone new to be worried about him being a stranger, especially when he was all a cool color like her big brother was. "I love your fur! My brother is all solid red like how you're all blue. I wish I had a cool color, I'm just white. But my nose is pink so that's kind of cool I guess!" She stood in front of him with her tail still going a mile a minute and a big smile on her lips. She never met a stranger, no matter how much her mother would like for her to be more cautious. "What's your name?" "Talk" "You" Think

ooc. That's fine! I was just going to go off the assumption that the move hadn't happened at all yet haha. Like, Ren knows it's about to happen but that's it.

His ears pulled even further back as she immediately spotted him... and started talking. Blinking, his expression incredulous as the stranger's tail blurred behind her. Okay, this one was weird. Also not going to eat him. Both of which he was mostly okay with. He had no clue what to even think of her as she... continued talking. And talking. And talking. And then she finally stopped, with a question. "My name is Ren," he replied, voice slightly hesitant; this was all so strange after his last encounter with strangers. This one reminded him of... well, of Glacier. In a way. That they were nice, sociable. His ears had pulled up, though his tail was still motionless - cautious, but no longer nigh on hostile.

"speech"

It felt like it took ages for him to finally reply and tell her his name when in reality it might have been a few seconds. "Ren!" she repeated happily, liking his name very much. "I like your name. It's a good name. And easy to say! My mother gave me and my siblings kind of hard names. Like, mine is Báine, my sister's is Zuriel, and my brothers are Tornach and Regulus! So many letters for names. Ren is nice and short, I like it." She nodded with finality like her reasoning of why his name was a good name was perfectly sound. Her tail had slowed down quite a bit, mostly because she was making herself tired from her tail wagging. Her huge burst of energy burned itself out pretty quickly. "So what are you up to? Are you exploring too?" "Talk" "You" Think

Oh god. What was going on? Ren didn't even know anymore. He just stood there, a slightly dazed expression in his eyes from... whatever this thing was. An entire rant on his name... and then every other name of every other member of her family... what? He snapped back into focus as she asked another question, and he shook himself roughly. "No, I live here with my family," he shook his head firmly. He didn't answer the first part; he wasn't sure what else to add, figuring that his statement thoroughly answered both. Then, in an attempt to seem... less like a stone statue that just answered questions, he awkwardly presented a question of his own: "Where are you from?"

"speech"

She made an "ooooooooh" sound of understanding when he said that he and his family lived here. She had never thought about that other families might live all in one spot like hers did! Well, she knew their was packs like that, but just like a family without being in a pack. He asked where she was from and she nodded with her head in the direction she had come from. "I live in the Vericona Plains and the Avian Estuary in the west with my family! My mom has lived there for a reeeeeeally long time and really loves the plains so we've lived there or near there as long as I can remember." Now that she had finally worn herself out a bit she sat down on her haunches, a smile still happily on her lips. "I was just thinking as I was looking around that my sister would love it here cause of all the plants. Not right now obviously cause it's all cold and snowy, but in the spring. She's a healer. I'm not that good with all that herb stuff. I like to learn stuff though. I know how to speak Irish cause my mom taught me. I think it'd be cool to know a whole bunch of languages." "Talk" "You" Think

As before, he listened quietly as she talked. It didn't take one long to realize that that arrangement - Baine talking, someone else listening - was probably the only thing that... well, worked. He didn't want to imagine what it would be like if Baine met someone who was as bouncy as her - on second thought, he hoped that would never happen; one Baine was quite enough.

... wait what? One second she was saying she lived in the West - a place he had never gone; he was like her family, staying in one spot - and now they were on languages? What? How did that shift happen. And herbs. Wait, living in the west, herbs, languages. Right. Those had such obvious connections to one another... he wasn't even going to ask. Nope. "I don't know any other languages," he finally commented. "Also, it is beautiful in the summer." As for herbs, he knew nothing about them. Nada.

"Speech"

Once Báine's initial rush of excitement and energy had dulled some it was a little more easy for her to see that he either wasn't quite keeping up with what she was telling him or maybe he just didn't really care about what she was saying. The smile didn't leave her face, but she did try to reign herself in a bit. She knew she could get a little hyper sometimes when she was excited and not everyone appreciated her energy. Or so she had been told anyway. "I knew it would be!" she replied, her tone still cheerful but she made a pointed effort to try and tone it down by about a million notches. "I could teach you some of my other language. If you wanted me to. It's not too hard. But you don't have to." Her tail brushed slowly against the ground behind her, brushing away the snow under it till there was just mostly bare ground where her tail was, almost like a one winged snow angel. "Talk" "You" Think

Well, the girl was calming down. Quickly. It relieved Ren; perhaps he wouldn't have to scurry to try and keep up with her anymore. An amused smile crossed his face as she spoke again, noting the difference immediately: she was trying to be more calm. His tail gave a tentative wag, head tilting at her words. "That would be interesting," he murmured, curiosity alight in his eyes. He'd not heard another language before, and he was rather interested in hearing one. Learning, if it was possible. He slowly lowered himself to the ground, flicking his ears back to flick the snow off, his own tail moving in a slight, hesitant wag once more.

It took all of the self control in her little pale body to contain the intense excitement she felt when he agreed that learning some of her mother's language would be interesting. Her tail started wagging against the ground again, but she kept herself sitting down on her haunches so at least she was mostly still. She noticed him starting to warm up a tad bit so at least all her effort was kind of worth it. She didn't want to scare wolves off with her energy, she just didn't know how else to be. "Okay!" she responded cheerfully, a big smile on her muzzle. She hummed thoughtfully, trying to decide what would be a good thing to teach him first. Something easy maybe. "Oh I know! How about... Dia duit, tá mo ainm Ren." she told him, making sure to pronounce it very carefully so he could listen. She smiled again with a soft giggle. "That means 'Hello, my name is Ren'! You try!" "Talk" "You" Think

Aaaand she started wiggling again. What on earth was up with this female? Females were weird. He didn't understand. At all. Not his sisters, not his momma. And certainly not... this thing. Whatever she was. He didn't even know anymore. He watched with an incredulous look as she once more forced herself to stay calm - instead of the entire-body-wiggling he expected by now, only her butt was wiggling and that was only slightly.

She would immediately launch into the "lesson", attempting to teach him the language. It was... interesting indeed. Rough sounding, to him, though still the words tumbled from her mouth with ridiculous ease. Still, he wanted to try... even if he didn't even catch all of that, despite how it was pronounced. "Dia duit, ta... am Ren?" he tried, knowing even as he said it that he failed miserably. He smiled then, apologetically, even as she giggled.

She gave him a huge, cheerful grin when he attempted to repeat what she had told him. It wasn't quite right, but he got the first half right and that was a start! She forgot sometimes that not everyone grew up learning this kind of stuff. It felt effortless to her cause she had been learning both languages equally as long. "That was close!" she replied encouragingly. "You got the first part right, it was just the second part that tripped you up. Here, one more time... Dia duit, tá mo ainm Ren." She was sure to repeat the words slowly so he could listen extra close. She wasn't impatient. As long as he wanted to learn from her she would take her time and tell him whatever he wanted her to. She kind of liked teaching things. She understood now why Zuriel was always working with their father and teaching him healing stuff. "Talk" "You" Think

She would encourage him cheerfullly, and he'd remain quiet, though his head tilted and his ears twitched when she repeated the words at a sower pace than before. Dia duit... ta.... mo...ainm? and then his name, of course, Ren. And that meant 'hello my name is Ren'. Hmmm. He could do this. "Dia duit... ta mo... ainm Ren?" he tried again, tripping over some of the sounds - they were foreign on his tongue - but also getting all the words right. He visibly perked up, head tilting to the side once more as he stared at Baine - did he get it right?

She watched him with anticipation as he visibly seemed to be considering the words she was saying very carefully. Slowly he'd speak each word and as he finished she let out a little squeak of excitement, her whole body doing a little bounce with it despite her efforts to keep herself still. Her tail waged happily against the ground behind her and she nodded happily. "Yes! That's it! Good job!" she exclaimed with a giggle. "Dia duit, Ren, is ainm dom Báine," she told him then, making sure to pronounce everything carefully so he could listen if he liked. "That means, 'Hello, Ren, my name is Báine.' See, it's not too hard! There's just some tricky sounding words here and there." "Talk" "You" Think