Her movements were careful as she made her way down into the Emerald Valley, brown hues making her blend into the undergrowth a little. Golden yellow orbs swivelled around as she surveyed her surroundings. It's not that she was being overly cautious, but it couldn't hurt to be more aware of what was going on around her. The young woman's ears twitched and she tensed as a clod of dirt came loose underneath one of her paws, causing her to slide down the slope only to stop at a small pool of water.


She breathed out a soft sigh of relief and stretched before shaking herself to dislodge any dirt or the like that had attached itself to her during the slide. A cherry red tongue sneaking out to swipe across her nose, making her realise that she was indeed a little thirsty. She sniffed the pool of water and found it to be stagnant, making her wrinkle her nose a little. Although 2 years old, she still didn't know where she could probably find safe water sources. It was silly....but she just kind of winged it and relied too heavily on her luck.


"Well now....should I go lower to find something to drink?" She asked aloud, almost talking to herself as her tail swayed while she contemplated her options. However she picked up the sound of another individual moving towards her. Should she call out to them? Would they go right past her and not help her if she didn't call out? The odds were a little muddled to her mind at the present moment so she opened her maw and spoke. "Hello? If you're friendly...could you help me find water? Pretty please?" She sounded out, optics searching for others, as was her nose.

A vampire? or a victim?

It depends on whose around

Oh, freedom
Nearly three seasons old, he was nearing his eight month and slowly growing into himself. The boy was still a wretch, an ugly mixture of feelingless flesh and bone. As the behemoth and his family traveled further south, away from the mountains that had numbed his black heart, he followed. They were all he truly had it seemed. Holding onto Silana was hard, the silent girl had a tendency to slip away unnoticed and he had little way to find her other than by scent alone. He was so tired of searching... and so he followed instead. The beast of bone and his sister wife were not mean, nor were they particularly kind. This seemed to suit the gray boy just fine - they would never replace his mother nor his sisters. Whether they made him a slave or adopted him as their own, they would never be his true family. His true family was scattered, missing, gone.


These winding plains of lively green did not suit him, yet it was where he ended up regardless. He did not want to enter a pack just yet, a large pack of wolves with golden hearts and intentions, it made him sick to live among such do wellers. He was better off alone, wasn't he? The boy looked back from where he had managed to wonder off, temporarily breaking away from Syrinx and his pregnant woman. They... lost the right to claim him when they gave up their pack. Perhaps if he got far enough away he could carve a path of his own?


Did he want to?


His lips pulled into a frown, and he decided that he would climb out of this valley and leave it's beauty behind him - yet was stopped when he heard the voice of another. At first, he thought it might be Eos, and he froze, not knowing what the punishment for leaving would be... yet it seemed that was not the case. The woman was a stranger - and Aeron stopped, staring at her golden eyes with his own mismatched ones. It seemed the dame needed help.


The boy's lips twitched. "You can't find water in a valley?" If there was a smidgen of humor left in him, he would have laughed. But his laughter was taken before he could truly express it, and so his tones were serious, and his gaze was placid. Should he care whether this silly woman died of thirst surrounded by water? The gray brute couldn't find anything within him that did, yet he had an equally hard time finding reasons to let her stay dehydrated. "I can take you to the river, I just passed it." His legs were still a bit damn from crossing it.


His ears perked atop his head, and he motioned for the woman to follow him. And then he remembered Basilisk, and how adamant the other boy had been about knowing his name. Perhaps they were important to others too? "I am Aeron. Turning to face the stranger, he would wait for her to return the favor and give him her name as well. It was only fair?

The dark brown femme stared into two mismatched orbs for a moment before realising that the mystery individual had come to her aid. She watched as his lips twitched and she was about to tentatively say thank you before he opened his mouth first. "You can't find water in a valley?" At this she looked down a little, gaze coming to rest on his chest and she swallowed. "Well...that's one thing I ran out of time to learn I guess." She responded diplomatically, a slight yet oh so vague lilt to her words as she then looked back up at him. The fea wasn't built to just lose her happy glow for hours on end, so she was already back to her upbeat self.


"I can take you to the river, I just passed it." When he addressed her again she blinked before giving him a bright smile, containing her excitement to just a stilted little hop. He was going to help her! Oh what a wonderful little boy he was! "Oh thank you! Such a nice man you are!" She said, at this point, completely believing in that statement. When he motioned for her to follow, she moved a little towards the direction he was facing. He seemed to be contemplating something, a mysterious look on his face for a moment and Sollei had to restrain herself from nudging his rump to see which part of the universe he was contemplating. His grey pelt was something of a curiosity to her, greys and whites....little darker patches too. He'd grow into a handsome wolf one of these days, she could feel it in her very bones.


When she heard his slightly accented tones once more, she pricked her ears forward and the woman giggled as he introduced himself. "I am Aeron." His two toned eyes were fixed on her for a moment and she licked her maw before responding. "My name's Sollei, pleasure to meet you Aeron. You know...your name must be real special. You're the only Aeron I've met...well...ever I suppose." She responded and in all honesty it was true, she hadn't met another Aeron before so she reckoned it was a real lovely name. "Do you play games Aeron? Or are you too old for games...bearing in mind that I still play with other wolves. Oh...and if I talk too much you can just tell me to shush." She asked as she loped slowly after him, not trying to overtake him and also not falling behind. Yes she was odd...yes she was thirsty and yes....she was a chatter box, but she still smelled like some far off land and some sort of....something...sweet smelling.

The wishes I've made are too vicious to tell

The devil already he knows me so well

Oh, freedom
She didn't have time for a basic survival skill? Was she the sort of woman that lived her life on handouts? Aeron supposed that wasn't such a terrible thing, considering he lived his life floating from place to place. The boy shook his head while holding back a sigh. This wolf was strange, in ways that he himself had not come across. Silana was silent, Basalisk was broody, Syrinx was nigh short of intimidating, and his mother he was convinced, was an angel. Yet this bubbly woman was unlike any of the above, responding to his agreement with a compliment that didn't make a lick of sense. He was not nice, nor grown, and here she was... was she mocking him? There was little less than honesty that seemed to glow forth from her presence.


Her name was interesting though, it had a ring to it similar to his sister's, yet it was different in its entirety. Perhaps names were important after all - he would certainly remember hers. She said it was a pleasure to meet him and he nodded, returning the sentiment without voicing it. As for how true it was, he didn't hold anything against this dark colored female, but he was a bit perplexed. She had not spoken a sentence so far that did not compliment him somehow. "I suppose it is, as all names are." He had certainly never met another Sollei. Honestly he didn't know that wolves could share names at all. "Thank you, Sollei." He said, after a moment, out of courtesy and nothing else. It seemed to be the proper response to her lighthearted comments.


He swore, she was so lighthearted, he expected her to skip right off of the ground at times! Games? She still played games? He... was he not the playful type? The boy was stumped, and grew quiet after she implied that she might talk too much. The woman was certainly talkative, but if she talked too much Aeron was completely unaware of it. And he wasn't the sort to feel something like annoyance either. "I have never played a game." He said simply, knowing that implied something, but not knowing exactly what. "My siblings were quiet, like me." Silana was mute, far more quiet than he was. And his relationship with Jacques was shady at best - he wasn't sure where he stood with his brother.


"Did you ask because you... want to play, with me?" How curious. This lady was grown, and she wanted to waste her time doing something that pups did? Such a naive air, he was stumped with how she could live this way.

She could sense the mix of disdain and curiosity that came from him at her inability to find water in a valley. By the time her family had taught her almost everything, their lives were cut short. But the young woman didn't feel ready to tell the little boy about the death of her loved ones. Sollei got close enough to touch his tail with her nose as he shook his cranium from side to side. "The ones who were supposed to teach me are not on these lands. To answer your unasked question." She said in a pleasantly neutral tone, neither calling him out nor praising him.


"I suppose it is, as all names are." She smiled just a little in concession as she supposed that he was right, names were designed to make one feel quite special. "Thank you Sollei." The femme knew he was just vocalising these words for propriety and nothing more...such a strange child. "Names are interesting, mostly a formality though....it's better than saying: 'hey you over there'. You're welcome Aeron." She responded, coming up on his left, stepping easily over the valley floor.


The silence was strangely comfortable as she moved; half-following and half-studying him. She found him to be an innately intricate young male...so odd too, not even having a smile on his maw. Wasn't he happy that he was in a pretty place? "I have never played a game." At this she took in a deep breath and her steps faltered for the briefest moment. "My siblings were quiet, like me." She raised an eyebrow but said nothing as he spoke after a minute or so. "Did you ask because you... want to play, with me?" She looked at him with her golden orbs and then tilted her head, feeling a little cowed by this serious little creature.


"Did I? Well...I think the real question here is if you would put up with me trying to teach you how to play. You seem to be such a serious sort of boy...and playing is good, helps relieve stress. Besides...I might even wrestle a smile out of ya." She responded in a lightly teasing manner, a slight giggle coming from her as she pointed out that he had most likely pre-judged her. She wasn't worried about it, she was just trying to make him realise that although keeping an eye on what others are like is alright...but sometimes making up one's mind about others before getting to know them could be problematic.

The wishes I've made are too vicious to tell

The devil already he knows me so well

He didn't understand how she had made it without such a simple ability. It also made him wonder what she could do and couldn't do on her own. He didn't blame her, but that didn't make it any easier to understand. Still she would try and explain, telling him that her family was not here with her - that he understood. Being alone was probably the one thing that he could share with this strange female. And so he nodded, even though he hadn't asked the question that was on his mind in the first place. She was either sharp, or he was easy to read.


As for names, he tried to understand, but it was hard. When you rarely came across the same lupine more than once, was there really much of a reason to know someone's name? To remember it? He supposed in a family or society it was necessary because it differentiated one from another, but he and Sollie were alone. They had no need to know names, only read mannerisms and make sure that strangers were not threats to them. So far he didn't think that this woman was any danger to him - or anyone else really. Save for perhaps herself.


There seemed to be inquiry shining in her yellow eyes, and he blinked at her, halting for a moment in leading her to the closest piece of this valley's winding river. She didn't seem to want to play, but at the same time she did - she wasn't sure whether he would put up with her. "I don't think I would mind." There was little that really... upset him really. That certainly didn't make him seem serious - was he serious? The boy's ears twitched as he thought, his bi-colored gaze leaving the woman's visage for a moment. "I want to play something." 'Teach me.' Knowledge was never bad, right? And relieving stress was a good thing too.

Although he wasn't sure whether he was stressed.

Her laughter didn't fall on deaf ears, and he reacted to her giggle with a somewhat confused look of his own. What was so funny? The boy blinked at her, his lips twitching when he realized that she might just be laughing at him. He didn't like that... not in the least. "Would... a race count as a game?" His words were inquisitive and somewhat hesitant. Yet they were close enough to the river to smell it in the air - they could finish the last leg in a contest to see who would get there first.

Sollei knew that she confused him, perhaps he hadn't met anyone like her before? That would be a very valid explanation and it was easy to remedy if he'd see that she wasn't crafty, nor did she have a spiteful bone in her body. Everyone seemed so worried about who they met and what their name was....why couldn't they just be content knowing that a squirrel was very easy to catch if one was good at climbing up and down trees? "You think you'll ever see me again after this?" She pondered aloud as they moved easily through the dappled sunlight in the undergrowth. When he stopped and looked at her, the young woman stopped too, tilting her head to the side just a little as she did so.


"I don't think I would mind." Her face lit up as he said this and her tail wagged quite happily behind her. "That's good, for a moment there I thought you would mind." She responded before clearing her throat as his dual toned orbs looked away from hers for a brief moment. "I want to play something." She smiled widely as he said this and she bobbed her head in agreement, her thirst completely forgotten in her success at getting him to want to play. However he seemed slightly offended at her previous giggling, so she chose to set his mind at ease that he wasn't being laughed at. "Sorry...I giggle when I'm happy you see...laughing or giggling is done when you have fun too." Sollei said gently, hoping that he would understand.


"Would... a race count as a game?" His words were inquisitive and a bit hesitant but she nodded again. "A race does count as a game, it's a very good one at that too. Would you like to race to the river?" She vocalised in a delighted tone, practically hopping out of her skin at the opportunity to play with another wolf. She could smell the cool water close by, he'd steered her true the darling boy....she should find a way to reward him. Maybe she could try and teach him all the games she knew that she thought he might like? That could be an idea...right?