At the moment Jupiter had a little bit of everything, it seemed. He had piles of trinkets stacked around him just waiting to be loaded onto his cart. He had a freshly killed pig to munch on over the next couple of days while he worked on his gizmos. And he was in prime roguish ho territory so he was all but guaranteed to get laid at some point over the next few days as he crafted. What he couldn't seduce he'd tempt with any of his wares. He was of the opinion that everyone had a price. Even the most stalwart stick in the mud would bend - pun intended - if handled correctly.

Jupiter settled down beneath the rusted out remains of an old army truck to escape the noonday sun and pulled the pig carcass close. He tore off a chunk of haunch meat and let his gaze rove absently over his temporary domain as he chewed. It was a nice little setup for something thrown together in a hurry; a tinkerer/trash picker's dream. He had food, he had shelter, he had projects to work on. And he was not about to share any of it. At least not without getting something in return for his kindness. Jupiter was of the opinion that everything - yes everything - was transactional. No one did anything out of the goodness of their heart. Wolves acted because they wanted something. Food, shelter, or simply to be liked. Something was always gained or given away in an exchange. That's just the way it worked. And it was for that reason he never did anything for free.

WC: 272

Pale paws carried her lightly across the new terrain with different air about her than her usual flippant, distracted feelings. Something about the last few interactions she had been though had certainly left an impression on her and had forced a new confidence to pull to the surface. She wasn't entirely sure how deep that assuredness went, but carrying herself in such a way felt like it was making it more real. Walk the walk in order to talk the talk and all that. She was still trying to decide if she wanted to seek out a pack to join since winter was very much on their heels, but the itch to explore had pulled her in too many directions to spend enough time investigating them to decide.

Her steps slowed a bit as she moved though the plateau, her sapphire eyes taking in the metal bits and contraptions that broke up the otherwise uninteresting area. Of all the criss crossing she had done though Boreas recently, this was one place she hadn't stepped foot in just yet. She looked to the unusual contraptions curiously and eventually her steps slowed to a stop as she examined them more closely. She couldn't really tell what they were supposed to be, but she began to wonder if they could maybe be repurposed into something else. She could see a few places on the one she was looking at that had clearly been picked over by someone so maybe they had found a way to use some pieces off of it.

The smell from someone's kill reached her on the breeze and it pulled her attention away from the subject of her studies... if you could even call what she was doing "studying". She looked around to see who it could be since she hadn't seen anyone when she had begun to move further into this area, but the smell clearly said that someone was or at least had been recently. She began padding forward again, now actively looking for whoever it was. Finally she spotted him, the large, blue-hued male that seemed to be repurposing these metal things in his own way, using it as a shelter. She gave him a curious glance for a moment and was about to keep moving, but instead she lingered for a moment longer. She gave him a slight smile when her blue eyes found his and debated with herself for a moment if she should leave him be or not.

Jupiter continued to pick away at the pig. As he did so his thoughts roved over the various projects littered across the ground around the truck. He didn't quite have the patience to sit still and finish one thing at a time so he worked on a couple different things at once. As he got bored with one and interested in another he rotate between them. Sure, it took longer, but he could honestly say he never got bored with making things in general and always had something to do.

He glanced up when movement caught his eye. As he was wont to do Jupiter of course gave the woman a brief once over to see what he was dealing with. She was a pretty thing with an mostly auburn coat, a slim build and hips made to be hugged. But she didn't seem too keen on staying and in the instant that message was conveyed he lost interest. Normally he was one for pursuing but today, with a meal at his paws and a stack of projects to work on he just wasn't keen on giving chase. Easy, more interested in him rogues would wander by, he was sure of it. What wasn't there to like? He had a dragon's hoard of goodies and he was damn good looking.

Her hesitation caused his interest to flare to life again and a slow, easy smile played across his lips as she looked down at him without a word. His brow spots rose playfully as he asked, "Looking for something in particular? I can offer everything from a meal to a conversation..." His smile turned into a lopsided grin. "And everything in between."

WC: 282

Meeting Mercy had certainly altered how she encountered interactions and made her look at things differently. She wasn't nearly as oblivious as she once was and when the male gave her a grin and made her a very vague offer of 'everything in between', she could get a much clearer sense of what he was alluding to than she would have before. She chuckled a little and moved a bit closer to where he was laying, but still left a comfortable distance between them. If nothing else she was intrigued enough to linger for a bit longer. It wasn't like she had anything more interesting going on anyway so maybe she could stay entertained for a while.

"Well, I'll take you up on the conversation at least," she commented as she settled onto her haunches, her tail curling neatly around her. A smirk touched her muzzle and she added with a bit of boldness that she was still getting used to having, "Maybe we can revisit that everything in between later... but it's been a while since I've had some decent conversation so lets start there, hm?" It wasn't nearly the brash flirting that Mercy had used on her, but maybe it was a start as long as he was actually interested in her and she wasn't completely misreading him. It was thrilling and fun in a strange way, but she was enjoying it.

Yes. Hell yes. To the man whore, her acceptance of his offer was akin to a drowning man being tossed a lifeline. He had a chance and he couldn't ask for anything more. "Alright, let's see here..." he said gamely, his gaze rolling heavenward in an exaggerated show of considering the topics they might discuss. After a beat he puffed out his lips as though struggling with the sheer volume of choices when really his mind was abuzz with wolfish versions of salt-n-pepa's hits. "I think it's safe to say we steer clear all weather related talk. That's simply too mundane, no? Everyone talks about the weather."

Jupiter rolled the pig carcass away; pushing it into the shade at his side to hide it from the sun's terrible gaze and perhaps preserve a smidge or two of its rapidly deteriorating shelf life. He then pushed his paws away from his chest, shoving them through the dirt and creating long furrows in the ground. The ground beneath the surface was cooler and he wished to take advantage of that. Once that was done he crossed his forelegs out in front of him and reveled in the cold that seeped into his fur.

He eyed her playfully then purred, "No, you want a decent conversation, eh? Something meaty, hm. Something you can sink your teeth into." Jupiter very nearly steepled his paws under his chin. It was all for fun; he rarely took things seriously. Why start now? Either she would find him amusing in some capacity or she would be on her way. In jest, he asked, "Is world peace too weighty a topic? How about the pointlessness of charity?"

WC: 284

The red-marked woman grinned a little at his quip about avoiding conversation about the weather. She seemed to be keeping his attention for the time being so maybe she hadn't read his intentions wrong at all. Honestly, she could walk away now happy with the fact that she had proven to herself that she could confidently walk into a conversation with a stranger and not somehow make a fool of herself, but now that she had opened the floor for him to attempt to entertain her with a bit of conversation she was intrigued enough to stay. It helped that he was quite handsome and and interesting with his swirling blue markings. What had Mercy told her? Life sucked and you had to make light of it when you could, right?

She couldn't help the short laugh that escaped her when he started throwing around ideas for them to discuss and the smirk on her lips grew into a full out grin. World peace or the pointlessness of charity? Weighty topics, that was for certain. She wasn't certain if he was offering them as serious options or not, but now she felt inclined to roll with one of them just out of sheer stubbornness. "Ah, yes! The pointlessness of charity, a life long debate between the value of what we would be giving up and the morality of helping those in need. A very meaty conversation indeed." She chuckled softly, mildly impressed with herself as she carried on this confident, flirty air in her tone. Her head tipped to the side slightly, giving him a curious glance. Even though she was mostly being playful, she was now quite interested in his answer. "Where do you stand on this issue then? What's more important to you?"

Oh wow she jumped right into that with all four feet, didn't she? Jupiter had fully expected her to swat down his lazily chosen topics and offer up one that interested her. He could tell already that this was going to be interesting. Alright, well then, here went nothing. "Ah, well, my dear, brace yourself..." he fixed her with a meaningful look; he knew exactly what he was about to say was garbage and painted hi mas the worst kind of asshole...and that was okay because it was true. At least he had his looks, right? That made life a bit easier for his kindred spirits. "Charity's bullshit. It's fake; the kind of shit we tell each other to make ourselves feel better about how selfish and self absorbed we are."

He quirked a brow at her, daring her to disagree, but before giving her a real chance to reply he went on to say, "Consider this: when you give someone something and you think it's out of the goodness of your heart or whatever...how does it make you feel? You feel good dontcha? Just a little bit? Which means you get something out of it which means it isn't free...which means...it's not really charity, is it?"

Something about how seriously he responded amused her about as much as the notion that two complete strangers would be having this sort of conversation. A smirk quirked her lips at his potentially controversial declaration that charity was fake. She raised a brow at him in return, but didn’t interrupt as he continued on to explain how charity was self serving in the way it made someone feel after they did their good deed. It was a bold claim to make and she hummed thoughtfully as she considered it. Perhaps if she was going to answer from how her upbringing told her she should, she would disagree... but she couldn’t exactly tell him he was wrong either.

”I’m not going to say you don’t have a point there, but that’s awfully black and white to see it that way, don’t you think?” she asked with an amused look still lingering in her eyes. It clearly hadn’t turned her off of him, even though she felt like the opinion was a bit hard and stark. She quite liked that he spoke the truth, even if it might not be the most noble view of the world. ”Even if it is a bit self serving to do something and feel good about it in the end, is that such a bad thing? You get something out of it and so do they. As long as it doesn’t hurt you or take away from your wellbeing, couldn’t that be a fair trade?”

As soon as he picked up one where she was going with her answer, a slow smile returned to Jupiter's lips. He already had the bones of a reply worked out. Being a selfish ass was his forte. He excelled at justifying his dickish behavior. Not that it was difficult. He was right. Charity, true warm and fuzzy selflessness, was as mythical as say, wood elves or pegasi. It was a cute notion. The belief that someone would willingly sacrifice something out of the goodness of their heart was noble and quaint, but not true. Nothing in life was free. Not even the thing that masqueraded as goodwill.

Jupiter tipped his head to the side and gazed up at Elise with an amused expression. "So why not call it a trade, then? If that's what it is there's no need for throwing about words like 'goodwill' or 'kindness' or 'charity' is there? If it's a trade it's a trade." He wasn't quite taking any of this seriously, but it was fun and so far she didn't appear to be miffed or appalled at his lack of decency. Thank god they weren't talking about the weather.

Elise scoffed a bit when he insisted that her idea of charity should be considered a trade if that's how she wanted to justify it. In a vague sense of the word she supposed that was true. She tended to think that a trade as something more tangible - food for herbs or something that has been crafted for a service of some kind. Saying that doing a kind gesture for someone in exchange for that warm, fuzzy feeling was in the same realm as those things felt like a stretch. Although, wasn't that exactly the point she had made? Something about hearing it called a trade instead of charity seemed to make her second guess her own opinion.

She hummed thoughtfully while she settled herself down to get more comfortable. She ended up stretched out on her side with her front half propped up on her elbow so she would still look at him and speak easily, but could still enjoy the warmth of the sun on her spotted form. Her fur was mostly pale in color so the extra warmth didn't bother her. In fact, she quite enjoyed it. She wasn't looking forward to the chilly weather and snow that winter was sure to bring far sooner than she wished for it to. Her hind legs stretched out comfortably and emphasized the lean shape of her body - whether accidentally or not she would never tell.

"Alright, I suppose I can agree to that. Lets call it a trade then. But wouldn't you normally lay out the terms of a trade before you do it? Would you walk up to someone that was hurt and tell them 'I'm going to help you, but only if I get that do-gooder feeling after'? I can't say I'd even think of anything like that if I found someone that in need of help."

She hummed as she considered his response and for a second he thought he had her. He raised his eyebrows at her and grinned, confident she was considering defecting to the dark side. It was a much freer place. She'd be happier if she did away with silly notions like charity and goodwill, and admitted that what mattered to her in life was getting her way. The woman could still be nice and do things for others if she wanted, she'd just be doing it - or not - with a better understanding of why.

Jupiter couldn't help it. When she stretched out her leg his eyes followed it. He couldn't have stopped them if he tried. She had precious, dainty little ankles and the aforementioned supple thighs that demanded he noticed their every move. His gaze shot back to hers as she began to speak.

Oh she was clever. It was a good argument. Perhaps had he been anyone else he would have been stymied, but a response was quickly on the tip of his tongue. "The consent is implied. A wolf fully capable of taking care of his or herself needs to be asked, but anyone who is incapacitated in some way gives that up because it is better to receive the help than not. Of course you get the occasional belligerent scrooge who would rather lay there and die, but they'll tell you before you can lay a paw on them."