TAKE LIFE BY THE HORNS

She hadn't really been outside pack territory often without someone by her side. Now that she was a year old though maybe she should explore Auster a bit. Charm missed home, but if she spent her time throwing a fit over it she might make someone angry. To some effort she wanted to meet someone new and see new things. Auster was full of those things. As her small paws carried her across the grove she was fascinated even by the most simple of scents. Her tail waving behind her she stopped and sat to take in the sunlight.

It was much warmer here than it was back home, where winter had hit - it was different here. What about Amalia? What had become of her little small play mate. Would she ever see her again? Charm didn't know, but she tried to make the bad thoughts go away. Spotting a small yellow flower, single and lonely she smiled. Moving over she plucked it - maybe Okami would enjoy it as a gift.

MADE BY MINNIE of BTN

Enrico twisted his way through the trees carefully to avoid getting any of the weeping resin stuck in his pelt. He had learned the hard way that it didn't come out easily, and he had no wish to spend hours carefully grooming and chewing at his fur to rid himself of the uncomfortable clumps it caused again. Still, he needed to pass through them to reach the bay further south if he wanted easy fishing, so he just needed to be more careful and deal with it.

He stopped short as the scent of another wolf hit him, at nearly the same instant as he rounded a tree to come face to face with a yearling wolf grasping a flower. The oozing resin of the tree had masked the scent temporarily.

Enrico stood frozen a moment, only a great deal of self control keeping his hackles from rising in alarm as he tried to decide what to do. The yearling carried a pack scent he didn't recognize, but she also didn't carry the scents of any recognizable man of honor. He could hardly flee now without drawing undue attention, and though he knew better than anyone that young females could be just as dangerous as any male, he judged her unlikely to be a problem at this moment. Besides, it would do no harm and much good for him to acquaint himself with a working knowledge of the packs and society of Ardent, both of which he had been avoiding doing for some time.

"Good... morning," he said to her haltingly in the language that was most common here, speaking slowly in an effort to hide his accent and unfamiliarity with the words.

Charm was rather surprised when she heard a voice. Her head moving upwards to come face to face with the larger male. Of course by now she knew most wolves were bigger than she was. How silly she must have looked with a yellow flower in her mouth - but she didn't care. Nor did she know enough to pay attention that he might have an accent. Either way him trying to conceal it worked on her as she smiled and wagged her tail a bit. "Good Morning sir." perhaps it was a little refreshing to talk to someone other than the wolves in Ivalice - oh wait.... it was Talis now. "Do you live here?" Charm asked as she gently placed the flower between her paws. She was still however naive - she knew not how to fight and most in her brain would refuse to do so. Plus who would ever want to hurt her - she was the most un intimidating wolf ever. Either way she sat patiently and curled her slate tail over her haunches. Making sure not to mess up her flower. "Talk"

Glacial blue eyes followed the girl with more wariness than she really merited as she wagged her tail and seated herself. He seated himself as well in an attempt to diminish any threat that might be inherit to his posture, slowly and gracefully tucking his own tail in close. He didn't want to frighten the youngling. His quick mind worked at her unfamiliar words doggedly, struggling to extract their meaning. Ah. Did he live in this place, this grove, was what the youth was asking. He shook his head, finally, when he worked out her question. "No... I live... elsewhere," he told her slowly. 'Elsewhere' being not much of anywhere, really, but even had he actually had a permanent home he wasn't inclined to share that information. Trust. It was such a distant thing, so broken was he. "And you?" he returned. He tilted his elegant head to one side slightly. "Do you... live... here... girl?" He could not grasp the English form of 'signorina', not quite, but he attempted the closest thing he could translate to anyway. "Far we are... from other..." he hesitated, seeking the word. "Groups?" No. "Packs."

It seems he was having trouble speaking. Did he... not understand her? Charm wasn't too smart but maybe she could understand this much. Making a slight note in her head as she shifted a little. She should probably try to make it really simple. Either way he said no he didn't live here. "I don't live far. A pack in the giant castle and the starlit plains.... though it hasn't really felt like home recently." her eyes would dull for a moment. Glinting a hint at her own emotions as she stared at her paws. Was it a home at all if it didn't feel like it? Yet that's where she lived so she might as well introduce it that way. "My name is Charm." she looked up again and pointed a paw to herself. Hoping that he would at least get her name. She didn't know talking would be such a barrier. But surely not her tongue was the only one. Since the world was so big... and she didn't understand the animals. Each language much have been different. "Talk"

Enrico felt a faint stirring of unease when the girl said that she belonged to a nearby pack. This continent had been safe for him, because other than the southern tribal wolves who knew and cared nothing for northern wolves, and a small handful of areas with loners, this continent had been largely untouched, unexplored. It had been easy for a single wolf to be lost in the vastness. But if northern packs were moving south, it would become harder and harder to avoid notice.

Well. He would cross that bridge when it came.

"My... name... is Mask," he said instead, bowing to the young girl with a graceful courtly gesture. As he did he spotted something hidden among the grasses, and carefully plucked it so that when he rose from his bow it was to present it to her gallantly. A second small, overlooked yellow flower to match the one she had placed between her paws.

"Perhaps... home can being found in... the unexpected places," he assured her gravely in response to her sad words about her pack not feeling like home. "It is being not always where at your feet stand."