She said, "See you later, boy"

Viorel had been making it a habit of ‘patrolling’ the areas near where their future pack would be. He was trying to get an idea of the prey patterns, what the nearby territories held that might come in handy in the future. So far things had been mostly quiet and uneventful, minus the giant sinkhole that he had happened upon. Today he was following the creekbed north, yellow eyes scanning the water for any sign of fish, he had a hankering.

His search had brought him almost all of the way back to the beaver dam where he and Vayko had decided they would shift their focus from searching from home to building something new. The thought brought an absent minded smile to his dark face, this is where everything had started. Viorel’s faint smile was still present when he looked up and realized that he wasn’t alone at the dam. The scent of a loner caused his nostrils to flare, and the grin faltered a little. This wasn’t someone in their little group, or anyone that he recognized, was there someone else skulking around the creek?

Still, there was no point in assuming that the stranger was any threat, and a quick assessment of the area didn’t make their sight immediately known, they seemed to be alone. But, it was weird that he could smell what was clearly a lone female, and there was no sight of her. Viorel set to work, nose on the ground until he came across the stranger’s paw prints in the snow. Following them slowly, and hopefully loudly enough that he wouldn’t startle her he came across a small rocky mound. Standing on the opposite side of the rocks where he still could not see the stranger he chuckled, ”A bit of a weird place for a nap, no?” He remained where he was, the stranger had plenty of room to come out and talk to him, or take off in the opposite direction without any resistance.

He wasn't good enough for her

She said, "See you later, boy"

The Valle teen was pleased that the stranger didn’t just take off in the other direction like a bat out of hell, and instead came out to face him. Grinning at her response he nodded, ”Well, I guess you’ve got me there, you were just so still I could have sworn you were asleep.” Now that she was no longer shrouded by the rock he was able to take in her physique, mostly dark pelt, taller than him but not as husky, been alone for a while but certainly well kept. She could stand her own, clearly. Glancing back towards the dam that she mentioned he huffed, ”Yeah, I’ve been checking that dam every few days and I’ve yet to catch them outside of it. If it didn’t reek to the mountain top I would be convinced they’d abandoned it.” After all, why hadn’t he even seen a fleeting glimpse of the aquatic rodent?

The mention of a fsh reminded Viorel of what he had actually been looking for, a nice seafood - or freshwater he supposed - dinner. He had plenty of practice hauling fish out of the rivers of the estuary, and even some of the easier to catch ocean ones. What he really missed was digging for clams, but he wouldn’t know until the spring if he would be lucky enough to find any of those around here. He doubted it.

Glancing back towards her the teen grinned widely, ”As a matter of fact, you’re talking to an expert fisherman.” Gesturing lightly with his muzzle he elaborated, ”But, if you’re looking for the best catch you’re going to want to keep following the creek north a little ways.” Without wait for a response Viorel began walking the way that he had gestured towards. Still walking he looked over his shoulder, ”Well stranger, are you coming?” He was going to catch himself a fat one either way.

He wasn't good enough for her

She said, "See you later, boy"

Vorel nodded vaguely at the comment about winter making you desperate. Sure, food was harder to come by with the snow and the cold, but he was lucky enough to have a small band of wolves with him. There was certainly enough of them to take down a deer whenever they happened upon one of the herds. Still, he was more than happy to teach this stranger something about fishing, his roots still having him deeply convinced that the best food was aquatic. Thankfully, they were even easier to catch in the winter, if you could find open water that wasn’t frozen over.

The teen was surprised when he looked over his shoulder and the woman was still standing there instead of following readily. Alright, so she was cautious, noted. Thankfully, she didn’t hesitate long and was quickly caught up to him as he followed the creek northwards. ”Okay, so you’re no expert fisher, but do you at least have a name?” The words were light, they had reached a fork in the creek and he was very purposefully taking the one that would lead them away from their future pack lands. It would be stupid to show their future home to this stranger and tell her it’s great fishing and expect her not to drop by next time she’s hungry.

Ears pricked at her question and an easy grin sprawled across his salt and pepper muzzle ”Well, that’s easy. I grew up on the coast, started learning to fish as just a little pup. These river fish are nothing compared to the salty ones we used to catch in the ocean.” He missed them, the salty fish, about ten trillion times better than the river ones.

His paws didn’t slow until he came across what he was looking for. A small pool off to the side of the stream with enough current it hadn’t frozen but still enough to easily look through. And, thankfully the tell tale little ripples of something moving inside. Smiling widely he turned to the woman, ”You ever done this before?’

He wasn't good enough for her

She said, "See you later, boy"

Lila Aquila, the name was new to him, but he made careful note to remember it. Everyone here was new to him, but it would do him good in the long run to try to remember as many names and strangers as possible as they planned to be around for a while. Glancing towards her with an easy grin on his face he answered simply, ”Viorel Valle,” back home that would have meant something, but he had already learned that here it wouldn’t get him too far. At least, not yet. Once the pack got up and going it might be a different story, but for now the Valles were just no names.

Humming in response to her request he thought hard about what his favourite part of the coast was, but had trouble narrowing it down. ”Well, it’s hard to describe, but when you’re on the beach you can see where the world ends. You look out and all you can see is water, and waves forever and nothing else, nobody who ever swam out that far ever came back. I don’t know what happens at the edge but I always figured it must be like a big drop off or something.” Shrugging his shoulders casually, he explained, ”Yeah, I don’t know. Looking out at the end of everything like that just reminds you that whatever problems you have aren’t that big of a deal in the long run you know?” There was a lot more about the coast that he loved, but that was his favourite.

Grinning widely he laughed, ”Well the biggest fish I ever saw was called an orca, and it was about four times longer than you, but we didn’t fish for those ones obviously.” Viorel was pretty sure if it really came down to a fight between a wolf and an orca, the fish would win every time. But, now it was time to get serious and get them some lunch going. Walking up slowly to the edge of the pool he was pleasantly surprised to see a few fat salmon who had gotten stuck and hadn’t found their way back into the mainstream. ”Okay, so the key is to stand as still as possible, and then when one gets close to you grab it as quick as you can, because they’re fast and slippery if you don’t have a good grip.”

Watching them panic and begging to flip all about as his toes feathered the edge of the water, Viorel waited. It took a minute or two before they finally settled, resuming their slow clockwise circuit of the pool. And then he struck. Tossing the still flopping fish out onto the snowy earth, he announced victoriously, ”Like that! Now, it’s your turn.”

He wasn't good enough for her

She said, "See you later, boy"

What a curious question, he couldn’t think of another time that somebody had outright asked him if he had any nicknames. He liked her, she thought differently than the average wolf. Glancing at her with a hint of surprise he answered, ”Usually if anyone shortens my name they just call me Vi.” He would have asked her the same question in return but he was pretty sure it would be a challenge to shorten Lila anymore, unless they just called her Li. And it seemed like it would be kind of insulting to call someone lie so he dropped it. Usually if he wanted to give someone a nickname he just called them by their last name.

A sad, wistful smile spread across his salt and pepper face, ”Yeah, I wish we were closer too.” The words were out of his mouth before he had even registered them in his brain. Clearing his throat in embarrassment that he had just said something so raw out loud to someone who was practically a stranger, he was happy for the topic change. Nodding dramatically he expanded, ”And they sing, kind of like wolves when they howl but different. They almost sound like ghosts.” When Viorel had been a pup their songs had frightened him, but now he almost missed their ghost howls. He was definitely more homesick than he thought that he was going to be.

The yearling stepped out of the way and retrieved his own fish which was slowly beginning to lose it’s energetic flopping. Reclining into a sphynx position he held it carefully in his paws, but didn’t latch into it quite yet. If Lila had been unsuccessful in her attempts to catch her own he would have happily shared his own, and after her first attempt it seemed this would be the case. However, she wasn’t ready to give up yet and when she came out of her second try with a fat flopping fish in her mouth the teen jumped to his paws. His own fish had already ceased to move and lay listlessly in the snow and his cheers echoed around them.

After a moment of celebration he settled back down with his own catch. Grasping it firmly in between his paws again he smiled, ”The head is the best part, the rest is good too, but seriously start with the head.”

Once they had both finished their splendors Viorel glanced upwards and noticed the time. Standing, he shook his pelt out casually, ”Well Lila, it was a pleasure fishing with you today. But, I’d better be heading off now.” With a grin he turned, ”I’ll see you around Aquila.” And then he was off.

He wasn't good enough for her