• "Heavy rains are falling with no end in sight."
  
  midday, 41° F/5° C

Although this land was rich with the history of a particular branch of the Lyall family, it appeared that they had left no trace of their legacy. As it were, the grey wolf winding through the cedar trees hadn't even the slightest sensation of irony. This was not the forest of his kin, this was merely another empty stretch of woodlands that meant nothing more than a little respite from the downpour. A rain drop struck the man square on his nose. He snorted irritably. It didn't rain this much back home and he very much regretted the silly notions that had carried him away from Betram Valley.

But he had come to far to turn back now.

Tesla had never been a smart man — a smart man would have realized he didn't need to come all this way to get what he wanted — but he had tasted enough of the good stuff in life to know how to get it. He knew where most of the shortcuts were and weren't afraid to take them. And he knew how to plan — oh, yes he did. He had made six years of plans. (Alright, most of them had failed, but he thought he had gotten pretty good at it by now.) And it showed: his body was grizzled and greying, puckered by hunger, but it was surprisingly unmarked for a man his age. He looked as fresh as a yearling, with only the blooming white on his face to give his years away.

<b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;"> The addition of more additions to the pack had led Narcissa away, too many faces and too many females. She wasn’t sure she could handle so much estrogen in one place. It wasn’t that she did not trust that they would be good for the pack but rather she had begun to think that she didn’t want anyone to think that they could get in her way. Elettra was hers and she would not play the fool and let anyone one-up her because this was her territory now. So far, she had let all the females coming into the pack know that they would take any laziness or disloyalty from anyone. Elettra demanded that they work hard as a team rather solo, but fortunately for Narcissa she was allowed the freedom to solo whenever she wished. To this day, she had journeyed far to the northeast corner of the Ridge in the pouring rain simply to scout up the river. The last thing they needed was for the water to overflow or flood their land, so she had kept a good watch on the water to the northwest in the Grove as well as in Whisper Marsh. They were high but they didn’t seem dangerous so their source of prey would not be lost. With her weathered gaze squinted she continued to look across the Forest she had now entered, vaguely pointing out where trees were located as well as the shrubs that followed. As she progressed just further and around a tree she just barely missed the other creature and halted just as her nose brushed against his fur. Whipping her head back she shook it and saw his eyes turn to her, <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“I apologize.” She answered stiffly, not wishing to prolong her stay within this stranger’s company should he wish her gone but she mostly certainly held a curiosity for those she met outside of the Ridge. Her job as a scout was to see to other packs, figure out changes in hierarchy and regions as well as to navigate loners towards the Ridge’s hold.

• <size=0>LOL i don't know how i'm gunna keep up with you guys

The incessant, heavy rains had long since washed away any scents of nearby wolves. He felt like a blind man stumbling through the woods these past few days with nothing to guide him towards civilization. It could be minutes or weeks away from him and he wouldn't know because he couldn't smell a damn thing. He might have already walked right past a territory without even realizing it — damni —

Oh, hello!

Just as he was about to step out from under his leafy refuge, a stranger came around the other side and bumped right into him. Quite startled, Tesla jumped back. His yellow eyes followed the little shake of her head with hungry interest — amazement even — as he tried to reclaim his composure. Hardly missing a beat, the ginger creature in front of him offered something that would have sounded more like an apology had it not been so gruff. He shook it off. "Oh no, ma'am," he stammered politely, "I'm the one who should be sorry, not even lookin' where I was puttin' m' — "

And before he could even finish his sentence, another wolf appeared. To say that he had been shocked by the first wolf would have been one thing, but his reaction to the manifestation of this beast was quite another. He winced visibly — he had never really had a tolerance for gore — finding that her greeting, though not any less friendly than the other wolf's had been, did not instill him with the same sense of courtliness, and he eyed her warily. "'Lo," was all he really had to say. This "ridge" business meant nothing to him, although it was slightly intriguing.

<3! <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;"> Narcissa had heard something about a wolf being accepted back into the pack after having been gone a little while and she didn’t mind. Not at all. The wolf had come back and from what Elettra had mentioned,that she had been a loyal subordinate that had had good reason to go. Meeting others were certainly on her list of things to accomplish but she hadn’t planned on doing that just yet, seeing as she was all the way out here quite some miles away from Willow Ridge. The male seemed tolerant of her miscalculation as scent was very faint in the sheets of rain that blanketed their coats. It was somewhat hard to tell of what he looked like but as far as she could tell, he was handsome. As handsome as a man could be when they’re alone and likely starving with rain slicking their fur. He was not rude or unfriendly towards her which was a plus, though she surely did not care either way. She’d stick up for herself in any case. She was about to reply when a strnger appeared, one who she did not recognize but upon closer inspection she smelt the very faint Ridge scent so this must be one of the new females. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“Hello,” she answered to the both of them and perhaps it was a good thing that the Ridge wolf didn’t know who she was because it allowed her to explain it to both, <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“I’m from Willow Ridge as well, the Scout more or less—Narcissa.” She introduced herself patiently as her apple green eyes looked to the loner with an intrigued glint in her eye, <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“who are you?”

• don't worry about it, I don't mind.

Clearly there was something these two wolves had in common that he was missing. The words they bandied whizzed straight past his ears with hardly any time for him to make sense of them. He gathered vaguely that this "Willow Ridge" — or just "ridge" — was some sort of pack and they both sort of... belonged to it, he guessed. Though, to be frank, he wasn't sure he could make sense of the torn woman's story. There were some names, though, and he could understand names easily enough. They both asked for his, however he didn't have time to give it to them before the second wolf went off on another tirade of speech that didn't make a lick of sense to him — not that he was surprised. He bobbed his head simply, trying to appear as if he were listening, although he found himself growing vaguely impatient as the center of attention slid further and further away from him. It wasn't hard for him to find reasons to be jealous where there were none. He glanced back at the first wolf, wondering if what the scarred wolf was saying made any sense to her.

At some point there was finally an opening in the conversation for him to insert himself, and he broke in readily."Ya can call me Tesla, for what it's worth. But I'm not too sure I could help ya fin' these willows of yers. Dunno the area and I can't smell a damned thing in this drizzle." On cue, his head tipped back so that he could look up into the dark belly of the clouds. "Ya think it'll stop soon?"

<3! <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;"> Her eyes watched the woman carefully who spoke of being a scout for willow ridge or for a brief second she felt jealousy and protectiveness brewing within her gut. This was her role and unless Elettra decided that she needed more, she wasn’t going to give it up. It was very hard for Narcissa not to say ‘that’s nice’ and go on to talking to the other stranger, as he was being left out of the conversation. Although the traveling wanderer was usually a solo gypsy, she certainly did not wish to be rude to someone she could possibly recruit to Elettra’s kingdom. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“It’s very nice to meet you Semananti,” Narcissa finally managed to say as she then looked to the male with continued interest as Semananti also asked him of his name. It seemed his muzzle was just about to open to answer before Semananti continued to speak, as if she had completely forgotten that the spotlight was supposed to be on him. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“I can help you find your back but first I think it’s only fair that I gather more information on this straggler,” she brought her gaze from the Ridge woman and to Tesla as he began to fill them in on the missing information that they both wished to know. Narcissa, too, lifted her head up to the sky as Tesla spoke of the drizzle that washed down upon them all without a hint of stopping. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“I doubt it,” she answered with a shrug, <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“it’s been going on like this for quite a few days now.” Narcissa liked storms, so she certainly didn’t mind the ongoing rain. <b style="font-family:georgia; font-size:12px; color:#D6C7B6;">“Are you looking for anything specific here or just passing through?” She inquired to Tesla, simply wishing to drop a subtle (maybe not) invitation to the guy so that maybe some more testosterone could fill up their empty male spaces.

"...I think it’s only fair that I gather more information on this straggler,"

At this, he quirked an eyebrow. Straggler? His nose dipped down subtly and he searched for what might be making him appear like a straggler to this woman. Alright, she was a bit more filled out than him, probably weighed twice as much — and okay he had neglected to groom himself this morning, but that was just what it was like when you were a bachelor. And to be sure, even in his waning years, Tesla still saw himself as a bachelor, the "life of the party." Though it wasn't like it mattered much, as it occurred to him that neither of his two companions appeared to be the partying type. "Gathering information," getting your face all torn up, or "being a scout" or whatever seemed an awful lot like work with diminishing returns.

"Well, if it keeps up I 'spect there will be sum floodin' som're. Ain't nothin' could convince me to go anywheres near a water feature in the current state of affairs." Tesla had no idea if there were many rivers around here, but he realized suddenly that he could end up walking straight into a swollen, dangerous current and then just like that, that would be the end of old Tesla. The only thing standing between him and a very pathetic death were these two strangers from the willows. His ears swiveled on his head. Well, in that case, there was no point in parting ways with them — even if that particularly ugly looking one gave him the willies. "Ah, well, y' see, I'm not too sure where I'm going. I wouldn't mind just followin' you girls wherever it is you plan on goin'. You wouldn't mind escorting a poor old straggler like myself around the area, would you?" There was a white lie or two in there, but Tesla had never been known for being an open book.

[/dohtml]

---