Quaking Vale things work out

AW || Morning, Patchy rain possible, 67 ° F, 19 ° C

He had been curled up with Astrid through most of the night. It was more or less out of habit at this point. While a small part of him also wondered if it was because he had become protective of her. She was hard to keep up with sometimes but he gladly did it. Never once had he regretted joining in on (or saving her from!) her antics. That morning he had his own ideas, though. Her give a soft lick to her crown before peeling himself off of her. His paws led him towards the borders but he had no intentions of crossing them. He just wanted a peaceful morning.

This place wasn't so bad and it already had a familiar face. Well, two actually. Alastor and Kuwindwa. Alastor had been the nice guy who had helped him out of the ominous woods. Mathuin certainly hadn't forgotten about the male despite the gap in time from that incident. These woods were far nicer. More lively and colored. The white-barked trees were comforting to the large yearling. The other had been an older female he had run into at some lake thing. She wasn't so bad either. The rest of the wolves were foreign to him but he was willing to bet that would change if Astrid liked this place.

Mathuin took in a deep breath to relax. He would be fine. Things would be fine.

-Cas comes in like a wrecking ball-

New members. New members. They had new members! Cas absolutely adored new members, and especially new members she had never met before. And, not to mention, one of them was younger than her! Having been the youngest of the adult members for quite some time now, Castel was thrilled to meet the new yearling. So, she'd extricated herself from Niles' side as soon as the sun rose that morning, had kissed his cheek, and then had set off in search of the two newcomers.

She found the girl first, but since she was still asleep and Cas didn't want to wake her up when it was still so early, she instead chose to follow the male's scent trail. Curiously, it led her toward the border - she didn't know why on earth he'd want to leave the territory right after joining. But, perhaps he had decided to just patrol or something. If that were the case, Cas admired his work ethic.

However, as she approached him and spotted his dark form through the trees, it seemed like he was doing nothing of the sort. A smile crossed her maw and she set her banner in a friendly wag. Apparently, the yearling had just wanted to go on a nice, quiet morning walk. Which, of course, wasn't really Castel's thing, but who was she to judge?

"It's a beautiful morning, isn't it?" she called, enjoying the way the sun dappled warmth along her spine as she approached the boy. He was fairly large, so she wasn't worried about intimidating him - unless he was like Niles and would freak out just because she spoke to him first.

Oh, well. Only time would tell.

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

He didn't bother turning around just yet. His gaze still locked out into the white-barked trees. "Yeah, it's pretty nice actually." Mathuin nodded his head carefully as a small smile spread across his features. Finally, he turned his head over his shoulder to see just who he was talking to. To his surprise, it was a female smaller than Astrid. Mathuin kind of figured there would be creatures smaller than his honey-coated friend but she had mostly become the norm after so much time with her. This girl was also more russet and had blue eyes. Practically an opposite of Astrid.

"Is it always this nice?" He asked as his green eyes looked back towards the land in front of him. Maybe he and his friend had really been lucky. Perhaps this would just be a one and done kind of thing. It wasn't that he minded wandering around with her but he knew things were better in numbers. They could eat better and sleep better. Not to mention they could be better protected. Oh but the highlight of it all was it would be much much harder to lose Astrid if they both had the same home.

The large yearling carefully lowered himself into a sitting position. Part of him wondered if the new girl would stick around just to relax with him.

Astrid & Mathuin
The Adventuring Peanuts

Fortunately, the large yearling took her greeting with grace, and it brought a smile to Cas' lips. He seemed to agree with her statement, and turned to look at her. His cheeks were pale, like Niles', but his pelt had a considerable amount more of browns and creams than her lover. She found another difference in his eyes - where Niles' were colorless and ghostly, this boy had vivid greens that echoed the colors of the deep forest around her. Cas didn't know if she'd ever met a wolf with eyes quite this color before.

Then, the boy inquired of the consistent niceties of the territory, and the second gave him a soft laugh. "As great as it is normally, it's not always sunshine and rainbows," she told him truthfully, and headed over to lay on her stomach about a wolf's length away from the darker wolf. "It got kind of crazy a month or two ago, when all those storms rolled in. But we got through all of that with the help of everyone in the pack." She wanted to be honest with him, but she also didn't want to chase off the new members.

"I'm Castel Noor, by the way," the little wolf continued, her sky blue eyes scanning over the lush greenery before them. "Everyone just calls me Cas, though. I'm second, under Sahalie." A laugh bubbled in her chest, and she shot him a side-eyed smirk. "I know I don't look like much, though." She cleared her throat, tail thumping on the ground behind her. "What's your name?"

She told him more than he was hoping for but that was alright. Mathuin supposed to was better to be filled with knowledge rather than be lacking it. "I was up north during the storms. Must have been pretty bad if you guys got them down here too." The storms had played a role in him being separated from Astrid for longer than he had wanted. He was positive that the rain had washed out any fresh trails, otherwise, he trusted he would have been able to find her sooner. "Glad you guys survived it. Not sure that the North had it nearly that bad. Or maybe I just got lucky." The large yearling awkwardly chuckled. He was never a huge fan of storms but they sure were better than fast moving water.

"I'm Mathuin, some call me Mat." He shrugged with a small smile. It was mainly Astrid who called him that small nickname. "And not looking like much is better than looking like nothing. Besides, don't think you would be second for no reason." Mathuin's tail gave a few short waves. From his experience all wolves in Crooked Stream all the wolves had worked for their places or had done something to get them. He doubted she would have just willy-nilly been second.

Astrid & Mathuin
The Adventuring Peanuts

It seemed that her new companion was just as happy talking to her as she was talking to him. It was a refreshing change of pace from the antisocial, strong, silent types she'd been around lately. (Except Niles. Niles was the exception to everything.) "We had a huge mudslide; it was kind of insane," she laughed breezily, though it was a frightening event that had scared even the most fearless of the pack. "It's weird to think that it was storming all over the Lore. What a random event." (lol) "It was pretty scary."

He introduced himself, and Cas offered him a grin. "Mathuin is a nice name. It's nice to meet you," she commented, tail still waving behind her. Then, he told her that 'not looking like much' would be better than 'looking like nothing.' That was an oddly fitting comment for the sickly young wolf, and she nodded in appreciation. "I guess you're right," the silver-brushed girl told him, a smile settled on her lips. "But really, I was just the only other girl who was here when the pack was formed. Though I've been working my ass off trying to fit into the role."

She had, too. For someone of her ill health, it was difficult from time to time even to complete the smallest of tasks. But she liked to think that the routine of it all was helping her to feel a little bit better. "How've you been settling in?" the girl asked, turning blue eyes back to Mathuin. "Most of Quaking Vale are pretty nice, but not everyone's super... social. I hope you've been given a warm welcome."