Drooping Willows I tell myself to draw the line

The man gave her a smirk and she nearly stumbled over her own paws, her heart giving a ‘thump’ in her chest. Oh, she liked that even better than his laugh. This was going so well, she couldn’t wait to rub it in Arcus’ face when she got back. Whenever that would be, of course, because when her sister had met her Levi fellow she’d been gone for over a day. She wasn’t sure if she’d be gone quite that long, but who knew how long the falling-eagle stuff took. Assuming they got to that stage, anyways.

He introduced himself as Viorel Valle, a nice name for a nice man she thought with conviction. He asked her where they were from and where they were going, the conversation continuing with ease for which she was thankful for. She was afraid she was going to get too caught up in her own head about the whole thing, but so far so good. “My mom and dad were originally from the Lore but they left when this place got overrun by coyotes. My sister was born here but me and my other siblings weren’t, so I wanted to see it for myself since they’re always telling us stories about it. We’re not really going anywhere in particular, just all over the place,” she replied happily. “What about you? Were you born here?” how cool would that be? Surely he’d know all the interesting spots to see and maybe even some romantic getaways.

Viorel had no idea about Incus’ inner thoughts, or the way that she stumbled about his smirk. It wouldn’t have been a reaction he was not accustomed to, back at the Estuary whenever other packs would visit the girls Vayko called ‘floozies’ would fall over themselves to bag a Valle. Back home he had hammed it up, smirking, and winking, and flirting, and then sending the ladies on their way back home with whispers of being together someday. A real fuckboy. This was all to say, that if Viorel’s eyes had been open and he had seen Incus’ expressions he would have had some idea what was happening.

The Lore. This was the first time that someone had given this place an official name, it seemed fitting. Incus also reinforced what Al had told him, it had been coyotes that had run all the packs off a couple of years ago. It made him a little nervous for his future family, that these vermin could show up at any time and run them off again. Shaking his head, eyes still closed he replied, ”No I’m originally from the coast. It’s kind of a long story but, my family and I were kidnapped by weird two legged creatures and dumped here this winter.” This was a story he was becoming used to telling, but it never got any less weird.

Smiling again, and bumping his shoulder into Incus’ playfully he informed her, ”But, we’re making the best of it, and I’m leading a pack now called Dead Empress Backwater.” He thought of telling her where it was, but then she would know it was close to the creek which would have let him wash his eyes out. Walking along he hummed, ”Are we getting close to some water so I can finally rinse my eyes?” He hoped so, he was tired of the charade.

Viorel’s reply was not what she’d expected. No, it was even better! It was filled with what seemed to be an unfortunate adventure from the Coast (wow!) with something called the two-leggeds (double wow!). She had no idea what these two-leggeds were but she was determined to find out because her curious nature really was her downfall. He bumped his shoulder into hers playfully, eliciting a bright laugh from her ghostly maw, though her sunshine gaze grew wide again when he mentioned he was a leader. She at least knew what that meant, but he seemed so young. He really must be pretty amazing.

“Wow, you’re so interesting! I’ve never been to a Coast before, but I’ve heard it’s nice and warm. I’ve also never heard of a two-legged creature, but that had to be pretty scary if they just...grabbed you and put you somewhere else. What did they look like? They sound ugly,” she quipped, her eyes settling on the stream as it came into view just as he asked about it.

“It’s right here in front of you, watch your step. Don’t want you to fall and end up rinsing your whole body instead of just your eyes,” the girl warned with a grin, leading him to the edge so that he could properly rinse himself. She wondered what his eyes would look like, since she’d yet to see them. “You seem awfully young to be leading a pack,” she said as she stepped to the side. Then, she sucked in a breath realizing how that likely sounded. “Oh, I didn’t mean you seem, like, unable to lead or something. Not at all, it seems pretty amazing. My parents made their own pack when they were our age and it didn’t work out well, so I hope it goes better for you,” she gushed, basically word vomiting before clamping her mouth shut so she wouldn’t babble like an idiot.

Fade with your next post?

Incus’ laugh was bright and reminded him of birdsong in the summer, it was a very pretty sound. It made a smile creep across his face and a chuckle of his own to escape, all he had done was bump her shoulder, it would seem she was easy to please. She was reminding him more and more of his ‘girlfriends’ back home, a comforting feeling and he was falling back into his role easily. His tail lifted up behind him and draped teasingly across her haunches as they walked, before whipping away flirtatiously. He wanted her to laugh like a bird again.

Nodding enthusiastically he put on a fake spooky voice, ”Oh yes, very very ugly. They were taller than any wolf has ever been, and walked on two legs. They had no fur and they talked in weird grunting sounds I couldn’t understand, and when they sting you it makes you fall asleep for a whole day.” It honestly all sounded made up, even in his own head, but it was the absolute honest truth.

Creeping carefully into the creek Viorel tipped his head down as if he was looking very closely at the water, and then thrust the crown of his skull in. God damn that was freezing. Making a big show of moving his head back and forth he emerged, the top half of his face dripping wet, and then shook off as much extra moisture as he could. Finally blinking his vibrant eyes open, they were a little blurry with water. Blinking hard a few more times, the silver woman came swimming into focus, standing there with a smile on her face.

Laughing at her question he assured her, ”I definitely wouldn’t be leading back home, but since we were dumped here and didn’t have a pack I decided this was as good of time as ever.” Viorel shrugged, as if this was no big deal and hadn’t been a ton of work. She was cute, and he wished his side was pressed against hers again.

But, the talk of the pack had set alarm bells off in his head. He needed to get back, it would be too easy to fall too hard into his whole patterns. Looking away he said, ”Well, thanks for your help but I should be getting back. Leader stuff and all.” Probably not that far of a stretch. Stepping out of the creek he couldn’t stop himself from nibbling on the bottom of her ear and whispering, ”Drop by next time you’re around, I’ll be waiting.” And then, as if he was a ghost in the night, and slipped away back into the willows, back towards safety.