Sex: Female Honestly, she’d mostly agreed to this to have an excuse to get back down into the Edens again. The adults kept saying winter was almost over and things would be back to normal soon, but so far the mountain was still as frozen as it had been when they moved there, and Apolline was still miserable. She hated the rocky ground and sparse pine forest, felt no kinship with her cousins and their ilk, and she missed her dad. At least down here she had the chance of finding soft earth to dig her paws into, and she had a chance to smell the sweetness of deciduous trees – even if they were still naked, and many even lay tumbled on the ground, dead long enough to give name to this place. In Apple’s critical eyes, it was still nothing against her Chasm, but it beat Serpents Pass by a mile. She’d used most of her time here exploring, even slinking out past the borders a few times, though she tried to be good for the most part. Disenchanted as she was with her new life, she wasn’t about to cause trouble for the Cove or her mother, not much anyway. But she’d stayed to herself whenever she could, figuring that if the other Lake pups hadn’t entertained her, surely it would be no different with those of the Backwater. And today was no different, as she trotted the banks of their creek, looking for spots where the moving water had managed to melt the ice; The only sign of this ‘spring’ business… ”Speech" Thoughts |
Viorel was pleased that despite sending down eight pre-teens, the Cove had also sent down a couple of more mature wolves as well. While they had discussed the exchange via scouts, the man was shocked to see quite how many children had arrived to visit. The leader was doing his best to be a good host to all of their guests, while also keeping his children in line, doing his leading responsibilities, and trying to make sure Asmund didn’t get too overwhelmed. It was a tight line to walk but he was trying.
Returning home with a fat hare that had left its den with the warmer weather they were having today, Viorel was in a pleasant mood. Things were going even better than he had expected. Salt and pepper tail waved happily above his back. Following the lazy serpentine of the creek yellow eyes fell on one of the children standing near the river. Chuffing to get her attention he hurried his paws. Once he reached the girl (whose name he had forgotten already) he put the hare at her paws. Grinning he questioned, ”Hungry?” He wouldn’t like, he was excited to have ten less mouths to feed when everyone went back.
![[Image: s38i5ZS.png]](https://i.imgur.com/s38i5ZS.png)
| After a short jog along the shore, she’d found what she was looking for: the sight of running water peeking through a hole in the ice-cover. Tail and ears rising in excitement, the pup came to a screeching halt, craning her neck to have a closer look. Slivers of ice seemed to have broken off, leaving jagged edges around the long, slim opening. It was at the almost exact center of the creek, much too far for her to reach, sadly, she would have liked to feel just how cold the water was – but she had been expressly warned about walking onto ice, to an extend that neither curiosity nor rebelliousness could make her go against it. After watching for a little while, she sighed, already bored with this latest fascination. She started to turn away when the unexpected call reached her ears. Spinning to face the approaching the adult, she instinctively stood to attention, not sure whether to expect a reprimand. But the Backwater leader seemed in a good mood, carrying a dead hare that he dropped off with a smile. Apolline’s eyes shifted slowly from the dark man, down to his offering and back up again, not at all sure how to react. “I uh… I guess,” she answered nervously, still suspicious that something more might be coming. She’d tried to be on mostly good behavior, but maybe one of her slips had been noticed. ”Speech" Thoughts |
![[Image: CwM5irV.png]](https://i.imgur.com/CwM5irV.png)
The leader wasn’t sure what was keeping the child’s attention so raptly, and grinned a little sheepishly as she appeared startled. It was curious how apprehensive she seemed, but he could chalk that up to her being shy, or unsure of her new surroundings. He pushed the rabbit closer to the girl with his nose before plopping his rump down into the snowy ground and wagging his tale with a relaxed sort of happiness.
Casually he questioned, ”Are you enjoying your visit? It must be different than living on the mountain.” He had no way of knowing that Apolline was actually not native to the stone giant and instead had come from all the way across, or that Fools Gold Chasm had disbanded. In fact he had not asked many questions about which children had belonged to who, but could only assume that they had come from at least a couple of different litters.
Yellow eyes looked up through the trees to where the mountain loomed in the distance and he added, ”I’ve never been fond of the thought of living so high up myself, seems risky.” And he had no idea how right he was, but soon he would.
| It must’ve just been a reflection of her own guilty conscience, because the dark man really seemed to have nothing but good intentions. As he pushed the offering towards her, Apple tentatively reached down to tear off a piece, taking her own seat across from the adult. She chewed carefully, keeping her eyes on the rabbit with only her perked ears showing that her attention was on Viorel. His question briefly brought her jaws to a pause, eyes briefly flicking up to see the expression on his face; Doesn’t he know? Of course, it made sense that he wouldn’t, it had nothing to do with him or his pack. But to the girl, who’s whole world had been taken away, it felt like a personal insult, and she couldn’t help but sneer; “This is more like home,” Her voice was sullen, ears flattening back briefly to underline her words; “Th’ mountain’s too cold!” She finally looked up to meet the adult’s eyes, nodding solemnly at his second statement, as if she had any notions of the risks he was speaking about. Really, she just missed the Chasm, and would agree with anything that put Sanguine Cove in a bad light. ”Speech" Thoughts |
She was an interesting child, and the father could not help but be intrigued by her mannerisms. The way she took the rabbit and seemed fully focused on it, but her ears betrayed her that she was actually listening to him. The tone of her voice when she emphasized that the Backwater was more like her home, causing his head to tilt in surprise. So she wasn’t from the Cove originally then?
He nodded seriously, ”I can only imagine, I think I’ll stick to the forest at least until the season gets warmer.” He couldn’t help it, he added, ”If you’re not from the mountain, where are you from? And how did you end up with the Cove?” Were they in the habit of taking in strays, or was Apolline joining them part of some larger plan? Come to think of it, how did the mountain pack end up with ten children all at once?
It was all very curious indeed, and maybe the child sitting before them had all the answers that he was looking for. And, maybe she did not want to live her life out on the stone giant, they had already taken in one previous member of the pack after all, what would be one more?