Whisper Marsh what the water gave me

It was interesting to watch how his superior backpedaled in the face of this loner. Wraith wondered why her opinion seemed to matter to the male at all. Skoll had struck him as a rather direct wolf and figured he would simply snap at the female for questioning him in such a way. Instead, he changed his posture to suit her and made a strong attempt to be less aggressive in his approach.

Wraith hid his smile in his fur as he continued to groom himself. His packmate's excuses sounded false to his ears, but the female could very well buy it. The more he heard from her, the more certain he was that she was ruled by naivety. Skoll, on the other paw, was adept at deflection. At least enough for the female. Wraith didn't buy the act for a moment, and couldn't help but find amusement in the entire fiasco. He actually snorted when he was introduced as Skoll's buddy, knowing the word was only a substitute for his name considering the good prince likely hadn't learned it yet. The black male took no offense to it but felt his pride take a sting at the female's reasoning.

"I'm hardly a helpless pup, Miss Ayla," he finally spoke up, tone still light and friendly. "A bit of cold won't be my end." What the wolves saw as cold here, Wraith considered rather balmy. He dreaded this summer they spoke of. That very well could be his undoing...

Turning to Skoll, Wraith inclined his head. "As for Niles, I haven't seen him. But I'd be happy to help you look." The pack had a habit of losing its members, he thought to himself. Hadn't Craw mentioned a young female going missing not long before he joined as well? Isolde, wasn't it? He dared not bring it up, however, imagining the loss still stung.

The woman introduced herself and Skoll readily took note. She was from a place he was not readily familiar with - to be fair, the only faraway land he knew of beyond Relic Lore was Torbine, his mother's very own birthplace - which earned her points in his book. What was even better was that she had lost her family; well, that wasn't to say it was a good thing but, to the prince, it meant that she had no strings attached. She had no one to run home to. His right ear swiveled to one side in what was obviously pure interest and fascination. "Yeah," he lent with a partial chuckle when she mentioned the whole bit about "getting in trouble" again. But, then as she went on, he found that he immediately lost interest. Right. He still had his buddy to deal with.

Skoll cast a glance over to where Wraith sat, smirking as his pack mate held his ground. Good, he figured, glad to keep his mouth shut and not have to 'cover' for him with an "Oh, he'll live..." or something of the sort. If it had been him that had been treated in such a way, he supposed he might've been a bit more terse about it rather than light-hearted. "As for Niles," the dark man had the Archer's sole attention now, "I haven't seen him. But I'd be happy to help you look."

"That's very kind of you, thank you," he managed through another half-smile. Gods, this was getting irritating and tiresome. Fast. He might have been born with a silver tongue, but to go on and on and on... He wasn't sure how his sister Morganna managed, being head of the pack with all its diplomatic duties. He decided then that the sooner he put an end to all this, the better.

He met Ayla's bright green eyes and he fought the urge to roll his own silver-ringed pupils at her. At this point, she really did remind him of his ex-lover. A part of him wondered though if she was worth it. Worth an invitation. Regarding Wraith, he inhaled deeply before taking one step off to the side, as if to wordlessly announce that he was just about ready to make himself scarce. "Well, if you're done playing in the Marsh, I suggest we go," he proposed to Wraith. "The sooner we find Niles the better." Trudging further away from the reeds and back the way he came, with little regard to whether or not Wraith actually followed, he actually sighed to himself not even ten seconds since he basically excused himself from the scene. His head slowly turned to look at the woman, looking her over and assessing her build and the way her ivory coat was actually accented with black markings. "Say," he called to her, "if you're looking for a place to stay, you're welcome to tag along." Okay, so that was a little too casual for his tastes, but maybe Ayla could give @Hecate a little something to do. His whiskers brows rose in anticipation for her answer.

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

Ayla was taken aback by the offer and looked to the less dominant man questioningly. But at the [*word]nonce[/*word] she had no reason to refuse it. So she turned to follow him cautiously. "Sure." Ayla replied, her orbs analyzing the male. Her ebony tipped tail had fallen to hanging limply behind her as she trotted. Ayla's well muscled hindquarters rippled as she moved silently and swiftly. She knew these males did not think much of her and she lifted her midnight lip in irritation at the thought. No she was not overly muscled but she could outrun these two, she was sure of it. With a snort she pushed forward to move only a yard or two behind Skoll.

She looked to the submissive man and spoke this time with no smile, "I did not say you were a pup. You see I was the heir to a pack....it was almost engraved into me to care for others. I was taught about all the positions in a pack. But my favorites were healing and hunting. Which made sense at the time as my mother was a wonderful healer and my father a great hunter besides being leaders. Those qualities have helped me since losing them as well. Any injury I may have inquired I was able to deal with and still hunt for myself." Ayla said this rather seriously. Gone was the smiling and overly friendly woman that had first trotted to the scene. Ayla knew the dangers of pack wolves, though her family had always been more than welcoming to most loners. This Skoll male made her uneasy and she saw through his sweet tongue. But the possibility of a family intrigued her and caused her to follow the dark prince. Her steps were almost unwilling as she followed this new and possibly dangerous path.

(This post was last modified: Feb 01, 2016, 09:34 PM by Ayla StarRiver. Edit Reason: word of the day thing XD )

OOC: @Ayla - if you place nonce in brackets like this [*word]nonce[/*word] without the *'s, it will register as the word of the day for you. <3

---

Even Wraith was growing weary of the chitchat. While conversing with each wolf on their own would have likely been fine, the pair together were an exhaustion, almost volatile mixture. He lifted a hand paw to scratch behind an ear with a hint of irritation. When his superior suggested they leave now to go looking for his little brother, the black male stood to comply, though hesitated when Skoll kept walking, glancing to Ayla with some concern.

It seemed Skoll had the same misgivings about leaving her and extended the sincere offer for her to tag along. He only smiled encouragingly when she looked to him for an answer. He couldn't grant her any more insight into Skoll's thoughts than she had; despite being in the same pack, it was their first time meeting as well.

As they walked, his ears flickered towards the female as she spoke to him. A brow lifted and he felt that nagging itch behind his ear again. He didn't care for the way she was already speaking down to him as if he were some lesser being or indeed a pup. While she may not have said as much, her actions and demeanor were telling him otherwise. Feeling very much like he was being nagged, Wraith gave a quiet sigh.

"Just don't forget to care for yourself first," he advised, attempting to contribute something, at least. As a loner, it wouldn't be smart to go around trying to save every wolf she came across. Sooner or later, it would get her hurt or even killed. There was a difference between altruism and stupidity.

xP If you two would like to set up another thread, I'm totally game. @Ayla, if you were actually interested on gaining entry into Willow Ridge, please start the thread with the "Join" prefix to let Leaders know you're comin'!

It seemed as though his offer was readily accepted and as he turned to start moving past the tree line, he scowled to himself, only half-eavesdropping on what he could hear of their conversation. Inwardly he scoffed to himself as he trudged on, only looking back at the two of them once as they went on their way to the borders of Willow Ridge. Most of the time, he kept quiet, with his head held low with the intent to get back home, deposit the woman before his uncle and his sister and whisk the other brute away as soon as was feasibly possible. True, he really had meant to go looking for his younger sibling, but he had not meant to actually invite anyone to accompany him. If the Archer prince did something, there was no mistake in the fact that he often did it alone.

At about two-thirds of the way there, he cast an assuming look at the duo - who, frankly could have been two "almost-doppelgangers" for him and the lover that had abandoned him. Yes, if she happened to find Willow Ridge suitable to her tastes, maybe he would have to introduce @Hecate to her as... a test of sorts. He held no doubts about his partner rising to the occasion, whatever he might pose for the two women, but he amused himself with the ideas that the green-eyed woman might do. As for Wraith, well, perhaps he could be useful if and when Skoll took the throne. If anything else, obviously someone had let him into their close-knit clan and it was probably worthwhile for the prince to get to know him; but, all that would have to wait as soon as they ditched the naive one.

Once the two had caught up, he resumed his leisurely pace without a word...

(Fade.)

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away