Sacred Grove sinner

His offer was met with hesitation and he couldn't really blame her. Kerberos guessed he was just so comfortable with her already and he trusted rather easily that the offer seemed normal. Although looking at Mae he also guessed she might have the upper hand between them. She was used to fighting for survival (could likely kick his ass too) and he was used to being able to rely on others. Up until mother and 'father' had ushered him to the world.

"Well, I come from a place way south of here called the Rigel Clan. I was the only one of my litter because my mom had some issues I guess. She didn't talk 'bout it much." He paused momentarily before speaking up again. "My parents sent me out here in hopes I'd get my own pack and lead, but I'm not too interested in being a leader. Much more comfortable with some rank below the alphas. Doing more dirty work and duties." He shrugged softly. One might find it strange that the only child, the only boy of his mother's baring didn't wish to rise. Truth was he was scared too and knew he probably couldn't handle it well.

Slowly his tail would begin to wag, Kerb's eyes looked at Mae's face. "You can ask me anything you want to know, though!" A gentle smile graced his face, dandelion eyes soft and warm despite the cold. "But what about you? Anything you wanna tell me?"

have you checked out my player preferences?

I swear Maera is the inquisitive roommate XD

He seemed more than willing to provide information, but she was cautious to trust what he was saying. Often times she’d seen wolves hide their baggage to get in good with others, and even if it was for survival, she wouldn’t be having any of it… only time would tell though. He seemed genuine, but I was difficult to tell and it wasn’t exactly like she was a walking lie detector. He explained his qualms and how his parents had just kicked him out… that hit a chord with her, because of her parents, and what her aunt and uncle had done to them.

Then he offered to tell her anything she wanted to know about him, asking what she wanted to tell him in return. “My parents were supposed to lead a pack, but the support fell through and because of it, half of my litter died during my first winter.” That was how she was going to cut it, and it was her way of making sure that he knew that she meant business. She wouldn’t take any slacking if she agreed to travel with him. There would be twice as many mouths to feed, but twice as many noses looking and she was only a wolf, not a goddess, and he could help bridge her areas of difficulty.

She was weighing the pros and cons of the surprising offer in her head as she continued. “They wouldn’t have… but my aunt and uncle had been mad that my parents had bred, and they had chased them out… my dad died of sickness and my mom and brother were accepted back by my aunt and uncle. I refused to go with them… not after everything they’d done.” Leaving her brother behind had been probably the hardest thing she’d ever done. She tried to convince him to come with her, but he’d refused.

It was then that she turned her attention to questions she had for him. “Do you have any strange sleeping habits? Like, you won’t talk in your sleep or anything, will you?” She could and would make him sleep outside if he did. She needed her sleep to be as strong as she could to keep on living and she wouldn’t have him interfering with it. “And how good are you in a fight?” Loners fought over food, fought predators looking to turn them into food… it was a fair question.

She was so harsh and serious. His ears pulled back and a soft whine of "I'm sorry to hear that Mae.." escaped his lips. What more was he supposed to say? They were just getting to know each other and such information was tender to handle. Kerberos knew how to be tender with rough topics but that didn't make it any easier. But he did furrow his brows at her next chunk of information. "I, I don't blame you." A rare sour taste in his mouth. "Not family like to kick you guys out in a time of need but take you back when it's over." His head hung and shook in a disapproving manner.

Having moved on to somewhat lighter topics was a huge relief. "No weird sleeping patterns. I'm only talkative when I'm awake." His words bubbly and joking. Although her question about fighting drew him to tighten his lips and think. He'd never really faught before. Sure there had been play wrestling and kind scuffles but nothing serious. "I've never really fought before but I'd be determined. And that's half the battle, right?" His voice almost childlike and asking for clarification.

"Do you have strange sleeping patterns? Funky rituals?" A smile painted his face. It was only fair to ask back the questions he had been subjected to answer.

have you checked out my player preferences?

She wasn’t exactly looking for his pity, but the way he handled the situation seemed to get the point of ‘I’m only going to talk about this once’ across just fine in her mind. She kept a soft frown on her features throughout the entire explanation and his response to it. No, they weren’t family, and honestly Maera wouldn’t be surprised if Kael and their mother got kicked out again once the going got tough… it seemed to be a habit with them. She forced herself to shake it off, not saying a word in response to his reaction, an appreciative smile when he answered her lighter questions, and a sense of relief to find out he didn’t have anything strange before.

His lack of fighting experience could be an issue… but she could work with him on that if he was serious. It was like he was going for a job interview, and she had to admit, he’d probably make a good travel partner. She was always naturally dominant, but at the same time she also had that ‘I don’t give a shit as long as you don’t screw up too bad’ nature to her. “Sometimes… other times it means almost nothing.” She shrugged before thinking of how to clarify that. “Would you be willing to work on it? I’ll work with you, but you’ve gotta listen and learn.” She knew what it took to survive, and sometimes that meant tooth and claw.

Then he ricocheted the question back to her. “I wake up early in the morning, but that’s about it.” She shrugged in response as her smile grew a little bit. She wasn’t sure how he’d take a joke about her sacrificing the wolves she travelled with, so she didn’t make it. He was friendly and she didn’t want to scare the poor thing! “I think… if we can work on the fighting that is, that I’d love to travel with you… at least for a little bit of time.” The pros outweighed the cons and if she needed to, she could always slink off and leave him behind somewhere.

He nodded in a understanding way. "Yeah! I'd love working on it and you seem like just the wolf to work on it with. I'm also pretty good at listening and learning." Genuineness lacing his words. They seemed to be getting close with the exchange of information so Kerberos saw no reason to not learn from her. Especially if she already had the skills to be a loner all her life.

"Wanna wake me up when you get up?" His question placed carefully. "That way we can start working at the same time and get things done with what little winter light we have." It was the truth. The Rigel male wasn't one for mornings but finally working with another wolf meant he'd have to adjust his schedule some. In the winter it would be ideal too. They'd have to work together to beat the cold and little sun.

When his offer was formally accepted, Kerberos barked happily. "Keep me around as little or as long as you want!" Of course, the young man hoped it would be for much longer time than just a week or two. The dark girl had already brushed off on him and she seemed like chipper company. He also was curious to learn more about her. A simple interaction wasn't enough for him!

have you checked out my player preferences?

He agreed to it, even seemed excited to learn and that was definitely an attitude she was certain she could work with. Her smile grew a little more, and he was already rubbing off on her it seemed, and that could be good though she didn’t know how she felt about that at the moment, just like part of her wasn’t sure how she felt about him. It would definitely take a while for her to trust him, but she was at least willing to try for the sake of making winter easier on the both of them… assuming he pulled his weight. After all, with two of them, they could go after bigger prey!

He then posed a suggestion that she was almost taken aback by, her eyes showing that surprise for a couple seconds before she managed to recover. “I… yeah, sure.” She hadn’t been sure where she was going with that at first, but it had come out. “But you better not gripe at me for how early in the morning it is.” She warned him of that because she didn’t put up with whining. It frankly pissed her off, especially since he was literally asking for it right now in this moment.

“Well, before you showed up, I was going after some fish that got trapped beneath the ice in a shallow part of this pond over here.” She mentioned as she nodded to it with her head. “So our partnership starts now! There are quite a few of them and with both of us working on it; we’ll have them caught in no time. Then we have to find a place to bunker down for the night.” It was like she had a to-do list running through her head as she turned and headed back towards the pond, expecting him to follow. Really, it was just a test to see if he could handle her particular brand of crazy.

-Fade-