The smile on his face seemed to falter with nerves as her giggles merely overflowed. He wasn't sure whether or not to laugh along with her, so just kept on smiling, allowing a chuckle to beat out ever few moments until her laughter was interrupted by her speech. "I'm still a vagabond, really. I sleep wherever I can find a place." His powerful shoulders rolled as he relaxed a bit, though the silliest of smiles was still spread all over his face. "I've been looking at that mountainous pack though. Seems like it would be fun to live up there..."
Gone Tomorrow
Cori was not ignorant...exactly. She knew well where puppies came from and she did vaguely understand how they got there. She did know that when she was younger; say 7 or 8 months old, she had developed young puppy crushes on some of the older wolves in her pack. Or at least, that's what she presumed they were. She had never acted on any of those weird emotions that had suddenly made themselves known to her, so she was still very much a novice at the game of love. She was looking for a place to live, not somebody to live with. Though, if the right guy, came along, then why not? So for all her giggling, she hardly meant it in a flirtatious way - and truth be told, the thought never crossed her mind.
All giggles and laughter stopped as Alex answered her question about where he was hoping to reside. Eyes narrowed and she turned her head to the east, where the Mountain of Dire was. She had never been a fan of mountains; she was a forest wolf through and through. Their ragged heights scared her, and it was only recently that she had really come into her own physically; before her paws, which were too big for the rest of her body at the time, would have tripped her up and sent her over the edge to her death. Which, obviously, was not desirable. "Oh...really?" She responded with a meek smile. "I can't say I like mountains. They're...scary," she added, wanting to make up for her sudden change in behavior. "If anything, I'd like to join the Swift River pack, but the alpha there doesn't seem to like me to much...so I guess I'm kind of stuck." For now, she added to herself silently.
"Swift River?" That must have been that other pack he smelled when he met Honijo quite some time ago. "Why do you say that?" His brows rose in curiosity. Any wolf that wished to join your pack should be welcome, not necessarily with open arms, but with enough kindness not to frighten them away. "I've met with the alpha of the mountain pack. He seemed like a fairly nice guy." Alexander chuckled a bit, tail sweeping over the grass.
Gone Tomorrow
Fears were almost never rational, and their effects were never rational either. But, they were what drove all creatures to do things that they normally wouldn't. As much as Cori didn't want to believe it; she was driven away from the mountains because of her fear of falling off the edge. Which, was ridiculous, considering she had never once actually fallen off a mountain side. But, it was what it was. She shook her head in earnest as Alex disagreed with her, saying instead that the mountains were exhilarating. "No, it's definitely scary. Though..." she paused for a moment, "...the view is quite nice." That was the one reason that Cori would make the trek up the mountain, despite her fears, but, it wasn't going to happen any time soon.
He seemed surprised, and she in turn felt surprised with him, but for a different reason. Alpha wolves could turn away any lone wolf that they wanted to; they didn't necessarily need a reason to. She knew why Indru had turned her away; because she had crossed his borders by all of a foot. "Oh. The alpha there, Indru, didn't really like me. Maybe he was just having a bad day?" She smiled, knowing full well that had not been the case, but she didn't want to risk ruining her friendship with Alex because she had messed up in that respect. It didn't matter. She would find another home. "Aren't they related though?" she asked, wanting to wend the conversation back on him. "I had heard somewhere that they were."
"A bad day?" He echoed. That was an absurd reason, and Alexander's ears twisted back in disbelief, which seemed to echo in his voice as well. That wasn't any reason to turn anyone away. Even on a bad day, which this one had seemed to start out as, Alexander could still manage to be courteous. Perhaps this Indru character had a thorn in his paw. "Are they?" Alex couldn't recall Honijo saying anything about that. It probably just hadn't come up. If it was truth, it was certainly a curious one. "Well, Honijo's certainly nothing like what you've told me about this other wolf." He said with a snort.
Gone Tomorrow
"Sure, that'd be fun," she smiled, tail beating a light rhythm against the ground as she spoke. Though, truth be told, it would take hell or high water to get her to leave the protection of the forest. Neither of which she expected to happen any time soon. So, she was safe. If her meeting with Alexander was anything like the other wolves she had met in Relic Lore, than it wasn't likely that they would meet up again so he could escort her up the mountain. Looking back on the day, however, she was aware of how different their meeting had been than those of the others, and for that, she was grateful.
His disbelief made her chuckle and she nodded her head. "Yeah, a bad day. It happens to everybody I guess, alphas too." She had been the cause of his bad day, sure, but even so, Cori was convinced Indru had overreacted to her presence. It wasn't like she had been asleep in his den, or anywhere near the heart of his territory. Oh well, there was absolutely nothing she could do about that now. She had blown her chance with the Swift River wolves, and so long as Indru was in charge, she was not welcome anywhere near their territory.
Tilting her head to the side in curiosity, the young she wolf watched Alex curiously. Had she miscalculated? Was he actually a pack wolf? No, he had told her that he wasn't. "You seem awfully attached to him," she teased. "But that's good, I'm glad that he's a nice guy. Living in a pack would definitely be better than living alone. I'm holding out that maybe another pack will spring up here soon; there's been so many new wolves coming and going, I'm surprised that there hasn't been."
"Well, maybe he'll shake out of it eventually," Light brows rose, as did his voice in a note of hopefulness. "You'll go back some other day, and he'll be...Nicer, I guess." Alexander nodded, and puffed out his chest as he took in then let out a large sigh. Alexander tried to imagine what he'd do in that sort of situation, but it was difficult. He tried to make good impressions, though, he supposed if he made a mistake that couldn't be reversed, he'd probably try twice as hard to fix it.
Alexander laughed good-heartedly at the tease, ears twisting backwards in mild embarrassment as he did so. "You need followers..." His chuckles drifted away, and he rolled his eyes towards the sky. Sure, lots of wolves were wandering around, but that didn't mean any of them were leadership material. Alexander wouldn't have minded leading a pack. It sounded exciting. But he was rather focused on the mountainous pack now, and simply couldn't turn back.
Gone Tomorrow
Some fears were meant to be conquered, others were not. It was not her fault that Cori was made as she was, and was terrified of falling to her death. She was young; eventually she would learn to not be so afraid of such things. But not today, and not tomorrow. Until that day, she would keep to the forest, and hope that maybe every once in a while he would descend Mount Dire and come visit her...wherever she ended up.
She smiled as he made the joke that maybe she should start her own pack rather than wait for one to start up. She shook her head as she stood up. "No, I'm a follower, not a leader. That is for sure," she told him throwing him a smile. Bending down into a bow, she stretched out her forelegs. The feel of the muscles pulling was relaxing in some senses, and she grinned. "It has been a pleasure, Alex, but I'm afraid I have to get going. I've got to find somewhere safe from beavers to stay tonight." It had been fun, their war against the furry brown creatures, but they both had places they needed to be. He wanted to climb the mountain and she wanted to find a home here on earth. They would both find what they were looking for, eventually. "Good luck, Alex," she added with a dip of her head, before she turned and walked back into the forest from which she had emerged.