Willow Ridge scanning the horizon

We wanna meet packmates. Indulge us? <3

Perhaps, to some, joining a pack after a period of great hardship would have been an opportunity to relax and enjoy their new sense of security. Craw automatically distrusted any wolf who claimed to prefer life outside of a pack's structure and support system, for such a creature was of little value to him as anything but a rival predator in the fight for survival. Similarly, he distrusted wolves who were layabouts, looking to exploit all of a pack's benefits while giving little to nothing back. Worthless animals, worse than the anarchists.

Craw was not here to lay back and look forward to an easier winter. Even without the underlying business he had with @Morganna, Craw had made a plea and intended for it to be heard and understood. They would see his worth. He would just have to wait and judge who deserved it the most.

Ever since @Angier had met him at the borders and accepted him, Craw had been observing all that he could. As a fresh recruit, his priority was to acquaint himself with the territory and his packmates, both of which he threw himself into with enthusiasm. The group was not as tightly-knit as Craw was accustomed to, did not spend the majority of their time in each other's company, and as yet he had not had an opportunity to properly meet any of them save for the leadership. That would change. He could not exist here as a ghost, skirting the edges of the pack, for that was not in his nature. Craw did things properly, or he did not do them at all.

Moving smoothly between the willows, Craw's manner was one of concentration, slowly building a comprehensive map of the territory. Every so often he would pause to glance up through the trees at the mountain to the west, a monument which had stood strong during his last month in this place, and one which he assumed would grow to be very familiar. He had much he needed to learn.

I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard

Since he had risen that morning, Niles Archer Lyall, being the rambunctious boy that he was, had spent his time whiling the hours away with playing. His plaything of choice currently was a broken branch; and, it was with something of a snappy thwack, thwack that he advanced through the willows, whacking one end of his stick against everything and anything he could find. Honestly, it was the sound that had him so excited about it...

Against a rock, POK! Against a tree trunk, THACK! Through the willows branches, SSSSSHHHHHHH... Through the dried grass, SWISHHHHHH...

Up into the air and running at full speed, he raced about, not even realizing just what or who he was approaching when he (accidentally) grazed his stick, the part that had once been adorned with leaves, against a pale gray side. There was no sound, which he had somewhat anticipated, but upon turning about in his tracks to regard whom he had thought to be his sister, he jumped back, startled. His jaw went slack and the branch dropped from his still-dark muzzle onto the leaf-covered ground. That was definitely not Ravenna. A hesitant tail waved from one side to the other and his head leveled with his shoulders. A thunderous growl came from his chest and something like a coyote yip fled past his lips but,  there were no actual words to the noises he made, which told any adult that the cub had no real grasp on how to properly converse (with anyone other than his age mate sisters) without relying on nonverbal gestures.

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

@Niles

The unusual sound had stood out from the otherwise calm, picked up by keen ears and an attentive mind. It had caused Craw to stop, partly in bewilderment as to what could cause such a racket so deep in the pack's territory, but the longer he listened (and the closer it came) he believed it was no threat. It sounded like something being dragged roughly along the forest floor.

Stood still, and apparently right in harm's way, Craw made no attempt to move as it drew closer still, until finally he could see a dark child, obliviously content with striking his stick against everything in his path. That included Craw himself, and the lack of any satisfying thwack must have been at odds with the boys expectations; once the child realised his action, eyes went wide and the branch was dropped in surprise. Craw watched him with a levelled expression, neither angry nor amused - until the child growled openly and enthusastically at him.

Craw stared for a moment longer, and then laughed. A child - Elettra's child, no doubt, which made this boy quite a precious thing. His lack of vocalisation had no gone unnoticed (and no yip was sufficient replacement) but perhaps there was good explanation for it.

Taking a step forward, pressing into the boy's personal space, the pale wolf bared his teeth for a moment, ears flat and a low rumble in his throat. The feigned aggression fell from him as quickly as it came, not wanting the boy to mistake a challenge for a real threat, though he did not otherwise retreat, testing to see what the child would do.

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard

Half-narrowed eyes regarded this scruffier, larger, masculine-looking Ravenna, even as the brute openly laughed. Regardless of whether or not he was laughing at the prince himself, Niles didn't care. He didn't like it one bit. One large ivory paw came forward, then another to complete one full step, and the Archer-Lyall crouched lower by a few degrees, steeling himself on what could have been a full-on attack. His dark ears turned forward in a bluff; he truly believed he could take on the guy.

This wouldn't be an actual attack though, or, at least, maybe not yet. Even if there was a hint of his father's musk on the other's coat, Niles very much wanted to establish that he held precedence. This was actual practice for when he could finally get his older brother Skoll to stop spooking him in the middle of the night.

The young royal flashed his canines, the newly-acquired adult teeth coming perfectly together in jagged but blunt points in his clenched jaw. But, then, the aggressive, near-threatening display fell away sooner than expected. This was nothing playful, Niles had thought, and he found that he could not pull away or even be soothed. Even if those large ears had fallen back as Niles' own ears had remained forward, those colorless eyes regarded the man with a scowl. Initially, Craw had seemed threatening and startling, if only due to his size and striking resemblance to his sibling; the more the boy stared, though, the more he realized that he wasn't as scary as he thought.

Another brief snarl came in retort but his dark tail kept lowered with a small wave. It was apparent that the lad was not going to lash out or immediately take charge of his personal space; if anything, Niles merely wanted to prove that he would not and could not be intimidated.

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

Everything was connected, everything was important and worth paying attention to. This was Morganna's baby half-brother, sired by the man who had accepted Craw at the borders. This wasn't the infamous brother he was so keen to meet, but that didn't devalue the encounter. Every new scrap of information, every new meeting was another piece to a puzzle which Craw had made it his job to put together.

The boy reacted by matching his threat, the confidence and aggression in such a young body intriguing to watch. Either the boy was a fool, arrogant, had no real concept of danger or all of the above. Or, more generously, he was brave, which amounted to the same thing.

But there was no problem in that. It wasn't the child's fault if he didn't yet understand the importance of fear, potentially coddled and kept safe from the harshness of the world. With an older sister like Morganna, though, Craw doubted that. Besides, the boy could likely smell his father's scent on the pale wolf, and as such had appropriately deduced Craw's newness - and being a little lordling, probably thought himself superior.

"Don't you talk, boy?" Craw hissed, responding to the child's boldness by pressing in even closer, hovering his muzzle right up alongside the smaller dark one, teeth slowly bared, eyes fixed on the cold grey ones. Unless the youth was totally unflappable, he would force a reaction eventually. "Come on, show me what you're made of."

I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard

"Don't you talk, boy?" the interrogation finally came by the way of words. "Come on, show me what you're made of." Niles had almost opened his mouth to meet the older man with some sort of quip, specifically remarking that he didn't talk to strangers as per his father's request or, as the prince had originally wanted to say: he didn't talk to anyone with the likes of him. Somewhere along the way, perhaps due to his exposure of picking up just how his family handled certain things, the boy had picked up that he could outright decide and discern for himself just who was royalty and who was among the riffraff.

This man, here, seemed to be bordering on the plebeian side of things, until it suddenly struck Niles that the brute could have come from some other hierarchy or some position of power. Never had he come across someone who glossed over introductions and skipped right over into the thick of things. Things like seeing just what and who the Archer-Lyall was.

Willing to oblige, Niles squared his shoulders with his hackles raised up, lifting his bottle-brush of a tail just enough in mimicry of the remembrance of one very annoyed Angier. Another flash of his teeth and he released a louder growl; had it not been laced by his youth, produced by a childish set of vocal chords, it might have been intimidating. There was still time yet in which he could grow into something like a Guardian. Perhaps with proper training and a bit of filling out here and there with his lengthy limbs and large ears, he could be a convincing one; but for now, there was merely the feasibility of such a thing.

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

A moment passed as Craw waited for his challenge to either be dismissed or met, and it was with great pleasure that he witnessed the outcome. Taking a step back, letting the young man reclaim his personal space as he so wholeheartedly answered the question. With a child's teeth bared, lanky form and youth's vocals, the boy was far from the intimidating spectacle he was to trying to be, but none of that mattered. Craw saw only potential. There was nothing wrong in being young, for it was a situation the lordling would leave behind before long; what mattered was the creature he would grow up to be. Gumption was valuable, and this boy had plenty.

He observed the display for a few moments, with no sound but the child's high growling and Craw's repetitive wheezing, before a slow, satisfied smile split his maw. "Good," he grunted. "Come, willow lordling, show me around your lands. I dislike being unfamiliar with where I am to serve. I imagine few know it better than you." Without further ceremony, he turned to pick up the stick which had been dropped earlier, and offered it back to the boy in silence, watching keenly for the response.

I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard

There was a word of praise and while Niles might have enjoyed it - the only cue he had to show this was a more enthusiastic wag of his tail - the delight in it slowly died away as the older male asked him to show him around Willow Ridge. This was like meeting Sven all over again and, almost instantly, the boy let out an hesitant "Erfff." in reply. It was another of those meaningless sound, like a human toddler whimpering and crying to let their parent know they liked or did not like something. Craw dipped his head to offer Niles back his stick and it had given the lad a start, the sudden flinch of his muscles indicative that the cub had been expecting something drastic in return (a nip to the ear, perhaps, or a bit of teeth to the shoulder).

To see the stick held out before him had the little prince turn shy again. It took a little more bravery than he had thought to gingerly take it from Craw's jowls and into his own. Once it was secure in his teeth, he went back on his initial impression of the brute and quietly began to lead him into the willows. Along the way, he stopped once just to make sure his companion was still following. When he finally stopped he had led him to the Infirmary where he and his sisters slept. With care, he propped his stick up against the side of the rock den's entrance then turned around in a full circle to look at Craw again with an expectant gaze, wondering if he might receive any comments or questions.

we can say goodbye, just head home, but if we're going to be alone
Chimera is currently traveling with Niles and may hop into this IC thread!

@Niles

Something he'd said caused the child to withdraw a little, but while Craw took note of that, he reacted only with fleeting curiosity - perked ears, a flash of interest across his expression. Assuming that he would learn nothing from questioning the boy on it, Craw let him take the stick (again noting the brief flinch with a similar level of intrigue) and then followed the young Archer as he drew the older wolf further into the willows.

When the dark boy first stopped, Craw had grunted at him, partly to encourage him to keep going and partly to reassure that he was still content to follow. The child made it clear once they'd reached their first destination; the stench of herbs thick in the air. So the pack had those knowledgeable in medicines and healing. It was far from a topic which interested Craw on a personal level, but he understood the value of such expertise - and, in turn, the experts themselves. As the young Archer carefully laid his stick down and began to watch Craw, the scarred male decided to take the time to appreciate the glimpse of Willow life that the boy had offered, and poked his head inside the den.

The air was heavy with a variety of smells, but the most interesting - beyond the plants which Craw was relatively unfamiliar with - was those of the wolves who spent the most amount of time here. This must have been where the boy himself slept, along with two girls, his sisters. And, unsurprisingly, their mother's scent was utterly pervasive... but he could find no other adult's scent which was as strong - who was the apothecary? Elettra herself? Leader and medic? What a fascinating creature, he thought, pulling back out of the herb-heavy den to look back at the dark-coated child with the hint of silver dusting around his face which was so like his mother's.

"You must be Niles Archer-Lyall," Craw said at length, having had the boy's identity confirmed and thus slotting it in place which what @Morganna had told him of her family. The pale wolf tilted his head at the Archer, waiting for some kind of confirmation that he was right.