Driftwood Surge glass shark

@Matheo

The initial sting had worn off somewhat. While Mako would never, ever, in a million years admit to moping, he was starting to do less of... that thing which he would not admit to. Surprisingly, talking to Lachesis had helped. The leader had helped Mako realize that telling Risaela how he felt was a possibility. Not that Mako was entirely sure if it was something he'd follow through on any time soon, though. Of course he was upset that she'd left. But even more than that he was upset at himself at becoming so dependent on one wolf for his well being. The departure of a wolf who he had really only known for a few months shouldn't have rattled his world like it had. He'd get over this, past this, and come out stronger on the other side. 

He'd been here for a couple months, now, and he still didn't really know anybody past a superficial level. So when he saw the tawny kid sitting under a tree, he had to fish around in his head for a name. Mathew? Matt? ... Matheo, that was it. It was probably something he should just know off the top of his head by now, but shit, he was trying. 

The Coho turned his course slightly, veering towards the boy and noticing he looked a little sour around the edges. When he was close enough, he opened his mouth to say something, but realized he didn't really know what to say. It's not like he could just come up and blurt 'hey, I noticed you look kinda sad?' could he?

Actually... Maybe he could. He pulled his mouth shut and smirked a little, trying to let cocky ease smother over his social cluelessness. "Why the long face?"

(This post was last modified: Apr 06, 2018, 10:24 PM by Mako.)

“My face is not that long. I don’t think.”

Theo’s brows pulled together as he glanced up, over at the not-quite-stranger. Idly, he wished he was closer to their lake; he felt self-conscious, suddenly. Was his face long? The Tainn cleared his throat and then, only then, did he realize the yearling was using a figure of speech. Of course. The wolf ducked his head down, green eyes falling back to his toes as he sighed. He was not usually caught off guard so easily. But he knew what Mako meant now. He’d been there, too. When Risaela left.

“I just… Risaela left. Again.”

And then it occurred to him that his sister might have never actually told Mako who he was. And he’d certainly never introduced himself, often keeping to the silence of the trees. “I am Mathéo Tainn. Her brother… You’re Mako, right?”

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

@Matheo

The cocky, self sure smile on Mako's face faltered, amber eyes flicking between each of Matheo's hesitantly, trying to read the expression in those bright green irises. Shit. Maybe he shoulda just gone with 'you look sad', the joke clearly had gone over his head. If the kid didn't look so mopey in general Mako maybe woulda ribbed him on not getting it. But somehow, thankfully, the boy finally caught on that Mako hadn't meant it quite so literally. Mako blinked, ears folding morosely against the side of his grey head as the younger wolf brought up Risaela. Deep down, Mako had kind of known that's what would be bothering him. 

Mako grunted and nodded as Matheo introduced himself, and responded with "Yep, that's me." He'd remembered Risaela mentioning her brother, but it was just another piece of information that that had been filtered to the back of his mind. Suddenly, Mako kind of felt like an ass. Here he was being a sad mopey bastard, and hadn't even thought to think how this would all affect Risaela's brother. The Coho stood awkwardly for a moment, ears ungluing themselves from their flattened position against his head. "Were you guys close?" He ventured, and maybe it was a dumb question but Mako never claimed to be smart.

Okay, well, at least he didn’t sound like a complete idiot. Some of the tension slithered free from his shoulders, allowing the boy to not hunch quite so much. He wasn’t that much smaller than Mako, having almost reached his full size…it was just very rare to see the young Tainn actually have good form. At the yearling’s question, he raised a shoulder in a shrug and sighed.

“…no. I suppose not. She left and went places and never told me she was leaving. She always came back with new friends. She even met our brother and never told me that, either. I met him later, on accident. I was jealous, for a little while.”

Of course, Aleksei had gone, too. The world was full of those that left, and those that were left behind. Theo finally stood and shook himself out. It was making his chest hurt, all this talk. “Do you want do something? Anything?”

Mako tried not to frown as Matheo explained the distance between the siblings. He hated being pitied and didn't think anyone else liked it much, either. Mako felt a pang of guilt at mention of Ris always bringing back new friends... Shit, Mako hadn't even realized he was just a part of a pattern, a pattern that had been part of the wedge that slowly drove between Risaela and her brother. Mako wasn't vain enough to think he was the cause of everything, especially not something that had been chugging on long before he got here, but he was starting to realize just how many interpersonal problems he'd dropped himself into by following Risaela and joining her pack. And then she'd just left, leaving him to figure this all out himself.

He felt a bit overwhelmed with all the information, and he figured Matheo was too with how quickly the other boy stood up, swiftly changing the subject. "Yeah, uh," Mako said quickly, caught off guard by the sudden question. He fished for something to say, "Wanna walk?" He blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I found some pools down at the surge that fish get stuck in sometimes, maybe we can go see if anything's in there?" Maybe not the most terribly exciting idea, but better than nothing, he supposed.

“I’ve never caught a fish before. But I want to.”

He knew, of course, wolves ate fish. They appeared in the caches sometimes. But no one had taught Mathéo how to properly hunt anything. Small prey items came pretty easily – after all, it was a matter of trial and error. Rodents weren’t liable to kill a youth. The fish, though… He’d been far too young during the summer season, and he hadn’t spotted these pools yet himself.

He was curious. And maybe a little bit excited. Just a little.

Theo fell into stride behind Mako, content to follow the yearling to his discovered pools with trapped fish. “Did you grow up somewhere with water?” he asked after a while. The silence didn’t bother him – he lived in it daily – but he finally found himself curious about the wolf Risaela had recruited (and then left behind). “I know some of the other packs don’t have rivers.” And having grown up with one, well – it just seemed bizarre not to.

Mako couldn't help the little toothy smirk that pulled at the corner of his lips at the admission. "This'll be your first, then." He decided. He was content to amble along wordlessly with Matheo following close behind as they wound their way through the forest.

"Hm?" Mako hummed, caught off guard by the question and replaying it in his head. "Oh, yeah. Born just south of here right on a river, actually. Oak Tree Bend?" He hazarded, gaze flicking over his shoulder to see if he could catch any glimpse of recognition. "Learned to fish there, dunno if they're still even around though." He amended, gaze flicking back ahead. The distant hum of the river had now become a deep rumble, and Mako began to look for the familiar path that would wind down to the river.

"Watch your step," Mako called back as he began to scrabble down the slick incline, making his way to the rocky pools that swirled with viridian water below.

‘Oak Tree Bend’ didn’t ring any bells for him, so Theo just hummed thoughtfully and tried to imagine such a place. He had to assume it hadn’t been that different from Hearthwood River – different trees, maybe, but there was water, and clearly a forest. (That, or someone had done a horribly job naming the pack in the first place.)

He was content to turn the thoughts over in his mind and fall back into silence, only returning to the surface of reality when Mako gave out some instructions. Green eyes flickered downwards, carefully following the yearling’s trail down to the pools. Sure enough, little silver flickers indicated fish swimming somewhere beneath. He exhaled, tail starting to wag.

“Okay. How do I get one? I assume they will run away if I just dive in – like a mouse, or something.”

Hunting 1/3

@Matheo 
complimentary art??

With unusually delicate pawsteps for his size, Mako tiptoed to the rocky edge of a pool. Hungry eyes sifted through the dark waters, finding flashes stirring along the silty bottom. A few little salmon parr skittered around, but they didn't seem worth the effort. What did catch the Coho's eye, however, was a pair of fat silvery fish lingering in the deepest part of the pool. 

Mako smirked at Matheo's question, "Kinda. They don't really got much of anywhere to run in here, though. As long as we don't let 'em get back into the river, they're sitting ducks. Helps that there's two of us." His tail swished behind him as he paused in thought. Of the two, Mako was more sure of his swimming abilities. "I'll dive in and see if I can grab one of 'em, or at least scare 'em out of the deep end." Mako's nose pointed to the shallow connection between the pool and the river. "So, you stand down there and don't let them get past you." He looked to Matheo, an amused glint in his amber eyes. "And if you see one come up, grab it!"

Hunting 1/3