Paradise Falls Meeting the Angel

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As Marigold bumped into him, a flutter of excitement rushed into him. How did she know that tag was his favorite game to play? With renewed fervor, Toklo tried to run as fast as he could to catch Marigold. He zigged and zagged, leapt and ducked, but no matter his efforts, he simply was not fast enough to catch her. As he was about to call it quits and yell out to her to stop, he made a final turn and finally saw the lake that she had talked about. It was magnificent! Turtleback lake shimmered with the early afternoon sunlight, making it twinkle like the stars. The snow near the banks was a pristine white.

Stopping dead in his tracks, Toklo couldn't help but admire the beauty of the surrounding landscape. Panting slightly from the excursion of the chase, Toklo said with his mouth agape "Wow, that is single handedly the most beautiful lake I have ever seen.".

---

Marigold put that 'natural grace' to the test now, not much inclined to take it easy on Toklo. Every now and then she would consider giving him a break, but then he'd start to catch up in earnest and she'd be spurred to continue in the spirit of competition. They reached the lake, and while she noticed, she didn't much care. Mar was, after all, having fun.

She barely heard his voice, having gotten so far ahead without realizing he had stopped. That was enough of a hint in itself, and she dug her paws into the snow to stop and look back. Her own tongue lolled into the cold air as she panted, eyes pinched against the glare of sun against the flat, iced-over land.

Mar made her way to him at a trot.

"Well? D'ya take it back, or what?"

The words sounded challenging, but a twinkle in her silver eyes said it was mostly in good fun.

---

Brought back to reality by Marigold's remark, he barked out in laughter. "Ok fine. I guess you can be really fun. In all honesty, that was the most fun I have had in a while!" he said with a silly smirk.

A loud gurgle came from Toklo's stomach. He hadn't eaten anything since he first came to this pack. "I've had so much fun that I totally forgot the actual reason why I came to you in the first place! You were showing me where the caches were right? You said that there wasn't any near the lake? Why is that? With the amazing scenery here, I would've thought that wolves would be around here more often."

He started to sniff the ground to see if he could find the closest cache.

---

Marigold's chin lifted a touch as he conceded, tail wagging victoriously at her back. She didn't mind the shift back to their work, though. She chuckled at his question, and of course he was already back in motion.

"So fun you've lost track of time?" she teased, before giving him an earnest answer, "We're too far out, but the hunting is great and you can kind of gauge prey population in the area by coming here. Like you said, it's pretty amazing, and everyone wants a drink. We couldn't protect caches this far out, though. Scavengers would get them."

Mar took in the scenery too, the water's frozen expanse so great it reminded her of the lowlands. She quite liked where the Falls were situated, that they could take a break from the forests and see sights like this.

"Do you want to head back?"

---

He wanted this moment to last forever. He loved being in this part of the wilderness. He felt more at home here than anywhere else. He knew he couldn't be here forever though. He needed to be in a pack, not alone. "I'm not sure that the other wolves will like me." He silently thought to himself.

Pushing those negative thoughts aside, he said to Marigold "Sure!". He started walking back towards the waterfalls.

He had met with only one or two of the other wolves, so he thought he could maybe ask Marigold what her thoughts were of the other packmates. "Since I'm so new here what do you know about the other wolves? Are they willing to let strangers into their pack like me?".

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(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2024, 10:21 PM by Toklo.)

Marigold turned away from the lake, beginning the long trek to marked territory. Her ears swiveled around Toklo's words, a barely-audible hum in her throat as she considered the questions. What did she think of everyone... ? Well, the truth depended on each individual, and there was plenty that was either private, or would just feel... gossipy. Still, an 'everything's great!' would be a lie, no matter how polite.

"They seem to be so far," she answered the latter first, trying to conjure a time someone had been turned away and failing. She wanted to say that she hadn't been here that long, but she quickly corrected herself internally. Marigold had been here nearly a year now, having arrived in the midst of last year's heat season.

That was coming up again. Ugh.

"I... should not have allowed it to be this way, but I haven't really gotten to know any of the others outside of my family and Flair."

---

Toklo himself understood how hard it is to form friendships outside of your family pack and even had some struggles with gaining trust in his own family. "I highly doubt that it would be your fault. Forming trust with other pack mates isn't something that can be done with one wolf. Both parties have to be willing to be kind. I've only been here for a couple of days and I already really like you!"

Realizing what he had said, Toklo blushed. "I...I mean I think you have shown a lot of kindness towards me and I greatly appreciate it!". He looked away for a second trying to think of a better way to recover, but couldn't think of anything.

At the mention of Flair and her family he asked, "Who's Flair?".

---

Toklo wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, causing a small smile to curve her lips. Mar knew better, though. The Falls wolves had always been open and friendly, it was her who was guarded, who spent all her time either Chan and the children or alone decompressing as she worked.

"You're kind," she returned, attributing his slight stumbling to typical social nerves. Toklo appeared to be so happy to please and carefree, but it seemed maybe that was some kind of a veneer. As his questions went on, she felt that maybe he wasn't so sure that others appreciated his energetic presence. Like maybe he was 'faking it until he made it', in a sense. Mar could relate, knew that she hadn't always been what others wanted but hadn't known how else to be, to just keep trying and pushing in her own way because there had to be space for her somewhere, right?

'Who's @Flair?'

Mar blinked, a beat of silence coming before she answered. That's right, for all Toklo knew, Finley had always lead them.

"She's one of the Falls' founding leaders, but she's been sick since the summer's wildfire smoke. She's also my father's mate."

Chan had never used the word himself, but what else could they be? They had conceived and were raising children together, and appeared virtually inseparable.

(This post was last modified: Mar 18, 2024, 02:13 AM by Marigold.)

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"Oh interesting," Toklo said, "It sounds like she wasn't your birth mother? I myself don't have a step mother, but I do have a wicked Aunt. One time my cousin and I were playing in a neighboring field when we were really young, blowing the seeds off of dandelions and making wishes. What we didn't know was that field was on the territory of a rival pack. My Aunt saw us and brought us back to our pack lands, but she yelled, barked and screamed at us till our ears bled! Flair sounds way better than that."

Having almost arrived at the waterfalls, Toklo asked "So how come you haven't made friends with the other wolves yet? You're the daughter of the pack leader right? Isn't it your job to know everyone here?".

---

Toklo immediately began to use the word 'mother' and Marigold's immediate response was a surprised and indignant snort. Even the accompanying story about his Aunt, while a cute distraction, couldn't cleanse the sour taste now settled at the back of her tongue. At least his Aunt had cared about his safety.

"She is not my mother," Mar cut in at the earliest opportunity, voice level but sharpened. His questions had fallen into the same category, that being topics she was not willing to get into.

"I've been here less than a year. My family is complicated, and not all here. That's all that needs to be said on the matter."

Perhaps she was being rude now, but Marigold cared more about making the line in the sand between his business and hers clear. Her silver eyes had narrowed and she picked up her pace, practically jogging. Marigold had officially shut down, and the most he would get for the remainder of his tour would be clipped tones and succinct answers to any pack-related queries.

(This post was last modified: Mar 18, 2024, 02:25 AM by Marigold.)