Larkcall Lowlands cause i'm a little unsteady

@Kino @Castel somewhere south of antler ring.

Even though Alastor did his best to subdue Sahalie's concerns about this newer, funner, more-likely-to-kiss-strangers version of herself, the whole thing was hard to put behind her over the course of sleep. She told herself not to think about it, not to get mad about this Kissing business, but it was hard to think of anything else. A teenage girl, after all, commonly gave a good percentage of her mind to kissing—at least, normal ones. Sahalie had tried to stay away from all the silly things her mind had tempted her with over the last few months, and she had done a good job until this childish half-romantic encounter was staring her in the face. The girl told herself not to be mad, not to hold it against this girl—Castel—because she would have no idea that Alastor was... that Alastor was.

That Alastor was what?

This was an even more confusing question, and Sahalie shoved it aside in favor of the more mature, more shocking proposal her friend had made last night. The more she thought about it, the more silly she felt for never having considered creating her own pack. If pack's like Alastor's birth pack could whittle away to nothing and Gent could simply move all his wolves wherever he wanted, surely she could just... she could do it. But how? Where? Her heart longed for Oak Tree Bend but that was off the table. And it was so far away. She had come so far already—she couldn't turn back.

"So where is she?" Sahalie said, looking around at the rolling, empty white hills.

Their day had gone rather well so far, things certainly felt better than they had in awhile but he could still feel the nerves about meeting Castel. He felt very little doubt that she could like the fluttery girl, but he was nervous about how Cas would greet him. Hopefully she would sense that this wasn't the time for their mostly innocent shenanigans. He'd meant it when he'd said that he didn't feel anything more than friendship for the girl. He truly had no desire to return the kiss she'd given him, and if it came down to picking between them he knew that Sahalie would win paws down.

They'd gone a little further south that day, catching the girl's scent having traveling further that way. So, he'd led them in that direction. Once they'd reached a certain point he stopped them, auds cupping forward to catch her words. “I have to call her first, she doesn't know we're meeting,” he replied, bumping his shoulder against hers with a friendly smirk. He stayed close to her, wanting her to know that he would be next to her side not the small ashen females. Then, he lifted his head and allowed his voice to drift into the sky calling for @’Castel’

Okay, so I wrote a novel for this e.e Whoops. I'm a little excited.

Cas hadn't gone too far after her meeting with Alastor the night before. She'd still been prioritizing rest, and had traveled a bit further south before she'd bedded down - she was planning on heading back down toward the creek she'd met Renier at. Not that she was hoping to meet him again, necessarily, but she didn't think she'd mind it. After all, making new friends was a cool part of the adventure. Speaking of new friends, her mind drifted back to the silver male she'd met only two days ago, and she smiled slightly, still a bit drowsy, as she had just woken up. They had had fun together - it had been a fun adventure so far, and she hoped that they could remain friends. She'd given it some thought, and between her illness and the smell of the other girl on his fur at all times, Cas didn't think it would be fair to intrude. She had decided that it would be better to just have him as a friend, and that way she wasn't screwing anything at all up. Not to mention the fact that he was clearly in love with someone else, and was perfectly content to flirt his heart out to some random female he'd just met. Cas didn't think she'd like that in a lover. Not that she wanted a lover, obviously. She had a year to live, at best, and it wouldn't be right of her to drag some poor male into her heart only to leave him behind and in pain from her departure. So, she would choose to just be friends with whomever she came across. It would be supremely selfish of her to do anything otherwise. But, there wasn't anything wrong with a little shameless flirting with a good-looking boy. She perked her ears when she heard Al's voice ring out over the hills she'd been sleeping in, not too far north, and calling for her. She smiled again, got to her paws, and stretched. She hadn't expected to see him again before she proceeded on her adventure - maybe later on, when she'd made her way back up to the lowlands - but if he wanted to, she was more than happy to backtrack again to see him. She'd quickly grown fond of the flirtatious male, even if those feelings were platonic. It was nice to have someone to call a genuine friend. So, she set off in the direction of the howl. It took a few minutes to reach him, but she hadn't been running. Best to not seem overeager, after all. However, as she approached, it was instantly clear to her that Al was not alone - there was a small, black-brown figure beside his pale one. It only slowed her down a bit, but she was a little more thoughtful in her approach. As she got closer, she recognized the stranger's scent as the one that had been written all over Alastor's pelt like a story. Cas set her tail to wagging, and it was raised ever-so-slightly in what she hoped to be a friendly gesture. Padding up to the two, Cas noticed the female's eyes looked like two pools of sunshine itself, and smirked to herself. Well, that explains why his favorite color is gold, I suppose, she thought, and headed straight up to the black-brown female with a content wave of her tail. "Your girlfriend is beautiful," she addressed Al, not a trace of sarcasm or contempt in her voice. The idea that this dark female was his girlfriend was entirely Cas' own guess, but she knew that Alastor was in love with someone, and it damn sure wasn't her. The silver-and-red girl couldn't help but feel a stab of envy, but not envy to be in the other girl's position. She was simply jealous of the fact that the both of them were fully able to experience this together, and she wouldn't have a chance to take a mate, have a family. Cas only had this year, and this year alone. No future, no hopes, no expectations. Pushing the sadness and fear she felt at the prospect, she perked her ears at the both of them. "Can I know the lady's name?" she asked, addressing the dark-furred girl this time.

rip me I wonder when I'll make long posts again xD @Kino

Discovering that Alastor had not, in fact, made any more plans to see Castel again—because that would have been the third, insane day in a row—was a small gift on its own. "You sure you weren't planning your vows or something?" she grumbled, trying to go in for the smart-mouth taunt kill even if it wasn't really her style. Sahalie returned the shove, pretending like she and Alastor had not made their own sort of vows the night before as they shouted in the moonlight. Her eyes followed the trail of her foggy breath up into the colorless sky full of snowflakes, listening to Alastor's call and feeling a little chilled and a little nervous. Awkwardly, snow fell from her coat as she tried to shake it away. At least with her dark coat it would be hard for someone to lose her out here in this white-out land.

The first thing that Sahalie noticed about Castel was that she was very short—even shorter than she was, though not by much. Sahalie's life was constantly dominated by masculine and feminine figures towering over her. Curiously, she eyed Alastor, wondering if maybe he liked them small. The loner was the most interesting mix of grey and a deep, red-brown that reminded Sahalie of the clay hills east of Oak Tree Bend. And Castel's eyes—Sahalie blinked rapidly—they, too, were a shocking shade of blue that rivaled Alastor's topaz. Everything about this girl seemed interesting and unusual since Sahalie was so used to wolves that were black or white or grey.

"Uh-what—" Sahalie nearly coughed as the word girlfriend flew out of the loner's mouth. Instantly she was reminded of Larkspur always calling Alastor her boyfriend and she began to laugh. Not a mean laugh, not a guilty laugh, because all Sahalie felt was confusion that this thing seemed to reoccur. Unlike in the summer, though, Sahalie could not simply claim that if Al was her boyfriend then she had twenty boyfriends—and apparently that had been part of what upset him, anyway. Funny, though, for this girl to so boldly and happily refer to her as a girlfriend. She didn't seem particularly bothered by the kiss or whatever they had shared. "Please I'm not a lady," she was only a girl and she had lost all claim to the "Throne" Anna had said was hers, "And I don't think youuuuu are either." Maybe it was too soon to joke about it, maybe Sahalie was still a little upset, but she still smiled anyway and pretended she was still okay.

Ladies didn't kiss random wolves.

"But uhm. I'm Sahalie." An ear flicked backwards, her head swung to Alastor for assistance, as if to say "well, now what?" The least she could do was offer a bit of an explanation, since Alastor had clearly failed to tell this girl anything about her on their first and their second rendezvous—otherwise he might have mentioned that they were not in a relationship. "Me and Al are just friends. We've known each other a long while."

There are several fresh rabbit tracks in the mud. Hunt Opportunity

Girlfriend!?! the silver boy’s eyes bulged and his jaw dropped slightly, heat traveled to his cheeks. He looked quickly from Cas, to Hal, then back to Cas in panic. If he'd been human, he would have been pinching the bridge of his nose. Sahalie seemed equally as started and he attempted to give a shake of his head, still shocked by the words. He wouldn't have minded being her boyfriend...but they weren't together so he couldn't possibly claim it. After all, Hal didn't even know that he loved her in more than a platonic way. And, it sounded like Hal herself had made a slightly sarcastic comment. Where the hell had that even come from? He gave her a baffled look. He thought they'd sorted the problem out, that she knew that she was the most important to him but clearly there were still some ill feelings being harbored and he didn't appreciate it.

He cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. “Ah, yeah. I mean no! Hal and I aren't together. She's just been my best friend for a really long time,” he corrected with a sheepish grin. He looked between the girls again before adding, “Hal this is Castel.” But of course she knew that.

Well, this was going great.

Cas ships them.

Yeah, she wasn't believing that crap for a second. Not together my ass, she thought, the corner of her mouth curling up in a tiny smirk. They fit together, she thought. The dark chocolate girl and the moonlit boy. Gold and turquoise eyes, both equally striking and beautiful. Large and small; the boy towering over the girl almost as much as he had Cas. Yes, she could tell. It was just one of those situations, where the longtime friends refused to acknowledge their feelings about each other for fear of ruining their relationship. "Hm. Well, whatever. I suppose you wouldn't mind that I kissed your 'friend,' then?" she questioned Sahalie, knowing that it was probably cruel, but for some reason, she felt like these two were just right, and if she were able to help give them a bit of a nudge in the right direction, maybe they'd at least talk to one another about it. "I was actually just starting to like Al, here. Good to know he's not tied down to anybody." She gave the silver male a wink to punctuate her sentence. Yeah, no, she wasn't really interested in Alastor in that way. It was just that life was too short for the two of them to not confront their own feelings and be confused. Either they liked each other, or they didn't. And Cas wondered how she was the only one out of the three that seemed to be aware that they really did. It only made sense that she should do something about it. At the insinuation that she wasn't a "lady," Cas snorted softly and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe not. Maybe we really just shouldn't be making assumptions about each other." Yeah, that was hypocritical of her, but Cas had solid proof to back up the idea that Sahalie and Alastor liked each other. Well, maybe not solid proof. But solid intuition.

sorry for the wait. excuse me while I try to figure out what the hell sahalie's feelings/reactions are for this LOL

Alastor seemed taken aback by everything: what Castel said, what Sahalie said, the whole gathering. It made Sahalie wonder just what kind of relationship Al and the girl had kindled during their late night rendezvous. Sure, they barely knew each other, but what did he get out of it? Did he like the surprises that were around the corner of every turn in the conversation?

Castel acted like she wasn't going to buy what they were selling. She seemed privy to some other, higher knowledge. The dark girl's muddy eyebrows rose over her even stare, a little surprised by the gall this strange girl had. At least she was not hiding, Sahalie had to admit. Castel was not ashamed of kissing Al, even if she thought he and Sahalie were an item. That was certainly odd and there was no way of understanding it. But she did not stop at her first question, which was bold and flirtatious enough, and punctuated her words with a wink. Sahalie blushed.

Assumptions. Her ears flicked back and forth. Sahalie, though she did not really know what a "floozy" was, had imagined Castel to be something similar to this concept prior to meeting. Castel had not exactly done much to disprove this prejudice, and yet there was something about this girl that had Sahalie wondering, as she always wondered, what more there was to this girl. Alastor was right, she was fun—just fun in a few extra ways that made Sahalie uncomfortable—and there was just a certain hint of something that Sahalie felt drawn to. "Well just cause I'm not his girlfriend doesn't mean he's not tied down" Alastor had certain obligations to her. They had talked about this.

"Me and Al are gunna start a pack together."

There. It was decided.

There were so many things going on that he didn't know how to gage any of it. He felt like he was stuck in a constant state of “what the fuck just happened” with each word that the girls said. First it was Cas saying that she liked him, which he quickly dismissed stubbornly as a joke that she always seemed to like to play. He didn't mind the jokes, but he worried that Hal, who hadn't had any experience with them, would take them seriously. And, since when had he become the poster boy for someone who would be unfaithful in their relationship? That was perhaps the most vexing part of all. Despite all of his flaws and misgivings, he knew that if he were to be in a relationship he would never look at any other girl. Perhaps because of his protective nature and his fear that they would leave him at some point, but he knew they would never have to question his affections.

Hal dropped the last bomb, officially putting out into the open that they were starting a pack. Or rather officially deciding on her own that it was going to be a thing. He wasn't offended by the idea, after all he was the one who had put the possibility out there. But, it might have been nice to have talked about it perhaps. Either way it was happening and there was nothing he could do about it. He thought for a moment before commenting, “You can join us, if you'd like.”

All the bullcrap of 'I don't like her; I don't like him,' was put into the back of Cas' mind for a moment after Sahalie's outburst of 'Me and Al are gunna start a pack together.' Now that was exciting - the prospect of a new pack, of the struggle it would take to build it up from nothing and make it into something beautiful. Hell, she was going to shove herself into the idea before Al offered her a slot without her even needing to push for it. Cas laughed and waved her tail excitedly. "There we go; a little decisiveness. Life is way too short to spend time flopping around the issues like a fish out of water," she praised, turning sky-colored eyes to meet Hal's sun-shaded ones."I'm totally in. I'd be glad to help you make a pack together - if you'll have me." There was a hint of askance in her statement, and coupled with a dip of her head it could've been seen as a little submission; as giving this wolf permission to lead her someday, if she so desired. Cas, herself, was no leader - she was well aware of that - but she was more than ready to follow these two on what might be the adventure of a lifetime. "I can't se myself going too far from the Lowlands, so whenever you two do decide to make this pack, you'll know where to find me. Probably that little pack up north." Just for good measure, she tapped her nose to Hal's cheek in a sort of kiss; like she'd given Al the other night. Only this one was less flirty and more an offering of good faith.