Larkcall Lowlands follow your fire

Backdated to 3/16 to take place directly after this thread, Chan is looking for @Flair and @Gwendolyn to introduce @Finley to. Open also to @Colette, @Reika and anyone else in the area who'd like to meet up with them.

After Finley had her fill, Chan had picked up the tattered remains to bring them along. There was more that could be picked off with care, and the bones themselves could be a morsel. Waste not, want not and all that. He brought them to a clearing in the gradually reviving field grasses that he and the other two frequented for meet-ups, and deposited the butchered lemming upon the tamped ground.

"Go ahead and rest, they might not be near," he let her know before giving a first attempt at summoning his friends. Chan barked several times, the sound shooting across the flat expanse, then paused and lifted his ears for any answering sounds.

The smoky Archer had found her way back down into the lowlands. She'd been spending quite a bit of time there with Colette. She supposed they'd sort made it their home at least for the time being. She'd already hunted for them that morning so there wasn't any real urgency to her steps as she navigated through the brown grasses. Here and there small green shoots had started to appear but the flowers had yet to come.

It was the smell of blood that caught her attention first. Perhaps an easy meal she could grab, she thought as she followed the scent. Then she heard a call through the air. Well now things were getting interesting. She made her way toward it which just so happened to be where the scent seemed to be coming from.

Drawing closer the where the scent was strongest Reika also caught the scent of other wolves. She approached carefully but kept her distance coming to sit there at the edge of the clearing where she found the woman and the man. "Did you need something?" She asked her voice loud enough they could hear.

The woman had been relieved to fill her belly with the lemming that Chan had so generously provided to her. It had been a long time since she had been full, a long time since she had even allowed herself to eat enough to feel full. She had some guilt about it now, Finley knew she would have shared, that she should not have indulged but she had been starving.

For the short time that she had known him Chan was turning out to be quite the gentleman, at least for now. Finley had a slight tugging in the back of her mind trying to remind herself to keep her guard up, but it was difficult. He had shown her such outright kindness, things like that were hard to ignore. When he signaled that she could rest the thin woman had sighed with relief and folded herself down into a lounging position.

Her chin still smarted and Finley winced when she laid it across her paws, tongue licking her lips in a faulty attempt to diffuse the pain. When a stranger joined them the Lennox female scrambled back up into a sitting position, trying to make a better impression. She stayed silent and looked to the man beside her, waiting for him to speak, not really sure what to say.

She’d been out hunting herself, but without much luck. She was just about to give up and return to the others empty-mouthed when she caught the scent of drying blood on the breeze. Never one to turn up her nose at a free meal, and hoping she might be able to bring her friends a bit to eat after all, Flair had taken the time to track down the carcass, and was thus dragging the remnants of a young muskox behind her as she arrived at the clearing – only to find it much busier than expected.

 

Letting go of her price, Flair looked from the dark stranger at the outskirts, to the woman at the center, and finally Chan at her side, quirking one brow questioningly. There seemed to be no aggression in any of their postures, though the agouti woman might seem a little nervous. But nothing raised any alarm bells to the rust-pelted woman, and so she kept up a relaxed attitude herself, taking half a step forward as she drawled: “Looks like quite the party down here!”

Surprisingly, it was a stranger that answered his call first. Chan's head canted as she approached, demeanor friendly and open from what he could discern. When she was close enough that he caught the complexities of her scent, he realized too that she had recently been in the company of @Colette. Interesting.

Were he a different man, he might have tensed with suspicion, wondering if this was one of the villainous cohorts she'd spoken of. Instead, he remained optimistic. Had his old friend found a new one here in the Lore, despite the thorns she'd grown?

Did you need something? she asked, and his smile wryly grew, glancing to Finley before parting his lips to answer. Flair's voice entered the air instead, and Chan took a moment to greet her with a headbutt before addressing the younger wolf's query.

"Nah, just lookin' for this girl here," he replied with a jut of his muzzle toward his flame-cloaked friend.

"Yer welcome to hang with us too though. Finley, this is Flair. Flair, Fin. She'd like to stick with us. Gwen off huntin' y'think?"

Reika was weary of the strangers since she wasn't sure what to think about them. Her blue eyes scanned the rest of the clearing for signs of others. She was a friendly wolf but she also wasn't going to put herself into a position to cause harm to herself either. She remained at the edge of the clearing for the time being.

A moment after she'd spoken another voice entered the scene followed by a female with a red coat. So there were more of them. The man spoke to her explaining the call had been to find the red furred woman. Rieka gave an understanding nod. Then the offer to hang out with them came. "Alright, I can stay for a little bit," She told.

Reika took a few more steps closer. She picked up that one of the women qas Fin and the other was Flair. She also learned there was another that wasn't in attendance who was Gwen. "What's your name?" She asked the man since he was doing all of the talking.

They were joined by yet another female, and this one Chan greeted much more warmly. Green eyes watched curiously as he headbutt the new wolf before introducing her as Flair. Finley smiled in a rather reserved fashion, not saying anything just yet. She was too busy observing the scene that was unfolding before her, the dark one called out asking for Chan’s name. Agouti eyebrows raised in surprise, it seemed that she was not the only newcomer.

What a ragtag group they seemed to have formed. The thought made the Lennox woman nervous in a whole different way than she had been before. Chan had offered her friendship and numbers as she figured her situation out but she had expected his situation to be a little more stable than it appeared to be now. Her gaze flicked quickly between the three of them that were here now, flexing her toes against the earth beneath her as she tried to think quickly.

Well, she didn’t have much of a choice did she? A haphazard group of wolves was better than being on her own and Camden had not bothered to stick around to see if his seed had been planted. Realizing she had been quiet for a long time and suddenly self conscious about that fact she blurt out, ”Chan said you guys are traveling?” It was all she could think of.

Chan seemed unbothered by the stranger, and so, Flair took her eyes from the dark girl for a moment to return his physical greeting. Apparently she’d interrupted them after the dark stranger had asked a question, since Chan offered a bit of explanation in her direction before returning his attention to Flair and his tawny companion. She meanwhile took the time to bend down, and grab hold of her muskox, dragging it over to the two paler wolves while Chan made the introductions.   Now Flair finally offered the augite woman a proper inspection, her presence having so far been overshadowed by the more mouthy stranger. They were of about equal hight but Finley was much skinnier, looking rather like a sudden gust of wind might knock her over in the burlier woman’s eyes. She was offered a smile and Flair returned it briefly, not wanting to be rude to Chan’s newest charity case. Turning to her friend she answered with a shrug: “Must be. We split up t’ cover more ground, guess she’s too far t’ have heard you.”   Then the darker woman spoke up again, having accepted Chan’s invitation. Her attitude however made Flair frown, her hackles prickling a little. “Didn’t catch you makin’ any introductions,” she drawled with clear sarcasm. Narrowing her eyes a little at the stranger, she took a half-step towards her, making sure the carcass was guarded behind her. She’d share her find with Fin, since Chan had vouched for her, but she wasn’t about to just give it away to any old stranger waltzing up and acting smart. ”Speech" Thoughts

dawnthieves.de, FairieGoodMother @DA & Lakela @DA

Chan began to catch onto an odd air of tension between the four wolves. Chalking it up to nerves and simple disposition, he didn't think much of it other than attempting to defuse it by continuing to be friendly and welcoming to all three. There was no sense in being anything else, anyways.

He gave Flair's brief a nod, before hearing Reika ask after his name. Finley put forth her own question, aimed at the redhead, but it went unanswered as his friend seemed to see fit that they swap queries. Her agitation was clear, but Chan was far from offended. His smile remained, even growing a bit, and he took the liberty of giving answers for both.

"I'm Chan. Was headed for the ocean, but we didn't really start the journey yet. We came from a pack in those mountains," he swung his muzzle toward the serpentine ridges, where the Cove was nestled.

"We can talk about what's next now after findin' Gwen, yeah?"

He had ideas for Finley to consider, if she was open to them. However, he wouldn't expect her to talk about her situation in front of anyone she didn't wish to. This gave them an out from the conversation for now, especially given the unnamed woman's presence.

It was a small group that had gathered in the clearing. Reika'd had no idea there were this many others in the area. She was curious what they were up to though especially since she was glad to have the chance to meet some new wolves. The man seemed especially nice offering something of an explanation to her. His attention had turned to the other two women. She worked out that his name was Chan and that the women were Flair and Finley.

Of the three of them the Flair seemed the most abrasive. This sort of behavior wasn't anything new to the Archer yearling. Colette had been even more so and she'd won her over. "Reika," she said taking a few steps toward the group. "I've only recently arrived in the lore," she explained hoping that might ease some hesitation toward her.