Dead Empress Backwater golden rays

The man that had accepted him was...interesting.

The threat had left only warm humor settled in the chest of Achille. Fuck around could mean a great many things. Yet this would not be his first spring. He imagined that the implication was clear. Two men could feel the warmth in their bones just as any woman might.

So Achille was not welcomed to...mingle among their soon-to-be perfumed women. Not that he felt so inclined with his own preferences, but clearly no one could have known that. It was for the best that they had offered their warning to him and had assumed nothing of his own tastes.

For now he wished only to make himself useful, as promise.

"I know you must be a busy man," His features crinkled with warmth. "Yet I have come to see if you might spare time for me. A hunt, perhaps?"

He sought to bond them as packmates, as trusted figures.

"I will settle for a patrol if the land is not so giving today."

" a-sheel pas-kal "
achille's name is the french pronunciation and the faintest accent tinges the edges of his words

Eros hadn't expected the company, but he certainly wasn't opposed to it, especially when it involved also getting work done. Achille seemed polite, respectable, and hopefully it stayed that way. Still, the tawny leader couldn't help a quiet chuckle toward the end of what the newcomer had to say.

"You'll settle, huh?" he raised his wolfish brow in amusement, warm and welcoming in his demeanor. He nodded his muzzle forward before taking off at an easy jog to lead the way.

"Come, I'll show you the best place to find grouse."

Maybe @Sage would end up with a partner in her role somewhere down the line, or maybe Ash wouldn't even still be around come the new moon. Either way, it'd be nice to know a little bit more about him.

"So, where're you from, Achille?"

(This post was last modified: Mar 04, 2024, 02:39 AM by Eros.)

The man seemed more laxed now.

Perhaps with those pesky rules out of the way, they could shine a bit more genuinely.

"A land far south of your own. The winters are not so hard there. The land was rolling hills and a river winding through a valley." For a moment his gaze drifted to Eros, admired the man for what he could see. "You would have fit in there, I think." His features wrinkled gently with a smile.

It was the warm colors and the strong build. Achille had seen such features come about for years in his home.

"I am glad to have traveled and come to see your lands, though."

" a-sheel pas-kal "
achille's name is the french pronunciation and the faintest accent tinges the edges of his words

Eros looked too at his company, meeting eyes with Achille for a moment. The soft color of Ash's was catching, something he couldn't help but keep noticing. As he listened, he pictured the other wolf amongst the described scenery with his mossy eyes, sun glittering along the moving water's surface. It did sound nice, though Eros had yet to envy another's home, the Backwater well-suited for him still. Another chuckle trickled into the air as Achille mentioned him, a rhetorical "oh?" following after.

"It'll be even better come the summer," he spoke of his own region with a measure of fondness in his voice. The cold and ice brought their challenges, but it kept them hardy as well.

"Do you miss it all?"

Family, too. Even when Eros had been considering striking out on his own, he'd only ever wanted to go far enough to respect the Backwater's sovereignty, had wanted to still be neighbors and had imagined himself visiting constantly. The imaginings of a child, of course, but they spoke to his values all the same.

It sounded like an invitation in a way. To see the seasons as they changed here. To see the spring roll into summer. To watch as the world would eventually fall back into winter.

He wondered how long this pack had stood, how many times they had watched the seasons roll.

"Sometimes, but not as much as I thought I might." His smile then was a bit more boyish, warm and teasing. Although he mainly teased himself by saying this.

"I think they will still flourish with one less Pascal around. My siblings are many there. Not so much here. Not to my knowledge, anyway."

Eros had opened his home to Achille, it was only kind of Achille to open his history to the leader.

" a-sheel pas-kal "
achille's name is the french pronunciation and the faintest accent tinges the edges of his words

There were two different meanings Achille could've intended with those last two sentences, and Eros was driven to assume that the other wolf was still remarking on his own family rather than the amount of heirs present in the Backwater. That was what it made him think of, how they should have had plenty as these Pascals had but instead he retained only one sibling who was blood, when he'd been gifted with seven. It was a shitty feeling for a wolf who was so family-oriented.

"I don't think I could do it," he admitted, gaze ahead on the trail they traveled by.

"But we've all got our different journeys, yeah?" a smile then, still presenting easy-going positivity despite what he felt on the inside.

"I'm glad you found your way here. So far, anyways," he teased, peach eyes looking to Ash's features again. He certainly didn't look down on the other for his differing decisions, especially if it hadn't left his family hurting, and hey, it'd resulted in the Backwater having one more set of teeth.

"That we do and I am grateful for it."

Otherwise their paths might not have crossed. A million things could have turned into what ifs had journeys been different. He could have taken himself down a long and exhaustive path of thought with it but he refrained.

"So far? Do you await disappointment? Perhaps a certain...bias is in the air already?" Yet his voice was light and laughter crept into the edge of his words. That sound spilled freely by the time he finished asking his own teased questions. His tail waved behind him in wide, joyous sweeps as he padded along after the leader.

The Backwater proved to be good company so far.

" a-sheel pas-kal "
achille's name is the french pronunciation and the faintest accent tinges the edges of his words

Eros watched him in his amusement, lips turning lopsided with a smirk of his own. Clever bastard. He would slow his gait a touch until Ash drew even with him, before tossing his shoulder playfully into his companion's.

"It's called being realistic," he teased back, subtly reminded of long-ago days when he and Seri had spent their free time in ways like this. When everything had existed under the cover of rose-colored shading, and his responsibilities had been few.

"Can't just assume you wouldn't ever use your slick looks and smart tongue for evil."

Or just to break his trust. Achille couldn't disappoint, and certainly couldn't hurt him, if Eros mitigated his expectations. Even if he did stick around and they became friends.