Sanguine Cove someday you will fly too

Random Event: The other animals around you are growing hostile to your presence. For @Kokonoe only.

Armand was regretting having ever joined the mountain pack at all. His family hadn't been here, not even one of them, and, putain, the meeting! Now they were on lockdown, because apparently there was some kind of Cove-hating killer roving around now? Whatever they'd done, Armand certainly hadn't been a part of it. Now he had to worry about getting killed for an association that was barely his anymore. It made leaving and staying both bad options.

Frustrated was an understatement, but at least he had his father's language. He let out his thoughts through it, confident that it was still the tongue of secrets as it had been for him as a child.

"... maudits connards de lapins, pas étonnant qu'ils finissent tous morts... Qui diable vit dans un endroit comme celui-ci?..."

So beautiful, yet so uncouth. Somewhere above his head as he walked, a squirrel began chittering angrily.

Each fall of pale paws felt rather precarious for the chocolate coated woman as she begrudgingly bore the weight of her invisible shackles that had been thrust upon those that called this place home, allowing them only enough chain length to visit the lake shore and the extent of the pack's boarders. Things had been fine until the return of her leader's daughter and her companion which left Koko to wonder if perhaps Khalon had been right about those in the Cove. What a drag it was for the petite woman regardless who had been so excited to venture to the surrounding areas and see what pretty hidden things an otherwise harsh landscape offered.

Maybe the lake would soothe her woes and offer up its own enticing, pretty things to sate her adventurous heart. Thus she began to trot along a well worn trail toward the glistening waters only to be brought to a stand still when words so foreign yet so alluring caught her attention. Chocolate ears pivoted forward in an attempt to drink in the syllables that sounded sweet like honey from a voice unknown, yet had she known any better were filled with such crudeness.

A small shift in trajectory had pale paws giving chase in the form of a slow lope, icy blue eyes scouring the snowy scenery for the maker of such pretty words. The sound of angry chittering began to grow louder and its distasteful sound caused a minute scowl to form along Koko's maw, pointing her muzzle upward to narrow a cold gaze toward the squirrel in question. "Would you hush it?"

He'd been able to ignore the sound himself. It was a part of the background noise, but her voice wasn't. Armand stiffened and inhaled sharply. It was just them.

"Excuse me?" he turned toward where the voice had come from, wolfish brows drawn with insult. He had very much thought her command to have been for him. He might have been a week or so from official adulthood, but that was the only thing that had placed her above him in the hierarchy. His tail began to raise defiantly, while his eyelids lowered, fixing her with a glare.

It didn't matter if she was exceptionally pretty, Mand had gotten sick of others lording authority over him a long time ago.

More chatter in indignation came from the squirrel before finally it scurried itself further up the tree it had homed itself in, a huff akin to questioning the critters audacity to begin with following suit before words in a language she actually understood filled her ears. The woman's gaze shifted from the bare branch where the squirrel had formerly been to settle on the blonde face of one of the yearlings that she had seen at the meeting. His features and body language screamed pissed off and she couldn't quite place why such animosity was being tossed her way.

Power was of no interest and meant nothing to Koko, nor was she one that enjoyed conflicts which had often led to her being bullied growing up back home. The others in the pack and her siblings included had taken advantage of her bubbly personality and choosing to always go belly up at the first signs of conflict. Thus chocolate ears swept back and pinned themselves down, sinking closer to the ground in a submissive display despite the ranking she held over him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I was talking to the squirrel not you." It wasn't until it clicked that he must have thought her grumbling with the squirrel was aimed at him that she widened her eyes some and relaxed back to a neutral stance.

She was looking up but when Armand followed her gaze, all he could find were barren branches. Squirrel?

Yep.

His eyes dropped, and she was deferring to him. Both surprised and pleased, he almost failed in drawing his poke face. Almost, but not quite. His ears lifted just a tad, but his features leveled out into thin, neutral lines as naturally as breathing.

"Oh."

Armand's body language had also calmed into far more casual posture, but that wasn't to say he wasn't still standing stiffly. He always struggled with recovering from getting off on the wrong footing.

"Apologies."

Spoken flatly, gold eyes dodging askance.