don't mind if i do

The Heights were a new place, but no less acceptable for him to wander. It had been quite the trek from Dragonford, but he finally made it. Avoiding the vines scattered about, Bae was confident he could gather some excellent moss here and transport it back without fuss. The weather looked miserable today; clouds of gray hanging in the sky above, absorbing the light that wanted to reach below. The man looked down after checking what direction he was going.

Approaching a moss-covered rock, he placed a paw on it. Judging the length and width of the plant, he began to claw in a fluid and lengthy motion. He didn't raise his paw from the rock until at the edge, revealing his gathering made thick strips of moss instead of splotches. He would place the strips to the side, beginning again until the whole rock was picked clean. Bae could transport the moss in his jaws and under his chin — a trick he had picked up from various master healers.

While absorbed, he wasn't too absorbed. He sniffed idly, catching the scent of a stranger.

@Harper

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^^The children were a little over a month old now, and Harper’s restrictions upon being den-bound were slowly being lifted. She did not like being grounded to the den, even for the sake of her children. It felt nice to leave them from time to time, if only to get some air, but today, she wanted to speak to her husband.

She’d left the boys in charge of the children while she took a little trip, as she often did; to the place where she’d met her husband, with a deep sigh. It was the only real place that she could still feel him; aside from Ichorwood, though she hadn’t been back since their honeymoon. It wasn’t as if she could take a day trip there.

The weather wasn’t the best, and Harper had wished that the skies would have parted just a little bit so she could see the stars. Perhaps if she waited long enough, the clouds would part? She sighed and took a deep breath, realizing that she was within the company of a dragonford male.

Approaching him, Harper sat down some distance away, brow arching, as she watched him play in the dirt. He was the color of halloween; deep browns with a splash a white, and black points like a siamese.

It was interesting to find him, a red-clay colored canine, playing in the soil. Though she said nothing, merely watching him with the tilt of her head.

^^
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He was aware of the other's eyes on him. 

Unfortunately, he wasn't terribly social these days. A soft restart in a new world came with many problems. He felt, well, that he had lost any process he had made previously. Bae was awkward and stiff around new people, inside or outside of the Ford. He didn't want to talk right now, and took the silence as that he could finish what he had set out to do; before speaking. So he did.

Another boulder was turned toward, his short canine claws raking the moss off as a cat would scratch. It was a steady and slow process to gather as much moss as possible in a single go. He proceeded to work until another rock was clear. That's when he turned to look at the woman. She didn't look like anyone he had met thus far, which was fine. He didn't know many wolves anyway.

"Hello..." he said, uncertain and self-conscious. He had specifically turned to look at her with his unscarred side. He didn't know what else to really say at the moment.

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^^Harper was not really the sort that enjoyed disturbing a canine at work; she herself didn’t enjoy being disturbed in the middle of her own work. So she would watch him, taking in many notes as she did, while keeping an eye on the clouds ahead.

This one liked rocks, and sharpening his claws on them, it seemed. Harper wasn’t really paying attention to what exactly he was doing. Her mind, instead, drifted to a brother that she hadn’t thought about in a long, long time.

Bael had the color combination that she did; browns, blacks, a touch of silver. He held a brighter hue, otherwise, all the same. His eye color reminded her of her own father. The one she’d rid the world of.

He turned to look at her; not fully, though. His movements were interesting. She smiled softly, gave a nice wag of her tail. Even moved to lay down, to make herself look smaller; her sister told her from time to time that she looked intimidating sometimes.

“Good afternoon, friend. There’s a war afoot, and Venny’s sending her folk to scratch rocks?” Harper glanced to the rocks, then back to Bael.

Ah, yes, she better introduce herself, shouldn't she?

“Name's Harper, friend. I'm from Elysium, an allied pack a bit east from here. I met Venny when I healed the tiger. She and I served in the other war together.”

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"I am gathering moss."

Breathe. Remain calm. It was not her fault she didn't know; but if he had known she was a healer like him... Perhaps his annoyance would turn to scorn. True, the angle didn't justify much of an explanation but she had been watching him - and he didn't much care for the intensive gaze either - but she could smell fresh moss being pulled from the rock. If he was indeed 'scratching' the rock, his claws would be making an irritating noise.

The stranger continued, disrespectfully calling Vendrussel 'Venny'. His leader, not hers, but he didn't march up and call whatever pack alpha she belonged with an informal and childish name. He did know Vendrussel didn't like formality, and perhaps she was close to this Harper, but he didn't like it. Bae's opinion of this wolf was already plummeting. She spoke as if he should know the things, being informal and short with answers. He turned back to the rock, inspecting it. Making sure he didn't leave stray pieces behind.

"I am Baelfire" he said quietly, not wishing to continue this conversation but feeling he had to press through regardless "I have just joined the Ford recently." He thought he left his easy to irritate personality behind; but this one was pressing it.

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^^It wasn’t as though Harper had been studying the boy to know what the hell he was doing. He was there, and so was she, waiting for the clouds to part so she would talk to ghosts. An idea occurred to her, then, and she considered the idea for a moment, of asking her sister.

The other was gathering moss? Depending on how well the moss had gathered, he would have needed to scrape his claws against stone and what have you; it wasn’t like the boy had fingers.

So a new recruit, though she was sure Venny didn’t hold that sort of information back from her new hires. It didn’t matter, though, Harper glanced back to the sky, and into the direction she’d come from.

Did she want to wait for the clouds to part, or should she ought to see out her sisters? This one clearly didn’t want conversation anyway, and she ought to be getting back to the pack.

^^
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