into the magic night, i softly say

ooc; @Destiny Troy
 

He returned to where he started. Logic dictated that the previous night didn't leave much room to explore his surroundings. He had been too preoccupied with immediate things - vaguely assessing the water as clean, finding shelter, making sure he wasn't going to be jumped when he lay down. That sort of thing. Mesquite realized he had to get a lay of the land and map it in his mind before venturing further. If he had a secure location that he knew by heart, it'd be a familiar 'base' of sorts.

The entrance of the Druid's Dream stretched before him. His mind flashed with the image of a shapeless monster, too vast to guess the size but too dark to pick out details. When it opened its jaws, it grinned. Beckoning him. He narrowed his eyes, briefly lost in wordless anxiety that he knew wasn't real. Mesquite's body creaked again, anticipating the eventual movement of his still-exhausted limbs. Even the morning light didn't completely chase the monsters away. Danger lurked, bold and imaginative, in a new place.

So, while he dawdled at the entrance, it was no surprise that someone else came along. Perhaps they were curious about his new scent or saw him from a distance. He just knew when he snapped out of his stupor, there was a wolf nearby. How long had they waited for acknowledgment... He wasn't sure of that either. But he said nothing. He wasn't the type to speak first, especially when this stranger could have just sated their curiosity with a quick look and move on.

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She was sitting in front of the male figure still, just like she had been for several minutes as he seemed to space out and pay absolutely no attention to her. Destiny wasn't one to like being ignored, and she definitely didn't like being ignored by males, after all, she-wolves are all they're after, no? "Hello???" There was a sense of sass and annoyance in her tone, the way her body had been pushed to one side of her hips and how her eyes were glued to his face. "Anyone there??? Destiny to stranger, over?" She would continue to make stupid comments such as this one until he replied, it's not like she was exactly a charmer anyway.

Then again, there was that sense of power that she craved, the want to control a man with her body and what it could give, how she could use him to get what she truly wanted.. and.. maybe what he wanted as well, after all, she hadn't asked.
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If he had the capacity to laugh right now, he would have.

Less about her reaction, and more about her words. Probably not intentionally said, but he could see the irony in meeting a wolf named Destiny when he was a stranger. So, was this fate? Or a cruel twist of it? Either way, you could still label it as fate. She stared openly at him, so very insulted he hadn't spoken to her directly. She was practically in his face about it. So, it would be quite difficult to justify never seeing her. Their eyes had locked. It was stupid to just walk away from her, and foolish to laugh in her face. His sense of humor was terrible. This wasn't the time to laugh.

"Mm, yes? Hello?" He manages to say, a less tattered ear twitching briefly as light entered his pale eyes. Back to the present. Back to reality. His gaze was half-hooded, almost leisurely and relaxed. Though anyone with a brain could see it reeked of weariness; too tired to truly focus and much too exhausted to put the effort in. It wasn't her fault. She hadn't caught him at his best, though he couldn't recall a time he was ever at peak condition anyway. His voice tried to put some emotion into his tone, but he sounded distracted. He sort of was, by the entire reality of a new place all at once.

His words had fallen silent again, mulling over a correct response. He finally settled on a neutral path. "Is this your den?" Mesquite seemed to shake off his rust when he tried to speak and focus on another "I did not know, if so" Why else would the woman hover? It had to be her place of residence, surely? He glanced to the side, back at the entrance. From what he recalled, it was massive inside. Too big for just one wolf, though he couldn't recall smelling any territory markers last night. "Though that does not excuse my ignorance." Well, it was true. He was willing to admit his stupidity.

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"Is this your den? I did not know, if so"

"Hm?" Destiny would look confused at first and then answer his question promptly after. "OH! NO! No, it's not my place at all, I was just passing through and thought I would stop to say hello." She looked at the stranger and almost seemed to trace his body with her eyes, taking in every detail to him, almost like she was sizing him up, seeing how much of a fight it would be to subdue him whether it be for fun, or for food.

"Though that does not excuse my ignorance."

"Oh, no, don't be so silly! You are not ignorant, clearly just.. misguided.." Her tone of voice seemed uncertain as she looked at his dusty fur and ragged appearance. Clearly he hadn't had the best past couple of hours, maybe even days. She circled him, continuing to take in his physique, although there was no way of telling exactly what I was thinking or why she was doing what she was. "You been here long, Stranger?" She emphasized the important of "stranger" in that sentence, hoping he would catch on and actually tell her his name rather than blatantly staring at her and coming up with seemingly poor excuses.

Then again, there was some sort of.. alluring nature that surrounded him, drew her to the figure. One that she couldn't quite understand, and didn't necessarily enjoy either, after all, the unknown was a threat in her eyes. Her fur now was risen, on edge as it perked up with her ears pinning in accordance with each other. It wasn't necessarily a threatening scene, but rather one of curiosity and question, one that derived from pure bliss and childlike inquisitiveness.
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Ah. So she was just being polite. The woman saw him and came forward out of curiosity, though had switched to socializing once she began to speak to him. He grunts softly, still a deep rumble, but gives a nod. Some sort of confirmation he heard her, but had nothing to really contribute. She continues to say he is misguided, not ignorant, though he thinks they are the same at times. He's just willing to admit his faults easier than others did. Maybe he was not so stubborn after all. 

She moves around him, sizing him up like a predator to prey. The woman does not attack. But she could be waiting for an opportunity, some sort of lowered guard or blindspot, to do so. He doesn't seem to think she'd find one he hid away; he's pretty pathetic looking right now. That doesn't mean he wouldn't fight to live though. If she dared to attack him, the grizzled man would prove he wasn't such an easy target. His pale eyes follow her movements, keeping the stranger in his vision. She gave her name, but he still called her one.

She was still a stranger. All he knew was her features and name. Not a lot to go on. Not enough to claim he was familiar with her, or even knew what she was thinking. "Mesquite" He would grunt at her second, less subtle, prompt. It would seem she was going to stick around and not lose interest, so no use in hiding his name. He had nothing to hide in that respect. His eyes drifted to the cave and back, acknowledging its presence and importance to him. "No" He also said after a soft beat "I arrived last night. In that area."

How does one suddenly appear in the middle of a cave? He was going to find signs he had wandered there and just forgot. It made no sense otherwise. Did he even believe in magic? That he popped into existence here and that was that? He had an origin story, surely. Why didn't he remember it? "And you?" He jumps back. Mesquite knew if he tried too hard, the memories may not come back. So he focused once again on the woman - Destiny - to see if she could give some sense to this place. "Been here long?"

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"Mesquite"

She chuckled softly for a brief moment before repeating the name under her breath, "Mesquite. Pretty name if you ask me." She shrugged gently, letting his looks 'roll' off her back rather than lash out and react to them, perhaps that was exactly what he wanted her to do and she would not give in today.

"No, I arrived last night. In that area."

"Ah, okay.." She replied with curiosity and bliss in her tone, almost a type of innocence flashing in her eyes as she pondered the way the male answered. He had just awoken here one day, just like she had, except she had stepped through a portal and he had just arrived here one day, not having existed before.. at least not in Canis.

"And you? Been here long?"

"Depends, how much time do you determine as 'long'?" She spoke out in a critical manner, not really answering his questions as she sat down in front of him now, done taking in his body shape. "But, if you wanna know number, maybe a handful of moons ago." The issue with this answer is that many different people had different meanings for a 'moon'. It could be a month, a day, or even a year to an odd few, but now, she meant days, just five to be exact. And somehow, almost every day was filled with visiting new people.
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Seemed this was a common thing.

Her lack of shock and suspicion told him that much. Usually, when someone entered a new location they came from the edges of the known map. He had been dropped here. Suddenly appearing as if he materialized from thin air. It made no logical sense, and he grumbled inwardly if this was the work of something else. Something probably goddamn bored and too powerful for their own good. Maybe not a god, but god-like. Mesquite always thought gods behaved like children, anyway. All of them threw such amazing tantrums over the slightest provocation.

Wolves could be like that too. Didn't make them gods. It was some messed up power dynamic; prey animals would think a predator was a god because they had the power to be a threat. A god was just a bigger predator. Wolves justified their existence as magical, but they were just a bully in every sense of the word. "Mm," He breaks from deep thought, not for the first time nor the last. Speaking of bullies... "Are there many of us here?" He asks Destiny, slightly concerned about the lack of strong scents in the area. There was some, but not enough to be a problem.

It could be the area. Less traversed than most. He saw mountains in the distance. He could only assume there was more than one biome. "Any packs?" Where a wolf was, a pack was sure to form. They were social creatures. They demanded hierarchy.

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"Are there many of us here?"

The man's eyes seemed to 'twinkle' in deep thought as he suddenly broke the silence and asked a more deep, serious question. "I'm not sure.. I haven't really been around the works too much if I'm to be honest." She shrugged, passing it off as if it were nothing serious, after all, they had met each other and that surely meant there were to be more. Destiny would flick her tail, a fly soaring through the air away from it, almost like it saw the sudden movement as a form of aggression or attack. Then again, that was really all she needed, she needed the fly to go away and stop making her tail itch.

"Any packs?"

More questions.. what was with this man and his questions, was he really this lost and curious? "See previous answer, although I'm sure there is considering the vast amount of corpses I come upon that reek of wolf piss." She replied rather critically, somewhat annoyed by the amount the man was making her think and recall her memories, all it did was remind her of what she had before and lost. Despite this, it was probably good for her anyway, a way to keep her 'sharp' in a mental way rather than just holding her athletic physique.

"Any more questions I would be SO DELIGHTED to answer?" Destiny rolled her eyes and sassily replied, not wanting to spend an entire evening wasting breath on such a lost soul for such useless things. Maybe if he was asking about her, she would be more kin to answer, but that was just her nature. She had been showered with attention when she first arrived and now she craved it constantly.
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She reverted to behaving like a child. Mesquite guessed it was a defensive reaction, though he could not help but feel irritated at it. If he had to guess, Destiny was out of her yearling stage. Still young, but nothing excused it. He wasn't asking personal questions, just ones that would give him some sense of the world he found himself in but she took it personally. Didn't everyone have questions if they found themselves in a strange, new place? His mind's eye began to warp as he glanced at her, distorting her image into the shape of a little white pup who stomped her feet when she didn't get her way. That's how he saw her. Throwing a tantrum when it wasn't about her.

Regardless, he didn't bring it up or act any differently. He continued on as he usually did. Short with words, but polite enough. He wasn't going to turn around and snap at her for no reason. Mesquite was not ruled by his emotions - they were part of him. He ruled them. "No." He replied, withholding a snarky comment. If she was that averse to answering, he couldn't claim anything she said as fact. Just opinion. There was no point in asking her anything further. He didn't have much patience for bratty children, let alone entitled adults. She had given her name without being asked, had demanded his attention, and now seemed pissed off he wasn't praying at her altar like she was some holy being.

All his intentions of exploring the Druid's Dream shattered. There was no telling if he just walked away and excused himself, she'd follow. The cave only had one clear entrance. He'd be trapped in there, in the dark, with her tagging at his heels. Even a quick look around made him face the reality she'd be badgering him the entire time. So what to do now? Mesquite would have to come back later. There were no two ways about it. This was not her den, she had no ties to returning unless she sought shelter. He angles his body from the entrance, annoyed the seeking had come to an end prematurely. The man gave her one final, passive look before focusing on the horizon. "I'll be going now." What else was there to say?

"Safe travels, Destiny." Except that, he supposed. Even if he was irked, he retained a level of courtesy. He gives a brief nod in her direction before walking. His direction headed to the Nameless Mountain, toward the only wolf so far he knew to be there and had been kind enough to provide answers thus far. 

-exit-

ty for the thread! it was fun, but i think it was a good stop point for now <33

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