In Dire Straits

[Image: ethhttrhrh_by_t_e_r_r_i_f_i_e_d-daqbxi4.png]

#e34234

She remained long after the crowd cleared out, spying the last one to move away and the ginger female would carefully climb down her perch and hobble briskly after him. To be quite honest, she didn't know that Alteron had a bear and though some part of her delighted in the idea (probably that unused and unfamiliar militaristic part of her), there was a whole other side that was frankly uncertain and put off by the idea.

It wouldn't have mattered if he was some sort of cat, fox, or weasel. Her prejudices remained, those good old Valley ways were engraved into her mind, it was just something one couldn't shake, but learn to ignore over time. After all, she was the face of Alteron as they all were now, what better way to lead by example and play nice by extending a civil paw to those of.... lower??? intelligence. She shook the tasteless idea from her head and grimaced.

Rounding his large form, she'd stagger in front of him, wobbling some as she attempted to balance herself. The dulling ache of her bones caused her to wince slightly, but those golden-amber eyes searched for his face and finally catching his eyes. "You asked which is which, I'm the Hierophant." She said coolly, flicking her tail. But I'll use small words that I'll be sure you'll understand. "But, you've my explicit permission to simply call me Telana." A brow would raise and she'd tilt her head slightly, what a big favor she was doing for this guy.

"I beg your pardon, I didn't know we had a bear in Alteron." Giving him little time to answer her previous statements, but to be completely honest she didn't exactly care if he thanked her, greeted her, or whatever. "You can imagine my surprise when I saw you at the meeting, but in any case, you're here and that's good." She forced herself to say the last bit, a crooked smile pulling at her lips, she'd come to rest on her haunches glancing around the meadow, still cloaked in fog. "Why did you settle here? What are your aspirations? Better yet, a name to call you?"

Rooter wasn't expecting the Red female to approach him after the meeting. She...was crippled. His eyes widened for a moment but he lowered his head to not tower her. The way she watched him, introduced herself, stood...her weakness meant nothing as she demonstrated her position.

She allowed him to use her real name. Before he could even bristle at that, she cut him off.

"I beg your pardon, I didn't know we had a bear in Alteron. You can imagine my surprise when I saw you at the meeting, but in any case, you're here and that's good."

Oh. Well now, aren't you highfalutin. Orcrist thought well enough of him, but the grizzly expected everyone else in Alteron to think he was a dumb bear. To know she told him to his face with fancy words irritated him.  He disgusted her. A year ago she would have been roared at, pinned down, torn apart as bears did. Ugh, and it would have proved her right! And he would have been dead for killing an alpha in the heart of the pack. Rooter sat down with her though he shifted back a respectable distance.

Name rank and file was next. Alrighty. The dumb bear can do that. He can play the part too!

"Orcrist. After I was attacked by humans." I broke your bridge accidentally. He scratched his side with his long claws. A loud yawn showed dangerous teeth on a face that looked ridiculous at the moment. "He's been my guide through everything, especially about fire...I gave him a torch from the attack...and the leadership...well one of those has changed. I hope to treat you wolves the same he treats me. I promised to fight. To protect your cubs. To be the heavy lifter. Maybe I can protect you, whatever you wish.  You can call me Rooter, Miss Telana."

In the bear's mind, Orc had his utter respect. Crafty wolf yes, but the bear didn't hide his bias about him. He was going to sing Orcrist's praises until he did something that betrayed him.

Fed up with acting silly, Rooter took a breath. He smelled roses. Flowers that were strong in taste, easily tattered, that stung with their stems. However, with all the petals that fell, the number of layers kept the rose from exposure. His mother told him that made them special. Most bears avoided them and their smell. Rooter appreciated them. They were his favorite flowers to eat.

And Telana was covered in their scent.

The bear's look was intense. He didn't stare in her eyes, no. She was the leader. But his head reached toward hers. And what a long reach it was due to his length. Telana had a nice view of the scarred flesh from burn marks across his shoulders and back. His nose sniffed carefully around her fur just to make sure.  That dumb bear switched modes and betrayed his "intelligence."

"Roses.  How appropriate."

She was every bit the embodiment.

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She sighed, though not at Rooter himself, but his words. Orcist, why was she not surprised. Looking away from the bear she'd shake her head with a jaded look fixed upon her face. Well, there was no doing anything about that now. Amber eyes glancing back to the large form of the grizzly. "I'm sorry you came to us in such a way." The least she could do was be sincere even if it seemed forced and unsatisfying, Telana was actually being genuine here. She'd never had the unfortunate displeasure of running into humans, though her sisters did. "It's a trauma I wouldn't wish on even my worst enemy."

A brow would raise, ah, so the Chariot could be decent? Though he probably saw the usefulness in keeping a large creature such as a bear around. Not that she could entirely blame him, it was smart thinking on his part, perhaps that day Orc had a VERY rare stroke of genius. Telana, be nice.

"Azuhel always did love her fire, I guess those she ruled above inherited that same affinity toward it." The ginger woman said plainly, exhaling a sigh through her nostrils. Though fire had a wonderfully vicious way of burning anything and anyone that got in its path, even it's wielders. Telana stood clear of it, she wasn't foolish enough to allow herself to be burned (in more ways than one).

Even if he would not meet her gaze, she'd try to look him in the eye as best she could, his words were promising, though she was on the fence if this was just one of those instances were one would say something that another wanted to hear the most. She was always skeptical, but always for good reason. "Rooter." She tested his name, nodding her head thoughtfully as she weighed those statements. "I don't want you to feel as though you're not one of us, you are. This Alteron is a broken one, even your rulers are broken creatures. But misfits can band together, and I guess that's what were doing here, besides keeping a dragon's dream alive." A smile grin tugged at her lips, crooked and snaggily, but a grin all the same. "We're all making the necessary sacrifices."

She had the bear painted wrong, but still the uneasiness lingered. Untested, unproven. He moved closer, amber eyes catching his marred flesh, but she didn't move not even a flinch. A brow raising and lip curling into an unamused frown. Rose? "Pardon?" She said, though she quickly picked up his meaning. "Ah, yes. I spend a great deal of time in the rose garden, my joints don't really like me moving, and the climate here makes it worse. Like I said, we're all making sacrifices." Claws tapped the ground thoughtfully. "Have you protected anyone before being here?" This raised an important question, one that she'd revisit later in their conversation, once she got a better read on him.

"I'm sorry you came to us in such a way.  It's a trauma I wouldn't wish on even my worst enemy."

The bear nodded his head, catching her sincerity.

Her speech got to him. Telana could have been placating him as the dumb bear, but her words were different than the first time. Rooter lifted his head as she spoke. First suspicion, then surprise, an understanding...and pain. They were broken in a sense. He thought Alteron corrupted. Wolves in general were ego-driven. However, the individuals themselves were more complex. Their new leaders were an example. Even the two of them were: a crippled wolf and an underweight, scarred bear. Each finding their place in a pack with a fierce reputation that wasn't so cut and dry.

Telana wasn't the only one who underestimated a species. She was doing her best. And Rooter felt especially guilty when she mentioned her relationship to the roses.

He was shaken out of his reverie with a simple question. He was ready bark back that male bears don't protect others, but caught himself. It wasn't a 'duh' answer considering where he was now. Still, the bear wanted to let her know he was capable of looking out for another. It didn't change that he never did.

"It's different for bears. Males, I mean.  We protect mates and territory." He sighed, slumping a little. "My mother protected me all of the time. From other males actually, and hmm from myself.  My mother...she first showed me roses...when I was young. She taught me how, where, it was safe to eat them."  He was rambling. He was back to roses again.  Silly. Bears shared life history and survival warnings, but conversing about the good old days was not normal. However, this was something that mattered to him, small as it was, and he wanted to say something. So it came from the heart, and was surprisingly tender:

"I love roses. Red, pink, yellow. The yellow petals taste the best. They were her favorite so they were mine. So I would offer them to any female on my territory to eat. A bear that could navigate something so dangerous even if it was food.  That usually convinced them I was good enough.  You're not roses--present company excluded--but I hope my presence," gesturing to his large frame, "can convince you I'm good enough until the time to show you comes."

(OOC: Not as good as I wanted it to be. )

#e34234

Ears perked at the beat up beast's mumbling, the past was something she'd sooner like to forget, but she understood the importance of it. It shaped her in more ways than she'd ever care to admit. She was born from the pain of the Valley, of her own insignificance. You were lucky to be born. Lucky, ha. She never thought of it that way, but living out of spite seemed like a better use of her time, a way to get back at her makers.

The Hierophant would allow for this moment of clarity, nodding at Rooter's words about flowers as well. "My sisters were the lucky ones. My home, the place before this was a misbegotten pack. Harsh, calculated, eccentric, and radically religious. I was the weakest of my family, and then never let me forget that." She tired to distance herself from the reflection, but there was a twinge of feelings that welled up within her words. Old wounds that still made themselves known. I exist not because of them, but because of me.

Azuhel might have spared Telana, might have even held some sort of soft spot for her when they were young that carried on into their adult years. Even Lana possibly had that same feeling, it was why she had come to take over in her sister's place hadn't it? If and when Azuhel did return, she'd step down in place of her sister. Golden eyes flashing to Rooter with a raised brow, humming an odd tune. Not one of satisfaction towards his words, but just a tune, something out of place and dissonant. "Until the time comes, I suppose, we'll be the ones protecting you." It was said so simply, with such finality. That's all.

Any growing nation didn't just toss out it's best chances, a bear was a game changer, it tipped odds into their favor, but not like this. Not scraggly and unkempt, no. Rooter was their wild card, but also of Alteron. He deserved that respect in the very least.

She told him her history. He was shocked. She seemed the type to keep her secrets to herself. The bear was unsure how to feel with this new information. His family loved him. The adult bears had a healthy respect--and distance--of each other. Certainly she wasn't asking pity. Rooter wouldn't insult her with that. Something tugged at him nonetheless. It was lost on the bear.

"Until the time comes, I suppose, we'll be the ones protecting you."

At first his pride was hurt. The he felt insulted and then ashamed. It took a moment to realize her tone of voice. She meant they would protect him not that he needed protection. That sentence, simple as it was, had weight. Someone cared. She meant it. He believed her. He caught his breath a few times before he could react.

A quiet, powerful, "Oh."

Rooter leaned forward without thinking. His nose touched the side of her muzzle, almost afraid of bothering her. But despite himself he pressed into her fur for a second before moving back a healthy distance from her face. Expressing feelings that excluded anger, excitement, rage, curiosity were difficult for Rooter. He didn't know what he just did.

The bear shuffled a little as if he made to leave. He was ready for whatever reaction Telana had ready for him. Teeth included. Though he hoped a dismissal or sharp words would be brutal enough.

Telana

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Telana

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Telana

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