Divided We Stand (A Packs Roleplay, OPEN and ACCEPTING)

[*~WolfSoul~*]

The thickly built baron found himself giving brief pause to think over her counter assertion, trying to find any instances in his own experiences. He had humor, Beau had humor. But his parents? Maybe he simply failed to see it, and that much he could believe, because he was plentifully aware of the surprising abundance of laughter and amusement that rang through every other member of the pack back home, despite the ever heavy threat of rivals less than a day's journey away. Before he could brood too long on these thoughts, however, another scent marker reached Jesse's nose, the grey of his eyes sharpening from their cloudiness into a silvery flint of wariness. Ears perking forward as his gaze swept the forest ahead, he kept pace beside his escort, working down the instinctive gnaw of anxiousness that the scent triggered.

He hardly heard Emily's conclusion, but after a beat turned his eyes to her again as she asked a question, a more lengthy pause passing between them as he regarded her through slightly narrowed eyes - not out of distrust but consideration of her words. Prior to now, he had dealt chiefly with loners, who were in charge of themselves and themselves alone. In his home pack, newcomers were escorted directly to the alpha for questioning and judgement. Should he not allow this dove to do the same to him? Another pout of a thoughtful frown softened his otherwise sharp features, eyes flicking from their focus on Emily's eyes to her lips. There was a distinct lack of purpose to this shift, the flat grey of the large baron's eyes seeming to seek only further explanation that might be tempted from her. "Is there another course of action I should take?"

[-goldleaf-]

Emily's tall ears danced in a little back and forth flicker of both surprise and unfamiliar uncertainty. She had no idea what loners did when meeting with packs, for they had had so few of them come their way. That she knew of at least. She was also surprised by his asking her of what he should do, and in her moment of lacking knowledge she wondered briefly if he was mocking her by asking her opinion. Her eyes lifted to him in her puzzlement, lips tugging down into a slight frown and she added a shrug to her fine muscled shoulders. "We do not have many visitors." she repeated her words from earlier, attempting to convey in a slightly more delicate way that she had no idea how to answer his question.

Her lips parted again but offered no immediate words as she mentally chewed upon what she had been about to say. There was no reason that she should really warn this baron of watching his manners much closer with the rest of her pack compared to her. She had no reason to protect him against the hot headed flash of his personality that she had witnessed at the border. A slight breath passed her lips in her moment of pause, lashes brushing her cheekbones as she blinked herself back to the present. "We also do not have many protocols when interacting with loners." Emily offered at last, a bare hint again to her lack of knowledge in meeting new wolves, and that of her pack mates. "But I'm sure the pack will offer what they can."

[*~WolfSoul~*]

"Hmm," was Jesse's quietly hummed response to the dove's more or less unhelpful replies. He didn't hold the lack of knowledge against her, nor was there any sign of frustration or mocking in his eyes as he regarded her pensively. For another few beats the baron's eyes remained focused intensely on her face as he thought, then seemed to remember himself and turned his gaze away. She might not have alternative suggestions, but if she seemed to be questioning the sensibleness of bee-lining for the Alpha, maybe he should reconsider his approach anyhow. Emily's apparent lack of know-how in this area was also cause for Jesse to wonder just how involved she may or may not be with her own pack, though he resisted the urge to toss another thoughtful look her way.

"Maybe," he rumbled slowly, looking ahead with the line of his mouth set in a way that betrayed his discomfort with the uncertainty of the situation, "I can just...ask around." The words came from his tongue with a distinct hesitance, hoping that the dove was right when she said that the pack would do what they could for him. Momentarily, Jesse's thoughts returned to the wound on his shoulder, recalling Emily's earlier question about an extended stay. He didn't think he could make any kind of decision about that until he had actually met these wolves and determined how comfortable he was in their forest. Head tilting slightly, he added in a voice that deepened its husk as he seemed to accept the circumstances, "I suppose I can't complain as long as I'm not torn to pieces."

[-goldleaf-]

In her experience, Emily had found that the forest packs bite could definitely be worse than their bark. But with this being said, she was under no illusion that her own bias may be a tad more radical than most. Her head bobbed from side to side in a 'more or less' little response, a touch of a smile warming her features by his final statement. She found him much more bearable when he was gently voicing his ideas. Rather than what had been their initial first impressions. "We will at least let them know that you are here," came her slow to rise decision of a statement. "Before you ask around." Though she had not intended to make it sound like she would continue to be his escort after this trip inland, and a short lived puckering of her brows was a peek at her realizing her misstep in phrasing.

The dark slip of a fae cast her attention to the side opposite of him, neck twisting with her glance over her shoulder as they walked. She was again gauging the time through the trees lighting, turning back forward with a decisive nod. They would head off the hunting party then, for surely at least Clarence would be a part of such a big job; and where Clarence went, Gemini was soon to follow. "Does the loner you're tracking look like you?" Emily was sure that her question would stilt his more relaxed state of being that had finally seemed to settle upon him, but she couldn't help but want to move past her own faint blunder. She allowed her silvery flashing eyes to return to him pointedly, nose lifting in a little prod through the air at his brightly colored ears, finding the only relief in his pelt to be the burnt brown over the bridge of his bold profile of a nose.

((Speaking of Gemini.. should Emily call him away from the hunting retrieval party when they get close enough?))

[The Royal Mirage]

((I think that would be an interesting turn of events for him, and even to leave Clarence and n'Obi together - I'm fine with it. It's not like he's really helping much with the dragging anywho))

[*~WolfSoul~*]

Seeming to miss the dove's brief moment of regret for what she had said, Jesse gave a simple nod in agreement. In truth, he couldn't imagine a fae such as this one keeping company with him - or any one particular wolf, for that matter - for very long. He was more or less indifferent to whether or not she decided to tag after his steps so long as she did not inhibit his mission as she had at the border. Though he would be grateful for her presence at first meeting with the Alpha, to perhaps smooth any initial uncertainties simply by the fact that she had escorted him into the territory. Jesse was unaware that the surprise of seeing a stranger would not be far from the surprise of his escort's reappearance.

Does the loner you're tracking look like you? The white baron's initial response was to send a faintly disgruntled look in Emily's direction, signal enough that he wasn't pleased with the turn in conversation. He met the grey-green of her gaze for a heartbeat before looking away with an intake of breath. "If by 'looks like me' you mean white-furred and over-sized, then no," he stated rather matter-of-factly, listing the two traits of himself that he considered defining, having never considered his own looks to be markedly handsome or unhandsome, consciously thinking only that his pale pelt was good for keeping cool, though uncomfortably deviant from most others, even back home. There was a pause, where he seemed to think a little more, and at last decided it couldn't hurt to detail a little more of his search. "He does have short fur like me, though. He's orange, kind of like my ears," the aforementioned appendages flicked self consciously as they were spoken of, "Blue eyes, loud mouth, a real a**hole." There was a strange coloring to Jesse's tone as the curse slipped from his lips with an ease that conveyed he cursed often - something between bitterly insulting and an almost-affectionate acknowledgement of a universal truth. "You would know him if you'd seen him."

((Sounds good to me Also, Goldie, this is just a thought but if you don't want them to end up stalled waiting for Gem's crew to get up and running again, we could think up some way to divert Jess and Emily to buy time. Not that we need to right now, or that we have to at all))

[Nellas]

((I'll make replying with Clarence a priority then! Also I'm excited, I think ya'll can expect at least some of the stuff I owe at some point tomorrow!))

[The Royal Mirage]

((I have to study tomorrow XC I'll try to at least keep checking in, but.. I really need to study))

[-goldleaf-]

((I think she could call Gem away without a hitch in needing to wait for the rest of the Hunting parties input))

A faint narrowing of Emily's eyes was the only answer of her amusement in correctly calling Jesse on what his reaction would be to her question. Again the half warmth in her eyes was brought out by a show of annoyance or usually less than savory reaction from him. She listened to his following description in mild interest, cool eyes lifting to him repeatedly as she was at first surprised by his lapse into further detail, and then in appreciation for the swear that fit so snugly into his speech. She mused for the first time over what his devoted interest to the other loner could be, for before she had had no true interest in anything that this baron had to offer, but now she couldn't help but know too much to keep hew own nose clean of it.

"I'm sure I would." was her more soft reply at last, chin lifting from the bit of a ducked carriage that her head had taken on with the extended travel of their easy journey. The first scents of blood on the air reached through the forest like a hazy call to arms, musk of foliage mixing with that of the sharp spice of the moose kill. They were still a little ways away, but they were downwind of the slowly reaching fingers of beckoning scent. A detached light overtook her muted moss eyes, a glance at her companion reflecting more of a check on what his reaction might be rather than offering any kind of explanation of her own. Her own mind was reaching reacting fingers out, catching the scents around her and the sounds to pin point where they needed to be headed rather than disturb the quiet with a howl to request location. The thought brought a quick return of light to her pale eyes. "Why didn't you call at the border?" she queried suddenly, head lifting completely with the mild vocalization, though there was a force behind it that spoke of her abrupt interest in what his answer would be. She thought of the slicked grasses from his repeated trampling, how it had already been established as such when she first caught sight of him, and not after she had ghosted close enough to get a real look.

[*~WolfSoul~*]

((Hey squad))

The luring tickle of the scent of blood crept to Jesse's nose then, the new presence of it feeling like a splash of vibrant color against the musty brown backdrop of the forest. It had Jesse's head turning forward, drinking up the smell through his dark nostrils as the stormy light of his eyes sharpened. The specific scent itself was unfamiliar, for no beast as large as a moose ever wandered near enough to the sandy landscape of his homeland for the baron to be acquainted with it, but nevertheless he was able to guess that the strangely musky, spicy edge to the smell of blood signaled that the Bleeding was a beast not easily felled. The baron cast a look to Emily with narrowed eyes, though he made no comment, instead reassuming that more wary expression and hyper-aware scanning of their surroundings.

When the dove's sudden question rang out into the space between them, Jesse's gaze again fell upon hers, brows falling faintly lower over his eyes in continued displeasure. He did not respond at first, eyeing her for a moment instead and wondering if there was reason beyond simple curiosity that she seemed so interested. It was several heartbeats later before he spoke, turning his gaze away from her to look ahead and scan the trees, reluctant, "He would have run if he heard me."