bonds beginning

She had only heard about @Harper through Ms. Valeska and Ms. Amaranth. All good things, mind, but enough to become curious about. Once the chaos of joining a pack settled down, along with the festival, Tallulah sought the woman out. Stretching out of her den near the border, she turned and spied a dark figure walking around. She didn't have her hat on, but she did have the blue scarf. It subtly waved in the wind, billowing around her neck.

She chuffed a greeting to the wolf. If this was not Harper, perhaps she could be pointed to where the woman was. Approaching now, Tallulah smiled with a wag of her tail. Thankful she hadn't chosen her hat due to this windy day, she let the scarf be the most 'outrageous' thing about her. Most wolves here didn't wear accessories, even to assist them in daily tasks. She found it a bit odd, to be frank, but didn't bring it up much. "Howdy, ma'am."

She dipped her head courteously. "Name's Tallulah. I joined not long ago."

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^^The last few months had been a drag, being cooped up in the den tending to her young, and teaching her niece and nephew about whatever it was that they wanted; a welcome distraction, they were, truly -

She had taught her niece about the insides of the hare, and her nephew about fish, and of course they were having a festival or something of the sort; Harper had been in and out of whatever was going on with the pack, as she hadn’t quite seen her sister since the day of her children’s birth. That was fine; a mother needed to bond with her children, after all, she supposed - as if she hadn’t had their entire lives to do such.

It was windy out today; she pondered if it was windy enough to knock a child over, and lost in her thoughts as she was headed back to her den to check on her children, in hopes that she wouldn’t find another out of the den. She was thankful for such a small litter, especially when she didn’t truly have a partner to raise them with.

A chuffed greeting of sorts broke her thoughts, as Harper paused with an arch of a brow, glancing over to the slightly smaller, though colorful female with mismatched eyes that almost looked as if the other woman didn’t have a left eye at all, but upon closer inspection, it was just brown and well blended in with her coat. That was a relief.

“Howdy.. there,” Harper responded with a narrowed set of eyes as she took a single step backward, finding it a bit odd that a stranger their lands greeted her in the same fashion a few days prior.

A naturally suspicious woman, Harper stared at the woman … and the weird, brightly colored piece of… whatever that was, that flew in the wind. Though too, did her scent; a citrusy sort of smell, mixed in with smoke. An interesting combination.

“Welcome to Elysium, friend.” Harper had opted out of repeating her name in lieu of butchering it with her russian accent - she would probably need to have the girl pronounce it slowly, or come up with a nickname, - though most of her attention was on the scarf as it wiggled around in the wind. “What, prey tell, is that... thing?” It flapped around like a loose piece of skin, but the odd coloring and lack of a scent had Harper suspecting otherwise.

^^

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Did she do something wrong? "Thank ya kindly."

Tallulah felt a mixture of emotions coming from the woman; suspicion and wariness were the two she felt were the biggest. Perhaps it was the accent but... She didn't think so. Accents did not bother her. Especially with the way 'friend' was pronounced... Her ears pinned a bit against her head, wondering if she had made a mistake to approach. Compared to the others, this one seemed a bit lacking in friendliness. Or was wary of new faces. She couldn't tell if the welcome was sincere.

"A scarf" The woman seemed hyper-focused on it so she would get it out of the way "woke up with it on" But she knew the name of the object — suggesting Tallulah could only guess until her memories came back fully "it's common where I'm from, to wear such a thing." But she also knew this, due to Cassian having the same object. She suddenly flinched, squinting her eyes against a shot of pain as it worked its way into her brain.

"Protects against the sun and dirt" She also added, the memory coming back slowly. She sucked in a breath, the pain leaving her quick enough. She resisted saying she had a hat because Tallulah hadn't come here to discuss the objects she woke up with. "forgive me, ma'am, but... ya wouldn't happen to know a lady named Harper?" She paused "Ms. Valeska spoke highly of her, and I wanted to introduce me self to more pack mates."

This one hadn't given her name yet...

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^^No, it was true that Harper was not the most friendly canine. Now, she didn't normally have a justified reason for being kind to strangers, but this one was one of their own; she had Valeska's judgment and that was enough for her..

.. Wasn't it?

The girl lowered her ears and Harper felt a wave of guilt wash over her. She recalled the way her sister had looked at her the last time she had been unkind with new comers; a pair of siblings, who had seemingly fled after meeting with Harper.

She did not want her children to pick up on any of her bad habits. They were perfect, and she felt, very much, that she would taint them.

Her own ears lowered, though she wasn't exactly sure how to fix the situation. "Oh no, I said something wrong, haven't I? I.. heh,.. I tend to do that. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend yous."

But what was it that she'd said? Her brows came together as she tried to think about it, as the colorful piece on Tallulah's neck was described as a protector of sorts, and this caused Harper to nod her head.

“It, uh, it looks nice; matches your eyes.” Well, clearly not both of them, but correcting herself would make her feel even worse.

“Oh, has she?” Harper smirked with a giggle, shaking her head. Of course she had spoken highly of her; if there had ever been a time in which the small silver woman spoke ill of Harper, she hadn't been around to hear of it.

“Siblings are like that, yknow? Well, miss uh..” Oh, she was going to butcher this poor girl's name after all. She took a moment to look very apologetically at her, before continuing, “miss uh.. Too, er.. look.. Ka?”

A brief pause, and a sigh, looking down. Curse the English language.

“Let your search end here, hm? I am Harper. Is, uh, is there another name, or a nickname I may call you, darlin'?”

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She was quick to shake her head. "Don't be" She paused before adding "not ever'one will accept me right away. I've prepared fer that." Ms. Valeska and Ms. Amaranth were supposed to be friendly and welcoming; they were their leaders. Tallulah didn't expect everyone to be like that, even if she did feel shocked by the woman's behavior. Elysium was not a haven without realistic folks, and she was thankful for the wake-up call. This woman could have been wary for various reasons. The talk was brought back to the scarf, perhaps out of a desire to move along.

It matches your eyes.

"Aye? I suppose so," she grinned, though not taken with the compliment like a fluttering young girl "though I don't reckon I had a choice on the color... If I did, I don't recall" A joke, even if Tallulah felt it would fall flat. Whenever she joked, it often did. She even chuckled for good measure "though only one eye, right?" She closed her brown one mischievously, so she stared at the other wolf with her dark blue focus. The other snapped open after the point was made; she did not care if another remarked on her features. She was as what nature intended.

"Tuh-lou-luh" she added calmly, patiently, and kindly. She pronounced her name and chuckled again, rolling her eyes. "izza mouthful, eh?" Harper was revealed to be this woman, and she felt like dancing on the spot. A bit of a shuffle, realizing she hadn't been going in a circle... But resisted. She wasn't a great dancer! "Tallie works, if ya want, Ms. Harper" She gave permission for the nickname "s' good to meet ya, right and proper."

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^^Harper scoffed with a grunt and shake of her head. Her eyes narrowed as she leaned in, a slow smirk coming about her otherwise dark features. “Nothin’ against ye, but the only acceptance you will ever need is your own. Everyone else’s opinions do not matter, so long as they treat ye good, and you can feel safe ‘round them, yeah?” She'd nod firmly, and then took some steps back, giving the lady her room.

Tallie made her joke, and Harper didn’t get it. Was the joke about the eye color or the scarf color? Both? Tallie went to wink at her, and Harper chuckled. She was not ever one to judge on appearance, unless they were covered in filth and needed a bath. “Well, yes. The blue matches the scarf-thing, and the sky on a good day, and the brown matches the browns of your lovely pelt. ” Flattery, and especially to a stranger who might not be comfortable with such a thing, was never really Harper’s strong suit.

“ Oh thank you, Tallie. Some English words, and names are a bit hard on a Russian tongue.” Harper offered an awkward laugh, licking her lips and glancing towards the den.

“Right and proper, it is.. ” She had no idea what that even meant. “What path of faith did you choose, Tallie?”

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She didn't know what to think of the words Harper spoke. Tallulah knew she wasn't looking for popularity, only acceptance that she was here. That nobody looked at her suspiciously and thought she meant them harm. She didn't need validation, and Harper seemed to suspect she did. Nobody else's opinion mattered? She disagreed with that but kept her mouth shut. Tallulah said nothing in the end, watching as the other woman walked backward. She had a fleeting thought it was a bit dangerous to think like that. Especially for a beta.

Then it was gone.

"Russian?" she echoed instead, taking the flattery and handing it off as she usually did when someone complimented her "izzat yer native tongue?" But Harper had a question of her own, and Tallulah could only feel it meant rank "Ms. Valeska gave me the title of Windseeker?" she informed the other woman, still not caring about ranks or titles personally "I... didn't know that ranks reflected, erm, faith." She shuffled on the spot, uncomfortable suddenly. She was always very hands-off in religion. Was she now required to pray and do other things for it?

She did know Ms. Valeska had faith. But the pale woman had told her casually it didn't matter if Tallulah did or not. "I ain't a pious woman." She informed Harper, worry settling into her gaze.

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^^Harper Bacchus was a very complicated woman and did not care for acceptance or validation. She was suspicious and untrusting by nature, and did not cast her judgment upon anyone. Tallie was a woman who had just joined Elysium, and therefore she had already been accepted by the ones that mattered, and despite the high ranking within the pack, and her relations to the ruling pair, Harper didn’t care about politics or rank.

Harper smiled now, enjoying the way Tallie spoke, and the sound of her voice. A nice southern twang that she wasn’t used to. She would nod softly to the question about language. “Yes. Sometimes it come easier than English. I can teach if you’s interested.” Harper would offer with a gentle smile as she tilted her head.

Which path was Windseeker, again? She shook her head, it hadn’t mattered. This, too, was the answer about faith. “Oh! No. Thank heavens, no. That was just me way of askin’ about you’s rank..to erm, make uh.. Con-vrrrr-say.. Shion..? ” She looked back over Tallie with a grin that said: see what I mean about English? What she’d wanted to say was: ‘Not that it is important,’ but given her own status, that seemed a bit rude, especially to a stranger, who might give a damn about those things.

And then she smiled, really big, at Tallie’s remark, nodding her head. “It feel good to have another.”

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She tilts her head, laughing a bit. "English's hard 'nough without another language, but thank ye" Perhaps Harper would be able to understand that personally, considering she knew two languages "but I think Windseeker's fer wolves that like huntin' and scoutin'." She added for the woman's benefit, nodding. That is what Ms. Valeska said, so she assumed this was right and true.

It seemed Harper was a bit confused about the ranking system, or rather trying to remember it. Which was acceptable, considering Tallulah was getting used to it herself. "Ye ain't pious?" her ears twitched in curiosity "forgive me, but yer tone... Yer language" She raised a paw to her chin, trying to make the words come better "seems like there's a story there. Lore? Mythology? Does Russian haf' lots of background?"

It was an awkward way of asking if this language or culture had a deep-rooted religion. "I can almost picture ye recitin' hymns in Russian." Another awkward way of saying it sounded like a nice language.

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