oasis in a strange land

OOC; set after this thread where she meets valeska and before this one where cass and her come back. can assume valeksa told Elysium she was here! 

Making good on her promise to Ms. Valeska, she would patrol a bit before fetching Cassius. She had left him below the packs' lands, on neutral ground with a vow to return to him. Her traveling companion was a good fella, and he could easily look after himself for a few days alone. Storing her items in a protected area on Elysium land - as agreed with Ms. Valeska - she wandered back to the border before anyone could accuse her of trespassin'!

Ms. Valeska had been a kind lady. Sat down with her, and answered questions. If there was no true way back to her home, she could make one here... surely? Tallulah released a few short chuffs to the pack, making them aware she was here. Lookin' forward to meeting some new folks, she counted on Ms. Valeska to have told them about the mutual agreement. Patrolling in exchange for storage. Some stories of tall tales are reserved for pups.

And just anyone who needed help with anything.

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There's a new scent around, and as the Firstborn of the litter, he knows he should be polite. He's terrified, though. This stranger... What could they mean? He assumes ill intent immediately, that this person must be lying to his mother and be scheming something. He has a vivid mental image, staring at her face, that it could contort so easily from a smile into a snarl. And then those teeth would be upon him, ripping out his guts--

No. Be polite. Be proud. You are chosen by the Five, it is your job to welcome people to these lands. He paws at his head to try to force out the mental image of his intestines dangling from this woman's maw. It doesn't help. He looks up at her with fear in his eyes and smiles, thinly. He can scream at any time, he thinks; even if he rarely does, he's sure he can scream loud enough to get noticed before too much damage is done.

"Welcome to... to our sacred home." He has to breathe heavily to get the words out. His nostrils flare. Stay normal. Look normal. "All who carry good will in their hearts are welcome and safe here. You're um. You're new, right?"
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life coach

---

She'd followed at a safe distance, her spectral golden frame floating along behind Dimitri. Their time together was peaceful, and quiet. And in the time they'd spent together, Amaranth found herself growing rather fond and protective of their eldest son. He was delicate, but there was something within him that brewed. A strength and potential that he did not yet realize. Valeska must have felt it too, because she'd been taking Dimitri for many private lessons on the matters of the gods.

Their children were beginning to form thoughts and opinions of their own.

It was horrifying.

As the two walked along together, a new scent touched the air. The stranger was polite, waiting at the boarders, and Amaranth recognized the scent as the one that was storing goods in their den. Valeska had mentioned her — Delilah was it? Tabitha?

No, that wasn't right.

She watched as Dimitri boldly walked up to her, greeting the stranger like a natural leader at the borders. However, she also felt the way his voice wavered, slightly, and she could tell by his body position that he was just about to faint from anxiety. And so, she slithered up beside him, nodding her head toward Marigold — no that wasn't it either — in polite greeting. Golden rump slowly fell to the earth, and she let her tail coil around the backs of Dimitri's paws in silent encouragement. He was doing a wonderful job, really. No need for her to step in just yet. She remained a golden pillar of support for him.

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Ah, she barely went back to the border - empty-pawed, might she add - before a young one appeared. He burst onto the scene and she could not help but feel amused. Ain't he a proper lion? With the presence of an adult near him, she turned back to look at the lad. "Howdy, fella" she rumbled in her southern twang "name's Tallulah, aye. Yer mum is Ms. Valeska?" She let that sink in. Maybe the name of an adult would ease him.

There was definitely some family resemblance. The boy seemed so scared despite his courage, or was she thinking that? She faced him - from her spot on the other side of the border - and was polite enough. No reason to scare kids, that ain't nice. "She invited me to stash me things in a den near the border" her nose went to point to the small den "in return, I'll be patrollin' here. Returnin' her kindness, and Elysium's kindness."

She didn't wanna scare a kid, nope. She didn't like that. She tried to keep her smile warm and friendly. The adult woman was given a look at last, for Tallulah had focused on the proper little lad until now. "Ye must Ms. Valeska's wife?" she added in her query, tipping her head to the woman "she spoke nicely of yer pack, yer family." They didn't attack her. They didn't accuse her of anything. They sat down, calm. Despite the nerves of the boy.

She chose to treat him as if his voice didn't waver. "Ah, err... Do ya want me to leave?" There was a brief silence. Brief. Maybe she shouldn't press Ms. Valeska's kindness, even if she was over the border.

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He tries to keep his proper posture. Seems the adult is too kind to notice his trembling. He listens to her words, nodding resolutely when she mentions Valeska. "Мама is a very kind person," he says, stammering slightly less. Because he can say the truth without wavering. And her kindness is making him less afraid, even if his brain tells him that it could just be a ruse. At least Amaranth is here in case anything goes wrong.

When she asks if they want her to leave, he looks confused. "I would not be welcoming you if... If we wanted you to leave." His nerves are eating at him, as they tell him that his fear is probably why she thinks that. "I'm just... I'm Valeska's first-born, and um..." He doesn't know how to explain it. There's never been expectations put upon him by his parents, but his own expectations are even more deadly.

"Well... One day I'm going to be an adult, and I um... I want to be able to know how to... To welcome strangers." He clears his throat. "So I'm welcoming you! Because Elysium is about peace and holiness, and um. We will be good to each other, yeah!"
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life coach

---

Amaranth sat perched, a patient spectator; a fly on the wall. The wind tousled through the golden locks of her hair, causing her to nearly shimmer in the afternoon sun. The soft glow from above warmed her skin, and for a little while, the voices of the others disappeared into a soft, reverberating hum around her. She felt almost ... sleepy. Relaxed and at peace with her tail tucked neatly behind Dimitri for supposed moral support.

Until — "Ye must Ms. Valeska's wife?"

Ye. She blinked her lids slowly, a thin smile on her lips as she fluttered the daze from her eyes. "Amaranth," she returned lightly, her voice as melodious as a set of chiming church bells. "And Dimitri," she added, wagging her tail to gently thump the boy on his back as her grin spread eerily across her narrow face.

At Tallulah's request to leave, Dimitri suddenly became more animated, fluttering on with words half his own and half laden with Valeska's influence. The golden woman smiled softly as she turned to look at him, tilting her narrowed muzzle down to hear him speak about the gods and the Spirit of Elysium. She let the child finish with his flourish of words before turning her deep purple gaze back toward Tallulah. "As my son has said, you are more than welcome here; long or short term. Valeska, myself, and Elysium welcome you." Again, her voice radiated, warm and mysterious and tantalizing as the smile pulled across the rest of her face.

And then her nostrils huffed a few times, taking in the scent of the newcomer ... and noticing the delicious contrast of flavors. Smokey and sweet. Fruit and fire. "You smell delightful," Amaranth noted off-handedly, raising an eyebrow. It was unlike anything she'd smelled before.

Her nose twitched.

"Where are you from?"

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"She is."

Valeska was a person that Tallulah could find no fault with. Sometimes it was easy to pick others apart, but she didn't feel any sense of malicious radiating from Ms. Valeska. Tallulah nodded approval, tail wagging. @Dimitri had a point, but the way he burst onto the scene had made her second-guess her being here. As if there were wolves of Elysium all around her, waiting for a chance to strike.

First born.

The flash of the kind man with cream fur and blue eyes again. She resisted frowning, scrunching her face. Trying to grasp the image. It flickered away again. "Ye wanna make her proud" Tallulah understood this though she didn't know why "even if she's rightly proud of ye already, I reckon." The golden woman would speak again, and her eyes flickered to her.

She was welcomed here? Long or short?

"Aye?" she couldn't believe it at first but accepted it regardless "thank ye, truly" She bowed her head to @Amaranth kindly but then... She felt her chest heave with a start. Did she smell good? According to Ms. Amaranth she did. Tallulah balked, her cheeks turning pink. Nobody told her she smelt good before. "izzat right?" She fumbled, trying to secure herself.

"Not too sure, to be frank" Ah, a welcomed distraction from a compliment! "bits and pieces come back to me, but... I can't really hold on fer long?" This time, she narrowed her eyes and scrunched her face "remember rocky mountains and grassy plains. Rolling on and on for miles. A big eagle screeching. Dust. Horses thunderin'."

She shook her head. "Then it's gone in a flash. I cannae even remember me parents."

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