Right in Two

@Tiberius would head out before the cat. It would give the feline time to let others know he was leaving Northfall for a short time. Perhaps @Valmúa would meet him at the destination. It was probably a good thing that he headed out awhile after the Titian, it would give him some deserved time alone with his lover.

After some time sauntering through the open tundra, the familiar mountains of frostchant where before his feet. It was odd to see them from this side, this place was always visible from the Everfrost but looked so much different from this angle.

This time, he wouldn't just go walking in at the border, he figured he would try what wolves do and call. Not exactly sure what to do, the cat stood up straight, emitting something between a yowl and a roar. Now with the need to wait, after only a few moments of boredom, the tiger flopped himself down in a nice sunny spot, using the time to groom his coat.

anyone from frostchant or anyone in the area

---

the staff team luvs u

she's approaching from outside of Frostchant. In her timeline, this takes place a or so day after this thread, so Tib has probably filled her in on everything. Heat day... 5?

---

Olive & @Tiberius elected not to rendez-vous within the borders of Frostchant. With @Riannon reforming the pack to be tighter and stronger, Olive already knew the answer to the unspoken question: was Tiberius welcome within? He was not a loyalist to the sotaherra — not a loyalist to any pack, it seemed — and it was only natural for a new mother such as Riannon to be critical of any sort of competition for her own pups, especially from pressure created within the pack. Olive didn't need to strain her sisterhood with Riannon for an answer she already knew. Still, Olive regretted to stray far into perilous land — so they absconded to the Elsewhen.

Though it had only been a matter of (quite lascivious) days, Olive still returned to Cloudrest often, ensuring that all was quiet and those who needed her attention were tended to. Normally, the commotion was dull; but as she approached the borders of the valley, the seraph could not help but notice how the birds stirred and took flight, the way they usually did when a big cat was afoot. Wholeheartedly expecting it to be @benry, Olive was overcome with mild surprise when it was, instead, the cat she had come to know as Kuhn. Tiberius's great friend, she had very recently learned.

The woman chuffed, so as not to surprise the lounging tiger. She stuck her nose forward, to confirm what she already guessed. "Kuhn, right?" she questioned, following her nose to drift forward a step or two. In the past couple days, she had heard a lot about this man and what had happened to he and the red woman who had come to her aid in the Tundra — it had made her hot and angry to learn, perhaps made more intense due to her cascade of hormones, but especially considering she had known him to be a Tiger that was blessed by the Gods, and this was an affront to their very sanctity.

For all their lives were becoming entangled, the two had only come to know each other in passing. What was there to say, after both their lives had become imperiled, and Tiberius had come to save them both? The shrouded sylph laughed to herself, tail held high and her demeanor, open. "I knew it was you..." she began with a start, referencing the last time they had seen each other (albeit from faraway and over the bloodied carcass of her defeated captor). "From..." and she tossed chin over a thin shoulder, back in the direction she came. From the Elsewhen, from the Everfrost; from the horrible stories Tiberius shared to her, whenever they had a free moment to talk politics and ethics.

The sylph grit her jaw, knowing this was long overdue. "I never got to say thank you—" she said quietly, letting her heavy, evergreen-gaze slip to the earth between them, because so very much had happened since then, and simple gratitude might not now hold the value that it one had.

the staff team luvs u

Grooming around what was left of the healing wounds, the sun felt soothing, warming his coat.  Able to find a quiet moment he just listened to the wind breathe through the trees as the birds sang their songs, some circling the big cat, expecting for him to bring death along with him.  They would be disappointed because, today he was here for something besides the hunt.  He wondered if the Titian's lover was really that same wolf from the snow covered mountain. 

Some time had passed, and the cat's ears cupped around to the sound of footsteps approaching from behind, where he heard his name called at a short distance.  "You must be Olive...", he almost purred, still high off his bout of relaxation.  Standing to his feet, he dipped his head politely to greet the woman, but not before it clicked that this was the same woman he had met in that moonlit spire. 

"Its good to see you again...", approaching the woman, he sauntered in closer.  "Don't worry about it, I got a good meal didn't I?", he continued with a devilish smile, once again jesting at his reasons to be there.  

They where now face to face once again. Kuhn took a step in to strafe the woman with the bridge of his nose, marking her with his approval.  "Its good to see you in one piece." 
the staff team luvs u

The tiger got to his feet and met her approach, and finally, the two were formally introduced. Kuhn and Olive: long-time friends, first-time formalities. He spoke with sarcasm, which was something she could distinctly, easily recall from their cavorting in the late winter's snow, and Olive offered an equally as ironic "Ha ha ha," and she pressed her lips together in a savvy, sideways smile. "I can think of far better meals than that abhorrent cretin," she posited with some degree of seriousness; she had been glad to hear how to heroes had feasted, as they rightly deserved to do. Olive abstained.

A bump of his nose elicited a wag from her tail. It pleased Olive immensely to know that Tiberius had found such brotherhood in the tiger, and vice versa. In the past couple days since the shewolf had learned of her partner's escapades across the Tundra Olive had begun to realize that, of all the links that bound the major players in her life,  the one between she and Kuhn was the weakest. "I could say the same to you..." She gushed, sincerely pleased to have this newfound chance to cement their rapport.

Still, Olive was not the only one to have suffered a trauma, and tiger's recent hardships deserved to be seen — and there was something that she felt bore repeating, now that Shiroshika had committed such a polarizing act. "You must know, I never liked them..." the woman gruffed, velveteen ears falling back to nestle against the back of her skull. She wanted to make her loyalties known, here and now. "They never seemed to like me, either." They hadn't tried to eradicate her as they had Kuhn and Valmua, but that was likely because Reiko hadn't thought of her as a true threat.

Olive gathered her ears tighter behind, entirely uncertain as to his character, and whether such a topic might incense the man she had seen slay the walrus, or call forth the playful cat she had met under the moonlight. As she was all-too-aware of, they were veritable strangers.

the staff team luvs u

It seemed like this woman had already cracked his code with his way of speaking. Calling him out in his sarcasm with some of her own. A toothy smirk cracked across his face, entertained that someone had seen through his charade, she knew his real reason for being there. "Mmm... Your right he didn't taste that great, but quantity has a quality all its own.", he continued leaning in to that unspoken understanding, with a flick of the tail.

Ready to double down on the joke, he raised up his tail and took up a very feline, holier than thou posture, walking only a step before, the topic changed. "Ah... So you heard what happened..." Returning to a normal stance, the cat shrugged his shoulders with a sigh. "I should have never trusted them from the start honestly, I never would have guessed they would have gone that far."
the staff team luvs u

She surveyed him as he transitioned from sarcasm to something more serious, pacing forward a step and flicking his tail as cats are wont to do. He had a chance to kill her before, and there he had demonstrated immense self control; he didn't seem to be as explosive of a cat as Benry, who seemed to crumble when confronted with tough realities. Her ears still pulled firmly back, she snorted and shook her head, denoting that there was a part she disagreed with.

"I don't believe one can ever be in the wrong for having misplaced trust. Trust is never inherently bad," she explained, loosening her expression, understanding how heavy a weight guilt was to bear. Her eyebrows knitted together as she looked upon him, noting the pink of freshly healed scars. "However, those who try to inflict evil upon others — it is always bad, even if they feel justified." No matter what happened prior to it, killing that wasn't done in the name of sustenance or ritual was inherently sinful.

"It is how the Gods see these things. It is so unfortunate that so many in this world view this incorrectly..." Olive heaved a sigh, attempting to rid her body of such an energy, as this was now in everyone's past and it did not serve to dwell on why evil existed. It just did.

Managing a wisp of a smile, the woman strode closer, pushing her nose against-the-grain into the fire-burnt fur upon his shoulder. "Tiberius will be happy to see you," she mentioned, smiling, as they both knowing the Titan well, but in two vastly different manners. "All his ducklings in one place." All the man wanted to do was protect the things he loved, and one-by-one, he had tracked them down.

the staff team luvs u

"Bad, no... But foolish yes. I almost died because I could not see how awful they where.", He objected, with a raucous tone, tossing his head a bit.

"But, that won't happen again", he continued perking up, with a smile. "Of course she felt justified, that woman thinks she is a good person. There is no voice inside her to stop her."

Somehow the topic didn't anger him as much as it normally would, not growling and snarling at it's very mention. Shrugging his shoulders, he once again found a moment to admire this woman for her moral center. It was relieving that someone out here could put it into words like her.

Posturing himself for a long conversation on ethics, he was surprised when the woman pressed into his shoulder. He couldn't help but let out a sonorous drone. Shaking out his mane, he looked at her fondly, even though this was the second time they had met.

Rich chuffing gave him away, as he once again strafed his muzzle across her rubbing his entire side against hers. He was tickled at the fact that she refered to them as Tiberius' ducklings. Entertaining, because the Titian might not approve of being described in such a soft light.

Still dragging himself down her side, "Does he live here with you now?", Asking earnestly, looking back to her face for the answer.
the staff team luvs u

The cat raised an interesting point, that provoked deeper existential thought in Olive than Kuhn had probably intended. He laughed, speaking how he had nearly died in the pursuit of something the Gods saw as virtuous, which encapsulated one of the spiritual enigmas that left Olive grasping for answers in the middle of the night, and left her feeling vulnerable; one of those things that never seemed to make sense — and though Olive could debate left and right about spiritual-ethical hierarchy, there was no doubt that this question was one of the few that indicated why the Gods even existed: to help make sense of the non-sensible parts of life, and let the living mortals work attain some semblance of inner peace.

Still, Olive experienced a keen pang of empathetic guilt, seeing how strongly he felt his trust had brought chaos like this down unto him. "Tiberius has one of the most finely honest intuitions i've ever seen," she wanted to mention, prepared to point out a very important fact. "even he was fooled." If Tiberius had pledged his entire bodily purpose to that of Shiroshika, then Kuhn's supposed relationship with the pack made plenty of sense. "We are blessed, even though it may not feel like it now; for we all live to see another day."

Olive could not say on one hand or the other if Reiko thought she was good, or what were her motivations. Truthfully, her own mind had become quite distracted with the meticulous path that the tiger was weaving down her side, somehow managing to make his thousand-pound frame to feel light-as-air as he did so. Though Olive knew this to be typical behavior of cats, her seasoned body strongly registered such pleasurable sensations and the waif easily blushed and grew flustered as her body responded in kind. Kuhn looked back at her, and her heart lurched, so she forced her body away from the magnetism of his own, and she softly danced in a half-circle to face him.

"We are staying next door — at the cliffs, you remember them?" she answered him, lips parted. "It's... close to the Everfrost," she muttered, somewhat regretfully, unsure if Kuhn would feel secure in a place just adjacent to his lost home. Still, she wasn't sure the meaning of this visit, seeing as he traveled without Valmua — maybe he had imminent plans to return. "But you are of Northfall or.... no?" she chimed in question, eyes unintentionally bright, watching his body move in such a serpentine pattern.

the staff team luvs u

Feline senses where tuned to detect sudden motions. So, when the Waif pulled herself away from his side so suddenly the big cat was quick to notice. Figuring he had offered or threatened her in some way, he once again sat himself down, making himself vulnerable to show he meant no harm.

Seeing her dance back around to face him, he subtly cocked his head in confusion, because she didn't appear threatened.

Still trying to dissect her behavior he continued, his tail giving away his curiosity. "Oh? The cliffs? That's a nice place..." , his mind obviously still working.

"Northfall? Well... I like them, but I'm not really the pack type. I still would prefer to think on my own..." Although, the cat was able to hold a conversation, the mismatch in the woman's expression to her action was puzzling the cat, he couldn't help but tense up a bit, as if he was ready to pounce or retreat.
the staff team luvs u

It was clear as day that she wasn't as smooth as she had though, and Kuhn was confused about why she had suddenly wrested herself from his cloying nearness. She was unsure how to explain, if Kuhn did not already know, the delicate position they were in; and as always, when she got nervous, Olive lapsed into verbosity. Tail lashing, she warbled "The Elseweyr is a lovely place, indeed; close to the heavens..." and placed one narrow paw in front of the other, completing a half-step, "but I do not think we are to stay there for long." She was only being honest, though the details of 'what comes next?' had yet to be clarified.

Her feelings about following a leader greatly mirrored his own; her loyalty to a pack was fleeting, but her personal friendships were strong. She had been raised a nomad, and found it difficult to endlessly obey authority — though, the sylph was beginning to learn, this was probably more out of ignorance of her own role, within the typical packhood structure. In this realm, Olive was on the cusp of so many new personal endeavors that it felt nice to talk about something familiar, such as Northfall. "But if one were to follow a leader, @Ragnar is a good choice," she commended, having nothing but adulation to say of the man. "Decisive,  effective, a fortuitous ally...." A smile spread upon her muzzle like honey, thinking about how she could easily be describing the titan Tiberius, who was ever on a quest.

Though Kuhn was feeling uncertain, Olive easily forgot any imbalance, and she earnestly spoke to her friend about the moral dilemma she was facing. He mentioned thinking on his own, and that resonated with her. "I feel bound to Evenrise and Riannon, and the man Eira at her side... for reasons only the Gods know..." Olive glanced up to look at the sky through the scattered tree cover, striding towards the tiger, releasing a lilting sigh from pent-up lungs. "but over a long time, and also quite suddenly, it no longer seems to suffice." Olive wondered if it was only the restlessness of her estrus that made her feel this way, or if it was the symptom of a larger need.

She smiled weakly and craned her ears towards him, knowing that he had a plethora of experience with non-consensual change that came alongside the progression of life, "The Gods seem to want something else from me." The ashen sylph was close enough to reach out and touch him, if she wanted; but she withheld, and instead sat down, not intending to allow their communion to be cut short in any way.

the staff team luvs u

Bunching up his shoulders blades, his coiled stance began to relax.  He had to look away for a moment, letting the heat in his face dissipate. Licking his chops nervously, he turned his gaze half way back once he had himself partially composed. "Well... Uh... where will you go?"

Taking a toll on his attention, he still seemed flustered over the tension in in the air.  This woman did seem to have a magnetism all her own.  "Ya, @Ragnar is a good guy...", he replied in short, certainly understating his appreciation for the man. "I owe him big..." 

The seriousness of the waif's predicament helped to distract him momentarily from the static that hung between them.  Able to settle into the ground, his ears perked up and his gaze was more direct. It seemed as if the cogs where moving behind those difficult to read feline eyes. Methodically, he was internally picking apart his new friend's predicament, trying to use what he knew about wolves. "So... Tiberius claimed you?" , he said rather bluntly, looking at it from a feline perspective. "You belong to yourself, not a pack..." , continuing as she stepped closer once again. Her closeness once again almost drew him in , only his whiskers reaching out to her to betray his feeling. Though after speaking of the fact that she was claimed by the Titian, he felt apprehesive to give her another rubbing, only sitting there, slightly leaning away from the woman.
the staff team luvs u

Olive rolled her shoulders as she sighed and thought briefly about Kuhn's question, perhaps willfully ignorant of the cat's malaise. To be truthful, she had waited far too long have this conversation with him (not to even mention how long she had wished to thank him for his effort out on the ice fields) to let something as silly as hormones get in the way. The woman deeply thought about her answer, but still could only offer him vagueness. "We don't know yet. Somewhere the safety of those we love can be assured," the attack on Kuhn had made Olive realize just how ephemeral a thing such a safety was, "where we are only surrounded by those we trust, who know us." and how truly few could be trusted to act for the good of the whole.

To her own dilemma, the tiger seemed to ponder, and Olive took this moment to survey the man — the deep lines etching his face, the lacerations that had run across his body. She looked at them with a healer's keen eye, and saw that they had been tended to by a wolf he knew medicines well. When he suggested that Tiberius had claimed her, she could not help the blush that rose behind her pale cheeks, eyelashes fluttering with the array of unchaste memories that flashed into the front of her attention. "Yes, I suppose he has, in a way..." she smirked, realizing the unintentional double-entendre, and that the tiger was simply wondering if she was now considered property of Tiberius.

Graciously he did not linger long, instead stating that she only belonged to herself. Again, Olive simpered, her face lighting up with emotion. "That's quite the feline perspective, no?" she quipped, ears falling backwards dramatically. "If I were to live on my own, I would most assuredly die, despite even my best efforts." She bit her lip, as if this possibility truly plagued her psyche night and day — but a casual, sidelong glance back towards him, paired with the smallest twist of a smile, denoted that she was being a bit hyperbolic.

Straightening up, Olive knew his was a perspective worth thoroughly evaluating. "Even still, I understand what you mean..." the woman pondered, now standing and pacing around, reanimated by the topic of conversation. She nodded to herself, agreeing inwardly before stating her thoughts out loud. "I do believe your tiger-nature does much to temper our wolf-nature. It's a good balance." She had seen this with Kuhn and Tiberius, as well as herself and Benry, though he was cougar. It was a synergy that was worth noting, with a momentum she could not ignore. Olive lashed her tail, realizing and remembering something from months ago.

"So it was fated that night we met," the greyscale waif turned back towards him. "I knew it was nothing random, or meaningless."

the staff team luvs u

Nodding subtly, her musings on safety and trust would be hard to argue with for the cat. "Mhmm...", he growled in agreement. Firsthand he had learned that it wasn't simply enough to do no harm, trust and friends where actually quite important things.  He had to learn that the hard way.  

When the woman cracked her smirk, a similar one followed across the face of the tiger.  She may have thought that there was some intentional meaning there but, he was quite aware of his own dry humor he had loaded into that statement. Twitching his tail in amusement, her blush came like clockwork, knowing that her reaction would answer that question better than her words, it was abundantly clear that the deed had been done and their love was mutual. 

Not being able to help himself, he was back on his feet.  A short chuckle rumbled warmly from his chest while bumping the crown of his skull into the woman.  Essentially he gave her his congratulations without saying a word.  Of course she wasn't the Tib's property, they just belonged to each other.  

Turning his long frame perpendicular to the woman he took a few paces away tossing her points around in his head. "I don't think you would die...", he responded narrowing his brow before catching her hyperbolism.  Duped, the cat rolled his eyes and nodded his head, realizing what she was getting at. 

"I don't think its bad to live with others...  The fault I have found with your kind is that - and, I don't mean you.  But, I have noticed that many are un-whole when they are alone, they group together because they are incomplete themselves.   They lack choice... They do not choose their friends or who they follow.   Out of necessity many only obey, though they would tell you otherwise..."

Finishing his step, he retuned his gaze to the woman as he once again returned to his haunches to listen. She recognized that their differences in nature where a good thing, he was inclined to agree that neither worldview was 'correct' on its own. He had just learned first hand the benefit of wolfkind, as he was so lovingly tended to after his injuries.  Pointing out the poetry of their first strange meeting on the mountain, the waif seemed to have a way to make one thing flow from the next.  Though, he did feel like he was being buttered up for something, the big cat felt that, like their last meeting: he was fated to be sitting here right now.  

"I feel that way too..." 
the staff team luvs u

It was nice, to celebrate her union with Tiberius with another who was truly happy for her. When Riannon had heard to the tryst, Olive had been demoted; when Benry had learned of it, he chastised her. So Olive took the gentle press of his brow for what it was, and leant into it, drinking in all the warmth that two crowns had to offer.

When the brute then paced around her, and shared his own perspective on the follies of wolves, Olive nodded along and tilted her head as she digested this information. It was definitely a shortcoming in some ways; but wolves were simply not designed to live on one's own, if Roshanak's theory of 'evolution' was to be believed. Eyes kindling a small fire within, the sylph followed with her own step forward, word tingling on her lips. "But what else is there to do when one might be good at hunting and providing, while another is good at strategy, and another can see truth in all things? Lacking one of these won't kill you, only prevent you from living your best life." Then her lips pressed together, and a more solemn energy overtook her.

"I believe you are right when you say that to thrive, not just survive, we must carefully select those who surround us; who lead us..." Olive liked to say that she had been selective in the past, but not like this; not when the lives of her future children were at stake. Her voice riding upon her exhale, she uttered "Our lives are changing, and quickly..." She took another step forward, head held low, her gaze probing for his, seeking to hold it. "I've found it helpful to remain open to whatever lies ahead. This is a moment of great transition, for each of us..."

She thought for a moment about what she was suggesting, either overtly or in subtext. But this was not her matter to discuss, this was between Kuhn and Tiberius. If Olive's job were to simply butter the tiger up to be more open the proposal that was to follow —  then the woman would graciously accept her lot in life. "I advised Tiberius similarly. I believe you two have much to discuss," She flourished the sibilant word charming smile, unwilling to chisel away at the marble block of 'packhood' in this very moment. Leave that to the minds of men, and leave whatever-this-was to her.

With many things having been said between them, Olive suddenly felt quite emboldened, pushing forward to stride closer to the tiger. As she had done moments prior, the shaman-woman looked over the giant feline with a trammeling gaze. "Pray tell, who is the wolf who has worked the healing arts on you?" she questioned, sticking her nose ever-closer to the worst of the wounding, which was now only signified by shiny, pink, new flesh. "Their work is divine..."

the staff team luvs u

Something about this conversation was building tension at the back of the cat's skull. Perhaps there was a built in different in how the two species looked at the nature of relationships. Frustrated, he couldn't actually find much fault with what she said. It seemed that she had now conceded that thought relationships aren't entirely necessary, they are needed to help live at least a better life.

Feeling argumentative, he really wanted to keep picking at the nuances of the argument. Restraining himself, he leaned back. Feline eyes narrowed as he listened to her continuously allude to times of transition, friendship, big choices, and remaining open...

Almost metaphorically, the cat dug his feet into the ground, stubborn and unmoving. He didn't dare say anything, for fear he might get to sappy. It's not like he could really deny how much he appreciated his friends now. Clenching his teeth together, it was obvious he was on to her, but none the less conflicted.

She gave him a moment to loosen up as the topic changed, asking about his healing. Perhaps he would have died of these wounds if not for @Harper. Or at least, they would have been ugly festering reminders of what it meant to live alone. Olive was right, they healed beautifully, fresh lines carved in his coat, a reminder of the kindness of his friends and the cruelty of his enemies.

Frustrated still, Olive knew what she was doing, chipping away at him. "Her name is @Harper, of Elysium...", he answered shortly with a defeated exhale.
the staff team luvs u

 The tiger was no longer speaking, lapsing into silence as (Olive assumed he was) mulling over her words. To Olive, it was all very eloquent and profound; but even she, who felt very justified in her monologue, could see how well the tiger was receiving such a tumult of information. His face looked stony and solid, jaw clenched, toes pressing hard into the earth, energy rooting; planting. Olive, a skilled disciple, knew when it was best to employ a different tactic.

Tensions resolved for the moment as they discussed his Doctor, but Olive knew she was pushing the limits of her friendship with Kuhn. Though the two had been tied together in some way, finding one in the other's path time and time again, but she could not ignore that this was their first real time meeting; hell, the first time they met, they hadn't even exchanged names. She observed him silently for a moment, thinking of that night, and how the Tiger's own prayer seemed to have come in the form of his actions and words and play, each of which held no small amount of snark or sarcasm.

She nodded at the name of the Healer — this was nearly the third time she had heard of the pack Elysium just this month — and stored it in her memory bank for later use. Again, Olive leaned in close, no longer wishing to speak so cryptically. "Don't let him know I shared this with you," she began with a crooked brow, "But I believe Tiberius intends to ask you to join us, and co-create this new reality together." The woman smiled, softly, sweetly, the idea of such a thing relighting the fire in her belly. "Of course, this is entirely up to you; I do not believe it will diminish your friendship should you choose to decline."

Tiberius had never let packhood define his relationships, and neither did she —  but at least, with their friends held close and tight, they might be able to keep them safe, and help them achieve whatever it was that they desired in this world.

the staff team luvs u

Remaining planted and stubborn, the big cat's posture remained unmoving, as she came out with it all. He didn't relent his tension but his head began to spin now. Wondering why they would ask a tiger to join a pack, he knew he would scoff if the request wasn't from Olive and Tiberius.

Gritting his teeth, the thought of having anyone tell him what to do, made his tail thrash. Though, the idea of lending his protection to Tib, Olive and their offspring made the idea pallettable.

Frankly, he didn't even know what it would mean to be part of a pack. Until recently, he didn't see the benefit, up until getting aide from Nothfall and Elysium. Maybe they weren't all bad, like some of those collections of shit from the east.

Almost growling, "Ok... I won't tell him you said that.." , he murmured, refusing to give an immediate answer despite the woman's elegant charms. He would have to have some words with Tiberius because, he would be insane if he though to make the striped beast into a good little dog. Though in the back of his mind he doubted that Tiberius had those intentions for him. Olive did say together.
the staff team luvs u

Silently studying him as he reacted to her words, Olive allowed the thoughts to eke into her mind about what an interesting land this was, that a tiger could meet wolves and co-exist with one another (or in the case of Kuhn, do much more than co-exist). Her entire lineage had dedicated themselves to the pursuit of higher understanding, but never in her lifetime of learning had she even conceived of relating to another predator, and one whose nature so vastly contrasted her own. She had endlessly studied her relationship to the earth, stars, plants and her kindred wolf-relations; and this ever-unknown facet was something that she loved to probe and explore.
 
But at what expense? Most felines that she had encountered seemed to be more stiff-necked and unwilling to see change than she, but wasn’t everyone? In the end of most things, it was Olive who yielded to the will of the other, and it wasn’t because of inherent weakness — it was out of a desire to prioritize peace over even her own happiness. So when Kuhn gave a succinct, dogged answer without adding any other perspective for her to address, Olive considered the conversation concluded, as she had no interested in pressing her own whim and fancies upon others (and especially not upon cats, for aforementioned reasons) and that's what lofty rhetoric always became when over-used.
 
So the woman smiled and she utterly a soft “Thank you,” to the striped, maned man for his discretion. With a glimmer to acknowledgement tingling upon her lips, she pivoted her ears ‘round and placed one foot in the other, with gusto. "I shan't keep you at the borders of Evenrise for much longer — you've traveled far. Can I show you to the Elsewhen? You can refresh yourself at the river, if you so desire..." she continued, wondering how well she could host a guest in a land that was not, in fact, hers.

the staff team luvs u

There when't many people that the cat admired. Though, if he was being honest with himself; Olive was one of those creatures.  It was rare to find someone that had grace and beauty, who also had an equally beautiful mind and spirit.  To think that some time ago he had this woman locked in his jaws, or the many different ways that night could have ended.  At the thought he bit his own lip, his fur puffed ever so slightly, tail swishing. 

Though, he wouldn't say it: perhaps he liked having her try and convince him to join.  It wasn't that he cared much for what others thought but, hearing it from her did feel good.  So, when she ceased her efforts he had to hide his disappointment.

"Mhm...", he hummed.   Strolling up to her side, he waited a moment before joking with a playful growl, "I wouldn't mind being shown around..."
the staff team luvs u