Hah! I love that joke, it never gets old. Also, who designed Rurik’s profile CSS? I absolutely love it!
”Agreed,” Finn said. She couldn’t be truly happy unless she had the wide sky above her. She had grown so used to being in high altitudes, where the sky and the mountains were the only thing for miles. When she had looked out from the cliffs here, she’d had the same feeling. Nothing but water and sky till the end of the horizon. It was beautiful, awe-inspiring and frightening. The idea of all that water, in one place and reaching unimaginable depths, scared Finn silly. She would never take to the sea. That, she knew for certain. Times may change and seasons pass, but the day Finn got on any kind of boat would be the day Hell froze over.
Still, she was envious of the freedom Rurik had. He could sail anywhere he wanted, down to the southern lands or back across the ocean to Europe. Finn could only go so far as her feet and strength would let her. Compared to a ship, the distance she had traveled was peanuts. It was a sad thought, knowing that there was so much more out there, and knowing at the same time that she would never, ever get to see it. Maybe she could get Rurik to tell her some of his stories. He’d surely been somewhere other than here, seen things Finn had not. She collected stories like others collected gold or clothes, guarding them as fiercely as any dragon.
”Aye, fall in this country is beautiful. All the trees changing colour and dropping their leaves…” Finn liked autumn and summer the most. spring was too wet, winter too cold, but The blistering heat and tumultuous storms of summer and the gentle breezes and twirling leaves of fall were incomparable. Back in British Columbia, it had been all winter, all the time. Snow up to her eyeballs and winds so strong they could strip your fur off if you so much as poked your head out of your den. She’d left those lands hastily, even the abyssal prairie had been preferable to that.
Finn stilled, completely blindsided by Rurik’s almost flippant offer. ”I, uh, that is... generous of you?” She stuttered, ear flickering. The wolf couldn’t believe that he’d thrown that proposition out there so easily. Did he just not care? Finn paused, some of the edginess leaving her. She was silent for a long moment, weighing the options. It could have been a joke, he could have been just playing with her, it was entirely possible. Or he could be dead serious. She shuffled again, looking towards the pool, unaware of what to say.
How did one respond to such a statement? Finn was out of her element here, and it was with great relief that Rurik picked up the topic changed easily enough. She stared at the proffered bottle and the splashing liquid inside. She knew it was alcohol, her father had told many stories and there was always drinking whenever Luperci were involved, but she’d never actually tried it. She shrugged, moving closer. ”Sure, I’ll have some.” Finn replied, ”Can’t be too bad tasting, right?”
She glanced up again at Rurik, who was much closer now, and licked her lips nervously. ”Ah, should I just slurp some up? Or could you pour some into my mouth. I wouldn’t want to waste it, I’ve heard rum isn’t exactly common here.” She didn’t know of any wolves who’d set up distilleries in Nova Scotia, and had no idea if anyone had been so enterprising as to set up shipping lines from Europe. Possibly, some wolf had discovered who to make moonshine somewhere, but if they had Finn hadn’t heard anything.