Arachnea's Revenge! Early evening. (It gets dark fast this time of year D

He wasn't too far away from Dahlia, within a decent run, but far enough away that he felt as if he could get a bit of privacy. Gideon enjoyed domestic life with his son and daughter, but occasionally the single father felt the need to go out for a run or a nice walk to clear his head. The male was shifted and stood tall on two feet. He had learned how to shift the month before, and was now unable to figure out how to get back down to his lupus form. He'd tried imagining what it would be like to be on four paws again, wishing it would work, believing that it would work, but nothing.


The night sky was clear, and he tilted his head upward to stare at the dotted canvas above. The stars were shining brightly tonight! As a pup, Gideon had been told that the little dots of lights were fireflies that had flown too high and had gotten stuck. He didn't know any other reasoning behind the lights, so this was what he still believed. The male smiled up at them before continuing his trek away from Dahlia. The woods of Arachnea's Revenge were thickening, blotting out the stars, but he didn't mind too much. He would probably turn around to head back after a bit more walking.

My apologies on the wait :< I don't have steady internet, and am playing a bit of catch-up! wc: 591

He had been wondering about shifting back down into his four legged form, but had been unable to so far. Gideon was adapting well to being on two feet, though, and wondered what benefit being on four legs would give him anyway. The main thing that he was used his two legged form for was fishing and other forms of hunting. He could barely remember hunting on four legs any more. On two he could work his fishing rod and bring up a nicely sized trout, carp, or salmon where they were available or use his large fishing net to gather up mussels and smaller fish from the ocean.

There had been once case where using the rod had gotten him into some trouble, and the scars on his hand twinged a little bit as he remembered it. He had been sitting on the cliff side next to the ocean with his hook in the water, a very strong line drifting a bit in the breeze. He'd let a lot of line out, unsure of how deep the water beneath the cliff was and wanting the best chance to catch something big. He had gotten in a bit over his head with the shark that had taken his bait.

He was lucky that Layla had been there with her medical kit and herbs; the shark had broken one of his fingers and it was still a bit twisted, but nothing too major. A few deep cuts and a partially dislocated shoulder had been his only other injuries. The thing had caught onto his hand pretty well and yanked its head from side to side when he had tried to remove the hook. After that he'd been pretty angry with it and had after it had released him he'd given it a good club over the head and they'd had a feast of shark meat that night.

His stomach growled a little bit and he looked back behind him toward Dahlia de Mai. Should he go back and get his fishing supplies and get himself something to eat? He was considering this when he heard a voice and his head snapped back around, his body going into a defensive posture. He wasn't much of a fighter but had size on his side in most situations. He was prepared to defend himself if needed or to run away before he realized that the stranger's tone had been friendly, kind even. They appeared from the darkness inside of a cloud of odd-smelling smoke.

Who were they? He could smell another scent beneath the smell of whatever was in her hand, but it wasn't terribly familiar and didn't spark any connections inside of his head. "Hello, Miss." He was still processing the fact that the stranger was friendly and was taking time to look them over a bit as he replied. "Uhh..I guess so. I was getting a little hungry, but I didn't bring any food with me. I'm from the pack back behind me...Dahlia de Mai. I'm Gideon. What's your name?"

He hadn't had many social interactions with canines from outside of Dahlia, and let his gaze meet hers occasionally, keeping it toward the ground or toward the smoking joint in her hand for the most part. "I don't meet many strangers in these woods, 'specially pretty girls like you." There was no filter between what he was thinking and what came out of his mouth, and he closed his mouth with a light "mmmph" sound when he realized that he'd spoken it aloud.

Please note that pieces of my post that you quoted in yours shouldn’t be included in your word count for sosuwrimo, as you didn’t write them. Just making sure that you knew! <3 I wasn’t sure if you did. wc: 295

Gideon wasn’t very good at guessing the ages of canines that he came across and definitely had a bit of social awkwardness about him. He supposed that it didn’t really matter how old someone was as long as the conversation was good, though, so he wasn’t too concerned. But was she a “miss” or a “ma’am” or what? He frowned slightly, unsure. She seemed to have a youthful spirit about her and hoped that he hadn’t misspoken by calling her “miss”. She didn’t seem to have minded much, continuing to speak, and his smile returned.

Her name was interesting to him, sounding foreign as it rolled off of her tongue. ”Nice to meet you, Sage. Or do you go by Sage River? I only have two names, myself, so I don’t know the protocol on it. Are there plentiful prey creatures around here?” He inquired. Her joke about Inferni went completely over his head and he cocked his head to the side, a bit confused. Why wouldn’t she want to come to Dahlia? Gideon had come to the lands after the war, and knew next to nothing about it. ”I don’t know”

It wasn’t good to judge someone based on where they lived, though, he felt. The only thing that he really knew about Inferni was that they lived up northeast of his pack and that they didn’t like wolves too much. She called him handsome and put her hand on his shoulder. Gideon stared at it for a moment with wide eyes, then looked back at her face. He’d been meaning to ask what that was in her mouth; the smell of the smoke made his nose itch. ”What’s that, Sage? Is it..on fire?” It had to be on fire to be smoking, right?

:xx <3333!!! And lol, Gideon. He’s way too innocent >_>; wc: 373

He didn’t like to think about things like war or fighting. Gideon wasn’t against such things, if there was a purpose behind them, though. He had defended the territory alongside Conor, Saluce, and Bris against a lone outsider that had come in without permission named Noss. But he wouldn’t normally just go out and fight or threaten anyone. It had scared him to see his aunt and Conor so protective and serious, but he had taken a cue from them and had acted according to how they did, their posture, their flashing teeth and raised fur. He had made a nice show of it. The thing that he didn’t like about fighting , he supposed, was just that he didn’t like to think about his family getting hurt. He had protected the lands against Noss that day because he had feared for his pups’ lives, back in their house. He couldn’t let a threat get by.

Gideon had never heard of smoking, cigarettes, or marijuana. He had lived a very sheltered life indeed, it seemed. He didn’t know if it was because this behavior was one that Dahlians shouldn’t do or if it was something that he simply hadn’t heard of before, so he was quite curious about the stuff. He was a wolf who was always looking for something new to do; once his pups were a bit older he would have a lot more spare time to himself to fill up. Perhaps meeting up with Sage and hanging out with her would become a pass-time of his. She offered it to him and he took it in his fingers as she had. ”I suck on it?” He asked, staring at it before putting it between his lips and inhaling.

His virgin lungs didn’t seem to like what he had inhaled, however, and he pulled it away from his mouth as both his lungs and throat began to experience a burning sensation. ”Ahh..” He coughed. ”I’ve never smoked before…is it supposed to be like this?” He didn’t know if he liked it enough to try it ever again, but watching Sage…perhaps he had done something wrong or perhaps the experience would change over time. ”Why do you smoke it?” He asked curiously.