OOC: Sorry for the delay.

Slade was still hanging around the Ethereal Eclipse territories. While he was content to be within his packlands, he knew that exploration helped him come up with the best settings for the stories he made up in his mind. This was why, despite his last social encounter, he had decided to venture deeper into the woods. The young coyote knew that he always knew his way back to Cercatori d'Arte if the need ever came up: he would only have to go north and west. It was so simple that he was open to some extra travel. Besides, if he wanted to be more social he was going to have to interact with canines outside of his pack.

Instead of smartly noticing where he was walking, Slade was looking up in the trees; he remembered the crow that had pestered him not too long ago in these woods, and his carefree, imaginative side was telling him that the crow was stalking him. Thus he was completely oblivious of the tall figure he was approaching; she completely elided his sight until he nearly walked right into her. Noticing the dark-colored form in front of him, he quickly took a few steps back, startled.

Embarassment washed over him, and he shrunk back as if addressing the leader of a pack whose land he was invading on. "Sorry, sorry," Slade stammered quickly. "I was being ignorant." This wasn't the first time that his mind had gotten away from him; no, he wasn't throwing rocks at houses or getting stuck in bushes, but it was still the fault of his imagination. He had been looking to the trees for an imaginary foe. Out of all the naïve things he had done, this was probably the worst; it wasn't like he had a packmate to help him this time around. He had bumped into a complete stranger, and something told him that she would not be particularly happy to see him.

OOC: Gah, more delay failness. Weekends are busy.

Instead of getting a scolding, Slade was surprised to hear that the first thing the stranger noticed was that he didn't have a virus. Assuming that the virus was the form of Luperci, he found the female's warning slightly comical. He knew that he had been poking his nose into the wrong places, but it was amusing the way she had put her words. She sounded stiffly formal and deathly serious, however, so Slade kept these thoughts to himself.

The next thing Slade knew, she was walking away from him on all fours, which he found somewhat odd; he thought that Luperci preferred movement on two legs, as that was how their Optime form was made. With a small shrug, he was about to turn around and simply let the incident be an incident and little more than that, but he realized that he was passing up a prime opportunity to get to know someone. Hoping that the female wouldn't turn out to be anything like that other wolf he had met recently, Jaden, Slade followed her, making sure his pawsteps could be heard so he didn't surprise her.

"So, what's your name?" he asked casually, keeping his body relaxed. Slade was hoping not to appear too starch. As of late, getting to know others had become a desideratum for him, and so far he felt he was doing a pretty good job at it. Well, there was Jaden to consider; the two hadn't exactly made friends, but Slade knew that he couldn't hold a grudge against all strangers because of that. That would make him no better than Jaden himself.

Instead he decided that he would try to get the female to show a friendlier side, if she had one, and asked, "Are you in a pack?" He hoped it didn't sound like an inept question; Slade had been in the area for a couple of months now, but he had only really explored his own territory and Ethereal Eclipse and couldn't possibly recognize the scent of other packs if his life depended on it.