She was intoxicated with the wealth that Anathema held. Its underground world rivalled the entire outside world she'd experienced. The scents were varied but strong and she knew there were powerful and accomplished folk around, from the sheer size and complexity of their base. And her mother, of course. Nowhere her mother ruled would ever be inferior. Caprica was overwhelmed. Her family was due to expand still further, and she wasn't even used to having a single part of it back yet. She wanted to scream, but she was afraid of the echoes her powerful voice would send down the catacombing tunnels. But then, perhaps it would draw somebody her way. Her heart was bursting, it felt wrong to be on her own.

She already knew where she wanted to stay - near the guest rooms, where socialisation would be guaranteed. In the cave she hoped could become hers, she took the herbs she'd gathered over the past few days and started to tie them into bunches. She knew they did better out of the sunlight, but it had always been so hard before. Here the conditions were perfect. The smell of wild thyme reminded her of cooking on the open fire, and she smiled to herself; no more rough meals would ever be necessary. She could put some of those old human practices to the test in that great kitchen hearth.

She had unpacked what little she carried, and strung homemade jewellery - painted wooden beads and naturally holey stones - on her neck and wrists. Her delight with her new home was tinged with unavoidable anxiety, much as she would deny it if challenged. The unknown yawned all around her, some of it territorial, some of it personal. Caprica knew no one here, and she was destined to become like family to them. Could a leader's daughter escape rejection - of course not, if deserved. She would not deserve it, would she? She kept her hands busy so her mind would not wander too far into the darkness, and the jingling of the jewellery and the smell of her herbs made her feel a little better and kept her from having to realise why she was edgy to begin with.

She moved around the cave like a restless tree swaying in wind, stringing plant bunches by fixing pointed wooden pegs into crevices in the rock, stopping now and then to lean into the comfortingly solid stone and look around her with an expression of amazement. How far she had come, from the other side of the world it seemed, though it was only across the width of the peninsula. Her journey had taken a long time, because she had been moving in circles, with no fixed direction. The woods had entangled her, and she'd been safe there, with only the scarcest of passers-by. It had not been enough in the end, but the knowledge she could survive on her own was valuable beyond words. Surely now she would find she could more than pull her weight in a pack. The trick was to always be ready and prepared. She had a rabbit freshly killed in the corner, and the only reason she hadn't already fed was a niggling thought that perhaps she should go to the kitchen and share it. But she couldn't go quite yet, she was not done here, she told herself firmly and started winding thread around the last bunch of stalks, a bundle of sage that she would burn and smoulder before long, texturing the room with protection, invitation and a comfortably scented haze.

She started and turned, fists balling. Her discoverer leant in the doorway, and recognising him she relaxed into a similarly lazy smile, her green eyes penetrative. She had no evidence of any spark between him and her mother, but it was difficult to overlook those tiny signals. Perhaps it was only that they were packmates, because he was looking at her with the same focus now too. She had not caught his name, in the whirl of over-excitement that her joining process had been to her; she was embarrassed about that now. She preferred to keep on top of such protocol. She had meant no disrespect. She needed something better to call him than Crimson though, once was just a reflexive come-back, twice was almost a come-on, and surely it was too soon for such things. He called her 'girl', which seemed much more suitable, but unfortunately worked only one way. At least his speech gave her something to respond to and delayed the question. "Could do worse," she understated happily, one hand waving around at the cavern, which looked a little bare although in her mind it was already bedecked exactly as she planned it to be. The vision blocked out her nerves, but they still jangled when she looked past Ravesque to the open tunnels. "I've gotta get used to pack-life again - I'm pretty damn rusty, it's been a while. Kinda glad it was you sneaking up on me. Not that we're much acquainted... but least I don't have to explain myself again, not just yet, anyhow!" She sighed, holding the smouldering incense forgotten at her side, curling up into her fur like a slow reversed rainstorm. Her eyes were hopeful now, pleading with him to smooth her anxiety, although she didn't dare reveal it as a weakness. In time it would become a core within a hard shell of strength, a flaw disguised as a blessing.

She let him take the sage; she could light another bundle, and achieve twice the effectiveness, though she would have to be careful not to cover the door so that enough air could circulate - the combusting leaves used up oxygen. His large presence, after her months alone, was rather overwhelming, but Caprica had a core of steel and could appear unfluttered when she wanted to. "Aw, honey, you don't have to do anything for me," she told him, "just the company is fine for now." Her voice was silky but casual, her smile opaque, but heartfelt.

She could feel happy warm feelings rising. It seemed she'd already made a friend in the form of her tall, dark border-greeter. She didn't know anything about him, he had melted away when her mother arrived, before she could find out more. She had no idea who Ravesque really was, but all that mattered to her was that he seemed to like her, and she too smiled, reflecting his appreciation. With a headturn she spoke over her shoulder, moving forward to collect a bunch of drying stalks - lavender this time - "Well, I appreciate it." She came up to him, holding out the bundle to light them from his smouldering ends - hopefully the lavender was dry enough to catch. The action gave her a moment to think back, into the piecemeal past. "Not so much. I haven't seen hardly any of this world, just Phoenix Valley and the forest to the west of here. I didn't even know this place existed til I stumbled into it. I am so glad I found you all. I never wanna be on my own again. Feels like I've been in some kind of dream, but now I'm kind of coming back alive. Y'know?" Suddenly she had no idea if she was making any sense, and laughed nervously, moving the conversation along a little with a respectful "You been here long, sir?"

"Well hey, we have that in common then," she commented regarding his 'partial daze'. She wasn't sure what she had meant, and she wasn't sure what he meant either, but she was fairly sure they meant the same thing, which meant they understood each other. Which was nice. She nodded along to his additional words, taking them in but half-thinking still about the strange phenomenon of feeling only half-alive, and wondering where that had come from. Maybe if she knew where his had come from, she would understand her own better. She had no idea where he was talking about - she hadn't had time to catch up with all the travels of her mother since they'd parted - but it seemed the more important point was what had gone wrong, if anything, to cause him to leave. "Why didn't you have a place any more? Wherever you were with my mom? Did something happen?" She wouldn't usually be so frank, but the otherworldly smoke and fumes of the herbs made it feel like maybe the normal rules of conversation weren't quite so important here; she could be as honest as she wanted to be about her curiosity.

The snatch of a story she received was enough to pique curiosity, but she was too proud and too wary of his obvious emotion to pry, so she merely shook her head at all the cruelty and sadness in the world. "Bad times, huh." She wasn't sure what power her past held. She didn't consider it much. It all seemed something of a blurred whirlwind, sometimes - interspersed with long empty stretches of blissful peace. She kept the world at arm's length, and while she'd seen her share of life, sometimes it didn't feel like it. She doubted her past had much power. It was too empty for that. Unless the emptiness was the kind of empty of a black night, holding myriad invisible dangers and demons... oh, she didn't know where these disturbing thoughts came from. He was right to brush off the past, and she would match him with "but we're here now, so it's all good, I guess." Her bunch of leaves had burnt out. "Am I right, Ravesque? Is this a good place to be?" She just needed reassurance, but she hadn't spoken quite as directly as she could have, for the most honest part of her was saying, instead: am I good enough to be here? Good enough for you? She didn't know why, but already somehow she depended on the opinion of the black-coated wolf.

She stood stock still, so it was as if he touched a statue, but the touch was all the reassurance she needed. It broke the spell of anxiety. Caprica felt suddenly stronger, although his words were ambiguous. She felt like a connection had been made that could sustain her here, come what may. Her heart was lighter as she replied. "Hell, if that's all it takes, I'm already there." She had the ever-lasting touch of laughter in her voice, not about to let him see her sincere relief. Caprica was determined to present a face of strength to the world, especially to the members of it she wanted to impress. Her core was steel, so it was not an act - it was the strange, superimposed and resented midsection layers that let her down, the extraneous mind-parts which had been hurt, although she did not know or remember how. Ravesque had quieted them, for now. She wanted to reward him, show him her appreciation somehow. "I think I need more smelly plants to waft away all these memories. You feel like a foraging mission, or want me to bring anything particularly nice back?"