Word Count » 524
He had to be mean. It was part of his job as an arbiter. He had to keep potential evil doers away from him just as he had to keep those who would do evil within the pack from doing harm. So if he was able to scare this female into avoiding him and keeping her head down then his job would be done and he would have had what he needed in order to succeed. Of course, he didn’t mean to make her clam up or even make her frustration and anxiety rise. That was really not what he meant to do but if that was what it took then that was just going to be what it took. Janos could tell through steely eyes that the other creature across from him was getting flustered by the way that she moved, messing up the dirt beneath her. Part of him wanted to stop her from doing so, finding that to be incredibly childish and of no use but that would be mean and it wasn’t harming anyone for now and so he let it go, his bright eyes flicking back up to her face. To those other than his master or the alphas, he could be a hard-ass and it showed in the way that he moved and the way that he looked at you but it was a façade, just a mask to wear to keep from everyone his useless inner emotions. He had no need for such imbecilic reactions as he usually got when he told his life story so if he could just keep someone at an arm’s distance from him then that would be better.
She then spoke, using the honorifics and while it was strange to hear it from someone’s mouth it was intensely invigorating all the same so he just sat back and let her talk, glad that the other was keeping it simple and to the point. Trying to use useless words led to rambling stories, ones that he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about quite honestly. ”I see. And what have you been doing since you came here? Have you tried for a rank or a corank?” He asked her as he backed up and leaned against a tree, looking over at her. He expected an answer of course, even if it was one that was boring. But his mail goal wasn’t to make all of his own pack terrified of him, only those who had done Salsola wrong could be terrified of him with good reason. Even though she had disrespected him, she had turned her personality around and so he was relaxing again, scratching his back through the jacket against the bole of the tree but his almost eerily calm and collected eyes were watching her, just waiting for a response, waiting to hear what she had to say. Perhaps to some others it might seem to be pointless talk of what he was doing but while he knew that she hadn’t gotten a rank yet he wanted to know if that wasn’t just from lack of trying or what was going on.
