The mountain comes to town

Ithiel de le Poer · 01-26-2012, 09:51 AM

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Ithiel is by me!

Myrika had yet to notice the stranger; her attention was consumed with the tent's proctor for the moment, and Ithiel could just barely hear the intonations of a conversation dealing with books. There was but one book Ithiel read, and in his eyes, but one book anyone needed to read. The conversation had been unimportant before, but it dwindled to little more than background noise as Ithiel watched the stranger, awaiting his move. He did not expect trouble, but he was readied for it nevertheless, carmine-hued eyes watching the stranger's countenance, which betrayed nothing more than curiosity. Ithiel relaxed a hair at this; however, he was not so foolish as to relinquish all his tension, and so he remained at his post, jostled a bit as his just slightly shorter cousin moved back and laughed, apparently amused with the conversation. Ithiel moved with her, and their shoulders barely brushed one another before he was out of her way, having never moved his gaze from the stranger.

The dusky man perceived the moment the stranger noticed him, and the faint change in the tall wolf's face. Ithiel's face, on the other hand, hardly shifted; the man's stoic visage retained its look of indifference, even as the man called his challenge. Ithiel did not read it as particularly aggressive, and, lacking his usual pause in response, shook his head firmly. The verbal response was a few beats later, the dust-colored coyote's customary pause between question and response far shorter than it normally was. His own voice was one of evenness, and nothing in Ithiel possessed any hint of aggression. With the nearly imperceptible change in the tent's atmosphere, Myrika had finally turned around, sensing this change, but she did not seem to perceive any trouble -- or at least, if she did, she was quick to swing back around to face Rie again, continuing her animated conversation with even more fervor.

No, came Ithiel's response, no trace of smile or frown showing upon his dust-colored countenance. I see you came here either prepared for them or seeking to make them, and I wish to make certain it is not this latter thing you wish to do. The response was honest and as blunt as the man's inquiry, and Ithiel's face remained smooth, betraying nothing of his readied thoughts. One who so directly dealt with challenges, however little Ithiel sought to make them, could go either way, and he was still uncertain, though his uncertainty was well-hidden. He might have challenged the man's wolfishness, but for now, he was content to recline and allow the armored stranger to make his move rather than strike himself. Such was Ithiel's custom -- he rarely, if ever, struck first, and he was certainly not prone to acts of sheer impulsivity. He was calculated and controlled, and even in the depths of rage -- which he certainly experienced -- Ithiel did not tend to make a fool of himself.

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