Keen eyes scanned the coastline, waiting for a response to their howl. Clopin noticed him first, the dark shape of an approaching Optime. He tensed, searching for any signs of hostility or weaponry; thankfully, this one did not have a staff to beat them with. Cosette's tail waved in greeting, mirroring the dark wolf's friendly body language. Inwardly her mind was racing, looking for any clues to go off of; he wore two necklaces and an article of clothing, he carried the heavy scent of this pack and another female, he offered them an amiable handshake in greeting, he spoke with a foreign accent. All the facts were filed away in the blink of an eye, and the petite collie-dog reached out to accept his hand, feeling her tiny paw engulfed in the stranger's grip. Clopin tensed behind her, ready to yank her back should the wolf try anything violent. The two males stood at eye level to each other, leaving Cosette dwarfed in comparison.
The most convincing lies were built around a kernel of truth. Cosette was quick to launch into her narrative, dark eyes gazing up at him with relief through the veil of her fluttering eyelashes. "It's not safe out there, Sir Stormbringer. My brother and I was just attacked by some wolf! We was only minding our business," she said pitifully with traces of her deep south accent, a slight hitch in her voice mimicking a sob. She ruefully rubbed her face, the very real bruise on her skull lending credibility to the story. The part she so conveniently left out was that the wolf was one of Niernan's packmates, and they had been attacked because they had attempted to steal from her. There was a limited time frame to pull this off; soon the white stick-fighter would spread word and alert scouts like this male, and the collie-dogs were very distinctive in appearance, easy to recognize even by description.
She swallowed, feigning a nervous shiver, while silent Clopin helpfully rubbed her shoulders in reassurance. In actuality it was their pride that had been stung the most; Cosette was a very arrogant creature who always believed she was smarter than those around her, and having some brutish woman smack them around with a pole had been sorely offensive. Playing the innocent simpleton was often a much easier tactic to get her way, though, rather than letting on how clever she truly was. "We're simple fortunetellers, we just travel from place ta place reading the cards ta help folks in their lives. We don't mean no harm. If y'all could see it in your heart ta let my brother and me cross through ta the other side of your borders, we could give ya a fortune in return... It's all we got ta offer," she added with a humble bow, Clopin nodding in taciturn agreement. Her dark eyes gleamed as she studied the wolf, a 'Vald of Vi-naw-tta' as he called himself, and waited to see if he would believe them.
[/html]