Welcome to Gaia! ::

"It's close to miiiidnight and something evil's lurking in the dark,
Under the mooooonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart,"
A dark-clad figure slipped amongst the trees just outside of the White Shadow fort walls, continuing to sing softly to herself in a whisper as she found the song to be appropriate for a stealthy mission such as this. That, and she wasn't aware of the Mission Impossible tune. Because, singing something like 'Rain drops keep falling on my head' just wouldn't be right for her sneaky approach. It would be idiotic to sing such a song at a time like this. And no one else knew better about the timing of the right songs than Alice O'Conner.

The russet colored wolf known as Flamehaze followed warily behind the human he called his rider. Although it may have appeared that the tall wolf had been forcefully dragged along to accompany Alice in her scheme, that was simply not the case. This was Alice's third "adventure" this month, and quite frankly, the other two did not go so well. One day she nearly had a concussion, the next day, a group of Recruits had attacked them with shoes. In both cases, Alice was nearly threatened by another wolf. In both cases, Haze had to intervene before the Sergeant had her arm ripped off. Today probably wouldn't be an exception. Therefore, Haze had came along to see to it that Alice try to stay out of as much trouble as possible, considering she was a magnet to that sort of thing. He wouldn't view himself so much as a body guard, but more as a protective older brother type who needed to keep this pup from somehow starting a fourth World War.

But how was the wolf persuaded to let his rider go on an outing to White Shadow? Sheer boredom. Neither had much to do that day, so Alice had came up with the idea to sneak over to White Shadow to drop by and see what the situation was over there. Haze was reluctant. Alice would point out that no one would even know that they were coming while the wolf argued that they would look suspicious if they tried to secretly approach the fort. He won the debate by noting how most everyone was allowed to visit one another during the winter. However, Alice was already off, heading towards the forest in attempts to slip into the neighboring fort.

So here they were. Attempting to sneak into the White Shadow fort. While Alice softly sang a song that belonged to a once renowned King of Pop. With no one really giving a care if they were there or not.

"'Cause this is THRILLER!! Thriller ni-" Alice blinked as she received a face-full of fur as Haze thwacked her lightly in the face with his bushy tail. She caught his warning glare that could only translate to something along the lines of 'You're the one who didn't want anyone to know of our coming here. Can you try not to draw so much attention to yourself?'
They say a picture's worth 1000 words. Obviously 'they' didn't know that a wolf's glare is worth 1000 different meanings. Very descriptive meanings, in fact.

Alice huffed in a small pout before springing out from her cover from under the trees. She quickly pressed her back against the outer wall of the fort and began to shuffle along the side. Finding an side-opening (most likely used for evacuations) Alice took her opportunity and darted around the corner... only to freeze in mid stride as she came face-to-face with an adolescent wolf and his rider. "Bugger..." she muttered under her breath before quickly straightening out and giving her best 'polite' smile, acting as though she didn't just try to attempt to secretly slip into the fort. "'Evening, lady and gent. Brilliant weather we're having, isn't it?"

Haze, who had not even attempted to try to make himself hidden, sauntered steadily after Alice as she turned around the corner, pausing as she nearly ran into another wolf. He watched her quietly as she tried to assume a more casual appearance. Yeah, like that wasn't conspicuous or anything, he murmured sarcastically.

Alice blinked a few times as the white-haired rider addressed her before she let her shoulders slump defeatedly. "No one 'round these parts ever tries to do anything new or out of the ordinary, do they?" She asked aloud, though seeming to direct her words towards Flamehaze, who only gave something similar to a shrug in response. "To put it simply," she continued, turning back towards the rider. "When winter comes around and less people see fit to go outside, it becomes quite boring. Incredibly boring, actually. And the cure to boredom can be followed up through drastic measures..." She paused and gave herself a curt nod, believing that the explanation had pretty much summed up the 'sneaking' part.

"As to why I'm here," she continued. "There isn't quite anything to do, or anything that I haven't done, over at New Eve or the Academy. I guess it all comes down to whether you prefer to be attacked by Privates or Recruits. Since I heard White Shadow's been quiet for the most part, I decided to come by to check it out." She summarized with a little wave of her hand. "Assuming this is White Shadow's fort," she noted warily as she took a glance around the fort. It wouldn't be the first time her poor sense of direction would have brought her and Flamehaze completely different. Then again, Haze probably would've noticed if they were going the wrong way.

Remembering that there weren't any Sergeants in White Shadow, Alice looked curiously at the girl. The white-haired rider probably wasn't much younger than the New Eve Sergeant, then again considering Alice's age, no many people were all that much younger than her to start with. She clasped her hand together and motioned toward the wolf and his rider. "I take it you are... Gamma and Private..."

Apprentice, Haze quietly added in to Alice, taking note of the other male's age.

"...Apprentice?" she finished with an inquisitive tilt of her head.

Alice crossed her arms over her chest in a nonchalant manner and frowned. "Well, most of the riders at both of the forts could certainly afford to break loose once in awhile. I mean seriously. Mulling around like a bunch cows, just brooding as though someone just di-" the girl was cut of by another warning glare from Haze, which seemed to remind her about all the riders who died during the invasion from the new wave of centipedes that was only months ago. Still Alice believed that the time since the devastating attack was more than enough for people to mourn for their loss and move on with their lives. Sure, she knew how these people felt about the loss of loved ones, but then again, no one had expected her to be grieving for her family for over a decade, did they? Pushing the sore topic aside, Alice glanced back over her shoulder at Haze, who seemed oddly quiet. Right about now, he'd be babbling on about how sorry he was for his rider's reckless actions, but it appeared he was too worn out from the month's events to even bother.

Alice's attention snapped back toward Kael at her introduction and she couldn't help but give a sly grin. "New Eve Sergeant, Alice O'Connor and Beta Flamehaze, here under classified orders, AKA having nothing better to do. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Haze was looking boredly down at his paws when movement from the younger wolf caught his eye. He blinked up at Ember's gesture and tilted his head to the side in confusion, accepting the younger male's gesture as a sign of respect towards his age since he didn't think he deserved a gesture of submission. He never expected submission in the first place, but something different about the adolescent made him feel more awkward to receive it. His features lightened in amusement at Ember's enthusiasm. There were no Apprentices at New Eve, meaning no adolescent wolves either. It had been awhile since Haze had last enountered one.

A pleasure to meet you, Ember. As my rider stated, I am Flamehaze. Though more commonly referred to just Haze, if you prefer.