WALK AWAY AS THE DOOR SLAMS | joining

[MYERS]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana;"]This was not a group, not a nation - it was a home. Ahab was quick to discover this when he’d first decided that the furthest location from the mainland was likely the safest. He woke up in an unfamiliar place with a tranquilizer dart still dangling from the node in his throat, and upon some regaining of his senses, he’d moved to the closest body of water and followed it to the sand bars, the train tracks, and finally the island. When he’d first joined he expected suspicion, hostility, yet his guard was tested by the soft and smiling faces that welcomed him to the new and deeply unfamiliar land. He let them be kind. It would have been easy to shunt off any goodwill on their part and keep his hackles raised. But they were polite just as much as they were cautious of him, as they had every right to be, and he let them stare, let the newborn cubs climb over his paws, let new mothers speak to him fondly and, on the rare occasion, he allowed himself to speak in return.

While they had welcomed him with open arms, old habits had a tendency to die hard. Ahab could not help the tension that fell over him like a leaden blanket when he sensed something - someone - unfamiliar at the bellpost. Perhaps his caution was only strengthened by the knowledge that he had a place to protect, now, or maybe it was just the constant presence of the unknown in his life that kept him wary of strangers.

He'd been warned, before, to "lay off" the joiners that appeared at their border. For that reason the bear says nothing, offers no greeting. Michael appeared to have it covered, chatterbox that he was. Ahab only offers a stare that could, if one was not certain, be perceived as a glare equal to the impatience that reigned over the fox. He'd only reason that it took one to know one, didn't it?