What the hell! Askan was convinced that the world was conspiring against him, after all how else would he have unknowingly sat on an ant mound? At this time of year they should have been long gone, out of sight and out of mind. Snow coated the ground, yet there they were hundreds upon hundreds of black crawly bodies scrambling across the snow as though there was a war to be waged. And Askan was public enemy number one.

He shuffled back, brows smushed together as he observed the mass of ants march towards him. He wasn't afraid-duuh- but what was he supposed to do? He couldn't just squish them all, that seemed like a massive waste of both time and effort, but walking away seemed like he was backing down, admitting that this was their turf. As if ants could lay claim to anything in this forest, pssssh. Askan had never been one for sharing, he wasn't going to start now. Least of all with creatures that were leagues below him.

So he glowered at the little beasts and then he paused, a smirk emerging on his features as an idea popped into his head. If they didn't mind the snow then he'd give them some more, and then even more till they were smothered in it. Turning his back on the insects he began to kick up snow behind him, shovelling it atop the ant colony like there was no tomorrow. This would show them, ha!

By the time the loner arrived on the scene Askan had kicked up a sizeable pile of snow. The ants were no longer an issue, if they weren't dead now then they'd die soon, but he continued just to pour some more salt into the wound. Just because he could- and that he was a salty fuck who needed some way to vent his frustration, without taking it out on his packmates. His hind legs felt satisfyingly achy by the time he was done, but instead of responding to the boy's question right away the Edge Lord turned to inspect his work. Not bad, if he did say so himself. 

"Ants." Askan said, once he'd finished sniffing at the pile. "There was a mound here so I buried it." His logic seemed a little less sound when he said it aloud, but to his credit his voice held firm, leaving little room for questions.

He turned then and faced the stranger. Perhaps it was foolish to turn his back, to leave himself exposed like that but these days Askan felt as though he had little to fear from loners, least of all yearlings. If they tried to grab a hold of his neck they'd likely only get a mouthful of loose skin and fur. It wouldn't end well for them either way.

"Why, what's it to you?" Askan had always been the sort to shove his nose into other's business but he never appreciated the taste of his own medicine. It was bitter, made him want to squint till his eyes ached.

Askan huffed in amusement. It was far from a smile or even a laugh, but the fact that the stranger evoked anything over than a glare was still quite impressive. He didn't want to admit that he'd sat on them, but in omitting that fact his reaction did seem a bit over the top, didn't it? Askan shrugged.

"They shouldn't be here," with a flick of his tail he gestured to all the snow. "Figured I ought to send them on their way."

As to whether he needed help, well it was pretty obvious he was done, that the ants were done for. Even if he hadn't finished he wouldn't have accepted his help anyway, more out of principle than anything else. Instead of responding to his question Askan just moved on, there was something familiar about the boy, though try as he might he couldn't place his paw on it. Was it simply his expectations getting ahead of him? Assuming that everyone he met had to be linked to someone else, just so he could say he was right all along further down the road? Or did he actually see something in the boy? Honestly, he had no fucking clue. There was only one way to find out though.

"Who are you? You seem familiar."

"Fuck."

What were the chances huh? Either the Tainns bred like rabbits or this was just the worlds way of spitting in his eye, maybe it was karma for killing all those ants. Yeah, he was a Tainn but with a family as loose as this it was hard to narrow down who he really was. Through Lyanna he'd slowly come to realise that they weren't all cut from the same cloth, that Jessie Tainn was nothing at all like Sahalie Tainn. It wasn't a matter of there being good ones vs bad ones, nothing was ever as black or white as that; rather, he wanted to know whether this one would fuck him over too.

"Yeah, I know of your lot. Tainns." He rumbled the name like it tasted salty on his tongue. And then he paused, as though remembering that Abel had asked for his name in return. A name for a name. "Askan Selwyn." He then said, though he didn't expect the boy to recognise it. Not from lack of prestige, it was more of a geographical thing, he assumed.

Did that mean Abel knew Lyanna? From what he could tell her family wasn't quite as tight-knit as his own had been, the Tainns had spread all over like some sort of fungus whilst the Selwyns had remained rooted on the spot, like an old mighty tree.

"Do you know Lyanna?" It was a simple question, one that would narrow things down a whole lot.

Oh great. This was perfect, wonderful! The yearling seemed awfully amused by it all, but Askan didn't feel like laughing. Not because it was bad news per se, but did he really want to have two annoying Tainns hovering around? He could imagine it now, both of them with shit eating grins as they drove him around the bend and back. One Tainn was bad, but two? Yiikes.

What did she do? To her credit she wasn't all bad, aside from her scuffle with the Keep wolf she hadn't kicked up too much trouble. If anything, she was an asset, a valuable member of his pack, but angels above she could be annoying sometimes. She just seemed to know the words that would get under his skin and worst of all she seemed to enjoy it, like it was all a game to her. She hadn't been too bad as of late but Askan was still clinging onto his prejudices, using them as backup so he could declare that all-if not most- Tainns were shits.

"Enough." Which sounded about right, she had done enough. "She's probably around here...." Askan trailed off with a shrug, he was more than willing to pass the yearling off to his sister. She could deal with him if she wanted to, it was no skin off Askan's nose.

She mentioned that she'd left her home, so would she even want to see her little brother? Askan knew if the roles were reversed he'd want to see his sisters but their circumstances were more than a little different. Her family was-presumably- safe and sound, his was not. Whatever, he wasn't going to think too deeply about it, lest he got all vulnerable. Clearing his throat, he spared one last glance towards his pile then he stepped forward, wilfully ignoring how much taller the yearling was compared to him as they stood a couple of feet parallel to each other.