For a wolf who had rarely traveled from his pack land, Phineas was scouting the surrounding lands with a newly risen curiosity. He had given a howl to his leaders prior to the swift departure, reassuring them that he would return within the week. It seemed Relic Lore was an expansive land, and it took him two days to travel the regions within from one end to the other.


He grew anxious because of this – his explorations would come to an end soon and he held nothing to report to Elettra or Koda. Still, onward he pushed, and with the oncoming threat of a winter storm, the ivory male wove through the thick trees. The branches snagged at his fur every so often, covering him with rugged bark and burrs as he continued, his eyes alight with the flash of lightning that smoothed across the sky above. Searching for a safe haven from the brewing storm, the Willow Ridge wolf could feel the cold creep through the air, though he hoped the temperature would keep the snow at bay.


He came upon a field – a small opening in the thicket he currently traversed, and he hesitated upon the edge, his eyes scanning the gentle glow of the snow that filtered from the settling sun. The silence was deafening, and while he expected no hunter to be able to comfortably sneak within the thickets of the valley, he knew that could not be said for the predators that lurked within the shadows.


His nose lifted to the air, attempting to decipher the possibilities of a quick cross. Should he go to the other side, the male wondered briefly if there was a small enclosure he could reside within for the night before making his travels back home. Unwilling to skirt his way around a clearing from paranoia, the pallid wolf prowled forward, his posture held neutrally, his paws heavily crunching through the already fallen snow.


It was not until he reached halfway of the field that he hesitated, one paw hung to the air as the scent of another drifted to him with the winds of the storm. His pumpkin eyes narrowed slightly, his hackles bristling. His gaze shot to the darkness that surrounded him from the cover of the thicket, wondering if the other would dare reveal themselves to him, for their scent was uncomfortably fresh.

Patience was needed on nights such as this, when it was so silent, apart from the stirring of the breeze, that the slightest sound could give a creature away. She hoped for a stronger breeze, one that turned in her favour and brought the scent of prey to her. For now, the wanton breeze flitted this way and that, ruffling her fur and sending it, possibly, to creatures hiding in the thicket opposite the field. She settled lower against the ground, moving against the prying branches of a leafless bush in order to be shielded from the cold wind, both to escape the icy drafts and to keep her scent from being carried across the field. The breath of wind returned, this time singing toward her and with it came the scent of another wolf.

Her heart sank; and she could not hide the dismay from her face when she saw him. The creature, completely oblivious, for a few moments, to her presence and the fact that she was lying in wait for prey, moved across the field in plain view, the sound of his heavy feet sinking through the snow resonating across the field. The catch was up, there was no way she could hunt the field now, not for hours. She considered waiting, to see if prey would come in the morning hours, but decided against it. She did not have enough shelter there and would have done just as well to seek shelter for the night and return the following morning.

But she would not have the chance to disappear quietly, for the male's head turned and locked on to her position. Surely he couldn't see her, but he knew she was there. He didn't say anything so for a moment, Sage stayed perfectly still and hoped he'd look away or continue. He'd already ruined her hunt, what else did he want? There, in the field, with one paw raised, he looked as much like prey as any, and perhaps he felt it too, that he was being hunted, watched by hungry eyes. Still he stared, an accusation that made Sage want to wilt and be carried away on the breeze. His eyes ablaze, she felt as though he was demanding her presence be revealed, and she, who acknowledged willingly and naturally, given their size difference, submitted.

"You're in no danger," She called out, standing up. She perked her black ears just for a moment to alert him to her whereabouts- only the top of her head would be visible above the brush. She lowered her ears again, shortly thereafter, as a sign of deference. "I was watching for prey." She said, though her tone gave no sign of resentment. She'd lost the possibility of a meal because of him, though if he'd been clever enough to catch her scent, the prey would have as well. It simply wasn't a good night to hunt, the wind was too flirtatious and foolish. "I'm heading back to the woods, now. Good night," She called out, and after a moment's pause, she turned, allowing him the field and whatever he wanted to do while he was there.

The moment’s of silence passed, offering the alabaster wolf no insight to what his senses told him now. The wind died down momentarily, and with it, the scent of the other that had drifted toward his nose. His ears flicked in hesitation, and just as he began to place his paw down quietly to the snowy opening, a voice called out in the direction he now stared. The other stood then – Phineas’ gaze roved over the sleek silver of her pelt, noting the tips of ebony that cloaked her muzzle – her head the only aspect of her he witnessed at the moment, for she had hid herself well within the brush. She was an alluring creature, and the ivory wolf blinked momentarily at her sudden reassurance to a wolf she did not know.


He spoke nothing – noting her words and putting the pieces of puzzle together. He had clearly intruded on the place she had deemed worthy of a hunt, and with a hint of sheepish indifference, the male bowed his muzzle slightly in apology. Such an action seemed to be missed, and the sterling female quickly took her leave.


Astounded for a moment, the large wolf felt a pull within his chest, and stirring himself to action. Swiftly, the Ridge male loped after her, his fiery eyes cast upon her slender figure with hidden intrigue. “My apologies.. I ruined your hunt didn’t I?” His tone was a soft rumble as he caught up slightly, his stance held neutrally to the stranger. She seemed completely uninterested in socializing, but the Argyris wolf was not one to at least leave her without an apology to what was likely a lone wolf attempting to survive the harshness of winter. At least he had his pack to fall back upon. “I can help you hunt and catch something...” He trailed off, stopping his pace then and watching her. She could either accept his offer, or she could quietly continue in to the night to seek a place to rest herself – he was not one to take offense to such actions or disinterest.

She'd planned to hang around just long enough explain herself and then leave, but when he offered to help her hunt she hesitated. At first, her response was fairly negative- he'd already gone traipsing through the clearing and establishing that there were wolves in the area for all prey to know. She felt pessimistic about her chances of hunting now, but knew that they didn't necessarily have to go hunting in that area. They could go off into the woods where the prey wouldn't know anything about their presence...But that would involve walking along with a stranger, and working with him in order to catch something.

He'd apologized, but it didn't mean much to her- apologies from strangers seldom carried much weight. She rarely felt the need to apologize to strangers, given that she believed that it was a somewhat insincere thing to do. Most apologies were made simply because it was a trained reaction. It wouldn't really matter to him, in the long run, if she got a meal that night or not, so she chose not to dwell on his apology or even accept it. Instead, it was shrugged off- what was done was done, she'd survive.

The irrefrangible female looked him up and down once, and decided in the end that she'd leave it up to him. If he felt it owed it to her, then sure- he owed it to her. She didn't particularly care. So, she shrugged one shoulder casually and moved off, not really expecting him to follow.

It seemed his ears fell on disinterested ears, and the ivory male regarded the silver she-wolf as she seemingly shrugged off his response, and without a word of what he had offered, turned her figure away from him. Had he been a more emotionally open creature, the Ridge male would have rolled his eyes upward at the female’s antics – her complete lack of care about her next meal was almost comical in a sense, for the life of a lone wolf in the middle of winter was a threatening one, and food was hard to come by.


The Argyris male paused in his thought – debating whether to allow the snobbish female. His gaze lifted then, hoping to catch view of the moon, though his only view was met with the tangle of branches above. Smoothing his tongue over his canines, the male prowled forward to catch up to the silvery she-wolf. If he held any luck, the two would fell a more decent sized game and he would then claim part of it for himself – to which he could promptly deliver back to his packlands, which as of late, had been having more unfortunate events befall upon them.


He soon caught up, taking pace just behind her. He was silent now, uninterested in conversing with the female who was clearly, for lack of a better term, a bitch. If there was any luck upon either of them, they would come across game sooner rather than later, so to depart even more efficiently from one another.

As she moved away, there were a few moments that she couldn't hear him, and assumed then that he had decided not to follow her. She felt some relief at that moment and moved with a more relaxed gait, content to go off and continue hunting on her own. By now she wasn't sure if she'd be successful, or if she shouldn't even bother trying, now that this premium hunting place had been disturbed by the lone male. Her lips pulled back briefly in a small sneer when she reflected upon what might have been a very easy feast, had he not simply gone strutting out into the field like the goddamn king of the plain.

About the same moment that she reveled in her own dislike for the situation she heard him moving. She turned her head quickly to see him moving toward her. Her first instinct was to run; she'd decided that she didn't want him with her after all, now that he'd decided to join her. He fell into step behind her and she turned her head to stare forwards, ears turned back so as to listen to every movement he made and her shoulders somewhat hunched.

This was great. This was just great.

The male did not miss the shift of relaxation her slender figure gave upon what she assumed was leaving him behind – his eyes remained fixated upon the curve of her spine, his gaze briefly regarding her own as she looked back to him. The sudden press of her ears behind her back, and the stiffness her should gave upon realization that he had indeed decided to attempt to make amends for skipping across an opening and apparently ruining her chance at a meal. Amusement coursed through him suddenly at her obvious displeasure, and keenly aware of her discomfort, the alabaster wolf decided it best to at least entertain himself with the situation at hand.


“Been here long?” The ho-hum words escaped his lips with a more cheerful note attached to them – much louder than what would be acceptable upon a hunt, and he suppressed a grin from his tainted lips, his eyes solely focusing on the slender movement of the ashen lady before him, waiting for the ticking time bomb to go off. Feigning innocence, his eyes widened as he waited to see if she would look back at him, or simply ignore him. His traipse became a bit louder with each step, the snap of a twig here would soon become to blatant crunch of claws scraping ice as he continued after her, playing his role almost perfectly. He had been perfectly humble with his offer before – but given her cold and indifferent personality in return of hospitality, Phineas could not resist turning this interlude to a little game. By the end of it, he would be sure she wouldn't have a meal in her stomach with his presence.

She did her best to ignore the fact that she now had him trailing after her, willing to help her out. Note to self- no more niceties. Grumbled her mind vindictively. Why had she shrugged? Why had she even given him the chance to come with her? If he'd followed, uninvited, she would at least have been able to run off and lose him that way. But because the invitation had sort of, almost, kind of been there, she couldn't just tail it and ditch him. Well, she could...But there were those damn social obligations that made it more difficult to do.

When he spoke she flinched visibly and turned her head suddenly, a grimace on her face. Her teeth were shown for a moment to iterate the fact that they weren't to speak while scouting out food. She looked ahead again, but the hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle when she heard his tread become louder. It didn't take her long to realize what he was doing- the obnoxious fool was trying to foil her hunt yet again. And there she'd been trying to be polite by sort-of inviting him along. She should've ditched him as soon as she'd seen him.

Now she wanted nothing more than to drive him off so she wheeled sharply without giving any other indication of offense- a trick which was definitely her own personal zakuska and snapped her jaws together, not aiming to bite him but to make her point clear- he wasn't wanted if he was going to be an asshole.

Well, even if he wasn't going to be an asshole- she didn't want him around.

She didn’t last as long as he gave her initial credit for – the moment he began to make his paw falls louder with each obnoxious step, the she-wolf’s previous warning of flashed teeth paled in comparison to the sudden spin she gave, her teeth clicking shut in a warning snap to his behaviour. He had waited for this the moment she had indifferently shrugged to him, and the cold exterior to which she had extended him after that. It had become apparent to him why she was a rogue – it was likely her attitude had bulldozed such a path in life for her, and the male was surprised that such a small creature was able to remain in the condition he found her in. After all, it was the dead middle of winter.


He abruptly stopped, his pelt bristling dangerously now as he reacted to what he expected would happen, though caught off by her speed. His figure lifted then dominantly, though his ears spun back viciously and his jaws loosened, flashing his teeth at her in warning as a snarl bubbled past his lips. With his paws shifting further apart for better balance, he challenged her back, daring her to make the first move.. because she sure as hell wasn’t going to be leaving his presence without something to remember him by, of that he made a silent promise. With a brazen attitude to brush off any form of manners or hospitality.. well, perhaps next time she would be more careful with how she proceeded.