An Absent Sense of Unity

Kynareth stretched. After a few lazy blinks, the world came back into focus. He had vague memories of drifting off, but he'd been so over-tired that it seemed more like an old piece of film with images missing and no focus. It had been a while since he had had the opportunity to sleep on protected grounds, and although he obviously wasn't entirely safe, the contrast left him with a vague feeling of invincibility. Formerly, the brute had just taken small power naps in relatively safe places he'd found -- secluded meadows, thick foliage, shallow caves, whatever. Realistically, not a great deal of animals would waltz up to a sleeping wolf and pick a fight, but the possibility left him paranoid.
Surveying the area where he'd come to, he noted the silence. Generally, from what he'd observed on his travels here, there was always the white noise of birds singing and squirrels bickering. The absence of all this marred his good mood with an eerie feeling.
He rose, pausing to shake the loose snow from his fur. He had crashed among a few trees, curled at the base of an especially tall one. Kynareth peered up into the branches. They swayed, dancing within an almost silent breeze. Stretching his spine once more, the male looked around for some kind of plan. He had to do something; a pack member was no good doing nothing but laying about. Pack member... huh. It had been a while since that term referred to him.
Speaking of pack members, Kynareth had failed to actually acquaint himself with them. Almost all information regarding the pack was absent from his mind. It would probably be a good idea to familiarize himself with that, sometime soon at least. Things hadn't really seemed to change in his schedule from being a lone wolf.

enter Moon Moon <.<

The regular meals had worked wonders on the tatty brown creature that was supposed to pass for a wolf. Her coat had even begun to fill in the downy layer for warmth that it had been missing in the earlier months of winter. She was still skittish, nervous, and the little nattering voice at the back of her mind still plagued her on occasion but otherwise things were moving up and up.

With a little more meat on her bones she was up for a proper hunting trip, maybe only for something as small as rabbits but she would only break a leg chasing the darting furry demons on the side of the mountain, and besides, maybe she would stumble into Master again down here.

The first cracks were beginning to make themselves known in her mind. Whether they were caused by further breaking or from her slowly mending shattered brain was yet to be determined but she was beginning to question where her own loyalty lay, whether it was with the dark wolf (@Vali, whom she could not discern from Rhysis), or @Vespertio, the leader who offered her kind words and protection…

She supposed the day would come when she would be forced to choose.

A simple creature at heart her train of thought was easily distracted by a small flash of white. Never minding that the snowshoe hare had a significant head start she ran after it, her ears pinned back and the wind whipping though her fur. As she bounded through a small bush and another wolf came into sight she panicked, folding her legs beneath herself mid step and flailing into a pile in the snow, her front end solidly planted as her rear slipped out from beneath her.

Maybe if she stayed really still, he wouldn’t notice the wolf that had skidded just short of bowling him over in a spray of awkward limbs and snow.

Maybe if he was both blind and deaf.

Being lost in thought, Kynareth was shocked to hear the sudden bounding of paws in his direction. The first thing he saw was the shooting white form of a hare dart by him, disappearing into the underbrush. Its pursuer, however, didn't seem to follow across the entirety of his field of view. Flicking his ears back for a moment before letting them pilot once more, the shaggy brute finally turned his head to take a look at whoever (or whatever) had startled him from his daydreams.
His eyes fell on a rusty-coloured coat that seemed to have seen better days. The peculiar thing about this coat, however, was not its colour nor its condition -- no, its owner had crashed into a snowdrift. Said owner seemed to be shocked herself, and Kynareth smirked internally. He rose to his feet, eyeing Samhain cautiously. Although this wolf didn't strike him as a foe, it didn't stop him from being weary.
Not saying anything at first, he looked her up and down. He then turned his head back in the direction that the hare had escaped to, and grinned a toothy grin.
"Wow... you certainly showed him, huh?" The slight male winked at her, before lowering his head to sniff at the snow and tracks. When he looked back up, his maw was decorated with a fine white dusting from the forest floor. She did look hungry, and Kynareth did feel for that. He wouldn't mind helping her catch some lunch -- he was lonely anyway -- but he also knew absolutely nothing about her. Was she a pack member? Could he trust her not to snap at his throat when he turned away? Who knows. Not him, but he was hungry himself.

Shit.

She watched her hopes of going unnoticed burn up in flames. His voice though harmless and even inviting caressed at her ears and she rolled onto her back instinctively, a nervous whine leaving her chest in her panic. Not a threat, not a threat… she chanted over and over in her mind, her mud brown eyes squeezed shut as she waited for teeth to wrap around her throat or find purchase in the soft flesh of her belly.

When no attack came, she dared to open her eyes a crack, seeing that the male showed no interest in her crumpled form but had instead decided to focus on the fleeing trail of the rabbit she allowed herself to roll to her belly, raising herself to hunched shoulders and a low held rear, her chin almost dragging through the snow with her blatant submission (as if showing her belly hadn’t been enough).

She stretched out her muzzle close to his hind leg, daring to catch his scent which not only spoke of himself but several someones. Jerking away quickly she filed it among the information to provide her leader when she returned. The internal conflict she would face deciding whether or not she dared to speak in his presence would be dwelled on in more depth when the time came.

The way he sniffed at the rabbit tracks made her nervous. Was he going to try and steal her prey? Or would they team up and take on something larger together? If they succeeded would she receive any portion of the meal? Taking confidence from the gentle perfume that marked her as also belonging to a pack she dared to introduce herself. “Haine.” the singular word was laced with an underlying scratch of disuse. She would leave the ball in his court for now.

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

Kynareth waited through Samhain's submission. From this distance, the scent of strangers on her pelt was evident. He was unfamiliar with his own pack, but this scent she carried was different from that which he'd noticed on his own pack leader. Noting that this femme did indeed seem to be from another pack, Kynareth wondered what had brought her to the territory of the pack that he belonged to.
He would usually be concerned about a strange wolf that was from an alien pack, however from her behaviour it didn't seem that he should feel threatened.
This wolf, she seemed finicky. Eccentric. He could see in her movements that she was the furthest from relaxed and Kynareth inferred that she probably behaved like this relatively often. She remained silent when he spoke, instead studying him. He mirrored this, for a while. Waiting for her to speak or to retreat.
Falling back to a sitting position, he finally heard her speak, "Haine."
It was an interesting name, one that certainly didn't sound native to anywhere he'd spent much time. The male mulled over this for a few minutes. It suited her. The tattered appearance of her fur and stressed look in her eyes melded well with the word, and Kynareth tried it on his own tongue under his breath.
"I'm Kynareth," he began, "Do you usually have this kind of luck hunting?" He could feel the bemused look rise to his eyes as he tried to strike some kind of conversation. The air right now definitely had a tense and awkward feel, and he didn't like tense and awkward.

She wished she could process his question and answer with words of her own but instead his question was met with a simple wave of her tail and a lopsided wolf smile. Her unasked question would be answered with the scent of decay and scavengers on the breeze and a quiet woof was offered in invitation, her head sitting low and ears pinning to her skull to try and make herself seem small. If they worked together to drive off the other scavengers, perhaps there would be some left for her after the man had eaten his fill (for she did not like her chances of besting him if it came to a fight).

She used her nose to guide her as she set off in the direction of the scent. Her pace quickening and her head dipping lower as she realised coyotes still crawled all over the remains of the moose. Her growl was one of warning to their small cousins who did little but yatter back at her, their harsh language registering as little more than a laugh to her rounded ears. It was a sound she would tolerate from other wolves but not from such vermin, whether they outnumbered her or not.

Three to two, she liked their odds.