Lost Lake stray

in the cold breeze, where i walk alone

How Bane had come back to these lands was a blur to him. His feet had carried him here in the same manner which he had left them in. The day Nina had been found dead, Bane had turned and ran without a second thought. Ran as hard and as fast as his feet could carry him until every scent, every sound and everything he saw was no longer familiar to him. He had lived a winter alone. Harsh, cold, distant and unloving, with a hope that mother nature would take him away and he could be with Nina again. But it was not so. Whether by a gods will or by Nina herself, but Bane had lived the winter and somehow in a manner better then many pack wolves could. He had been lucky, though for what? He had never been before. 

Now he was back here. He had realized it only when he had saw the familiar trees of Drooping Willow, having visited them once before on a scouting mission from Secret Woodlands. Bane had no intention of saying hello to his former allies, who likely did not know him any more then he knew them. He was no longer an ally. He was a loner, which made him no ones ally and he was perfectly content with this. Bane across into the mountains of the heights, something he had never before attempted whilst living in packs within the western region of Relic Lore. What he had not expected was to come across a large, clear lack settled within the heart of the mountains. He stopped for a long needed break, sure that his body would be happy for the drink and his sore, calloused paws would love to be soaked from the new slices in them as they bled. Life within a thick, damp and soft forest did not do well for footing on the mountains. Sighing delicately to himself, the chocolate colored wolf laid down along the water's edge, front legs in the lake as he took a drink.

(This post was last modified: Feb 25, 2017, 05:22 AM by Bane.)

The awkward feeling about being in Fallen Tree Cove had not gone away, and the pale-furred girl had not integrated herself at all with her packmates, save for a conversation here and there, and helping distract a lynx while the more capable members killed the beast. She hadn't helped at all, apart from chattering the ears off of everyone involved in the event. The ghost sighed to herself as she picked her way down to the lake, tail and head down as she contemplated her being in the pack in the first place. She wanted to be here - she honestly, truly did - but she wasn't completely certain where she needed to be. She was at a point in her life where she needed to think of herself and where she belonged in the world, and the Cove was... well, it was just a bit too separated from everything else. It was harsh and barren, and no wolf ever managed to worm their way up the cliffs to visit. However, just as the thought of there never being any strangers around, the girl picked up a strange scent on the breeze. Very not-Fallen-Tree-Cove in nature, it was a more... foresty smell. A foresty, wolfy smell... mixed with the slightest hint of blood. The whiteish girl perked her ears and followed the scent, heart hammering in her chest as she wondered who that smell could belong to. Certainly no one she knew - no one from their pack who should be this close to them. The deep brown of the stranger's pelt stood out starkly from the whiteness around him, so she had no trouble finding the stray. And, at first, she hesitated, fearful and anxious as to what might happen if she did decide to approach the man. He didn't look like a scapegrace or anything like that, so she wasn't too worried, but it was in her nature to be cautious and skittish. Finally, the almost-adult decided to move, and approached the man with her head down and her tail low and waving in a friendly manner. Heart still rapidly fluttering in anxiety, she pushed it aside to part her maw and call out to the chocolate wolf. "H-hello, there. Are you al-alright?" She paused a respectable distance from him, ears perked to catch his reply. "The mountains can be really rough on your feet if you aren't from here. Do you need a-any help?" Her voice stuttered and caught a couple of times, but overall, she felt as though she did alright in her greeting. Of course, she forgot to mention her name, but that could wait.

He heard her before he saw her, the footsteps of a smaller wolf coming along towards him, seemingly hesitant. Bright orange eyes lifted as his head turned up and to the side, away from the water and onto the young woman. She was smaller then he, beautiful in coloration, with bright and hopeful eyes. He smiles delicately, remaining in his placement as he laid there at the water's edge. The blood from his injured paws swirled in the cool water, likely having been caught in the air before he soaked them. Surely this was the reasoning for her approach, to see if he was okay. It was a king gesture, though he was unsure why it would have mattered to her. Having been away from other wolves in months, it had taken him just a few minutes to remember there was wolves in this world far more kind then he could ever imagine. Wolves like Inali, like Nina... 

"I....I see that..." He admits, another small smile offered and a rolling of his shoulders. He stumbled a moment on his words, though far differently then she had. He had literally not spoken a word to any other being in months. His voice seemed far more rough then normal, scratchy as though he held a sore throat. "I have lived all my life in the forests." He admits to the young woman who questioned him. A single ear falls, his orange gaze full of question. "But I will be fine." And if not? If he fell off the other side of the cliffs from his injured feet? If he got an infection? Bane did not much care. He had never in all his life had much of self worth. He was not born of leaders, but born of rape. His father was hunted down by the wolves of Relic Lore for the murder and kidnap of multiple wolves and his true mother had abandoned him and lost her sanity. Bane had never been worth anything. It was the few friends he held which was the reason he went on, and now they were gone. He wondered now that her questions were answered, if she would turn and leave too. Go back to her pack and family where she belonged. 

Her shoulders sagged in relief when he smiled, and her tail wagged with a bit more enthusiasm as she stepped forward and sat at the water's edge, a few wolf-lengths to his right. He said that he was alright; that he'd just lived all his life in the forest, and Eido could empathize. She raised her orange gaze to meet his and was surprised to see that they were rather close in coloration - his looked like open flames, and she idly wondered if hers looked like that, as well. "I lived all my life in the fields and tundra before I came up here," she replied, frowning when she glanced down at the blood blooming in the water where his paws were placed. "M-my paws still crack sometimes. But it isn't safe to just let them bleed like that. It makes it harder to move, so you might fall off a cliff or something." She knelt down and cautiously placed her muzzle down close to the water, nudging at his foreleg gingerly to try and extract it from the lake. "I f-found that packing the cuts with snow helps stop the bleeding." She smiled at him, edging away to give him a bit more space, should he want it. The pale-furred girl placed her own paw pads near the surface of the water and looked at her reflection for a moment. Her fur was just darkening slightly, the perpetual white circle around her eye beginning to stand out in preparation for the springtime. It was weird how it changed like that. Turning her attention back to the stranger, the ghost's tail thumped lightly on the snow behind her. "I'm Eido. What's your name?"

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

Bane was somewhat surprised when the girl decided to come forward, waving her tail as a sign of happiness and that she meant him no harm. She sat down at the edge of the Lost Lake as well, keeping a few paces back if only to offer Bane his space. They were, after all, still strangers to one another. She continued on to speak then, rather openly and bubbly with her words. She reminded him of Inali, in personality at least. Perhaps she was not as small as the scout and she was far younger, Inali being two years older then Bane instead of two years younger, though when had age ever mattered to him? An age never kept him from caring for anyone more or less. Bane was blinded to such things. Blinded like Inali was for having fallen in love with a female. 

So she lived in a field within a tundra then at some point? That was still far different then the thick confines of the Woodlands, though he took some time to think back on the blueberry fields he often escaped too and wondered if it was similar between that and the Lowlands which he had only taken sight of from the edges of the forestry itself. Her frown offered her concern for him, moving her gaze (which blazed brightly like his own) to his footing. He kept quite, typical of Bane who had been mostly known as that looming knight for most of his life. His ears turned back when she learned her muzzle out to him as she eased forward to do so, nudging his legs as though urging him to get them up out of the water. With his legs fully in the water, he needed to lift up into a sit to fully recover them and he did so, as she wished, without question. He backs up just enough to press his feet into the cold snows, his full height revealed now as he sits as she sat, looking down to her. 

"Bane." He did then say, looking her over with such curiosity. There was very little in his life that had stuck around long enough to get to know Bane. Many did not have the patience for him to open up. Many did not care for his awkward silences and his intense stares as his mind questioned so many things he never asked aloud. Where he had long ago lost touch of Kino, Nina had passed away and Inali was missing in action, perhaps he could take some time to stick around here with her? If only for a little while... 

The younger wolf's eyes widened comically when he rose to his full height, and she edged backward slightly, just out of surprise. She hadn't expected him to be quite so much bigger than her. She felt almost like one of those puppies who tipped back so far that they rocked on their hindquarters to look up at the adult wolves who loomed over them, and it took a couple of seconds for the alarm to wear off before she regained enough of her senses to pay attention to his name. Bane... It was sad, haunting, and a rather terrible name for a mother to give their puppy. Her ears flicked backward for a second before she angled them back toward him, planting a small smile on her lips and going for a more optimistic approach. "That's a cool name. Like wolfsbane?" she asked, truly hoping that that might actually be the case, rather than the literal meaning of the word itself. That would just be far too sad. "If you're up here on your own, you should be careful," she told him, all hint of stutter gone now that she was becoming more comfortable in the not-so-strange stranger's presence. "I've heard that wolves fall off cliffs or get lost or freeze to death up here. This is the only water source til you get to the other side of the mountain." Well, crap. Now she was just babbling, per the norm. The realization brought back the stutter out of nervousness. Naturally, she spoke more to remedy her situation. "I-I mean, there's a lot that can go wrong. It would b-be bad if you were to fall or freeze or get hurt." She really didn't. He seemed nice, and if she could be of any help if he were planning to travel all the way across the mountain, then she wanted to make sure that she actually made herself useful. She wouldn't dare send someone off without a sort of warning about this place, at the very least. The little wolf finally stopped her rambling and shuffled her paws, dropping her gaze to the snow between her feet. "Sor-sorry. I talk a lot." Which was, of course, a massive understatement. Eido expected that she was likely one of the most annoying wolves in all of the Lore.

She seemed surprised by his height for a moment, something which he took note of though did not really say anything on the manner. He had always been known as a rather tall wolf, though was not so much thick and burly. He was a thin and lithe wolf with a surprisingly well stamina. He could run forever, it seemed, which is why he had gotten so far from his home and so quick. When he had spoken his name, he watched as her ears folded downward a moment, only to then lift with a hopeful question, as though trying to think the best of the situation. Her optimism did not go unnoticed. "One would like to think." Although he knew it not to be true. His mother had later on tried to explain that his name had come from Miccah, who was her lover in her youth and that Bane had been his nickname. A name which Miccah never used since Bane had been around the wolf, seemingly proving the lie. 

Now, the young woman began to speak about how dangerous it was up here. That he could fall, he would freeze, he could get lost or die of dehydration. All reasons why one wolf might want to turn back and head down into the safety of the forest they knew. Bane figured he had already made it half the way, why turn back now? There was nothing for him in the west, at least not that he was any aware of. He had never been over the mountains. Had only heard stories of it. He was four now, a good portion of his life already behind him. The stories were no longer enough to settle him. "This is fine...You talk a lot. I don't talk enough." He explains when she realizes that she is rambling, something which he had grown used to after some time and after more, began to rely on. Back then, he need not worry if @Inali was getting bored with him. She could make a conversation all her own and when she wanted answers for him, had learned to ask more yes or no questions that he could nod or shake his head to. "My best friend talked a lot too..." He leaked to her in a low tone before then changing the subject, looking back to her. "I will try to be careful... I will have to get back down one way or another." 

The littler wolf wagged her tail when he seemed to catch onto her optimism, and she looked up at the gray sky above. It looked like more icy rain might fall soon, which was worrisome. She wondered how the darker-furred male would get back down, if he was planning on that at all. "I like my definition, so I'll stick with that one," she asserted, in regards to his name, and offered him a small smile. She could only imagine the type of life this man had lived. If she could help him be a bit happier, then she was going to darn well try. He seemed to agree that she talked quite a bit, but he also expressed that he did not mind. The ghost shifted and lay down on her stomach to relax a bit more, flicking orange eyes up to meet his own. "I don't mind talking. I can probably talk enough for the both of us," she joked with a smile. "Let me know if I start to get on your nerves, okay? Just don't - uh - don't tear my ear off, or anything." The tone was teasing, but there was a bit of a nervous wobble in the middle. She flicked her deaf ear as she spoke as a subconscious response. He mentioned his best friend, but she didn't smell any other wolves on him, so she decided not to talk about it. It might have been a touchy subject, and she didn't want to make him sad or anything. She was so caught up in thinking about the mysterious best friend that she almost didn't hear him mention getting back down the mountain. "You don't have to go back down today, if you don't want to. I'm sure Namid and Vespertio wouldn't mind you staying until it was safer to leave," she offered, eyes meeting his before flicking back down to her paws.

(This post was last modified: Feb 28, 2017, 02:02 AM by Eidolon.)

He nodded in agreement to her words silently, though no longer speaking on the subject enough his name. To her words about talking a lot and having enough words for the both of them, he smirks just slightly, a half cocked manner in which he had always done. It sounded like a plan to him. He, unlike many within the word who only waited out a moment in order for them to speak, enjoyed actually listening to others. He took in not only their words, but the way they said them, the shifting of their eyes, the movements of their ears and tail in order to catch the emotions behind it. Her ear twitches at her words which she mentions for him not to rip her ears off if she got on his nerves. It is in this moment he catches the scaring along her ear. It could have been a mild scuffle, a play fight that had gotten too rough as a child or even an encounter with a badger or some other small predator. He thought these things but did not put too much thought into it, nor did he assume that the damage had been grave enough to do any permanent damage. 

"I wont." He assured the creamy colored woman. After all, Bane had never been known as a man with much of a temper. He was rather calm, collective, thoughtful... he was however particularly skittish and weary of many strangers. He was more so uncertain of larger male wolves or wolves that held a dominant, arrogant or 'full of themselves' attitude. Somehow, he had always found himself more comfortable around the smaller, delicate woman who were quirky, fun loving and, just as this case, talkative. "These are your leaders? Do you like it here?" He questions aloud with curiosity. Bane could not imagine enjoying living up here on the mountain, atop of the rest of the world. For the time being however, he did not exactly respond directly to her words. Surely he could stay the night here to rest on his own, though he did not think he would bother introducing himself to a pack he had no intentions of being a part of.