Red Fern Forest I got that tunnelvision

Note to self, set post kana and lorcan bork fest. @Nevrakis

Askan hadn't missed this feeling.

Ever since Reyes had come into the picture he'd levelled out some, worked a little harder to rein in his temper. But seeing Lorcan had brought back all of his anger and resentment in one fell swoop, hitting him so hard it felt as though he'd been slapped in the face.

As petty as it was, it  felt good to see Lorcan at his lowest, to know that he'd fallen from grace and was no longer the wonder boy who could do no wrong. Askan was so tired of being painted as the villain, it was great to know that the tables had turned. Hell, that was the only saving grace here, the only thing that stopped him from doing something drastic.

Whatever, he wasn't worth his time. He had better things to do. And so Askan followed the river back, heading back east till the mountain was nothing more than a grey blur in the distance.

He increased his pace, wanting to get back to the Shallows before midday-then he paused just for a moment and his steps faltered. He slowed to a walk as he eyed the brown figure off in the distance. Huh. It was silly but for a split moment he thought that they were a Selwyn. They-whoever they were- had the coat and the build but...The eyes,  even from a distance he could tell that they weren't right, not bright enough.

This never happened. He didn't see the ghosts of his past whenever he saw a wolf that sort of looked like a Selwyn, so what the hell was wrong with him? Either way, they were fairly-sort of, somewhat. Askan was territorial okay- near to his borders. So he continued on, moving parallel to them till he was at a conversation distance. Or at least what he considered to be one.

"Oi."Was all he said as way of greeting. Charming as ever but his sour mood was Lorcan's fault, or so he liked to think.

His stomach grumbled with a loud gurgle, sending hunger pains throughout his abdomen. How long had it been since he had eaten? Days? A week? Nevrakis could not remember. He carried on walking, going nowhere in particular, paws dragging through the snowy ground. In this weather, there would be very little prey around for him to hunt, and so he would have to go longer without food. He had never been on his own before during the colder months, and finding food was much harder than it had been with his friend. But now it was just him and his thoughts. They kept him awake at night, confronting him, telling him he should have been more courageous, that maybe if he had been his friend would still be alive, and he would not be alone.

He hated those thoughts. With a shake of his head and a soft growl Nevrakis did his best to cast them out of his head, at least for the time being. His hunger was far more important, but it seemed fate had a different idea for him than a hunt which would end in him sleeping with a full belly. Brown ears flattened slightly as his head swung to the side, paws digging into the leaves until he came to an abrupt stop. Wheat yellow eyes surveyed the other wolf, noticing his larger bodily proportions immediately. Nevrakis could smell other wolf scents on him, and he lowered his stance so as to seem less threatening, though he supposed he never looked threatening to begin with. "Hello?" he spoke hesitatingly, his voice raspy from not being used in a long time.

(This post was last modified: Dec 03, 2017, 02:49 AM by Nevrakis.)

Meetings like this tended to go one of two ways. Either the loner took offence to his brash attitude-it wasn't anything personal- and snapped back, or they took a more agreeable route and tried to deflect the tension. It seemed as though this guy was going for the latter,huh. The Selwyn couldn't tell whether he preferred it this way or not, he didn't seek out confrontations-usually- but at the same time this was sort of meh. Whatever, it wasn't a big deal.

He didn't look as though he was hankering for trouble, all hunkered with his averted gaze,  but the Edge Lord was well aware that looks could be deceiving.

"For a moment I thought you were someone. You're not, so who are you?"He asked, unintentionally sounding as though that fact miffed him. He rolled his shoulders and adjusted his stance, head held high as he regarded the stranger with his usual pointed stare,judgemental but curious.

If any Selwyns remained he wasn't sure if he was ready for a reunion, or if he'd ever be.

Askan was no stranger to scars, Reyes had a face full of them but the one on the loner's snout was certainly eye catching. The way it started almost between his eyes and ended just short of his nose.Had someone grabbed a hold of his face and dragged down? Ouch. Askan wrinkled his nose at the though, sounded painful. Looked painful no matter how he got it.

Nevrakis' head cocked to the side at the strangers words. He... looked like someone else the wolf knew? As he had not grown up with other wolves that made him curious, but not curious enough to speak up about it. So much for him being courageous. Licking his lips, the darkly coloured yearling responded in his raspy tones, trying not to set off the already seeming peeved off wolf. "I'm Nevrakis." He noticed the way the other wolf grimaced upon looking at him. Was it something he said? Was he not low enough in his stance? The yearling's eyes widened a bit in alarm. He knew very little of what he was doing as he had never met a pack wolf before. There had been a couple run-ins with lone wolves before, but his friend had always chased them away before anything really happened. He was way out of his depth here.

The strangers judgemental stare had Nevrakis pointing his gaze to the snowy ground, an almost imperceptible whine escaping from his gritted jaws. He did not want any trouble, and he hoped the other wolf could pick up on that. If push came to shove he would turn tail and run as fast as he could away from the forest, but he was, somewhat naively, optimistic that it would not come to that. "And you?" The yearling finally said after many moments of silence, trying to get a reaction and response out of the other wolf that was not on the edge of enmity.

Nevrakis

That didn't sound like a Selwyn name at all. It lacked the usual sense of prestige,acclaim, and honestly it sounded like bit of a mouthful as well. As though as someone had been half way through a name and a sneeze had garbled the rest. If his eyes hadn't been proof enough then this ran the fact home, this was not a relative, distant or otherwise. He couldn't be...especially with that thing around his neck. It-whatever it was- was thick and black, as though it was made of tar but hard and flexible. It didn't seem to inhibit the loner in anyway but...Askan had never seen anything like it, nor did he know what to make of it.

Bizarre.

"Huh? Oh... Askan Selwyn, leader of Shallows Edge. You're not far from my borders, so I wanted to know your intentions."He said, as though he had every right to be as nosy as he was.

In his eyes he was entitled to, hell he'd even felt that way at the Field too. It had been his job to keep the others safe, to watch and mark the borders with unwavering focus. His status was loftier than it had been before but his role hadn't changed too much, he would still look after his friends. He'd keep doing that till the day he died.

"So, what are you doing here?"He asked and with a flick of his tail he gestured to the snow coated ferns around them.

His ears pricked up curiously at Askan's mention of his pack... the pack which he lead himself. The yearling definitely did not want to piss him off then. "Sorry, I didn't realise I was so close. I'll do my best to stay further away from now on." Nevrakis' words were accompanied by a nervous chuckle, desperately trying to alleviate any awkwardness he felt he had created. Though he supposed the encounter could be going worse, but at least he had not been pinned to the ground for setting off the other male. Yet. Askan seemed friendly enough, a little rough on the edges, but considering they were close to his pack's borders that was completely justifiable.

Wheat yellow eyes flitted back and forth from Askan's face to the ground as the male asked him what he was doing, his shoulders rolling uncomfortably as Nevrakis tried to decide what to say. "Um, well..." the yearling began tentatively, "I'm looking for prey to hunt, but I'll make sure I don't trespass onto your territory!" A wolfy grin appeared on his maw, though it was less happy and more strained looking. "You won't have to worry about that from me," he added quickly, hoping Askan could hear the sincerity in his words.

For all his faults-and that weird thing around his neck-at least the loner seemed sorry. Askan couldn't fault him from getting a little lost, he was clearly new to these parts. If he had been closer to his borders- or God forbid stepped over them- Askan wouldn't have been nearly as forgiving. But as things were, Askan supposed Nev wasn't the worst guy in the world. Or at least in comparison to Lorcan he seemed like a damned saint.

"Mmm, long as you mind your footing we won't have any issues."And it was as easy as that. Nothing overly complex or hard to understand, just play nice and Askan would-sort of- do the same.

"Contrary to what some might say, I'm not completely unreasonable."Askan told him with a derisive scoff. Some people were so unreasonable."The hunting is good in these parts, I'm always looking to fill my caches.So how about work together  and see if we can bring something down. You can have half for yourself and I take the rest for my caches. Deal?" He asked, his brow quirked. He wondered what he'd say, this was an offer that surely didn't come by very often, he'd be pretty stupid to say no.

Honestly though...this felt nostalgic. Like old times. Wasn't this how he'd met @Drestig ? They went hunting together and split it in two. He'd taken his half back to Jessie and Percy, who was still just a baby and Askan had eaten the rest on the spot. Starving thing that he was. As much as he disagreed with his leading methods the Selwyn had learnt a lot from the Old Man, and he hoped there was yet more to learn. He would visit the Field one day, maybe in the spring, but not yet, there was still much that needed to be done here.

Nevrakis nodded eagerly at the other males somewhat friendly warning, he definitely did not want to cause any issues. Issues meant trouble, and for a lone wolf trouble was never a good thing. He had learned that the hard way during his time alone, but it did mean he was now more careful what with he said and did. Well, a little more careful than usual. His lips quirked up a tiny bit at Askan's scoff. It was not quite a smile, but it was close enough. The yearling could see how others may say Askan was unreasonable just from his naturally gruff nature, but that was not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes gruff was good.

The yearling perked up considerably at Askan's mention of food not being too scarce in the woods, his tail wagging behind him as the other male continued on to say that he was willing to offer his services in a hunt, and in return share the resulting meal with him. There was no way he would turn this offer down, after all, it was not every day a loner had help on a hunt. "That sounds like a fair deal," Nevrakis affirmed. It was more than a fair deal for him, really. "Is there... any particular prey you you wanna go for?" The yearling supposed he should let Askan choose what they hunted seeing as he knew more about the land they were in the most.

Just as Askan expected, the loner graciously accepted his offer. Good. He wasn't in the mood to prove himself, to insist that this wasn't a trick or anything equally as nefarious. Askan was an honest sort of guy, if he said something he meant it, well most of the time.Things said in the heat of the moment didn't always reflect his feelings in the best way, but that was neither here nor there. He was calm-ish- and a hunt would do them both some good.

"Hmm."Askan motioned for him to follow and began to head south, further away from his pack borders. "I caught the scent of a few mule deer not so long ago. A day at most.There are a lot of rivers around here, so I don't think they would have gone too far. But if we run into anything else I'm not fussy, food is food."

Hunting was a little easier in and around the Falls than it had been in the Lowlands. Prey had been so scarce out there, at least here they had more options and didn't have to track the herds for as long or as far.

"Do you have much experience?" He wasn't asking out of curiosity, he needed to know. Askan could hold his own with ease, but if he had a novice dragging him down then...maybe he would come to regret his offer.

Either way, Askan sped up into a trot, easily weaving through the trees towards where he'd picked up on the deer's scent last. It was near a glen, if he remembered it right, an odd place, quiet as though it was somehow disconnected from the rest of the world.

The other male seemed happy with his agreement to a hunt, and so Nevrakis swiftly moved to follow him, keeping a step behind and slightly to the left. He wanted Askan to know he was in charge seeing as his pack was situated close by and he had initiated the hunt. Plus leading was not really his thing; he was far better at following orders than giving them out. Ears pricked at the mention of mule deer. They were a relatively easy prey to take down if the deer itself was sick or injured, and considering it was winter maybe him and Askan would have a slight advantage over the hoofed creatures.

As Askan sped up the pace, the yearling followed suite, half concentrating on making sure to not run straight into a tree or trip over something hidden in the snow, and half thinking of how to respond to the other's question. He had, with a lot of help from his friend, taken down a couple types of deer and elk, and a pronghorn or two, but he was very good at hunting pheasants and other similar creatures. "I've never really hunted in a group before," he began with a slight furrow of his brows, "But I have taken down deer and other hoofed prey before with a friend." Nevrakis was not sure if he should elaborate more on his skills as, while he had partaken in some hunts before, he would not consider himself to be experienced.