Ocean's Breath Plateau until his feet bleed and

wintersbane supposed if he had little other choice — though thankfully he does not — he could live on the coast. the sand is like an annoying parasite that refuses to go away ...even in the shelter of the conifers and shrubs the tundrian notes that he sees a dusting of sand here and there as his gaze lowers to inspect the forest floor for a brief moment. that was the beauty of not claiming loyalty to anyone or anything: he had the unique freedom to pick and choose where he wanted to go ...and when. he's not a beast that tolerates being fettered. the chains will be broken, sooner or later as wintersbane decides upon a course of action that largely benefits him, leaving anger and sorrow in his wake. he wants freedom with all the benefits of belonging to a pack, he does not want to be controlled nor have to answer to anyone but he knows that he is not responsible enough to wield the power of an alpha. he hungers for that unparalleled power and suspects that, that is a fairly good indication that he shouldn't have it. he wants the impossible.

he's broken out of his thoughts, steps pausing as he winds his way casually and leisurely through the forested part of the plateau at the sound of approaching footfalls broken by speech. glacial blue gaze takes his sudden companion in — though she wouldn't have been sudden would he have been focusing on his surroundings and not his own thoughts. she is small, lean and draped in a pelage of brown of varying shades and a creamy-white with markings of black and golden yellow eyes. she's dropped the fish she'd carried in her mouth at her paws and wintersbane's lip curls ever-so-slighly at the stench that lasts for only a few seconds. he abruptly corrects himself that he detests the coast and the stinky animals that live upon it and within the sea. ...so perhaps living on the coast wasn't an option at all.

"it's neutral territory." the tundrian speaks in response to her apology with a lofty shrug of his shoulders to show that he's not perturbed by her sudden appearance. even if he was, there wasn't anything he could do about it regardless.