Oh boy...
Finally, he'd returned to the mountain. For days he'd been gone, having left without warning and given no estimated time of his return. To do so had slipped his mind entirely and, in all honesty, he could not feel bad for it. Having wished to pursue the trade of a scout early on in life, he'd felt his need to travel could not be held against him. To explore and see various sights, to map the land mentally; it was practically engraved into his very existence. To try and tie the male down would be a terrible thing, something that anyone would surely regret. While polite by nature, he could not sit back and allow such basic rights to be stolen away from him. Perhaps it was the fear of that, of someone telling him he could no longer leave the territory, that kept him from letting others know of his departure time and time again. He was unsure of that, however, but a part of his mind recognized the hypothesis as being believable. After all, why else would he, a formal and gentlemanly wolf, depart a scene in such a rude manner? It made no sense any other way, and so he inwardly accepted the statement as a fact.
All of that mattered little, presently, for he'd crossed the threshold back into the pack's lands. He'd returned to the place he called home, though he still couldn't say it truly felt as such. Something was missing, something he tried to make up for continuously by wandering away and satisfying his appetite for adventure. The appearance of the missing piece to the puzzle that was his life was unknown, unrecognizable, so it was hard to say what would fit into it's place. The only reason he knew something was missing was because of the dark space left unfilled, however he'd never felt a true need to fill it until recently. It was months ago that he'd reached the wild age of two, but only lately had the effects of such started to come after him. Alastor had yet to realize such was the case, however, and so he'd continued onward uncertain of why he felt out of place. No matter which reach of the mountainous terrain he'd touched, it did not dull the unexplainable sensation in any way. All he could do at that point was sit beneath a tree and hope that, someday soon perhaps, he would understand that which troubled him.
Will still hadn't been here for long; he was pretty sure he was still the newest member in Silvertip Mountain but he had already gotten pretty used to this strange new territory. It wasn't like he had never been on a mountain before; he'd been on plenty, he just never lived on one. He had, after all, lived all his life by the coast and when he was a loner...well, he hadn't technically stayed anywhere for more than one night. So, if Will was honest with himself, he was pretty proud of himself for getting used to this new environment so quickly. But while he was getting used to the new environment, he still hadn't met much of his packmates which made him feel like an utter failure because if they were suddenly called to battle and he had to fight alongside wolves he didn't even know, he wasn't sure if he was able to fight as well because if you didn't know a wolf, how could you trust them?
So Will made it his new personal goal to meet more of his packmates. Not really having anything to do right now as he wasn't in the mood to patrol or hunt or do anything productive for the pack, he decided to wander around, hoping that he would somehow bump into a wolf from the pack. The sky was cloudy today, filled with pale gray clouds, dimming the sunlight and casting a grim shadow over the whole of Teekon Wilds and giving the panther a strange feeling of foreboding which ran down his spine in the form of an icy chill as if he'd just took a cold shower. He shook it away, however, frowning for a second before relaxing his tense muscles and continuing on his not-so-casual stroll through the territory.
The wind decided to take pity on him and blew over the scent of a wolf. For a moment, Will thought it was an intruder in Silvertip Mountain territory and almost instantaneously, his hackles bristled along his spine and he adopted an aggressive position, legs tensed, ready to race off to wherever the guy was. But then he sniffed more carefully and realised it was a pack wolf. Cursing himself for his stupidity, Will began making his way towards the stranger and soon found the stranger. Covered in shades of gray and graced with eyes of beautiful blue, the wolf was a male, and a pretty one at that but there was something about him that told the inquisitive wolf something wasn't right. It was an innate ability of his, to seemingly sense other emotions.
Will approached quietly, almost cautiously, his posture submissive but his tail wagging amiably. "Hey," he said with what he hoped was a charismatic smile. "Are you...okay?"
Sitting beneath the tree had done nothing to relieve him of his troubles. There remained an unsettling feeling deep within his bones, something he could neither shake nor subdue; it was clearly there to stay, much to his displeasure. He did not recognize the feeling, either, which made matters worse for himself. If it were to be sadness or anger, anything like that really, he could have located the source and set himself at ease. His current issue was not so easily found, however, for it wasn't really an emotion at all. It was something instinctual, but that was a discovery he'd yet to make. It made him antsy, in a sense, eagerly awaiting something—but whatever that something was, it wished not to reveal itself to him. As troubling as it was, he did not seek someone to speak it over with, believing he'd only be a nuisance for unloading his internal problems onto them. Besides, would anyone even be able to place what it was that bothered him? Give him a solution to it? That, of course, was something he highly doubted to be possible.
The form of another came into view, surely a pack mate, but not one he recognized. The foreigner remained silent, not knowing whether or not he would be passed by, his presence ignored. Quickly, it was revealed that would not be the case, for the distance between himself and the other male was lessening. His posture was submissive yet friendly, just as several before him. Alastor had to resist the urge to shout out the fact that they were equals in life, for he knew it not to be the others at fault. It was his upbringing that was strange, making him the odd one out, not them. "Hello," he returned, swallowing the words that had entered his mind just moments prior, knowing better than to act in such a manner. Afterwards, he remained quiet, contemplating how he might be able to answer the stranger's question.
Finally, after several moments of silent thought, he answered with, "I don't know." It was the best he could come up with, really, but even so a sigh quickly followed. "There's something troubling me, but I have no clue what it is. It was only recently I started to feel this way... maybe I've caught a cold?" His brows pinched together as he further elaborated upon his answer, finding his words to offer little insight, if any at all.
The greyscale male returned his greeting, uttering a rather formal hello in his opinion. Will resisted the urge to frown, instead, offered a gentle smile, sensing something was wrong and instinctively wanting to help the other. There was silence in answer to Will's question and for a moment, he thought he had said something wrong and was about to apologise profusely for whatever he had said that offended his packmate even though as far as he knew, everything he had uttered to the stranger had been straightforwardly polite. The wolf, however, answered softly saying he didn't know if he was okay and following up with saying that something was troubling him but he had no idea what it was, that it was only recently that he felt this way.
The male added with an afterthought that perhaps he had caught a cold. Will resisted the urge to laugh then, but smiled his infectious smile. "I don't think it's a cold. You don't display any symptoms of a cold," he told the guy gently. "Perhaps you could describe what you're feeling? I might be able to help. I'm William by the way, but everyone calls me Will. Newbie to Silvertip Mountain." Will edged closer to the male, walking almost cautiously for he didn't know how the guy would react. "You mind?" he asked, indicating that he wanted to approach.
The conclusion he'd decided to draw without actually having any supporting evidence was quickly washed away with rationality. It was true that he displayed no symptoms that might point to an illness, but if not that, then what was it? Instinctively, he knew, but Alastor had never been a wolf driven by instincts. He'd tended to ignore them, truth be told, believing his thoughts to be better and more efficient than anything engraved into his very essence through centuries of evolution. Yeah... he was a bit arrogant in terms of that specific belief, but what could be done? Wolves weren't exactly there to be polite specimens, so, to him, his beliefs were definitely called for.
Instead of answering right away, the foreigner shook his head, inviting the other male to get closer. William, or rather Will. Peculiar name in his mind, but when born in a far off land, it grew somewhat difficult to find names he was truly familiar with. "My name is Alastor," he offered, returning the verbal gesture and then offering a slight dip of his head. Afterwards, he fell silent, contemplating whether or not he should delve into what he was feeling entirely. Would it do either of them any good? Alastor wished not to burden another with his own problems but... he was getting absolutely nowhere on his own.
It was with a slow exhale that his decision had been made, seeing no other way around his predicament—he needed to voice his feelings, get them out into the open, and hope he could then sift through them better. "I'm not quite sure where to begin..." he offered, gaze seeming to drift farther and farther from the male with each passing second. "I can describe it only as a sense of loss. I've felt something similar before, but this new feeling isn't nearly as harsh. It's more... dull, I suppose you could say, but without growing absent of the feeling that I'm missing something—whether it be figuratively or literally, I've not the slightest clue."
Though Alastor had proceeded to spill his guts, so to speak, the other had appeared to have grown disinterested. The Greek did not take it as any offense, knowing that his issue was his own and for no one else to bear the burden of. And so, when the other male excused himself, the greyscale wolf did not try to stop him. He'd let the other go off on his merry way, giving the foreigner time alone once more to try and sort through his thoughts.