[table width=80%][tr][td]The weather was beginning to warm, though the incline it followed was slow. It was a time of reflection and self-evaluation, so that one might have themselves pure in mind and body for the purge that came with spring. Lulu thought about her own experiences and tribulations as she meandered through the landscape, her heart keeping a constant pace. She was trying to keep herself moving in order to curb the impending urges and pains, and for a moment it seemed to work. Since arriving in the Wilds, her diet was a mixture of rotten corpses and kava, though her supply quickly diminished once she crept into the mountain range. Lulu would have to find another source to calm her illness soon, but for now her mind was locked on doing her best without it.
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Returning from the abandoned Vale with heavy, sorrowful steps, he could not yet guide a true path back to Ryūjin's territory. He had barely finished mourning for Ukko's absence, and now, finding no trace of Warbone made him ail unexpectedly. When he had set out, he could not say what he sought, but in finding nothing.. he couldn't help but feel so empty.
Inari was pulled onto the familiar paths of the Sunspire, and the mountain underfoot focused him. He still hurt, he still did not know what his next move should be with such sadness in mind, but he sensed he never truly would. For the meantime, he gained some speed and soon caught trace of another -- unfamiliar, foreign, and here on these hallowed slopes.
In time, he found her trail and tracked. The sterling scout approached carefully, and in his refined silence.
Though the presence of the male gave Lulu the slightest bit of anxiety, she was able to remain presently calm. She waited for him to come close enough for each to hear the other, then turned to look at him. She had to give him props; an approach that perfect would make for a perfect hunt, though not for a good fright from a wolf such as Lulu. Hello
, she barked, though still not turned enough to get more than a blurred image of the brute. Once his scent became stronger and she was sure that full vision would come to great use, she planted a smile on her maw and turned to face him.
He was clearly uncomfortable engaging strangers, but understood the necessity of it sometimes. In that, he was at least well-practiced enough to usually keep him out of trouble. Hearing her greeting did encourage him, somewhat, but he did not know how to proceed exactly yet with her. His wariness did not fade. "Hail," he replied with his ears splaying outwards more while his posture continued to show he was of no intentional threat; only curious since he had never seen nor smelled her here before. A wanderer? A pack wolf? He doubted so. "What has brought you here..?" he asked, hoping in secret that she might know of Warbone's trail somehow -- possibly a straggler from his pack? That was reaching, Inari knew it.
The other wolf, though timid in scent, seemed able enough to hold his ground for Lulu to adjust herself accordingly. She straightened her posture and allowed a slight frown to come about her brow, though her eyes remained focused on the other. I'm looking for something; food, shelter.
There was her cave on the other side of the range where she had enough foliage to hide her away, though the only food she had to nourish herself were the roots she'd found, and they'd done nothing but leave her boney and malnourished. Can you help me with that?
Looking for something. He understood the sensation far too well, having devoted much of his life to the very notion and fought the prickly rise he felt beneath his skin at the thought.
He nodded slowly, deliberately, and wondered what it was that lead her here exactly. "There are small caves further up," he provided quietly with an accompanying gesture. "The mountain housed a pack, once, so something left abandoned should be around." He remembered being one of them for a short while, although only vaguely and at best, he could only allude to this himself. "As for food.." Inari glanced around. On this, he had a less definitive answer. He glanced back to her, thinking that he could probably benefit from a meal, too. "We could look..?" Which did not mean anything was guaranteed. If this interested her, they could surely find a nearby trail of some sort; if memory did serve correct, this Spire had been fruitful.
She was still a stranger to him so he was gauging this carefully, not willing to offer very much too readily; not unless he could potentially benefit as well. "Do you run with any pack?" he asked before moving forward any.