Days drifted by, white, lazy clouds creeping across the sky and becoming hidden in the dark, only noticeable by the absence of the stars. The sun rose and fell, dipping toward the horizon like a lark on wings of crimson and ascending as a phoenix, bright and golden. Raindrops fell like tears, caressing leaves as tenderly as they would a fair cheek before being brushed away by the warmth of the sun. Life lingered but time passed with a resolute sort of determination which seemed to the bearlike creature like some form of spite, taunting him. The days of youth still clung about him like burrs fastening themselves deep inside his coarse coat while his heart had aged so much, a leaf dried and wrinkled, prepared to fall from its branch. Time passed but it did so slowly, having little physical effect on the shadowy stranger, but aging his spirit considerably until it seemed to have been borne into antiquity.
There was nothing he wanted more than a reason for being, but he knew the only way to find this would be to submit himself to society once again, and risk losing life and love as he had before. His heart felt heavy and struggled against this reasoning, but only faintly. It did not feel as though it had the strength to hold him back and so he kept moving forward, moving onward to find a place where he could settle in. Nothing meant much to him- he would join a pack wherever he could and attempt to find some sort of foundation there. If he was put to work, he supposed, he would want for nothing. He would have others for company, something that despite himself, he longed for. It would be much better than traveling alone, this much he knew.
Thus, not knowing anything about the pack, he'd tracked the scent of a few wolves to his destination- an unkempt wilderness which bore the scent marks of a pack. The worst that could happen, he decided, would be that he would be turned away- a rejection he could take, given that it would be dealt by strangers. If they decided to put him out of his misery, then that would be a death he could accept. He had no one to live for other than himself, and presently, he was hardly enamoured with himself. He lowered his head to give the borders a brief sniff before he sat down, thick shoulders hunched slightly as he stretched before relaxing them and waiting for someone to come around.
The two mutual paired leaders were officially on top—two leaders, not combined together like mates, who were after the simplicity of things. Styx was usually off and away sometimes, he liked to move about and with leadership had free reign to do such things. Katrina didn’t mind though occasionally she wished she could follow after him. The pair had a strange relationship, if a relationship or not and with this pack now binding them together he would have to see that much more of her. Cheekily she grinned, pleased with her concoction that perhaps even Styx wasn’t aware of.
Within just a couple of days they had gathered a few hearty souls for their crew—Kerberos, Rivet, Turqoise and a young Naga. Together they were surely a team. From Styx’s words she had gathered that Rivet and Turquoise knew each other and had joined together and the other two she barely knew anything at all. Either way they were members and Kat was already much further than she thought they would be. Seemed that being a lone wolf around here wasn’t exactly the best place to be. Smiling, she felt herself lucky that she had jumped on ship with this. Kat doubted that Styx was utter any sort of ‘you’re so smart, thank you for coming up with this’ but she felt it and that was good enough.
The walk around their perimeter landed her in a good mood, knowing that these were her lands and she got to pee wherever it was she felt like. It likely took Kat a good half hour before she came across a stranger whom had perched himself right at before her borders. He did not howl, nor make any sort of noise, he just sat. “Can I help you?” he inquired politely whilst moving towards him and raising her head just slightly as to announce that she was not to be tested with.