A patchy set of borders had started to appear around the fringes of Neverwinter. If you could even call it that -- it was the work of a single wolf. Mal had been doing his best, but there was only so much time in a day and only so much ground he could carefully traverse and mark while still having time to sleep, eat, and do other such things. He needed to find other wolves, probably. But who would even be worth dealing with? He was supposed to have his sister here -- hell, ideally having both sisters here would have been nice, but with both of them gone, it was merely a dream.
He was pretty sure this wasn't how anyone wanted their life to be, but he'd do his best with the cards that had been dealt to him. His fate was to be alone, to create his only little corner of the world on his own because no others had bothered to try -- no others were worthy. Now, as the sky darkened and the day drew to a close, rain threatened. He stood under the trees as a solitary ghost, wondering for a few moments before turning and heading towards a section that hadn't gotten his attention.
she'd been spending a lot of time around the flatlands and gbw when she wasn't carefully patrolling the borders at home. it wasn't necessarily her job to keep an eye on things outside of her woods, that was down to the scouts but as a defender of the forest she couldn't resist keeping an eye out for melonii activity around their favourite hangout spots. especially since a sneaky detour had her wandering close to their phantom hollow and discovering it was no longer inhabited. flicker must have warned them about her finding out their whereabouts just as she'd suspected would happen, it was infuriating to say at the least that after all her hard work to find them, they'd snuck off again. all she could hope was that it had drove them further from blackfeather, she had told flicker to do just that after all.
it was with a sigh she wandered quite aimlessly through the swaying grasses, paws moving with a swift ease and quite subconciously leading her in the direction of nearer forests. she wasn't looking for them really, she couldn't afford to leave the pack again and risk getting injured worse this time. her scuffle with the red bitch had left her with shallow but visible cuts, the one on her chest still parting her fur visibly. if she met more of them who knew what would happen and with maegi the way she was....nevertheless she could see no harm with 'passing closely by' any forests she'd be in close proximity to anyway. it was this that had her padding along the boundary of this particular forest- halting curiously at the scent she was quick to pick up. it was the distinct smell of an individual, but not the kind of scent one gathered from someone passing through. this someone wanted to be noticed, someone was setting up borders. arching a curious brow, the ghost would peer with a wary interest through the trees- not quite curious enough to let out a call but intrigued enough to seek movement before she'd move on.
Knowing this was his gave him confidence -- like he actually did have a pack behind him even if right now it was only himself. He wasn't sure how long it would take before he'd find someone worthy of keeping around, but he'd be patient, as it wasn't like he had anyone else waiting for him. Maybe if Brillo had stayed...
Really, aside from that thorn in his soul, he was okay with this all. It gave him something to do. Along the borders he moved swiftly and silently, watching. So far, his trips had been relatively uneventful. Today he spotted a pale woman, and he observed her from cover for a moment before moving forward. Mal was confident, sure, but only comfortably so -- he wasn't going and being completely ridiculous and arrogant. But hey, this was his home, so his own turf gave him an advantage, right? At the very least it gave him the comfort that he didn't feel like he needed anyone. Who're you?
Ah yeah, it hadn't done anything for his lack of friendly social graces. He was still blunt and prickly. He wasn't close enough to recognize Ramsay's scent to mark her as the weird guy's packmate.
just as she'd gathered herself up to leave once more, movement caught her attention and sure enough she'd focus in on a boy striding in her direction. she'd settle back on paws previously prepared to kick off and turn to face him as he reached the edge of the forest, the confidence in his stride did not go unnoticed- this was definitely the wolf planning on making this his home. she regards him curiously for a few moments, dark gaze wandering past and lingering momentarily on the gloom behind him. so was he the only one here? smelt like it, bold choice to try and claim a whole territory by yourself. it definitely heightened her interest but maybe he was just stupid, nevertheless she focuses back on the silver brute- meeting his bi-eyes calmly as he launches right into demanding her identity. a brow raises with detached amusement as she opens her jaws without protest and simply murmurs; "tundra". she could never understand why that was wolves go to question around here, did knowing her name benefit him anymore now? not likely. part of her wished to leave it there, just to prove how useless a question it was but she was curious and so to gain information it usually helped not to be too closed up yourself. "i come from blackfeather woods, not too far from here" she offers, continuing to regard him coolly. there's little to read in her dark eyes but she's careful to make sure that although she never drops his gaze it doesn't appear like a challenge either. that's the last thing she wants.
"anyway i've been around here quite a few times so i was just curious to realise these woods are now inhabited" despite not being the talkative sort there's still much more even she could've asked or said but that would do for the moment, just so she could get a feel for his personality if anything by seeing what he'd offer back without her having to ask. she just couldn't help but think of the melonii's threat and that maybe, maybe having some sort of alliances outside the pack wouldn't be the worst? it wasn't exactly in her top favourite things to do, socialising with wolves from other packs for the heck of it but she supposed it made sense. anyway if he turned out to be a complete nutjob she wasn't going to waste any more time hanging around here so for now she merely waited- large eyes not once straying from his frame.
Is that the one sort of there?
he pointed a nose off towards Blackfeather. He'd passed by at a fair distance one of the times he'd wandered through, just to scope out what had been spoken of. But no territory name had been mentioned -- just that the forest was dark. And there were a lot of black birds around there, so he could make a few leaps of logic. But he wasn't going to assume, as it sounded far better to Mal to not rush revealing his cards. He did take another step or so forwards, nostrils flaring as he tried to pick up her scents even if things weren't favoring his direction. He might remember Ramsay's at least...
And yeah, they are.
But he offered no more information -- not out of malice or anything like that, just because he was conversationally dense. Like uhh... What else was he supposed to say? He was just kind of a scruffy yearling that wasn't a giant bag of smiles. That pretty much why he didn't instantly return the introduction -- it was starting to become a bit of a habit with him.