His talk with Wildfire a few days past had been ...comforting despite that he hadn't really been seeking to put an end to his seclusion. He still wasn't sure what had urged him to go to her when her call had risen up. Maybe he was a sucker for a pretty face, maybe he felt guilty, maybe he had wanted to just talk. As it stood, he'd been avoiding his own mother as well. His first instinct was to put up all the walls and assume that everyone was against him, despite that it seemed to him that Wildfire and Thistle had been the most welcoming to him from the very start. It didn't matter. He guess that he needed to accept that him and Charon would never get along and, at some point, he would need to seek out Floki to apologize. Tev didn't like the rift he felt between them as if it were a palpable thing. He felt the distance of his twin with every steady beat of his heart, felt it in the marrow of his bones. It wasn't anything he could explain, but the distance from his twin put stress on Tev and made his mood foul. Whatever jealousy he'd felt had been soothed, in a very big part to Wildfire. 

Her outlook had been helpful. He wasn't so sure he was ready to seek Floki out yet but he would soon, he told himself. Tev understood that he was the one that had been holding himself back; and so long as he nurtured his grudge towards Charon things would never be allowed to have the chance to get better between them. Tev still had doubts about his adoptive brother's leading capabilities, and the, most grating to Tev, was the rude and cruel things he'd said about the Frostfurs. More than anything this continued to bug Tev and was much of his issue with Charon. Well that and Tev clearly had some issues with authority, though ironically, this had been stifled after the Frostfur's had taken him in, only to come back with a vengeance. In truth, that was nothing new. He'd always been that way. Ignoring Thistle and Ragnar, sneaking out of the den, and conniving Floki into joining him on breaking rules. Tev had always pushed all of his boundaries even as a small child; thus it confused Tev as to why this surprised his family. Except, he was totally fine with Amekaze. He had no qualms with her and respected her plenty despite that he really didn't know her all that well. They'd met once and he could hardly consider that much of a meeting since he'd been on cloud nine from the dried berserker mushrooms he found (and promptly hid after).

Tev pushed his thoughts away, instead focusing upon the routine of patrol, content in his solitude.

Focusing on nothing but the pull and receed of the strong muscles beneath his coat of platinum silver, on his steady breaths, on the little icy pings of the cold dusk air as he inhaled and the warm kiss of his warm breath across his nose and muzzle when he exhaled, it was easy to forget. For the moment that was what he yearned for the most. Absence of thought, nothing but the driving instinct. It was a reprieve from the civil war waging within him and the heavy burden of knowing how he could fix everything (complacency, complete altering of his personality, etc) and yet knowing that those things would be near impossible for him. Temporarily free from the weight his troubled thoughts left upon his shoulders he wished to linger in the simplicity of it. 

Yet this purgatory was not to last for the scent of another soon wafted from behind him and the Loðbrok's steps ceased, hackles bristling along his spine as he was jarred from the numbness he'd embraced. His head whipped shortly followed by his body as he turned to face her, though for the second he had to squint to discern her monotone outline against the rise of snow, blending in too well for the color blind berserker to make her out at first. With her outline in his view he relaxed some, but not much. “Are you following me?” He asked her, not knowing who she was. She smelled of Moonspear, albeit the last traces of her lone scent lingered a little. In all fairness, he would have asked the same even if she would have been a familiar face.

The pallid woman's response to his question was a question, as if she wasn't sure that she was actually following him even though she had been or so this was what Tevinter assumed anyway and couldn't be bothered to believe anything else. After all, aside from Wildfire — which was a different circumstance — as to which the thought of Wifi had his cheeks warming slightly beneath the platinum fur as he remembered the kiss they'd shared brief as it'd been. He tried not to think of it too much because it only confused him. If she was interested in Floki then why has she kissed him? At one time they had been identical ...but there were differences between them, physically. Little nuances that could be picked up upon and then the more apparent and easily seen differences. The vivid scars across Tev's muzzle for one. Besides, their personalities were starkly different and he felt that alone was a dead ringer for which twin you were dealing with. 

Like Wildfire the pallid woman before him was small, reminding Tev of his true size — as of which he had never really paid much attention to until it was easy to discern. As silly as it probably sounded: he forgot how big he really was, though in all fairness it wasn't like he had any way to tell aside from comparing his height and bulk to other wolves. He had noticed it when he was a young pup, but he'd stopped noticing it after a while and it simply was to him. The Moonspear stranger took a small step towards him, and Tev's eyes narrowed, caribbean laced with silver, sharp as he focused upon her monochrome form. “Why?” Tev demanded because the idea that anyone actually wanted to meet him was a foreign thing to him.

Her explanation was simple enough, easily understood and should have been expected by the young platinum silver and warm sand colored Berserker. Yet, he was deciphering her words, trying to pick them apart. Surely there was something beneath it, some meaning he could not discern. The truth was: it could have been that simple, a desire to meet a new pack mate but Tev was made suspicious by his own insubordination. He didn't trust and that in, and of itself, was a struggle despite that it made him more like the deceased Loðbrok patriarch than he would ever know. 'I was interested in who you were' she spoke and it took all of Tev's self control not to roll his eyes and let out a indignant snort. “I'm no one special,” Did he truly believe that? No. But what had his arrogance gotten him so far? Trouble; surely it would bring to him future trouble as would his insubordination. In fact, he was wholly surprised Charon and Floki hadn't came to chase him out yet. Yet, that was something that Tev had been expecting since the moment he'd hesitantly accepted the opportunity to reunite with his family.

His bitterness burned his tongue like hot ash in his mouth. “but I guess if you really care I'm Tev Ragnarsson.” He left off his father's name, the name that his siblings also took, opting for what his sirename would truly be if Ragnar would not have given them his nickname. He had been sorely tempted to use Frostfur instead for Scimitar and Bazi (even if her raising methods were unusual) had raised him as if he were their own. He was forever grateful to them for taking him, for not leaving him to die which he would have done would they not have generously opened their home to him. “Can you patrol?” Tev asked her simply, not wanting to slack off on his patrols because some girl (even though she was older than him) decided she wanted to make nice with Tevinter Loðbrok. 

He'd noticed her stare and it made him ...tense. Having spent weeks in nearly entire solitude he wasn't sure what to do with the sudden company and his conversational skills had became ...rude and rusty; never mind that he sort of got the feeling that she was checking him out, despite that he had no proof this was the case nor any experience with that sort of thing and very well could have been dead wrong. Yet, regardless of his icy demeanor she didn't appear to be scared off yet.

Tev couldn't really be arsed to care if she found his behavior rude — after all he didn't think there was a wolf that didn't think he was rude, selfish, or anything anyone else had ever threw at him. So what? The world wasn't made of unicorns, rainbows and glitter. It was a much harsher place then that and Tev had no patience for pretending to be something he wasn't. So if he was rude then he was rude. That just meant that, hopefully, he would be left alone to brood. He was a moody teenager, with testosterone pumping through his veins ….what, exactly, did they want of him? Was he supposed to take everything with a grain of salt and a smile? That wasn't how he worked and if they held onto that belief they were in for a rude awakening when they discovered the truth. Besides how was he supposed to build himself when others were always tearing him down but then making a giant fuss about how he acted. Everything had consequences and no one was above them; Tev acted out and would quit acting like the victim as Floki had so graciously spat at him during their falling out, when everyone stopped attacking him. Maybe he didn't need to take things so personally but how was he supposed to take things? 

He couldn't make sense of it, but tucked it away for later observational when he shook this girl — woman whatever.

A grunt of acknowledgment left his lips when she spoke her name, though he had no real interest in it at the moment he tucked it away nevertheless. She drew nearer and Tev took a step back, head rising as he stared down at her. Man, she was tiny. As tiny as his mom, at least. “You're like a pipsqueak.” Smooth Tev, he pointed out bluntly; though he doubted she needed the reminder. That was Tevinter, charming as ever (enter victoria's sarcasm here). “Well c'mon I gotta lot of ground to cover,” And he'd already wasted time talking. “So Pips what do you do? Got any skills?” He sucked at small talk but he figured she would probably want to talk so he gave her the initiation to blab to him since talking was something girls liked to do, right? He didn't know for sure but he just sort of guessed. Calling her “Pips” in short for pipsqueak had been a split second decision to slap a nickname on her because it was easier and took less effort than to remember than 'Alaska' even though there was nothing particularly difficult about her name.

While Tev hadn't necessarily called her 'pipsqueak' to irritate her, he found that he was slightly taken aback by the smile she gave him when he spoke it. In his experience, smaller wolves tended to not like when their shortness was capitalized upon (Thistle comes to Victoria's mind). Small but mighty his mother would claim but not every small wolf was outfitted with the fiery fuse his mother had, Tev had to remind himself. She wasn't particularly offended by his shortening of 'Pipsqueak' into a nickname so Tev took that it was ok for him to call her that — not that he would have stopped even if she would have been offended. He liked nicknames better, he found. When he'd went by Jorunn he had nicknamed himself Juju; but he had long since outgrown the name he'd been given at birth. Kjalarr was what the phantom of Ragnar called him in his dreams, Kjalarr Eitri...but he was still Tev. He would not so quick forsake the name he'd decided to take shortly before the fall of Jade Fern Grove and the Frostfur's departure from the Teekon Wilds. It was apart of him just as much as they were.

“You should find my mother: Thistle Cloud. She's our healer ...the best healer.” Tev saw no wrong in boasting of his mother's talents, plus he felt like he was helping to point Pips in the right direction as a fellow good pack-mate. While, in the end either Charon or Amekaze would award her the rank there was no one better to confer with then Thistle. “Well maybe I can test your hunting skills someday,” Hunter and Mercenary were Tev's trade goals, though currently he was contented to keep his focus upon his patrol. 

Without him noticing she'd managed to pry a crack in his wall; the fact which went unknown to Tev who wouldn't have considered it anything because he was talking about pack things. He was just trying to do his part even if he wasn't particularly sure of his place in Moonspear nor if it was going to be permanent; yet, it had always been this way. This uncertainty had always hung over his head like the blade of an ax ready to drop upon him at any breadth of a moment. “Moose?” He blurted as he walked, letting out a loud, indignant snort. He was not a moose, but despite the fact that he rather fancied himself to be something much more fierce ...like a bear or lion or something cool he didn't otherwise dispute her chosen nickname for him in return. How could he without being hypocritical? He couldn't. “Mercenary and Hunter.”

For a moment they dropped their brief talk of nicknames — not that Tev had really given her a choice on what he called her, to be entirely fair — and fell into a silence that the Loðbrok found comfortable. He was used to making his rounds by himself and thus their settlement into quietude didn't inherently bother the young berserker. It allowed him to focus his attentions upon his patrol, upon the sounds he heard and the smells, though mostly he scented only the markings of the borders. At a bonus there was no unusual noises that immediately drew his attention and he found his mind wandering a few seconds before Pipsqueak broke the silence that had converged in and around them. His velveteen ears of platinum silver perked, giving physical evidence that he was, indeed, listening to her words as she poised her question despite that he did not slow his pace or peer back over his shoulder at her. His eyes were focused on the familiar path he walked.

“About three months now, I guess,” Had it really only been three months? It felt more like three lifetimes, but then again he couldn't exactly claim that his transition from Jade Fern Grove to Moonspear was stress free ...because it hadn't been. Still wasn't. If anything he felt the weight of his internal struggles and stress heavily against his broad shoulders. He didn't bother to tell her that he'd been born into one half of Moonspear's predecessor packs, nor that he was family with the Alpha male and Beta; although anyone that had met Floki would only have to take one look at Tev to know they were identical ...or at least had started out that way. There were discernible differences between them: the most notably being the vivid scars that Tev bore upon his muzzle. He was marred whilst his brother was unscathed by any kind of physical battle (or at least he bore no scars of it). Perfect to Tev's ...ruin.