The gamma covered the cache he'd dug open to place a plump rabbit within, kicking the small mound of dirt he'd up-heaved back into the hole, before he stretched and let out a surprising, wide yawn. He wasn't particularly tired, though. Still, the yawn felt nice while he stretched. Though Buchanan had not been sure how different it would feel — married life that was — but really nothing had changed much aside from them being official. He still hunted for birds to present the Beta for her collection, occasionally Buchanan would join her on patrols but as they tended to distract one another he didn't do that as often as he would have liked; and they still spent time apart because of course Banner had her leadership duties to take to and Buchanan worked towards earning his hunter trade and tried to make it a point to socialize with his pack mates. It was still a slow process but he was adapting although Buchanan would be the first to say that Banner was a lot of the reason why it was easier than he thought it would be.

He inspected the cache for a moment, ensuring it was covered well enough and the scent from his paw pads was strong enough to not draw attention of other predators and warn them off from stealing from the wolves before he gave a quick, sage nod of satisfaction. His work done, he ventured into the willows, contemplating stopping by Banner's “place” before deducing that she probably wasn't there and that he probably could run a patrol. It was on his way to the borders that he caught the scent: female, smelled heavily of Harlyn and Silas.

Buchanan didn't know much of the details but he knew that one of the Marauder's missing members: Larkspur had returned to them. Mordecai and Pippin, as far as the Gamma was aware, were still missing in action. Without realizing it, the dark wraith had altered his course, not sure that he knew what to say — if anything all — but wanted to offer the young girl assistance if she needed it. Some food, or a listening ear, or ...anything. He slowed and lowered his body posture as her scent trail grew stronger and he knew he was close. Despite that he was the Gamma he was still very subservient. It was not something he could help. He shrugged through the long, spindly boughs of the willow closest to him and the young girl came into view. He recognized her vaguely for his sightings of her were, at any rate, brief and only in The Crook. His steps ceased, stopping near the sweeping branches of the willow and let out a soft chuff to alert her to his presence, in the hopes that he would not startle her.

Buchanan wasn't quite sure what to do. Understandably, she did not greet him with any sort of eagerness, just ...caution. He hadn't expected eagerness, but the way her tail went limp behind her and the lack of verbal greeting only made Buchanan realize with painful exaggeration that he really didn't know what he was doing. Socalizing with other adults was hard enough, but a juvenile that had probably been through all kinds of hell? While it should have been measurably easy for him given he'd suffered his own hell as a child, the truth was he wasn't sure how to approach or talk to children. Children were laughably out of the dark wraith's depth. “It's ok, I'm not gonna hurt you,” Buchanan assured her, making his deep voice as soft as he could to the point where it was almost but not quite a whisper. His posture lowered slightly to show her that he wasn't a threat to her, trying to make her more comfortable (if that was possible).

Whether he was making progress or not, it went unknown the moment the approach of another became clear and a loudmouthed boy came barging in, inserting himself between the two of them. Startled by the boy's lack of personal space (in Buchanan's mind, anyway) the assassin backed up, his hackles bristling in warning for a few seconds. No doubt, this was Tambourine though it was later confirmed for him when the girl — Larkspur, he reminded himself of her name — mentioned it. “I was going to see if Larkspur needed anything, food or assistance with anything,” Buchanan's silvern gaze went between the two youngins before him, his words for Tambourine as much as they were for Larkspur. “I'm sure Larkspur's been through a lot lately and it's really important that we give her support and try to communicate that she's not alone.” Not that ...besides offering his meager little bits of what he thought to be help ...he knew what to do to support her. He only knew that he wanted to try to help her if it was possible, in any way that he might have been able to.