Wicken steadied himself as he traversed the seemingly never ending forest. His dark pelt gave him near perfect cover as he wound through the trees. He was caught up in a battle of wits with his own mind as he continued a pristinely accurate bee-line to the other side of the forest. His sides ached with a distasteful reminder of exactly why he was winding his way through this silent forest. The wounds would still sting whenever his sweat got too thick, so he slowed to a walk when it became almost unbearable.

Orange eyes smoothly surveyed his surroundings. They were always kept even with his shoulders as he peered through the thick foliage to see if he was perhaps alone. A stance he could not shake. His panting was stress related, but one might think he was overheating if they happened upon him now. Wicken took the moment of silence to try and calm his shot nerves by scenting the air around him. He caught a whiff of another in that moment, and he spun to face the scent. His too long legs almost tangled in a net at the velocity of his turn.  To his dismay, the clearing was not empty. 

Another stood there. He felt his heart drop into his stomach as he placed some distance between him and the stranger. He faintly wished he hadn’t been seen, but there was no escaping this. Wicken flattened his ears and kept his eyes trained on the ground. He was not one to speak to another first, especially not one who was obviously older than his lanky self.

Wicken kept his orangish eyes trained to the ground even as he heard the gentle invite from the stranger. His stomach was tied in knots as he quickly flitted through ideas to remove himself from the situation. The lanky male knew he could not chance another attack, and he would be ill fitted to even defend himself in a fight. He ultimately settled on playing possum. Silent as a mouse, Wicken almost hoped he could remain still enough that he could fall over and simply die to avoid the interaction.

His tense stature eventually put a lot of strain on the wounds on his side, causing his legs to slightly twitch at the constant stinging sensation. He tried to relax his sides to ease it while he once again took another step back from the other wolf. Although he was larger, Wicken felt so, so small in that moment. A pup wishing to run into the den at the sight of danger, but he was a bit too big for that now.

Wicken awkwardly folded in on himself in a sitting position. He shrunk back as the stranger neared, but he ultimately decided his only option was to face this wolf. As kind as another wolf could seem, his trust in others had been shattered recently. Life was hard when you were a young wolf on your own with trust issues that stretched a mile. 

He still stared off into the dirt as his ears twitched with the words from the other. He had heard the stranger, but Wicken knew that eye contact was a thing of his past. Wicken was silent for a long pause before he decided to speak. It's not a good time of year to be young. He did little to explain his words, but he did awkwardly shift his weight onto his right paw to give his other a break.