the petite grayscale girl was wandering once more; though she wasn't far from home. she was at a part of rising sun valley that she wasn't very familiar with, though she knew she had visited this place— she had been hunting geese with that feisty female, finley. crëyr hadn't seen her ever since.

she caught sight of a hare, and began to tail it. she could use a snack before continuing her explorations.

the sterling outrider caught a whiff of a familiar scent as she was tailing the rabbit— distracted, the hare ran off before she could pursue it. crëyr shrugged, knowing that there would always be other hares.

the smell was of scarlett, her red-eyed friend that she had last encountered with raziel. speaking of raziel, where was he? he'd said that he would pay a visit, but she hadn't heard from him ever since that day at the lake. but anyway she made her way towards the scent of scarlett, and soon enough the pale-furred wolfess was in her line of sight.

"scarlett!" she grinned, happy to see a friend. "how's raziel?" if raziel was still around, that is.

crëyr was slightly surprised when scarlett, confirming her lingering suspicions, returned her greeting and informed her of raziel's mysterious disappearance. he was gone, just like that? she recalled their last meeting, which was probably about three weeks ago.

seeing her sad expression, the sterling girl spoke gently, "i'm sure you'll see him again sometime." at scarlett's inquiry, she responded with, "i'm doing great, thanks! just got promoted to beta. how're things going in duskfire?"

scarlett scrunched up her nose, seemingly distasteful. she then made a remark on how she thought she was "scary-looking", well, she thought raziel did. the grayscale wolfess didn't think raziel would think of her like that, so crëyr immediately responded with "of course not! i think your eyes are really pretty. they're like rubies. what makes you say that?" scarlett herself probably thought her eyes were freakish because probably others had told her that, but the blue-eyed wolfess rather liked her friend's exotic appearance. she thought it was cool.

crëyr returned her smile at her congratulations, giving her a "thanks." at her question, scarlett spoke of how duskfire had had an in-pack attack, and crëyr, being the curious one, perked up and promptly had a question on her tongue. the red-eyed wolfess then continued to tell her how she'd gotten her caretaker trade, and she was ultimately reminded of the happiness she had felt when she'd gotten both her outrider and warden trades. "congrats with caretaker, scarl! if you don't mind me asking, what happened with the in-pack fight?"

crëyr shrugged. "i haven't heard from him ever since that day. i thought he was gonna come see shadow, but well he hasn't. hopefully we'll see him again." when scarlett admitted that she had been talked down because of her looks, she could only say, "don't believe them. if you still do, that is."

scarlett answered plentifully to the inquiry the blue-eyed wolfess had sent her way, saying something about how the founder of her pack had attacked a child. a child? dafuq, who would do that? well, she supposed that founder would.

crëyr frowned deeply. "attacked a child? wow, that's kinda messed up. that founder better have a logical reason. but even that may not be enough, 'cause i don't think there's an excuse for a grown adult to attack a child of their own pack." she wondered about the bypass' only youngster, leila, and the thought of her being attacked by an older member of the pack. that would be ridiculous.

the grayscale wolfess wondered what had happened to raziel, if anything had, anyway. was he still in swiftcurrent creek? its leader would probably be at unease if they knew that one of shadow's kin resided within their territory as one of their own, which promptly led to another thought— had he been kicked out somehow, chased out? well, crëyr certainly awaited the day where she would see him again.

she smiled warmly when scarlett told her she thought of her as a good friend. "thanks, that means a lot to me! i'm glad you think i am a good friend, you're one too." she did, for they were alike. kind of.

the red-eyed female then continued to talk about how someone in her pack had attacked some child, her expression twisting into one of anger as she did so. crëyr could tell she was trying to conceal it, though her voice was beginning to leak of venom. "how's the child doing? well, maybe you could try fishing the reason out of the founder."

scarlett gave her a big smile, followed by an apology for the way she had acted during the day she had seen them with each other. crëyr had sensed that scarlett's actions had been slightly hostile when raziel had acknowledged and bantered with her, but that was probably normal. the petite female laughed. "nah, it's cool. that's pretty much normal, anyway."

crëyr went to sit beside scarlett, curling her fluffy tail around her dainty paws. "glad he's getting better under your care. or she. i can tell you love caretaking," she smiled. scarlett seemed to have a thing for taking care of pups and youngsters alike. "yeah, well, that's upsetting. i really hope you guys sort that stuff out."

another hare, with its winter coat on, scuttled across the forest floor. crëyr smiled, remembering her previous thoughts about how there would be more snacks to come. she turned to scarlett. "remember last time we were planning to have lunch together? we never set a date, or place. you wanna? we could tail that or we could go hunt for bigger game, if you want."

her pale companion's head turned towards her, bright red eyes containing a glimmer. crëyr's lip turned slightly up, then, wondering who on earth she had a "crush" on. her thoughts wrapped around all the males she were close to and would possibly be "her crush", and finally they led specifically to one certain silver-eyed wolf with an ex. she thought of him then, how he had been like when paar left, his eyes filled with raw emotion, a story about his father and what he had said to him, him promoting her towards beta, his nightmares, the touch of his cheek to hers, the way she had breathed in his scent.

uh... what?

"um," she shifted on her feet, tucking her silvery tail the other way around her paws. "i'm not really sure if i fancy anyone, but i think, well, lately i've been close to my alpha. shadow, raziel's half-brother. i mean, he's really, uh— it's kind of hard to explain, but he's— just—" the silver-grey wolfess flushed, and let out a nervous giggle. "cue my awkwardness."

crëyr smiled once the flush diminished, glad that her friend had accepted her offer for lunch, though she wouldn't be experiencing the thrill of a big hunt. "well, in this case, we could go after a rabbit. two wolves would probably be enough to capture one single hare."

a grin fell upon the crimson-eyed wolfess' face, allowing the same to break onto crëyr's own, as if it was contagious. "you totally do!"

the small grayscale female laughed at her words, knowing that the events she had described were probably unlikely to happen. alpha? no, she didn't think so. the last time shadow had promoted a girlfriend or mate of his to alpha, paar had only spent a week or so in the position before departing, carrying his pups. crëyr didn't think he would be up to it this time, if they even happened, anyway. "about the alpha thing, nah, i don't think so. but well, we'll see how it goes." the girl gave her friend a smile, matching her enthusiasm with her own. "well, i hope you find someone for yourself, after raziel! or he might come back."

scarlett started to pad towards where the hare had ran off. the blue-eyed she-wolf followed closely behind, her nose twitching, and deemed the scent she'd picked up mingled, new and old. the hare, whose scent was definitely the fresh one she had smelt, had ran past around five minutes or so ago. she was almost sure that it led to more.

"of course," crëyr spoke, moving up ahead towards the field scarlett had mentioned. undoubtedly there was the scent of a hare, growing stronger with every step she took.

when scarlett sent her an inquiry for a direction, she immediately gave her a nod. the rabbits in the clearing seemed to be unsuspecting right now, but it wouldn't be long before they scented herself and her friend.

"i'm gonna go for that one," crëyr whispered to scarlett, gesturing to one near a shrub. she then turned on her tail, soundlessly making her way to the shrub. when she was sure it concealed her whole, she observed the rabbit for a moment before giving a swift leap, alerting the other rabbits, but her target wasn't about to scamper.

the hare was scuttling, trying to run, but soon crëyr already had her teeth in its neck. it fell, and crëyr was awarded with a meal.

her head turned, looking to scarlett to see if she had caught something too.

scarlett, with her muzzle stained the same color as her orbs were colored, walked over to crëyr with her prize clamped between her jaws. she grinned, dropping her own rabbit onto the ground. she decided she would later see if she could hunt for more to bring back to the pack.

"that was teamwork!" her pale-furred friend exclaimed, and the grayscale wolfess nodded in agreement, her cerulean eyes sparkling. "teamwork, definitely. good job today, scarl!"

she sat then, and dipped her petite silvery crown for a bite. "let's have lunch."

crëyr wolfed the rabbit down (no pun intended) as her friend did the same. she gave a nod of her petite crown when scarlett requested for them to do this more often, of course. she would love to have a girlfriend to hang around and talk about random crap. a smile grew on her features as she thought.

the grayscale female laughed again, enjoying herself. scarlett promised to confide in to her if she ever found a possible suitor, which allowed another chuckle from crëyr. she loved that she was having fun and girl-talking to a friend. it was something she rarely did, so this was golden time. "same," she replied, "i will definitely fill you in. details, don't miss the details," crëyr finished in a joking tone.

she nudged the carcass away and stared up at the pale, blue winter sky for a second, another smile dawning on her face. "i'll see you again soon? maybe we could go somewhere cool next time."

scarlett nodded, stating it was a deal, which allowed another grin to spread onto crëyr's features. "same goes for me, scarl. howl for me and i'll be around. but until then, bye!"

the petite outrider then turned to leave, though she gave scarlett one last smile before departing. "see you soon!"

she definitely had enjoyed the day, and couldn't wait for them to do it again.