Kintla Flatlands Sound the bugle

As he walked upriver along an unfamiliar shore, Peregrine daydreamed about seeking revenge on Tyrannus in a dozen different ways, each of them more violently imaginative than the last. Wallowing in these dark fantasies put him in a very sour mood. Woe the creature that crossed his path right now; he would vent his bitterly savage wrath upon anyone who dared mess with him.

The sun began to sink and, with it, his mood blackened even more, though it lost its edge and became much more dismal. He thought of his beloved sister, Osprey, and just hoped that she was doing all right without him. In three years, they'd never been apart and this separation was without a doubt the worst part of his exile. It made Perry feel sick in the depths of his soul.

That day, she'd come after him, risking Tyrannus's anger. She'd wanted to come with him—"I go where you go, remember?"—but he'd insisted she stay. She would be safe and happy with the Flightless Falcons and there was no reason for her to be put through the same upheaval. She'd insisted and he'd lashed out in anger tinged with terrible sadness. He'd softened immediately and they'd exchanged a mournful goodbye...

Will I ever see her again? he wondered to himself, the hollow ache growing powerful enough to stop him in his tracks. He felt dizzy with it. He felt like he would retch. In fact, his throat rippled and he heaved, yet produced nothing. He hadn't eaten since his exile a week ago and Peregrine suddenly felt paralyzed, unable to cope with the sudden loss of his sister, his pack and everything he'd ever known.

Hawkeye's mouth felt like a desert. She had not drank anything all day and it was affecting her greatly. Her mood was most definitely sour as she moved with purpose through the wooded plateau. A light fog barely did anything to stunt her vision, something she was grateful for in this moment; she would have the advantage on any prey or wolf that crossed her path.

The blanket of fog sank down the ledge of her land's borders. Among the water's edge walked a male who seemed to be sulking due to the look upon his face. He began an attempt to retch, and the scowl that was etched into her face softened. With a grunt, she descended the crag, grunting along the way as she took quick, careful steps.

Sliding slightly when meeting the ground, she got a closer look at the male; blackened fur like her own, but the sheen to his was a blue in contrast to her stark black. His eyes were similar to hers, but with more blue, and she lifted her ears along with her quiet "hello" that escaped her mouth. "Are you alright, male?" She was really never concerned about anyone other than those in her pack, but the almost-pathetic look he had cracked the stone surrounded her heart.

ooc: character eye-color was changed so I changed it in my post as well so it makes sense

He's cranky! :x

He lost all sense of his surroundings as the pain rose up and enveloped him. He felt his legs trembling, either from grief or exhaustion; he couldn't be sure which. As he suffered this episode of emotional arrest, he remained oblivious to the approach of another wolf. He didn't realize she was there until her voice broke through the hardened shell of pain surrounding him.

He growled in surprise, his head whipping upward. Immediately, he stiffened and braced his large body, his tail rising slightly and his ears pressing forward aggressively. His blue-green eyes sought the shadowy silhouette and he looked directly into a pair of vivid green eyes. He held her gaze.

To complement this challenge, he responded to her question by retorting, "Fuck off, female," his voice full of acid. He complemented this suggestion with a clipped growl.

Hawkeye took a deep breath in and held it. She was trying to be charitable (as Ariston had called her), and it was testing her patience. Trying to understand his position, she walked the few feet to the river and drank.

Feeling better, she turned to the male and spoke again. "I would gladly 'fuck off' if you weren't so close to my lands. I was just making sure you were okay, male, and it would be nice if you replied in kind. I am not here to try to attack you in your obviously weakened state, although I could; since I have not yet, you should at least be able to tell that I am trying to be friendly." She spoke with a slight impatient edge to her voice at the end of her words, but stayed calm. In his state, she could have easily taken him down but chose not to. He should have understood this before speaking to her in such a rude manner.

Naturally, she didn't do what he asked. His glaring eyes followed her as she moved toward the river bank, dipped down her head and drank. When she raised her head afterward and looked at him, his hackles prickled and he lifted his tail more. He wanted to intimidate her into leaving him alone, though he knew it would be difficult to chase off such a large she-wolf, particularly if she was an Alpha as her words implied.

She patronized him, calling him weak. He resented this and showed it by baring his teeth at her. "I am not weak," he refuted heatedly. He rose himself to his fullest height, his bristling black fur making him appear even larger. "And I have a name," he added scathingly, annoyed by her repeated use of the word male in reference to him.

She seemed to think she could attack him and beat him easily, an implication which Peregrine made his blood hot. He wanted her to learn her mistake by trying to make a move against him; he'd show her then. He might have been hungry and tired, yet he wasn't about to go down without giving her hell. And, truthfully, Peregrine was spoiling for a fight; it would help him release some of the foul, wretched emotions he was harboring, especially if he pretended she was Tyrannus.

Hawkeye read his desires, and knew his desire for a fight was there; he was asking for one with his words and actions, but she would not give in. Instead, a small smirk pricked at the edge of her mouth and she sat on her haunches, giving him a bored look.

"I did not imply you were weak, just weakend. I saw you dry heave on my way down here to drink from the river. And you have not yet given your name; I am Hawkeye." After a brief pause, she added: "I rather enjoy your eye and pelt colors." Hawkeye amused herself with the slight taunting of the pissed of male. Robur Aqua was beginning to rub off on her, in a manner of speaking.

She seemed to make a point of displaying her boredom, which brought about the desired effect: it riled him. Peregrine, however, could not bring himself to instigate an attack against a she-wolf. It went against his nature and instincts, particularly considering his close relationship with his mother and, even more significantly, his sister.

The thought of Osprey sent a knife of pain through his belly and suddenly the fight left him, leaking out of him like air out of a punctured tire. "I'm fucked," he muttered ironically, as if responding to her introduction. He said it so quietly she probably wouldn't hear (especially since she was partially deaf, which he didn't even know).

"Hawkeye," he repeated after a long stretch of silence, the name coming out sullenly but without malice. "Perry," he finally shared his name reluctantly, then fell silent. He had nothing else to say and he was beginning to retreat back into his glass case of emotion icy shell.

ooc: hahahahaha I'M IN A GLASS CAGE OF EMOTION! ~milk was a bad choice~

A flutter rose in her chest at what she silently declared victory. She nodded at him and stated "Perry" in a calm way before adding: "Why don't you join my ranks and come get a meal? We have plenty in the cache, and I am sure you could use some rest and food. Plus, you will be protected as long as you are in my pack -- not that you need any protecting." The black female sealed her words with a smile.

Internally she did a success kid felt like she was successful in staying calm and friendly, something she was sure that Neverwinter Forest would never do, and wasn't too sure that Akhlut would take a 'fuck you' too kindly, either, making her the nicest wolf around.

Without preamble, she invited him to join her ranks, offering him protection and, more tantalizingly, a meal. Peregrine looked at her shrewdly, mistrustful of this offer. Why would she want him in her pack? She knew nothing about him, his strengths and weaknesses or his character. All Hawkeye knew about him was that he was down on his luck and savagely angry because of it. The more he thought about it, the more nonplussed his expression became.

"Why...?" he asked lowly after yet another long stretch of silence. "You don't know me. You don't know the first thing about me." He paused, frowning severely. "Maybe I already belong to a pack," he said, the words causing furious turmoil on the inside.

Since the day he was born, he'd been a part of Flightless Falcons and now, after three years, he was alone for the first time in his life. He'd spent so much time stewing over the events of his exile, he hadn't yet given any consideration to what came next... up until his paralysis a few moments ago. It dawned on him that he had two choices: live on his own or take up with another pack. The first choice made him feel empty and even frightened and the latter choice, quite frankly, scared the shit out of him.

"What is your pack, Hawkeye?" Peregrine asked, his words sounding awkward to his own ears. He wanted to know the name of the pack, its values, its location and every other detail before he could even begin to contemplate the possibility of joining.

She shrugged, and figured his question was fair enough. It was pity that was driving her to ask him to her ranks; she did not want to invite him to the lands without having him be a part of them, and the she-wolf was slightly embarrassed to admit that she liked the asshole-attitude of the male. What was it with her having crushes on pricks? First Robur trying to get into her pants, though she was mostly sure (she hoped) that he had been joking, and now this guy Perry.

"My pack in Blacktail Deer Plateau; obviously, we live up there." She swung her head to the place above and stared at it for a moment before turning back to the male. What next? "We play well with others until we are messed with, which hasn't happened yet." She thought on her travels to Neverwinter Forest and decided to omit those details. The way she worded it made the pack sound tough and no-nonsense. "Honestly, we are a strange mix of wolves; each of us has a different personality, but it does not change the fact that we would do anything for each other." She took a breath as if she was going to speak again, but stopped there. Not entirely sure what else there was to tell about her pack, she simply nodded.

"And what of yourself? What skills have you acquired?; and where do you come from?" Hawkeye asked with true curiosity touching her voice. She was interested in getting to know the stranger, attractive or not.

Peregrine listened without comment as she shared some basic information about her pack, Blacktail Deer Plateau. His eyes slowly lifted to inspect the land form above them, though he couldn't make out anything but vague details in the dark. His eyes drifted back in Hawkeye's direction as she began to wrap up her description, then shot a few questions his way.

He'd only been exiled a little over a week ago and the experience was too fresh, too raw to rehash right now. "I don't want to talk about it," he replied, bitterness in his voice, though it wasn't directed at Hawkeye. "I'm alone," he added after a pause, the words ripping open a hole inside him. He wanted to keen his agony to the black skies and cold stars, yet he didn't want to appear any weaker than he already did, so he kept his voice steady and his emotions beneath the surface.

"I'm a hunter and a quartermaster," he said. Like my mother, he added with an internal wince. He wondered what his parents made of his exile. "I've also been trained to guard the borders and look for weather patterns in the sky," Peregrine finished, his voice, appearance and mannerisms growing apathetic.

The raven female frowned, sensing that he did not want to talk anymore, period. Nodding once more, she said, "You can choose whichever you'd like to do in my pack; whether it is one or all of the above they will be useful, although I have never heard of a weather master before. It would help since the weather is always changing around here. Why don't we walk towards the den so you can get something to eat and relax?" She rolled her head as if beckoning him to follow and walked over to the crag, tilting with the steep climb.

Peregrine suddenly flashed back to one of his patrols with his father, Aether, when he was younger. He'd never been overly interested in guardianship, yet his parents had insisted upon cross-training their offspring. He'd enjoyed the forays around the borders well enough. During this particular instance, they'd come across a lone wolf at the borders who wanted to join. Though the gentler of the two Alphas, Aether had been short and brusque with the newcomer, interrogating her thoroughly before granting her entry into the pack.

Hawkeye's behavior toward him presently didn't jive with this memory or any other recollection of how Alphas naturally interacted with outsiders. Idly, he wondered if she was nearing her heat and whether it might be skewing her judgment. He was a male, after all, and a large, powerful and relatively healthy one near the prime of his life. Maybe she needed a mate to procure a litter this spring and it was making her lenient toward him.

He mulled over these possibilities but only for a moment. He found it hard to focus on or care about anything at the moment. Truth be told, Hawkeye's generous offer of a home didn't really entice him. There was one thing, though, that she'd offered twice now that roused him somewhat: meat. He hadn't had a square meal in such a long time that the mere mention of food made drool begin pooling in Peregrine's mouth.

At length, he said, "I'll take some food," his tone a touch gruff. He moved as if to follow her, then waited for her to assume the lead. Peregrine made sure to remain noncommittal for the moment, mostly because he still couldn't quite swallow the jagged pill of his new reality.