Arrow Lake Teach One to Fish

@Raiden Upon the sandy beach, she remained still in wait, watching, hoping for some change in the water. The ice was thinner here, she observed, and by the warmth of the sun one would think that the surface would give way to living water. Then the change would occur where the water opened in invitation, beckoning the hungry and curious to tread the shallows to take part in the bounty swimming just within reach of eager paw. But there was no warm sun... ...only the clouds that hung like a burden overhead shrouding the earth in its cold, oppressive veil. And of course it would be on the day she chose to attempt fishing. The wanderer was never one for touching water without reason, especially when the grace elicited only chills. Had it been a cool drink that brought her to the shores, her brows might have smoothed with an expression of relaxation. And dare she admit, she might have found contentment lying alone with the earth. But this day, it had been with the desire to feed and the mustered patience to reap the scaly quarry from their home for hours if need be. But the ice here was thick, though light enough that a boldly pressed paw would cause the ice to fall away... and take with it the foolish soul. If her death would come, she did not want it to be a cold, watery end. Instead of searching the length of the shores for a weaker section, the pale wolf remained at her favored edge simply staring at its surface. Foolishly, though quietly, willing the surface to break away.

I'm assuming this is before he joins with Northstar Vale? I'm pretty sure we discussed this but I forget things easily. /horrible memory

Monotone clouds hung, stormy grey, thick, and lackluster in the sky, pressing in like a heavy burden upon the sun’s rays that they so expertly concealed from touching the barren death that plagued the earth, failing to aid in the melting of the stark (and in the sunlight blinding) snow that fell freely at it’s own discretion. Raiden was not a fan of winter. They were insufferable months, chilling to the very marrow of his bones. Deeper than the icy chill that seeped despite the thick, tendrils of silken platinum silver colored fur that worked to keep it at bay, rooting it’s seed in his heart and blood it brought memories alive, their wispy existence seducing his conscious to relive them. The times when he had painted the stark canvas of snow with blood, when he had sacrificed lives to the death of winter to appease the cruel spirit that must have created such a hellish season. To breathe even the slightest breath of life into Ripper would ruin everything he was trying to fix. These thoughts were never allowed to root into his conscious, kept firmly at bay. Life barely existed in winter, to him. Winter, in a contemplative aspect to Raiden was death, with it’s protégé Spring as rebirth.

Raiden had taken to the lake, for some reason or another. It wasn’t as if it were all that particularly useful besides a drink in the places where the moving water had broken the ice into weightless, floating chunks. Otherwise, most of it remained frozen. This time of year it did not attract much prey, sending him out on journeys - some longer than others just to find a meal to sate his hunger. It had drawn him away early in the morning when he had chased a sickly, abandoned fawn, pulling him out of the lake’s territory on it’s chase. In the end, predator had been successful and had consumed his meal wisely - being sure to bury what he did not eat to return to. There was no telling when a small, personal cache might come in handy. After the hiding of his meat he returned to the lake, to be closer to his temporary den, but to also get a drink and attempt to clean the gruesome image of blood dried to his chin and muzzle, staining the fur of his chest where it had splattered from his tell-tale meal. Being coated in blood did little to help keep the seduction of what he had done when he had been known as Ripper at bay. He trotted towards a small section of the lake’s frozen surface that had been broken, bent his muzzle to take a drink, pausing as his leathery black nostrils lingered just above a drifting chunk of ice, a downwind carrying an unfamiliar scent of another his way. Salmon pink tongue flashed out to draw across the ice, stinging and radiating the nerves of his mouth before he rose his head and glanced in her direction.

She was hard to miss.

It was unclear if she had noticed him herself or not, yet. For a moment sea blue eyes studied her in what Raiden thought was secret, brow furrowing as he deduced that she was just staring at the ice - from what he could see. Slowly, Raiden began to make his way towards her. "Are you lost?" Raiden couldn’t help but ponder aloud in her direction, despite that she did not particularly show signs of being lost - except for maybe in the catacombs of her own thoughts.

...and the surface remained cold, hard and true. Even as the sun peeked from its clouded shroud, its warmth was not enough to cripple the ice to crack under its own weight. It stood firm... resilient, taunting her to place a paw over its surface to break the solidity and give way to fresh water and countless fish. But she knew better. Oh, did she knew better, lest she be made a fool by nature's temptation and find her bed at the bottom of the lake. She knew better than to end her life so quickly, but she was treading the threshold of desperation to test it... A stout ear flicked back to the sound of shifting snow, coupled with the curious vocals of an unknown soul. She did not yet turn in stubborn belief that should her eye turn away the ice would harden all the more. An opportunity might have been lost in favor of looking to this new, unknown thing. However, she was not so unkind as to ignore it. She huffed quietly as she turned her muzzle but a fraction, though was mindful to keep her sights upon the ice. "...not lost..." she whispered, contesting the soft beat of her tail upon the snow. "...I am thinking of how best to break through the shore... without succumbing to the lake to have my meal." Her tongue graced the width of her maw in earnest, then slipped bitterly back behind its cage.

The woman’s muzzle tilted ever so slightly in his direction but the path of her gaze seemed fixated upon the ice; for she had not even so much as glimpsed his way as far as he could tell. "Hmm," The ponderous noise rumbled quietly in his chest as he paused in his steps, puzzling through it. Was keeping her eyes upon the ice so more important than a potential stranger moving towards her? Particularly one with dried blood splattered on his chest and dried on his chin from his previous meal? Never mind that she had not yet seen the blood since she had not even remotely looked at him. Still, it was starting to smell and even if the wind was not in her favor it was likely she could smell it. Even then, she did not seem too terribly troubled. Not that Raiden had ill intentions of any sort, but still he was caught between finding it amusing and confusing, with no particular deterrence towards one or the other.

She corrected him in a soft whisper that caused his ears to twitch back as he pondered why she was whispering - he was the only one around besides her and he already knew of her presence - there was no reason to whisper as if she would disturb someone. Her following explanation of what she was trying to accomplish brought with it the faint consideration that maybe she was trying not to scare off the fish that must have been taunting her beneath the surface of the ice. In all honesty, it sounded like a lot of hassle for a fish in Raiden’s opinion. "You realize that in that case you might be here all night?" Raiden inquired in a thoughtful tone, inhaling as he considered his next words. "I have a fawn I caught earlier. I saved half of it in my private cache. You’re welcome to it. It certainly will be easier than trying to figure out how to break the ice without ending up trapped beneath the ice all in the name sake of a meal." A meager meal at that, though Raiden kept his general dislike of fish out of this conversation.

“I do,” came the reply in the whisper of a sigh, hardly a breath exuded by fragile chords. Had the wisp of warm breath not curled in the crisp air above her lips, one might have assumed she hadn’t spoken at all, and the mountain itself had played a trick to delicate ears. “…though I have only time at my feet.” She was in no rush. She would have waited patiently for a shift in the ice, even gone so far as to uproot from its shores to test the crystalline surface under her weight. Stubborn, but also foolish in that regard. However, an alternative presented itself as the unknown male cautiously spoke of a cache. Her ears swiveled to attention guiding back to the russet crown that umber and gold might address him fully. He was thin and youthful. A culmination of grey within tresses of thickened grey to encompass him, yet he bore the tell-tale physique of potential. Not yet fully grown into his intended form, yet suited enough to carry him with the air of an adult. An adolescence ascending the cusp to adulthood, but in-tune with the world by a select degree to acknowledge whom was worth, and whom was denied a level of trust. The crimson stain only briefly took her eye til the scent surmised it was indeed of fodder origin. Had it been of the lupine kind, she would not have been troubled. The cold and desperate state of winter led even the wise and composed to savage, shameless means of survival. Though this day her purpose was not to tread that dangerous path. She rasped the side of her maw in preparing to speak. “Where might I find it?” she inquired in a mere whisper to his ears.

lol, raiden's kind of cruel... xD

Raiden had barely heard her reply to his question about her being here all night, and as it was, he was not entirely confident that he had actually heard it, spoken as softly as it had been. The only tell tale indication that he had not merely imagined her confirmation was the furl of steam that expelled from betwixt her lips. Her next words indicated that she was in no rush, and this caused discontent to settle in Raiden’s chest. While it remained true that he was just a loner such as she, and that he laid no claim to Arrow Lake he did not particularly like the idea of her lingering so close to his den, however temporarily Raiden called it home, all night or for many nights to come for at this rate he wasn’t so sure that she wouldn’t be there for days all for some stupid fish. Arrow Lake was a free territory, and this Raiden acknowledged, but it did not dampen the territorial urgings that brewed in his chest like a storm gathering it’s power and energy. Raiden did not find anything wrong with these territorial instigating(s) for wolves were territorial creatures by basic nature. He could not chase her out, would not because he had no right to do so, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to speed up the processes of getting her away from the proximity of his den if he had an opportunity.

His offer seemed to have done it’s required job and caught her attention, diverting it from the frozen lake and the meal she wanted from beneath the solidified ice surface. Her whisper danced into Raiden’s ears, which had thrust forward to capture her soften spoken words as he took a few more, careful ghosting steps towards her, cautious though they were. Just because he had offered her something from his private cache -- despite that it was not entirely out of the goodness of his heart (Raiden was pretty sure there wasn’t much goodness left in there anyway and that he was living upon a fragile wisp of a hope) -- did not mean that he trusted her. He knew nothing about her - not even her name, though to be fair he had not offered her his, either. Young Raiden was, he was hardly incompetent. He was intelligent, resourceful, and practical. Then again, he had done things that young pups should never be forced to do; done horrible things and enjoyed doing them. Afraid that the memories of carnage and pleasure he had been conditioned to feel might awaken Ripper. It was a delicate line Raiden balanced.

There was a secondary reason why he did not want her lingering around into the night. Raiden feared the night and preferred to suffer through it far away from others. The more distance, the better.

"I will take you to it." Raiden replied simply, as sea blue eyes studied her again, wondering why she had inquired about directions to his private cache as if he was going to give her directions and allow her to go unescorted so she could take whatever she pleased from it? Though that may not have been her intentions, Raiden was suspicious nevertheless. He had offered the rest of the sickly fawn - nothing more than that. It was a nice little cache he had managed to scrounge up, and he did not intend to share majority of it’s contents. The consideration was briefly noted that he probably should make a new cache somewhere else after she departed Arrow Lake, in case any ideas might have been given. Raiden did not run a pack and the cache was not a free-for-all.

Thievery had never presented itself as an option, considering g she understood just how difficult it was for a wanderer to find a meal. Truth be told, she we was simply thankful for the offer, considering there were few of the loner ilk that would have even bothered to share, let alone escort a total stranger. That this youth was willing was rarity, one she treasured and would remember long after their paths crossed then parted ways. Grunting soflty, the beast pushed herself to stand then walked over carefully to stand near the flank of the boy's left side. His pelt was unmarked by the scent of a pack, inclining the female to be more amiable toward him. Though out of practice, the gesture was known; a small smile lifting the corners of her lips. She tilted her head towards him in gesture to lead on.

There was nothing within Raiden that felt even remotely guilty about contemplating that she might steal from his cache, no shame or disappointment towards himself. As far as he was concerned, it was natural to mistrust a stranger. Some of his mistrust might have been borne from the territorial stirrings he felt - the cache was just as much his as was his temporary den, and while he did not claim any right to Arrow Lake, he felt that he could claim a right to those things while they remained relevant to his survival; and as far as he was concerned he had every right to be territorial over them. A chilling breeze drifted along the lake, stirring up the dusting of snow that covered the lake, drifting through the tendrils of his platinum silver fur causing him to give a slight shiver as the cool caressed the warmth of skin beneath thick winter fur. Sea blue eyes did not deviate from the fire kissed stranger as he waited for some sort of acknowledgement of his subtly stated condition.

Raiden watched as she stood and approached him, eyes assessing every step she took. There was nothing hostile in her movements, nothing that insinuated that she was about to attack him. Companionship was not something Raiden particularly longed for - he preferred to do things alone, if only because he feared that something might become a trigger and would resurrect Ripper from the false death that Raiden had put that part of himself into. He could not kill his past, could not kill who and what he had been molded into as a child. In truth, Raiden feared that all this time he was just fooling himself by using a new name, and coming to new, unfamiliar lands. Even the dried blood upon his chin and splattered on his chest made him weary. Weary of the devil inside. She offered him a silent, small smile, and Raiden blinked for a moment before he forced his facial muscles to comply, the tugging upwards of his mouth. It felt horrendously strange to smile, and false in every way to him for it had been a long time since he had genuinely smiled - though, of course, she did not and would not know that.

At her gesture to take the lead, Raiden complied in an equal silence, comfortable with the silence they had seemed to settle into. He had never felt the need to fill silences with awkward, unnecessary small talk, though briefly he played with the idea of at least giving her his name. The chances of them meeting again after this, he considered given the size of the Teekon Wilds, was probably unlikely, but the exchange of names seemed to be customary, whether they would remember one another after this or not was an unknown factor. Paws carried him in the direction of his cache by memory alone, for his attention remained split between the exotically colored female following at his side and his path. Sea blue eyes gleamed slightly as he inclined his muzzle towards her, glimpsing to make sure that she was still following, though he had little doubt that she was. "I am Raiden," He offered his name to her after a few more moments of consideration. It wasn’t as if it would cause any sort of catastrophic damage to give her his name.

For once silence would not damn her to fall from another’s grace, but keep her comfortably within as she took stride in following. There was little to offer beyond the sound of her footfalls against the snow. A name might have suffice but rarely was it on her mental list of priorities when meeting others. She preferred the silence, unless a word need be spoken that was relevant to the matter at hand. Though for the moment she did not see how an exchange of her name would benefit. She was but a wanderer. Her name was not worth remembering. Although she was made to recall back to the sweet words of a pale wolf, who’s verses sang purposefully of her importance to the world. Her significance to him. Perhaps the same could be experienced by this male. Perhaps a word from her would rouse in him purpose- though she could not imagine how. Instead of this, she remained the quiet wanderer, moving only by her paws and the perk of her ears forward as he named himself. “…a pleasure,” she replied softly in time to his reply. “I am Xi’nuata.” Then just as easily, she fell silent once more.

There was but a brief silence that followed Raiden's offering of his name, though in truth, despite the expected customs of society he would not have found it offensive if she had chosen not to give him her name in return. Raiden was as comfortable with the silence as a bird was comfortable soaring in the sky. He did not find it necessary to fill every silence with idle, pointless chatter. Besides, they were just two wanderers and it was probably better for her that she not stay in his vicinity for long; and while territorial instincts were a small, though hardly insignificant player in the game, it was not the major player. The Ripper stirred when Raiden slumbered, reveling in the shades of night that Raiden (perhaps childishly) seem to cower from. Raiden had deduced and accepted the fact that his life would be a solitary one a long time ago. He did not grieve the simplistic truth. He was a killer, he would always be a killer. It was what he had been raised, honed like a weapon to do. Company, given this, was not something Raiden preferred by nature.

The fiery woman gave her name in return – one that he wasn't planning on repeating because Raiden was not sure he would be able to speak it without unintentionally butchering it. Instead he nodded, unsure if she had caught the gesture of acknowledgement or not, hoping that if she did that it would suffice. After the fiery woman had fallen silent once more, Raiden did not make any moves to break it until he began to near his private cache. "It's just up ahead," Raiden announced just in case sge were not paying close attention to his movements. It would be awkward if she had accidentally ran into him or something. Not soon after Raiden had broken the comfortable silence that had settled upon them did he come across the amount of freshly moved snow and dirt. Digging away, he shoveled a pile of freshly disturbed earth, reaching in to tug the left flank of the sickly fawn he had taken down earlier.

He set it down in the space between them, nudging it a few inches towards her before he turned back to his cache and promptly began to fill it, making a mental note to make an extra trip to counter weight the loss if the fawn's flank. As he carefully flicked the final bits of dirt mixed snow back in the place he turned to sea blue eyes to his brief companion. "It was nice meeting you." Raiden offered in a soft, genuine tone, tipping his head to her once before he disappeared into the tree line, knowing that he would circle back after he was sure she had departed to make sure nothing had been stolen from his cache like the suspicious predator he was.

The female was patient in her pursuit, never-minding the time of travel to destination. As long as there was indeed meat to be had at the end of it, it would have been worth it. Though the suspicion that this walk was some kind of a trap did not escape her. Although lacking as she was in the skill of combat, she favored herself able in terms of fleeing if need be. But she did not allow herself to ponder too deeply on that possibility. Instead she enjoyed the continued silence, the only sound to disrupt being the heavy press of her paws against fragile flakes of snow. When at last recognition spurred the young male to act, she lingered back out of courtesy to give the youth his time to unearth the cache. She was a guest afterall, and did not want to impose. She advanced only when the carcass was freed and pushed in her direction. As he returned to close his keep, without further word she crept nearer to the meat then nudged it lightly with her nose. Preserved and edible. That was all she needed and was grateful for it. "Thank you," she woofed softly as the young male turned to leave, no doubt in route to some other adventure she had distracted him from. After his departure, she turned to the meat and sank her teeth into its hide to feast. [Fin]