Shadewood You're just like your father

Someone from Arthendal perhaps? Tagging @Burke and @Malice for visibility. He's close enough he could wander near their border, but I didn't want to have a trespassing thread. :P

A heavy rain sluiced across the horizon and smudged the sky with sheets of gray; the shadows around him were amorphous with crepuscular light, as the sun had been blotted out by clouds that resembled the layering of ink upon ink, rather than the cheerful and plump variety that characterized summer.

He had not meant to return to the wilds at all, really. Not without Saghani. Yet after Tryphon's abrupt departure — their's, together — the two had separated. He had wondered for a time if it had been on purpose. She was a wild thing, a woman of few words, and maybe she had desired something he was lacking. There were many things the boy could have done; he could have hunted for her, cried out into the night, or doubled back along their irregular route.

Instead, he'd gone his own way. The green returned to the universe, the herds with it, and Tryphon trailed after a small family of caribou as they traipsed their way eastward through the hinterlands. It was in the early morning that he'd finally decided to rest for a few hours, and left the herd to their antics. Sleep had consumed some hours, but the boy woke to the sound of rain, and now it was a tumultuous affair — the wind was causing the heavy drops to slant sidelong in to the line of trees.

With a solumn glance betwixted the trunks of the adjacent growth, Tryphon saw the ambling silhouette of a caribou or some such creature, and rose to his feet so as to follow.

Burke was out of Arthendal territory for one sole reason. His mate. Even though matters still hadn't been solved possibly due to the fact Malice couldn't really talk, Burke did care for her. Plus he knew that her favorite meal was rabbit. He connected the thing she liked to being nice, and for a mate one should be nice. He also knew that honey would help with her voice, but he was not sure if he could obtain such a thing. I did not have a lot of knowledge about obtaining honey, only that bees could sting when threatened.

For his own safety, and with one alpha down in sickness, he decided to do a nice thing for his wife perhaps making her feel better. The rain wetted his fur, but seeing he needed to cross a river in order to get to the other side he didn't mind it too much. His paws did get muddy with all the wet grounds. The male was hot on a trail after roaming around the edges of the forest. His docked tail was up as he tracked it, only then he came across a caribou herd, which frankly he startled. Burke frowned and sniffed at his scent mark if it really was a rabbit scent he was tracking. To his relief it was not his older age that played tricks with him, a rabbit had been here.

The male let out a snort as the deer shied away. He knew better than to take down one. He rather wanted this rabbit for Malice. Rain still clattered down which didn't really help with tracking the scent. Perhaps was not the day for him to do a nice thing.

The caribou had long ago become accustomed to their ever-present watcher. He had pursued them through the heat of the summer, nipped at the heels of their babes when they were born, and yet never took down a single member of the herd. Tryphon's attention had stagnated when hunger truly gripped him — he always sought out smaller game, or fish, although the texture of scales upon his tongue was less than desired. Thus the herd seemed to adapt to having an added member. Tryphon was a transplant, a foreigner in every possible sense, and yet he kept the other predators away.

It was no surprise that as he followed the hulking figure of a young female - still round with the plumpness reserved for pregnancy - he could slip quite close and not elicit fear. The boy watched her; and she, twisting an ear towards him at all times, had her way of keeping tabs. When a sound crackled through the trees and through the din of rain, she turned her head and Tryphon followed suit. Then, with a bolt of energy Tryphon had not witnessed in many days, the creature took off at a brisk pace through the trees and back towardrs the bulk of the herd.

Her grunts and calls echoed through the shadows, but Tryphon did not follow.

He turned his attention to the approaching murk. It was hard enough to see between the trees, let along make out any sort of shapes or recognize things for what they truly were; to Tryphon, the dark figure was only a mess of branches being caught in the wind and pulled free from its origin point. Except it did not fall and clatter to the forest floor — the shape moved between the trees with a distinct understanding for the pathways that lay there.

Curious, Tryphon chose to abandon the caribou for the time being. His own body was low, his head drooping, dripping with water and looking like a large drowned rat more than a hardy northerner; but he followed after the dark figure soundlessly, relying on the rain to mask his scent and the sound of his prowling. Perhaps it was Saghani, returned to him? But he would not hold firm to that idea for long — Tryphon was not eager for the hurt of being wrong.

Burke's senses weren't as sharp as they were in his prime. He liked to think that they still were at top notch level but it was clear that they weren't seeing that he didn't locate the wolf that was watching him. He had been too busy with tracking this rabbit, if he would even find it in the first place. It was probably holed up underneath his paws right now. Dry from the rain. Burke didn't blame him, he liked to be dry and warm next to his mate in his den right now.

The male decided to call it quits on the rabbit part and turned around to return to his home. As he did turn he did see a figure further up in the rain. His head lowered, trying to see it better. The rain wasn't really helping. The male raised his docked tail and instantly trotted towards the one he couldn't smell yet. His pace was confident. He was close to his home after all. As he got closer to the figure he noticed that it was another wolf. A light growl came from his throat at seeing the young male. Until he reminded himself that they were low on members and perhaps this one could be recruited.

He stopped at a bit of a closer distance than normally would be a respectable distance. Only because of the rain. "Who are you?," he asked.

He slunk from the gloom between the trees, head slung low, heavy with the rain that cut through the shadows; the water chilled him, made the boy feel numbed within his own body. It wasn't an entirely bad feeling. When he was nearer to the shadow he lifted his head as if to reach with his nose, to try and find the scent of Saghaani, who he had left so far behind. But the stranger spoke and the voice caught in Tryphon's ears before he could make sense of the scent; and he knew hastily enough that this was someone else.

The boy huffed a small defeated sigh from his nose, and a tiny puff of warm breath dissipated through the air. Tryphon sagged back. His ears remained slicked across his head as dark vees to highlight his submission, although the general diminutive nature of his posture should've pointed that out like a dilapidated motel sign - no vacancy style, except, dont hurt me was the message.

Tryphon, he murmured, voice crackling as if he had not surpassed puberty, when really it was from lack of use. He took a deep breath then, gasped it, as he remembered he actually required oxygen to function and forgetting to breathe was a dumb thing to do. And... you? He retorted after a few too many empty moments, staring with his hollow, tired eyes at the stranger; he wasn't really interested, but it felt like the correct thing to do, the proper next step in whatever exchange they were currently participating in.

Burke watched as the stranger came forward. He showed a submissive nature which was something Burke deemed acceptable in this situation. He was more leaning towards the neutral-dominant side mainly because he was used to carry himself high and authoritative. The rain was coming down hard and he almost didn't hear the male's name. Burke always thought names were relative. This male could have made up this name like he would often do. He rather liked another answer to his question who he was.

"Thor," he responded to the other. Not they moth exchanged names and were nothing further in their conversation, or exchange of knowledge. How inefficient. Burke stepped forward with some curiosity. This male seemed ... not very lively. Perhaps he had been a loner for a long time. Burke decided not to make too many assumptions. "You are very close to my pack's borders," he pointed out. "Do you have an interest in joining or are you traveling somewhere?," he asked.

The name might've meant someone who was tied to the north by more than blood, but to Tryphon it was just a sound. Something to link a face to. He grunted softly as if to accept the title, and burrowed it in to his memory. When next the man spoke the boy was taken by surprise, because truthfully he had no idea why he was here. Looking for Saghani was one thing — but she wasn't this way, he knew that much. Was he running to her, or from her? A brief frown flicked across his already morose features.

Dunno, he blurted, and then after a pensive moment Tryphon returned to the present and added, Was lookin' for... Don't matter. If anything he was doing a damn fine impression of Eeyore. Too bad this wasn't the 100-Acre Wood, filled with friends and family. This was just another foreign place for Tryphon to coast through. He watched the dark man, Thor, without really seeing him. Then when it seemed like he was about to just mosey off, the boy commented dryly: Alone now. Your pack, are they strong?

He didn't know why he asked that. If it was a family, he knew he didn't fit in right from the get-go. If it was a band of warriors, the same applied; Tryphon was no warrior, though he had the bulk, the chiseled figure of a northerner. The soft edges of his youth had tapered away due to his time on the road, and he looked more and more like the rigid, hard-cut father he could not remember. He could've asked if they were happy, or something. Having realized his own word choice, Tryphon would spend hours - perhaps days - wondering why that question had popped out of his mouth like that.

Burke found it a bit strange that this wolf was just roaming without a plan. No idea of where to go or why he was even here. He was a very practical man and didn't go out of his territory without a mission set in mind. Perhaps for a loner like him life was different. He didn't have a purpose. Burke wouldn't mind to give him that purpose.

Burke was not sure how to answer the question about his pack. They were small, and not really that strong in his eyes, but he wasn't going to talk down his own pack. He had to be tactical about it. "Well depends on how you look at it. Our ranks are based on trades, so if you look at it that way, the ones who really mastered their trades are really strong. Do you have something you want to be good at?," he asked the loner. Perhaps he could find some ambition in this male.

After some thought I don't know if Tryphon would fit in Arthendal, my bad! This was a fun thread though.

He did not know what a trade was. If he had one in the past, it was an unremarkable duty he had performed; and he found the more he listened to this stranger speak, the less inclined he was to linger. Still, he couldn't quite drag himself away just yet. Some semblance of good behavior must have caught him here in this trap of a conversation. And when the dark man questioned him, asking point-blank if the boy had any aspirations, he answered without needing to think: No. Although it was the truth, the tone of his voice remained dull, hinting at disinterest. Being skilled meant drawing the attention of others, and as far as Tryphon could remember, he had always been better off alone — he was a blight, and cursed to roam in the wilds where his presence went ignored.

The boy didn't know what else to say. He had effectively stalled the conversation. For a moment he stared blankly at the dark figure as if waiting for further discourse, or more questions, but he soon found himself drifting mentally back to thoughts of Saghani. How was he to reunite with her if he did not roam? Fixating on this thought (and the underlying fear of, eventually, letting this dark man down, because that's what he always did) Tryphon abruptly began to pull back and walk away from him.

That is alright though! :)

Burke let out a snort of disapproval the moment the other answered. Burke had not expected such a distinctive answer. He bared his teeth a bit but didn't act on it. "Alright," he spoke, well it had been worth a try and if he didn't want to be in his pack than that was fine. Although Burke did not like how close he was.

"Then I would advise you to back off more from our borders," he spoke, less friendly now. If the loner was not into joining then Burke would not be open for him to be this close and perhaps have him trespass into their territory. He was not allowing that. Hopefully the male would just take his word for it and vanish. But when did strangers ever do what he wanted?

When the man reacted, Tryphon pulled back and looked away briefly, flinching from the briefest show of teeth. Then, when he heard the voice rolling from the stranger's throat, he turned his attention back. It would not take much to dissuade Tryphon. He nodded solemnly. Without another word he withdrew, slinking back from the meeting point with the dark man, and took himself away from the layered scents of wolves.