Golden Glade It rips you to shreds.

No luck so far. He'd tried being patient, but that wasn't in the cards. He'd tried to conserve some energy for the right moment, which never came. Then when he'd woken to the feeling of snow crunching around his body, Yutani knew he was running out of time. The snow was falling all around him as he got to his feet and stretched; his muscles were sore and his joints popped with every twist, but soon he was pacing again, warming up and preparing for more travel and pointlessness. Deep down he knew he belonged by the sea. This place—with its flourishing sugar maples and hellfire burn to the tree tops—wasn't what he was used to, and that was a detrimental aspect he couldn't afford. The longer he stayed here the quicker he'd starve. But for now, at least for the next little while, he'd trail through the trees and keep his negativity to himself—but god damn was he hungry.

She heaved a sigh, slowly coming to terms with the fact that supplies were much harder to come by now. The snow was pretty, particularly when a fresh blanket sparkled underfoot, and Sugar enjoyed the way it seemed to muffle noises. But it covered nearly all the foliage and even when she was able to unearth some roots and shoots, they were almost always dead and useless, like the crinkled stem currently underfoot.

Leaving it behind, Sugar ranged further afield for no particular reason. She really ought to get back—there were many refugees in need of aid back in the copse—but despite her hopelessness about finding supplies, she couldn't just stop trying. She couldn't return empty-handed. Her head dropped, her pink nose skimming along the snow's sparkling surface, her every sense peeled for any sign of green.

Instead, she spotted something yellow: a flash of eyes set into a dark face which contrasted with the rest of the world's white overcoat. Sugar paused in her step, her own black eyes squinted, as she sussed out the silhouette of a stranger among the bare trees. He was tall and lissome, his features striking in profile. Sugar licked her lips, hoping for another glimpse of his face.

The snow did not look like it would stop anytime soon. It wasn't a heavy fall, more like a thick dandruff, but it would easily coat the exposed parts of the forest wherever possible and in a matter of hours the grove would be a winter wonderland. It wasn't the worst that could happen, he thought. Rumours had reached the coast of a great upheaval in this place recently—something that even the vagrants of Tortuga had felt, if the information was correct. It could've been an omen for all Yutani knew—but an omen to what? The die-off of the prey, or the hard winter that would come after? It was a bad time to be a lone wolf, that much he knew.

Beyond the lack of prey there seemed to be a lack of wolves too, or at least the population of friendly faces had diminished since his exodus from the crew. Maybe that was just his luck. Fate—or some unknowable god—could have been pulling his strings in the wrong direction. Yutani wasn't going to let doubt cloud his mind or put him off from his path, though. He was a stubborn jackass, and prided himself on his decision-making skills, even if those same decisions led down dark roads.

So he would keep on hunting. There was nothing else he could do—nothing else he'd ever done.

And when the sound of something crackling caught in his ears he stopped his prowl. He took a sharp breath, tasting the ice in the air. His ears turned, his eyes roved across the gaps in the trees as if they might materialize in to some kind of shape—there! The snow was piling across his face and back in tufts of white, but it did the same to the stranger's little body, making them a little bit easier to spot.

Yutani didn't know what to make of that face at first. They looked expectant, almost. And the markings across their eyes—dark stripes the likes of which he had never seen before—gave the creature an otherworldly vibe that set his flesh tingling. He snorts a breath again, not so subtle, wanting to continue on his way... But then he's striding towards where they are lurking and the closer he gets, the smaller they seem. Rather than grow with his approach as a far-off object might, this thing—this wolf he realizes with surprise—is puny no matter how close he gets.

Just a kid, he thinks, and cannot help the slightest eye-roll. What're you doing out here, kid? He prompts despite wanting to be anywhere else but here; no fault of the child's of course, but kids and him didn't mix. Yutani was a bad influence on most adults and he couldn't imagine the hell that would rain down upon him if he screwed up some kid.

The yellow eyes swung in her direction again, this time fixing on her as the stranger made an approach. Sugar remained still, letting him close the distance, feeling the weight of his gaze even as she assessed him in turn. She wouldn't use the word "gaunt," exactly, but he looked a little underfed. Despite his leanness, he was handsome, a word which Sugar had never consciously applied to anyone in her brief life. She blinked, mostly to herself, and licked her lips again.

The roll of his eyes escaped her notice, though Sugar sensed a slight derision as he called her "kid." Sugar stiffened a little, though she told herself to take the comment in stride. Surely he hadn't meant anything by it. "I'm searching for medical supplies, though it's kind of a bust," she answered forthrightly, gesturing at the snow drifting around them and holding back a sigh, only barely. "I'm Sugar," she introduced herself in the next breath. "Who're you? And what're you doing out here?"

It didn't make much sense for a kid to be roaming on their own, so Yutani kept an eye out for any adults. Then again, he'd grown up in a place replete with adults, just the sordid kind, and without any real supervision. He'd turned out okay—alive, at least. To say he was being protective of some stranger's lost crotch fruit was a stretch; he was looking out for his own hide more than anything, unwilling to put himself in to a confrontational situation if there were others out here.

When the kid went on to answer his question he was pretty dismissive, frowning at the trees surrounding them as he looked for signs of company. There could be all kinds of dangers out here for someone like her—so where the hell were the kid's parents? Ah well, not his horses and not his rodeo, or whatever. Yeah, tough luck there. He commented with a raise of his brow, watching the snow fall around them.

I'm Sugar. Who're you? Said the kid. And what're you doing out here? Hell, it might be a good idea to make nice with the locals.

The name is Zeppelin. He lied easily. One perk of being a bastard raised by pirates. I'm lookin' for something to eat. Ain't no use hunting for plants with this snow fallin' everywhere, y'know. Probably all dead from the cold or rotted from the ice. Where are your parents, kid? The condescending edge to his voice probably wouldn't help matters any, but Yutani needed to set the kid straight. Whoever sent them out on this little errand likely wanted them dead and that wasn't kosher.

Although Sugar's strengths lay elsewhere, she immediately wanted to offer her help. That impulse gave her pause. Although she was a caregiver by trade, she focused on her family, not perfect strangers. Then again, he wasn't a stranger any longer: he'd introduced himself as Zeppelin. All the same, Sugar mused about her compulsion long enough for him to say something else.

This time, she didn't give him the benefit of the doubt; he was definitely patronizing her. Sugar felt an odd sense of disappointment, though she told herself it wasn't worth getting upset. Maybe he thought she was younger, especially because of her size. "My parents are at home," she replied levelly, "and I'm not really a kid. I'll be in the adult ranks in a couple of months." She also boasted two trades and was working toward a few specialties, though she bit back the urge to tell him that. She had nothing to prove to him, despite her peculiar urge to do exactly that.

After a pause, Sugar couldn't help but helpfully inform him, "I heard we're almost as short on prey as we are on greenery, unfortunately." Her lips twisted into a frown, not just because of their predicaments but due to the queer turmoil inside her. This desire to help him, even impress him, was inexplicable, and yet there it was, beating at her breast in time with her heartbeat. "But since I'm more or less scavenging anyway, I could keep an eye out for any signs of game."

The kid couldn't have been more than six months old, he figured. She was still pretty small—not that he could say anything about that, he was comparing her shape to his too-tall self—but at the same time appeared precocious with the way she spoke. Sugar was a curious name for a kid too, he thought. Was she a sweet-talker? Smart, maybe, and a conversationalist, unlike what Yutani was accustomed to. He was extremely biased about his association with her either way, feeling more mature than her by miles. Still, the girl had the right idea with her offer.

That's smart. Yutani remarks with a slight raise of his brow. If she was hunting for green shit she'd probably fail, but may as well keep tabs on the prey levels. I haven't seen anything yet, and I've been hiking around this place for days now it feels like. Better luck on the beaches. That might've been an attempt to help her out; more like, he was making a slight effort to be social. You live around here then? He quips next, eager for some decent information—and maybe somewhere to nap a while with the chance at free food.

She felt her insides glowing at his brief compliment, though Sugar decided to stop questioning it and just let it happen. He hadn't been particularly unpleasant before, though now he seemed to warm up to the conversation, perhaps because of her offer to help him. He explained about his ill luck, then asked a question she was surprised hadn't come even sooner.

"Aye, I'm from the Firebirds. We live in the copse back that direction," Sugar said, gesturing helpfully with her slender snout. "What about you?" she questioned, facing him fully again, black eyes boring into him with intrigue. Based on his solitary hunting behaviors, she wondered if he didn't have a pack and whether he might be looking for one, though she did have the presence of mind to press pause on that line of thought until Zeppelin at least answered.

The Firebirds? He couldn't decide if that was a bad ass name or a candy-ass one. The look on his face shifted to surprise but that melted soon after, a smirk playing across his features as he scoffed. Nothing for me out here but the open road, just the way I like it. Okay, he was playing it up a little bit, but Yute had never known the stability of a typical wolf pack and he wasn't about to narc on his crew, least of all Tortuga.

Been all over the place, seen some things. A shrug; the comment was a leading one, as he was always eager to boast about his various exploits, but he tried to downplay it. Life was life. This kid had probably lived in these parts all her life so maybe he'd come off as some mysterious stranger.

She felt a little crestfallen at the latter part of his statement: "...just the way I like it." Sugar took that to mean he preferred his nomadic ways and wouldn't be interested in joining the Firebirds. Before she gave up on the notion entirely, she would feel it out a bit more, though ultimately, she didn't fancy herself any kind of recruiter.

But she was nothing if not ready to lend a hand. And though he wasn't part of her pack, Sugar had made her offer sincerely. Even as she weighed his last few words, she resumed her sniffing, now tuning her senses toward signs of fauna rather than flora among the crusts of snow.

"You don't have a pack then?" she questioned as she trundled along. "Isn't that..." Sugar paused for a heartbeat, in search of the right word. "Difficult?"

Difficult? What was difficult about living life by your own rules? 

The girl looked a little bit concerned for him and Yutani couldn't have that, he was an adult (or close enough to one) and had been living on his own for a while now, plus before that it wasn't like his home life was all that stable; in Tortuga it was every man for himself — a concept he'd more recently taken to heart. Sugar's question earned a light scoff from Yute, a little frown that transitioned seamlessly to a look of surprise.

Pffft, difficult? Not if you know what you're doin'. He liked to think of himself as well versed in all of this; it was the way the world worked, right? Pirates roamed the world in little crews and when they didn't mesh with their captains, that was the end of that partnership. Yutani liked to think of himself as a free bird. He didn't need a pack, didn't want a pack, and had convinced himself he could get by just fine as a single entity—a suave, somewhat bad ass, super cool entity.

His mind begins to wander; he envisions the coast first, a dash of Tillamook, but his mind inevitably falls back to the theme of food. I can go wherever I want; I can eat, I can sleep, I can do nothing all day if its what I feel like—ain't nothin' difficult about it. That's a lie, obviously. No lone wolf could ever vouch for the safety and security of the open road, especially in a time of crises like this. The way Yute tells it, he's perfectly happy with his imperfect world view.

He replied so cavalierly that it took her by surprise. He treated her query almost as if it was a silly notion entirely. Sugar's lips parted to say something in response when he elaborated on his initial reply. Her mouth shut as she listened to him list out some of the highlights of a solitary existence. He almost made it sound appealing, but...

"Don't you get lonely?" Sugar pressed, truly wonderingly. "Isn't it hard to hunt all by yourself? What happens if you get hurt? Or sick?" As an aspiring medic, these concerns felt particularly viable, though perhaps Zeppelin had a good answer for them.

He scoffs at her questions. Bitch please. You haven't truly lived until you do it all yourself, using your wits. He was smug and thoroughly convinced of all this; but his eyes betrayed him, shining briefly with a chilling light indicative of loneliness. If you can't hash it alone then whats the point? I ain't no freeloader, nobody should be.

A strange expression flickered across Sugar's face when he called her a "bitch," before it fell into a carefully blank mask, her black eyes abruptly shuttered. All desire to continue the conversation faded and any urge to help him in his hunting fled her as well. Just as with her every emotion thus far regarding the stranger, the young girl couldn't entirely explain it. She just knew she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Sugar was nothing if not polite and well-mannered. "I guess you don't need my help then, after all," she said coolly but politely. She gave him a brief, curt nod and then spun on a pale heel, making a beeline back toward the copse, abandoning her search for any plant life. It was futile, just like her wish that the boys and men in her life would stop being so awful.