Fox's Glade in split infinity

dated to around the 20th^^ @Evien

Just north of his new home, bears' smell gave way to foxes' smell, a rank, acrid sort of smell that stuck a probing thumb in his drowsiness.
He hadn't been able to sleep for days. Not a single hour. He sits on the slope of a hill, knees to his chest. His eyes are sullen and bloodshot, and beneath them are darker circles, and beneath them is a mouth set in a thoughtful, mute pucker.
Taylor considers that it might be him not wanting to fall asleep, and then he considers that he doesn't want to open that particular can of worms. Not here, not now, staring into the sun with the smell of fox scat in his nose and therefore in his mouth. Thoughts, brief phrases, memories, they snatch at his ears. He flattens them and ducks down, his chin in between his hands.
What he needs is a distraction.

// @Taylor thank you for getting this up so quickly <3

         Evien had never been fond of... certain smells. This place was filled with a particular type that he couldn't stand. Fox musk permeated his surroundings and made his nose twitch with disgust, triggering a nasty gag reflex when he leaned in too close to a place where one of the creatures had clearly marked. 

         Gross.

         His hitching gait carried him slowly through the valley, and he tried focusing on the little flowers instead of the fox scent surrounding him. The boy was so focused on not letting the smells get to his head that he almost missed the fact that he was not the only wolf currently overwhelmed by them. Evie turned his head when wolf scent hit his nose, large ears pricking and head tilting to the side just slightly. Who else would willingly let themselves be marinated in this smell?

         As it would turn out, the other boy wasn't far away. A spot of blond fur laying in the grass a few meters ahead. Evie's maw wrinkled slightly in confusion and he limped forward, brow arched and approach cautious but not afraid. Forest eyes were concerned as they scanned over the prone body - much larger than his own, but gangly with youth like he was. 

         "Are you alright?" he asked, stopping a couple feet away from the other boy. "You don't... look so great." It was perhaps a bit blunt, but Evie meant well. His grandfather and mother had taught him quite a bit about herbs and treating injuries and illnesses. Maybe he was sick.

He hears him before he sees him before he smells him. But it's the stranger's voice that really breaks him out of thought, and Taylor turns his head with a reptilian sluggishness.
You get used to it, he says, before catching himself. I mean, the smell. He hopes he is going to be more careful with his emotions this time. After Merrick, after Ico, he feels as if he's running out of secrets to keep. Planck wouldn't be happy, a small voice mutters in his head. He responds wordlessly, fuck Planck.
Pulling himself up, he looks at the stranger, really looks at him. He towers over him, Taylor notices, without much surprise. He also wonders if there's an overwhelming abundance of teenage boys in this place, because that's all the people he's been meeting. Not that he minds all that much. I'm fine, the bare daylight washes his face out and turns his blue eyes almost white. Just tired. Then, ...What's your name?

           At first, Evie was a bit confused at the stranger's reply, but then he realized he must've heard him gag at the scent. Embarrassment fluffed up his fur and he cleared his throat, trying to save face. "Yeah, I, uh..." don't really want to stick around to find out, was what he wanted to say, but then it occurred to him that this might be this boy's home, and he didn't want to be quite that rude. "I probably should be more careful about where I stick my nose," he finished lamely, ears swiveling around in obvious embarrassment. 

          The first thought that Evie had when the other wolf stood up was wow, he's huge, and the second was he's so bright. The Kastner family had been filled with muted browns and grays, and he wasn't used to all the bright colors he was now surrounded with. It kind of felt like he was looking at the sun. "I'm Evie. Er, Evien Kastner," he corrected, realizing he'd just introduced himself by his nickname. "What about you?" He wanted to urge the boy to rest - he'd been lectured so often on healthy habits growing up that he had a hard time not doing the same to others. 

Looking down, chewing at his lip, Taylor notices that clear expression of embarassment. He dimly hopes that it isn't all his fault. 
Evien Kastner. He records the name in his head, pulls open a drawer full of files. In you go, Evien-or-Evie Kastner. Though addled by sleep as he was, he expects it to go missing by tomorrow. He'd remember the green eyes though. 
Taylor loved watching. And listening. And acting like he didn't take up any space, which was usually a fruitless endeavour. I'm Taylor Fields, he recites. But everyone calls me Fields. It really was turning into muscle memory. That made it all the more easier for him. The thing about having a brother that was on the hunt for you was that you got good at faking IDs and never having a home and sleeping in other peoples' cars.
I live with some friends just south, he gestures with his chin, knowing that this wasn't a lie, for once. He dimly hopes that he can keep it together. I'd rather put my foot through a beehive than live here. There we go, there's some humor! There's the Wolfram charisma! Taylor flattens his ears again, though he knows that there's no point in trying to mute that dialogue.

           The embarrassment was absolutely not the other boy's fault, but rather Evie having grown up just around family and having little- to-no experience with wolves his own age. And certainly not super-bright-and-tall-and-pretty boys that were lit up by sunshine in a field full of flowers. Evien pushed the thought away, giving himself a moment to recuperate from the initial... overwhelmingness of the situation. This was just a conversation with a person. There wasn't any reason to be so flustered.

           Taylor Fields. But he went by his last name. Evie wondered, vaguely, if he should start going by Kastner before scrapping the idea on account of how stupid it would sound. Maybe if he had a cool last name like Fields, he would want to go by that instead. 

           "It's nice to meet you, Fields," Evien responded politely, as he'd been taught, and offered a small smile up at the taller boy. His ears perked up a bit at the joke - he hadn't been expecting that, and a soft snort of laughter escaped him at the imagery. But if he was being honest with himself, he'd rather be stung by bees than live in a place that smelled like fox shit as well. "Good, because I was about to say, there's no way I'd even spend the night in this fucking place." He let his tail sway a bit behind him as the tension eased out of his body. "How come you were hanging out here anyway?"

It's nice to meet you, Fields. Small talk! He could never decide if he loved it or hated it. But Evien seemed to be relaxing after the turbulent takeoff— something that Taylor was grateful for. He'd spent too much of his life with people acting like they constantly had crosshairs pointed at their heads. (The main culprit, of course, was himself.)
In spite of himself, he's laughing. Again, there was nothing Taylor was more comfortable doing than listening, and Evie seemed to be comfortable doing the talking.
Then a question is posed, and the gears in his brain start with a petulant whirr. Wanted to take a nap. I mean, I haven't been able to sleep recently. The whirring in his head grows louder. Hoped that maybe the smell would knock me out. See, he's half-joking. 

           Ah, back on the subject of sleep. Evie had been itching to get this boy to take a nap from the moment he'd walked up. And now, here he was, blatantly admitting he hadn't been able to sleep recently, and if that wasn't a cry for help, Evie didn't know what was. He barely had time to feel proud of himself for making the other boy laugh before he allowed himself to try and help the poor boy find a place to rest. 

           "Yeah, that won't work," he said with a decisive shake of his head. "Nobody would be able to fall asleep in a fox's shithole. Come on," the mottled brown wolf offered, gesturing for the other boy to follow him. There was an end to the forest a bit southwest of there where the air would hopefully be easier to breathe. "Let's find someplace clean for you to take a nap." He turned then to head off in the direction of the meadow, casting a glance over his shoulder to check if the other boy was following.

Evien's sudden insistence on finding him some proper rest both amuses and slightly irritates Taylor. Distantly, he can hear his brother's voice, berating him. There's nothing he wants more to do than tear himself out of this body. This head. 
He wonders if he slams his skull hard enough on a surface, if the brain will spill out of his ears. He wonders if he holds his breath for long enough, if it'll hurt to breathe water.
There's no time to dwell on these things. Wordlessly, Taylor bites down on the inside of his cheek and walks beside Evien with languid strides of his disproportionate teenage legs, away from the fox shithole and towards breathable air.