Grouse Thicket I’m a chimpanzee

He hadn't been this far from the territory he was born ever. Never this far west. The forest he walked through felt sort of familiar -- mostly in that it was a forest and thus was sheltered from the elements -- but the trees were mostly alien to him. And weird birds too, judging by the tracks and feathers he'd found as he wandered. It did seem to be pretty abandoned though.

He didn't know how much farther he'd go. He wanted to save Simmik, but knew he on his own would be unable. He would have loved to kill Donovan, but that was a fight that would likely go the other way. At least by taking such a long trip his pack scent had probably faded enough to not be a sore thumb. Sure, there was also the issue that he was the alpha so it wasn't like he was totally incognito or anything, but if anything bad happened, he hoped it would be enough to give him enough wiggle room to get out uninjured. It wasn't like he trusted anyone here.

An hour ago he'd howled for Asmoses, just in case. Besides, if Simmik heard him, she'd know that he was near. No answer. By now, searching for the boy seemed futile, but he would always ask and always try to find him if he could. He just wanted his family back. All of them.

hello :>

True to her adventurousness, Nyra was out and about while the rest of the Saints were within the borders.

Probably.
Still, being out this far after a long time of not being in this place in particular, she hardly recognized the area. 
Raising her head, the Harbinger spotted Mal in the greys. A moving form against threw stilled death of the plants in winter. 
She was a decent few leaps in front of him, yet she stayed relatively still, her fiery hues watching the Neverwinter Alpha though she knew not his scent or his rank.

Maybe in some other time this would have been a fun adventure, but right now the world was pretty metaphorically dark. People were missing. There were wolves he didn't trust somewhere out there not too far away... And then there was the storm. But he was tired of just lurking around his home waiting for someone else to do something. Maybe this outing was foolish. Whatever. It felt better than walking.

But the knowledge that this was potentially dangerous did keep him watchful. Mal wasn't a fighter, he'd rather run. And if Donovan mostly collected burly sorts, well, Mal would probably outpace them anyway. So he watched as he wandered. The pale shadow was still when his eyes glanced past her, but the realization that even now no snow-bound tree would look like that nor would a drift be that tall yet, he looked back and saw her staring at him. Blink. For half a second he might have thought it was some kind of ghost of Simmik (not that it made sense, she was likely held prisoner, not dead), but the wolf wasn't her quite obviously once he got more than a half-hearted glance. But she was watching him and hadn't said anything. So he asked, Who're you? And why hadn't she said anything?

As they watched each other, eventually he spoke. 
Not having any reason to give an alias that she knew of, the Harbinger spoke back. 
"Nyra. And you?" 
Her voice was one filled with authority, yet somehow at the moment it remained relatively soft in volume.

Sliding in, taking up the sceond slot :) nice to meet your toon

The black female found herself marking the borders of the pack lands again in her obsessive need to keep the pack terratory well defined, as she traveled though she caught scent of the harbinger and the trail left…. She lifted her head and stared in the direction the scent took looking for signs of recent passage, Nyra had been around most of the exciting things of late so this might bode well.

With only a glance over her shoulder toward her self imposed job, she left following the trail stalking her Harbringer, she chuckled to herself at that thought. It was not long before she came upon Nyra and she was speaking to another pack wolf. The black femme moved up behind Nyra like a shadow, scenting the air as she took her place beside the white she-brute.

Whrist did not offer any words they were unnecessary; as she said in plain as day with her body language that she’d back up Nyra no matter what her actions were. After all what was pack for if not for getting one in and out of trouble. Her ears were perked listening for the other pack wolfs answer.

Wandering this way, Mal had given himself enough time to think. If he met anyone this direction, he wasn't gonna trust them; wasn't worth the risk, and he could always apologize at some later time if he had to. As it were right now, he wasn't close enough to tell the woman's pack from her scent anyway -- and wasn't going to let her close enough to get his own scent unless she really seemed trustworthy. Mal had no problem twisting the truth to keep himself safe. Half his life had been pretending he was happy for the benefit of everyone else. This wasn't a stretch for his abilities -- there was no hesitation, no fear.

His frustration at the world crafted a very different creature than the one he'd be at home -- more reminiscent to him when he was younger, his tone just a little sharp, maybe a little impatient and antsy from the way his weight swayed from foot to foot now that he'd stopped, his brow kind of furrowed, Ciaran. He peered at her a bit more inquisitively, that seemed maybe a little hopeful but not a ton, You got--- he cut off as the black wolf appear and didn't introduce herself -- shook his head, and picked up a thought again. You got a friend too, huh? But I was gonna say -- you got a little sister or maybe a cousin or somethin' around here? I was supposed to meet this chick like a forest ago, kinda looks like you, and she didn't show -- I don't like bein' ditched, y'see. Was thinkin' maybe I went too far, but... Shrug, he let it fall there with the implication of 'maybe not, if she knew the girl he was looking for.' It was mostly just modified truths -- the only 100% lie was his name.

Raising a brow, Nyra glanced briefly to Whrist as this....Ciaran, spoke. Unknowing that this was Mal, of Neverwinter Forest - alpha of a pack she had once been sent to spy on long ago now, back in the late summer, in the never ending rain. 
Perhaps he recognized her name, but perhaps not. Nyra wasn't sure what Hydra had done after she had chased the Harbinger off. 

She looked to Whrist for a moment and then back to Mal Ciaran with a smile.
Upon the question made about siblings, Nyra shook her head "I'm afraid not. Though I get the feeling now that I'm not the only white wolf in these Wilds, yeah?" she laughed easily. 
"Though perhaps you're not completely out of luck." She offered that crumb to him then,  not furthering on it. Not yet, she wanted to see how much information she could coax out of him without her teeth.

Her black ears turned toward the male as words were given life, words that she did not trust. The furrowing of his brow the slight hesitation before a name fell from his lips. Made her lips lift a little in distaste like she was eaten something bitter.

She frowned, her eyes flicked to Nyra the two of them could take this male; if he wanted to spout lies to them he deserved no less. The smile she offered to wrist then to this male, made Whrist think that perhaps she too had caught the lies, however the white brute at her side spoke as if she accepted his words at face value

Hum.. did that one want Arlette or the Medic Dove or Simmik, she for one would be glad to toss the captive out. Perhaps the white and stained Sasha. Whirst realized with sudden distaste she was surround with more white wolves then she cared to admit. Her lips remained lifted in distaste as this thought tasted more horrible to her them some lieing beggar.

She allowed her eyes to stay upon and decided to play the game as it were her voice gracing the air for the first time “Oh you don’t mean….” She trailed off and grinned then sat, purposely relaxing her body and lifting a hind foot to scratch behind her ear casually as if to say you don’t concern me stranger.
 She had no idea what Nyra was playing at but she’d back the White Witch up as any pack member should.

But again, Mal wasn't really lying. It was the truth but with a few changed details -- easy to remember, easy to say, hard to mess up. But maybe she did know someone? Hm. Wasn't sure what to make of that, but he didn't get excited about it, I dunno -- not really any true white white wolves in my pack at least. Some black ones though, some sorta lightish, but no white -- s'why I asked. She got like.. darker eyes than you though, but not too much y'know? He frowned, sort of snarking as an aside, Damn, I wish I'd remembered to get her name. Refocusing then, bit more scheming but apparently would have had fun with what he was planning, But I got this whole thing planned... Said she was a great fighter, so she was gonna show off her skills when we met up -- I'd be all 'yeah, what do I call my warrior queen?' or somethin' like that. Was gonna be great I think, still gotta work out some details... But if you don't know some chick that sounds kinda like that, dunno where to go look. Another frown then, Just don't like bein' ditched, it ain't cool.

But, moving on, he looked over to the black woman then, whose words had been pretty weird as well, So, who're you, since you didn't say? She hadn't introduced herself. She'd been acting odd the whole time. Weird faces and everything. In her own little weird world maybe? Lurking on the edge on the conversation and everything.

"Sadly I don't know anyone like that. Neither of us do." The reaper, once a shieldmaiden, lied easily. Easier than she would've thought she could mere months ago.

As for his question to Whrist...
Nyra had already given her name. She couldn't take that back without sounding off.
But for Whrist, the same couldn't be said just yet. 
Turning to the shadow briefly, Nyra could only hope the shade used an alias. It passed in her eyes in thinnest brief moment.

Though they knew not who Ciaran truly was, the Harbinger began to mentally itch with possibilities.
Had this wolf heard of the Saints?
Would he become aggressive if he knew she and Whrist were members? 
While yes, they could take him if he attacked, Nyra wanted to wait a bit longer if she could before she resorted to violence.

Whrist’s eyes moved to the male, then closed as if she had not a care in the world, and was not threatened by him at all. and she slowed the scratch, then she reached her foot forward and chewed between her toes all to buy herself time to think just a bit longer, she realized she had been making faces in relation to her mixed emotions she was better then that, she was slipping. Whrist yawned showing teeth as a yawn was apt to do, her eyes caught Nyra’s but she made no outward acknowledgement.

She decided on a different tact and made sure to keep her true emotions under wraps “Odd accent you have there,” Whrist offered to the male and smiled sweetly, Her feminine lilt became warm and slightly suggestive
“Is the white female the only one you are interested in? I’d love to be called a Warrior Queen” She stood casually and allowed her tail to sway behind her casually
“That is if you’d like a friendly spar?” Whrist had made sure to sure the word 'friendly' this time, her past experiences finally breaking through her thick skull.

She wanted to gauge this male learn his strength find any weakness and the best way to get to know someone was to fight them in her mind. That’s how it worked with her and the White Witch beside her, though it was a month of pouting that followed in Whrist’s psyche after their first encounter. Despite the fact that Whrist had technically won, she had also been put firmly in her place and she had not liked it.

The black chick still hadn't said her name. She was just being sketchy for the sake of being sketchy as far as he could tell. Didn't exactly inspire him to share more or to say what few lines were fake. If she wasn't gonna be upfront with her details, then right now? No trust. Not earned. And making fun of his accent? A slight huff of irritation that wasn't totally fake -- it was fairly similar to how he talked as a kid, when he'd had zero education, zero refinement and been released into the world without any guidance. If you're gonna go all high-brow on me, that ain't gonna work out. And if you guys live around here, that'd be a little far for fun anyway, y'know? I gotta be getting back before folks miss me too much, this is way farther than I was plannin' to be. He said that with a bit of a cheeky grin that didn't last too horribly long, You're gonna have to find yourself a different prince to give you that title -- this weather ain't the type to make it a good idea now. Even if he wasn't thinking that he needed to get back to Neverwinter sooner than later, he didn't trust her enough to spar. The prince bit was clearly hyperbole.

A little more serious as he continued, Look, if you run into someone that might be her, you let her know I was lookin' for her, yeah? If she wants to make up for ditchin', the pack I'm from's up north, Elysium. Should be pretty easy for her to find it, wasn't far from where I saw her. Again, not a lie, just an odd combination of truths. Where he'd met her was close to Neverwinter, both Neverwinter and Elysium were north, he was originally from Elysium, etc. And no matter what organization of truths, there was one thing clear: it was time to go, and there wasn't anything he was gonna get out of these two.

Damn it, Whrist. Now he's leaving! 
"We'll be sure to do that, if we see her that is, yknow?" Nyra responded with a purposefully ominous chuckle to his last bit. Though, she noticed he seemed ready to give up, to leave, to go back home.
"Come on, Bella." The Harbinger turned beside Whrist, whispering softly to the shadow "It's an alias. Remember to use one if Kynareth sends you on missions. They will come in handy." 
Though the words were meant only for Whrist, a clear note in her golden eyes that said to not do what Nyra did with Ciaran, and give your real identity to someone of unknown origins, or an enemy. 
Nyra herself hadn't truly digested the usefulness of aliases until recently.

Whrist didn’t quite understand what the male was saying and allowed that confusion to show on her face, “If you're gonna go all high-brow on me, that ain't gonna work out. And if you guys live around here, that'd be a little far for fun anyway,” She thought his words over a couple times and still couldn’t make heads or tails of what he mean however when her spoke of a finding different prince that she thought she began to understood. And she frowned when he said he was leaving, she opened her mouth as if to speak when Nyra began to speak. The black femme would have turned to leave with her when Nyra spoke a name.

Her eye twitched as if in anger, if she was supposed to lie then she’d lie mixed with truths, and be dammed if she needed to remember details later, that was future ‘bellas’ problem
Her light blues narrowed her ears cocked toward Nyra to collect the whisper, though as the white witches lips moved to berate her ‘Bella’ grumped out loud and glanced at Ciaran, she covered Nyra’s whisper with her complaining “Great! Thanks! Now he knows my secret. I hate that name I wish I could go back in time and bite the white from my parents muzzles for having given me such a stupid name!” She groused, she turned her eyes downward staring into the snow, she knew she had messed up, she never was any good at social interactions having practically raised herself.

Nyra was kind of odd. He quirked a brow at her laugh. This didn't seem like much of a laughing matter. And then there was Bella's outburst, Mal gave her a very odd look. A very well-deserved one. She was suddenly ranting about names which came right out of left field -- and that Nyra chick was whispering to her as Bella rambled. She had gone out of her way to grow a couple of extra heads, no acting needed there. Well uh. Good day an' uh. Stuff. He took a couple of steps sideways and started to walk away, veeeerry carefully keeping an eye on them both because that black chick was sketch as heck, no matter what pack she was from. He didn't find that out after all. 

Bunch o' weirdos was what, both of them. It was best he get out of here before these two did something extra crazy. In all honesty, he wouldn't be surprised if they were Saints. They seemed like the right batch of loonies just based off what Simmik had said about that one super aggressive chick she'd met in the mountains, and that uh.. What was that guy? The guy that attacked him and Cupid. Whatever his name was again, that guy was built of the same unstable stuff. Whatever. Time to scram. He wasn't risking his own hide, he needed backup.

As Whrist grumbled, loudly, about her name, Nyra was half tempted to give up speaking mid-way through as she bitched about it. 
As Ciaran began to look uncomfortable and started to, obviously, bounce out, the Harbinger laughed sharply at her shadowy companion "You're such an edgelord, Bells. But our guest seems to be leaving! Should we..." A sly, cruel grin, "Escort him a bit?" 
AKA, chase him off, harass with teeth, however she wanted to put it, but the suggestion to the Specialist was blatantly obvious on Nyra's face.

Yes Whrist err Bella was sketchy as all get out, she was a self-absorbed bitch and that was proven with most things that fell from her mouth. She thought she was all that and a bag a chips or rather, All that and a rabbit foot? Seeing as how bags of chips did not find their way into the teekon wilds.

She also had a huge white wolf to back her up and to back up. It was fun to play around with others, though if she had more social skills then a retarded bullfrog, they might have gotten more info from him. Even figured out who he was after.
This didn’t bother her as she caught Nyra’s jist “Well… He doesn’t look like he knows the area well, it would only be right to escort him.” She grinned with more teeth then necessary, her white blue gaze following the male. The black femme burst forward, the moment Nyra would begin to move, she wanted to grab a patch of that silver pelt and find out what he tasted like.

The pair were anything but sneaky, anything but subtle, and Mal wasn't gonna linger after he'd already wished the two weird women a good day as their level of suspicious behavior increased exponentially -- he was already on his way out when he'd said bye. While they stood there and talked about it, he was well out of sight well before Nyra was finished chatting, her voice fading behind him. 

He was agile and used to moving in a dense forest, casually pushing through the underbrush at first, then clear on the other side he moved faster down the game trail to put more distance between them, one ear turned to listen for someone following. Any sound? He'd move faster so there wasn't one, cut to a different trail. No panic, just a desire to not deal with them ever again. They'd be practically chasing a ghost who had zero desire to haunt or be haunted by them. He'd just disappear into the storm and be done with it.

Her eyes had almost never left Ciaran's form as he hurried away. 
Though as Whrist rushed forward, Nyra turned her gaze back only to notice he was without a trace, thus she grumbled loudly "He's already gone. This storm is too thick to give chase, let's just go home." she huffed, lashing her tail with irritation as she turned southward and stalked in the direction of the Strath.

She skidded to a stop with a huff disappointed to not get a snip of gray from him, She peered around but the male was well and truly gone and the snow quickly removing any trace of his passage.

She looked over her shoulder to Nyra “Don’t worry about me, 'Molly', I’ll just scout around,  and see you back home” Whrist grinned and trotted off in a different direction then the male had left in without looking back to her white pelted partner.