Redhawk Caldera In the blossoming green

When you have time :3

The silence could exist between them no longer, and as gentle as he was, Bronco could not help but feel that if he let any more time pass, then @Sorana's skewed views of him would persist. It would put a burden on Teya which he did not wish for her to bear. In his heart he knew it was time to reconcile with the young sora, and his beloved had beseeched him to do so as well. Willing in every way to bring peace to her, he began tracking the youth, finding her most recent scent trail and pursuing it with a hunter's tread. 

Coincidence had not brought them together, and save for the race which had been for all the former Nestlings of the pack, Sorana had not crossed his path. He thought of the day he'd played with her at the lake- but it seemed so long ago, from a different time. Reyes had been there, and her life had been, at that time, complete. Everything else that had transpired since overshadowed the reputation he'd tried to make. 

He wasn't sure what he'd say, once he found her. He wouldn't chase her, if she ran, but he moved briskly enough that eventually, his perseverance should allow him to find her.

While Bronco hunted for Sora, Sora hunted a rabbit.

Its tracks were plain to see in the open snow of clearings or near rivers, but tracking it through the brush was harder. She had to rely on scent rather than sight, something she hadn't had a lot of practice with. Mostly, Sora fished in the rivers, and there it all just smelled like water.

She paused to sniff at a collection of fairly fresh rabbit droppings, still unaware of the unwelcome presence tailing after her.

Sora's tracks led into the more brushy wilderness in the pack's claim, so he followed though he realized he'd lose any advantage of tracking her quietly with all the dried bushes in the area. He side-stepped them when he could, but the prickly goldenrod branches snagged in his pelt and snapped, making it almost impossible for him to get very far without blowing whatever cover he could have had. He wasn't really trying to sneak up on her, anyway- he simply worried that as soon as she realized she was being followed, she might bolt off and avoid him yet again. 

In the distance, he caught sight of her, her auburn highlights giving her away amid the tangle of bushes. Hoping to casually catch her attention and pin her more out of social obligation, he let out an amicable buff to catch her attention, hoping she might wait up and let him actually catch up to her for once.

Something was following her. Sorana became aware of it in a wave of crackles and pops sounding from behind her. She snapped her ears back to listen and froze in place, quivering lightly from the anticipation of the unknown. Her breath caught and held in her chest. One beat. Two.

She wanted to ignore it and continue tracking her prey. It was likely just another Brecheliant wolf passing by. She wanted to ignore it, but the instinct to make sure it wasn't a larger predator was too great. She spun around and deflated immediately. Oh.

Bronco was just about the last person she wanted to miss out on a rabbit for. She had the uncharitable thought that a bear or cougar would have been a more welcome sight. What? she asked in the clipped, impatient tone characteristic of adolescence.

Woah. Kids could be so severe. Had he been like this? Probably. Bronco was visibly startled by her response and was rebuffed for a moment by the tone of her voice. He was the last wolf she probably wanted to see, and she'd probably also be the hardest kid to crack. The others he could charm with games of bobstones, fart jokes, pranks and hunts for fictional animals. But Sorana? She wanted none of it from him. 

Naturally, his instinct told him at least to try and be himself with her, and let her see that he was just who he was- a harmless caregiver who wanted nothing more than to be accepted. He wanted to have a deep, serious talk with her- but ended up defaulting to bad dad jokes. So he snorted and rolled his own eyes. "Chicken butt," He intoned in a high voice, intended to be just a bit annoying. He cracked a smile. 

He moved forward, not willing to let her discourage his company with the severity of her gaze, and that was when he noticed the rabbit droppings. "Hmm. You huntin' rabbits?" He asked, his voice now back to its usual tenor. He didn't wait for an answer, and motioned with a tilt of his chin. "Well pitter patter, let's get at 'er," He said.

She couldn't deny a brief flutter of humour in her eyes, but all it took was remembering that he was replacing her dad to keep Sorana's face mostly deadpan as Bronco stepped past her. She hoped he would just keep on walking and get out of her hair, but no such luck; he indicated the trail she was following and told her to get at it.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, the young wolf stalked past him at a haughty clip, thoroughly annoyed with his interference. The whole thing was irrational, but she could neither recognize nor acknowledge that. Still, Sora wasn't willing to let Bronco ruin her whole life, and she could follow Bridget's advice enough to recognize that running away in the moment and abandoning a hunt she had spent so much time on already would harm her much more than it would him.

She came to a crossroads in the trail and took a moment to sniff around, then started down the rougher path without looking back to check that Bronco was still following. If he wanted to insert himself into her day so obnoxiously, then he could keep pace with her or fall behind.

He thought he caught a glimpse of amusement, though it showed only for a moment before her eyes roved away from him in thinly veiled annoyance. He’d take what he could get, though, and was encouraged by even the fleeting show of humour. 

He knew she could be fun- he saw the way she was with Maia and Eljay’s kids, and he was glad that even if she wouldn’t show that side of herself to him, she had those she could be herself with. It meant he had a chance. 

She moved off without extending much acknowledgement and he failed after her, lunging forward to catch up so he wouldn’t just be left behind. She moved down a slope where the footing was loose, and the path crooked- but Bronco had spent his youth scaling Moonspear. This merely put his skills to use. 

She wouldn’t want smalltalk, he figured- not while they were hunting. But perhaps he could give her competitive spirit a try- he picked up his pace, and dodged off the trail momentarily- so he could blind out of the bushes ahead of her a moment later, still following the trail without a look back- the same way she’d dealt with him earlier.

I'm gonna wrap this one since it's gotten pretty outdated (my fault) and so much has happened since. <3 Sorry she's such a jerk to him.

Even without the heavy layer of teenage angst and obligatory hating on the new guy, Sorana could be mercurial. After all, her father was Reyes, and that temper hadn’t passed her by completely. If anything, his absence from her life and the self-loathing she felt was a result of it had only made it stronger. One wrong move could set her off, and in Bronco’s case, the game was rigged.

When he moved off the trail, she let out a sigh of relief. Maybe her silent treatment was working and he would go away. Turns out she was wrong, for he popped back out of the trees ahead of her moments later. Just like that, he was taking over her hunt.

Just as she feared, he considered her inferior to him and was treating her like it, too.

With an audible snarl, Sorana tore off the path and straight through a patch of brambles. She was no longer interested in hunting, not if this guy was going to insist on tagging along while being a complete jerkwad about it. Any efforts Bronco made to follow her now would be met with snarling and clashing teeth until he got the hint.