Overture Downs It's Foregone

For @Mordecai! Set where Jade Fern Grove meets Overature Downs.

It was without thought that Reek strayed from the borders of Phoenix Maplewood.  He simply followed his feet southward without rhyme or reason.  He needed to get away from the Maplewood— if only for a little while, or else he would drive himself absolutely bonkers with these unceasing patrols. The horrible thoughts that plagued him did not follow him past the borders, and perhaps a brief change of scenery would be enough to screw his head back on straight.

He passed though the grove that onced housed the Maplewood's closest allies; their presence now but a ghost in the form of stale scent markers. The winter was cruel to all it seemed, but the Maplewood still remained, unlike their southern neighbors.

Continuing forward, Reek passed the spectre that once was Jade Fern Grove's borders and was met with a large and sprawiling snow-swept valley, cut by numerous half-frozen streams, slowly flowing down to the hollow that sat directly to the south. Feeling tired from his long walk, Reek settled to his haunches near the bank of a slow moving stream and took a long, cold drink.

*throws this up before going to work!!* @__@

Snowfall had coated the terrain overnight, leaving the trail left in the wake of a herd of deer for him to follow. While he had been undecided about leaving the territory, the temptation was too great to resist. He longed to hunt as he had before, though all attempts he had made were shaky at best. But the adjustment to only having an eye was coming gradually and tracking was at least one thing he could do well.

As he wound his way through the quiet valley, the tracks became more and more obscured. While there was sparse forestry across the plain, the snow had long drifted over the paths they had taken. Ahead of him, the sun revealed not much at all but proved to be a nusiance as he crested a small hill — it stung his eye and forced him into a perpetual squint as he pressed ahead.

Though a test of the wind did not tell him much of where the herd had gone, he was drawn towards the grove all the same. It had gone long quiet in the start of winter, much like the rocky valley to the Hollow's south had. For all accounts, Mordecai assumed the packs had moved on and shortly switched gears, curious of whether or not such was true.

And as for the wolf along the bank of a winding stream that lied between him and his goal, he did not spot him just yet.

Withdrawing his mouth from the stream, Reek's muzzle dripped with water in the frigid air. The cold, it threatened to freeze his mouth shut on the spot— or at least, that's how it felt in the moment. The biting chill of winter worked it's way into his very bones. He whined and buried his face in his forepaws in a fruitless attempt to bring warmth back to cheeks, but as long as his face remained damp, the cold was there to stay.

He snorted with displeasure and pulled his head away from the sanctum of his forepaws after an uneventful moment. His vison, blury from previously shutting his eyes, eventually focused out in the distance, where he noticed a wolf who appeared to be tracking a trail.

Reek did not speak or shout. He only watched with curious intent.

He spotted movement, though at a distance it appeared nothing more as a blurry dark lump raising from the watery edge.  It was enough to draw his attention fully and bring it into focus, revealing that the blurry lump he had seen was actually something.  Distinctly canine, though a curious sort.  For a moment, Mordecai was inclined to think it was the weird little wolf that had come across their borders in the late autumn, but this one didn't seem to project the deformities that he had seen in the other.

Not inclined to change his course, he continued to come forward to him and streamlined his decision as though his interest lied in the winding stream.  It was a half-truth — he was curious whether or not the deer had crossed, but was also inquisitive enough to investigate the other.  Be it a throwback habit to what he had habitualized as work in the Hollow or simply out of his friendly demeanor, their paths crossing was inevitable.

But as he did near the other, his steps slowed.  With his one eye resting on the other curiously, Mordecai offered him a light chuff in way of greeting.  He hung back purposefully, unaware of how leery he was as he approached the waters from further down.  Perhaps this would be an interruption to his tracking... or perhaps the other had come across the herd he had hoped to seek.

With the distance between them, Reek coulden't tell if the other wolf's attention had been piqued by his presence.  However, it seemed his path would lead the stranger on a collision course with Reek's resting place. He watched with curiosity as the stranger approached, but his expression was devoid of the usual markers of excitment. His expression remained flat and stone-faced.

As he drew near, the stranger's intent became more evident.  Now noticing that he had been following a trail, Reek felt the familiar pangs of hunger ripple through his stomach as if they had been spurred by simply the reminder of food. Eating had been simply an afterthought for the past few days.

Reacting to the stranger's chuff, Reek slowly rose to his feet.  He kept his posture neutral and humble.  "Need an extra set of paws?" he asked, motioning to the trail the stranger followed. A hunt was a dangerous thing to do alone, but for a duo, it wasn't so bad. Plus, the idea of food entertained Reek greatly.

Their expressions mirrored one another, though that may have been atypical of all wolves. They were not widely expressive creatures to begin with, at least not in the physical, visible sense. His one eye lingered on the other for a good clip, though it was also swift to deviate to watch his footing along the icy stream. The last thing Mordecai wanted to do was prove himself foolish, though truthfully it had little to do with being foolish and more with not wanting to end up in the cold waters face first.

As neutrally set about them, he eased towards a more lax state with his tail left to swing unevenly at his hocks, an ear turned to catch the offer that seemingly followed their crossing paths. Mordecai's head lifted thoughtfully, though it came as a ploy to draw in the heady scent of others plucked from the coat of the other. Not an easy feat to do with the water to dampen their senses, but one far easier to do than venturing a guess. He belonged somewhere, or at least somewhere belonged to him. Mordecai likened their posturing to the latter and in a short span had a thoughtful reply to go with it.

"If you don't mind that I'm only tracking, then I don't mind the extra set of paws." It seemed a cheeky response, but that came naturally to him, as did the faint twist of his darkened lips into a brief smile. He had no intentions of hunting, at least not in that present moment. "I'm Mordecai, of the Hollow." And at the very least, if he were to gain a partner for the duration of some venture, introductions were to be had.

Reek couldn't help but feel the slight pang of dissapointment to hear that the hunt would not be completed until fruition. His eyes drooped slightly and a quiet sigh passed his lips. Of course, he could still follow. Anything was better than sitting idle, especially now with this numbness that afflicted him. If tracking could occupy his mind, if even for a momet, Reek would take the deal without second thought.

Nevertheless, Reek did nothing, expression wise, to expose this internal exchange. "Sure, whatever. It's not like I have anything else to do," he said dully in a tone of boredom instead of sadness. Reek rose to his feet and shook the loose snow from his pelt, before motioning for Mordecai to lead on.

"I'm Reek," he finally introduced after finding his feet. "From the Phoenix Maplewood." The Hollow sounded vaguely familiar, but no alarm-bells in Reek's head were tripped after hearing it's name. He would more than likely pry for more information later, but for now, Reek was content to get down to business and follow the trail in the snow.

sorry for the delay! <3

For a moment, maybe it was just his appearance or his voice, Mordecai thought him a funny little creature.  But the feeling passed swiftly as he ventured on, at least bringing them even with one another as Reek introduced himself.  Likewise, the mention of another woodland pack did not really ring any alarm bells for him, though Mordecai was curious as to where it was.  Couldn't have been too far, he surmised immediately, or otherwise the chances of them encountering one another in the wide swath of the valley would have been much slimmer indeed.

He set off at an easy pace, not at all inclined to pick up just because he had found himself some company.  Half of the battle in tracking was, well, keeping track of what they were after, and his limited field of view gave him reason to keep things nice and easy.  But it didn't spare him from sparking conversation, either: "Any idea what happened to the pack that was here?"  He scarcely recalled it, though it had been safe to say that the wolves that had been there had founded not much before they had solidified their own claim in the Hollow.

No worries!

Together, they followed the trail north into the Jade Fern Grove. Tracking proved to be a sufficient distraction from Reek's emotional ills, and he swept them away as his attention was occupied with the trail of hoof-prints in the snow before him. His sadness no longer troubled him; his demeanor had become one of business.  

Initially, they traveled in silence, which wasnt much of a problem as Reek didn't particularly feel like speaking. Somehere in the mess, he had lost his talkative nature that curiously complemented his old optimistic outlook.  But, as they walked, Moredecai posed a question that Reek had previously given much thought when he initially passed through the grove. What happened? "I have no idea," he responded.  It was a question that Reek had no easy answer to, but he could assume multiple outcomes. Disease, disaster, divorce... any of these things could have pushed the Grove too far.

"Whatever it was, I hope it doesn't affect either of our packs.  Did you know them?" he asked, recalling his own pack's close relationship with the grove. Apparently, it hadn't been close enough since they left without a word.

The trailing edge of Reek's statement gave him reason to scoff humorlessly — if only he knew. Then again, the thought did cross his mind then and there to share such information. A cougar on the prowl was certainly reason enough to give warning to others, that much was for certain. But the fact that he didn't know what had happened to the wolves of the Grove also troubled him a bit, though the same could have been said of the Hollow's original neighbors to their southwest. It would have seemed that in light of the two packs that had come into fruition in the valley, two more had disappeared into nothing.

"I didn't know them well," he said with a shake of his head. "I met their leader, mm, Scimitar? I think that was his name. It was a while ago, before winter." With such a limited grasp of how much time had truly passed, Mordecai wasn't ever really sure how much time had passed. He didn't count days or hours like some did, but seasons were good enough.

"Of course, I wonder if it were bears or a cougar that made them close up shop. We've had our issues with either since the summer." A frown creased his face briefly, but it was fleeting. They had their troubles, sure, but they had hung in there in spite of everything.

He recognized the name— Scimitar. "Mhm. That's him," Reek confirmed. While he had never particularly been close to the patriarch of Jade Fern Grove, he regarded him more on the level of an acquaintance. His wife, Bazi on the other hand, the line blurred more into friendly territory. "They were our allies for a time. We had a spat with a pack to the south and made an arrangment with them to protect the north in a joint coalition. Thankfully, it never came to pass." What a disaster it could have been; destructive on both packs.

"It's unfortunate they're not around anymore— They were a good buffer." They may have been competition for prey, but the security they brought to their southern border was well worth the loss. "Guess we'll never really know what happened."

However, they could theorize all day and there was nothing else to do to break the monotony of tracking. The meantion of a cougar automatically made the hair on Reek's back stand on end. So, it hadn't been an isolated incident in their neck of the woods. It was a full blown problem. "We've had problems with a cougar too. It might be the same culprit. We lost one of our own recently." Reek was unable to disguise the sorrow and guilt in his voice. The cougar hadn't just taken Scarlett's life, but it had taken Reek's pride as a healer as well.

He could not help but pick up on that thread of tension that rose with the mention of the cougar. Mordecai came to a natural pause, though it was hardly on account of the trail he followed across the snow pack. Instead his solitary gaze swung around to the lanky form of Reek, and his ears fell back apologetically at the mention of their loss.

"I am sorry to hear that," he murmured, "we have been more fortunate, but not without cost." Their herb stores that Harlyn had built so late in the season were one, but the scars he and Luke bore were another. Still, it was prompt enough for him to divulge what else he knew about it, wondering if they had dealt with the same feline so recently in their past.

"It attacked one of our own to the north of our territory, and I had my own run in with it along our borders one day a few weeks ago." What he left out was the sensation that perhaps they were being stalked in their own right, but it almost felt a foolish notion. But he was uncertain whether to chalk it up to his own fear, or consider it a viable reason.

Whoops, I really let this thread get away from me. Wanna fade soon since it's getting pretty outdated?

It had been an unfotunate and sad turn in their conversation, but an accurate parallel to Reek's own somber internal state. Both packs had felt loss in their own way, and though the cougar had not claimed to life of one of Mordecai's own, Reek did not undervalue the pain he must have felt— or the failure he must have felt as a leader. Reek could sympathize; he felt it too.  Time and time again he proved to himself that he could not keep his wolves safe.

He wished to dwell on it no longer. Resonding with only a sympathetic nod of the head, they continued along the trail before them in silence.