Flycatcher Downs And you told me we'd never survive

@Evergreen

The breeze nipped at his nose and stung his eyes. The soft pain it brought was a firm reminder that he was indeed still alive despite his bedraggled appearance and lack of energy. A shame really. His hand was forced to be played. Find somehow to make it through the chill of winter. Could he go back to Undersea? Make a plea for Seelie's forgiveness once again? His jaw clenched just at the thought. She was a good woman who didn't deserve his constant flakiness and surely there were others who would fill whatever work he had done there. Fishing. Right. A not so vital job, surely.

It was time to regroup himself it seemed. If he, in his pathetic state, was capable of putting enough energy into such an act.

The least he could do was find somewhere to lay low and out of the cold. Ideally not in the middle of an open expanse. It was a simple task to begin his whole...rebirth or whatever one might call it. It was something he could do. So he began to head North, unsure of what he might find in the unfamiliar terrain.

Thanks for starting! ❤

Evergreen has this need to stretch his legs. Restless, in a way he's never been before. Maybe it's because his body got so used to constant travel. Daily, he and his sister adventured for months until they finally settled in Easthollow. Regardless of the reason, he heads southbound. Duck Lake has become a local haunt of his, but fishing doesn't appeal to him today like it normally does. South is uncharted territory... that seems interesting.

Curiosity piqued, the bearish wolf does not expect the change of scenery. Certainly, the Valley is made up mostly of open terrain, but he had partly hoped to find another forest. Here, however, there is an endless landscape dusted in snow as far as his eyes could see. His ears swerve alert, head swaying one direction then another, as if he is trying to commit the territory to memory. It all... honestly looks the same; except there is a moving figure in the distance. He focuses on that.

At first, he thinks it's a coyote. Evergreen squints, and starts approaching.

Had he not turned his head to second guess his decision on Northward, he likely would have missed the large figure heading towards him. His hackles prickled as he halted his movement. Even from a distance, Rokig was aware he had nothing on the hulking figure in the distance. He was no in condition to take or give a hit like he might have once been able to.

Should he take up an offensive or defensive stance? Perhaps he ought to just run from the scene? He was running out of time as he mulled over his options. There was a very good chance he would have no time left if he kept hesitating.

His jaws parted and out came a pitiful bark. Sharp but lacking any real strength behind it.

Purposeful strides charged him forward akin to a man on a mission. His determination perhaps unnecessary for the situation, but nonetheless present. Ears cupped forward, Evergreen's massive paws spread with each step to keep him relatively balanced in the slick terrain. The figure must have spotted him, just as the bearish wolf saw it, for the canine halted in its northbound approach. Evergreen lowered his head, aligning it with the tops of his shoulderblades.

Much to his surprise, the closer he got to the short canine, the less he was positive of their identity. The assumption that it was a coyote began to fade with each step. Abruptly, the stranger made an unexpected bark. Evergreen hesitated his next stride, freezing in place for a long moment before he set his forepaw back to the ground. His head lifted momentarily in his startled state, but he positioned it back into that of neutral content. Whatever intensity he may have had waned.

Oh! The bearish wolf exclaimed quickly. Uh, I... sorry? I thought you were... someone—or rather, something—else. He stood awkwardly, averting his gaze away from his company yet keeping him in the corner of his vision. Are you, uh... okay?

He was pleased with himself for making the stranger stop their movement. Someone with a functioning mind might have thought "now is the perfect time to go" but he was clearly not that someone. Pleasure quickly escaped into something sourer. The corners of his brows knitted together firmly. Rokig could not say he enjoyed the words that came out of the stranger. The question stung a little too for some reason he couldn't pinpoint. Maybe wounded pride or a sense of loneliness that swallowed him whole. He was not okay. Yet why would he admit to such a thing?

I'm fine. He grumbled half-heartedly. A lie without any cover to it but anyone would likely be a fool to press his answer. Especially when he was feeling so...very much not his former self. Who are you? Not that it mattered really but Rokig found it in his best interest to harbor knowledge off of the stranger before he moved on.

He needed to learn how to be selfish with strangers.

The stranger seemed suspicious of Evergreen, and the Easthollow newcomer couldn't blame him. He would probably have ran himself if some dude was trotting his way like that. This one, however, stood his ground. Maybe stupid, but the brown wolf thought he had guts. Not that... Evergreen was much a threat to begin with. His eyebrows furrow, mirroring the soured look of his compact company; green eyes glistened with concern over irritation.

OK, Evergreen wasn't quite sure if he believed that the dude was "fine", but it really wasn't his business either. If the stranger said he was fine, they'll just... go with that. Cool. The bearish wolf exhaled a breath of relief, melting away his own tension. A smile curved across his inked lips and he gave a tail wag or two.

"Who are you?"

An eyebrow arched up. Evergreen, of Easthollow. You?

"Cool."

A snort escaped him. Dissatisfied but humored nonetheless. Rokig wouldn't exactly call this cool but he wasn't going to fault the guy for that particular thing. It wasn't like he had been willing to paint the stranger a picture so they could see it was less than cool. Astronomically less than cool.

Rokig. He replied back, not as bitter as before but by no means friendly. Easthollow? The former Seawolf asked with an arched brow. If it was supposed to mean something, it didn't. Not to him at least. He hadn't been this way before and he had never really stretched his legs much outside of the coast.

Rokig, of nowhere, Evergreen assumed by the lack of a pack's scent. There were more lone wolves in the area than he imagined, especially for the winter months. Finding a pack had been his and Thistle's first course of action once they got here, even if it was temporary. Easthollow... just happened to be the one that fit for now.

Yeah, Evergreen paused to gesture with his head over his shoulder, back the way he came. A pack north of here, a bit beyond those mountains. 'Better to go east than west,' the bearish wolf thought. He hasn't been in the strangely shaped valley himself for long, only to pass through. Perhaps an adventure for another day. Green eyes turned back to Rokig.

Where are you headed? If he was looking for a pack or somewhere specific, maybe Evergreen could point him in the right direction.

It became clear where he would avoid now. Especially if they were all as bold as this one, or even as large as Evergreen. His silver gaze followed as the male gestured to wherever Easthollow laid. When a rather typical question was flipped onto Rokig he simply offered a rough shrug of his shoulders. Shelter. It was a vague answer but the truth. Rokig could not say just where exactly he was headed to if even he did not know.

Are there some sort of caves or even a forest nearby? His brow quirked. This place seemed like a wasteland that lacked what he wanted. Perhaps this stranger knew something about any kind of purpose fulfilling locations near their position. The task would just be to get him to share where they were.

‘Ah.’ Shelter; obvious for a lone wolf, but unexpected all the same. Whenever Evergreen thought of shelter, he pictured a packland instead of the forest or cave that Rokig clarified for. One ear perked towards the male while the other laid neutrally as he thought.

“To the northwest is a forest. There are a few caves in the mountains in the west, too.” Sunbeam Lair had been one that the brown wolf visited; he remembered it fondly, and Evergreen sought to visit again once spring rolled in. With each mention, the boy glanced in the direction. “Oh, there is also a pack in the mountains named Diaspora.”

The short male nodded his head softly as the other spoke. Soaking in the information that had flowed so freely from his mouth. It seemed he would be in luck today.

In fact, he had been close to actually thanking the male but that last sentence seemed to draw Rokig's features downward. His brows furrowed once more and even the ebony lining of his lip seemed to curve towards the earth. How many packs are there nearby to here? Because it was starting to feel like things were closing in from every side. That he would never find just what he needed for a night or two. Did the packs not feel cramped themselves? Was he simply reverting back to old paranoid ways? If he had hands they would have no doubt been fidgetting with anything nearby.

He was beginning to feel very unsure of every decision he had made that had led up to this moment.

There were opportunities around every corner. Honestly, had Thistle not been here to help with the decision making, Evergreen himself would probably be a lone wolf. Joining Easthollow was good, yet he wondered about the close proximity of the other packs, too. He worried that the competition during the winter months would be fierce. Fortunately, he’s yet to hear anything negative.

“Uh,” Evergreen started to question whether he was talking too much, but the information he shared was vague enough he’s confident it won’t do harm. “Three that I know of; Easthollow, Diaspora, and Lost Creek Hollow.” If there were more, they were likely to the south or north for Evergreen traveled the majority of Rising Sun Valley thus far.

Rokig, however, appeared unnerved. “Do you, uhh…” How do you word this without prying too much? He was curious, but wanted to come across casual. “Do you wanna avoid packs?”

rokig is a bit awful right now but i love evergreen and hope to write with you again. ♥

Three.

A number too big for his liking. Two was pushing it but three had broken his comfortable limit. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking all of this over. He could turn around now. Head back south into some sort of abyss or a less crowded wasteland. It wouldn't be hard really. Granted it would defeat the point of him even having had this conversation with Evergreen in the first place.

His head was screwed on wrong these days and it was all too easy to get mixed up in his own mind.

I, uh, What had been the question again? I should go. His words attempted to come out firm but were a bit too soft around the edge. Unless he was stopped, he would turn around and head off in a rather ununiformed path.

Aw, thank you ❤ I enjoyed this thread & adore Rokig! I'll keep an eye on him :eyes: Definitely down for thread(s) anytime, so feel free to tag me if you'd like. (& Scree thanks so much for the kudos too ;; You're too kind!)

He hit a landmine. Ears fold backwards, Evergreen knew he had his puppy eyes on. It was… probably the packs. He doesn’t know what else would cause such an abrupt end. Yet, he felt the desire to comfort Rokig in some way. He wouldn’t stop him (he reminded himself that it really wasn’t his business, and he can’t force someone to stick around).

“Try north!” He called after Rokig’s fading form, going the opposite direction that he suggested, but perhaps it’ll be enough to give him an idea. Later on, he hoped the information would at least give him some peace of mind; Rokig won’t be running in without knowing. “Good luck!”

He stayed for a moment, watching the canine leave, before he released a sigh and started back home. So much for stretching his legs.