Stone Circle don't know what you've got till its gone

He had no heckin' idea where he was, how he'd gotten here, or how he was still alive. Everything looked the same from one point of the wilds to the next — and being a youngster, it wasn't like Ty knew much about navigation or the art of tracking. He was incredibly, stupidly, dangerously lost. All he could do was seek shelter for yet another night beneath the stars; it wasn't as idyllic as it may have sounded to the boy who had spent far too many nights coiled up in a pile, cold, hungry, and alone. He wished he could be back home on the plateau - but even as he thought of home, his little attention-deficit brain flipped like a switch and he was focused on something else.

The scent of wolf was everywhere; it was so strong a mixture that for a moment, Tywyll had the idiotic hope he'd somehow turned around on his quest and wound up back in the boglands by the plateau --- but he knew better, especially as he began to root around in the soil with his head lowered between his gaunt, sharp shoulders. He sought those scents with more energy than he'd shown in weeks. At the very last second, as he turned and tumbled down a small incline along the hillside, he found himself rolling through one of the fresh marks and skidding through some mud, landing chest-first where the earth leveled out.

The young female was starting to feel comfortable about herself ever since she finally got some time alone to herself and recollected her thoughts and emotions. Vespera hadn't interacted with anyone as much, except for Valette and Greyback. Vespera sighed as she continued to slug herself through the trees and through the grass. She admitted to herself that she wanted some action, maybe spar with someone, but her sparring partner had left, and she felt she had no one except to what she saw as her mother figure. Vespera felt as she was sleepwalking as she then spaced out again and was dragging her paws with no sense of direction. But what snapped her out of her trance was the sound of someone rolling down with no control and a final thud on the ground. This got her attention, with ears perked and that last bit of adrenaline to get herself awake, she marched over to the sound with her fluffy tail high and her legs prancing up to her chest. The female stopped at the top of the hill and scanned around the area, though she didn't see anything, oh perfect, I am blind, she snorted to herself. But she then tried looking down the small slope and scanned the area with her violet gaze and her nose, with this, she saw a figure down the small hill as he was covered in mud. Oh, well never mind, she said to herself with a bit of amusement, she then sprang up a little as she directed her body upward to the slope as she dragged her paws on the earth, using it to slow herself down as she slid down the hill to where the figure was. Vespera adjusted herself to face him, she tilted herself and gave an amused smirk, "well it's not every day that I find a random wolf submerged in the mud below a small slope on the East Hollow territory." Normally, she would be hostile, but after the training days with Greyback on her attitude, she found more amusement with this situation more then she thought this wolf was a danger.

He was still awake but didn't look too lively as his body came to rest in the mud. A wet noise accompanied the dull thud of his tail and chin as he slumped against the ground, feeling all kinds of defeated after his blunder and tumble. Ty had always been fond of dirt and mud and the sour sludge of the bog back home; here though, he was just tired of fighting his way across territory after territory. It was worse after a good rainfall (and vaguely he thought, well at least its sunny out today).

Tywyll was laying, pouting more or less, when a dark cloud swept across the big open sky and blocked the light. It was just his luck - he thought of rain and now here it was! With a groan he hoisted himself up a bit. He tucked his elbows close to his ribs and used his forelimbs to prop himself up, shook his head and big ears to try and clear some mud from his fur, and grimly looked to the sky. He didn't see clouds - nor sky, nor rain - but a face.

The girl looked less-than-impressed; she was no storm cloud but it was definitely her figure that blocked the light and made the mud feel particularly cold as it dried against his body. He shivered as she began to speak.

The boy should have been happy to have found another wolf. He squinted at her a bit, then leveraged himself up to his haunches by shoving his paws at the ground and attempted to sit up. What's an Easthollow? He countered, and as soon as he had spoken Tywyll felt a paw slipping - he struggled against the loose wet mud for a bit before catching a break and managed to stay stable at the last moment. Smooooth buddy.

Vespera's smirk faded into an unamused from as she watched the wolf struggle to get up from the mud, her right eyebrow was raised to show how unamused she was with the male in front of her. Alright dude, as much as I love to watch someone struggle in front of me, get it together, she so badly wanted to say that to him but she restrained from doing so to make this encounter go faster. Vespera didn't have much social interaction with others, so as always, her first instinct was to act snarky and sarcastic in front of others, sorry Greyback, but it is all I can do at the moment. The young female, however, did watch him rise up to his full size for a moment, and like her usual self, she took note on his size. The young female only loathed herself for a bit for not growing fast enough, her growth rate was a bit slow comparing it to others, but she now felt that commenting on his size would be a huge waste of time. When the male asked her what was an Easthollow, before he began losing his grip in the mud and slid a little, Vespera countered this by lowering her right eyebrow to level her eyes out and frowning even harder and looking at him with a hard unimpressed gaze, "well if you were paying attention to what I said earlier, which I now assume that you didn't, I said Easthollow territory," she said with a bit of snark in her tone. "You know, where a group of wolves claim the land as their own and run their own society together?" The female said with a bit of monotone, but Vespera felt that she was really pressing this one comment on him, but she did feel a bit shocked and annoyed on how he didn't know what Easthollow was, at this point she felt that everyone knew since they were all flocking here to seek sanctuary here. Vespera doesn't object to anyone seeking shelter here as she did so in the past where she felt like she had nowhere to go and nowhere to run to, I will always be thankful to Valette for that, she silently thanked Valette to herself.

His question had been innocent enough. One could not fault a boy who had become so lost within the world; he knew nothing about it except the perils, and it didn't help that he lacked a sense of focus. The girl did not appear to like his question - Ty picked up on the sharp tone in her voice and his ears pivoted in to a nervous slant on his head. She wasn't very friendly but she gave him a little more information.

Still, he frowned at the way it was presented. This level of derision, arrogance, and attitude was a rude awakening to the world which had otherwise forgotten him. I get it, you don't have to be so mean about it. He sniped back at her. They were getting off on the wrong foot. The boy huffed and leaned to one side, trying to get a look at the world beyond her silhouette, and in the process he pulled himself out of the muck and on to more stable earth. Being dirty didn't bother Tywyll very much; he had always liked messes and as a lone wolf one tended to pay more attention to the more vital aspects of survival anyway - namely food and shelter, rather than vanity. But he sure was a raggedy creature. Long limbs and a runner's tucked belly, sinewy and thin, plus the dried mud - like some kind of bog monster.

Ty didn't notice his appearance. He was studying his surroundings for a moment and then the girl, although his bright eyes were shifty and filled with uncertainty. He didn't know what to do with himself - or with her. Was she a friend? So far he wasn't convinced. Do you... Have any food? His gaze shifted over her face quickly but dropped away, he wasn't sure if he should say anything to her and risk a lashing from her tongue, but couldn't resist clarifying: Something to spare?

Vespera's unamused glance soon turned into a narrowed gaze as she wrinkled her muzzle a bit to show annoyance, but she showed no fangs. Her levels of patients were going to expire soon with the male, and she felt that she was going to go back to the way she was with strangers, but she tried to remember what Greyback had taught her. As much as she wanted to smack him in the muzzle for snipping at her, she restrained from doing so. The young female felt agitated by his comment to her retort about his question, she even almost wanted to laugh. The last time someone commented on her attitude didn't end well, they got off on the wrong foot and became enemies, but thankfully, someone with some sense sorted that out. If you want me to take you seriously, don't act like someone who is going to wine because they can't handle a comment, Vespera felt she was losing the battle of talking back to him since she had so much to say to him. Instead of snapping, she tried to calm her nerves by in hailing slowly, with her snow-white chest rising, then exhaling to which her chest leveled with the rest of her body again. The young female felt her head clear a bit, but she still held on to a little bit of annoyance. 

The dark female fixed her expression to appear less agitated and went back to being unamused. Vespera than gave a bit of a curious glance at the male as she watched him trudge out of the mud, she proceeded to back up a bit to give him more room to situate himself out of the mud. She continued to watch him as she noted that he was scanning the area with an objective, my guess is that he is looking for something if it isn't obvious that he looks kind of lost. Vespera blinked with a bit of a more genuine expression when he asked her if she had food for him, she noticed how he avoided eye contact with her as much as he could, we are still a little salty here, she commented to herself, though she felt hypocritical. The young female took a glance behind her shoulder, "Uhmmm...." She hesitated, though asking for food would have been a quick answer, she was hesitant. Vespera questioned herself if she should give a stranger some food, what would Valette do? She seemed to be asking herself that quite a lot recently since she viewed the Matriarch as a role model, she then though for a moment by looking down on the ground with her ears forward. Vespera sighed and looked back at the male with a bit of a softer expression, "Yes, we do, we have enough to spare," she said, at last, she felt a little tense though when she confirmed that she would help him get something to eat, she didn't know him, what if he would turn traitor on her and attacked her? She started to worry a bit but she didn't show it, she held strong and waited to see what he would do next.

He thought it was more likely that this girl would chase him off or beat him up if he so much as looked at her too long, and knew he was taking a chance with his questions - anticipating some kind of mean or rude refusal, maybe even the flash of teeth. She didn't seem like the best person to be manning anyone's border if she was going to be so snide with the strangers she met; alas, Tywyll knew not to comment on her guard style. He wasn't exactly equipped with those skills himself.

When she spoke it was honestly more shocking to hear her agree, then offer food, versus the alternative. Tywyll sat there gawking at her for a moment before he gathered his wits and said, Oh! If you share -- I'll owe you. I promise, I'll do anything for something to eat. He might've been setting himself up for misery with that statement but it was the truth. Ty knew how precious food was. He hated to be a burden or to be beholden to strangers for their charity.

The young female was completely taken off when he sounded so desperate. He even promised to owe her? Okay... This is new... Vespera blinked in surprise, she never heard this before from anyone, normally she would be the one to owe someone anything. The young female didn't know what to do with herself, she felt awkward, she looked at her paws since she didn't want to catch herself staring at him, man I wish Valette would work her magic and pop in to save me. But Vespera figured she would be in this type of situation at one point in her life, neither Valette or Greyback would swoop in to save her from the awkwardness. The young female knew she couldn't turn her back now, she had just offered to give him some food, she couldn't leave him hanging there as much as she wanted to. Vespera took another deep breath to catch herself before she slid into a shell and blocked socializing with him, she couldn't think of anything else but took look back up at him and give him a toothy awkward smile. She assumed at this point that he would notice that she wasn't good at socializing as much as he thought, "uh yea..." She slowly said, but she regained her thoughts to keep herself going, "I will hold you up on that promise," she slyly said in a joking matter.

The young female thought for a moment, do I tell him to wait here, or do I ask him to hunt with me? Ugh, I hate being put in these situations where I have to decide what to do with someone. The young female swished her tail for a brief moment as she contemplated on what to do next, she gave off an expression that she was in deep thought as she raised her lips and looked up to the sky, "uh.... You wait here, and uh.. I will see what I can do." Vespera looked at him for a moment to see what he would do and fixed her expression that would make her look somewhat normal, the female then turned her body in the direction towards some trees to see if she could find something, hopefully, her nose would lead her to something.

Would be pretty funny if @Valette or @Greyback arrived while Vespy was hunting, hahaha!

As she agreed he felt a sense of hope dawning on him. He wondered about what she might ask him to do, but then she was striding hastily away from him and the thoughts ceased. He became distracted with his surroundings again; the rolling hillside, all the greenery, the big blue sky -- soon enough Tywyll was feeling quite relaxed, and sprawled in the grass while the mud dried and caked to his body.

Valette happened to trot past when she noticed someone ... relaxing on their borders? This was something new for the alpha female. Valette instantly turned her direction towards the male and approaching him with a brisk trot. She was not so keen on strangers being close to their border with newborns in her den. Still, the male seemed respectful of them and not cross them at least. As she got closer she could smell Vespera as well. Huh?

"Explain yourself," she demanded as she was close enough for a normal conversation. The female looked displeased but luckily not outright angry. Perhaps the scent of Vespera helped.

The young female didn't want to leave the male alone for too long in case something could have happened to him, like a bear or even worse, Greyback or Valette finding him before she had a chance to explain. Vespera needed to make this hunt quick, she believed she had the ability to since she caught that rabbit so quickly for Valette before. The dark female stalked around in a not so quiet manner, her paw steps landed with a bit of a louder thud then she intended and she heard some squirrels scurry up the tree truck before she could scent that they were there in the first place. The Easthollow wolf had to find something, maybe a small catch, something that wouldn't require most of her time. She felt as though as she was losing time, she panicked as much as she tried to hold it back, keep cool, nothing will go wrong in the slightest if I don't show him that I am panicking. These thoughts reassured her for the time being, but she knew she had to keep her head in the game for with every step she made away from him, she felt lost in her own worry. Then, she stopped in her tracks, she craned her head up and closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, what am I doing? This is a random stranger, I know nothing of him, Vespera exhaled as she felt relieved thanks to her own thought. However, yet again, she began to think of other possibilities, or I could mess this up and get another stupid pep talk from Greyback! The young female's eyes flashed open as the adrenaline rushed through her veins.

Vespera knew she had to find something fast, she then began to listen to her senses again and thankfully caught a whiff of something. The dark female then slowed down her pace and went into a hunter's crouch and slithered through the trees. The Easthollow wolf caught sight of her prey early on to her relief, a small squirrel, it will have to do, she rolled her eyes to herself. Vespera wasted no time than she already did and began to stalk to the creature, she knew she hunted better alone since big groups gave her anxiety and she was more prone to mess up. She then paused as she watched the small prey clean itself with its paws, and without a seconds thought, she sprang with such speed as she did so with catching Valette's rabbit. With the same tactic, she slammed her paws on its small frame and unlike her unsuccessful attempt at showing off at Brynn when catching a fish, she gave a swift bite to the neck, ending its life. Vespera grasped the creature in her mouth and began sprinting back to where she left the male. Her strides were swift and clean as she bounded through the forest like a deer, and as she began to catch a vision of the clearing, her heart stopped so fast that she almost lost her footing and fell flat on her face. She did manage to slam the breaks on her run and gazed with horror to see that Valette beat her to it, and judging by her body language and tone of voice, she was not happy.

The young female wanted to scream but she felt as though that would be useless since her voice would be muffled by her catch. Vespera then charged head on towards them, she tried to get Valette's attention, but her cries were muffled. The Easthollow wolf swiftly sped by Valette's side and managed to dig her front paws into the dirt, causing her body to turn clockwise towards the two wolves. She stopped herself just beside both the male and Valette, Vespera began to try and reason with Valette, but she forgot she was carrying the squirrel so she yet again was muffled. The young female narrowed her gaze and crossed her eyes to look at what was in her jaws and spat out the squirrel towards the male, she then tried to get the fur off by scrapping her tongue with her teeth before shaking her fur to get the weird feeling out of her mouth. "Hold... Hold on..." she began, though she sounded like she was out of breath, "no need to panic, I... I got this one." Vespera finally was able to catch her breath as her paws started to sprawl out a little, with each heave of her chest, all four of her legs seemed to spread out a little more from beneath her. She managed to crack a somewhat of an assuring glance at Valette, though she had to look up at her since she could only keep her head leveled with her sagging shoulders, "he is no threat, and this is coming from me" that last line had a bit of sarcasm in it "he is really only looking for food." She felt a little sting as she said that since she didn't know how that last line would sit with Valette, Vespera could only gulp to hear what Valette had to say next.

He felt a flood of relief when the wolf took off, likely to find him something to eat as he'd begged, but it didn't last. As Ty sprawled in the grass and finally let himself bask in the sun for a few moments, a shape appeared. At first he thought it was the surly girl from before, having visited a cache and returned to give him something half-rotten as penance for his attitude. When he got a good look at the stranger he realized it was an older wolf, a little smaller, and she looked offended by his presence.

The command to explain himself was met with Tywyll's sudden upward shift; he sat up hastily, shoving the dirt and grass away from him and struggling for a moment with his awkwardness and the mud at his paws, opening his mouth to explain -- and that was when the first girl really returned, explaining some things before the older woman could rip him a new hole.

Y-yeah! I'm -- She was just sharing, The mud that coated his body had cooled somewhat and made him shiver, while the sun beat down across his clean topline and felt too-hot all of a sudden. I promised to payback what I eat! But a part of him wanted to take the meal and run before; now Ty knew he was stuck for the long-haul.

Valette was close to demanding an answer when Vespera came charging at them. She had food between her jaws and seemed rather panicked. Valette stayed calm but still didn't look pleased with the sight. Her eyes traveled between the two. "To me, it sounds more like you are panicking," the Matriarch returned to Vespera with a cool collected glance.

Then the female explained that he was no threat and just looking for food. Valette glanced at the food Vespera got for him. It was some point that Vespera trusted a stranger enough to catch food for him but that could also mean that he was just manipulative. Vespera was naive at times, at least, that was Valette's opinion of her. "So you decide to just give that to him?," Valette returned to the young female. They were not here to feed strangers and loners that would come to their borders begging for food. Valette could think of several members that could use this small meal.

Valette's eyes snapped to the stranger when he spoke. "And how were you planning on doing that? Clearly, you were not capable of catching your own meal before you came begging at our borders,' she stated. Perhaps a bit of a low blow but Valette, who recently gave birth, didn't need food each member needed to give to charity. "What would you give in payback?," Valette questioned the male.

Vespera had to bite her tongue, Valette's glance as she challenged her motives had stung more then she wanted it to. The young female should have guessed that Valette would be upset by her actions since she just recently gave birth to pups. Her heartbeat raced and felt like it was going to explode out of her chest, she felt her face was flustering and her legs turned into butter. She had recently sprinted out of the forest and now she was finding it even more difficult to breathe, "I-I just wanted to show you that I have grown up a bit and I could handle something at the borders by myself," Vespera stumbled in her words, her head slightly lower and her ears slightly back to show that she was a bit ashamed, "I just wanted to surprise you..." She whispered, her head moved downward to the side a bit, she was finding it a bit difficult to look at the Matriarch, she feared that she would tarnish the relationship she cared most deeply about. Without a second thought, Valette had begun to interrogate the male, she had rightfully questioned him and what Valette was saying to him made sense to her, she couldn't speak, she feared she would make it worse. Vespera felt guilty, she wanted to impress Valette, that was her main goal, was making Valette proud of her growth, but she felt as though she had failed.

The woman admonished the girl who had initially found him, and they had some quick words which made Tywyll feel all the more guilty; he had not meant to cause upset to anyone, he had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time or something to that effect—and as he watched Vespera's fire fade a bit beneath the pressure of her leader, Tywyll wished he could do something to fix it, even if she had been really surly towards him. He was a sweet boy beneath all the mud.

Soon enough the spotlight was on Tywyll exclusively. The woman began to berate him, her tone full of judgement and making him feel really bad about ever crossing close to this patch of land. He should've gone the other way — but he was so lost, and in the end there was no getting around his inexperience.

What would you give in payback? The woman finally demanded.

He had promised to replace what he'd eaten, but the woman was right. He was young, weak, and begging because he couldn't hunt anything of substance or value. He could barely keep himself fed on rats and young birds. The boy was quaking in his skin but tried to contain his apprehension and convey something clearly: M-Me. I'll—I'll do whatever you want, for as long as you want. I c-can hunt small things, I won't take from your stash—and--and I'll do whatever you say. Whatever she says, he looked with his big bright eyes at the quailing Vespera, hoping that they'd both take him up on the offer.

All Tywyll needed was a place to rest and recouperate, and he could do that while serving these wolves, plus it would be a form of repayment for the meal she had brought to him. He was so hungry — and so desperate.

Valette glanced at Vespera. She had not intended to upset her, in fact, she had been rather worried that this male had manipulated Vespera into giving him food. She didn't want a male to take advantage of her. Valette glanced at Vespera next to her with a bit of confusion. She was not sure how Vespera would surprise her. The matriarch didn't want strangers too close. "Vespera, I am not mad at you," she assured her.

Her gaze focused on the male, who didn't seem like she thought he was. She figured he was manipulating Vespera but at this moment he seemed more like a boy. Valette light scorn turned to curiosity. "That would be appropriate if I was your leader but I am not," she commented to the young male. He was not one of them which was her point. She could not command him around. And she was not the one that would do that. If they would give him this meal they wouldn't get anything in return for it.

Valette glanced over the young boy and then to Vespera. She seemed to like him, which was something new. Perhaps she should give him a chance. "Unless you came to our borders to join us," she inquired. The boy seemed submissive and desperate. "Vespera here seems to vouch for you."

Vespera felt her guilt rest heavy on her shoulders, her ears were down, showing shame. But, her ears perked up when she heard the male speak up, he was stuttering. The young female didn't move her head position to look at him, she only moved her purple gaze slowly towards the dark male. She noticed that his eyes beamed at her, she wasn't sure why at first, but her mind buzzed, is he enjoying me taking the fall? But her doubtful self reassured her that wasn't the case, she got a small reassuring feeling that he was trying to make her feel better. The Easthollow wolf moved her head slightly towards his direction, her eyebrows raised at an upward angle, her mouth even formed a very small smile, she was showing small appreciation for his reassuring glance. Valette then spoke to her, the Matriarch told her that she wasn't upset with her, this made Vespera crane her head upward and look at Valette with an embarrassed look, "oh..." Her face felt hot with embarrassment, she had shown a bit of vulnerability to a stranger and she was not pleased with herself. She gave an embarrassed smile as she forced her eyes to look at neither of them, Vespera then sat and listened Val preach about not being an Alpha, she then what seemed to offer the male to join Easthollow. The young female looked back at Valette with a flash when she said that Vespera vouched for the male, don't you dare use me as leverage, she scowled to herself, but she was only teasing herself. She looked at the male with ears perked, she then gave him a teasing and cheeky glance, like she always does, "after all this drama, you still haven't given us your name." She gave a smug look at him, she felt like she was making some progress with strangers, I guess stupid Greyback's training worked after all, she had to admit to herself that Greyback did something for her, to which she silently appreciated him for it.