Sunset Valley Under the moon

Under the moon, did the coywolf stalk. She took upon the name of Quest once entering the wilds. Her original was Journey, and her previous was Voyager. Though her true name, had long been buried in the depths of winter lands, and so she kept gathering the titles, remaining with the allure of mystery, then familarity with others. The stray, dropping different names with different wolves, not desiring to be of a memory, nor' let them be someone of a closer nature.

Standing in the valley, her rosen yellow eyes looked curiously around, for anything that would catch her eye.

Quest is so pretty!

The valley had attracted also a middling-sized male, rosy-dun in color under the light of the moon. His dark eyes were blown wide in the dark of the night, but he saw clearly the slight and pearlescent figure of another canine in the distance.

After several weeks of being all on his lonesome, moving in the stranger's direction was an easy decision to make. He slowed his paced so as not to come up on them too quickly, and offered a low woof to alert them of his presence, head slung low in passive friendliness.

thank you!

She was like a startled cat, violently whipping her head over with widened, rosen yellow eyes. Though upon realizing it was a reddened wolf with a friendlier look, her fur bristled down and she calmed to a placid facial. Quest didn't know what the other wanted, and only tipped her head in a polite greeting, before it went sideways in a question. Unsaid words, do you need something?

fixed my last post so that it's nighttime lol I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote about sunlight

The male did not want anything in particular from the shewolf. He was only lonely, and passing through the same area. Still, when the shewolf's fur smoothed, he drew near enough to stand a respectful distance away and give a hopeful shimmy of his tail.Ain't you a sight for sore eyes, he told her, his voice hearty and without guile. S'been two moons since I seen anyone else with two ears and a tail. Which was a colloquialism for wolf that made no real sense, since so many creatures had two ears and a tail. The shewolf, of course, may well have no notion of such a saying; Kincaid was not aware enough of his strange manner of speech to modulate it.

Folk rarely stuck around long enough to make any headway in correcting it.

you good !

Quest was cocking her head in a curiosity as he spoke. Not dealing with too many wolves in general, her socialization was lacking, and so was understanding his accent. Generally though was easy, but still a wonder if he was a native. More-so confused when other 'complimented' her, but at the same time wasn't sure if it was one. He was confusing.

"I have not seen many wolves either." The coywolf quietly said.

The nearer he came, the clearer it was to Kin that this shewolf was a member of the differently-shaped club — but her heritage was of no consequence to him; perhaps all he really did need to see were two ears and a tail.

"Some say that's desireable," said Kincaid, still unsure whether or not his company was welcome. "But me, I get antsy. Sometimes it feels as I'm the only one left in the world." At least, this was what he'd begun to feel since leaving Nine Lives in the dust. It was not a pleasant notion to have stuck in one's head, and he was glad of his little friend to dispell it.

"I'm Kincaid," he told her, sweeping a brief but silly bow. "I kin git if you'd rather, but I been hankerin' for conversation this past four hunn'rd miles. 'haps I could pay you in a meal, if you'd oblige me."

She didn't mind the desolation, but understood the eeriness of being alone. She felt like in those moments though, they weren't alone- almost like someone, or something was watching. That feeling also gave her the motive to be on the move in a constant pace, otherwise Quest felt like she was being watched. So she nodded to the red wolf, understanding his reasons.

Recently the coywolf had taken the name Quest for herself, but she always found herself giving of different names to wolves. A spellbound, she didn't wish to be a memory, but a simple echo of a momentarily meeting, "call me Echo," she said, as he gave his own, perculiar name.

Though the other may be disappointed, as the winter wolf was not too talkative, "sure."

Although he asked for conversation, Kincaid was a somewhat taciturn creature, and didn't blame Echo for being somewhat reticent herself. After all, he was the one asking for conversation, so it made sense he ought to be the one to provide it.

"There's more than like t'be some rabbits in the willowbrush," he said, pointing his nose toward some brush in the distance. "Why don't we walk?"

He was walking already, black nose twitching in the breeze. He didn't have any topics in mind, but conversation came to him easily enough. "Boy, I tell ya — these summers is gettin' hotter e'ry year. Jus' a few weeks back I was further south and it was scorchin', so I come up here hopin' things'd cool down. But sure as anythan', my whiskers is still burnin'."

He looked to the shewolf to see if she would have anything to say about that.

"Alright." She didn't mind walking with him, he seemed friendly enough, but intrigued Quest as well. The way he spoke was unfamiliar, the more he did, the less she understood though. Walking beside him, she simply listened and stared forward, eerily silent through their conversation.

She wasn't one to voice out too much, and when he went silent for a moment, and looked at her, she felt the need to say, "I am used to the north. I imagine the winter. It is the mind, over matter." Her fur dense, but she seemed to never sweat. It's not that she doesn't, but chose to ignore it. Quest thought the results of her mild demeanour showed the results.

The shewolf was quite tight-lipped, but as Kincaid didn't get the sense she hated his company, he was willing to overlook that to fulfill his own need for socialization. When she did speak, he listened agreeably, and remarked, "How about that!" at the tidbit. He found her method of dealing with the heat interesting rather than useful, but chose not to voice this opinion.

"My pelt gets thinner in the summertime, but some years it ain't," he reported, shaking out his fur and allowing Echo to observe that not much of it came loose. "And some years it ain't grown back thick enough, quick enough." The alliteration pleased him, and he gave a thoughtful wag of his tail before growing quiet. There was a rabbit up ahead, and he thought if he came at it a certain way, he could either run it down or trap it in the brush.

She did not realize if her own fur got thinner or not, and glossed behind with a question mark hovering. Was that possible? Quest tended to be a naturally fulling within fur, but she still remained slime due to the lineage she seemed to be carrying. There were so many questions that she wasn't sure how to form them properly in a sentence, that her head felt like steaming.

Yet, she looked normally calm, "are you going to hunt that?" and instead of addressing her interests, the silver woman commented on what he looked at.

Quest didn't have anything to say about his pelt, which was fine in Kincaid's book. He figured the topic of the hot weather had exhausted itself, but that was fine, since they were now upon the meal he had promised her in returned.

"Yes ma'am," he agreed, and parted from the woman with a nod of thanks. "If you wanna cut it off wherever you can, I'd surely be grateful."

But whether or not she agreed to this, the hunt was on. Kin snuck wide around the rabbit, staying downwind until the last minute and then streaking forward to pounce. He missed the first time and had to scrabble after it, but soon returned to Quest with the rabbit in his jaws.

He did not think that the conversation had been scintillating enough to be worth a whole rabbit, but a deal was a deal, and he wasn't keen on sticking around to get his payment's worth after the quality of company he'd received thus far.

"That's us square, then," he told her, and gave another wag of his tail to show he bore the woman no ill will, despite his quick exit. "Been a pleasure."

She followed what he said and was to circle to block off the rabbit's exit, but he already had caught the prey. A fine rabbit, she thought with a nod. However it would be short, as he quickly gave his farewell before leaving, and she did not stop so. The coywolf only gave yet another firm nod, with a "farewell," to the man.