Whitefish River you only like me when i'm numb

brecheliant hadn't wanted him. fuck them. and fuck that little blackthorn girl who scorned him immediately upon his arrival!
he hadn't gone there to be interrogated. whatever. he didn't need them! he totally didn't. this was fine. this was totally fine. he would just — run. the way he always had.
his travels took him northward, near the glacier where he'd met ariadne. he thought of her this day, as the freezing wind cuts across his cheeks and sends his ears flying to the sides of his head.
he wondered if he could go there. he didn't want to, but maybe he should.
he didn't know what he wanted.

the wind barrelled against them both, aditya perhaps cringing even more versus its power than the young man. still, he carried on, eyes narrowed only toward the wind and not toward the stranger in his midst.

the young man seemed distressed. . .but it could just be the nasty weather.

he chuffed but then turned his head, walking parallel to the other wolf and letting the youth make the next move. if, somehow, the stranger was sporting for a fight, he'd be no match.

best to keep him at tail's length.

gasps

there is a presence. a man. a stranger. he heard the footsteps, and then came the strong scent.
immediately the young redhawk bristles, ears twitching in visible paranoia as he whips around like a startled feline. he crab-walks before he comes to a soft stop, a new suspicion to his gaze.
he would be the first to speak, decidedly. who're you? and what do you want?

my name's aditya, he replied, and his posture was slack, calm. i'm just passing through—what about you?

he hadn't missed the on-edge mien of the other wolf—though, it could be chalked up to just a reaction on meeting a stranger in the wilderness. but combined with what he'd sensed previously. . .

adi let his features melt into an affable smile, a fatherly shrug ever-ready within his bony shoulders.