Whitewater Gorge You've Gone And Left Me To Die

Zephyr had been a ghost in the Teekons for the past month-a week into his sickness, he'd realized that Aggie and Chusi had left him, and he'd refused to be still from then on out. How, why, where, he had no idea, he just knew that they were gone. The certainty of them never coming back was even stronger, and that became more apparent as he wandered away from the shore and South-there were times where he was positive that he wasn't even in Teekon anymore.

His mind was fogged most days, and the brute didn't care to really try to seek anything out. For right now, he was prepared to live alone, feral, for the rest of his life. He didn't need anybody to hurt him, to leave again-he was tired of putting effort into so very much just to be abandoned again and again.  
Today found him at the edge of a gorge, but that hardly mattered. Sprawled out on the field beside it; Zephyr simply listened to the rush of the river, chin settled atop massive snowy paws and grassy eyes scanning his surroundings. 

For @Rouge ;) but anyone can pop in

She trotted along the top of the gorge listening to the sound of rushing water beneather her. From where she stood on the gorge there was a 10 foot drop between her and the water. She walked a few feet away from the edge knowing that in some places the rock wasn't sturdy and would crumble into the water. She was searching, not for someone but rather something. 

She knew winter was comming and after years of experiencing it alone she knew it would be good to find a den or sorts for th arsh season. She had time but finding it early wouldn't be a bad idea. So she was more passivly searching, living life as she normally would but witht he task held in the back of her mind.

She still didn't have a pack, nor did she desire to join one. Her whole life she had been alone and was keen on keeping it that way. Though through her left she had felt lonely often with the lack or companionship. The pack was the only thing she despised not other wolves. She had meet a few friendly wolves in these wilds but none that had stayed very long. 

She continued to stroll along the gorge. Going from point A to to next.

Pawsteps, echoing softly to his ears, brought Zephyr's head turning to the gorge. His thoughts were bitter, but the Maverick was too much of a gentleman to not chuff out a gentle greeting to the beautifully dark woman that caught his eye. He didn't move other than the lift of his head, looking more than a little gruff. The sickness had taken some of his weight, but not much had changed-it was his lack of caring that made grooming half-assed, and so his usually spotless, smoothed pelt was now unruly.... But still clean. He wasn't completely letting himself go!

His apple colored eyes did their best to take her in, but there was some distance between them, and the man had to squint a little to even tell that her eyes were blue-a deep, alluring color that reminded him of the ocean. Even with his heart broken from the loss of someone he came to find as a daughter, and all those before her, he'd only stayed in the Teekons to try again. So maybe it was earlier than expected, but Zephyr never had done very well alone. His head tipped, and the man spoke without thinking about it-the result was a really corny but semi-sweet blurted compliment.
                   "Anyone ever tell you your eyes look like ocean waves?"
Almost at once, a nervous chuckle broke from his lips, and his pelt heated in an invisible blush. 
                                 "That was lame as hell-I apologize."

She peared forward, seeing the figure of a large male wolf with patches of white on his chest and feet. She grinned a wicked smile at the sight of him and lowered her head almost in a stalking position. Another play thing she thought. She enjoyed the company of others assuming they weren't agressive toward her, but even then just messing with someone to make them more irritated was amusing to her at times. 

He then commented on her eyes, and their likeness to ocean waves. She laughed at his remark, almost at the same time as he had. He then apologized for the lameness of his compliment. She had her head at an even level and and she slowly trotted toward him not saying a word but still with a grin. She came within about 3 yards of him. 

"No dear, not many speak so kindly of me." she smiled chuckling alittle bit. He seemed nice, maybe a bit too nice right off the bat. She wanted to rattle him a bit to see his reaction and with it more of his personality. Her comment left him to perseve it in many ways. One maybe be hinting at her not soo good side.

At first, he thought she approached with ill intentions-at this, he calmly got to his snowy paws, revealing his tall and muscled frame and nearly solid obsidian pelt. His apple eyes slid over her pelt, much like his, and shone with appreciation before flicking back to her own eyes. Her words had a twist Zephyr couldn't quite understand, and he took them in the best way he could-the way he always took strangers' words.
              "I don't know why-but I also don't know you."
Sniffing curiously, the ebony brute stepped forward, one of his charming grins spreading across his maw. He didn't seem very worried about any other meaning behind her words, but instead his tail wagged behind him easily-it was nice to not have to worry about dominance, or ranks: maybe this loner thing would be a breeze.

When she first approtched he changes his stance which showed his frame. One that was muscular, strong and tall. Upon closer look, he looked rather handsome up close. He didn't read negatively into her comment and continued to say he didn't understand why, but that he aslo didn't know her.

He didn't seem agressive at all so Rouge felt ok with playing with him a bit. He came closer to her sniffing a bit. She came closer to him about a yard away and with a smile on her face she said flirtatiously "Thats true. Would you like to? I know I'd like to know more about you."

Zephyr saw her look over him, too, and his smile widened when she came ever closer. His grassy eyes were warm, excited-nobody had shown as much interest in him since Lyric-unless you included Chusi. Her words brought a shiver to his spine, and he chuckled lowly. 
           "If you insist, then, I think I would be honored to get to know such a beautiful young woman like yourself, miss....?"
He trailed off, tipping his head and hoping she would give out her name with ease. Of course, he didn't expect anything he wouldn't give: with another slow step forward-matching her almost stalking gait-he hummed out his name easily.
                                     "I'm Zephyr, Zephyr Maverick."

He was quite the gentleman, she thought. She liked the compliments but having been a loner for so long she rarely gave her name to those who she didn't know very well. She could hear him trailing at the end of his sentence but decided to pretent that he ended his sentence there. He then introduced himself Zephyr Maverick. 

She didn't feel she could trust this wolf yet but she didn't want to be rude compared to his kindess. So she said "Zephyr... I apologize dear, but I have been a lone wolf for so long... I don't give my name away so easily." with that thought in her mind she wanted to find out an important fact about Zephyr that she liked to know about every wolf. If they were a pack wolf or loner. So she addes "Something you might not be used to in your pack." a trick statement that she hped would determine if he was a loner or not.

His grin faded when she apologized, and he straightened out his frame before sitting where he was. He might've prodded, but her next comment brought a snort of bitterness. 
                "I'm a loner: been abandoned one to many times, thinking that pack life might not be for me anymore.... And I was raised to be an alpha."
He laughed, another sound laced with anger and bitterness. He'd been raised and trained to take over Shadowfax, and against his best efforts had failed even after coming to the Teekons and trying-and failing- again to establish the family. After giving his loyalty to a pack for months, he was told he was nothing more than a pawn; successfully botching his next pack experience and sending him into the paws of Aglaeca.... Who had, in turn, either ran off with his adopted child or lost her and then left. Maybe pack life just didn't fit the broken man.... 
                                      "How hard to I have to work to get a name?"
A small, apologetic smile took over his face, and though his head hung below hunched shoulders, his grassy eyes were shining-nothing could truly beat the spirit from this man.

He responded with bitterness, but not toward Rouge. Rather toward his current situation, more so about how be became a loner. When he spoke of abandonment Rouge felt biterness of her own remembering the time when she was abandon by her pack. When he spoke about being trained as an alpha she thought of how powerful he must me. Most liekly notjust in muscle, this intreged her. 

Sympathizing with Zaphyr she said "I vowed only to be abandoned once." speaking of her past abandonment rather seriously. This might have been another reason for her not joining a new pack. The idea that the same thing would happen again. He then asked how hard it would be to get her name. "Your getting there, shouldn't be too hard. I just need to know I can trust you to keep it secret." She came forward to sit directly in front of him. Looking into his eyes.

"I vowed only to be abandoned once." the woman spoke with a soft calmness that very well hid the bitterness inside, one Zephyr was familiar with. He reached towards her, but not only were they too far apart, he didn't do more than breathe gently her way with a hum of support and another heartbroken smile. 
                           "I'm just a little too kind, I guess."
Next, she gave her reasoning behind hiding her name-and maybe he understood that too- and the tar coated male nodded, growing much more serious. She'd never given him any reason to strike out against her, and on top of that... Who would he tell? These thoughts, he voiced. 
                                                "I wouldn't betray the trust of someone who's never given me a reason to, sweetheart, and it's not like I have anyone to tell anyway." 

He commented about how me might have been too kind, which very well may have been true. Even though she was having a "nice" - well at least not bad - conversation with this handsome wolf. She still didn't really know him and although with his second comment he ment to put her more at easy it did the opposite. 

He may very well not betray her but with her experience even if she gave someone no reason to to betray her, she had been. She strayed from the topic of her name as she still wasn't quite convinced she could trust this wolf. She went on to say "You made the right decision chooseing to be a loner, rather then a member or some pack. It's not impossible like most wolves think. Though it is harder on your own, its better then expecting the support of a pack only to have it riped from you unexpectedly." she said in a rather bitter tone as she looked at her paws and the grounding remembering her past.

Zephyr sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment while the woman spoke-He'd never chosen to be a loner. In fact, every day of his life had been spent fighting the life of a loner-searching out a pack to fit into or recruits to gather for his own. Her name forgotten, she seemed to lash out at her memories, and the brute again opened his eyes to turn them dully on her. 
                   "I was forced to more than chose, but I guess it's whats best for me.... I lived over a year as a loner before-its not impossible, no, but it sucks sometimes."
In his eyes, he hadn't had protection or support of a pack since Shadowfax anyway-the Teekon Wilds just wasn't the place to start his family again. 
                                           "It is better than never knowing when the next packmate is gonna take off though.... You don't just suddenly become not enough when youre a loner-you mean everything to at least yourself, and you need only yourself to survive."

Rouge liked this wolf. He seemed to shart somewhat similar view with her about packs. They also seemed to share the same feeling of abandonment from their different packs. This only greatened Rouge's perspective oof packs and their unreliability. It's true she didn't become a loner my chose, but she had chosen to stay one. Rather then go find a new pack that would have taken the young pup in she decided that she didn't need them and that she would do it on her own. 

"Very true" she said agreeing with what Zephyr had said. Though the loner life was harder then some pack lives, it was worth it to her to know that at least she would have her own back when things got hard. She could count on herself not to leave her or dumb her. It was technically impossible for that to happen. 

This wolf seemed honest, and his agreement with her views and similar past events made her feel more comfortable with this wolf. "My name is Rouge." she nodded to him, and non verbaly saying that she trusted and respected him, with her nod and the fact that she gave him her name.

For a while, the only thing said between them was Rouge's "Very true", and Zephyr was okay with a moment of silence to gather his thoughts. What was he going to do next, where would he go? Would he even bother staying here?
She interupted his inner babble, but it was one that brought a grin to his face-her name. She trusted him enough to give her name-maybe she would want company wherever she was going? 
                   "Nice to meet you, Rouge."
His words were soft, gentle, and sad, reflected in his smile, but the wag of his tail showed he really was happy to be here with her-he just didn't know what was next for him. 
                                   "Where are you headed from here?"

He asked where she was heading, something Rouge never really knew herself. She then remembered that the season would be changing and shelter would be something she would need. She looked around, thinking of what direction she wanted to go. With no real goal in mind the only question was what way should she head. She was thinking of heading east, knowing that their were many packs to the west of them right now.

"Well winter will be comming up soon. I was thinking of finding somekind of shelter... Maybe heading in that direction." she said turning toward the east.

Sorry this too so long, Im just really struggling with muse for him right now.

There was a lapse of silence in which Zephyr could only assume was confusion - she didn't know the answer. Maybe that's what being a loner was about: Zephyr himself didn't know where he was going either. Finally, she gave an answer - she would find shelter for the winter. Whether that meant a pack or just another place to bunk down alone, he didn't ask - the brute just wasn't ready to give his trust to someone so soon.

                           "Maybe I'll see you around in the Winter - I'm just gonna wander around for a bit, take some time to find myself again."

Despite his dissmissive words, he lingered - maybe he wasn't so ready to be alone as he thought. His apple eyes reached out questioningly - did she want the company?

He sounded as if he was going to leave as he talked of seeing her around and taking time off for himself. She was a bit disappointed. Good company came around so rarely it seemed and stayed for such a short amount of time. But this is what she was used to, even if she didn't like it. They had other things to do then entertain her and her pattern and way of living. 

"Maybe, but the wilds are so vast. It wouldn't surprise me if we didn't." she knew this would likely end with her being alone once again. So she waited to see what he would do, it would come sooner or later and he would be the one to decide.

Zephyr couldn't read her, how she felt - but her words let him think she didn't really care. A resigned sigh fell from his lips, and he shrugged. 

                  "I guess we'll find out."

Turning, the ebony male padded off - he didn't know where he was going, or even which way, but at the moment that didn't really matter. He called back over his shoulder, but didn't look back. 

                                         "Be safe, Rogue. Wish you the best."