Blacktail Deer Plateau Saying Hello

@Kieran Adrien - Dating this before Heartha's demise to lower emotions and keep the time line happy.

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Pema had made it her goal to meet every member of the pack and so far she had been doing a good job. She meet Howl before she joined the pack, Grayday her first day along with the pups, Heartha the day after that and Sylvas a few days after that. She still had yet to meet Kieran or Moonstone, but between the two, for the time being, she wanted to meet Kieran first. Her interaction with his father had gone rather well and she wanted to see what kind of character Kieran had, having been raised by someone like Sylvas.

She wondered about the forested area of their territory, away from the rendezous site, trying to see if she could track him down. She didn't have her nose planted to the ground like it had been when she search for the deer herd with Grayday, but she took wiffs of the air search for a smell that was new but also familiar.

He was in a thinking mood today. Thinking back on all those he'd lost, the ones he still had, and the ones he had yet to meet. Hopefully they wouldn't be as depressed as the ones in the past - there was only so much he could do to help others, being so depressed himself. He might not show it, but he did hurt. He had moved on, but the wounds would never leave, not really. The boy missed his mother and his sister so much, the family he'd lost at such a young age. He missed them, he missed snuggling up to them in the den where they shared meals and dumped snowballs on each others heads. Such a great time it had been, even with the cold biting at his toes all the time. If he could turn back time, go back to that happy place, he really would. He longed to see his sisters face, and his mothers too, even if it was just once. But that couldn't happen, he knew it couldn't. And so, with those feelings bringing new determination, he had decided to help others who felt similarly. He couldn't help them all, but damn it he could try. Seeing them heartbroken broke his own heart.

Kieran wasn't sure what to make of the new wolf, the one who wasn't Moonstone. They hadn't spoken before, but the boy had hopes that perhaps he might find a new friend. Nobody could replace Hawthorn (who had gone like his mother and sister), but he was welcome to having someone friendly to talk to. He was just wandering around, wondering whether to go and search for the other wolf he had yet to meet, when he caught a scent. It was one he didn't recognise, and with a friendly smile he decided to go closer and see if it was the newcomer he could greet.

The wind was blowing everywhich way that day bringing scents from here and ther past Pema's nostrils. The scent of a rabbit one moment and then lavender the next, but nothing seemed to be what she was searching for. As the different smells went by she named them mentally, rabbit, water, scat, what's that? So caught up in the mind game she was playing with herself she almost missed it. She inhaled more deeply and got a better sence of the smell. This had to be it she thought to herself as she picked up speed and headed in that direction.

Then in the distance she saw a wolf with brown and grey coloration, similar to Sylvas'. She hoped it was him as she walked up to him saying "Hi there. Are you Kieran?" she asked wanting to make sure it was him rather then just assuming.

Indeed, as he stepped closer, he found he did not recognise the appearance of this wolf, and the scent was definitely unfamiliar to him. This must be the new wolf. Her pelt was a mixute of tans and light brown, and he noticed the accents of black, white and grey in her fur too. Kieran smiled and gave a wag of his tail, but she beat him to words. "Hey! Yeah, I'm Kieran." He grinned, then added "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know your name...?" His head tilted as he subtly asked what her name was. Perhaps he should have asked Grayday, but he hadn't thought that far ahead. 

"It's great to meet you - I love meeting newcomers. It means possible new friends, and that's always good." The boy chuckled gently, wondering briefly if his father had also met this wolf. Maybe that was why she knew his name? Or it could be for another reason, he was just letting his thoughts wander slightly.

He came up to her with his tail wagging. A much different interaction then she had had with Grayday and Heartha. The two had thought she might have been a possible intruder, since Howl invited her into the pack rather then Grayday. But everything seemed to work out in the end, though she was glad that at least with Kieran she could skip that uncomfortable beginning. 

Comfirming her assumptions he introduced himself and asked her her name as well. "My name is Pema. I'm rather new. Nice to meet you." she said with a smile and a wag to her tail. He went on to talk about how he liked new member to the pack, she couldn't agree more. "My thoughts exactly, which is why I'm trying to meet everyone in the pack right off the bat."

Pema. He nodded with a smile, comitting the name to memory, before listening to her next words. "Good idea - I'd have done the same." Though he'd never actually been through the process of joining a pack. He had been born in... what had it been called? Royal Fire Court? Yeah, that was it. Then, after the attack he'd moved with his family to Republic of Auros (where he'd had some amazing memories... like all those moments with Hawthorn...), then, after losing his mother and sister, and having the pack disband, he and his father had gone travelling with an older female from the pack (Heartha) and they'd met Grayday and his pups - Dawn and Sunny. They just kind of... grouped together. 

"So, what do you do? Like... what are you interested in?"

He complimented her goal of meeting all of the members of the pack. Every one she had meet so far had been so nice. She was really liking it here. At first she though she might not find a pack in the Teekon Wilds, but then there Howl was at a time when she wasn't even thinking of another pack. It seemed almost like fate that she would have ended up here and began to fit in so quickly.

When he asked her interests like many had before him she went on to say, "I've been working on becomming a medic actually. I know abit about medicinal uses for plants. But I've also been working on my hunting skills. Grayday says he wants everyone fat for the winter." she laughed lightly as she lowered her voice to sound more masculine.

Returning the question she asked, "What about you. Are you a warrior like your father?" Sylvas had said he focused mainly on protecting the pack, but that he was working on his hunting skills. She wondering if a similar interest would have been passed down from father to son.

"Oh, that's cool! We do need a medic." He mentioned, deciding that she probably already knew. Grayday had probably mentioned it before, or maybe his father had. When Pema mentioned hunting, Kieran's ears instantly perked. He let out a chuckle at the wolfess' impersonation of the leader. "I love hunting! I've never been much of a fighter myself, really - that's Da's thing. I'm working on becoming a hunter and a counselor. I love hunting, and I want to help others." He hesitated before adding quietly. "Guess I got that from Ma." His face fell for a moment, but soon perked up.

"We should go hunting together sometime, maybe? Or now, if you want?" Hunting always gave his mood a boost, and having a hunting partner could be fun.

Not a fighter but an avid hunter from his responce. Aswell as an aspiring councelor. This pack was filled with so many wolves persuing different trades. Some that didn't even exactly line up together. But that was alright. The variety would make them better over all rather then set them back. Not similar to his dad but to his mother. Pema hadn't heard anything about Kieran's mother, only about his father, and by the way Kieran's expression changed for a moment, she thought it might not be the best thing to ask about. Maybe another time.

For now it seemed as though there might be a chance for the two to go hunting. He seemed genuinly excited to hunt and she did need some practice in that department. Plus this outing could be fun, no matter if they ended up catching something or not. Smiling with a wag in her tail she responded saying "Let's go get fat then." she said playfully refering back to what Grayday had said earlier. "Do you know of any good spots?"

"Yeah, let's go get fat." He laughed, beginning to walk. Hunting spots. That was something he needed to sort out here - new place, new hunting spots, and he needed to discover them and comit them to memory. "Unfortunately I don't - we only just moved here, to the Plateau. I knew of places back in the Cuesta but not here." The boy frowned a little, trying to remember if he'd spotted any, but none came to mind. "I guess that's a task for us, huh?"

They walked, and as they did so Kieran lowered his nose to the ground every now and then, looking for a scent they might be able to track. Eventually he found one, and he glanced to Pema with a grin. "Rabbit, I think. And... maybe there's more than one."

Something that Pema hadn't been told was that even the pack it self was new to this area and everyone was still getting acustom to it. She had smelled the border and smelled that it was a bit weaker then other border, but she hadn't thought it was due to them being new arrivals to the area. Because of this Kieran didn't know of any for sure hunting spots quite yet. The pair would have to rely on their tracking skills to find something to eat. Which luckily didn't seemed like it would take long, seeing as how he already had the beginning of a scent in his snout.

She placed her nose close to the ground as well trying to catch the scent that he had. Once she did she glaced up to him saying. "I think your right. Lets go find out shall we?" she said proceeding to follow the scent.

Kieran grinned at Pema, lowering his head to the ground to follow the scent. As they walked he decided to keep a conversation going. "We used to live at Morningside Cuesta - that's why we're called Morningside, but we moved for the colder months." It was a logical thing to do, and he, although he liked the Cuesta, agreed with the decision. The hunter glanced at the wolfess next to him, deciding to try and learn a little more about her. "So, you been in the Teekon long? Or where you born here? I was born here, but most wolves I know weren't." He wondered what it was like outside of the Wilds, but honestly he had no desire to leave. That was someone elses journey, not his - he was content here and didn't intend to go anywhere. He was not a traveller at heart. Even so, he was curious. Perhaps Pema, if she had not lived here her whole life, might know what it was like.

Then he halted, glancing down at the ground again. There were small round droppings on the ground, which he confirmed were rabbit's when he leaned down to sniff them. Kieran turned to Pema again with a grin. "Rabbit droppings. We're getting closer." Then he continued to walk, ears perked to catch any noise, though he didn't think there was one directly nearby. If there was, well then he needed to improve his tracking skills.

As they began their journey it wan't silence filled with the sounds of sniffing snouts, but of conversation. Pema was glad that Kieran was willing to have small talk while they started out. After all, this wasn't the most serious of hunts and there was no pressure to find anything. It was especially nice seeing as how Pema had wanted to meet Kieran, to well meet him. Not to see if he could help her hunting, but she wasn't going to complain about the quality time they were having together or the chance to better her skills.

He went on to talk about how the pack had recently moved from a place called Morningside Cuesta for the colder months near winter. Some places just weren't suited well for a pack to thrive there all year round. Some packs almost seemed to migrate as they followed the herds of elk and deer for their daily meals. It made Pema wonder, "So if the pack moved here for the colder months, do you think it will move again once it gets warmer?" she asked thinking about how hard it was to leave from a place once you have been there long enough to feel a connection with it. 

"I've been in the Teekon Wilds for about a month now. I had a hard time meeting people at first, but then I came across Howl and he invited me into the pack. I was born in a place east of here, same area as Howl actually." she responded to his further questions. "So if you were born here, have you always been in Morningside?" she asked not knowing how long ago the pack had been founded.

Her tail wagged when Kieran came across fresh rabbit droppings. She hoped that when they got there, there would be more then one target for the two to go after. Team work seemed to work best when the prey was somewhat close to your size, otherwise it was easy for others to get in the way.

Apologies for such a long post - thought it might be good way for them to get to know each other better!

Pema asked if they might move again, to which Kieran responded with a small shrug. "Probably. Perhaps we'll even go back to the Cuesta." Maybe not, but there was always a chance. The boy almost missed it, along with that hill he'd used to... bury food for those who had passed. A sort of ritual thing, perhaps, but Kieran merely wanted to continue hunting for his lost ones, sharing his achievements with them. They were still his friends and family, and although they were not on this world anymore, were they truly ever gone?

So Pema had not been born here like he had. The young hunter glanced at her, listening to her brief explanation of how she came to Morningside. He nodded along, but then came the question that made him bite the inside of his cheek. He hadn't spoken of his past out loud, to anyone else.... ever? He could not remember a time where he had. The only one he'd talked about with such a thing was Hawthorn, but Hawthorn was gone. Would he be able to speak about it without letting a tear fall? Hopefully. Or, he was going to try. Perhaps to get it out might help him, daunting as it may seem. "No. Well... it's... it's a long story." But they had no better way to spend their time while they tracked these rabbits, did they? "I guess I'll tell you, if you don't mind?" Perhaps she might not want to hear his story. He wouldn't be surprised, honestly. He'd have to shorten it as much as he could. Then again, maybe it might help them bond, if he was open about himself. "I wasn't born with these wolves, no. I was born back in another pack with my mother, father and sister. Royal Fire Court, it was called." A name he had forgotten often - Kieran had not spent much of his life there. "Some stuff happened but I was too young to really remember - we were attacked by another pack at some point, when I was a month or two old maybe? In short, they won and we fled." He was not proud of their escape but then again, it was better than death. They had been majorly overpowered, from the discussions between the adults that he'd managed to listen in on.

"We came to a new place, started a new pack - Republic of Auros. I was a prince, my sister a princess, which was cool but it never struck me as anything too important. The former prince, Hawthorn from Royal Fire Court and his sister seemed to hate us, though. Not surprising - they had bad history with their other family, and were angry." Oh, Hawthorn. His lost friend - one day perhaps he'd come back to Kieran? He could only hope. "I had an arguement with the boy... he ended up trying to commit suicide... but I stopped him and we became friends. We became so close." He grimaced, hoping he could just turn back time and be able to talk to his friend again. I miss you, Haw. He coughed, forcing his gaze to Pema again before facing the trail he was following. "Our member count started going down, my sister went missing for the second time... and..." The hunter bit his lip, taking a deep breath to keep himself calm. "We found my mother dead in the snow. We never knew what happened to her."

"We left - me, my father, Hawthorn and Heartha. We ran into Grayday and his kids while travelling, and before we knew it we were part of the group." That's how their life at Morningside began. Not the happiest of stories, but his story nonetheless. "Hawthorn... went missing." He trailed off there, but soon shook his head and looked back at Pema. "Well, that's it. I had a lot of trouble in my childhood, I'm told, but I'm still happy. That was a long-ish story, but hey, it passed the time." He grinned, then lowered his nose. "We're really close now," he whispered, dropping into a crouch at last.

She hadn't expected her last question to be answered with Kieran's whole life story, but part of her was happy that he had. He mentioned mentioned the possabily of the pack moving back to the Cuesta with uncurtainty. I must not have been something that was talked about through the pack. He then went on to explain how he had been born in another pack and described how they had been forced to flee.

A battle over a territory were often seen as wars and even involved the lives of others becomming lose. Pema was lucky that she never had to witness much violence in her life, but she wan't going to lie to herself and say that it didn't exsist. With Kieran being an example of that exact thing. Especially at such a young age, she assumed that at that age he wouldn't have even understood why it was happening. 

His families next attempt at a pack hadn't been any better, as Keiran described a boy named Hawthorn, who became his friend almost commiting suicide. Something often unheard of in wolves. Along with the sudden and unexplained loss of his mother. Pema couldn't begin to think of how horrible everything must have been for him. 

Her life seemed to peach perfect in comparison to his and she thought that no one desirved to be sad in his presence, knowing that he had felt worse pain. It also said something about him that he could still be happy with everything that had happened. One was that he was willing to move forward with his life and make the best of it. But the other part could also be that he was now desensitized to it, thinking that loss and pain were part of ones everday life. Either way Pema felt extremely sorry for Kieran. 

She no longer was focused on hunting, it seemed to have no meaning compared to everything she had been told. She wasn't sure what to say. At first she had been shocked that such a story continued with so many unhappy endings. But she wanted to say something, even if it wasn't exactly the most perfect or right thing to say. "Kieran... I... I can't imagine how hard all of that must have been to go through... I'm sooo sorry for everything that happened." it wasn't as though she had been there or could have changed the out come but still...

"Going through all that, especially at such a young age can really do a number on someone. It speaks alot to your character and ability to keep on going even with everything pulling you back." she spoke both of physical and emotional barriors that he faced and most likely still faced to this day.

She stepped closer to him, and lightly nudged her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad you can find happiness." she finished, steping away from Kieran and walking along side of him still not very focused on hunting. She wasn't sure if anythign she said would hold any meaning, but felt like she needed to say something.

Her words were greatly appreciated, and now he was glad he'd told her. It felt like a weight off his chest - a big weight. He smiled at her, giving a wag of his tail. "Thanks, Pema. It means a lot, really." Having someone mention his attitude about continuing on after all that was good, too - he had always tried to do that. For mother, for Sorrel. For Hawthorn. And for his father - the only one he'd had left. He couldn't abandon his father - he'd made a promise to himself never to do that.

"I believe that we should always carry on, even if bad things happen. Giving up doesn't do anyone any good." He hesitated, still shuffling forwards as he focused on the hunt as well as talking. "I also think... having lost so many in our lives brought me and Haw together." The boy chewed the inside of his mouth, glancing at Pema. "Aimer, ce n’est pas se regarder l’un l’autre, c’est regarder ensemble dans la même direction." The hunter smiled, wondering if she might be able to understand French - the language he'd been taught as a child. "We saw eye to eye, me and Hawthorn. We shared similar problems, both having lost family in one way or another." If the wolfess did not understand his french phrase, then he would explain, she need only ask.

She was genuinly impressed by Kieran. Put in the same situation she didn't know know what she would have done. He hoped that nothing like that would happen to her, or anyone for that matter. But if it ever did she hoped that she would have the strength and ability to push forward like Kieran had. 

She had to remind herself that they were still tracking down some rabbits to help her with her hunting skills. Her muzzle went back to the ground but her hears stayed purked up, listening to what he continued to say. Then his speech changed, throwing her off guard for a moment before realizing that he was speaking another language and not simply giberish. 

Pema could sometime identity what language it was others were speaking but she only knew how to understand and speak english. "And what does that mean?" she asked after he finished his phrase.

Alittle while after that the scent of their trail was very strong and she would see rustling in the voliage ahead. She stopped walking and lowered herself to the ground.

Kieran smiled, thinking about his mother and her beliefs. She had always strongly believed in Gods, and although he couldn't say he felt as strongly about it as she did, he had always been open to the idea. It was really interesting to him, even if it turned out there wasn't such thing as a God. His mother had always been religious - more so than his father. He missed her talking about them, the beings, the Gods. Her voice had been so comforting and warm, and he felt at home when she spoke French. It was always something he liked.

The hunter turned his head slightly to glance at Pema, offering his translation of the French phrase. "Love doesn’t mean gazing at each other, but looking, together, in the same direction." Perhaps not the kind of love you might first think of (or maybe it was, even Kieran himself was slightly unsure - he just knew that he loved Hawthorn in a way that he had never loved anyone. So scarred was the boy, and yet it sparked something within Kieran. He had always wanted to help him, see him smile. Even just a little). "That's what it means," he added, for clarification. The phrase was one he held close to him. "We were looking in the same direction - we understood each other in a way I don't think anyone else would be able to. It was strange, how something brought us together so quickly, and so harshly, but I'm honestly quite glad it did, even if he isn't here any more." Where the boy had gone, Kieran didn't know. He hated that - it was the same with his sister's disappearance. She, just like Haw, might still be alive out there somewhere, and it frustrated him not to know. He just hoped.

The trail they had been following was strong now, much stronger, and after hearing the rustle Kieran nodded to Pema before crouching low too. "Do you want to lead this little hunt?" He didn't want to take control if Pema had an idea of how they could catch it together.

She listened to the translation smiling as she did. The words in their true language had sounded to beautiful and the means to them matched. She had never thought about love that much. It was something that entered her mind from time to time, but if was often of her family. Never having been romantic with another person it was sometime a fantisy for her. But this meaning didn't have to be between ralatives or lovers. Like the love between Kieran and this wolf named Hawthorn, it was a love born of friendship and other meanings. 

"That's very beautiful. Maybe you could teach me alittle french some other time." she stated before she had seen the rustling and crouched to the ground.

He asked her if she wanted to lead. This was a teaching experience, so it would have made sence of Kieran to take the lead. But some of the best teached let their students take the lead and allowed them to learn form their sucesses as much as their mistakes. It wasn't anything big, just a rabbit. Missing this wouldn't be the biggest loss, she would go for it.

At first she nodded silently to him, thinking of a game plan. At the moment the rabbit wasn't it sight. But they would sort of tell where it was due to the movement of vegitation. "If you want to make your way over to the edge of the clearing there..." she whispered gesturing to a section where the vegitation began to thin out, "I can try and see if I can herd it over towards you." she suggested. Wondering what her teacher thought of the plan.