Haunted Wood Finding Her Tracks

@Vaati

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Rouge had ventured alittle farther then normal today. She wanted to get another step away from Moonspear. She could sense that their was something going on within the pack, but she had layed low and had missed the gossip. The gossip about the supposed war going on around them was unknown to Rouge.

Today all she wanted to do was visit a place she trusted, a place that she had visited many times before the haunted woods. She had only visited in the past during the warmer months and was interested in seeing how the land scape had changed. With the canopy of willow trees the snow that rested on the ground was thin, with most of it hanging on to the willow tree leaves. It looked almost like a frozen waterfall cascading down. But true to the name of the wood the scenery was dark, just how she liked it. 

It was quiet, quiet enough to hear the snow cruch under foot and just chilly enough to see your breathe clouding in front of you. Rouge didn't prefer winter due to the memorize of all the harsh ones she endured alone, but she didn't dread it either. She took a seat against one of the willow trees, under the white cascading leaves. 

Vaati carries back what is left of the recently depleted cache he had made during the last trip beyond the dark woods. A deer's leg, mangled and rather dirty drags heavily in his jaws and due to the overwhelming odour of the rotting leg, he fails to pick up the scent of the stranger at first. It is not until the flash of black in his peripherals causes him to drop the leg and follow the moving object, eyes zeroing on the outline of another lurking nearby. He moves stealthily, aiming to intercept her journey before she gets too close. When he does, it is with an abrupt entrance, breaking through the treeline to face the unknown, yet all too familiar woman. Vaati halts meters before her, "What is your business around here?" He knows her scent, it is imprinted in the back of his memory for eternity. Yet, she doesn't seem to be doing anything suspicious, which is primarily the reason he doesn't simply run her off. She isn't in his territory, but she is close enough to warrant hostility as an indirect enemy of his.

His silvery white coat blended in well with the snow, but when he broke through the leaves of the willow treat, she couldn't miss him. A well build, but young looking boy, she suspected he was around the age of a yearling. She thought his question was strange, she wasn't in someones territory was she. No, she had had enough misunderstanding in the past to be extra cautious about that. Thinking of where she was, she supposed that she was rather close to the Redhawk Caldera, even with the dence forest seperating the two. 

"Can't a girl sit under a tree?" she asked in a rather saterical tone, unable to see what would be wrong with her being here, other then her procimity to Redhawk. "Are you one of the Redhawk boys or something? Don't worry I'm not trying to spy on you guys." 

He shakes his head, almost comedically as she mistakes him for something he could never be more unalike to. "Not Redhawk. Blackfeather." The yearling will not pretend to be someone he is not. It is a cowardice he will not succumb to, regardless of the danger. It would be too easy, to give his fate even more time. Vaati snarls loudly but does not move forward, "Do you truly expect me to believe you when your pack and its foolish brethren want my head?" It is upfront, welcoming any trouble the woman may give him for he is tired of laying dormant while the vultures circle his head awaiting his ever-impending death. Time drags on while the threat that keeps him chained to the dark forest remains, leaving him to waste-away what little freedom of existence he has left before, as promised, his retribution comes. Months have passed since the incident had become the catalyst for Vaati's supposed "downfall", and he begins to let himself wonder if such a thing would ever occur. He lets himself regain a sense of hope, and perhaps exhaustion, for spending so much time fearing what would never come. It was evident that the self-proclaimed merry band of death -- The Cerberus -- was all bark and no bite. Perhaps the girl sitting under the tree could give him some terror, some fear that Death awaited him, just over the hill and around the bend. Or, perhaps, the confirmation that life was not yet done with him.

At the mention of the light colored males true pack Rouge stood up. Remembering her first ever encounter with the pack, and the misunderstanding that almost cost her life. They seemed like the kind that would act rather then talk things over. But instead of lunge for her right off the bat, he continued to talk about Rouge's brethern. 

Who was he refering to? She thought, not recognizing anyone to be her bretheren. Then she remembered that the scent of Moonspear was still something that clung to her pelt whether she liked it or not. Now that she had Moonspear on her mind she remembered what it was Hydra had asked her to do the last time they spoke. To look out for a male with his exact discription. She thought it was strange that the pack would be looking for his head. They didn't seem like a pack that would allow executions. 

"I really need to bath more often." she mumbled under her breath, refering to the unwanted scent stuck to her fur. "Now, I don't want you mixing me up with them. They're no 'bretheren' of mine." she declared wanting to distance herself from them as much as possible. If not for her own reasons, but for the reason that she would look less like a threat the male. She didn't know the pack's beef with him, but she didn't want to be harmed in the process for something she had nothing to do with. "You've given me no reason to want your head, assuming you don't plan to take mine." she said trying to defuse any lethal tention between the two.  

Vaati's airy, cynical laugh sounds out, striking the tone of the conversation perfectly. "If only your leaders thought like you." What his chuckle lacks humour makes up for in true venom. Charon and his daughters had no business meddling in what had occurred between himself and the grayscaled man. It was not their business, plain and simple. A coward, Rannoch was, to hide behind the forces of women and their snippy threats, to hurt to face his attacker like a man. If vengeance was what the man wanted, perhaps he better come get it himself -- or so Vaati believes. However, the matter of Moonspear as a whole was a different subject, a force Vaati had grown to lack patience for thereof.  

Perhaps, they could find some common ground in their general disdain for Moonspear.

The corner of his lip upturns, forming a crooked smile along his features. "If I may be so bold, perhaps you would find yourself more content elsewhere. I have no reason to mark you as one of them -- as one of my enemies -- perhaps we could do better as allies, hm?" He closes some distance between them, prowling forward as the intensity of his offer increases. "You are not their associate, but you could be mine."

It was nice to hear someone laugh and maybe even compliment her for a change. Often times she was the one laugh with no responce, or a responce of distain and annoyance. But this strange occurance was rather comforting. 

His smile and change of tone made her raise her eyebrow, thinking that there must be a punch line to all of this. But she heard him out and found herself agreeing with most of what he had to say. Only she remembered her first run in with this pack and doubted any of the wolves that had run her off would be willing to accept her with open arms. But she really didn't feel welcome back at Moonspear. But when he spoke about not having any reason to label her as an enemy, she wanted to keep it that way and decided not to mention any past runins she might of had. 

Thinking of this as almost a business purposal she though to ask. "That is a very tempting offer, but I have to know what other kinds of wolves consider themselves your associates? Would they be so willing to let me walk among them?" she asked, not wanting a alternate repeat of what was happening to her now.