Blackfoot Forest that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately;

this place... it had not changed. but he had.

it was no longer the soft, spineless aaron who wandered into the teekon wilds-- no. this was tantalus. tantalus was not the same wolf. a woman would not cheat on tantalus, ever, for any reason. a man would not come and steal from him what he'd worked so hard to build up. it would not work like that, it simply wouldn't. tantalus was a different wolf. 

and so he acted like one. 

he stepped carefully through the underbrush, it was the same as when he'd owned this forest. unruly, like his subordinates. that would change this go around. they would know that he was in charge, not to be messed with, not to be challenged. to be respected. his silver-blue gaze narrowed forward as he walked, large paws crushing the earth beneath them. despite all that had transpired here, tantalus thought, it was good to be back.

but this would not be where he settled, not this time. you can't have a fresh start on the same, tainted lands. this was merely a pitstop, a passing through. just to remind the forest that it had missed out on the most valuable prize-- him.

After the clusterfuck that was her family at Redhawk Caldera, Cyclone had gotten out of there quicker than... well, let's just say she got out of there. She crisscrossed and backtracked, waded across icy waters, and then she circled around a few times. If Fern still managed to find her... well, Cyclone would continue to chase her off. She was done being babysat by some stupid sibling who wanted to ruin everything for her.

These thoughts and others were swirling around in her head when she spotted a rather pretty boy up ahead. Well, what good luck! Cyclone straightened her posture, put on her sweetest face, and trotted over to him like he was the first boy she'd ever seen in her entire life. "Hello!" she greeted in a chipper tone, taking a slightly more discreet approach than usual. Maybe going about it this way would keep Fern off her tail... even though that made no logical sense.

as he walked, inner monologue of sorrowful, bitter sulking running on full blast in his ears-- tantalus found himself interrupted. how rude. his gaze turned, head remaining forward, to see the dark figure of a female. deciding she was pleasant enough on the eyes, tantalus turned to give her his full attention. he smiled, lips upturned as he gazed upon her favorably. though, he must admit, she was a bit forward, but perhaps it was a small slip up-- tantalus knew better than to hold that against her. 

"hello," he replied, giving himself a moment to clear his throat. his trek stopped entirely, and he stood tall before the white-footed female with interest. "do you live here?" he asked her, though she didn't smell like foxes-- so he highly doubted it.

Usually, it was Cyclone giving the ol' up-and-down looks, but she was surprised to find that he was looking her over this time. Well wasn't that a change! She could definitely get used to that kind of attention. He asked if she lived here, and she blinked, then shook her head. "Sure don't. I'm guessing that means you don't live here either." She could have phrased it as a question, but Cyclone thought that would have made her look stupid. And, okay, maybe she was kinda stupid, but he didn't need to know that.

"I'm Neasa Blackthorn, but everybody calls me Cyclone." Definitely no reason for that nickname, nope! It wasn't like she went around causing havoc everywhere she went. That was definitely not where that nickname came from. Not at all.

his nose twitched as she spoke. she'd stood there flapping her lips for so long(a true measure of his attention span and patience, for she said only two sentences to him) he'd actually had time to process her scent-- it was from the caldera. it was a scent he'd had a while ago as well, so it was easily recognizable to him. his tail held still, even as her friendly tone persisted. "cyclone is unique," he replied with a small dip of his head and a gracious smile-- though tantalus had not meant it so much as a compliment, merely presented it as such, "my name is tantalus." but how hypocritical of him to think that about her name, when his name bordered with that of a tarantula. no matter.

"will you walk with me, cyclone? i am traveling, and i must make good time, but i believe i would enjoy your company-- you seem to have much to tell," he said, and then began to move forward, fully assuming that she would follow with him-- because who wouldn't?

Oooo... he wanted her to walk with him! How fancy! Not only that, but he'd complimented(?) her name. Tantalus also talked in this super fancy way, and Cyclone was immediately drawn to it. In fact, she felt like a goddamn princess around him. A chaste one, at that. Bizarre. Maybe he just had that effect on the ladies. All at once, she wanted so bad to mimic his speech patterns, and she locked right on to that idea, wanting nothing more than to make him like her.

"That sounds delightful!" she replied with a girlish giggle. Maybe this was how she was finally going to make it to pound town! Er... she meant... court a lover. She fell into line, letting him take the conversation wherever he liked. Even if Fern did decide to ruin her plans, Cyclone had a good feeling that with Tantalus on her side, Fern wouldn't be able to touch her with a single toenail.

easy-- as always-- and tantalus made the assumption that everything about this girl would be just that. she inserted herself in at his side, mimicking his dialect-- though tan didn't quite catch on to that, since it was subtle in this instance. his sterling gaze swept onto her, searching that dark face. a few ideas swam to his mind-- for convince sake, for one, but he kept himself quiet and collected on those matters... for now.

"tell me about yourself, cyclone, you have me intrigued," he said to her, gaze returning back to the path before them. she had his attention, his ears angled towards her, but she didn't get the privilege of his gaze.

Oh jeez. The whole "let's talk about you" thing was never really her forte. Her past was about as wild as her name; it usually involved a heck ton of chaos. Perhaps she could water it down and make it sound like she was always the one in the right. Yeah... that was a good idea. This plan definitely wouldn't go sour. Okay, okay, she could do this. Neasa Blackthorn was smart (lie) and she could do this (probably another lie).

"I grew up amongst a large clan of siblings. They are all charming, but I found myself inspired to start a life of my own. I'm sure you can understand that last part, yes?" she asked, flashing him a demure glance. Surely he wasn't out here without a pack because he was kicked out of one. Cyclone was out here due to her own volition, and anybody refuting that could go suck an egg.

"mmm," hummed the man as she finished, a vague agreement. he felt perhaps she should've just waited and found herself a husband, that might've been a better life for her, but he would give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that's what she meant by start a life of her own. with someone else. 

"i am starting my own pack-- restarting it, per say. sounds like a good opportunity for you to begin a new life, hm?" he offered casually, glancing to her with a soft gaze, "if you are interested, anyway." he was going to be there, so that was persuasion enough, he'd see if she was truly interested or not.

It was as if the gods above had guided her directly to the right wolf. He was starting a pack, and here she was, ready to breathe life anew. The timing could not have been better, and perhaps it would give her a way to avoid Fern. It wasn't like Fern would approve of something like this, but hopefully, she had decided to give up on her little sister, just like she had declared.

"You really want me to be part of it?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him all innocent-like. "It's just such an honor." Okay, so she knew next to nothing about this guy, but how bad could he really be? Besides, he was single, and she assumed he'd be ready to mingle sooner or later.

the man merely shrugged. "and i would be honored to have you join me. but we have much distance to cover before we settle," he told her gently, taking in a breath of air to take in their surroundings. still nothing worth worrying about. his ears flicked forward, his gaze falling down towards her once more. "again, only if you would like. i'm moving west," he added. that was important-- in case they split up. aaron was set on defending the lady-- if she would devote herself to him, then it would be up to him to protect her. but he wouldn't force her to stay with him-- if she had places to be he would let her free, so long as she met back up with him later, she'd stay in his favor.

West. That was... that way, right? Whatever, Cyclone would figure it out. This guy seemed cute and cool and all badass with his new pack an' shit. "I would like," she replied with a grin. "In fact, why don't I just stick near you? I've never been terribly good with directions." Yes, yes, let him do all the work, and she would follow behind. Make herself look helpless. What did she have to lose?

She quirked a brow, then offered to let him lead the way. Tantalus seemed to have some notion of where they were going, and she was happy to play the dumb follower.