Golden Glade papercut

AW but maybe @Towhee?

Pippin had more or less blocked many of his memories from the Teekon Wilds – of course, there were things he could never erase and had learned to live with instead, but his travels in the various valleys remained a blur to him. The forest his heavy paws swept through now did little to incite nostalgia, and so he could only assume he had not been this far south of the mountains. If, then, he was correct, it meant Lost Creek Hollow was much further north.
 
His amber gaze set off in the distance toward his birth home, his features marred by a frown. The rustling of the brush caused his muzzle to snap forward, his molten eyes hardening as he tried to determine what the cause had been – but a mouse soon escaped from its confines, stopping as it’s nose tipped upward to twitch in the air, scenting him just moments before it seen him.
 
It was a silent stare down – one that stirred a sense of loneliness in the agouti lone wolf. Was this his life now? Having staring contests with mice as they tried to determine if he was worth being wary of? It was insulting, almost, and his lips wrinkled back to expose his fangs before he snapped them at the direction of the little creature, causing it to squeal and twist, racing away from him.
 
That hadn’t been as satisfying as he would have hoped.

With a large wolf pack in residence, there wasn't much large game to be found on the plateau itself, meaning that proper hunts would have to take place in the surrounding territories. Although she was no expert, Towhee decided to explore the terrain immediately adjacent to the plateau in order to find the best hunting grounds. She started by dropping into the forest directly beneath its southeastern slopes.

Instead of a juicy herd of deer, Towhee stumbled across a wolf and a mouse. She stopped short as she watched the stranger snap at the rodent, which skittered directly toward her. Before it could realize its mistake, the she-wolf automatically shot out a paw and smashed it to the ground. When she lifted her foot, some of its insides stuck to her foot like glue.

She wrinkled her nose even as she looked warily at the willowy stranger. "Was this yours?" Towhee asked dryly even as she internally assessed him, muscles tensing in case any rapid movements because necessary.

His eyes coldly watched the creature flee, only to see the smash of a dark paw before even realizing another had come so close to him. His molten eyes shot upward, catching the mess of mouse remains on her paw and quirking a lip in mild distaste. He studied her – cloaked in a pelt of ebony, though streaks of ivory and rust wove its way through her fur.
 
He blinked as she questioned him – the question holding a certain lilt in its tone that he did not grasp yet before tilting his muzzle, his tongue smoothing across his inked lips as he waited her reaction to his presence at all. “Not anymore,” he shot back, lifting his brows up as he nodded toward the state of her paw. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen someone thunder smash a mouse like that, though.”

Her head tipped at his remark, wondering if she'd read his lips correctly. "Thunder smash?" she parroted back. "I'm going to have to steal that," Towhee mused with a lash of her tail. Her muscles relaxed slightly, though there was still a wariness in both her expression and posture as she gazed at the stranger. She felt a little territorial about this stretch of woods, though she checked herself; although the Redhawks would use these hunting grounds, they weren't part of their formal claim. The odd passerby wouldn't really impact their prey base, in any case.

Still, he was an outsider getting quite close to the plateau, so she thought it fair to warn him, "We've just taken up residence on the plateau, so tread carefully." Towhee paused a beat, wondering if she necessarily wanted to engage with him, especially when she had work to do. She then asked, "Have you seen much large game in the area? Assuming you've been meandering about in here." She gestured vaguely at the surrounding woods.