Heron Lake Plateau The things that you wasted time on

Ever since having been accepted she had kept busy with familiarising herself with the territory. It was pretty big which made her happy since learning the whole expanse had kept her from reminiscing on memories and remembering what had happened only nights before. Now that she had pretty much covered all of it though, it was slowly creeping back.

Her brother: dead. Her sister: missing and probably dead. Ankuusa: They had fought and he had hurt her, abandoned her...all because she was foolish and wanted to continue looking for her sister. All this happened because of her. She had lost everything and gained a pack where the alpha had let it be known her being let in was pretty much a kindness. She wasn't needed and she hadn't met anyone to be friends with yet, so she wasn't wanted either. The loneliness stung at ever part of her being, she had never been alone before.

Cinder had experienced none of the woes that Kaala had - none of the loss, or the pain, and it was because of this that he maintained his bouncy attitude, waltzing around the domain of the redhawks with a goofy smile painted across his youthful face. His tail, a thin silver plume, stuck out at his rear, swaying nonchalantly with each soft step he took. The little Blackthorn was having a rather nice day, to put it simply.

But it was cold.

He saw her only when he was near; his leathery nose had been left unused, and he'd been far too wrapped up in watching the clouds gather and then part like an array of ashen dancers. The stranger's coat reminded him of a forest in autumn, with various shades of wooden brown and the soft orange of leaves. "Hey!" The youngster called out eagerly, increasing his pace in an attempt to catch up to her.

A very young voice startled her out of her thoughts and she paused, looking over her shoulder to see a young boy running after her. He had a energetic look about him, a smiley, silly expression that immediately made her tail wag and her gaze soften as she turned around to face him "Hey kid. Chilly out isn't it?" she asked with a broad smile and did a dramatic shiver, just to goof around. She had no problem being a dork sometimes, making a fool of herself was easy and it made her happy to do so around kids since they normally seemed to get a kick out of it.

Sorry for the crappy post!

Cinder perked at her voice, letting a soft smile sweep over youthful features - it gave him a burst of energy when successfully interacting with those he'd yet to befriend, and it left him feeling gently pleased when meetings offered him some sort of gain; not the selfish gain, but the wonder, the young spirit naturally drawn to things that were new, exciting.

Bonus if they made him cooler.

"Yeah," He returned, tail swaying at his hind. "I'm Cinder, who're you?"

It figured the first friendly face would be a child but she didn't mind, in fact it was probably better that she started off by befriending the kids and then moving on to the adults. If kids liked her than maybe their parents and guardians would approve too. "I'm Kaala. Nice to meet you Cinder. Hey...could you do me a favor? I'm new here, can you show me around, maybe the good hunting spots?" she asked genuinely hoping he would say yes. She couldn't imagine a nicer guide.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kaala," he grinned in response, hopping lightly on his paws - the snow beneath crunched with every step, cystals of white shattering at his idle bouncing. "Uh, of course I can!" A particularly good mood had washed over the blackthorn's head on this day, and the constant movements made his body feel warmer within moments; who knew, moving where it was cold would actually make you warm... crazy, right?

Totally nuts.

"So, like, who've you met so far here?" he enquired, beginning to trot alongside her. Small-talk came easily to young Cinder, and he found striking conversations rather simple - didn't mean they were all interesting conversations, but he was happy to entertain someone's attention for a while. Besides, he enjoyed learning about others.

Wow he was lively. It was kind of Infectuous actually. She found that as she began to walk beside him her mood brightened considerably and the loneliness vanished. It was like he had his own personal bubble of sunshine and happiness and she was included in that as soon as she stepped beside him. She laughed softly as he said that of course he could show her around, which she figured was probably stupid to ask on her part, he did live here after all. Then he asked her who she had met and she hesitated, looking embarrassed. Would he think her some kind of weirdo introvert if she said she had only met three wolves? "Well...uh...I've met Phox and Towhee...and..um..Niamh" she said awkwardly, a visible look of nervousness appearing at the mention of the alpha woman that had literally threatened to tear her apart like a deer carcass if she ever thought about leaving.