Lost Creek Hollow my k key is sticky

Well, fuck. He'd caught a faint trace after all. He wished more than ever that Lexi were here beside him, so that he could slant a glance in her direction just to say I told you so. But the short split had been summarily agreed on, and now he wouldn't be able to say it until they met up again. Which was a shame, but not the end of the world.

He sniffed around the old den site, catching faint whiffs of Terance and many nameless others. As good as it felt to have his hunch confirmed, it seemed he was not all that much closer to seeing his old friend. These scents were deep, but old enough that they didn't seem to lead anywhere. Terance had lived here, but he didn't anymore, and the lighter traces of them actually exiting the territory were now gone, or else too faint for Sloan to detect.

He found an old, musty bone and picked it up, deciding that here was as good a place as anywhere to sit down for a rest. He moved away from the center of the territory and the slowly-decaying scent of Terance and found himself tasting another pack's borders on the breeze. He'd check in there tomorrow, he thought, after he'd had a chance to rest his legs and chew on this nice bone.

There was no hurry, right?

though terance and arbiter had left the hollow in search of more prey, they hadn't gone far. and they wouldn't go any further than they already had, either. the hollow was only a hop skip and a jump away from the bypass where they'd settled, and terance returned that day just... just to return. to recruit, maybe, to see if anyone had shown back up. gannet and mona, mostly, but their scents were not present anywhere in the territory, and there wasn't any prey either. so, nothing had changed. he didn't know what he'd expected -- it hadn't been that long since they'd moved.

a scent crossed his path as he was working on turning to make the trek back home... one that struck him as familiar -- but... why? he couldn't pinpoint who it was, or where he knew it from, but terance was certain he recognized it. he padded after it, ears pricked and head low to the ground as he followed along... soon coming across... whoa.

the stone stood upright, ears cupping forwards, nose still twitching. sloan? he barked, surprise written across his features.

The bone was occupying most of the male's attention; he wasn't starving or anything, but he was hungry enough that chewing on something had thoroughly engaged him, even if there wasn't anything on the bone he could actually eat. His head was twisted to the side to get the best angle when he heard someone call out to him — and instantly, his posture stiffened, hind legs straightening to pull his haunches off the ground even as he remained crouched over his prize, trying to scrape away the not-so-tastey morsel he'd been working on for the past several minutes.

His eyes lifted along with his hackles, and he gave a growl of warning as he spotted the bone-stealing son-of-a-bitch who'd been trying to sneak up on him. "Grrrerk?" he choked, failing to correctly pronounce his friend's name with his jaws still clamped possessively over the bone. He blinked once and straightened as well, lapping up a dribble of saliva that beaded from his jaws. "Terance!" he called with a bark of laughter. "Goddamn. It's been a while, huh?"

And because it had been quite some time, his steps were carefully measured as he strode toward his old friend, his mien as amicable as ever, but a certain wariness to his stance. "How the hell are you?" he asked as he drew nearer, still trying to gauge his reception.

it has! mused terance with a bit of a chuckle. he too held that same bit of caution, though his typical lack of guard around those he knew tended to wane some of his misgivings. if sloan remembered him, there was certainly no foul play involved -- right? 

when sloan paused a bit before him, asking a question, terance gave a heavy shrug paired with a sly grin of his own. good, all things considered, he answered earnestly, not feeling to need to fluff up his life to an old friend, i used to lead a pack in this territory with my wife, arbiter, but we've moved north in search of more abundant prey. working on the reconstruction of that. that about summed it up. they could get into kids and ex wives and otherwise later. 

what about you? the stone asked with a tilt of his head, how've you been? where's lexi?

After a few moments of curious wariness, Sloan decided that Terance was a friendly as ever, even if he was a bit more guarded than before. That seemed par for the course when meeting up after a long absence, however, so he didn't think much of it and deigned to be the first to drop his guard.

"Wife, huh?" he asked with a leer that was all for show. He dropped that a moment later, too, and offered a hearty, "Well, congradulations." The news about the move was noted with quiet attentiveness, as was the name of said wife and the reasons for the move. It might sound like idle catching up, but Sloan was of the opinion that anything might end up being important, sooner or later. It was better to pay attention the first time around.

"We split up a ways back -- she'll be sore as hell when she realizes I picked the right direction," he said with a wag of his tail. "But I've got plenty of time before I have to go and find her. We're doing well. We actually came out this way hoping to see you again. Just felt like time to get out there and see what there is to see."

terance chuckled. thanks, i'm more her husband than she is my wife -- he grinned, eyeing her with a wave of his tail, she knows that too. arbiter was loyal, of course, and whatever connection they shared was strong. but terance knew better than to think arbiter would ever belong to anyone except herself.

they came out here to see him?? terance's ears flicked in genuine surprise as sloan spoke, but he only grinned. well! come back to our pack with me, i can introduce you to the family. hopefully lexi catches wind of her mistake and comes back around this way. the offer was plain as day, and terance wanted nothing more than to spend more time with his friend... and if they were out here looking for him...?

sorry for the delay ): <3