Jade Fern Grove Just ignore him, that's what I do.

It had rained earlier. Like an hour ago earlier. It was near midnight, maybe a little while after, but he'd headed out at about dusk, just doing a little bit of adventuring nearby in hopes of finding some nice treasures or something. Or a sign of Pike, that'd also be nice. But maybe his brother had just gone back to that other pack or something. Maybe he forgot something. Spook could understand that.

Either way, the quiet dripping of water off the leaves of the trees and onto the forest floor below felt deafening -- it wasn't really, but the cloudy sky darkened everything and the smart creatures were tucked places dry and warm. Maybe he'd find some other random wolf out here -- maybe someone friendly, but he wasn't too keen on going too far south, just in case. Most of what his nose was picking up was the smell of wet dirt, so it wasn't a particularly lively night out here... He kept going.

The clouds had been hiding the stars from Yllka since she had arrived in the Teekon Wilds. Only on occasion did she see the heavenly lights peek through the gloom and grey of the clods. It had left Yllka wondering if she had made the right choice in leaving home and coming to the Wilds. The stars had seemed so distant since her arrival, and the skies felt almost unwelcoming. She had tried not to think about it, but she felt discouraged. And homesick. She knew, however, to return home would likely result in her death or—if she was lucky—banishment. 

No, there was no returning home. And in that thought she realized that the stars couldn't have misguided her. This was where she was meant to be. 

A small break in the clouds passed overhead and through the trees, Yllka could see a small section of the starry symphony that lit the skies beyond the clouds. It was her only reassurance that she made the right decision to come to this place.

The ebbing tide of loneliness, however, made her aware of the necessity of a pack, a place to call home. It was summertime and the need for a pack wasn’t as dire had she come in the winter, but there was an emotional need for a pack. One that she realized, here in the middle of the night, was stronger than any other need.

It was decided then that she would begin her search for a pack. She would be slow and consider her options, too. She would learn what she could about the packs of the Teekon Wilds and find the one that suited her best.

She nodded with silent resolution before a scent came through the damp. The large wolfess rose from the makeshift bed she had made in the fronds. She didn’t consider that perhaps she looked more like a large, pale ghost rising from the ground.

“Hello,” the she-wolf greeted.

But he wasn't alone, was he? He was just creeping along, pausing half a second and looking far ahead, thinking he heard something (it was just more drips), and hadn't spotted a lighter shadow than usual.

Size wasn't really an issue to the youngster. His mother was large, and Spook himself had grown particularly tall -- he just lacked the mass of a warrior, still leaving him looking more like a gangling youth than an adult. So when the pale figure moved, his first thought was of his mother -- that she had for some bizarre reason stationed herself out here to freak him out or something -- but though it did startle him, it became quickly clear this was some stranger. Maybe that was a good thing. Arbiter had been super grumpy, so he was totally ok just checking in on her and then going off to do his own thing, it made him feel more responsible about things.

He did his best to let the fur that had instantly pricked up along his spine smooth out again. Her greeting had seemed friendly, but Spook was, well, Spook. He pulled together his thoughts, trying to totally pretend that he hadn't jumped a little, Oh! Um. Hi! Uh. What're you doing out here? He was not very good at the whole conversation thing still.

Yllka hadn't meant to startle the newcomer, but it seemed she had—a little, anyway. The wolf recovered quickly enough, though he seemed a little embarrassed by his reaction. The pale wolfess smiled kindly in hopes of setting him a little more at ease.

When he asked her what she was doing, she actually had to pause for a moment. She was going to say “settling in for the night,” but she has settled hours ago. And she certainly hadn't been sleeping or even trying to sleep.

“I've been trying to watch for the stars,” she said at last.

The grove wasn't ideal with all the trees, but she had found the perfect spot where she could see the stars through the trees, if only the clouds would clear away. But she knew that wasn't likely to happen.

“How long does it rain in the summer here?” she inquired. “Do you know?”

You could practically see the cogs turning as he replied, Stars? and looked up, trying to see any through the trees and clouds. Terance. But past that first click of memory, he was slightly harder to read. Not because of trying to make it so, but more because the muddle his mind had turned into -- sadness, wondering if he should think about it more, a few other mixed bag things but none were joy. Okay, there was a little bit of wanting to hide it all too, but he wasn't as much of an expert at it as his mother.

There was a slight shake of his head as he looked back down to her, trying to box everything up for later. Uhh. Enough? I mean, uh. I hadn't thought much about it. A couple times a week sometimes? Maybe? I dunno. I was small. Stuff a year ago was blurry in his memory and now dominated by thoughts of his father. Late night trips when he couldn't sleep. Like now, kind of, but this time alone. It only amplified the thought that he hadn't done enough and even here might be useless, gaze dropping, Sorry. I didn't pay much attention then. And now he wish he had, for other reasons.

Yllka nodded in silent reply to his query and joined him in looking skyward. She didn't notice the shift of his mood, the reflection of sadness on his face. She was searching for that break in the clouds that she hoped would come again.

She only returned to look at him when he answered her question about the weather. And there was something that had seemed to have changed, but she only assumed it was because he felt embarrassed again. Yllka offered him another smile of encouragement.

“That's alright. It isn't particularly an important thing anyway. I was just wondering.” She paused for a moment. “It's just a little different from where I come. It's not so rainy there yet. At least, it wouldn't usually be.

“I'm guessing you're from here?” she quipped casually.

He thought this was gonna all be about stars, so he was caught a little off-guard, but was able to not look too much of a fool for the few seconds it took him to reply, Yeah, uh. I was born... not too far from here I guess, really. In a different forest. But my family lives kinda north of here now. In like.. a valley thing. Was that a good enough description of the bypass? Probably. It wasn't a pure forest at least. But why did she ask? Are you lost or something? That did sound a little childlike but he couldn't think of a better reason or really much of a way to save his ability to look cool. Spook being cool was pretty much an impossibility anyway.

He looped back to the earlier topic, Why were you looking at the stars? Look, the youth couldn't help himself, it was like a magnet. Going past it would be less painful but he just couldn't let it go. Not that easily at least. He still hadn't worked through his thoughts about his father entirely, so that was likely why. It wasn't quite a big red button that was tempting him to push it, but it was pretty close.

The she-wolf smiled again. She decided that she liked this wolf. He seemed sweet despite his own uncertainty. He was still very much a pup in a way, it seemed. Still awkward and unsure. It was endearing.

“No,” she replied thoughtfully to his question. “Not lost. Just searching for a new home. ”

When he asked about the stars, Yllka wondered if the wolves in these parts practiced astrolatry. But considering the wolf was asking, Yllka assumed that the answer was likely no. Even so…

“I was looking for guidance,” she told him. 

“You see, I followed the stars from my home and they brought me here. But I was having doubts because—well, I felt like the stars had abandoned me. So I thought maybe that I came to the wrong place. It seems, though, that I am where I am meant to be.”

She was looking for a new home?  Oh. The expression was somewhere between a question and a statement. But he didn't say more than that right now. She seemed nice. He could invite her back to the Bypass maybe, but how did one actually end up doing that? Look, he didn't think his plans all the way through really pretty much ever, mostly due to inexperience and a general lack of knowledge about how much planning was sometimes required.

For that brief moment, Spook brightened. My dad knew stuff about the stars too. I'd go look at them with him sometimes, he knew all the constellations stories and stuff. But.. He trailed off there, expression falling as well. There was no good way to continue the answer. He was gone, dead, no longer here. It was sad. And there was nothing that could be done about it now. His mouth had hung open a moment, and then he closed it, ears tipping back again. He probably should just not say anything. He'd know for the future. Memories.

The tone in which he mumbled his oh seemed intermingled with curiosity or intrigue. And there was a shadow of curiosity written on his face, but nothing beyond that. It seemed a reasonable reaction and Yllka hadn't really been expecting anything from the other wolf. She was inexperienced in pack joining. Her whole life had been a series of inexperiences up until she had left her former pack. Now, she was living. She had the opportunity to live and do what she wanted to do, even if she was terrible at it. She had the opportunity to try.

The other wolf seemed livelier as he spoke of his time looking at the stars with his father. It made Yllka smile and reminded her of her own time learning about the stars with her parents. Of course, they partially expected the knowledge to just be in her. She sighed at the thought. She hadn't really noticed that she tied her sigh in perfectly a little after the younger wolf’s words had trailed off.

She looked at the wolf and then heavenward again. 

“I used to look at the stars with my father, too,” she empathized. Of course, it seemed their situations were a little different. The way this wolf formed his words, his tone, and his overall body language seemed to denote that his father wasn't there anymore.

She couldn't help but internalize and wonder if she had caused her family the same kind of pain that this wolf's father had caused him. But it was too late to say goodbye, to do things properly.

“If you're ever curious to know more about the stars, I'd be happy to share with you what I know ,” she offered. It was well-meant, but she would have understood if the wolf declined her offer.

“I'm Yllka, by the way.”

He followed her glance up again. Spook's own train of thought had done a good job at shortening every sentence he was going to speak. His reply was kind of quiet, maybe thoughtful or just careful for whatever reason, That would be kind of cool I think. A brief pause, before he added, Are you going to be staying around here then? Because there was kind of that obvious issue that if she was going to teach him anything, she would either have to A, be planning to stick around, or B, do so quickly before wandering off. Maybe that change was just due to the fact he wasn't exactly one who was used to getting much of what he wanted -- not out of any malice, but more because he was not pushy at all. I'm Spook.

Even though he promised his mom he'd look out for people, he hadn't actually dragged one home with him yet. If he could figure out how to actually offer her a place to stay, would Arbiter really be okay with it? Well, he assumed she knew all the normal stuff so she wouldn't be like a bad thing, right? He could ask if it came to that.

Yllka’s golden eyes returned to the young wolf. His acceptance of her offer to teach him about the stars made her smile. It had been some time since she had been able to share her knowledge of the stars with someone. Or simply just share the pleasure of looking at the stars with another. Stargazing in itself was a happy pastime for the wolfess, but to gaze with another was always more enjoyable.

She giggled at his query. “Yes,” she answered, “I am planning on staying around here.

“Hopefully, at some point, I’ll find a pack that will have me. Though, to be honest, I don’t know how to do much else beyond reading the stars. I… wasn’t allowed to do much in my previous pack,” she admitted lamely. “I’m worried that my lack of skills will make it harder for me…”

The she-wolf appeared thoughtful as her voice trailed off. Perhaps that was another reason she needed to be more proactive about finding a pack. It might take longer for her to find a pack that would accept her into its ranks. She was a terrible hunter, even with small game. Though she had, admittedly, not starved out here on her own, which was a feat in itself. She had learned a little, but to have a mentor or teacher of some kind… That would be nice…

Okay, so one thing at least partially solved. Spook was busily trying to think of how to make his suggestion when she spoke again. Oh, okay. Problem. Well, would there be a way to fudge things? He tried to think of something that would make her not ask so many questions... It didn't leave too many options. Well, umm. Do you know any like.. healing stuff? I know my mom keeps trying to find someone who knows that stuff. And one of my friends wants to learn it. I mostly just try to hunt stuff, so I can't help there. He had no idea how people normally overlapped things, just that Arbiter put hunting and fighting in the box of necessary skills and anything else beyond that was either a bonus or silly depending on what it was.

He still hadn't entirely figured that she might not actually know ho to hunt or whatever, just figured she was maybe about as good at it as he was (in other words, not superb, and still involving a lot of trial and error for stuff beyond the norm). Sure, he was doing better, but his lack of ego wasn't going to allow him to claim to be super duper proficient at anything.

She hadn’t really been hoping. At least, she thought she hadn’t been, but she had. Maybe she was hoping Spook could help her. And it did seem like he was trying. Her nose wrinkled and she winced a little as she replied, “I know a little, but… not a lot.” She knew what kind of grass to eat when her stomach was upset. She knew certain plants to avoid, but that wasn’t extensive knowledge. And it certainly wasn’t healing… Just cures for minor ailments and common knowledge, really.

“Hunting’s a useful skill to know though,” she murmured with a small, encouraging wag of her tail. “Everything I’ve learned about hunting is what I’ve learned on my own.” She hadn’t even thought to keep that information a secret, but Yllka wasn’t really in the habit of lying or keeping secrets.

Well, not really…

She had known she wasn’t a star reborn. That wasn’t terribly hard to figure out. She never felt like—well, what she imagined a reborn star would feel like. And, of course, she’d kept that truth a secret. It was a matter of life and death! 

This… her usefulness to a pack… it was also a matter of life and death, wasn’t it? “I could find a way to learn more about medicinal plants,” she offered, though she had no idea how she was going to manage that. Trial and error? One wrong move and she could wind up dead or, at least, deathly ill from eating the wrong kind of plant...

That wasn't the answer he wanted. Oh. His ears tilted sideways a little. And what she said, did that mean she really wasn't great at hunting? Like at all? And not good at healing.. So.. What did that leave? He wasn't sure. There had to be some way... He just wasn't seeing it yet. Unless he either hoped Arbiter didn't ask or outright lies were involved. How badly would that go? Probably very. He was gonna guess very.

At her offer to figure it out, he shrugged, It doesn't seem like it'd be something easy to figure out on your own, but maybe I'm wrong. He looped back to what she said earlier, But like.. do you really mean you didn't really get taught to hunt? That seems really weird. Then, realizing how that might sound, backtracked hastily, Um! I mean, my mom pretty much just made sure we knew how to hunt and to fight -- and I'm not good at that but..  Uh. Sorry! His ears flattened on his skull a moment. He was hoping he didn't horribly offend Yllka or anything!

As much as she wanted it, she was beginning to see that perhaps she didn't pass muster for the pack from which Spook hailed. She had feared this would likely be the case, but it was definitely confirmed now. She hadn't any useful skills. Not even hunting. She sighed. Things certainly weren't looking to be in her favor.

Another heavy sigh was her muted confirmation to his question about hunting. “It's okay,” she assured him. “My old pack… they had some strange ideas about who I was…” She hesitated to explain, but it was the only way to give the wolf any insight to why she was without much skills. “They thought I was a star. Like a literal star that had been reborn… And my family pack—we worshipped the stars, so they thought I was like a”—this all sounded even more ridiculous than it had in her head—“a god.”

She gave him a look that showed she knew how ridiculous the whole thing was. “I wasn't really allowed to do much of anything. Every time I tried, I was told that it wasn't fitting for me to do it, even though I wanted to. The only thing I was allowed to learn was about the stars. They thought it would ‘jog my memory’ of my life when I was a star.”

He stared at her owlishly as she told her story. Blink. Blink. Okay yeah that's pretty weird. I mean I heard people saying stars could represent people that weren't around any more but not like.. the other way around. Or at least, gonna assume that was said because Reasons. Well, that and more abstract stories. Not anyone who was totally wandering around normally, for sure. How was that all like.. supposed to work? The idea of a ghost or spirit or something made sense to him, but a god or people being reincarnated from various things seemed kind of outlandish to him. Then again, the world was a pretty bizarre place in the first place.

But what did that mean for her in the long term? Yllka was just out here all on her own and she didn't know what to do or how to hunt or stuff? And.. What are you gonna do then? If Terance was still around, he was sure that he'd totally let her join the pack if she promised to learn stuff, but his mother would be far less forgiving -- and probably that Kaertok dude too. And he wasn't sure lying about it would work very well either.

The bicolored wolf's reaction was about what Yllka had predicted. She had been away from her family pack long enough to realize that their ways were… odd. Removing herself from them had really put it all into perspective. And while she still looked to the stars for answers and direction when she had none, she didn't know if her faith in them was the same. Something had shifted after she had left Oneiropolus. 

His question gave her pause. What had her former pack expected from her, truly? Knowledge? Wisdom? Blessings? Ascension? I think they expected me to enlighten them… To give them knowledge beyond worldly understanding. To tell them the secrets of the universe, she answered thoughtfully. Considering everything about them, that made the most sense.

There was a strange guilt that affected her. She hadn't been able to do any of those things. She hadn't imparted any knowledge on them that they didn't know. She had been a fraud. Not wittingly, really, though towards the end she had been… Another small sigh.

I suppose I shall look for a pack that will accept a wolf like me. A relatively useless wolf, who cannot hunt and only understands how to read the stars. 

Her smile was thin and slightly pained by the reality of her situation. She could only hope that she could find such a pack.

@Warlock

It just seemed kinda backwards to Spook. But then again, he hadn't particularly nailed down his thoughts on the matter.. Maybe he should think about it, but stars turning into people just seemed not quite right at all. They should have at least let you do other stuff. I dunno, I would have probably made up stuff if they were just like.. waiting. Spook was one that would easily buckle under pressure, ok? At least he was being honest.

It was a little frustrating to him but he wasn't seeing a quick solution, and again the youth frowned. Well, if you need help you know kinda where I am I guess? Or like if you think of something that'd impress my mom if you wanted to stay.. I don't really know about other packs and stuff -- other than Ursus is apparently full of freaky people and if you run into them you should just leave, trust me. He'd heard nothing good about them, so he'd warn the people that seemed nice. he kind of understood why it was that his mom had some requirements for the pack -- they couldn't just let anyone in if they weren't going to help the pack in some way. Some way, and Yllka had made it sound like she wasn't confident she knew anything that would please the wolf who very well fit her name.