Moonsong Glacier i'll just cut my losses

backdated for the 7th! for @Ariadne <3

Peregrine wasn't entirely sure why he was still here after that... dream. Experience. He still wasn't sure what to call it. He'd made himself a temporary home out of an old, long-dead log where the snow couldn't reach, and he'd slept there with the promise to himself that he would leave for the caldera tomorrow.
Now, it was tomorrow. And he was still sitting around like a royal dumbass.
Why was he so apprehensive? Why had he done this to himself? He should just go back to dad, go sit around in the swamp with Towhee and Meerkat, and yet he hadn't. He didn't. Why did the stupid caldera matter so much to him anyways if no one he knew was there anymore? What if —
This was stupid, all of it; whatever. He resigns to hoisting himself out into the frost and begins to hike down the side of the mountain.

Thank you again for starting! <3

There was another unfamiliar face within village Moonsong. Ariadne had been watching his descent down the mountainside curiously, trying to place a name to his face, but she always came up short. Somehow, he was familiar, but she didn’t know why.

Maybe, should she learn who his father was, she would remember the man Phox who had helped her build village Moontide’s altar.

When he was closer to the bottom, she chuffed, hoping to both catch his attention and be quiet enough not to cause any snowfall.

There is a girl.
Oh, poor, foolish Peregrine, never immune to his vices — the primary two? Drugs and pretty girls. His head draws up as the patter of paws registers and the scent is met with a face.
Oh, hey there, his ears smooth into a soft prick as his steps come to a halt. I'm not intruding, am I? the scents around told him that he may have been. Not that he particularly cared.

You are, Ariadne answered, studying Peregrine, But it is not an issue right now. My village is small, and our claim is not fully established. She felt no shame in admitting this; there was no reason for her to lie and embellish the truth.

She stepped towards him, her casted leg swinging wide as she moved. What are you doing here? She asked, her tone curious and non-accusatory.

so he was trespassing. oh. the pack is small and obviously not well established yet. now he just felt kind of weird. his ears pan outward in a display of something along the lines of remorse. sorry about that.
and now came the classic question from strangers; what are you doing here? what are you doing with your life, peregrine? why are you such a fucking bum? wandering. stalling. my dad, um, i found out my dad has replaced me with someone else's family. so i don't really have anywhere to go. he tries not to think of how happy he had been to see him.
had he hands, he would have pulled a fresh cigarette from his half-crushed pack of newports and lit it with the practiced stroke of a lighter. sorry, um, i'm peregrine.

Ariadne felt the many burdens stacked upon Peregrine's shoulders and offered a sympathetic smile. It is okay, she assured him, There is no need to apologize, Peregrine. It is nice to meet you. Oh, how she wanted to hug him! He looked so sad! But she refrained.

If you need a place, there is always room in village Moonsong for you, she offered, knowing that they could use all the help they could get. Like I said, we are a small bunch but grow by the day. We have plenty of food and furs to accommodate you as well.

that's awful nice of you, much too nice for him. too nice to him. he did not deserve this, this graciousness that came in the form of such a polite, pretty girl.
he instinctively draws himself back. i've gotta, um... i'm gonna go to redhawk caldera. brecheliant. see if anyone i used to know is still there. i used to live there when i was a kid. the hard set of his face softens at thee thought, at the hope. but i'll come back to visit you, yeah? because she certainly did not want him to live here, not with his — himself. not with the laundry list of baggage that came with his mere presence.
i never got your name. or do i just call you, like, pretty moon-girl? even he could not tell whether or not he was flirting with her.

He backtracked, listing the places he needed to visit, and she nodded. I understand, she replied. I was in a similar situation when I returned to the area—my family has several claims that I needed to visit.

She was flattered by him, and it showed in her expression. She smiled softly, tail swaying and eyes warm as she regarded him. It is Ariadne, she answered, And what is yours?

oh, tell me about it, peregrine sneers. my family is so all over the place. there's like, fifty of us, just floating around the wilds. i don't even know most of them. but i know they exist. he wasn't sure they thought the same of him.
ariadne. he repeats it to himself a few times before he says it back to her in confidence. does it mean anything? he asks. i was named after my grandfather. who was named after a type of bird. i think.

Fifty?! she gawked, taking his words a little too literally. Aya—I thought my family was big! She laughed, unable to imagine having such a large family.

When asked about the meaning of her name, she shook her head. I do not think it has a meaning, she said. But yours! I like it very much! Very strong, and family names are very nice.

the redhawk found himself amused by her naïveté. i'm sure there'll be even more of us in the spring. hopefully not sown from his seed, so long as he could keep himself out of trouble.
most of my family have... bird names, he drawls, dragging his nails in a soft motion. the snow came away in divots. for some reason. i don't know who came up with that.
so, he did not want to think of his family anymore. what he wanted was to hear the lilted voice, to know more of this place — to pretend, for a moment, that he could belong somewhere. what's, um, moonsong all about? like, what do you do all day? a pause, followed by the curl of his lip in the form of a smirk. and why live on a glacier?

Oh, same here, she agreed regarding springtime. And maybe we will catch up with your family! She laughed again, unable to help herself; fifty! Such a big number! And they were all named after birds? She didn't know if she could name fifty birds!

When asked about the day-to-day life of her village, she thought about it for a moment. I think we are like most other villages—we hunt, we tend to our own, and we trade with other villages in the area, which, admittedly, she needed to step up her game with this; the other moon villages had been generous, and she had yet to repay the favor. I choose to live here because, in my culture, we have a goddess named Sedna, and she rests in glaciers when the nights grow long. It is said to be good luck to live near one.

a goddess. sedna. ah, so she was religious. he could be cool with that, totally.
that's cool, he nods nonchalantly. i don't know if i'm too good at all that, um. stuff. i've never really been in a pack. not as an adult. not for lack of trying or lack of desire. none had ever taken to him, nor he to them. he hoped that would change with the caldera.
y'think sedna will bless my path once i leave here? more than likely, she would curse it. knowing him.

That is okay, she replied regarding his lack of experience. We all have to start from somewhere—nobody was ever born an expert. At least, that was her belief; things took time and effort. 

When asked about Sedna, she nodded. I will pray for you when I return to my altar to aid in your luck with your travels and family, she promised, and it was exactly what he did when he left shortly after their conversation had ended.