Blacktail Deer Plateau Saying Hello

Apologies for such a long post - thought it might be good way for them to get to know each other better!

Pema asked if they might move again, to which Kieran responded with a small shrug. "Probably. Perhaps we'll even go back to the Cuesta." Maybe not, but there was always a chance. The boy almost missed it, along with that hill he'd used to... bury food for those who had passed. A sort of ritual thing, perhaps, but Kieran merely wanted to continue hunting for his lost ones, sharing his achievements with them. They were still his friends and family, and although they were not on this world anymore, were they truly ever gone?

So Pema had not been born here like he had. The young hunter glanced at her, listening to her brief explanation of how she came to Morningside. He nodded along, but then came the question that made him bite the inside of his cheek. He hadn't spoken of his past out loud, to anyone else.... ever? He could not remember a time where he had. The only one he'd talked about with such a thing was Hawthorn, but Hawthorn was gone. Would he be able to speak about it without letting a tear fall? Hopefully. Or, he was going to try. Perhaps to get it out might help him, daunting as it may seem. "No. Well... it's... it's a long story." But they had no better way to spend their time while they tracked these rabbits, did they? "I guess I'll tell you, if you don't mind?" Perhaps she might not want to hear his story. He wouldn't be surprised, honestly. He'd have to shorten it as much as he could. Then again, maybe it might help them bond, if he was open about himself. "I wasn't born with these wolves, no. I was born back in another pack with my mother, father and sister. Royal Fire Court, it was called." A name he had forgotten often - Kieran had not spent much of his life there. "Some stuff happened but I was too young to really remember - we were attacked by another pack at some point, when I was a month or two old maybe? In short, they won and we fled." He was not proud of their escape but then again, it was better than death. They had been majorly overpowered, from the discussions between the adults that he'd managed to listen in on.

"We came to a new place, started a new pack - Republic of Auros. I was a prince, my sister a princess, which was cool but it never struck me as anything too important. The former prince, Hawthorn from Royal Fire Court and his sister seemed to hate us, though. Not surprising - they had bad history with their other family, and were angry." Oh, Hawthorn. His lost friend - one day perhaps he'd come back to Kieran? He could only hope. "I had an arguement with the boy... he ended up trying to commit suicide... but I stopped him and we became friends. We became so close." He grimaced, hoping he could just turn back time and be able to talk to his friend again. I miss you, Haw. He coughed, forcing his gaze to Pema again before facing the trail he was following. "Our member count started going down, my sister went missing for the second time... and..." The hunter bit his lip, taking a deep breath to keep himself calm. "We found my mother dead in the snow. We never knew what happened to her."

"We left - me, my father, Hawthorn and Heartha. We ran into Grayday and his kids while travelling, and before we knew it we were part of the group." That's how their life at Morningside began. Not the happiest of stories, but his story nonetheless. "Hawthorn... went missing." He trailed off there, but soon shook his head and looked back at Pema. "Well, that's it. I had a lot of trouble in my childhood, I'm told, but I'm still happy. That was a long-ish story, but hey, it passed the time." He grinned, then lowered his nose. "We're really close now," he whispered, dropping into a crouch at last.