Emberwood retracing his steps over and over

tacked on a small conclusion for archival. if you'd like me to revive this so we can wrap this up feel free to drop me a message on discord or a pm here on Wolf.

a soft snort of amusement leaves the tundrian's black, leathery nostrils at her seemingly genuine perplexity at him not always giving his name. he doesn't tell her that it's one in a long line of aliases he's gone by. she claims it's 'freakin' cool' and he gives her that. it is a pretty cool name but largely not why he chose it. easily, he could have continued going by roarke but no matter how hard he tries he feels no connection to that name. it was a name ceannasach had given him and there's no love lost between him and his father. he'd been closer to lotte; a designated 'mama's boy' from the get-go. he doesn't respond immediately aside from a lofty roll of his shoulders. only after a few more minutes of silence pass does he speak up and offer in vague explanation, "an exchange of names isn't always necessary." especially when it was unlikely to the tundrian that he would have need to call upon it in the future. sometimes, he mentally amends, he doesn't want to give it for whatever reason and alternatively sometimes he does.

the scent of the doe and fawn grows stronger the further along their trail the pair go and habitually, winterbane's steps slow and his movements become more cautious as he goes on immediately alert. his ears cup forth and then pivot atop his skull as he listens for any signs that the doe is nearby grazing, his movements ceasing all together. "listen. do you hear anything?" the tundrian asks his companion in a hushed tone. the mother's scent was strongly interwoven with the fawn's ...but that doesn't mean that the doe hadn't wandered off. it could be a diversion tactic, he considers. ward predators away by letting them think she stands a dutiful sentry.

when the pair arrives the fawn is no-where to be found. it's unfortunate but it's life, wintersbane has come to realize and he lets the disappointment go with a lofty rise and fall of his shoulders. "maybe there's something else nearby we can hunt?" he offers, which sounds a bit dumb when he says it. of course there's something else: the wilds was teeming with fauna, after all. the pair hunted for a little while longer before they eventually parted ways.