Ravensblood Forest I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.

she retreats from him and the tundrian cannot blame her. he's been hardly anything but unkind from the get-go with no reason to be so other than she looked different. which wasn't her fault. she couldn't control that she was a wolfdog ...anymore than he could control being whatever percentage of coywolf he was. he forgets because he looks and is built just like the nightingale queen that the coywolf gangster existed at all. this is not out of spite but simply because during the first three months of his life wintersbane was undoubtedly closer to lotte than he'd been arturo. she compliments his name and he lets out a low, soft chuckle. it is always the name that catches the attention and the compliments oft vary.

the tundrian ducks his head ( though not necessarily to be humble; he's vain and he preens beneath compliments ), appreciative of the compliment but always feeling like it should belong to the woman whom had given it to him. "my mother thought so too." wintersbane murmurs in homage. 'wintersbane' was undeniably a better name to go by than 'spleenbane' which wasn't even relevant anymore. "you shouldn't make excuses for my behavior," he clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth once in clear disapproval. "whether you've been sheltered or not doesn't matter. i had no right." and he knows it. "i know better. i'm not full wolf either. my father's coywolf." it's the first time in a long time ( if ever ) wintersbane's publicly spoken about arturo and while the tundrian isn't sure, he assumes the gangster's still alive out there. somewhere. despite that wintersbane has no real desire to actually go and try to seek him out.

"curiosity, i suppose." he replies with a lofty rise and fall of his broad shoulders. "i was wondering if the pack that had tried to settle here a while ago was still around." 'a while ago' is a broad lapse of time: wintersbane could no longer remember if it'd been months or a year. nevertheless, the pack that had sought to form here was no longer here. whether that meant they managed to form and relocated or never founded at all is knowledge that remains out of his grasp. "alas, i've found my answer." he sighs, gesturing with his muzzle to the ancient sentinels that stand like mighty sentries.