Blackfoot Forest The Modification of a Wolf

:D

Pied did not startle in response to the stranger's unexpectedly shocked reaction, instead calmly taking two steps backward to give her space. The large wolf gathered her wits soon enough and, after issuing a breath apology, she introduced herself in a gush of words. Pied paused, gathering her own bearings.

"I'm many things," she replied with a small smile after achieving an inner equilibrium. "Definitely not a warrior, though," Pied added. "I've chosen the path of Agwe'en, though I have to admit that I'm not even really sure what that means just yet. I'm still pretty new."

She meant to say something else, to hopefully get a conversation rolling, but another wolf suddenly strode into the clearing. Pied turned to greet him or her, only to stiffen slightly as her heterochromatic eyes pinned on the figure. Not all spectres wore their mortal wounds like this one—his throat was agape, the torn tissue glistening pinkly even in death—though it was certainly a foolproof way to differentiate between who was alive and who wasn't. Pied tittered in her head at the thought, eyes following the apparition as he glided across the clearing in their direction.

Not wanting Hawkeye to find her strange or suspicious, Pied smoothly returned her attention to her living companion. "I'm sorry that I—" she began, wanting to apologize for unintentionally interrupting the female's rest. At nearly the same moment, the ghost wolf arrived at her side, paused, whispered, "She's kind of deaf," in her ear, chuckled and strode away, losing substance and fading before he reached the trees.

Well, that sort of explained Hawkeye's initial reaction. Pied quirked a brow at the ghost's odd helpfulness, then refocused yet again on Hawkeye. "Sorry," she said quickly, "I'm being spacey. I wanted to apologize for barging in on your down time. I can come back later if you want," the mottled yearling offered diplomatically.