Blackfeather Woods lay your hands on me while i'm bleeding dry

Life since the swarm stripped the lands of green passed in a strange haze and he lost track of time within. He struggled, and this was working to pressure him away from the mountain range -- almost to the point of wondering he if he could find greenery again if only he kept trekking in some randomly selected direction. The loner had no way of knowing how extensive the damage was, though, so he reasoned that perhaps it was better to converse his energy and focus on scraping by on the tiniest of morsels until luck improved.

But on his better days, he remembered what he still intended to do and these days were the worst -- the most aware, of his suffering and the earth's, so he had to do anything he could to clear the weight on his shoulders. He drug his paws past a lakeside and approached the borderlands of a forest with extreme caution. When scent of the pack tickled his nose, he stopped with a quiet sigh. He would go no further. Even being this close prickled his pale coat with unease, but he reminded himself he had business here as he darted his eyes around. It was necessary.

He took a tired moment to catch his breath before howling out a reedy note requesting the attention of @Cicero, meanwhile hoping no one else would get nosy and that the oddly-marked male was nearby. Inari was already feeling uneasy about speaking to one wolf, he did not wish for an entire pack breathing down his neck like this. But for now, all he could do was wait and hope for the best.

Cicero had not been nearby and it had taken him a long time to get to location. At first he had thought to stay in the confines of the territroy, not to show up at all, for he was weak and it would not surprise him if death would knock on his door soon. Cicero had always been thin, but now he was like a walking skeleton, bones sticking out on all sides.

He leaned against a tree near the borders, his sunken eyes staring out towards the white wolf with a questioning expression. He stared for a minute or so before he realised what wolf stood before him. "Inari." Cicero said, a narrow smile falling across his sunken face. It surprised him to see Inari, for he had not expected the wolf to ever return. Why would he? Yet here he stood, much to Cicero's surprise. Even moreso than surprised Cicero was intrigued, though, and so he waited with interest for what the other had to say.

Inari waited, and a desire to leave did rise. He bit it back once, twice, and by the third time, he caught sight of someone. He tensed up and did eventually see the distinctive markings, although now worn by a body more threadbare than before. Inari's ears fell back and he swallowed thickly.

By scent of the borders, he had expected a strong pack residing here. Thus, somehow, he had mistakenly assumed that a pack wolf may not look so terribly ravaged by these trying times. Inari knew he looked pitiful because he could feel it in how miserable every waking moment felt, but he was on his own -- a scavenger on his best of days. Needless to say, he just hadn't expected Cicero to look that pulled towards death.

"Cicero," he said and dipped his snout. A nervous glance followed with him as his posture hung at a tense neutral. "I needed to leave the mountains, so I thought.. to stop here first if I could find these woods. I did remember you," he said with a lingering look over his gaunt frame. It had probably been longer than intended, but Inari had managed to keep him and his plateau pack search in mind.

A weak smile painted Cicero's face as Inari said that he remembered Cicero. It was so strange to see him here, for Cicero had not expected to see the meek little wolf again at all. He remembered feeling so empowered when he had put down the wolf, intimidated him. Seeing Inari brought back memories of the white wolf and he looked away, pushing these memories from his mind. He looked at Inari, licked his lips and continued to lean against a dark tree, for he was still weak.

He looked at Inari and opened his dry mouth to speak, "What has Inari found out that he can tell Cicero about?" He had never thought to see Inari again, perhaps, but he had not forgotten about their agreement.

Seeing Cicero's condition had disarmed him somewhat, but, with determination set into him, he pushed forward. He had to bring this to a completion, somehow. Already, he was so very close. "I learned nothing of the Plateau pack you sought unfortunately," he shook his head softly, almost apologetic in his manners. "But, the pack at the ridge near the former plateau where we met? The one bordering the vale by the Sunspire, it is no more. Mournful howls rose up and then it was gone without a trace." One less pack to mind, and for other packs that still stood, fewer to compete directly with. As a loner, Inari just wanted to say away from all of them. "I also met a male from.. ah, Ryūjin on the other side of the mountains. A pack named for a dragon god. Beyond that, there was very little into the eastern valley of note," he said with a soft sigh.

It was unfortunate that nothing had come of his original mission. Cicero wondered if he, too, had travelled west to see the pack by the ocean that Cicero had suspicions about, or the forest pack. He was sure one of the packs in the west harboured the plateau wolves. Little did he know Burke's mission was on a personal note, anyway.

Inari brought snippets of information on other packs and although Cicero did not think that he would be able to make use of the information, he stored it mentally anyway. Cicero said, "Cicero does not have much in terms of reward. No food." This probably did not come as a surprise to Inari, but he needed it said, anyway, for he would've given him something had he been able. Or maybe he would've given something far worse than nothing, Cicero thought to himself, for he remembered when he had not been so close to death's door as he was now the violent thoughts he had felt towards the meek boy in an adult's body.

He hoped it would not be the last he would see of the boy, but at the same time he wished it so, for the boy's sake. Cicero was afraid of what he might do next time they meet, therefore did not want it to be so, yet he also felt a longing for it, to see what would happen. He could not decipher if that was himself or the beast speaking, and it frightened him.

The paled loner shook his head softly. "I understand," he said, not that he had anticipated a reward. Food would have been nice, but one look at Cicero told him they had none. Even he teetered on the edge, and to the point to worry Inari some. "There is nothing to hunt in the mountains either, or even to their north and east. Bare. Even I cannot stay there any longer," he explained with a big sigh. He was withering away and worse than his usual. While he had been so reluctant to sever his very few ties to the general location, push had come to shove. Inari knew. "I am headed south, I believe. Maybe west, too.. if it works." he added. Maybe there he could do better.

He had to do something that wasn't this. Nothing kept him here, exactly, but he had no leads on where he should go. Very few wolves had made a real impression on him (Warbone, Steady, and Cicero were about the whole of it) and he certainly had not made progress on his personal goals either. Moving on aimlessly was, sadly, his best bet.

Inari sounded like he was leaving the area, which was regrettable, but ultimately Cicero understood if he were to go. Cicero wished there was more he could have done for the male, considering the cruel way that fate had pushed them together, if only for a limited amount of time. He nodded in silent understanding, then, and turned his gaze towards the borders. Perhaps he would have left, too, if he did not have Damien here.

"Good luck. Cicero hopes Inari will find a place with more food." He dipped his head briefly and then turned around to vanish in the shadows of Blackfeather Woods without another word, his silent good byes already conveyed.

It hurt him to realize conditions were even worse than he'd thought, but it did steel his resolve and make him believe that moving on for now was the right choice. He wasn't sure what it may have in store for him, or where exactly he may go. He only had to go. Inari feared he would waste away to dust if he didn't.

Suddenly, he was at a little bit of a loss as to how he wished his farewell to go, and why he was holding onto some fleeting attachment at all. "I hope so too." Inari murmured, and dipped his muzzle as well. With that, it was all he had. He passed one last lingering look over Cicero then turned as well, eager to put distance between himself and the boundaries of the pack and happy to travel just a little lighter now.