Grouse Thicket second to the right and straight on til morning

He wasn't lost, per se - merely following a map of his own footsteps, and on that first foray into this land, Day had taken the long way 'round. That meant that a little criss-crossing was called for, even though he was fairly sure they could reach the river by just heading straight across the thicket through which they were currently trekking. He hoped that @Anita either didn't mind or didn't notice his roundabout route, but the possibility seemed pretty remote. He was about to turn and tell reveal to her his methods when a curious scent reached his nostrils. And old scent, but one he certainly recognied - just not the one he'd been expecting.

"Do you smell that?" he asked, bemused. If he was not very much mistaken, there were faint traces of Silvertip's alpha all over these woods.

She decided to keep the prodding questions to herself, such as "are you sure you know where you are going?" and, "are we there yet?". Sounding like a pup was not an option, she was on a scouting trip for god's sake. Her packmate almost seemed to turn to her, but faltered for some reason. 

Did you smell that? Anita furrowed her brow, tilting her head up to breathe in the scent. There was, in fact, something familiar lingering about the area. "Indeed I do," she replied. She could not help but notice the oddly familar scent belonging to her alpha, striking her as odd.

It struck him, then, that he knew very little about this pack he was a part of, even possibly even less about the dark-furred wolf that led them. For instance - what had their alpha been doing so far from home? The question did not unsettle Grayday - he could not think of anything nefarious to ascribe to the action - but it did puzzle him greatly. It was probably not his business, but he would definitely be asking about it when they returned to the mountain.

"I never realized he'd left long enough to get over this way," he admitted to the shewolf, wondering what secrets she might have, too. Abandoning the trail and now following Steady's scent, he allowed his thoughts to wander. "We never really talk, do we?" he asked, faintly frustrated by his lack of rapport with his packmates. It was his own fault - he kept to himself far too much lately - but it was a situation he would now seek to rectify. "Would you tell me about yourself?"

Anita shook her head. She had no idea why Steady would be in the area, though she had gotten to know him a bit better over the past couple of days. She followed Gray off-trail, the scent becoming a bit less prominent. 

We never really talk, do we? Now, she wasn't expecting that question, but decided to go along with it. She didn't really know how much she should tell about herself. Would it seem weird to dive into her past? But what else could she talk about, her personality? By now, she was sure Grayday had seen a lot of that.

"Well...er.." She muttered, racking her brain for something casual to say. "I was a lone wolf before I joined Silvertip. My father, you know....he left after doing his business with my mother," she laughed half-heartedly. Not casual, already. "And then my mother left." Most of it was true, except for the latter. However, Anita had didn't know that what she spoke of wasn't entirely correct. Her mother had died, but she was always led to believe she had left her in her early years. So much for a casual introduction.

"Sorry, I sort of went overboard with that," Anita laughed, rolling her shoulders back in a shrug. She did tend to overshare and hoped the male wasn't quizzical of her sudden landslide of an introduction. If he wanted to know his packmates better, well, he certainly was now.

Though it was perhaps not quite what he'd expected, Day was glad to learn whatever he could about the woman. Anita was a kind soul, and although he didn't know anyone in the pack very well, he still considered her a friend.

"Don't worry about that," he said soothingly, pausing to give her a soft look and a quick wag of his tail - he refrained from brushing against her, as he was still rather muddy. "We're family, after all. If you can't talk to your pack, who can you talk to?" Perhaps he should learn to follow his own advice. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Ani," he said after a moment, feeling ill-equipped to comfort her. After all, he'd known very little hurt in his life, and what little he had felt had been his own fault. Still, that didn't mean he didn't have people to miss or things he wished has gone differently.

"I've never been through anything like that," he admitted, thinking that his experience with losing the little shewolf would not count. Though her loss had been a blow, he'd never truly known her, and had missed the promise of company far more than the girl herself.

She eased at his reassuring tone, returning his soft look with a grateful one of her own. "It may as well be a fellow packmate I spew these words out to," she chimed in as if to agree with him. "And no need to apologize," she grinned, nudging him on the shoulder playfully in attempts to lighten the mood. She couldn't help but grin at her new nickname. Nobody had ever called her that before, and it didn't sound too bad.

"Well, I guess it's good you never had to go through that stuff," she replied, glancing at the dusty gray male. She found it hard to believe that nothing had gone wrong in his life; maybe he did, and she just wasn't used to that. Still, the girl had her doubts. "Tell me about yourself," she pressed lightly, as if to hint at her curiousity.

He was surprised by her tactile advance, considering the state of him, but pleased all the same that they seemed to be getting along. "Careful, or I might just decide you like the mud," he teased, bumping her back. Her next question, though, made him pause and his ears flicker uncertainly. Considering her ire over her family leaving her, she might not look kindly on his own past.

Still, he was an honest wolf.

"I grew up in a family pack - I was related to everyone there. Mom, dad, uncles, aunts, tons of cousins... and my sister Sunspot, and my brother Shale," he explained, tail wagging fiercely as he thought of his littermates. Would his parents have more, by now? Could he have siblings now that he may never meet? "And since my dad was young and my uncle was next in line... and... you know... Young males, we want something more, sometimes. And I did - a mate, a pack of my own, the chance to raise a family. So I left."

He hoped she wouldn't think too badly of him, but he plowed on ahead, wanting to get it all out before he asked her opinion.

"I wasn't ready; the world is a lot different without a pack, and I wasn't really cut out for it. I wandered for a long time before I found this place in the middle of a famine. I found a friend, but she disappeared. Or I lost her. I don't know. But I found Silvertip a little after that, and I guess you know the story from there."

Looking over at the red-furred woman, he waited for a reaction, unsure what she would think of him, now.

It was his turn, so she listened silently without interjecting. Her expression changed many times throughout his speech, though it was nothing drastic as to catch his attention. The she-wolf waited until he was finished speaking, her gaze sympathetic.

"I've never been in a pack, but wanting to branch off and start a new life doesn't seem like a crime to me," she muttered, giving him a small smile as the male started to speak again. He talked about another she-wolf, and she couldn't help but blink when he said he may have lost her. It was doubtful though, and although she had no idea what the situation was at the time, she wanted so badly to tell him it wasn't his fault. 

"I had no idea..." Anita trailed off, her smile fading off her features. "It's not your fault. You can't just lose someone, unless they die." She shook her head--those were the wrong words to choose. "I mean... I guess I'm trying to say that you shouldn't feel responsible for what happened." God, she was bad at this. It was a relief she wasn't taking up the counselor trade, but she was still trying her best, hoping her concern still shone through her disasterous attempt at being comforting.

Day nodded, frustrated with himself. He knew all that Anita told him, and yet, her words had the healing effect that his own convictions had not. The man found his guilt soothed, if not entirely alleviated, and found himself feeling content with the journey they'd understaken. He would not stop looking for the little shewolf, but neither would he let it consume him.

"You know," he said musingly, tail waving lazily behind him as he turned to continue along Steady's trail. "I think this trip is just what I needed. And - ah-ha! Here we go. His scent is all over this."

Emerging from the brush with a bleached-white jawbone in his mouth, he presented to Anita his findings. It was a queer thing to have, and Day found himself wondering what his alpha had been doing with it. Spitting it out, he repeated this thought to Anita, wondering if she knew something about their leader that he didn't.

He nodded, and Anita assumed that he was feeling at least a little bit better. The male couldn't live the rest of his life with a cloud of guilt hanging over his head, especially for something that wasn't entirely his fault. Anita didn't know the whole story -- she was sure of that. However, from what it sounded like, Gray shouldn't have been letting the guilt fester inside him up until this point. She knew she couldn't alleviate the problem, and that traces of remorse would still be left within him. It was at least a bit comforting to know she had offered some words of solace.

She grinned. "I suppose you're right, this trip is lovely. Not like I was expecting it not to be," she added quickly with a grin. Her words were quickly ammended by an exclamation by Gray, causing her gaze to snap to whatever he had found.

In his jaws was, well, a jawbone. It was stark and white, definitely not anything familiar. "Why would Steady's scent be on this thing?" she wondered aloud, moving in to sniff across the peculiar bone. It did smell strongly of their alpha, but why?

"Maybe he just picked it up and....dropped it?" she muttered, knowing that was unlikely. It would probably be pretty noticeable if the jawbone you were carrying suddenly wasn't in your mouth. However, she couldn't think of any other reasons as to why it carried the Alpha's scent.

"I'm going to keep ask him," Day decided at once, running his nose over it one last time. "I wonder if he'll make a funny face when we show it to him."

As amusing as that thought was, they had work that needed to be done. Picking up the bone once more, Day continued to lead the way toward the river, his deviation from tracing footsteps having led him closer than they were before. "Thith way," he said around the bone, walking confidently through the trees. Ahead of them lay the river - just another thirty or forty minute's walk.

Fade here/after your post?

fade after my post!

"If he does, I can't wait to see it," she mused, quickly following after Gray as he resumed his walk. "Ok, thith will be fun," she teased, mocking how he sounded with a jawbone in his mouth. 

Anita was about to ask where they were going when the distant bubbling of a river reached her ears. It was a welcoming noise, since she enjoyed frolicking around in the water. However, it was possible they were just going to cross it instead of carving out time to mess around.