Haunted Wood Magic Jubilee

@Sebastian 

Birk had walked a great deal in the last few weeks, but after the novelty of the ocean's vast shores had worn off, he considered that he had seen enough for a while and therefore made a trip back South. If, what his inner weather-timetable told, was correct, that it was not long, before it got really cold and nasty. Though he did not fear winter, he did want to enjoy the relative warmth for a little longer. Therefore the decision to return. 

He made a stop at the large lake, where he had resided the first time he had come here. Then he lingered a while around the area of, where Redhawk caldera was located, wondering, how Kaizer was doing (he hoped that he was still fine and well) and whether that pretty lass Raven was still practicing witchcraft there. However he got a feeling that these two acquaintances would not be a good reason enough to stop by and visit (not now), therefore he decided to go further South. 

There he caught a whiff of another pack - now that's a densily populated area, he thought - and decided to take a path away from the claimed lands and take a temporary residence at the nearby woods. He was unaware of their name and therefore entered the place without any anxiety about meeting ghosts or any other supernatural kind that could haunt a place.

Sebastian took his job as the pack's guardian very seriously. Even though it was not one of his trades, part of being the alpha was to have your scent around the borders and not be as blind sighted to only patrol there. The surrounding areas were ones that could carry a few warning marks, ones that would let other's know a pack border was coming up.

Sebastian was not that dominant of a male in his pack but he was keen on keeping his family safe, which he hoped would happen with some extra marking. He was not an expert on these warding techniques though. The male also liked to keep an eye on their surrounding lands for possible prey that might come wandering into their home.

The male decided to start with their neighboring forest first, as the trees were easy to mark, plus it might give some insight what creatures came from the woodlands by looking at their tracks. Sebastian kept his nose close to the ground, tracking the scent of an animal, seeing where it would lead to, in the meanwhile he marked a occasional tree.

Ghosts Birk did not meet. Neither there were trolls, grand forest beasts or devil himself. After a little bit of wandering through the trees and checking here and there for smaller rodents or, if luck would have it, a rotting carcass, old bones, for example, he veered back to the point, where he had started his journey.

A whiff of strong, fresh smell of another wolf hit his nostrils and immediately he was interested in, who the guy was and all the other relevant information that canines can learn from reading the scent marks of the others of their kind. Birk did not have to look far - there was the first mark on the nearest tree and after a good moment spent at examining the spot, he positioned himself in the best way, lifted his leg and peed all over it. 

Then he went on and found the next spot - did the same, and thus step by step the male Gretel was catching up with the Hansel, who - as it soon turned out - was leaving the figurative bread-crumbs not far off.

Sebastian was still rather clueless about his marks were being marked over by some loner. The grey male didn't went too often out of his territory. He was rather homebound, especially now he was a father. He had to be there for his pups. Hence why he was not going too far for the markings. The gaps between the markings were getting step by step bigger before he called it quits and wanted to return home.

As he trotted home he followed his marks as it was mostly the way he had come and it would be the way home. The grey tank of the male, noticed that there was another wolf by scent. Thanks to the wind and his change of direction. The male took a good whiff before checking it out. Still unaware that this male had marked over his own marks, his warning marks. His eyes were met with white amongst the trees and approached him in a confident trot.

His pale eyes on the male, curiously so. What was his purpose of being here? "Hello,' he greeted when he was at a reasonable distance for talking.

Birk liked this game and would have loved to play it forever, if not the fact that his bladder was soon empty and his kidneys weren't able to provide the amount that the man wanted to use. Therefore on the last spot he managed to squeeze out half a drop. And marking the spot after that was not even neccessary, because the very man he had unintentionally been following came into the sight.

"Oh, look, who I found!" the white wolf exclaimed cheerfully, even though he felt totally confused and embarrassed inside. He reasoned that acting as an old chum would give him time to regain his dignity. "Hello to you too. My name is Birk and who may be you?"

Sebastian frowned lightly when he saw the male lower his hind paw. His eyes squinted, and sniffed the air in front of him. That was his mark that had been marked over. Sebastian couldn't really say that he was so pleased with all of this. He worked hard to put those marks up or refresh some of them, now this loner had ruined them. "Sebastian," he returned. Normally he was far friendlier but he disliked the idea of his hard work being ruined.

"Is there a reason you marked over my marks?," he asked, not really understanding why this male would want to mark over his warning marks. Was he planning on settling a pack here? Or was it with other reasoning he didn't know about. Sebastian was curious and annoyed at the same time. A new experience for him.

The Sebastian guy did not seem impressed by Birk's whimsical doings, therefore to hide his indifference to the matter the man just turned his head to see the last spot he had marked, appeared to examine it a bit (and trying to come up with a good, solid reason in the meanwhile) and then faced the stranger again. "Beats me - I have no idea - seemed like a fun thing to do," he replied and then shook his coat to rid himself of the raising tension.

"Anyway - if there was a good reason, why you did it, then I promise, when you remark it - I won't do that again," he said, being in better spirits now that the worst was over. "I swear to my granny's frozen corpse. Amen!"

Sebastian snorted as the strange guy was trying to be funny. At least he didn't talk back or said something even worse, like; 'Hi I am your new, very close, neighbor.' It seemed to Sebastian that this loner was quite youthful in his behavior. Mostly because he didn't get the idea of warning marks, and that it was quite disrespectful to mark over it. He was reminded of himself when he was just a two year old, getting in trouble.

Perhaps that thought was what mellowed him down. "Well if you promise not to do it again, I suppose I am not too mad," Sebastian reasoned with the other. "Are you all alone?," he asked the male curiously. Even though he might not understood his warning signals Sebastian was open to accepting people in his family. The more the merrier in his eyes.

"I promised already, didn't I?" Birk reaffirmed his good-will in not doing that silly stuff again, feeling very much like a naughty kid, who was trying to get into Santa's good kids list, when he said this. He observed that for a guy, who was almost the same age as him (almost emphasis of almost), he was acting in a very serious grandfather-like manner. The thought amused him, but he was smart enough not to say it out loud.

"Is that a trick question?" the young wolf asked in return, not wanting to reveal his status so easily, in case the wolf, who he had already christened "Grandpa" in his mind, had something nasty in his mind.

Sebastian only confirmed his words with a nod after the other spoke. He quirked up his lips lightly at the other, who seemed to be quite witted. Sebastian had to be kind of amused of the male's distrust. "If it was a trick I might never confirm that is was a trick. But no. It wasn't. I am a pack leader from lands close by here. If you are without a home this winter you could join us if you like that,"he offered. After all Sebastian had his eye on gaining a bit more members so they could go more comfortably through the winter.

"A-haaa..." Birk said, as he took in all of the information and nodded to himself. It was an offer he had not yet heard - most people he had met so far, had been interested in the facts of his birthplace and what he was doing now. It was an invitation worth considering, even though at the moment he had not intention of joining any of the existing packs here. The climate had been mild enough for him not to worry about the coming winter.

"I will remember this - thank you for offering," he declined in the most polite way possible. "Tell me about your pack, maybe?" he asked, sitting down, preparing to listen.

Sebastian wouldn't mind talking about his pack. He was very proud of them. Sebastian quirked up his lips into a friendly smile. "Sure," he agreed. "We are a family based pack. I rule it with my mate Pearl. It doesn't take wolves long to become part of our family. The grounds are soft, and most of our territory is wetlands. In the winter it is very serene, we don't have too much snow and it is quick to turn back into water. We prey on moose and fish," he explained to the other. He hoped he be at least enough interested to perhaps join them, or maybe in a few weeks. They could always use the extra members.

Where Sebastian did not see problem in water, Birk did and was not impressed. Though at his former home the snow was more or less a permanent fixture for the most part of the year, he had experienced the meltdown and had not liked it. Splashing through the water, being constantly wet and cold. Nah... as great as the other features the man had listed sounded, he knew that this would be at the bottom of his choice list, if he ever came to that.

"I'll think about it, if I struggle this winter," he said, wanting to be nice and polite and not say a straight-forward "no, thank you". "How long have you been here? Or you have always been a permanent resident around these lands?"

Sebastian wasn't sure if he had enthused the other. For him water was something that made him happy but that was not the same for every wolf. Maybe this wolf disliked water, then this territory would be rather unsuitable. "Please do," he spoke with a nod. Sebastian decided that all info helped maybe this loner would tell another about them.

"Since beginning of spring. So after winter we had all the seasons here," he explained to the other. He never thought he would make it this far, but he did. Sebastian had grown from an awkward young adult into an assertive alpha. He was not completely there yet but compared to how unsure he was before he had made some progress.

"Ahaaa..." Birk nodded. It was nice in a way to know that you weren't the only one, who had not been born here and had come from far-far-away. Well, in regards of - what's-his-name - he did not know for sure, but assumed that their stories up to this point could be similar. 

"I don't think that we introduced ourselves, did we?" he asked, his reason being, if he did end up looking for a home with this guy's pack, he should at least know his name. "I am Birk."

Sebastian realized that he hadn't introduced himself, but he had introduced his mate. What a strange thing for him to do. "I am Sebastian," he responded to the pale male. "It is good to meet you Birk," he spoke politely. Sebastian had hoped that the male would join them, but that was not going to happen. Sebastian also couldn't stay mad at the wolf for marking over his markings. It seemed like a honest mistake.

"What are your plans? Just roaming around? Are you sure you will make it through winter?," he asked curiously.

"Why would you care so much, if I stayed alive this winter or not?" Birk asked, being genuinely curious rather than feeling insulted by the other's apparent lack of trust in the man's of the Ice fields ability to strive just fine. 

"Believe me - I have seen the worst already," he then went on. "This one here should be like a piece of cake," the man sad, maybe a bit too boldly and it wasn't that unlikely that he would regret his words in the next few weeks. "And if it is not - we all have the freedom to choose the way we want to go, don't we?"

Sebastian thought about his words for a moment. "Well, perhaps I won't care so much," he admitted to the other. "I am a pack wolf at heart so I can't phantom to be alone in winter, I guess the terror stories from my youth are still with me," he explained to the other. Sebastian wasn't appealed to the life of wandering. He wanted to be a family man, nothing more.

The grey male nodded. "You do have that freedom," he agreed with the white male. Perhaps if he survived then Sebastian had quite the respect for him. He couldn't deal with being along so well. "Well I guess I will leave you to you and your surviving then," he spoke.

"You should try it out sometimes," Birk suggested. "It's good to get out of your comfort zone once in a while. Toughens up one's spirit. Worked for me, at least." So far he had met enough people to satisfy his social needs and therefore he did not long for commitment just yet. Besides freedom, he also could be as selfish as he wanted to be. Without having to share by force.

"Alright. Just one last thing - if I run in trouble this winter, could you show me the way or direction at least to the doors I should knock upon?" though he had turned down Sebastian's offer to join now, he did realize that having a back-up plan would be a good thing.

"I have a family," he spoke, which in his terms said enough. He was not going to leave his family. He was more than happy to live in a pack. In fact he had lived alone for a long time, and he longed to have a pack life again. He wanted to have others around him. He had grown into the role of an alpha and he really felt comfortable where he lived.

"South of here, in the dip of the land. That is what we claim. You can also travel south from Lake Rodney. It is a big lake to our west. It lies north of the mountain range," he explained. Perhaps when the winter was tough the male might come back for their help.

"That's a fair point," Birk nodded, wondering, what was it like to be committed to a family so much that you did not want to leave it even for a while to have an adventure. Though he had lived in a family pack and he had been attached to his parents and siblings at some level, the relationship had never been too cordial. More like one six or more individuals have, when they are forced to live and hunt together because of the harsh weather conditions. 

"I will keep that in mind," he replied and little did he know that in a few weeks time the weather would really change for the worst and that the proud lone ranger would be finally forced to look for a home within a pack.