Broken Antler Fen I've seen those eyes before

I'll probably alternate threads between Raksha and Ahmed so Raksha is up first, AW

The ice storm that showered them was icy as it streaked through the forest. Honestly it couldn't have been healthy to be out in this, and Raksha definitely should have been hidden away in the den she and Ahmed had claimed in the Cove. 

Raksha hadn't meant to be out in this storm, it happened suddenly as if the sky split open and dumped its deluge on her. On her way back from a trip to patrol, she found herself caught in it.

Shivering, Raksha made her way back across the territory to sleep through the storm in her nice dry den.

Wandering. That seemed the sum up his life nowadays. He was nothing but a wanderer, a wolf whose only purpose was to protect and stay by certain silver fae, and even that was beginning to get a bit tiresome. Not that he would leave her, after all, she was the last wolf grounding him to this brutal world, but they were talking less, interacting less, and Nico was beginning to fear that she was already moving on and had found someone better in this new pack. Angry, irrational jealousy stirred within the pit of Nico's stomach, and biting back a growl, he stalked through the land, having just finished patrolling.
      
      Distantly, Nico registered the storm thundering around him, slicing through the forest and billowing gusty winds of ice through the trees. He figured that he probably shouldn't be out here right now, but realised that he really couldn't care less...not in this state at least. He shrugged to himself, looked around absentmindedly and continued wandering, silently drifting away into the stormy thoughts in his mind that echoed the raging ice surrounding him in this land of reality.

      At least Nico would be alone with his thoughts. After all, who in their right mind would be out in this weather?

Raksha continued on, angry with herself for not watching the sky closer and realizing that the heavens would dump icy rain on her. Shivering, the she wolf plodded through the icy rain towards the Cove which to her seemed thousands of miles away.

Through the sheet of rain she made out a distant figure moving ever closer. Her ears shifted forwards with curiosity and as she got closer Raksha realized it was a grey male. 

"Hello there," the wolfess chirped most cheerfully after reaching him. "Some weather isn't it?"

He was wrong..again. Although, why he'd ever assumed he would be right was a strange idea in itself. He'd been wrong so many times before that it would just be pure idiocy to presume he would be right this time. No, of course he would be wrong. There was no other way this worked, right? Quietly, Nico snickered bitterly to himself, making sure that the figure in the distant was unable to hear him. He didn't need a bad first impression just yet. 

Nico shot her one of his notoriously charming smiles and nodded in agreement, carefully erasing any sign of distress from his countenance. Now wasn't the time. "Yeah, I know right," the soldier agreed with a soft laugh, gracefully shaking his coat though he knew nothing would come out of it. "I'm Nico, and I'm new around here," he introduced himself with a short bow and yet another smile. "You are?"

If she had disturbed him or he thought her dumb for being out in such weather, Raksha made no notice of it. She naturally assumed that everyone was as friendly as she and willing to converse. Besides, she had missed mundane small talk while travelling with Ahmed.

"I'm Raksha. I'm new here too," she answered with little notice of the rain. She was excited enough to be meeting new people that icy conditions were almost easy to ignore. Almost.

"What's your story Nico?" Raksha turned to him to ask, curiosity in her features.

"Pleasure to meet you, Raksha," Nico murmured softly, yet clearly and bowed politely, a shadow of a smile curving his lips. Though he may not particularly wish to converse with her right now, he knew how important first impressions were, and he knew how important it was to outwardly remain cool and collected, pleasant and well-mannered even though a deadly storm brewed within the surface of his smile. 

"My story?" the soldier canted his head slightly, eyes scanning her with a certain kind of thoughtfulness. "What do you mean?"

"And the same to you," she agreed with a cheery little dip of her head. Nico did seem like a rather nice fellow. Raksha could see herself getting along with him, perhaps becoming friends sometime in the future.

"Your story, if you're willing to tell me. Where you came from, things you've seen, that stuff," Raksha explained with a curious tilt of her head.

She requested to know his story and he felt himself stiffen subconsciously. He was quick to relax his muscles - or at least, as best as he could do so - and offered her an apologetic dip of his head as well as a small smile. "Sorry," Nico bowed his head, a look of soft regret slipping across his chiseled features. "I'm not that comfortable with sharing my story..yet. I hope you'll forgive me for that. Maybe, in time, I'll tell you?" he canted his head, green eyes shining with a gleam of hopefulness.

Maybe, they'll both stick around enough to know each other more. If not, well, Nico's life story wasn't that interesting anyways. He'd just always been a private person, and didn't really like sharing with strangers in his pack that he'd never met in his entire life before now. "I can tell you that I came from Burke's pack, with Aeronwyn," Nico explained, after a moment. "Aeronwyn's my...well," he shrugged enigmatically, and grinned in a sardonic manner - not directed towards her, but towards someone, well, someone who wasn't there.

"That's alright. It's none of my business anyhow," Raksha smiles reassuringly. She has a bad habit of nosing into places that she doesn't belong. It comes from a good mentality though, Raksha only hopes to make people happy. Sometimes she gets carried away with that.

"Ah.." She nods in understanding. Pain shoots through her at the thought of Ahmi, her lost love. She can only hope that things end better for Nico and this Aeronwyn.