Neverwinter Forest Thank God it's Friday, Again

Snow kicked up behind him, there was a light frosting of it across his back, some fallen from the sky, but most off the trees.  He was going along the outside of the forest where the foliage wasn't as dense, jogging along at a good clip as he investigated the trails that prey and wolf alike had left behind.  Earlier in the day he'd investigated for prey, and had decided that for the short term, this might make a good base of operations.  There were even a few old dens -- had it been a pack long ago?

His pace slowed, barely panting.  There was a heavily traveled game trail that wound its way deeper in and that's where he stopped.  Sniffing around the pine needles and light dusting of snow in the fading evening light, he could tell that a herd of deer had been through here recently.  He wondered if any were injured.  Maybe.  The falling snow was hiding a little bit of that information.  His acid green eyes flicked around in the low-angled light, he couldn't see any pawprints.  It'd make things hard if he was alone.  If he found someone else before he found the deer, perhaps he could convince them to split the kill if they caught one.

He turned down the trail and headed into the forest.

adi had split off from the ladies for a little bit of solo exploring. he wouldn't linger away long, for he knew pema's mission was top priority, but he did want to stretch his legs on his own for a short while. leaving the riverbank, he galloped through the fields into a pine forest, which thick boughs gave its denizens a fairly cozy shelter from the cold outside.

while trotting through the trees, adi kept his nose alert, both for pack scents and for signs of other predators. he did not want to stumble unknowingly into a den or rendezvous site. luckily for him, there was still a lingering smell of a group of wolves, but it was quite old--if they weren't long gone, they at least hadn't lived in this forest for a while.

his nose did pick up something else of interest, though--deer.

before he could set his mind to the hunt, he caught sight of a burly black wolf, green eyes like twin lanterns in the dark. not wanting to sneak up on the guy unannounced, adi gave him a low bark and a wave of his banner tail, walking up to him with a warm, if a bit wary, expression. he declined to speak first, waiting to hear if the other had anything to say.

:D

Again he paused, sweeping his nose across the game trail.  It had narrowed right where he'd stopped and so a few too many overlapping scents for him to pick one out of the bunch and be able to tell if that would be the right one to hunt.  He'd probably have to find a place where it widened and they all started trying to munch on whatever greenery they could find or something.

As he was contemplating this, another sound broke the air.  First faint steps on the edge of his hearing, then a woof.  His head snapped around.  There was a reddish wolf approaching, seemed friendly, and Quixote relaxed from his probably intense-looking pose.  Basically all of his focus had been on possibly getting some food -- and being a lone wolf, that was kind of an important thing.  His ears flicked forward and took a step or two in that direction.  His nostrils flared.  Oh look, an actual pack wolf, was it?  He at least smelled of more wolves than a single individual would.  Quixote would have to drain him for information at some point but wasn't sure whether that would be before or after he attempted a hunt.  If this dude wasn't interested then it'd be after.

Hunting or what?  He sort of had come down the same scent trail, as far as he could see.  Seemed like a pretty logical conclusion.  Really, though, it was up to the packwolf what was gonna happen -- Quixote wasn't exactly in a very good position to demand otherwise.

he shrugged, keeping his gaze still neutral. "just scouting, until i smelled the deer," he responded amicably enough. he gave the stranger another look-over, checking for any signs of distress: wounds, scent of illness, and the like. you just never knew.

"are you alone?" the question slipped out of his mouth even as he inhaled the other's scent. he was alone, had been for some time, but aditya had no way of knowing if this truly was a vagrant he was dealing with, or a pack wolf on an extended scouting trip.

he dropped his nose to the ground, picking back up the deer-scent. it was close, closer than he had anticipated. he could risk taking it down himself, but he did not want to steal a kill from this fellow, hungry as he was. his ear twitched in resignation. "i have companions just outside the forest that need to eat to keep their strength up," aditya said. "shall we hunt and divvy up the carcass?"

Quixote was doing okay.  He'd traipsed across a few edible dead things and had sort of figured out how to catch fish (even though that source of prey was going to soon become unavailable).  He'd been lucky.  Time was running out, but his luck hadn't.  Yeah.  For now, at least.  He kind of wanted to make sure that it was clear that he wasn't desperate yet.  Whatever size group this guy was traveling with, he wasn't going to end up with a +1 following along behind.  Not yet, at least.  He took his time, gathered his information and at some point he'd go and make a choice, though right now it was certainly still up in the air.

Quixote, as a lone, still had plenty reason to be wary.  Even with the offer of splitting what they caught, if the guy brought his friends, they could easily just take it from him.  Fighting a single wolf was a risk, but more than that was basically suicidal.  He liked to think himself reasonable.  I'm sure there's something at the end of the trail that's the right size, he said with a nod.  He'd be careful, though.  If there was any funny business, he'd strike first then run like hell.  Make the trouble not worth what they would have gained.  Just in case, he wasn't going to offer his name quite yet.  Quixote had trust issues.

How many deer were there?  He was guessing about five had taken the exact same track he had, but there could have been a few more that were a little farther off to one side or another.  Certainly there would be something.  Quixote was ready to go whenever the other guy was.

with a flick of his bushy tail, aditya signaled for the male to follow him as he broke into a silent jog through the forest. "let's hunt, then," he murmured over his shoulder, voice soft and indistinct, immersed in the many sounds of the woods.

through the conifers he traveled, following the deer-trail. he was not completely aware if his newfound companion had followed or not; aditya's blood was racing at the scent of prey, his mind fully tuned to the task ahead. even so, he did not care: adi was burly enough to take down an injured deer without help.

he wondered, though, whether the man was looking for a home throughout the winter. it was getting colder and colder, and wolves did not do well roaming alone in the short days and long, frigid nights. adi was sure there was a place for him on the plateau, if he contributed; it was just a matter of pitching the idea to him.

Quixote had indeed followed, matching the pawprints left behind so they could minimize their trail -- after all, this wasn't his first hunt.  The cinnamon wolf had more mouths to feed, so it would make sense for him to make the selection, Quixote only knew that companions was plural and that could mean anything from two to fifty. Yeah, sure, fifty was unlikely -- that'd be like, what?  Three or four packs? -- but he wasn't going to argue it.  As long as he came out of this with a good meal, he'd be ok with it.

The main problem with traveling in a line was of course that from the secondary position, things were a little more muted from having a fresh scent poured right on top of it, but even through that, he though he could pick out one that seemed promising.  Surely the other guy smelled it too (that or Quixote had no idea what that guy walked through on the way here), but to confirm they were on the same page, he didn't speak but uttered a quietly inquisitive sound along the lines of, Hm?  He just hoped that the deer arced away from the rest of the herd up ahead so they could see what they were up against without spooking any others.  It was just that little bit of a clue that something was off with an individual.. Maybe it was sick, maybe it was injured, but it was a scent that made it smell delicious to the black wolf, and probably why he'd subconsciously stopped on this trail in the first place.

errrg sorry for the wait on this

he heard the wolf's sound of inquiry but ignored it, at least verbally, flicking his tail to signify he understood. he, too, had caught the scent of a weak individual in the herd of deer, and wondered if it was still with the herd or if it had been left behind by the others.

the trail led them to a small clearing, the dying grass covered in a light layer of frost. sure enough, the herd was there, grazing quietly. one or two of them had snapped their heads up at the wolves' arrival, but then continued to eat as the two of them stayed silent, still half-hidden in the forest.

aditya's eyes scanned the group, looking for the weak link. he was not a natural hunter; perhaps this dark man beside him was. "see any good prospects?" he asked, gaze shifting to the wolf.