Sleepy Fox Hollow i'll give you a thousand pounds to show me how you do it

vague af, tagging @Cupid for reference. zeph is close to the border but not past it! a spree would be nice but not required <3
edit: oops i guess i should tag leaders or smth
@Mahler @Takiyok @Nyx

The need to move is what drives him, past the pain and the fear and the cold, hollow feeling that has made its home in the pit of his stomach. If he keeps moving, maybe he'll find Helios. Maybe the ghosts of his family won't be able to catch him. Maybe he'll find something to make him warm again. Or maybe he'll just die for his stubbornness.
He doesn't care, though. The ice has overtaken him entirely by now, same as it has the world around him, yet he still remembers what it was like before. He remembers being warm, once, with Helios and dad and maman — just enough to question this sorry excuse for a life he has now. Enough to bring him to a conclusion as cold as he has become. If he cannot have the warmth anymore, he will at least have his freedom, even if it leads him to the early grave he half-desires. So he moves, leaving behind any hope of familiarity among the foreign places and strange faces he has found, and again plunges himself into the icy unknown with little thought for the future, limping and looking half a corpse.
Until the scent of wolves stops him quite suddenly. It's a wonder he smells it at all, past the sickening scents of blood and infection wreathing him. He freezes, remembering immediately the lesson he'd been taught so thoroughly only a week ago, and every muscle in his body stiffens. Bile rises in his throat, instincts urging him to flee, yet he remains still as a statue, suddenly blind to the world around him. He does not see the snow-cloaked mountains or the grey sky, or any pack wolves who might meet his arrival. He sees only white fur and dark eyes and red, red blood.

wylla.
it was nigh unto impossible not not feel the image of her clambering into his thoughts at any given moment, and mahler found himself fiercened by them, annoyed; he whirled toward the borders in a spate of self-pity and stalked harshly through the drifts toward the new scent lingering in the air.
blood, and the sickly-sweet fragrance of rot beneath. lip lifting, mahler followed it to the borders, where a skinny wraith of a creature stood stiffly at attention.
his frustration rose first, then an instinctual rejection of the ailing. mahler growled a warning as he drew near; with the pack beginning to recover and the suggestion of spring pups, diaspora could house no sick being.

The approaching figure slips past him at first, but he notices when the wind blows a little colder against his wounds and draws him from his memories. Dad, he thinks first, until the man is closer and he sees that his fur is greying, his eyes are wrong. Cruel eyes, he thinks, heart beating faster, fire and shadow.
Through it all he remains frozen, until the growl cuts through the air and sends a bolt of fear through him, and he remembers who and where he is. I'm not interested in your stupid pack, so leave me alone, He takes a step back as he says it — and then another, and another, backing away carefully with distrustful eyes fixed on the stranger.

the sheen of fear appeased mahler, but the egregiously rude tone sent him abristle. lunging over the borders, mahler snapped for the air whispering against the other's jawline, not intending a true strike unless deference continued to be withheld.
frustrated, yes, but moreso outraged that diaspora could be shown so mean a display at his very gates. intolerable; mahler found no seed of patience within him. 

She happened across the scene purely by accident, and paused to observe Mahler's interception of a rogue at their borders. Her leader was visibly aggressive and, as he veered to clack his fangs in warning toward the stranger's snout, Nyx found herself moving in to aid. With raven-tipped ears splayed backward, peppered tail arching over her scrawny hindquarters and lips curled to reveal glistening fangs, she lunged forward with a warning snarl.

Nyx didn't know what had happened to incite such a reaction from the General, but she would not question him. He'd made a decision here and it was her responsibility as pack-mate to support, so she had stepped in to do just that with the hope of sending the yearling fleeing. Diaspora had lost far too much to take the chance of letting rogues leave peacefully.

He had wandered from his new home for no reason really. There was no family to search for anymore, but still he roamed, possibly in search of some way to diminish the misery her felt every second he was awake. He traveled south, purposely avoiding any route that might lead him back to the deserted creek, walking for hours with no real purpose.

As he neared the southern end of the mountains, he caught a scent on the wind and for a few moments, he was frozen in place. It was impossible. That scent—it belonged to a ghost; there was no way it could be wafting by on the breeze, fresh and mixed with blood. He was moving again before he had even processed anything, his parental instincts taking over and urging him to run to his daughter's rescue. 

Heart pounding in his ears, he sprinted as fast as his muscles would allow, following the trail until it lead him near Diaspora. Except they weren't where they had been the last time he had visited. The scent was the same, but they no longer resided at the lake. It didn't matter right then. Kavik sprinted forward, quickly putting himself between Zephyr and the snarling diaspora wolves. Teeth bared, a snarl moved from his own chest, but he waited to lunge. He knew Mahler, and didn't wish for this to damage any future relationships, but he wouldn't allow them to hurt his daughter.

The shadowed stranger's sudden movement sends him stumbling backward much more quickly than before, shrieking, I didn't even do anything — His own abrupt and careless movements send a bolt of blinding pain through his shoulder, cutting off his words, but he does not stop. Another shadow appears, gilded this time, teeth flashing as fiercely as the first, and anger replaces his fear. I won't beg them, he thinks through the haze of pain and adrenaline, I won't. I won't.
Yet before he can find the courage to put his own teeth to use, a flash of black separates them, darker and truer than the speckled grey of his assailant. Helios, he thinks for a moment, irrationally, though he knows immediately that it is not. Dad? He chokes over the towering wolf's snarl, scrambling to put enough distance between himself and the newcomer to confirm his identity. Part of him is already certain; he knows his sire's scent better than any of his other parents, knows his hulking build apart from any wolf. But his father is dead, crushed under stone and dirt —
Dad, Bile races up his throat, the taste of a panic so bone-deep it sets him trembling at once. Don't — Don't fight them, don't get hurt, don't die as soon as you find me. But the rest of the words won't come. His stomach twists itself into a tightly-bound knot, and he is reduced to a shivering, agonized silence in the face of whatever may happen next.

a female, rawboned and slender; the scent of her appealed to mahler's chivalry even before kavik exploded abristle upon the scene. drawing up, the general signalled to fierce nyx that she too should arrest her attack, and stood with fangtips naked and hackles raised before the great dark leader of swiftcurrent.
"is this your daughter?" mahler demanded, though he held his taut body still, for he bore kavik a great deal of respect. the man no longer was fragranced by the scent of the creek, but for now, the gargoyle knew it mattered not. 
moments hung, framed by the low shuddering of the would-be interloper.

Another arrived on the scene, sweeping defensively between the Diaspora duo and the lithe youngster they aimed to remove from their territory outskirts. From the General came the order to fall back then, and so Nyx did so without question. Although fangs were promptly sheathed at her leader's command, she remained appropriately on edge as hawkish yellow eyes lingered on this raven newcomer's features - silently willing him to do likewise.

His daughter's words were the first things to register through his overwhelming need to protect. He froze, tearing his gaze away from Mahler and his packmate just long enough to glance towards Zephyr, concern painting his features. There were so many things he wanted to say right then, but their reunion would have to wait. His expression was stern as he looked back to the diaspora pair. Kavik nodded in response to the leader's question. Yes, this is my daughter, he answered first. What has she done to deserve such aggression? he asked. Surely a curious child didn't warrant such a reaction, especially one that was injured. Unless...Her injuries...are they from you? He was no healer and did not know how to judge how old a wound was; he was just going off of what he saw before him. He felt his heart rate increase and anger build in his chest as he waited for the answer. He saw no reason why anyone should ever hurt a child.

mahler disliked how it seemed that kavik would chastise him upon his own borders. "ve have already beaten two rogues who vould invade and steal from us. this vone vas disrespectful in addition." dark plume lashed behind his haunches. "i vould not ask you to give quarter if vone of mine did the same. the freshest vound i gave; the rest she gathered elsevhere."

Nyx, too, did not appreciate the dark stranger's question regarding the youth's injuries. She felt her lips twitch, threaten to peel back once more to reveal pearly fangs, but instead continued to observe the exchange with a piercing glare.

The General spoke up in response, pointed and visibly ruffled by the accusation. All the while, Nyx kept her thoughts to herself, waiting with great frustration for the rogue and her supposed father to hurry up and get the hell off their mountains.

Mahler had only dealt her the freshest wound. It was then that he even realized that some of his daughter's wounds were older. He had been too blinded by anger before. And I will make sure she understands the gravity of her mistake, Kavik answered, stern gaze briefly cutting to Zephyr. He was not happy to hear of her poor behavior. It was bad enough that she had trespassed. Even if he disagreed with the way things had been handled, given she was just a child, he knew it would do no one any good to continue pointing that out. It would be best to remove her from their borders. She has paid for her misbehavior, He continued. It won't happen again, he assured the Diaspora leader, looking once more to Zephyr; the words were meant for her as well. He offered both wolves a stiff nod. Let's go Zephyr, he ordered. Then he turned to leave unless stopped, fuming silently as he guided his daughter away from the borders of Diaspora.