Silver Creek there were three men came out of the west

set tomorrow, 01/08, early afternoon

it reminded him, somewhat, of swiftcurrent creek. gentler, though. more scenic. a sense of calm had come over him as he strolled beneath the bare boughs of oak and cedar alike. the murmur of the stream lulled him into security. he hadn't felt this at ease since. . . well, longer than he could remember.

it probably helped, somewhat, that he had @Brook by his side.

it's beautiful here, hai naa? aditya remarked, glancing toward his daughter with a soft smile. brook was a bittersweet part of his heart. a child to hold close—one that didn't, or at least he thought so, resent his earlier abandonment. 

but so like her mother. and while it brought to mind the more carefree times spent with dawn, it brought sadness at the thought of what they had eventually become. joined together, fractured, then assembled anew. . .but much like trying to repair a shattered vase, they had never again fit quite right.

brook was different. she was his. his blood, his legacy. and as they walked together beside the meandering silver stream, he felt hope.

he felt he might at last become the man he'd always sought to be.

A fight thread in progress, I’ll be vague about if she’s injured or not

The black female had left the pack land following the packs harbringer, and after that encounter she decided to venture out just a bit further, not quite ready to return to the pack territory yet,, despite the weather. She stuck out in this white world so she didn’t even bother to try and hide her presence as she trotted forward through the deep snow, catching possibly the tail end of a conversation she decided to dive in anyway “You should see it in summer” she offered with a grin, for some reason she was feeling amicable today all the fighting and released the tension her body had been harbouring, she almost felt light and at ease, this showed in her steps.

Even with her carefree aura she was not stupid, She did not get to close but she did get close enough to partake in conversation “Where are you from?” The black femme asked conversationally? Here was when they could ignore her and move off or accept her imposition.

She had spent the past four months getting to know her biological father. Brook was still getting to know him, in all honesty. He cared for her; she knew that much. It was that thought that had kept her with him, and it was that thought that brought her to this moment. She had gone through so much, and there was a point when she had considered ending things, but her father had saved her from that. Brook had told no one of her darkest thoughts, thinking it best that she kept them to herself. It was better that way, and she was teetering on the edge of feeling better these days.

When he commented on the beauty of the landscape, she looked up to observe it, then nodded. There was a hint of a smile on her face, even, which was more than she could have mustered even a month ago. It was progress.

Somebody approached, and Brook stopped in her tracks, blinking at a snowflake that landed on her eyelash. For this encounter, she deferred to Aditya, and she cast him a sideways glance to see how he would want to approach it.

his warm gaze connected with hers for a brief but touching moment—a moment that was soon broken by the emergence of another. aditya turned to note the shadow approaching, ears swiveling sideways before cupping forward to catch her words.

so conversational for a stranger. he had once been so. the perils of life had shaped him into someone warier, reticent to offer the first word. it was like looking into a mirror, briefly, and it startled him somewhat.

i'm sure it is lovely, aditya replied, smiling faintly. she was being friendly, after all, and keeping her distance. no reason (for now) to put up a front. the snow fell silently between them, blizzard broken enough by the trees to give him enough visibility to observe her face, her form. not from here. but i assume you are? 

he felt his daughter's eyes upon him. it wasn't just him, now. the presence of his child made him all the more guarded, and he watched the woman for any signs of her turning on a dime.

I am SO SO Sorry guys, for some reason I thought I was waiting for someone else to post and I kept over looking this thread, I’ll prioritize this one from here on out. You will not wait on me again. That said sorry this one is so short 

Whrist offered a low swish of her tail her body remained relaxed. She didn’t even seemed concerned that there was two of them and only one of her. And clearly they knew each other well enough that they could and probably would gang up on her if the need arose.

She gave both wolves an assessing look over her noting what was likely their skills the smaller one likely had a speed advantage the male well her assessment of him took a back seat as her eyes caught on the strange accoutrement around his throat, her eyes widened would he bring ‘those’ here?? She blinked then pointedly ignored it and nodded absently at his question “I’m from around here, Where do you you two hail from?”

No apology needed! <3

Thankfully, her father took the lead, and Brook was allowed to sink into the background a bit more. She observed, but she did not interact with the stranger. She asked where they were from, then she asked again, apparently unsatisfied with “not here” as an answer. That made Brook nervous, wondering why this strange wolf was so eager to know where they came from while the stranger divulged very little about herself. Brook’s gaze flicked back and forth between her father and the stranger, anxiety starting to trickle in.

his brow cocked as the stranger asked yet again the same question. strange. far from here, aditya said briefly, keeping it casual with a flick of his ear. we're just passing through. 

but 'around here' was vague enough that he didn't feel as if they were trespassing, so at least that was something.

do you know the way to the coast? he asked. he felt her eyes upon his collar and would have no answers for her even if she asked. he mostly tried to forget it was there. it only brought up murky memories, like snippets from a nightmare, of foreign spaces and scents. images he could make no sense of.

it was not there one day, and there the next. what had happened in-between. . .he wasn't sure.

The black pelted wolf winced inwardly as she realized she had asked the same question twice, now they’d think her an idiot or prying in things that did not need prying into that did not smell like any pack so it was not an business of hers really

She smiled and bobbed her head, “I only asked, because I was wondering if you’d be staying? There is a pack near here that I am part of, and we enjoy our privacy though we could use a wolf or two to join us, the more wolves the bigger the prey we can take down.”
She grinned then “I’m hoping to get a bison in the spring”  Whrist’s eyes looked wistfully to the distant north east as if she could see the Hoshor Plains through miles and miles of terrain.

She cleared her throat and returned her attention to the pair before her “Yes I do know my way around I took several months and got myself very acquainted with the wilds she only need to keep going north but you’d likely want to skirt the Twisted Slough if you come across it.”

She winced visibly for a moment then relaxed “Nasty place that, but slightly north west from here you’ll come across a isle between two rivers that is a really nice place, I love it there. And it marks the outer edge of the Slough.”

If it had been any other day she might have sent them straight into the Slough without foreknowledge and followed to watch them struggle, but she was in a rather good mood today and if she could bring a wolf or two into their ranks all the better.

She spoke more and more, and Brook found herself feeling overwhelmed. It was an easy thing to do with her. Ever since her time with Tortuga, it had been hard to cope with anything that was even remotely outside of her normal. While she had made progress, it was slow and small steps. She took a deep breath, trying to focus on her father rather than parse the words that the stranger spoke.

Again, she deferred to him. Silently, she wished nothing more than to get away and go back to traveling with Aditya.

aditya was a fairly good judge of body language, and his daughter was clearly uncomfortable beside him. the other wolf spoke a lot—he could be similarly verbose, but with brook he had become quieter, careful not to overwhelm her. he nodded along to the woman's spiel, making a mental note of the places to avoid and perhaps to sightseek.

thank you, he said with a graceful cant of his head, the barest of smiles on his muzzle. you seem to know this region well. we will keep what you've said in mind as we travel.

he drew closer to brook, giving a brush of his shoulder to hers. where does your pack reside? aditya asked. if we find nowhere to stay in the next few moons, perhaps we will pay you a visit. it was the worst-case scenario; adi was not in any hurry to pledge himself quite yet. but it wasn't just himself to think about anymore.

Whrist narrowed her eyes, one might be able to track the scent of the pack lands but pack members regularly left and roamed the area making the exact location much harder to determine, She didn't trust this pair they ight be here  to gather intel, the pack had already moved once.

She shook her head gently, "If you return here ready to join a pack, I'll find you and bring you in" She offered them a smile and a wave of her tail "Until we meet again" She bobbed her head respectfully and trotted away

Brook felt relief when the other wolf moved away. She nudged her father's shoulder gently, knowing that he had noticed, as much as it pained her. It was better he know and help her navigate than deal with it entirely on her own as she had in the past.

Thank you, she said once the stranger was gone. She was not keen on joining up with others, but she knew it might be their only option. For now, she awaited their next move, ready to follow Aditya wherever he led her.