Moonspear hello from the otherside

His talk with Wildfire a few days past had been ...comforting despite that he hadn't really been seeking to put an end to his seclusion. He still wasn't sure what had urged him to go to her when her call had risen up. Maybe he was a sucker for a pretty face, maybe he felt guilty, maybe he had wanted to just talk. As it stood, he'd been avoiding his own mother as well. His first instinct was to put up all the walls and assume that everyone was against him, despite that it seemed to him that Wildfire and Thistle had been the most welcoming to him from the very start. It didn't matter. He guess that he needed to accept that him and Charon would never get along and, at some point, he would need to seek out Floki to apologize. Tev didn't like the rift he felt between them as if it were a palpable thing. He felt the distance of his twin with every steady beat of his heart, felt it in the marrow of his bones. It wasn't anything he could explain, but the distance from his twin put stress on Tev and made his mood foul. Whatever jealousy he'd felt had been soothed, in a very big part to Wildfire. 

Her outlook had been helpful. He wasn't so sure he was ready to seek Floki out yet but he would soon, he told himself. Tev understood that he was the one that had been holding himself back; and so long as he nurtured his grudge towards Charon things would never be allowed to have the chance to get better between them. Tev still had doubts about his adoptive brother's leading capabilities, and the, most grating to Tev, was the rude and cruel things he'd said about the Frostfurs. More than anything this continued to bug Tev and was much of his issue with Charon. Well that and Tev clearly had some issues with authority, though ironically, this had been stifled after the Frostfur's had taken him in, only to come back with a vengeance. In truth, that was nothing new. He'd always been that way. Ignoring Thistle and Ragnar, sneaking out of the den, and conniving Floki into joining him on breaking rules. Tev had always pushed all of his boundaries even as a small child; thus it confused Tev as to why this surprised his family. Except, he was totally fine with Amekaze. He had no qualms with her and respected her plenty despite that he really didn't know her all that well. They'd met once and he could hardly consider that much of a meeting since he'd been on cloud nine from the dried berserker mushrooms he found (and promptly hid after).

Tev pushed his thoughts away, instead focusing upon the routine of patrol, content in his solitude.

Alaska had been accepted into Moonsphere very recently, and so far had enjoyed her time there. Even though she had been mostly alone in her time here, by learning the territory and favoring any places she found particularly comfortable. In all this time she still hadn't found a den, which didn't bother her that much. She hadn't slept in a den in her life except when she was the youngest stage of pup. When she was able to walk, and see, and play she had been on the move. Alaska had always been independent, resulting in her leaving her traveling parents at the age of one year, and took onto her own course. Her parents were accepting of her choice, and she probably had her own siblings that she had never met. Which didn't bother her that much, this was the result of multiple wolves lives. 

She wasn't exactly sure what made her want to settle down into a pack, maybe she thought being a lone wolf was well... too lonely. Alaska was an extrovert, and loved being around other wolves, which was strange with her being alone for so long. Maybe she got tired of her thoughts and constant questions with no answers, here she could ask someone anything and get a response. In her time becoming familiar with the area, she caught the scent of another wolf somewhere near by, quickly sparking her interest she began to follow it, hoping to become at least acquainted with another wolf in the pack. Not long after acquiring the scent, she saw Tevinter not too far away.

Focusing on nothing but the pull and receed of the strong muscles beneath his coat of platinum silver, on his steady breaths, on the little icy pings of the cold dusk air as he inhaled and the warm kiss of his warm breath across his nose and muzzle when he exhaled, it was easy to forget. For the moment that was what he yearned for the most. Absence of thought, nothing but the driving instinct. It was a reprieve from the civil war waging within him and the heavy burden of knowing how he could fix everything (complacency, complete altering of his personality, etc) and yet knowing that those things would be near impossible for him. Temporarily free from the weight his troubled thoughts left upon his shoulders he wished to linger in the simplicity of it. 

Yet this purgatory was not to last for the scent of another soon wafted from behind him and the Loðbrok's steps ceased, hackles bristling along his spine as he was jarred from the numbness he'd embraced. His head whipped shortly followed by his body as he turned to face her, though for the second he had to squint to discern her monotone outline against the rise of snow, blending in too well for the color blind berserker to make her out at first. With her outline in his view he relaxed some, but not much. “Are you following me?” He asked her, not knowing who she was. She smelled of Moonspear, albeit the last traces of her lone scent lingered a little. In all fairness, he would have asked the same even if she would have been a familiar face.

Alaska lifted her ears once being noticed, but lowered her posture as an act of respect. She had so many thoughts running in her mind it took her a few seconds to realize the question was addressed to her, as if it could be anyone else. When she was following his scent, the idea of following him was never the goal. More of finding him and interacting in some form, but following had never crossed her mind. But the more she thought about it, the more open she was with the fact she could have been following him. "I guess so, yes," it sounded more like a question than a statement, which in her mind, it was. Not knowing herself if she had been following him or not. She wondered what his reaction would be to her presence, at the moment he seemed tense or at least cautious, which resulted in her smiling slightly. Imagine the two of them in a dispute, such a tiny and slim arctic wolf against him, hah. Her only chance would be his neck, and he could easily rip her off with just the swipe of his paw. 

A chilling gust of wind blew against her coat, making her ears retreat back down. Although her pelt disguising her well in the winter, Alaska couldn't decipher whether she enjoyed winter at all. It wasn't a bad time of the year for her, but she doesn't remember much being that good either. Taking in a cold breath of air, and relieving a warm mist, she took one small step forward and waited for his response.

The pallid woman's response to his question was a question, as if she wasn't sure that she was actually following him even though she had been or so this was what Tevinter assumed anyway and couldn't be bothered to believe anything else. After all, aside from Wildfire — which was a different circumstance — as to which the thought of Wifi had his cheeks warming slightly beneath the platinum fur as he remembered the kiss they'd shared brief as it'd been. He tried not to think of it too much because it only confused him. If she was interested in Floki then why has she kissed him? At one time they had been identical ...but there were differences between them, physically. Little nuances that could be picked up upon and then the more apparent and easily seen differences. The vivid scars across Tev's muzzle for one. Besides, their personalities were starkly different and he felt that alone was a dead ringer for which twin you were dealing with. 

Like Wildfire the pallid woman before him was small, reminding Tev of his true size — as of which he had never really paid much attention to until it was easy to discern. As silly as it probably sounded: he forgot how big he really was, though in all fairness it wasn't like he had any way to tell aside from comparing his height and bulk to other wolves. He had noticed it when he was a young pup, but he'd stopped noticing it after a while and it simply was to him. The Moonspear stranger took a small step towards him, and Tev's eyes narrowed, caribbean laced with silver, sharp as he focused upon her monochrome form. “Why?” Tev demanded because the idea that anyone actually wanted to meet him was a foreign thing to him.

The question "Why" was an everyday question for her, why was the sky blue, why was she born into this life, why did he seem so confused by something generally common. Yet, for once it she wasn't the one being asked it, it was her turn to answer. She tilted her head to the side, her eyes wondered from him for a few seconds. She knew the answer, but got distracted by a piece of snow falling in front of her. "I caught your scent, and was interested in who you were." She explained, trying to be as blunt as possible, and not add the factors that she was trying to communicate more with other wolves, or was actually a bit lonely. He probably wouldn't have cared for that information anyway. her eyes brought her to the scars on the pale wolf' muzzle, and questions came running through her mind, she then caught his silvery-blue eyes, which were quite shocking, to be honest. She was practically fascinated with them, but didn't say anything, he'd probably just find her stranger than he already does. His stunning eyes only made her think of her paler amber ones, and made her wish for ones like his. 

She shook her pelt, but didn't move much besides that. Her small step closer seemed to catch his attention, and that was a small warning to her. Alaska would wait for him to take any initiative with closing the large gap between them, not wanting to invade his space, yet she was already growing comfortable with him.

Her explanation was simple enough, easily understood and should have been expected by the young platinum silver and warm sand colored Berserker. Yet, he was deciphering her words, trying to pick them apart. Surely there was something beneath it, some meaning he could not discern. The truth was: it could have been that simple, a desire to meet a new pack mate but Tev was made suspicious by his own insubordination. He didn't trust and that in, and of itself, was a struggle despite that it made him more like the deceased Loðbrok patriarch than he would ever know. 'I was interested in who you were' she spoke and it took all of Tev's self control not to roll his eyes and let out a indignant snort. “I'm no one special,” Did he truly believe that? No. But what had his arrogance gotten him so far? Trouble; surely it would bring to him future trouble as would his insubordination. In fact, he was wholly surprised Charon and Floki hadn't came to chase him out yet. Yet, that was something that Tev had been expecting since the moment he'd hesitantly accepted the opportunity to reunite with his family.

His bitterness burned his tongue like hot ash in his mouth. “but I guess if you really care I'm Tev Ragnarsson.” He left off his father's name, the name that his siblings also took, opting for what his sirename would truly be if Ragnar would not have given them his nickname. He had been sorely tempted to use Frostfur instead for Scimitar and Bazi (even if her raising methods were unusual) had raised him as if he were their own. He was forever grateful to them for taking him, for not leaving him to die which he would have done would they not have generously opened their home to him. “Can you patrol?” Tev asked her simply, not wanting to slack off on his patrols because some girl (even though she was older than him) decided she wanted to make nice with Tevinter Loðbrok. 

He'd noticed her stare and it made him ...tense. Having spent weeks in nearly entire solitude he wasn't sure what to do with the sudden company and his conversational skills had became ...rude and rusty; never mind that he sort of got the feeling that she was checking him out, despite that he had no proof this was the case nor any experience with that sort of thing and very well could have been dead wrong. Yet, regardless of his icy demeanor she didn't appear to be scared off yet.

Alaska decided to ignore his ill-mannered and self degrading response, maybe he was having a rough day. Which she could relate too. Once he introduced himself, she made a mental note in the back of her mind. Assuming they'd be running into each other more than once, there would be no sense in forgetting his name. Most the time Alaska keeps her last name out of the introduction, but since he had mentioned his, she felt the need to say hers. "I'm Alaska Blu." Her name wasn't much of anything special to her, Blu was the name of a pack her past family used to be Alpha's of. It's history was spectacular, at least in her mind. It was strange to think that if the pack wasn't destroyed by rebellion, she would have been at least Beta. The idea of her being a Beta made her wan to laugh, someone of her size? Ridiculous. Besides, she felt more than comfortable at the bottom rank.

Hearing his question, she tilted her head. Patrolling seemed like an easy enough job, unless you ran into something, but otherwise she had confidence that she could, even though she never had before. She assumed this meant she could get closer, so she trotted up to him. With each step he seemed to grow larger, and to him, she probably grew smaller.

i'm so sorry tev is so rude and such a butthole. :x i'm experimenting with his moody teenage stage, lol.

Tev couldn't really be arsed to care if she found his behavior rude — after all he didn't think there was a wolf that didn't think he was rude, selfish, or anything anyone else had ever threw at him. So what? The world wasn't made of unicorns, rainbows and glitter. It was a much harsher place then that and Tev had no patience for pretending to be something he wasn't. So if he was rude then he was rude. That just meant that, hopefully, he would be left alone to brood. He was a moody teenager, with testosterone pumping through his veins ….what, exactly, did they want of him? Was he supposed to take everything with a grain of salt and a smile? That wasn't how he worked and if they held onto that belief they were in for a rude awakening when they discovered the truth. Besides how was he supposed to build himself when others were always tearing him down but then making a giant fuss about how he acted. Everything had consequences and no one was above them; Tev acted out and would quit acting like the victim as Floki had so graciously spat at him during their falling out, when everyone stopped attacking him. Maybe he didn't need to take things so personally but how was he supposed to take things? 

He couldn't make sense of it, but tucked it away for later observational when he shook this girl — woman whatever.

A grunt of acknowledgment left his lips when she spoke her name, though he had no real interest in it at the moment he tucked it away nevertheless. She drew nearer and Tev took a step back, head rising as he stared down at her. Man, she was tiny. As tiny as his mom, at least. “You're like a pipsqueak.” Smooth Tev, he pointed out bluntly; though he doubted she needed the reminder. That was Tevinter, charming as ever (enter victoria's sarcasm here). “Well c'mon I gotta lot of ground to cover,” And he'd already wasted time talking. “So Pips what do you do? Got any skills?” He sucked at small talk but he figured she would probably want to talk so he gave her the initiation to blab to him since talking was something girls liked to do, right? He didn't know for sure but he just sort of guessed. Calling her “Pips” in short for pipsqueak had been a split second decision to slap a nickname on her because it was easier and took less effort than to remember than 'Alaska' even though there was nothing particularly difficult about her name.

Alaska didn't mind his gruffness, she somewhat admired it. Being moody or owning rudimentary personality usually had something to do with past experiences, or sometimes just being afraid to open up. Him being harsh was probably just a shield and she wouldn't judge him for using it. He obviously didn't care what others thought, which was also respectable, but wouldn't his actions result in him being lonely time to time? They must have looked pretty odd next to each other, especially with her being about two years older than him, but didn't that just add more character to the situation? She chose to think so.

His comment made her smile, Pipsqueak. She knew she'd been called that before, but couldn't recall the exact moments. Tev had focused the conversation on her, which was appreciated, but she wanted to learn more about him. "I know a lot in medicine, and would say I'm a skillful hunter," that just being because of her agility and size. "Pips" tried to keep her answer short, to turn the focus onto him. "What about you, Moose?" She asked, returning a nickname for a nickname. Alaska decided this would be an ongoing thing for the two of them. Hopefully, he wouldn't mind, she sure didn't.

While Tev hadn't necessarily called her 'pipsqueak' to irritate her, he found that he was slightly taken aback by the smile she gave him when he spoke it. In his experience, smaller wolves tended to not like when their shortness was capitalized upon (Thistle comes to Victoria's mind). Small but mighty his mother would claim but not every small wolf was outfitted with the fiery fuse his mother had, Tev had to remind himself. She wasn't particularly offended by his shortening of 'Pipsqueak' into a nickname so Tev took that it was ok for him to call her that — not that he would have stopped even if she would have been offended. He liked nicknames better, he found. When he'd went by Jorunn he had nicknamed himself Juju; but he had long since outgrown the name he'd been given at birth. Kjalarr was what the phantom of Ragnar called him in his dreams, Kjalarr Eitri...but he was still Tev. He would not so quick forsake the name he'd decided to take shortly before the fall of Jade Fern Grove and the Frostfur's departure from the Teekon Wilds. It was apart of him just as much as they were.

“You should find my mother: Thistle Cloud. She's our healer ...the best healer.” Tev saw no wrong in boasting of his mother's talents, plus he felt like he was helping to point Pips in the right direction as a fellow good pack-mate. While, in the end either Charon or Amekaze would award her the rank there was no one better to confer with then Thistle. “Well maybe I can test your hunting skills someday,” Hunter and Mercenary were Tev's trade goals, though currently he was contented to keep his focus upon his patrol. 

Without him noticing she'd managed to pry a crack in his wall; the fact which went unknown to Tev who wouldn't have considered it anything because he was talking about pack things. He was just trying to do his part even if he wasn't particularly sure of his place in Moonspear nor if it was going to be permanent; yet, it had always been this way. This uncertainty had always hung over his head like the blade of an ax ready to drop upon him at any breadth of a moment. “Moose?” He blurted as he walked, letting out a loud, indignant snort. He was not a moose, but despite the fact that he rather fancied himself to be something much more fierce ...like a bear or lion or something cool he didn't otherwise dispute her chosen nickname for him in return. How could he without being hypocritical? He couldn't. “Mercenary and Hunter.”

It amused Pipsqueak when he questioned his nickname she bestowed on him, but there was plenty more where that came from. From Sasquatch to Grizzly, she planned to bring up Yeti at some point, with his coat being white. Polar Bear would be a good one too, she would eventually pick one to favor and stick to it. When he repeated his first nickname, he didn't seem to enjoy it very much. She'd pay attention to his reactions with each name, and whichever he liked the best, she'd keep in mind. 

Tev had mentioned his mother, Thistle Cloud. Speaking about her being a healer, the best one at that. Alaska found it kind that he would push her towards an easier route than becoming a caregiver on her own, even if it was just for bragging rights about his parent. The small wolf wondered what his mother would look like, and if they would hold any resemblance. Sasquatch had yet to state his father at all, and her mind pondered if there was a particular reasoning for that. 

His comment about testing her hunting skills enlightened her with his skills, before him answering. She would love to join him on a hunt, hopefully he'd become more comfortable with her by then. The petite girl predicted she would be faster than him, but only by a little. He might have been large, but not because he was fat, but her small frame would give her advantage an agility. Mercenary and Hunter, so she was correct, he did wish to be a hunter. "How long have you been in Moonsphere?" Alaska wanted to continue their conversation, instead of holding an awkward silence and forcing him to think of one.

For a moment they dropped their brief talk of nicknames — not that Tev had really given her a choice on what he called her, to be entirely fair — and fell into a silence that the Loðbrok found comfortable. He was used to making his rounds by himself and thus their settlement into quietude didn't inherently bother the young berserker. It allowed him to focus his attentions upon his patrol, upon the sounds he heard and the smells, though mostly he scented only the markings of the borders. At a bonus there was no unusual noises that immediately drew his attention and he found his mind wandering a few seconds before Pipsqueak broke the silence that had converged in and around them. His velveteen ears of platinum silver perked, giving physical evidence that he was, indeed, listening to her words as she poised her question despite that he did not slow his pace or peer back over his shoulder at her. His eyes were focused on the familiar path he walked.

“About three months now, I guess,” Had it really only been three months? It felt more like three lifetimes, but then again he couldn't exactly claim that his transition from Jade Fern Grove to Moonspear was stress free ...because it hadn't been. Still wasn't. If anything he felt the weight of his internal struggles and stress heavily against his broad shoulders. He didn't bother to tell her that he'd been born into one half of Moonspear's predecessor packs, nor that he was family with the Alpha male and Beta; although anyone that had met Floki would only have to take one look at Tev to know they were identical ...or at least had started out that way. There were discernible differences between them: the most notably being the vivid scars that Tev bore upon his muzzle. He was marred whilst his brother was unscathed by any kind of physical battle (or at least he bore no scars of it). Perfect to Tev's ...ruin.

So he wasn't here very long either, one more thing the two held in common. That including their coat color, trade ambitions, and newly joining the pack. He seemed more comfortable in the pack though, and she would be too if she had family. Alaska pondered why he had been so distant from others, even though patrolling was the obvious answer, yet Tev had mentioned how he wished to be a Mercenary and Hunter, and patrolling had little to do with either of those trades. Was he avoiding someone? The petite size wolf concluded long ago she could never with hold a grudge against someone, nor avoid them. It just seemed difficult to do, and she lacked the definite mind. If she ever was avoiding someone for anything, she would think so much about it and convince herself not too. While, on the other end, if she were being avoided her mind would be spinning with questions, and no closure.

"Any other family?" Her mind once again pondered where his father was in the large man's mind, had he left? Had Tev and his mother disliked him? Or, was he just like a normal father and Yet just had yet to mention him yet.