Neverwinter Forest and his throat burns from the screaming

the tundrian's ears cup forth at her words that follow his return of greeting. a question but ...not. wintersbane isn't immediately sure if it was rhetorical or not but after a few seconds responds anyway with, "yes," giving a brief pause to contemplate how much information he wants to give. does the fact that he struggles to follow laws and be complacent and obedient relevant to their conversation at the moment? he doesn't think so. and as he has a growing reputation — despite that it grows under different aliases — perhaps he doesn't want to clue anyone in that might, otherwise, be unsuspecting. he might doubt he's worth the trouble of a manhunt and he certainly has an edge on blackfeather woods whom had only seen him as a cream puff child as opposed to the blue-black maned bear-like man he is now. though he'd given pause after his simple response to her (maybe rhetorical) question about his status as loner wintersbane has no inclination to actually respond past it.

glacial gaze watches as the woman draws forward and accordingly closer a few more steps. he assess her movements out of a warrior's habit but ultimately assumes that she isn't moving forward with hostile intent. she doesn't seem any more inclined to attack than he does. i'm blackbear, she offers her name to him in introduction and at that the tundrian's lips quirk into a small smile. it suits her, he thinks. "blackbear?" wintersbane repeats, testing it out on his tongue. "it suits you." he compliments, or rather, he means it as a compliment. whether she takes it as such is a different story altogether.

"wintersbane." he offers his own name in introduction then.