Kintla Flatlands cause i can stand to stay here, right where i am

@Rhaenys

ingram's searches took him further from diaspora, though not for lack of trying. thus far he had only secured some things he would deem "suitable for children". frankly the more he looked at his wares, the more he became concerned for choking hazards. the pinecone was brittle and could be lodged in the tiny throats of a pup. the hares' ear was slowly decaying, and could poison them before they were even of age to chew on them.. and sticks... sticks could splinter in their tongue or worse, get stuck in the roof of their little babe mouths.

the more he thought about toys, the less he liked about them -- up until he was in the middle of the flatlands, debating whether or not this deer antler he had in his jaws was appropriate. its ends were awfully sharp....

The existence of Rhaenys was a lonely one and, while she would never admit it either out of pride or stubbornness, the girl longed for company. It wasn't her fault the wolves she had encountered were so lackluster so far, it wasn't her fault that despite attempting to heed to their thoughts and curiosities, she just couldn't bring herself to care. No, it wasn't her fault that they had raised her this way. A rumble rose in her throat before she bit it down. Despite her life being one of solitude, her thoughts always happened to be awfully loud. The girl continued on her way and, unlike before, her ears were flattened against her cranium. If she didn't look approachable before, she definitely didn't now.

The scent of wolf was just as loud in her brain as her thoughts were and, slowing her pace to god-knows-where, she decided to zone in on the creature yards away. How had she missed them? First the woman and now him - she was not at her peak. Her mind was running rampant on 'what the fuck she would do now' that she didn't exactly know how to separate the fantasy of 'what ifs' from the present. Like an electric shock, her attention was solely fixated on the ink splotch on the otherwise alabaster world. Spring and yet it was covered with melting snow; she breathed out of her nose forcefully. 

For a long moment she wondered whether or not she should approach him, but instead decided on the earlier - if she wanted information, she would have to seek it out. And then. Titian eyes narrowed on the singular antler that hung from his mouth - hunger. Her stomach instinctively growled.  Rhaenys was young and she still harbored the curiosity of an adolescent; "Where did you get that?" She couldn't smell any meat on it, but the subject of food was something only the idiotic would pass up when in the survival state.

ingram hadn't noticed the russet she-wolf nearby. he was awfully distracted with his own thoughts coursing him like a dozen howling hounds of hell; if he had noticed the woman (or the look on her face, which clearly said 'do not approach me') he would have scurried away, and right quickly, too.

as it turns out, the sable diasporan hadn't seen rhaenys until she spoke -- was he that distracted? he could not help but startle, and the antler fell from his mouth. he was about to hastily pick it up, and excuse himself, when she asked where he had gotten it. her gaze said it all: she was hungry. "oh. um, over there -" he motioned back a ways with his paws, but then nudged the antler towards her. "did... you want it?" she looked a little old to be wanting a chew-toy like an antler, but ingram remembered how cyclone had found an antler once and baited him to play, and he had been well beyond his childhood years. if he was lucky, maybe this was the same antler..

Confusion began to bathed the girl's face as he startled and dropped the antler before moving it toward her - she had always been expressive with her facial features; they spoke far more volume than any other word she could ever utter. Slowly, she followed his paw with her eyes - the way she came. So it was true then, it was only a matter of time before to bumped into each other.

Turning back around she took a few steps forward - he looked stunned, really, like a deer caught in headlights. "No," She lowered herself into a seated position. Rhaenys was an intimidating individual, that was the truth and she knew it well. Her intentions weren't cruel, though, and she didn't want him to feel threatened if he were not a threat to her.

"Was there a carcass?"

ingram truly was like a deer in the headlights, though slowly he began to collect his wits as the initial scare wore away. now that he was facing her, he had time to apprise the fine details about her besides that menacing scowl. she was young (he had been one once.. it seemed like so long ago), but she towered over him physically speaking. as a wolf of middling stature, ingram felt almost inconsequential. her fur was a deep russet that ticked down into loamy umber; it was a winsome cloak to bear, and it almost looked as if she had the sunlight perpetually at her back.

he managed a half-hearted smile, secretly relieved as she denied his offer and then sat down. he had intended to bring it back to the kids, but he had felt rude keeping it to himself when he saw her gaze.. all the same, even as she sat down she was imposing, which made ingram clear his throat rather uncomfortably. his ears perked at her question, and willing to oblige he shook his head but answered brightly enough: "no, i found it under a pile of leaves. i think it's been where it was for a while, see?" he pushed the antler closer, and if she cared to inspect it rhaenys would find the antler flecked with evidence of its stay in the ground: dirt, faint detailing of moss blooming across the ivory bone, and hard thin scrapes of inquisitive rodent teeth."are you hungry? there's a few packs around here, that could probably feed you in exchange for helping hands.. or i guess i could hunt for you?" she didn't look incapable of fending for herself, but she was young -- the young often had no idea how hard the world was until they experienced it.

What a shame. The girl only listened to his words with an almost regal air - despite there being nothing regal at all in this situation whatsoever. The autumn colored girl wondered in a long lost though, almost hoping, if she would ever be able to fill the void in her stomach that had been there since the day she abandoned Rhaesuial. 

Perhaps not, maybe she was doomed to live in the state of being for all eternity. 

The seasons would continue to change, but would she? Remaining still, her eyes only lingered on the antlers longingly before nodding her head for him to take it back. It was his, afterall. It would do nothing for her in the long-run. Rhaenys shook her head slowly at his flurry of words after processing them. “No, I don’t think there’s much here to actually tide me over.” She sniffed. “You smell of wolves - are you of a pack?”

ingram took the antler back with a slim black paw, nodding after rhaenys finished her visual inspection of the trinket. he was certain whatever proud stag had once borne it had discarded this token long ago.. he made a note to look it over more closely once he was at home, and of course, dull the everloving hell out of those very sharp edges. he didn't have to be a father to know kids and sharp things probably should remain separated.

after tucking the antler under his paw, rhaenys asked after his company. this was a subject in which ingram could be helpful: "oh, yes --" ingram nodded and canted his head in the direction of the lake that simmered in the distance. "i'm part of a pack down there. it's called diaspora. i'm actually out here because my leader gave me a task." he paused for a moment, inspecting rhaenys sidelong. "are you a lone wolf?"

Taking a few steps forward as she rose so they were now only a few feet from each other, Rhaenys listened with a newfound interest. "Diaspora." She repeated after him, testing it on her tongue. Odd name but she heard odder. She followed the jerk of his head, looking over his own to the lake in the very, very far distance. She wouldn't have even seen it if he hadn't said something. His question brought her attention back to him again and, slowly, the girl settled back into a relaxed stance. "Yeah, been on my own for a while." 

"What's the task?" 

Would she help? Probably not, but all in the sake of conversation, right? 

She hated conversations - what was she even doing? She didn't know.

ingram paused as the woman drifted closer. some part of him -- an old, mostly forgotten part of him -- remained wary; the wolves of the wild had proven to be quite savage, and he had let his guard down one too many times to be categorically naive. he smiled past his doubts, and chances are she would not even had picked up on it -- but that did not mean it wasn't there.

as rhaenys glanced to the distant lake, ingram followed her gaze. an immense fondness seemed to imbue his features. that's where blodreina was - his home. he might have been born on the shore, and he was certainly raised in keokuk -- but his family was here. in diaspora.

ingram's thoughts had been wandering. he was pulled back by rhaenys' voice, asking after a task. task? oh, shoot. "oh! yeah. so, my alpha wants me to find out how to be a good father." ingram's countenance remained mostly stoic, but his tail betrayed his giddiness; soon, very soon, ingram would have puppies... and he hoped to hell that he would be a good father to them.

Despite the distance between them, Rhaenys couldn't help but notice the dreaminess in his gaze; some far off thought that pursued his mind and haunted him and pulled his attention from reality to fantasy. A fondness that captured him in that exact moment that Rhaenys couldn't fathom because she had never experienced it. A fondness that caused a sensation of jealousy to seem up through the cracks of her damaged heart and pour through her veins. His words, despite only now shocking the silence with the intensity of a thousand lightning bolts, caused her to pull from her very own fantasies and into reality.

How awful it was with how lost she found herself in her own mind.

Titian eyes blinked; once, twice, before narrowing slightly in contemplation. His leader had sent him out to find out how to be a good father? "How in the world are you going to do that?" She found herself voicing her concerns, rolling her shoulders as she repositioned herself into a more comfortable stance. "You want to know the secret of being a good father? Be there for them." A sleuth of words spilled from the lips then - the sheer length of it cascading down and threatening to reveal some sort of long lost secret of her past. Now, her words weren't cruel in the slightest - in fact, Rhaenys was more curious than anything on how he would manage to be a 'good father'.

Gifts, after all, never worked for her. 

ingram was a bit naive; he expected his good news to be received warmly. instead, he got a frigid blink and narrowing of the eyes from rhaenys. he was confused — had he said something wrong or struck a nerve in the sunbacked titan?

she pointed out something rather bluntly— being there was perhaps the most important part. he couldn’t fault the logic in that. i’m going to, he hotly replied back, feeling a bit flustered by the insinuation he wouldn’t. ingram was many things, but he was not a coward when it came to facing the consequences of his own actions. but thanks.. i appreciate that. i think he just wants to see that i’m prepared... but i don’t know if i am yet. he was reflective for a moment before blurting: i hope they’re all girls.

he enjoyed the little time he spent with this stranger, but eventually it was time for him to go home. parting fondly, ingram offered her the antler (which she refused) -- then he turned back to diaspora at a light trot.