Blackfeather Woods On second thought

Skoll found himself growing curious of the lands outside of Ursus, though he did not go that far he did find himself in a forest that was dark, almost no light filtered in from the canopy above. It was nice, really. Being surrounded by darkness. The man decided that he would have to travel here in his free time more, this being after he marked the meadow. 

Merrick's nervousness about his thinking Skoll was leaving before was terrifying to the man. Why had Merrick sounded so strange? It was the same when that raven woman got pregnant too. A short frown came to his maw before being wiped away and replaced with his usual blank expression. He didn't need to be thinking about that. 

Skoll didn't notice the borders of an upcoming pack, either.

Rowan was busy reuniting with his crows.
Oh, how beautiful they were! And they remembered him so easily it seemed.
A good lope through the trees brought back happy childhood memories that gave him a good chance to get to the borders, murder in tow.
It seemed only Stone from his original four companions remained, and the others ventured elsewhere.

Either way, he found some deep, dark wolf wandering through his lands.
For a moment, he was filled with elated joy, thinking it was his Mother! Letting out an excited bark before realising his mistake.
He slowed to a cautious trot, regarding the man that certainly wasn't Moonshadow.
Who was he?

Skoll heared the caw of crows overhead, it wasn't as annoying as he would have previously deemed. Though he didn't think he could ever stay somewhere such as this forever. Partially due to the fact that he belonged somewhere already, and partially due to the fact that he had no idea how anyone could sleep with those birds always making noise. 

and then there was an oddly excited bark ggoing at him, and a stranger appcoaching slowly. Skoll didn't move from his spot this time, skinny legs staying stagnant as he watched the other approaching. Heterochromatic eyes watching with a plain expression.

The other seemed to stop dead, staring.
Like a rabbit hiding in the grass that you accidentally stumbled upon.
He thinks he was right to approach slowly.

Stone, his crow, alighted on the ground, also inspecting the interloper.
Hopping closer, pecking at the ground, and glaring with beady eyes.
"Who're you?" He inquired, cautious, only because this other seemed so odd.
He gave a few cautious wags of the tail to test the waters.

One of the crows was closer than the others. Skoll wondered what kind of noise it would make if he bit it. Except he still didn't move a muscle. A deer in headlights, he could have been compared to. Except without the surprise, the blood and gore. 

the wolf offered a tail wag, and Skoll's ears only seemed to get more pointed. He didn't offer a wag in return, solely because he never would in the first place, even to his own packmates. 

"No one." the man grunted out, testing the waters in his own way. He debated turning back to go home, but one couldn't turn their back on a possible enemy.

Nothing.
A silent statue. A picture of unfriendliness and uncertainty.
Rowan wouldn't try to hurt him, gods.

"Well, 'No one' I think that you should be more careful. I know my group is small but you don't have to like, be so defensive, y'know. We can be like, friends or somethin'."

He looked levelly at the man. Why was he being like this? Was he just unsociable or something else? Was he here for a reason? His pack? Was Rowan being hunted?
His ears swivelled, listening for some expected danger.

Being defensive was just in his blood, Skoll supposed. He always wanted to keep an eye on the things happening in front of him, but one couldn't just live without watching their back either. So, the dark man did both. Taking a slight glance behind him before turning to watch the other again. It didn't look like this one was going to call any others to bring on an ambush - it was strange, too. Seeing as he somehow tresspassed on a place he didn't know existed. Skoll was going to bring the news of an upcoming pack to Ursus, let Merrick, Astara, and the others know that one was somewhat close by. 

A proposition of friendship startled Skoll for a short moment. He would send that information, too. Perhaps he could learn more about this upcoming group. 

"Perhaps, then." He replied to that proposition. 

Maybe he could make 'friends' and learn more. Though he would not become a spy unless sent away to do so. Though he didn't think someone such as this would take in a man that had been hostile from the start, if he had been sent on a mission to do such. 

"How long has your group been here? I belong to a pack not far from here." He revealed, though that fact was most likely evident by his scent.

The midnight man's eye widened in what seemed to be...shock?
What, had he never had a friend?
How sad.

But to reply with a perhaps? No fuckin' wonder.
Rowan pulled a face, head tilting, nose scrunching.
Ok, he shook his head with a soft chuckle, his guard dropping completely.
He sidled up to Skoll, if allowed.

"Not long. Since like just before the rain. I'm Rowan Blackfeather by the way, and this is Blackfeather Woods."
He found that some places didn't have names that were widely known. And Blackfeather didn't deserve to be forgotten.

Skoll found himself not moving when the other wolf got closer, but didn't shove the stranger away, either. If he wanted to approach, and he did, the dark man allowed it. For now, anyway. Until he had to return back home to Ursus and find one of the leaders to explain that another pack was close, though this one didn't look like it would be any danger for them. Compared to Easthollow. 

"Skoll Almir." He returned the name giving. Skoll didn't feel the need to throw out a fake alias. Though he did not say the name of the pack he belonged, in case one of the members somehow had some history with wherever this wolf was from, if he were from anywhere. 

"You were named after this forest? Almost seems unsuiting with your personality so far." He noted.

Ah, so he wasn't as closed as first impressions may seem.
A name was offered up, and to Rowan, it did sound really fuckin fake. But it was better than no one?
Oh well, he'd find out one day if this name was true or not.

It seemed his position helped.
More relaxed, not so opposing, and you might get more answers, especially if you provided some yourself.

He looked about. One may see this as some old fungus filled dingy corner of the Teekons, but he saw beauty and life. The small flowers sprouting through the forest floor, the bright fungus at tree roots, evergreen ivy bringing light to the woods from its waxy leaves. The toad that hops away from your paws and ants that march in their own world. The deathly caw of the blackbirds swooping above and the soft brush of their wings through the air.
"I think it is quite suiting," he looked back to Skoll, "but I hear this forest wasn't grown in a day," a rueful grin sprung from his lips.
If he could read thoughts, maybe he too would see what he and apparently Marisol saw.

Skoll realized the wolf in front of him was pretty much a yearling, and was making a pack for himself? He supposed Merrick had been the same - young and wanting something for himself. Except it seemed Merrick wanted power for war and Rowan friendship. From what he could tell so far, anyway. One could never underestimate one's ability to lie, though that one didn't appear to be throwing lies. Skoll wouldn't return any lies in that case, but he wouldn't tell the complete truth, either. It was possible to not tell the whole truth while not lying. A skill that the man that was practically skin and bones had practiced with time. 

His demeanor was still stiff, but that was just how Skoll was - always seemingly waiting for something to happen so he could retaliate. Even when he knew nothing would come of it. Perhaps it was his body's natural responce. 

Skoll did know what Rowan meant when he said that the forest didn't grow in a day. Though he was merely using the outsiders perspective on the forest as an example of personality. That one didn't seem jaded at all. Though he supposed no one knew what having power would do to a wolf until they got that power. Skoll himself knew that sentiment relatively well. 

"I suppose you're right." He responded. Every place had things such as what Rowan was thinking about. Even the fishbowl that was Bearclaw Valley had life within. Merrick was right when he said there would be bears there to be seen. Not in the winter, however, when he mused they were sleeping until the season was over. 

"Why are you making your own pack? If i could ask." He questioned.

Sorry for the wait

Another short pause, for thought.
Reflection of the surroundings.

But why?
"Well," he started. Rowan had thought about this for a while and had solid foundings for his pack.
"When this bitch attacked me down back there is the westernly direction when it's all fuckin' wet and swampy, I realised that not having a place to go was something that was needed."
A short chuckle at his dumb situation. "I want to make a safe space for all who need it. And I'll fight claw and fang to make it so." He ended that part in a little mutter. Hoping that bitch could hear him all the way in her little hovel.

He lifted his head, smirking at Skoll.
"So, where'd you come from? I don't know many packs, especially 'round here."

Having a home to return to if someone got hurt was a pretty good reason to make a pack, Skoll admitted in his head. He thought it would be something stupid, it seemed like some just made packs to make them. Skoll had asked Merrick this same question once. The answer he got was surprising at the time, but now seemed pretty normal now that he'd been within that pack since before it was officially formed and seen in the eyes of other packs as real. And they sure did get saw as real with how many wolves joined it. 

"It sounds like a good enough reason." He pretended to muse. 

Though the question about which pack he hailed from, made Skoll wonder if he should answer that honestly or not. Had this wolf heard of Ursus and how chaotic the wolves inside it were? Skoll's paws were clean of murder, but many in the pack's were not. 

"I wasn't born there but I am in Ursus, a pack not far from here." He decided to say. It was an honest answer, but if this other wolf wanted friendship he would give some honest things away. At least until he knew enough to not want to listen anymore. Skoll was going to come back eventually anyway, though.

Rowan rolled his eyes.
Yeah, ok. It did sound good and stuff but like, Skoll didn't sound too enthusiastic.
Was his mind somewhere else? Thinking about whether to tell him or not?

He was a shady man, this skinny little Skoll, sulking around in some shady woods.

But he was told anyway, which was the good choice.
"What's it like? I've never heard of it." He grinned. He knew not all packs were good like he wanted, but not all were bad like his.
He hoped he wouldn't lie about it, rowan would find out anyway after all.

Skoll truly didn't know how to answer that question. What was it like in ursus? Some would call it a bloodbath, others a group of warriors that don't poke unless they themselves are. Or maybe a group of Bear-Cultists. They were none of those, Skoll mused. They were more than that. 

"Ursus is a family that shares their love and hate." Was all he could think of saying in those moments. 

They certainly did share their hate, but Skoll wasn't so sure about love just yet. Ursus was like a lot of things, being inside Ursus was like a lot of things. At first it may have seemed like a bloodbath that Skoll promised himself to, but after some time, he realized it wasn't that. Especially after his talk with Merrick before. The group was built on shared feelings, he felt like. At least, it seemed that way. When one wolf felt one way, the entire pack did. They fed on one another's emotions. 

"We are warriors, grouped together after being shoved away from our previous lives." Was another thing he thought felt accurate. In their leaders' case anyway.

Maybe his question was tricky, but it seemed that Skoll was smart and level-headed enough to figure out how to put Ursus into words. Rowan would have to think hard on how he wanted his pack to be, and how he could make it so.

"Sounds like how Blackfeather was," he mused. When Maegi was done by wrong, Tundra and his Mother felt it and he was sure the others too did it. He certainly knew they did when his tale came to light. And they shared the sadness and fear of their losses and the joy of Tundra returning home.
He wanted that, but more stable.

A pack of outcasts too, it seemed. Well, Rowan wasn't really an outcast, more of a lost child. Displaced.
But what Ursus stood for was similar to his own desires. Except Rowan was more focused on helping and protecting those who may not be Family, but hoping to make one in the process.

Truthfully, Skoll didn't know how to put Ursus into words. It did feel like a group of wolves that abandoned their previous lives, except for maybe Merrick who was hellbent on getting revenge from Easthollow about his mother. One thing he did understand, but was still confused about. He was even more confused about the look the man gave him when he blurted out his mother's name, it still felt like a warning. Skoll would heed that warning. He wasn't trying to get himself murdered by his own leader.

An eyebrow raised at the mention of how 'blackfeather was' Was it a pack? It had to be. Skoll hadn't heard of that one before, perhaps it was something of the past. Skoll didn't know if he should question the other man about the past, though he was curious. Even then, curiosity could kill, and Skoll was not looking to be murdered. 

He was thankful though, that this man named Rowan didn't ask the location of Ursus. Skoll might have had to lie then, but maybe it wasn't something he should be thinking about when the question could be asked at any time. He would just say Northeast, direct the wolf somewhere else. The silent was almost deafening, compared to how much he liked silence most days.

"I hope i'm not taking up too much of your time." He noted.

The man seemed...uneasy perhaps.
He probably didn't want to know about another closet of mothballs, so Rowan kept his trap shut.
He didn't have much more to say, his thoughts had been whisked away.
He'd spoken easily with Collision, but maybe it was just the fact he had been defensive at first.

"Of course not, there's not much to do when your pack is small," he grinned, carefree.
He inclined his head for Skoll to follow, thinking he'd lead him to the altar.
A place to show and share, he believed.
Unless he had to go, then that was fine, he would just show him to the borders.

Skoll didn't find conversations easy. Nothing about speaking to another wolf was easy. You had to interpret everything the wolf said at you, while also talking back and remembering to not give too much information away. Conversation was a bore and Skoll found silence to be comforting. Though that might be due to the fact that he was alone for a good while, and that some of the wolves in the pack he was in just.... Didn't speak much either. 

When Rowan motioned for Skoll to follow, he did. He still allowed the silence to sit.

Sorry for the delay >.<

The walked in silence the short distance to the altar.
The afternoon sun drizzling in through the trees to lazily drape over the stone platform where his offering of a rabbit was placed.

"This is our altar, the place where we give offerings to dieties," now he was here, he wasn't quite sure why he'd suddenly brought Skoll here. Did he feel it was important? Yes. Was it wise? Probably not, but he'd probably snooped around enough of the woods already.
"Do you have gods, Skoll?" Maybe he can find out more about Ursus.

Skoll didn't care for all of the wishful thinking of gods and goddesses. None of it mattered to him, he didn't believe in any of it. If they really were up there he would have thought they would bring good to those who had evil in their life to create those wolves to be who they were. But they did not. Nothing stopped his pack leader from becoming someone hellbent on rage. Nothing stopped Skoll himself from learning what it was like to become a monster. All of it, lies. 

The question, though, he did know how to answer. Merrick mentioned something about bears, how they were protectors of the lands and those who lived in the same area they resided in. He wondered if Merrick thought there was some kind of bear god up there - or if he was a bear god himself. It would make sense, really. 

"I wouldn't call it a god." He replied.

He looked into his haunted gaze.
He'd probably asked the wrong question, and it seemed confirmed when his curt answer came.
"Oh," a pause. "Fair enough." 
Not everyone believed, but he reminded him of Maegi. Skinny, a bit weird, though not unhinged so, whatever.

He sounded like he didn't want to talk about it, and didn't want some little shit prying into his life and pack when they'd only just met. So he let it drop.
Until he remembered the part about him being a little shit so asked anyway.
"What would you call it?"

Skoll really didn't know what to call it. Though it did have something to do with the bears in which they lived extremely close, that was it. Merrick said each of them had a bear inside of them, Skoll found that statement to be true. Each of them, every member of Ursus, was strong like the bears were. It was exceptionally clear in Merrick and his lover - the two of them were the strongest of them all. But what to call it... Skoll didn't know. 

"I'm not sure." He replied a little lighter this time. Face twisting into something of thought.

Rowan shrugged.
Whatever, if the man wasn't that into telling him, then he wouldn't bother pushing.
Maybe he shouldn't have been the prying little shit.

He thought for a moment.
Ah yes, tell him of the altar more.
"These mushrooms here," he moved to one, nose tilting to it to show him, "glow in the dark. They're sick," he grinned, looking back to the man, wondering what he thought.
He looked at the ring they formed.
Maybe that is the space they should use to pray.

Really, Skoll wasn't trying to keep secrets. He just didn't understand how to explain things. Maybe if Rowan came to visit the pack himself, he would see what Skoll was trying to say. The dark man would not invite Rowan to come see Ursus yet. Perhaps in the future, after Skoll learned more of the man and his upcoming pack. 

The growing mushrooms did make him curious. 

"I suppose I should come see in the future. It sounds interesting."