The Sentinels Through the dark

For @Lakhos

The blinding blanket of white did little to deter Tzila from striking out, away from Yuelong. Her desire to escape, to visit the mainland was still strong. There was a growing sense of restlessness within her. Of growing conflict. Astaroth had been gone for far too long, and she was starting to wonder if he would ever return. She had considered once or twice turning to Hua to try and express herself, but hesitated each time. The only thing keeping her somewhat rooted was her son. But he too was growing older, more independent.

Giving her pelt a shake, dismantling the layer of white flakes that clung to it, she headed west, to pay a second visit to Umbra and her forming pack. There was something about the black woman she liked, and with the weather  deteriorating by the day, she wanted to check on how Yuelong's allies to be were faring. But when she arrived near the bay where they had set up camp, Tzila was met with the unexpected. Their borders were no more...their scent wiped away.

Frowning, she pressed on, further and further. Squinting her eyes to try and see mere inches in front of her, she recognized the vague outline of scattered trees. Some still standing, many long since fallen. Approaching a cliffs edge, she failed to notice the mark where several rocks had been displaced prior. Down below the icy ocean crashed against stone, pushing bitter gusts of sea spray and snow against her exposed face. Far too wise to even consider searching for a route down in this weather, she went to turn away. But a splotch of color...of red, caught her eye. Muzzle crinkling thoughtfully, she locked onto the shape, barely resembling a wolf in it's twisted shape. Umbra...or what remained of her. That black fur with silver tints was unmistakable. Stone faced, she heaved a sigh, knowing that it was time to return home with yet more news for Hua.

did it ever stop snowing?
would it ever stop snowing?
the thoughts inside of his head were not many but the snowflakes man, they were everywhere. literally everywhere. sometimes they would let up for a bit and that was usually when he took to traveling. wisdom told him to stick along the coast if only for that negating factor that the coast was a little less snowy even if the food was kind of sparse.
as for this forest, or at least what remained of it, he couldn’t really say a whole lot about it. it didn’t provided high amounts of shelter but he took what he could get. the same was said about food too—he was a scavenger at heart, a bit too small and lightweight to take down anything of particular heft on his own.
and he was sick of birds, fish, and whatever not-so-rotten bits he could find. yet the opportunist him in could not deny the smells that he could pick up on and in light of better judgment and willpower, he had unknowningly followed someone to a gravesite.
except in all his glory, he didn’t know that.
he wasn't even sure what the hell the corpse had been at this point.
he watched her examine the remains from a distance, slinking along and trying to ascertain what her intent was. another wolf, figures, but one sullen enough that he was inclined to think that she may have been a scavenger herself.
he scuttled up and over some stones to be near her, his body low to the ground and primed to flee at a moment’s notice if things went ugly. as they surely would, given his propensity of being mister not nice.
“ummm, hey,” he softly said to her, those big ears of his flattening out like airplane wings to the sides of his head. “are… you gonna eat that? ‘cause if you are, can you save me like… one bite maybe. just the one. no more ‘cause you know, winter and all. i’m not greedy or anything.” he rambled, but he hoped it would take her off guard and be endearing enough to be convincing.

Tzila had many reasons to dislike winter. It was her least favorite season. Everything seemed to fall apart, or fortunes took a turn for the worse. At least, according to her experiences. In her darker days she might have considered peeling the flesh from another wolf. But now this was different. This one had been someone she almost knew. They weren't just a lifeless pile of meat, in her eyes.

The smaller shape of a low crouching creature, easily recognizable as a wolf but with significant traces of coyote lineage got her attention. She snapped her dark head his way, the scarlet fur of her nape a sharp contrast, peeking through the snow dust. She tensed on instinct, debating on an attack in case he truly was like his full-blooded coyote relatives. But he seemed to be more tactful than them as he addressed her. 

The question he posed made her twitch inside, as she glanced again to Umbra's carcass. Food was growing more and more scarce, but the prospect of dining on the flesh of her kin didn't entirely settle well with her. She stepped away, further. "I think not. Wolf flesh isn't on my menu. Especially of one I've met before."

"oh," he said quietly at her admission.
wolf flesh wasn't really on his menu either, truth be told. but a dead thing was a dead thing was a dead thing and perhaps if he had been in more dire straits he might have just forgone the whole approaching and just waited for her to vacate the scene.
"sorry about your... friend?" he stumbled along instead, letting his form sink closer to the ground. crouching was tiring and he had already done enough trekking for the day. plus with the wolf moving away from him a touch, he ruled out being chased off immediately.
that said, he also didn't know what else to add to the kindling of their conversation either. he had obviously stumbled across a rather awkward moment but lord knew there were plenty of them in his recent history already. even he couldn't escape the full brutality of the saltwater-washed region with the off again on again blizzard bullshit.
his toes spread in the soft snow for a moment; he had to draw a line somewhere and poking someone in the eye with a stick while they were grieving wasn't really a line he wanted to cross. she'd potentially be spared from his mouth, but not quite his company. her wariness of him only gave him reason to be wary of her—what if it was all a lie? come in the cave, come get this fish from the riverbank, so on and so forth...
"man, this winter sucks huh?"

She canted her head in his direction, noting how he still held himself in a crouched position. She couldn't imagine it was very comfortable. Sighing, she relaxed her tail and let the tension slip out of her shoulders. Maybe he would notice the subtle cue. She snorted at his words of choice, though more in a contemplative way than anything more offensive. "Friend huh? I wouldn't go that far. Barely knew her...I only met her, once. Last I heard she was forging a pack east of here." A long, hard glance at Umbra's crumpled, un-reachable body was all that was needed to be said about Tzila's opinion. In times like these, only the fittest survived. One slip up, and you were food for the worms. And apparently, one little slip is what had done the black female in.

A roll of silver eyes, paired with a flattening of her ears. "Oh don't remind me." She grumbled, but conversationally. "Winter is my least favorite season outta all of 'em. I could list a million reasons." Turning towards him, she overlooked his much smaller, skinnier frame. Considering him. A tip of her nose tried to catch his scent, but the damned wind threw it out of reach. "What brings you out, in oh such lovely weather? Surely not to catch snowflakes on your tongue, hm?" She teased with an arch of a brow.

oh, okay, so the corpse wasn't a friend. she had seemed pretty sullen, or so he had thought, but maybe that was just her general disposition towards things. he didn't get that, but lakhos was still young for most intents and purposes, and surprisingly had a lot of anger and distrust for the world at large.
which, he thought it was as it should be. the world was hot garbage, even in the freezer box atmosphere of winter. curious still was what she had known about the corpse—apparently they were someone out there trying to stake their claim in the world and had failed. interesting. but the wild wild world being unforgiving wasn't anything new to him by any means either.
nah, i ain't trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue, he said with a shake of his head. i'm hungry. this is shit weather for hunting in and i'm tired of trying to fish. so i'm... scavenging. he made a face with the last word like it was oh-so-unpleasant, but truth be told it was one thing he may have actually had a decent amount of skill at.
that and usually he was driven away by now, looking the whole part of skinny, scrawny coyote. there was still that chance here too even in light of his easy tone; he picked and choosed his words with exceptional fluidity.