I don't like liars and I don't like change

@Satchel

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He'd been fretful this morning from the moment he awoke, restlessness having embedded itself in his limbs and refusing to dissipate. Stretching after waking hadn't relieved it, even once he'd crawled outside of his den and greeted the sun as it rose above the peaks of the Nameless Mountain. A quick jaunt to one of the nearby streams to quench his thirst also hadn't done much to relieve him. He'd set it upon himself to do a morning patrol around the lower borders, figuring that it would take him a few hours and expend enough energy to appease his angry limbs. But still, he'd finished that, and they still hummed with tension.

So he'd kept moving. Ele had finished placing his own mark just inside the borders before departing - a canine post-it note of "be back later" - and had trekked beyond the shadow of the mountain, through the neighboring valley, and to the distant neighboring range. The place he'd woken up. The place Hydra had found him. He wasn't sure what had drawn him here today, but he'd made the journey without much conscious thought. It was as if he'd been on autopilot, lost in his own hazy thoughts as he'd trudged forward, no goal in mind other than easing the restlessness that had invaded his limbs.

But here he was. His head swiveled, surveying the area around him as if he was seeing it for the first time. He'd been so distressed when he'd awoken, perhaps this was the first time he really was seeing it. Part of him had been expecting something momentous - a shrine to his rebirth, a glowing ephemeral haze, the shriek of songbirds, like canaries in the coalmine, to warn any who approached of the mystical nature of this place - the place where a man could awaken from a dream, alive again, in a new world.

But there was nothing. It was just a landscape - a beautiful one, but nothing more than that. The sweep of the hills, the jutting rocks of climbing mountainside, the stretching plateau of fallen stone. He stood there among it, and noted, distantly, that his legs no longer ached, but the discomfort had suffused itself instead, once more, in his heart.
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A slow and steady pace was all he needed.

It was a little cold out this morning,  joints resisting as he rose up slowly.  Blinking a few times as he enjoyed the sudden rush of it all, the mountain air was such... well not anything he was used to. However that might be the best part yet.

So he stumbled slowly along, ears perked up at the sudden chatter of birds. A slow part of himself was on edge,  the other part just existed. A slow fruition, rocks jagged beneath his feet.  On the search for herbs, he had decided to start a storage site with such things in stock. It might take some work, but it was better than sitting on his fucking ass. Part of himself was ready,  the other half? Well  time would hopefully catch up.

He had slept the night outside Crux territory, determined to find new elixirs to bring back. He was not about to get confused over the man, to attach himself was reckless. However,  he could enjoy the other parts. And god knows they needed a doctor. And so, here he was. As he continued,  the lingering smoke of another was here. He halted just for a second, and then decided the risk was worth the ride. Adjusted his course, it was not long before he stumbled upon thee.

Appreciation for the fluid blending of grey and white tones, however he supppded it was rude to stare. He strolled rather casually into view, keeping a safe distance so not to overwhelm.  Company was unexpected, but not unwelcome on a morning such as this. "Well, hello handsome." nothing else left, quirk of a brow as he continued to search for plant life.
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^^

 He was an easily flustered man.

 It had not been unsettling when the ghostly-colored figure of another wolf seeped into his vision, moving like smoke through the surrounding terrain before their gazes landed on each other from a distance and the other male closed the space in between them. What was unsettling was how suddenly a flush lit under the fur of his cheeks, and his mouth stood partly agape, the standard greeting he'd been ready to express wiped from his brain slate the moment the other had referred to him as handsome. "O-Oh," Ele managed to stutter, unable to keep the look of surprise across his face. It wasn't an unpleasant thing to be greeted in such a way, he just had not been expecting it. And now he had to save face, so he didn't come across as rude.

 Feeling timid, he dipped his dipped his head gently towards the other male in response to his greeting. "Morning," he added, letting a sheepish smile start to fan out from the corner of a dark lip. The other wolf did well in not letting awkwardness linger between the two, because he seemed to be focused on some kind of task at hand, and just as soon as his gaze and words had met Ele, his focus seemed to be elsewhere again - towards the ground. Well, now Ele was curious. "Searching for something?" he asked, one ear pricked and head tilted to the side.

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^^

 Your standard pleasantries followed - an exchange of names and purpose, pack and purpose, and interposed with a few more comments from the other wolf that left Element perpetually unsure if he was just being kind or may have been flirting with him. The other wolf had been searching for something - a number of various herbs which Element had been aware of only as a piece of vegetation dotting the hillsides, but to which he had never heard called a special name or given a special purpose.

It had made for an educational enough time that it had left Element distracted from his original purpose of coming here, back to the low mountain slopes upon which he'd awakened. After a few hours had passed, they said their goodbyes and turned to return to their respective packs, each wolf with a mouthful of herbs clutched between their jaws. The silver-peppered wolf jaunted happily back in the direction of Empyrean's home upon the Nameless Mountain, pleased to bring back with him some helpful resources in the form of the herbs and flowers clenched in his teeth and knowledge of another pack in their proximity.

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