Sept

@Cirilla maybe since you wanted one? But AW if not

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Once he'd been able, he'd hidden in the forest, lingering in its shelter. There'd been less of a chance of the weather beating the snot out of him while he healed. He scavenged, and that alone hadn't been enough to fully sustain him and his figure slimmed. But now he could hunt again, though he was still wary of pushing himself too far so that he could fully recover. But he couldn't stay here. He needed to move on. 

He felt sore today, and tried to walk it off, roaming beneath the trees in search of something. Food. Something to inspire him to leave. He wasn't sure, but the slim young man couldn't stay still. Maybe that was it, that he could realize nothing for him here and it could make him leave. Maybe he'd just find some food, get a good amount of rest, and move out from there, back to the south.

Honestly, no place was appealing. But he wasn't gonna stick around with freaks and weirdos, nor was he going to stay where the land was more hostile if he was staying alone.
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She liked being up here. The cold dulled the pain. And she was more than prepared to deal with the cold along the rest of her body, her Archer blood, no, her Stormborn blood thickening her skin and fur and creating a layer between the world and herself.

The hunting and moving here was harder for her here with the snow, sometimes leaving her breathless as it did now. She plopped her lower half in the cold white, paying extra attention to her stump. She sighed in relief as the puckered flesh met the snow, expelling a cloud of air around her head.

She sat, panting, exhausted but not beleaguered, until she saw something in the trees and tensed. Another wolf.
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So far, there were no particularly fresh trails of something he could hunt on his own. He wasn't just going to go after a deer or a caribou, as he wasn't a superhero nor was he keen to get more hurt than he already was. But he heard something up ahead -- just that slight shifting that maybe was something interesting, and he moved quietly forward towards it, but he didn't quite a have a good fix on it. A few yards forward, he paused, then looked around for the source of the noise. Hm.

At least to start, nothing stood out, but then he spotted a white and grey shape that wasn't part of the actual landscape. Another wolf. He squinted at her, uncertain at least at this instant if he wanted to move forward or not. He'd met a lot of people around these parts that were crazy, so he was a bit more wary than other wolves would have been. He sniffed in her direction, ears pricked forward, but at least for now held his spot a distance away as he debated.
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He looked about the same age as she, but she wasn't about to let that soothe her tension. She was always at a disadvantage.

He kept his distance, but his body showed his interest. She cocked her head, waiting to see what he'd do.

It took too long for her.

Determined to be in control of something, she decided to grab the reins of the conversation. “You a loner?” she spoke. Though she raised her voice to call across the distance between them, she also pitched her voice lower than it naturally was, unconsciously mimicking her father's voice, but consciously hoping that it made her more of a threat, someone not looking for a fight, but up for it.
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He couldn't quite work out some of his questions. But she did speak first so maybe he wouldn't have to in the end. After she spoke, he took a couple of measured steps forward, not really closing much distance, but making it so they didn't have to quite yell at each other. “Nah I'm totally here with my eighty bros, we're playing hide and seek.” In other words, duh. It was probably impossible for Vidocq to pass up a chance to say something snarky. If she took it seriously that was her problem, because if someone had eighty other people lurking around then that was just ridiculous.

“You are, though.” No question about that. Not a sign of another wolf in sight. Or scent, whichever. Nobody in a pack would just flop down like tha--- wait, no sane lone wolf would do that either. It was too open. He'd always tuck himself away way out of the way so nobody would find him while resting. So, he voiced it, “Why are you just... There?” He was great at words too, wasn't he?
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Ynness snorted derisively, but didn't answer or move as he walked forward. She was silently grateful that he had made the forward move, though she had lost the control there.

“I am alone, but not a loner,” she corrected. Her family was far from a formal pack, but she had their support, sometimes unwanted as it was.

She barked out a laugh. “What's that supposed to mean? This isn't claimed, I can be here if I want.”
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---

Tobias had a habit of showing his handsome face in places in which it didn't belong. This hadn't been an exception to that rule. He strode on heavy legs, trotting through the snow as if a show horse; a wild Clydesdale on display. He hadn't been out in search of anything in particular, but it appeared something had been searching for him.

He found it in the eyes of those before him, both entirely too sarcastic for his tastes, but they were company nevertheless. Still, as he watched, pretending to be busy with sniffing the tundra for a trail of prey, he'd catch their words. The woman was right, this land wasn't claimed, and as far as he was concerned they were both loners.

Neither smelled of a pack like he did, they both seemed rather jumpy at the arrival of the other. It made him grin, but it didn't stay placed on his face for long. For now, he would watch, nose digging away the white powder from atop a conveniently buried hare.

—

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He does a bit of mock looking around and sniffing at the air, but at least at the instant didn't do so very closely -- the shadowy male who was slowly coming over had been obscured from line of sight for that exact moment. By the time he came back into view, Vidocq had looked away. “Still seem pretty loner-y to me.” She didn't have backup, so, it didn't matter if she thought she had a few other people that were "with" her because they sure as heck weren't here now. They were about as real as his eighty invisible bros

So maybe she was just kind of oblivious. Or arrogant or something -- either way, low on survival skills from his perspective. “You're just out there like a piece of bait or somethin'. It's a forest there's way better spots to just chill out for a while.” He'd been wandering on his own enough that he took no chances. And even if this chick believed she wasn't a lone wolf, she didn't have the pack behind her to act foolish. But hey, not his problem. He wasn't planning on lingering around too long to inform her of her errs, looking away and around (for real this time). And that's when he spots the guy scratching at the snow in the distance -- Vidocq tenses then, calculating whether he should move up his scramming appointment a bit. Uhh. Who the hell was that? He was far more visually intimidating than the chick sitting in the snow.
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Ynness scoffed. She didn't want to keep arguing about her status. She had her family. That was more important than any pack. In fact, she was one step higher than this loner; she had others.

She laughed. “Ah yes, I am indeed bait — for the trap my one hundred-sixty kinsmen have decided to set here!” she raised her voice in mock emphasis, then rolled her eyes. “You care an awful lot about my wellbeing. Your heart is bleeding; take care not to spill it on the snow.”

She followed his gaze, seeing yet another wolf. Awfully busy for the Tundra. She looked to the first male's face and, seeing his shock, called to the third with a mocking, shit-eating grin on her face. “Heill! — Hail! Are you a loner as well?”
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Just making up stuff for him to scram??

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He waited for the guy to make some dumb entrance, but apparently that wasn't on the cards, even with the girl calling to him. Rather the opposite happened, in fact: the guy was heading away. Blink. So snap decision, he looked back, with a snarky sort of laugh. “You scared him away.” But this idea gave him a whole renewed sense of humor at the whole scenario, even if it wasn't necessarily true, the idea still was funny to him.

So, with his dark cheer, he continued, “Look, sorry, I'm just fascinated by how dumb people have been around here. Reoccurring theme, y'know? I mean, feel free to sit there and turn into a bear's frozen snack or something, I'll be on my way.” Despite his aches, the next two steps he took did have a bounce to them. Still, he hadn't run off yet (not that he was gonna run), but he was planning on leaving soon. It wasn't like he was gonna find food here with some chick stinking up the place and some other dude wandering around. Too many people.
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The wolf she called to didn't respond, instead melting away into the snow. Ynness shrugged at the wolf's disappearance and the other's...Complaint? It didn't matter much to her. “Fine, go have fun with your eighty friends.” She settled back into the snow, resting her joints in the chill and relishing the numbness it brought. She didn't expect him or anyone else to understand why she sat here, seemingly without worry. The guy was annoying anyway, even if she did want to explain.
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At that point, Vidocq did as promised, he didn't feel like this was worth any more conversation, so with a flick of his tail he continued on the way he had originally been heading. Ish. He still needed to find some food. All things considered this was probably the most uneventful meeting that he'd had yet. Hell, he hadn't even noticed her missing leg so he couldn't gawk about that. She was just some weirdo that he'd soon forget. Off into the shadows he went.
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