It felt like a life time ago since she had been back in these lands. It had taken her way too long to realize that she was never going to find her mother again. She honestly couldn't remember why they had gotten separated to begin with... There was some kind of fuzziness in her memory around that time, but after all this time she had simply shrugged it off and went off on her own. She was honestly a little surprised to be able to find Alacritis again so easily. She wondered in the back of her mind what had ever come of her sister and family. Her first stop had been their old pack lands, but their was no trace of Olympian scents there. She slowly made her way across Alacritis since then with no real destination in mind. She padded through the stark white world around her with her silver gaze drifting here and there to take it all in. The white of the trees combined with the thin layer of white snow from the first snow fall of winter had sent the world into a complete state of no color. Had it not been for the brown and orange markings on her face, forelegs, and tail she could have blended in perfectly to her surroundings. She moved slowly, the only sound cutting through the air was the quiet crunch of her paws in the snow. A sigh passed her lips and her breath formed a cloud around her muzzle. Her color-tipped tail flicked behind her while she tried to sort through her thoughts about being back in such a place. Speech Others Thinking

Rivaxorus had been to a lot of places now, not everywhere but he tended to lose track of where he was at. Where he was going at least. Since he could easily find his way home by using his sharp nose of his that he relied on so much. The male was growing by the day, and he had no doubt by the end of winter when spring came around - he would match the giants heights. Maybe not as big as Amachi, but he could tell just by the feeling in his bones. He looked like an adult and he wasn't even a year in his age. Stopping when he scented a female however, his eyes locked on a woman who had strange orange markings pulling up on brown then white. Noticing her sigh, his ears flicked for a moment. Approaching her but making sure that he let her have her space. Plus he didn't know if she was friendly or not. "Hi there, I couldn't help but to see that sigh you made." his tail flicked. He dipped his head in respect and then tried to keep himself at a neutral stance. "My names Rivaxorus. Riv for short." An introduction was a way to start. He wasn't horrible at interacting, it was just his parents and pack had previously made it difficult. Yet, his mother was no longer here and his pack had changed completely. "Talk" "You" Think

Hera's ears perked at the sound of a stranger's paws moving across the snow and she stopped in mid step, her gaze turning to land on the young man coming toward her. Her paws slowly shifted out of their oddly frozen position to a normal standing position while her silver eyes traced over him curiously. If she could tell anything from his scent and the not quite filled out stature of his form it was that he either a yearling or not even quite that. He seemed to have manners though, which she appreciated. That had been something that her mother and grandmother had ingrained in her very early on so she was always pleased to see someone with similar manners. He was quite large for his age she noticed. She was no small wolf by any means, but he was her height already if not taller. Interested, she turned to face him when he spoke. She returned the slight dip of his head while she continued to eye him curiously. She raised a brow at his observation of her sigh. What a strange thing to observe about someone and an even stranger thing to start out a conversation with. She supposed it could be that he was concerned for her in some way, but that seemed odd to her as well. Though perhaps she was just used to being more independent than others. "I'm Hera. Can't get much shorter than that," she replied with a slight grin and a chuckle. "Why do you care that I was sighing?" she asked, her head tipping slightly to the side. She figured that if he was going to be that blunt she could be too. Speech Others Thinking

The boy would now settle himself since a conversation had been started. Curling his gray tail around his back legs, he would listen to her. Of course all the tell tale signs that he was listening to her were there as well. Ears pulled forward, occasionally making eye contact. His uncle Allen pretty much pounded it into his head how much respect meant to a wolf. In this world, if you respected someone then that gave the sign that maybe that was exactly how you wanted to be treated. As Hera asked as to why he cared about her sigh, he took a moment to think. "I'm not quiet sure yet, I'm still figuring that out." an ear twitched. As he smiled at her. "I would say I'm worried - but that's rather odd for a stranger to say. Though, if I thought like that I think everyone would stay a stranger forever don't you think?" His head tilted to one side. "It's nice to meet you. I like your colors, that orange you have." His two different colored eyes searched around her. It made him curious, not as curious as to what Amachi had looked like but still. It seemed oddly familiar as well to him, then again he was too young to know anything. The end of his tail twitched, maybe this was his way of dealing with his mothers death. What could possibly go wrong? Like it had with Angelus. Riv certainly hoped he wasn't rejected that company again. It was nice to find others who didn't exactly know who he was, or rather who his mother and pack had been. "Talk" "You" Think

Hera smirked a bit at the first part of his response and then as he went on she couldn't help but chuckle. She settled herself onto her haunches, her two-toned tipped tail curling neatly around her haunches. "Well, you're certainly not wrong," she replied, relaxing a bit and letting some humor slip into her tone. "I just can't say I've ever had anyone approach me and comment on a sigh right off the bat. It was an interesting conversation starter I guess." She had to remind herself sometimes that there were actually wolves in the world that were simply friendly for the sake of being friendly. It was such a foreign concept to her that it took her off guard a bit when it happened. He complimented her coloring and the comment made her eyes go down to her forelegs, lifting up one of them slightly to look at the orange marking there. It was probably only because she had lived with her markings for so long now that she never really thought about the fact that orange was a strange color to have as a fur marking. "Thank you, that's nice of you to say," she replied, putting her paw back on the ground and lifting her pale gaze back to his. "It's from my father's side. Or so my mother told me anyway. I never met him." She said it simply like she was stating a fact of life. She had never known him so she had never had a reason to miss him. Now, her step-father was a completely different story. She wouldn't let herself go that train of thought though, that wasn't what she wanted to dwell on right now. Speech Others Thinking

When it came to the conversation of parents, it put Rivaxorus at a stand still. Amachi was a single mother, he had already become suspicious of Avalon's mate. It came to his realization not everyone knew their mothers or fathers. Sometimes, it had him wishing he never knew his mother - however that was a curse. He couldn't think of it too long unless he wanted to be haunted by some sort of bad luck. "I guess I don't know how to start a conversation normally yet. I'm not even a year old." he grinned happily. Yes it was odd, and he knew that there were more rude wolves out there. However he wanted to be different. Then if a wolf didn't like him it was too bad. It hurt but, it wasn't like he was going to beat himself up for it. "Most of my colors come from my mom.... she just died a few days ago. The gray comes from my dad as well as my eyes. My dad is the alpha of the pack I live in at the moment - though he has a new woman at his side." what their relationship was he didn't know. Nor did he care. He was still sore from the moments his dad decided to vanish just because his moms mental state wasn't okay. Then again - his dad had his own problems. Rivaxorus sighed for a moment, watching his breath turn into a white cloud over his mouth. Just like it had every day in the north where he had been born. "Talk" "You" Think

He confirmed that he was in fact less than a year old and she quietly praised herself for her observation skills. She had gotten quite good at observing and sizing up wolves in her time alone. It had become more of a skill of necessity than anything else since she had to fend for herself. She had needed to be able to decide what wolves she could socialize with and which she should avoid. So far she was pleased with how this conversation was going. At least her first encounter with another wolf since returning to Alacritis was a pleasant one. She listened as Riv described where his colors and markings had originated from. It made her a little curious about where the rest of her coloring and markings had come from. She didn't know of anyone in her family with markings like hers, nor had she really noticed any white wolves. She new of some brown hues in her blood line, but that was about it. "I'm sorry about your mom," she told him, her tone sincere. "I don't really know what's happened to my mother. We were traveling together and we got separated and I haven't seen her since. Or any of my family really." She shrugged, not really feeling any particular way toward that fact. "The only thing I have that's like my mother's is my eyes. I'm not sure where my markings and stuff came from. She looks kinda like you, but without the extra ear and tail and eye markings. And more like reddish. I did have a step-dad, but he wasn't around very long. My mom used to have a pack and then she gave it to my cousin right before she left and I went with her." She wasn't entirely sure why she felt the need to tell him all of this. She guessed that if he felt comfortable telling her this stuff about his life maybe she should share some as well. Bonding or whatever. Speech Others Thinking

The boy was extremely happy that he had a stranger to talk to. Though by now Hera felt like a friend more then anything else. The male would keep his eyes on her, occasionally nodding to let her know he was listening. So step dad, it meant her mother had taken on a new mate if he recalled correctly. Not many of his family had done that, but his mother mentioned something of his granddad doing it. He didnt know, he had only met his grandmother. Though Hera didn't know what happened to her mom, rivaxorus had watched her get killed by another man that plagued her mind. "Im sorry about your mom too. I hope you find her one day. My mom died in a death match. Though when she had called the man her mind wasn't in the right spot." Rivaxorus probably was telling her that to make himself feel better. After all it was still sinking in. "Thank you for listening to me. Though its words from a stranger." He laughed. She made him feel comfortable at least. He hoped he was doing the same for the woman.

"Hera. How old are you? I dont know how to tell age, I'd like to learn though." There must have been a way to learn right? Most things could be taught, respect, fighting, healing, even how to read stars. Maybe connecting with older wolves but still managing to understand the mind of those his age, would come to his advantage. He wanted to learn from every single wolf he met.

She hadn't been there to witness it, but she knew her aunt had died in a death match as well so she was very familiar with what they were and how they worked from hearing about it from her mother. She nodded in understanding, wondering what it took to make a wolf want to challenge someone to the death, even if they weren't in the right mindset. She smiled a little at his laughter and chuckled lightly herself. "No worries. You're the first wolf I've really had a conversation with since I lost track of my mother and returned to Alacritis, so I'm pretty happy for the company." To his question she smiled a little wider and replied, "I'm two years old now. It's not hard to get a range on someone's age at least." She liked knowing things that she could potentially pass on to other wolves. "Sometimes you can tell from their scent and get a guess on their age. Also, younger wolves like yourself tend to be a little less filled out or their paws and ears are a tad too big for their bodies or things like that. Then older wolves sometimes get white hairs around the ends of their muzzles sometimes or you can watch the way they walk and see if their having a little trouble like their joints are hurting." That was the general gist of it, though she was sure she could think of some other things if she thought about it more. "Since I started living on my own I've been watching wolves a lot and observing them. You can learn a lot about someone from just watching them." Speech Others Thinking

It was welcomed information, Rivaxorus was a good student at least for that much. He enjoyed learning - if it also meant it would someday help him stay alive. Something his family had seemed to struggle at. So by watching someone you could learn a lot about them. Riv would keep that in mind, he was always really cautious but it was good to keep an eye on a wolf to see how they acted. His tail wagged a little - she definitely was a friend in his book. "Well I know I don't plan on staying in this pack for long but... would you like to come with me home? I could probably make it worth your time. I plan on joining my uncle once I'm a year however my opinions could always change. Originally I was supposed to take over my mothers pack but when she died things got flipped around." He didn't want to be an alpha from what he had seen but he had been trying his best to be a leader. Rivaxorus stood on his feet now, it was probably time he headed home anyways. To the new territory his father had claimed. It still stuck a prickle in his soul that they moved.... again. The last lands had been so close to his family it had felt like a choke hold had been lifted. Now he wasn't even sure if he wanted to call it his home. "Talk" "You" Think

Hera enjoyed sharing her knowledge, especially when Riv was so accepting of her teaching. It felt like a good sign that she had made friends with the first wolf she had really spoken with since she came here, even if it was a wolf just shy of being a yearling. She was exceedingly surprised by his offer though when he spoke of the possibility of her joining his pack. She wasn't too torn up about the fact that he would be leaving it soon. If she was a good fit for the pack then she didn't mind staying there once he left. However, she didn't know a single thing about his pack. He got to his paws to leave and she realized she should be giving him an answer. She got to her paws as well, still pondering her answer even as she spoke. "Well... I wouldn't mind coming and finding out more about your pack at least," she finally told him with a nod. She really did need to find a place to live, she reminded herself. She could make it on her own, but she'd rather not have to live as a loner though the winter. Being in a pack not led by her family was going to be so strange, but she could get past that. "Lead the way, I guess?" Speech Others Thinking

Hera had a point there that she didn't know much. Yet he was afraid to tell her he didn't know much either. The change in power was recent, and while Marina said it wouldn't be much of a change. He highly doubted it would be anything like his old home. It had failed miserably, so why would you use the old system? The male rose on his paws, the walk home would be welcome. At least that was what he would be calling it for now. A soft smile breaking out on his face, nodding his head. "Gladly Hera, It's nice to have you with me." He flicked his gray tail. As he started to move towards the gulley, following his nose and other landmarks along the way. Maybe Marina would be happy, he was bringing in members when he would be leaving. That way her pack would not be without a foundation. That was a good thing wasn't it? -And off they go- "Talk" "You" Think