Truthfully, Laeta didn't really know where she had wandered off into. Most of her life she had spent adrift, alone and on guard, with nothing and nobody to accompany her but the songs of nature. The only noise the slight little creature enjoyed, anyways. Talk, through teeth and tongue, typically bored her into a mental oblivion. It wasn't her fault she didn't enjoy interactions much -- especially not with other wolves. For one, she never had much guidance in proper mannerisms around wolves. Despite having been born into a pack, she couldn't say she was raised well at all. The slender woman curled her lip as her mind unwillingly fluttered into broken memories. Her own family scorned her purely for the fact that her fur was patterned, and that somehow did not fare well with the solid-coated majority. As a pup, she was surrounded by the rumors of her mother's habits, including one that suggested Lae was fathered by a lone male. She left that ugly place as soon as she could, but the memory of her own self-exile burned on her tongue, a bitter taste she could barely swallow.   She paused, shaking off her unevenly tufted pelt as if to metaphorically rid herself of those haunting thoughts. It seemed to help, and with a soft sigh, the slender canine padded onward. Her journey was aimless, just as her mind was. She didn't really have any goals in mind -- why would she, anyway? It wasn't like she really cared about herself. Her childhood wasn't exactly a boost in self-confidence, either. The forest had a decently serene atmosphere -- about as peaceful as it could get, anyways. With the volcano eruption recently occurring, Lae had worn herself out just to get to a safer area of the territory. It was a hellish journey in and of itself, but she had managed to slip past the worst of the damage. The environment, despite its fair distance, still had an air of tension about it, and it didn't help that the sky was as seemingly dull as her personality. What she would give for just a small burst of golden sunshine to peek through and warm her chilled bones. The femme didn't realize the extent of her exhaustion until she finally found a decently soft place to rest, in the nook of a large tree. Perhaps it had been home to a family of forest critters, but had since been abandoned, possibly due to the extent of the volcanic tremors and activity. No matter, of course. A shelter was a shelter, and as a loner, Lae took what she could get. She considered herself quite opportunistic, but by necessity, and nit by choice. All in the name of survival. The nook looked big enough even for a deer to curl into, and as such, the small wolf easily folded her body to fit within the wood confines of the old den. Her lithe, bony legs folded inwards like clockwork, and resting her weary head, she listened to the faint rustle of leaves and wind, allowing the whispers of the earth to slowly lull her into a soft slumber. Her ruby pink eyes fluttered closed, but perhaps not for long. She wasn't the only wolf to wander these parts, of course. "Speech"

His life was turned upside down, and then shaken vigorously like a kid hoping there was candy at the bottom. First of all he had gotten taken by that smelly mud-rolling viking slave-trader, who had stuffed him in a little pen. He was still missing fur off his butt from where she had closed the door on him. Then he had to watch his sister try and bid for him, before Cannival, his lion mount-friend had won. He had decided that Cannival’s service with the viking also meant his service and had stuck around after being ‘freed’

Then of course that whole ground-trembling, sky-exploding business, and he was temporarily separated from Cannival. He didn’t even know there was anything so big in the world, let alone how the volcano was able to blow ash so far, that he felt it must go all the way down to his home in Auster. Honestly he thought this whole week blows.

Running from the eruption, he had gone the wrong way, and now he had no idea how he was suppose to get back to Auster. He didn’t even know if his sister was there, or which way Canny had gone.. It was a mess, truly.

The little Ninja found the closest available trees, even if it was in the horrible, cold North, and scrambled frantically up into their midsts. He was minding his own business from there, leaping from tree top to tree top as he considered his next course of action, when he saw the hint of wolf, for a moment, he thought she was small enough to be one of his kind, but as he leapt onto a closer branch, he would see she was actually a mud-crawling giant, just a bit of a smaller one. After all, what Songa would chose to sleep on the ground?

“Oy, whaddya doing?’ he called down, wondering if she was even live, she was still, and with the eruption and ash in the air, he supposed it was possible. Thoroughly freaked out at the thought he grabbed for a pinecone and chucked it down at the body, just to be sure. As it landed, he ducked behind a tree trunk with just his eyes showing through.

Through the madness the volcano had stirred, raging hell and fire upon the land, Lae found her little corner of solace at last. The den sheltered her from the creeping, icy chill -- a double whammy, considering it was not only winter, but the catastrophic event had also thrown the weather into utter chaos. Laeta drifted into patches of dreams, that surged in and out of the black unconscious like the lapping of waves at shore. Some dreams were random bits of real-life events; hunting, walking, basic replays of her days. Some dreams, however, were from her past, of which they could be compared to nightmares. The shame of her existence. The whispers among a judging, merciless crowd. And there she was, still a small child, so naive of the fact that the pack wanted to deny her existence. Outside of the dreams, her small form twitched, even shivered slightly as a gust of wind blew around her, tousling her fur. The nightmares were never ending, but she managed to swallow them back. It was for the best anyways. If she allowed herself to bow at the mercy of her shitty childhood, she'd be consumed by confusion, anger, and a mix of other emotions she forbade to spill out. Her cold, tough exterior was all she wished to show, and it was all she would offer to any stranger. If she offered anything, that is. Suddenly, a voice managed to snake into her ears, piercing into the depths of her subconscious. Much to her annoyance, of course. "Oy, whaddya doing?" She flicked an ear in response, stirred slightly, but was not fully awake. Whoever that is, they're probably speaking to someone else, She huffed mentally, a scowl creeping onto her ebony lips. She was about to turn herself over in hopes of blocking out the noise, when an object thwacked her on her side. Now she was awake. With a soft growl in irritation, the femme grudgingly rose to her feet, stretching her twig-like limbs as they cracked in unison. Glancing down to see what had hit her, the woman noticed a pinecone. Damn things were everywhere, she assumed whoever hit her was doing it for shits and giggles. Something she was not fond of, like the source of the pinecone. Laeta's ruby eyes pierced the expanse of the trees and foliage, forcing herself to search for the person responsible -- a tad difficult, seeing as the snow and ash from the bad weather obscured most of the surroundings. Then, through the snow and ash, she saw them. Eyes. A pair of them at that. She narrowed her own, nose twitching as she picked up the unfamiliar whiff of another wolf. Another stranger. She didn't budge, but it was clear she could see him, and she wasn't all too pleased with the disturbance. "Speech"

To his great relief, he wasn’t staring down at a dead body, but a most definitely living one, and he had a feeling the giant was pissed. Must be the end-of-the-world thing that stuck a bee in her bonnet, but she didn’t need to take it out on him. She wasn’t moving yet, maybe it was only coincidence she was staring directly into his hiding place. I mean hey, this was a pretty nice tree he picked, right? He would have taken a moment to admire too, if he wasn’t busy stumbling across none-dead bodies.

He stayed really, really still for a few more minutes, because he was a good tree ninja and he had perfected the art of patience, but… even ninjas had their limits. After a few minutes of stare down, and the unmistakable knowledge that she had found him and not his tree, he stuck his head more fully around. His light browns, which blended in well down in the browny Auster trees, and not so well in these winter white ones, stood out. Maybe.

“What, I got something in my teeth?” he asked, flashing her a smile of his pearly whites as he said it. He scrambled fully onto the branch now that his hiding place wasn’t going to work, and walked across the end of it, before bounding to another tree, which lead him a little closer to her. He was probably a few wolf-body lengths above her, definitely out of her reach if she decided to take a bite. He settled down on his branch, and paired down at the stranger curiously.

And so, the perpetrator showed himself at last. Lae flinched slightly as the wolf appeared, his light brown hues contrasting the soft layer of snow beneath their feet. It was clear she didn't have much experience interacting with others, even her own kind -- or, perhaps she did, but it was bad experience, and now she was left to pick up social cues and skills all on her own. But as a young creature, she could learn to adapt and grow. If she really wanted too, anyways. Her drive for survival was all she needed, or so she felt. "What, got something in my teeth?" The canine said. He already gave off the kind of vibe that rubbed Lae's fur the wrong way. You're not gonna have any teeth the next time you do that, asshole, She snapped in her mind, but the scowl on her lips remained as a physical remnant of her mental response. True, she was socially awkward, but even she was aware that carelessly flinging insults could lead her down a dangerous, if not fatal path. She watched, in surprise, as the wolf suddenly launched himself onto a branch. And another, then another, until she was about a foot away from her face. Clearly, she was..confused. Tilting her head slightly, she attempted to make some kind of sense as to what happened. "I don't appreciate rude awakenings," The femme uttered, her voice smooth as honey, but with a lingering chill like the coldness that settled on both their shoulders. Shifting on her paws, she mentally replayed the small brown canine's path through the trees, and despite her unwillingness to communicate, she inquired simply, "Why do you climb through trees like that?" As far as she knew, wolves walked on the ground. Birds lived in trees, so did monkeys. Not wolves. "Speech"

The giant looked surprised at his tree-leaping skills, and well he looked down at her from a safe height, he could read a hint of curiosity in her hostile gaze. “I was making sure you wasn’t dead.” He explained, like that was reason enough for tossing pine cones around. He settled more lazily on his chosen branch, curling his tail underneath it, with his paws set for balance and ease. His little furry face was still hanging upside down to look at her, and she didn’t seem too keen herself on moving. Maybe that was the cold, the North might have trees, but it sure didn’t have the tropical weather he was use to. He sure hoped he wasn’t going to be stuck up here in Winter Wonderland.

“Whyda stay on the ground like that?” he countered as she mud-trudging giant asked him about his trees. Honestly, he only set foot on the ground when he absolutely had to. When there were trees around, he stuck to them. The ground was vulnerable, and icky. It was on the ground that that slave-trader Valk had gotten one over him.

As the stranger's face was tilted upside down, Lae attempted to tilt her head futher down as well, in order to see him properly. He was an interesting fellow, one that grabbed her attention. He should feel quite honored -- Laeta never gave this kind of attention to anybody, and was normally not easily distracted by strangers. Then again, she also never encountered a wolf that ran among the trees instead of upon the earth. There was something surprisingly intriguing about him, and the ebony femme usually resisted this burning curiosity that came with her yearling age. "I was making sure you wasn't dead," The stranger responded to her inquiry about the pinecone. The woman wished to open her maw and snap, Why would it matter to you anyways? You don't even know me at all. But, she did not, and instead, due to the catastrophic natural disaster, she supposed it wasn't entirely his fault that he had to check. Dead wolves weren't to be taken too lightly -- but Laeta wouldn't care, either way. If she saw a wolf, sleeping or dead, she would have passed it as if it wasn't there at all. "Fair enough," She murmured simply. Her ruby eyes scanned the wolf with every movement he made. It was somewhat practice and somewhat instinct -- she was always on guard, ready for anything. Her muscles were tense, but it never occurred to her that she could relax once in a while and nothing bad would happen. Her mind was too stubborn to let her slump down and rest as lazily as the tree fellow above her. In response to her inquiry, the tree dweller asked her back, "Whydya stay on the ground like that?" The young woman shrugged. It was the only realm she knew -- believe her, if she could climb into the trees, she would. She wanted to hide from the world oftentimes, and the security of the branches was entirely justified. "I dunno. Most wolves live on the ground," She replied. Unknowingly, her cold tone was soon replaced by her normal, smooth monotony. It had little feeling or emotion, but there was a faint glimmer of curiosity she was trying not to show. She forced emotions down deep into herself. Showing any emotion seemed like a nightmare for her, and in her current survival mode, she found it best to not portray any singular emotion. Instead, the wolf only portrayed a tough, cold, and indistinguishable persona. Unlike her normal self, where she always had the other creature carry a conversation due to her lack of social skills, she had to pry further into this guy. He just seemed..too different. He was not a normal wolf. Mentally cursing herself for being a typical curious young one, she looked up at the man and asked, "Have you always lived in the trees? Or is it a talent of sorts?" Sometimes, mutation occurred that allowed normal wolves to do something out of the ordinary, so Lae wondered if this creature was gifted with such a thing. "Speech"