She once again found herself unable to sleep. She assumed both uncle and Ignis would be in the same boat, but she hadn't stuck around to truly find out. She had slipped away and headed away from the den. Nothing against either of them, but right now she just needed her space. The news she had learned earlier in the day had once again thrown a shattering blow to her and though she had done her best to try to keep herself together she was finding that she was loosing control the longer she went. The emotions she had tried so hard to force back down were resurfacing and she was finding herself in a situation that she couldn't control them again and instead of letting her remaining family see her break for a second time she ran. She had brought herself to the plains, to where she didn't think anyone would be and checked her surroundings. Once she was sure she was alone she found a place to hide and cried. Frustrations, grief, anger, and hurt all surfaced at once and she wept as quietly as she could manage. She didn't understand why she had to cry. Memories flooded her mind bringing up the night uncle had saved her, the fear and the frustration of the coyotes closing in and her being so helpless. Her uncle had never said it, but she knew she was going to die that night, up until he had arrived at least. Now that she was finally happy again, her father had returned to create more chaotic emotions. She feared now that he would come, that he would come to kill her and Ignis. She didn't understand why he was doing this. Had he went as far to kill mom and Casso? Most of all, once again her heart was ripped open, he had returned and had not found her. Did he even care that she was still alive? Had it been his plan to let her die that night? All these unanswered questions only fueled her emotions until she went into another outburst, displacing her emotions on the things around her. Ripping up plants, ripping bark from a nearby tree, and even shredding a nearby bush. Draining her energy until she simply moved away from the area of destruction to simply flop on the ground in a dark quiet heap of a young wolf. She laid there with her eyes staring towards the sky. speech action

The young hunter found it difficult to sleep sometimes. Night walks were calming, but they didn't really help. Rhea found herself often missing the happier days when she was a very small pup, before she'd been fully aware of the Abraxas conflict, before her mom got sick and the pack changed hands again, back when it was just her and her parents and her rowdy brothers. Sighing heavily, the dark-faced girl shook her pelt out and frowned. Nostalgia was nice to reminisce in for a bit, but it still wouldn't change how different Abaven felt or how uncomfortable she was in her own skin sometimes.

Her eyes were getting heavy at last as she wandered the plains, her body finally ready to admit that sleep was a better idea than wandering in the dark. Ice and snow crunched under her paws and, unaware that she was not alone, Rhea didn't try to conceal the noise she made as she walked. After a while, she plopped down and turned to look up at the stars, sucking in a breath as she marveled at the lovely twinkling lights and let her woes leave her mind for a moment. "I wonder if you wishing on stars really works," she mused before yawning softly. It was only after she'd said the words that she realized a pack mate she wasn't terribly familiar with was laying nearby.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to intrude," she squeaked, emerald eyes wide and doe-like.

The rest of the world seemed to fade away for the time as she tried to count the amount of stars she could see in the sky. This task kept her busy because she continuously lost count (how could anyone possibly be successful at this), but she found herself distracted and it was a bit relaxing. She didn't even seem to get upset when she would loose count time and time again. She wasn't being at all alert, figuring the pack territory would be safe enough that she didn't have to be like she was the short time she was a loner. She didn't hear the initial approach of the other girl. When the girl grew closer the crunching grew louder and she found it made it extremely difficult to focus shifting her head lightly she looked to see the other come close and plop down to look at the stars. Her musing had been loud enough for Actaea to here and she would have replied, but it seemed the girl realized she was here just moments after. She quickly apologized, with her green eyes wide. Actaea pulled herself up into a sitting position and shook her head. "You arn't intruding," she replied somewhat quietly, before he molten gaze looked to the stars again. "I'll be honest with you, my wishes on the stars havn't worked...... yet," speech action

"You aren't intruding,"

When the soft reply came Rhea visibly began to relax, though she still held an air of nervousness about her as she glanced uncertainly towards the younger, dark-furred wolf. Gosh, Rhea really needed to pay attention to the world around her better! That and maybe acquire some improved social skills while she was at it. As soon as she'd realized she wasn't alone she'd started feeling a bit nervous. That feeling didn't normally leave until she got to know the wolf she was talking to. Rhea also didn't really talk to all that many wolves these days.

The other girl went on to give her melancholic response to Rhea's previously posed question. A slight frown creased her brow as she glanced from the speaker to the twinkling stars above them and canted her head briefly. "Hm. I suppose there's some things that you just can't cheat your way through, huh?" For a moment she wondered if she might find a kindred spirit in the other girl. What sort of things was she wishing about? Rhea would wish that her brother Aiden might show up again. She'd also considered wishing to go back to a time when her parents were better but... that seemed like the wish that was less likely to be fulfilled.

With a start she looked back to the fiery-eyed girl. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, sorry! I'm Rhea."

Her social skills were not the greatest either and it didn't help with the kind of mood she had been in all night. She just wanted to feel better and that was it and maybe this girl could help her out. Curiously she looked over to the girl for a moment before looking to the ground in front of her feet. So wondered why this wolf may want to wish upon the stars. What wishes did she have? Her words made Actaea look to her again, thinking over the words with a light smile coming to her lips. There was truth in that. If they could cheat thier way through things it would make life way to easy. What kind of characters would it build in others? She could see laziness being at the forfront. "I think that would make things way to easy. Plus in a way I guess everything that happens makes you..... Stronger?" she wondered what this girl thought of that statement. Actaea sensed that there may be something similar between the two of them, something that they both didn't want to outwardly speak of to simple strangers. Maybe this girl was troubled by something as well. Fiery eyes looked to the other's green ones as she realized they hadn't gone over introductions. Actaea couldn't help but smile and shook her head again dismissing Rhea's apology. "Actaea, it's nice to meet you Rhea," he replied. speech action

Mulling the words over, Rhea shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Maybe not right away always. But I think everything that happens teaches us something. About ourselves, or about others, or life or whatever." Rhea figured some wolves might not want to learn from life's lessons though. It was all leading to terribly deep thoughts though, some of which she wasn't all too eager to delve into lest they leave her looking inward and not liking what she saw.

"Nice to meet you too. Have you been here very long? I haven't really met a lot of the newer members. Guess that's why I'm short on friends," she mused. The friendly, nice reception for Actaea did give her some small hope that that might change though. It felt silly to hope that she'd make a friend, but, she kind of wanted someone to hang out with. Corvus was cool, and she loved her brother, but they didn't have all the same interests and it would be good to have someone else to talk to.

She seemed to agree which made Actaea think that there was a chance more then just simple conversation could come from tonight. She wouldn't admit it really, but she didn't have any friends either. She had Uncle and her brother who were constantly there, but friends? Shaye was her mentor and Rhyme she viewed as just a more powerful male figure in her life. In fact if she really thought hard about it she couldn't say she ever had friends even in Ruina. It had always been much older wolves that she simply seen as mentor like figures in her life. Until coming to Abaven she never had anyone her age except for her siblings. "Not really all that long. My uncle brought me and my brother here early fall and we've been here since. I havn't met many of the pack members either, just some of the adults," she replied. Maybe Rhea could be her first friend? So far she was enjoying her company and it would be nice to hang around someone that wasn't an adult. "What do you do around here when you don't have lessons to attend to?" she asked. speech action

Rhea listened and nodded as Actaea explained they hadn't been there super long. It did still seem like it had been long enough that Rhea ought to have introduced herself at some point but, oh well. She was doing that now, right? So all good. "There's not a ton of wolves here super close to our age I don't think. My brothers... brother. Uh, Arpeggio and Caelestis are close enough I guess. They're a little older but they're pretty nice. Other than that... yeah, not a lot."

"When I'm not attending lessons... Uhm, well I try to do a lot of hunting, that's sort of my main skill I guess. I'm not spectacular at it but I do my best. And when I'm not doing that I like to walk around the pack lands sometimes, or visit the nearby lands. There's a really pretty lake north of here that I like a lot. Maybe we can visit it together sometime, if you'd like?" She looked hopefully at Actaea, tail wagging lightly. Rhea wasn't the most adventurous wolf ever, but it might be fun to go places if she had someone to go with her! Lots more fun that wandering around all by herself and getting scared that she might get lost or something.

She nodded as Rhea spoke saying that there wasn't many their age. She had thought after seeing all these adults that there hadn't been a lot of younger wolves. There was a few she rattled off that were of age or close to. She kept in mind those names so that hopefully she could meet them. "My brother Ignis as well, but yea I kinda thought that when all I've been running into is adults," she agreed. Then Rhea went on to explain what she did, she wasn't getting lessons which made Actaea wonder why? Shaye had taken her under her wing, why wasn't someone training Rhea? She claimed she liked to hunt, which wasn't something Actaea had much experience in. She was willing to learn though and maybe her and Rhea could learn to hunt together. She spoke of a place outside of the pack and possibly they could visit it together. Actaea looked to her, curious of the lands outside of the pack. "That would be cool, I havn't really been out of the pack lands so to explore someplace new would be fun and maybe you can show me how to hunt," she said with a smile. speech action

Rhea made a mental note of the name Ignis in case she ever bumped into him later, which she hoped she would. It would be good to meet as many wolves as possible so that she didn't have to feel like everyone was a stranger to her. Plus then maybe she could make more friends, and feel less lonely. That would be nice.

"We should definitely do that then. I never like going alone anyway." she admitted. Somehow going new places by herself was even less fun than being home alone. Hopefully she and Actaea could find some things to bond over. "Hunting isn't too hard, you just gotta practice being sneaky and planning ahead. Although even when you're really good I guess most hunts end in failure. What do you like to do?" Since taea wasn't a hunter or much of an adventurer Rhea kind of guessed that she'd either be into healing or fighting... or maybe making stuff.

Actaea smiled again, this time her tail wagging as Rhea said they definitely should go then. It would be nice to have someone more her age to hang around and if she got to go on some adventures she was down for it. "I don't like going places alone either," she admitted. Something about that night within her old den with a pack of hungry coyotes closing in kinda cured her of wanting to be alone. It cured her of feeling smothered when around others. Instead the ones close to her now she seemed to cling two, like her brother Ignis. Hunting didn't sound hard, at least how Rhea explained it to her. She was good at planning ahead, but being sneaky she could use the work on. Then Rhea asked what she liked to do. "Healing and crafting mostly, but really I'm up for trying or learning whatever I can" she said with a smile. speech action

Rhea was glad she wasn't the only one who didn't enjoy being by herself. Sometime she felt like she might be a bit of a baby for being uncomfortable by herself. "Well... how about if we're alone and don't want to be we just look for each other?" she suggested tentatively, smiling widely as her heart beat a little faster. Rhea was the exact opposite of outgoing most of the time, even that little suggestion felt a bit scary and she hoped that her new potential friend would like the idea.

"That sounds cool," Rhea said, interested in the idea of crafting especially. "Have you tried crafting very many things? What kinds of stuff have you tried making?" The night felt a lot less empty and dark sitting here and chatting like this.