Bane pawed at the midwinter snow and gave a sharp frown. Tightly packed stuff with the rain freezing the snow in the shaded treeline around his den. It wasn't too bad to get through the frozen crust of ice, a hard stamping of both forepaws punching a hole right through to the spike pit. The elder usually had to be careful to stop himself from impaling his paws on the sharp sticks and antlers covered by the snow. He didn't really have to this time, a snow rabbit covering the sharp ends of his pitfall trap.

A smile creased his ghostly muzzle and with some effort ripped the rabbit off the spikes. The frozen blood didn't really help when he pulled on the little grazer, a few chunks of frosted meat sticking to the ends of the pitfall spikes as Bane gave an amused roll away with his rabbit. His den was a short distance away and Bane lay in the center of his little camp and placed the rabbit in the snow before curling up around it. Defrosted food was good food. A pity he didn't have anybody to share it with, a lonely aroo being given with a toss of his head to disturb the silence.

It had been quite some time since the black furred woman left the packlands. She had become a bit more social than she usually was, and, slowly, the female was starting to feel like she might eventually become something that the pack could look to as a value. But even as she moved in the shadows, watching over Tahlia and the pups, the female kept getting this nagging feeling to go check on Bane. The femme had gathered that Bane wasn't too far from Seracia's borders. Why would he be when he had a family so close? It was time to track him down. So that day she left Sercacia, heading for the river. It seemed a likely place for the brute to set up camp. It would give him the basic needs of water, and where there was water there would be prey. One paw in front of the other crunched the crisp white snow as Des made her path. When Destruction picked up on Bane's scent a small smile came to her face. There was Bane, sure enough. The brute was getting on in years, but Destruction didn't doubt that he would be around for a while yet. She approached his camp in an open way, crimson rimmed orbs falling upon his scarred body. A warm smile would spread across her face at the lonely call, and once she was just a short distance away the femme spoke. "My my, Bane. Sounds like you could use a little company." The femme's tail gave a slow wag, happy to see him. "Speech",'Thought.'

A mournful sound echoed in his ears, his own sound. Sounds of loneliness. Bane checked on how his rabbit was coming along with a curious nosing of the food tucked beside him. It looked almost like a pup against his belly, the elder giving a raspy chuckle at the thought of him being female and nursing. Was it a strange sensation to have young feeding from your body? Probably. A stupid question. The rabbit was still cold... whatever. He reached down and smartly rolled his fangs to the side and tore the furred flesh, frozen blood melting in his maw and disappointingly enough, seemed a little on the bland side from the more freshly taken down animals he was accustomed too in the warmer seasons.

Snow compressing sounded in his swiveling ears and Bane brought the right side of his head to look behind him with his single remaining eye. A half smile formed at the corner of his maw upon sighting Destruction coming out of the trees upwards him. The wind shifted and the lupines nose twitched at the scent she bore with her, Destruction was in her heat cycle. An anxious whine caught in his throat upon hearing her words and smelling her seasonal scent. If she came to just talk this was going to be a helluva casual session of idle chit-chat.?"I could use a lot more than company Destruction, especially with how your coming towards me with what ya have going on right now... watch out for the spike pit next to that tree on your left, that depression in the snow right there." Bane gave a shiver and with a pointing of his muzzle signaled at the area of the corresponding trap.

The anxious whine wasn't all that surprising to Destruction. He was lonely, and she was well aware that she was within her heat cycle. The female would continue to approach, a soft chuckle leaving her throat. To most who would find Bane's words and actions less than pleasing the female felt a sense of familiarity with them. As she approached she made sure to steer clear of the trap that Bane mentioned, coming up beside the elder and laying down so close to him that their sides were touching. The dark woman figured he must be cold, what with his age making his fur thin perhaps a bit. "Still the same Bane I see. Not even loneliness could change you it seems." The woman would continue to smile, giving Bane a gentle nudge on the cheek with her muzzle. "But you know that you and I can not do anything, despite our urges. Tahlia would never forgive us. You have a good family, Bane. A wonderful family... and I can not allow myself to be the one that puts a problem in their life when it is my job to protect them now." The female's words weren't angry, though they held a serious tone when talking with her ex-mate. "I heard the details of your banishment... and... I wanted to say I'm sorry, Bane." The female looked down to the snow. "I'm sorry I didn't let you near Dillinger while he was alive. I can't help but feel that somehow what happened was because of that... deep down." The female looked back to Bane now. "Your family is dong well though. The younger pups and the older one.. and Tahlia too of course." Destruction would wait for Bane to speak now, keeping close to him. "Speech" Think

The elder looked down at his partially eaten rabbit and then back up at the approaching Destruction. A whine threatened to escape from his muzzle as Bane choked back the sorrow sound. This is what his life had been reduced to. Reduced to major amounts of small prey that didn't amount to anything by themselves and at the rate he caught them. Constantly cold due to no other to huddle against and having to stay near the river for a constant supply of water to fill his stomach that his prey simply wasn't doing. No real family had come to see him yet too, a hard sniff being given even as Des lay against him. He tossed the rabbit's ragged remains away to the side and closed his remaining eye with a shaky breath as he placed his head on top of pale forepaws. "Your wrong Des, I've lived a lonely life in my younger, happier days selectively... this is forced loneliness."?

Bane could feel her touch on his blind side and let out a sigh as his once-mate rambled on about his family that hadn't visited him and here she was, chatting it up like he was his old self with his old habits and quirks. The place where her muzzle pressed into his cheek tingled and Bane couldn't help but think of lost comforts and touches that were so easy to ask of Tahlia once upon a time. Destruction shot his desires down quickly enough, as was expected of them both, the elder however feeling a twinge of anger and frustration as to how she came to him with her current condition.

The so called rain cloud above Bane's head darkened even more when Destruction brought up his second banishment from a pack. A muffled sob creaking out between Bane's muzzle and he clenched a brimming eye causing the tears to fall along his cheek fur and freeze in the snow. She spoke of Dillinger, and if he had been alive and allowed into the elder's life than maybe he wouldn't have gone after Nako? Was that what she was trying to say? Dillinger... Dillinger was just another dead pup he had sired. Bane's body quaked as a shaky breath was finally taken in. All the bad stuff, why was she bringing up all the bad stuff?

Bane wouldn't speak, but Destruction would sense his shifting mood. The female would lower her ears, a deep sigh escaping her. She was going all about this whole thing wrong. Bringing things up to Bane, as much as she wanted to, wasn't the right path to take with the elder. Though it was too late to take that back now. Des would wrap her body around Bane, trying to give him some comfort for the pains she had brought up. She felt at a loss now... and she would hold Bane close, a soft whine escaping her throat. "I'm sorry... I..." Destruction would trail off, another sigh leaving her body. The female would close her eyes. Damn it all. ...For the rest of the day and well into the evening Destruction would remain by Bane's side, doing what she could to comfort him and soothe his loneliness. When the moon had partially rose into the sky the dark she wolf would rise, her saddened gaze looking upon her once mate. She would have to leave him for that night, but she promised that she would return soon, and with a last nuzzle Des would turn, heading home. Speech,

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