The Sound of Starting Over

So.. why was Áki here, anyway? He'd spent much of the spring season in the northern part of these lands, but with summer's arrival he'd felt restless enough to wander south. With no plan in mind whatsoever, he'd started his journey toward the Western side of Alacritis. The weather was much warmer now.. and he swore the temperature only rose with each day that passed. He wasn't suited for these hot lands, and his heavy coat suddenly felt oddly burdensome as the afternoon sun beat down relentlessly on his back.

He'd been aiming for the ocean. A dip in the sea sounded quite refreshing today, and he grew eager as he caught the scent of briny ocean water. It was still a few miles off, but he was getting closer quickly. He hadn't realized what sort of landscape he'd been approaching until the sudden stench of.. something very unpleasant reached his nose. The tusked male would frown as he padded closer, taking in a deep breath. The land beneath his paws seemed to shift, from a pleasant dirt to something much stickier. His nose wrinkled as he took it all in - his mind had been wandering and now he was suddenly stuck somewhere disgusting.

It was interesting, at the very least, if not wildly bizarre. And mixed with the awful stench of tar was the sign of two wolves that had passed through recently. His crimson gaze scanned his surroundings, searching for them - the promise of company was intriguing. At the very least, it would outweigh the terrible place he'd found himself faced with. It didn't take long to find them, and when he did he'd flash them a wide grin from a distance. "Afternoon!" he'd call out in his gruff northern accent, his voice jovial as he directed himself toward the two strangers. "Did you kill that thing," he'd ask the white-furred male, catching sight of the deer at his paws. "Or did you find it stuck in this awful..." his voice trailed off, searching for the word for the black substance that pooled all around them, but drawing a blank. "..stuff?"