the evening was young. violet and pink shades flickered across the open sky above, the clouds waving lazily to the folk on the grounds. t'was perfect travel time. not too hot, not too cold. though she did not know where she was going until she got there, the girl had become separated from her indebted guardian. Ruathimaer was somewhere... she knew that much. they would meet again. his ego did not allow him to welch on their deal. she was quite confident he'd find her when she had chosen a place to settle. the girl wandered close to a pack's border, her pale eyes searching within though not going over the invisible markings. Huntington did not feel as confident with her fighting skills to pick a fight. nor even trespass without a reason. all she had done was pause before this pack's border, looking within and attempting to spot anyone nearby. perhaps one of them could tell her some things about this realm. idle chatter was not something she had time for, but if she was to settle nearby she needed to know at least about alliances and communities. a few more seconds passed into minutes before she turned her pallid head away. she did not move from her spot, though she did not leave either. pondering her next course of action, she would go westward more and see if somewhere suitable was to be settled. her eyes were clouded with thought, not noticing the other's approach.

Noir was helping his dad patrol, it was one of the few freedoms he was allowed and it had taken too much work to get to this point. He didn’t step a toe out of line anymore, and for that he was allowed to roam the border on patrols. He hadn’t made mention that he’d seen Motif sneaking out of the pack, and he was a bit gleeful about it now that no one could find her. One less sister to worry about. He wore a smug grin as he paced along, Summer flew above his head. Though her loyalties were shaky she listened to his command, and was a good partner out in the field. She saw the stranger at the border before he did, and called out the signal as she swooped down to land on Noir’s blue striped hips.

Blue and lavender gaze fell on the she wolf, barely older than he was. Though she could have been another relative. With her dark fur and dotted eye markings he might have been fooled were it not for her completely foreign scent. ”Hey!” Noir called out, doing his best to call on his slowly developing deep voice. ”What are you doing so close to Abaven’s borders?” He added a follow up question as he grew closer. He was taller than she was, even still he hadn’t quite reached his full height. He didn’t feel threatened by her, so didn’t put up any of his usual defenses. He didn’t call for backup either though…

Huntington looked to the side, glancing slightly in the direction of the voice. the cloudiness of her pale eyes vanished the moment the boy called out to her, retaining their usual sharp coloration. she supposed he would not be satisfied if she said 'merely passing by' though it was the truth. the urge to toy with him a bit, tease him was high though she knew this was a pack's land. that boy was a member of the pack. though she did not stray over the border, she was close enough to cause quite the little event should she wish. her voice was neutral though she forced a brow raised as she shifted her body to face him. "I am looking for an ally of mine" perhaps that was the truth, even if a half one. Ruathimaer was nowhere to be found and she felt quite naked without his massive frame nearby "a passing stranger told me some giant sky-colored wolves were seen here. I had thought it was him" thank whatever gods there be in this barbaric land; the boy had a blue hue to him as well. an easy mistake. "perhaps it was just you" Huntington added in, focusing away from the pack wolf and the border to walk a bit aways. "I will bother you nor your Abaven further. good day." and with that, she made to leave him here. Huntington had not come to invade, nor scout the borders of this community. she was, after all, merely passing through. to waste words and gift excuses was not her style. there was time to call her back, should the need arise. maybe she even felt he would and gave him an opportunity. she did not yet know what she sought and could not even ask directions. all she could do was keep moving.

She didn’t seem alarmed, but he didn’t make himself threatening either. She hadn’t crossed over the border so he couldn’t do anything anyway. Noir was on house arrest, he couldn’t step a toe over the border without losing all his progress. If he wanted to be able to walk out of here at a year old he had to behave and follow all the rules. It sucked. Noir was miserable, but that would make escape that much sweeter.

What she said didn’t make much sense to the boy, it seemed like she was mostly talking to herself. Sky colored wolves? Yeah he had nice blue striped, but all blue? He did was slate, as was Poem, and even Shaye had a bit of a blue tint to her. He tilted his head curiously, but at that point she had lost her interest.

Dark brows furrowed as she turned away, vowing not to bother Abaven anymore. ”Good, I didn’t want to talk to you anyway.” He tried not to show her that the opposite was true, he liked to know about the world outside the borders. Especially since he wasn’t allowed past them often. He tried not to give her a longing glance as she went. He was too prideful to call her back.

she found that difficult to believe. since he did not march over the border, Huntington assumed he was not allowed to. she had heard in many lands and realms, children were not allowed to leave their communities' watchful gaze. how stifling. "then why did you ask?" her back was turned from the boy, so he did not see her rather cruel smirk. as such, she did miss the longing in his gaze though his gruff voice betrayed him. he was acting like the child he was. daresay, grounded and unable to do much. though her voice was kept very civil, she would allow a soft wonder to escape it as she addressed him. as if questioning his reasons in a more polite manner than he deserved. at last, the girl would look over her shoulder at him. the black-lined ears piqued a bit. "you had cause to have driven me away, yet you did ask first my intention." he was either no threat, Abaven was no threat, or he was still not allowed over the border. did his community really control the boy that much? were the members unhappy with the reign presented?

She didn’t leave outright at least, she gave him a retort back as he called out rudely. She already reminded him of Odysseus. He knit his brows, feeling uncomfortable that he’d been ousted. He did want to talk to her, he just wanted to feel better about her moving on and not paying him much attention. She turned back over her shoulder to look at him, and further examine his behavior.

He didn’t want to mention his father who was right over the crest of the ridge, but he didn’t want her to get away without knowing that he would have totally gone after her if she had stepped toe over the border. ”The alpha wont let us attack unless you’ve crossed the line.” He told her as his big paws carried him down the border so he was perpendicular to her form. On his side of the border. ”we can still fight if you want to.” All she had to do was come to this side.

oh, how adorable. he thought she wanted to fight him. "that would be unwise" the girl replied easily, looking over his larger form openly. she may be larger than some females when grown, yet she was not going to throw away knowledge for brute strength. the boy would go without his bout now that she confirmed he wasn't allowed to attack her or go over the border. she felt he was aware that he had a chain around his neck, tied to the Abaven side of things. "there is no interest to invade your land, nor steal from your cache" especially with others close by, ready to come at a moment's notice. it was foolish to take on such a large beast, even if he was a child, especially since she knew not his honor. he could call for reinforcements. he could be a coward and let others do his job for him. too many variables. "I have no desire in licking wounds." at least, not her own. she could lick the wound of another just fine. in fact, she preferred it. Huntington was not built for senseless fights and injury. and there was little she would even fight for. "perhaps when you are allowed off of your land, you could give me a good show of beating another person senseless."

His features didn’t hide the disappointment he felt after she denied his offer, but that he really expected her to. He was indeed fated to remain this side of the border, if one of his guardians found him with even a toe over.. He didn’t want to think about being detained after his first birthday. He didn’t push her farther, as she seemed to admit if they fought that she would be injured and she was damn right too. If he found someone this side of the border he was allowed to go all out.

Noir couldn’t deny he was intrigued by her last statement, he wasn’t about to be told what to do, however a plan was forming in his mind. He and Theta would need to be able to sustain themselves. ”Ha! What would you give me if I did?” Noir wasn’t stupid, but he did enjoy the thought of fighting for his meals. Something his dad would never approve of he was sure.

now it was getting interesting. "a better question would be" Huntington replied easily, leaning forward as her pale eyes bulged "what would you consider to be suitable payment for your violence?" she was not below or above hiring someone to assist the girl, though she would rather make them indebted to her. make them owe her. in body and perhaps even in soul. the boy was not one of those types; she could easily see he was a wild card, eager to throw his weight around and maybe even prove himself. maybe he even was kept in Abaven due to his past actions. perhaps... just perhaps, the girl assumed he had been forbidden to leave.   ""

Noir stood up a little taller as she leaned in and questioned him with both words and her body language. The boy wasn’t nervous, but his paws did lift and fall with nervous energy. He wasn’t allowed to do much, and his fighting training had nearly stopped after the fire incident. What would he want in exchange for the kind of freedom she offered? What did he really want? ”Praise.” A facet of his life he highly missed, yeah he did as he was told but that wasn’t enough to garner praise from his mentor or father. He did his job, why should he be treated special? ”Adoration,” intangible objects for his work. ”I want to be fed.” One of he and Theta’s main concerns were surviving by themselves. If he could just fight for their food once they escaped..

"and you get none here" t'was not a question but rather a statement as the boy listed his 'demands' to her. it was also none of her business, though she could say he was rather conceited if he need adoration to be violent. where was good old fashioned psychotic natures when she needed them? Huntington clicked her tongue, looking away. though she could fake a lot of things, praise and adoration was not something she could easily give another. the sheer idiocy of the world around her was enough to make her gag. "except for food, I suspect" she'd look back, nodding at his fed body. compared to her gaunt one, he was much more healthy. "praise goes with a good job" the girl went on "and adoration with loyalty" she would not stroke his ego for the sake of it. "so I ask you; why do you need to be fed for your services? are you going to, daresay, leave your pack? or does Abaven have so little resources to keep you fed?" back to the question at hand; would she need to deal with Abaven to get his services, or would he be leaving once old enough. she'd rather not deal with a whole community of wolves. focusing her attentions on one or two was enough. ""

She was sharp he was definitely going to give her that, deducing all of his reasoning in a short amount of time. No, he got little praise and no adoration here in Abaven. He had been a great student, and he did all of his chores well. (Okay so Rhyme told him good job but that wasn’t the same thing.) He snorted as she pried heavily into his reasonings and his brows knit stubbornly. ”Maybe.” Noir offered noncommittally as he looked away from her. He had grand plans of leaving his birth pack, and making his own way with Theta. They had plans, and he had every intention of following through with them. Before the first big snow. ”What does it mean to you?” He challenged her with his hard blue and lavender stare.

"it means nothing to me" she replied easily, almost loftily. Abaven - any pack - meant nothing to her. she had her travels, her learning, to attend to. settling down was far from her mind. so why should she care if Abaven had limited resources? why should she care if the boy wanted to leave? easy enough; she was attempting to pluck knowledge out, to see how far she could press him. there was no game to it other than she was bored and wished to know just how awful his life was. making him re-live his own experiences was joy enough for the girl. "if Abaven has no pull any longer for you, it would do little to entertain me" sure, she could use the patients that came with a large pack. yes, she could gain experience but a pack was stifling. she did not want to attend meetings. she did not want to attend training if it was not on her terms. her youth would be passed over, her knowledge swept under the rug in favor of the older generation. she would be lost to the woodwork. the boy gave her all she needed to know. Abaven was not for the likes of her. "so I see no point in chatting on the border any longer." she'd turn to look at him through those emotionless eyes of her. "though for when you go; attempt to survive. perhaps one day we will meet again." I may have use for you she left that in the air. the girl unfurled herself from the ground to walk away. if he did not stop her, she would leave him be at the border. /EXIT ""