It was pretty warm out as of late, which was not a problem at all for him. After the strange, long nights, the warmer weather was very much welcome. His nephew was around somewhere, and Cloud took the opportunity to relax and take a break for once. Normally, he was always on the move and planning his next meal or teaching his nephew how to survive as a loner, but honestly, the loner life was getting rather tiresome. He was always an introvert, but as he got older, he was beginning to miss the company of others...as well as the purpose pack life brought him. As a loner, he was simply surviving for himself. Well...Finan too, now. But before that, it was just him. Since Ty abandoned him for the last time...Cloud felt he was better off alone until his orphaned nephew came along, and now he felt a sense of duty to give the boy more than he had. He couldn't decide if he wanted to nap, or maybe hunt down some lunch. He was feeling rather lazy today and wasn't particularly in the mood to go chasing after something, let alone tracking something down. Instead, he figured he ought to try out a pitfall trap instead of his usual snares. The monochrome male got up, stretched his legs, and walked through the forest, collecting sturdy sticks and pieces of branch before settling in a spot that looked like it had decent prey activity. He knew well enough how to craft quite a few different traps, and this one while he hadn't really done it, he knew it was simple enough. He began to chew the ends of the sticks, sharpening them into points and he did this with about a dozen or so of them. He didn't have anything, in particular, he wanted to try and catch, but he wouldn't refuse whatever decided to wander into his path. Setting aside the now sharpened sticks, he searched nearby for a good spot where he could dig a hole, and lucky for him, he had found one. The forest was teeming with critters, and the path he was on smelled strong with scents from rabbits and squirrels to deer and wild boar. Surely something would come wandering this way and get snared, right? Grinning to himself in satisfaction, he set about digging a shallow hole that was a couple of feet in diameter. It was deep enough that if a rabbit were to fall in, it would definitely be done for, and if a deer were to step foot over this, it would certainly get injured. When he finished digging a couple of holes, he went back for the sticks and placed them each in various directions, ensuring they were secure enough so that it wouldn't be easy to pull away from them and making sure they would do their damage should some unfortunate soul be unlucky enough to get impaled. When he finished sticking those in there, he went and grabbed some thinner twigs and laid them crisscrossed over the holes, and then gently laid some debris and foliage on top so that they were hidden. He dropped a small rock near both of them so that he knew exactly where they were and didn't accidentally walk into them himself. When he stepped back and checked them out from a short distance, one could hardly tell they were even there. Satisfied, he moved to a hidden spot underneath a dense bush to sit and wait. He wanted to see for himself if the trap would work or not, and if it didn't, well...he supposed he'd just have to do better now, wouldn't he? Crouched low to the ground, Cloud waited a good while, almost to the point where the warmth nearly made him drift off. He was almost there, however, he heard a sudden rustle of brush and when he opened his eyes, he spotted a young doe slowly edging her way onto the path. She seemed preoccupied with something, and with bated breath, Cloud waited to see if she'd fall for his traps. He watched her closely, though remained hidden. The doe was slowly moving on though she seemed to constantly check behind her as if something else was following at one point. A few minutes had passed and she hadn't really moved more than a foot or two since she arrived, and he was at the point where he was about to chase her down himself. But just as he was about to burst from his hiding spot, she suddenly bolted, and fortunately for him, she went right into the path of his trap. Her foreleg buckled and she bleated in alarm as she fell forward. He heard the audible snap of her leg-breaking, and the doe cried out in pain and alarm. He breathed out a sigh of success and began to approach, and once the doe saw him, she struggled and flailed until she tore her leg free of the trap and tried to bound off. Though with her leg broken, he knew she wasn't going to go far. With a growl, he gave chase until he was practically on top of her. He took her down in one fell swoop, dragging her to the ground and held onto her neck until she stopped moving. When he confirmed the doe was dead, he dragged her back towards the trap and noted that the sticks hadn't exactly held their position. Oh well, he supposed next time he'd just have to make them sturdier so that his next target wouldn't be able to get free so easily. Well, at least he had lunch and dinner now, and he was sure Finan would be hungry when he got back from wherever he had gone. He took the doe back to where he had been resting before and placed her against the tree. Grabbing a makeshift knife Finan had made, he carefully began to skin the creature so that he could use the hide later. WC; 1,006 Walk, "Talk" Think

Asteria wanted to set her course but... listen, actually setting a course was hard when you didn't quite know which direction you were trying to go. The only other wolves that Asteria had encountered since arriving in Boreas were children. Not the most helpful sort, not when you were on a quest like she was. Had all the adults simply... ceased to be? No, that was a silly thought. Rationally, the star-soaked girl knew that wasn't true. She could, however, figure that all the adults were simply living their lives. It was hard to have time for wandering, for adventures, when you were busy being a productive member of a pack. When you were raising a family. When you were... doing whatever else adults did. All of it felt strange to think about, though. Maybe she'd never grown up at all. But here she was, nearly seven years old. Summer would be fading soon. Asteria was autumn born. What a strange thought it was, another year of celebrating on her own. Celebrating. What was there to celebrate anyway? Simply... getting older. That doesn't feel like much cause for celebration, but maybe she's wrong. Maybe there were things to celebrate that she was looking past. Asteria preferred to celebrate every day instead. Celebrate the small victories, like waking up. Celebrate the beautiful places, and being able to see them. Celebrate maintaining an iron grip on her freedom, something she hadn't released yet. She'd never been required to release that grip. No one had ever been able to force her. The star-soaked girl decides that she's both happy and sad about it, though she's not quite sure how that could be. It's good enough, though. She's good enough. The day was hot, and Asteria was moving to the north and to the west of where she'd initially made landfall. Her gaze on the world around is curious, analytical. There had to be answers out here, right? She could find Fiori, she could... find answers. She could find the red boy that her mother spoke so fondly of, long into old age. She could find them all... what would she say when she got there? Asteria hadn't gotten that far in her train of thought. There was the issue of finding it first, or at least finding someone who could give her directions. Even if she found someone who could give her directions, would she be able to ask them? How would she be able to find the words? That was a bridge she'd burn when she got there. A bridge she'd burn, perhaps, when it was less oppressively hot. She could feel the summer sun shining down on her back, and it was enough to leave her panting and uncomfortable. Maybe she'd rest for just a little while. After all, what could it hurt? Into the Whistling Willows she made her way, keeping her gaze careful on the world around her. A cool, damp shade draped around her shoulders, offering respite from the heat of the day. For that, she could be grateful. Still, she wasn't keeping an eye on the ground. She wasn't keeping an eye on her feet, having trusted herself this far. A foot out of place, she stepped on an unassuming spread of leaves, and down she tumbled. The yelp from her throat was one of surprise more than anything else. It's not until a moment later that she realizes she's been poked, awfully uncomfortably, in the shoulder. The pointed stick must have caught her on the way down, scraping hard enough to draw blood. Her heart raced in her chest. A trap. She'd fallen into a trap. There was danger here. Asteria scrambled, but she couldn't find her footing, not with the dull pain radiating through her system. Oh no. "Talk"