Of Hunting and Howling

[daina]

The sun was barely visible through the snow clouds which loomed above. No snow fell as of yet, but the signs were everywhere that it had earlier. Trees, thickets, and the ground were all coated in a white blanket of soft snow, and the air seemed so gentle and calm.

But the air did carry another sense, and that was of victory. Luin had successfully captured a nice-sized deer while on her walks through the loner territories, alone as always...

The prey was small, a youngling that had strayed beyond their mother's vision. And as Luin watched, camoflaged by her grey coat, the faun went right in front of her. That was when she gained her prize. (It's just like Bambi, only opposite! ;D)

The fae soon finished what she could take. Her meal had been a good one, and would last her for more hours of walking. Luin stood and dragged the carcus to a bush where she left it. If any other creature, mainly a scavenger, would want it, they could have it.

Then she began to walk once more...

I walk a lonely road
the only one that I have ever known
don't know where it goes
but it's only me
and I walk alone

[Ärï]

Thick muscles rippled under the winter-shaggy ebony streaked fur of a topaz-eyed brute. His limbs moved in a seamless gliding stride and his eyes exposed nothing of his inner thoughts though many were flashing through his mind. A new scar decorated the brujo. A gash-scar across his muzzle highlighted his visage and if anything made him seem even more handsome and scary then he already was. Coldfire looked a bit rough and rugged compared to his usual masculine beauty. A recent tussle with a band of rather troublesome rouges had left his fur ruffled and the winter growth making it seem shaggy, adding to his already impressive size.

Just as he was about to step across a bubbling, half-frozen brook, he stopped. Black tipped auds flicked up alertly as his dark nose twitched slightly, lungs filling with the surrounding scents. A familiar scent came to him on the winter breeze. Luin, one of the few wolves to bother approaching him. Curious of why she was here, Coldfire moved toward her scent. A slight limp could be detected in his movement if you looked hard enough but Coldfire walked as straight and regally as he was able though he had had his bone de-joined during his recent fight with rouges. Coldfire never let anything by, even his surprise and slight pleasure at finding Luin in such unfamiliar lands.

[daina]

After Luin had walked a good half hour, she picked up the scent of another wolf, a very familiar one. One that she hadn't come across since a month ago. Coldfire. The fae didn't stop, however aware of his presence. She glanced over her shoulder, just in time to see him emerge from the bushes.

That was when she stopped. Luin noticed a change in his appearance from the last time their paths had crossed. Coldfire seemed to have more of a scruffy look to him than usual. The signs were easily visible. "Coldfire?" she asked, making sure that the cold hadn't gotten to her from walking so far.

[Ärï]

"Luin." Coldfire inclined his head to the fae, his burning topaz gaze flickering slightly. "I didn't expect to find you in these lands." The statement was as casual as Coldfire's voice ever was, though there was a very light undertone of friendly curiousity when he spoke to Luin, a tone that vanished whenever another wolf appeared and he hardened once more into a stone statue. His lyrics were as deep and calm as ever, showing neither anger nor the sadness he felt toward the world. Simply calm, like the peace before a storm or blood-bath battle. He knew he probably looked a mess, his muscle mass the only thing keeping his ribs from showing and his shaggy fur roughed up and windswept. The gash across his muzzle drawing one's attention to his visage where his eyes remained as oddly bright as ever. "You look well off" Coldfire commented, standing in a neutral stance, his tail tip twitching a bit.

[daina]

At the sound of Coldfire's calm reply, Luin relaxed a little. She grinned as she said, "I've become rather fond of walking aimlessly, Coldfire." The fae turned and walked toward him. He was no danger to her. He'd saved her from it once.

"I wish I could say the same about you. What happened?" Luin asked. She thought that since Coldfire was a little anti-social, he'd stay away from fights or enemies of the violent nature. But she could never tell now, not having seen him for the last month.

[Ärï]

Coldfire flicked his ears, debating on whether to tell her or not as the femmora drew closer. She was the only wolf allowed so close, or to speak to him period. Coldfire wasn't sure why, something about Luin just softened him on the inside. "A band of idiots" Coldfire muttered, glancing back at the path he'd come along. Coldfire sat back on his hunches, his ebony streaked sooty fur rippled slightly as he moved, his topaz eyes softening a little bit when he met Luin's gaze. She would be the only one able to see it, she was the only one that knew him well enough to see slight shifts in his emotions.

[daina]

Luin stopped about two feet before him. She found herself worried about Coldfire, which felt strange to her concerning how little the brute needed to worry about. There was a scar on his muzzle. The damage wasn't deep, but it was easily seen by the onlooker. It seemed to make him even more dashing than the first time she saw him.

The fae asked, still looking over the smaller marks on his side, "How did you end up in their midst?"

[Ärï]

"Walking" Coldfire replied simply. It was easy enough to explain. He'd simply been wondering around, trying to track a stag he'd caught wind of. The rouges had come in on either side and when he'd refused to be detured from his path, they'd attacked all at once. Now they were laying dead and frozen in some ditch somewhere, not that Coldfire cared too much. They weren't dead, unless they'd not bothered to heal their wounds. Coldfire didn't kill anymore, unless another brute hunted Luin, then he killed. "The fools got in over their heads." Coldfire couldn't help but feel a little more content and relaxed now that he was in Luin's company. She was close, closer then most wolves dared to get. He also notice she stared. "Is the scar really that ugly?" he asked with an almost teasing tone.

[daina]

Luin nodded. Some Rogues would turn up just about anywhere these days. Then, as Coldfire asked about his scar, the fae could almost tell that he was grinning underneah. Luin grinned as she answered, "On the contrary, it makes you look rather handsome."

She shrugged and smiled, "Maybe it's fate."

[Ärï]

"What would be fate?" Coldfire asked, a flicker of curiousity flashing in his eyes for a milla-second before it was hidden once more behind his usual blazing mask. The large brute was curious about Luin. She always seemed so different then other wolves. She thought of things differently then others, seeing the different parts of everything and seeing through even his stone-cold mask.

[daina]

It was Luin's ear's turn to flick. "That you received that scar, of course." Then she decided to joke, "Unless you just decided to put it there yourself." The fae was a little surprised that Coldfire didn't catch that, but she couldn't control what he thought of her words.

[Ärï]

"Hmm" Coldfire said, looking around curiously, ears pricking. He heard paws in the undergrowth but relaxed. It was a wolf, but one he was familiar with. The wolf was moving on somewhere else. Coldfire's topaz eyes glanced around once more before looking back at Luin. "Depends on how you look at things and you always have had a different way of looking at things."

[daina]

Luin shook her fur of some stray snow and said, "Fine." Conversations like that wouldn't last long anyway. Then Coldfire began to look around them as if something else was coming. "What is it?" she asked.

[Ärï]

"Nothing, just someone I've been traveling with" Coldfire barked. "He's moving on."

During most of his travels, another loner by the name of Halo had acompanied him. Both brutes had shared simple silence and neither one particularly cared what the other had to say. Coldfire had simply not bothered chasing the other wolf off. Halo had never bothered with much though he had helped Coldfire fight off the rouges.

"Looking to hunt?" Coldfire asked, looking back at Luin.

[daina]

Luin understood. It was good to have another wolf around.
"I've just finished my hunt not too long ago. But if you need help with yours," she flashed a smile, "I'd be glad to help."