Destination: Unknown

[Candle]

Stars dotted the early morning sky still, the blooming, vibrant colors of another spectacular Alaskan sunrise decorated with the fading points of light.

Bland-colored eyes, further darkened by the shadows of twilight, lifted to glance briefly at the horizon behind them. He was silent, then, pausing in his steps to let his daughter catch up. A grayed face turned toward the darker wolf and a gentle - if sad - smile lifted his lips. How many times had he apologized to her and her brother for not giving them enough food when they were growing. But both Amy and her sibling knew it wasn't truly his fault and had refuted those apologies several times over. Despite this, whenever he saw her struggling to keep pace because of her short, malnutrition-formed limbs, a tiny shard of pain pierced his belly.

Ah but this was not the time to let himself be overcome by guilt. It had been four days since they had last eaten, and passing through this life-forsaken pass since the middle of last night had left them cold and slightly downtrodden as well. As father and leader of this "pack" he knew he had to find prey soon, or they would becomes to weak to be of any use to the packs around here. Yup, these two were shopping for a pack to support them in exchange for their various skills.

But, Achak thought, If we don't get some food in our bellies soon, being packless will be the least of our worries.

[Hype]

Shiny, amber eyes scanned the surrounding area, observing every little thing that they could. The area was completely empty, but even worse was that it was boring. It was bland, plain, uninhabited. No wonder only the loners were ever found here. It was probably punishment for not joining a pack. But even then, one would at least expect to see some sort of food scurrying about, but there was none.

Karrai, along with two of his fighters, made their way across the area, their claws clicking rhythmically against the rocky surface. With his head held high, Karrai sniffed the air enthusiastically. Though the surroundings weren’t anything of extreme interest, the day was new and wonderful. The sun was rising, and a light orange glow flushed the area.

”Lovely day, isn’t it?” Karrai asked his followers, a smile planted on his face. His fighters only nodded. “Yes, it – wait” He held his head upwards, one paw off the ground, ”What’s that? With a flick of the head, Karrai turned towards his left and peered off an edge where, below him, he saw a wolf – no, a few wolves traveling together. With his fur glistening in the new sun, Karrai followed a ledge before jumping down in front of them, his fighters staying close behind.

With a step towards them, Karrai smirked slightly while observing their thin figures, whereas he and his pack-mates were sturdy, bulky, and most certainly not starving “Loners, are we?” Karrai asked tauntingly. Of course, should they be, or shouldn’t they be, it was of no concern to him. However, they also looked, young willing, and most of all hungry, which made them excellent candidates to join his pack, “Hmm?

[Candle]

Amy was panting quite heavily for such a comfortanle temperature- this journey without a foreseeable end was wearing on her in more ways than emotionally. Still, despite the fact that she felt run-down all the time, she knew her resolve and muscles were growing stronger. She could feel the budding power in her legs, the confidence that gave her a hard, hot feeling in her chest. They would find a pack together, her father and her, and someday her brother would regret his decision to leave them.

When Achak stopped, she stopped, which was a funny thing to do since she knew he was waiting for her to catch up. Inspecting eyes watched her fathers' prematurely greyed features as they were poised to the rising sun. She smiled at this, because her father was always looking to the sky for some reason or another. What was it this time? Did he smell rain she somehow missed, or did his height allow him a different perspective of the sun, which quite possibly could have turned purple while it slept.

So lost was he in his reverie that Amy was the first to react as, out of no where, a burly, wild-looking male holding his tail high appeared in front of them with a subtle 'thud-ump' on the cold, stone floor.

Amy didn't like the way he looked, nor the way he was looking at her and her dad like pieces of meat. Using a substantially amount of her energy reserves, the youngest in the group bounded up to the obvious leader and his lackies, placing one foreleg in front of her father as if to guard him from danger. Like he was not perfectly capable...

[Candle]

Achak swung his head around a moment too late to catch the he-wolf leaping down from a hidden ridge above them. He did not, however, miss his daughter stampeding up to him, literally bristling. A wide-eyed look at Amy's snarl-darkened features caused her face to go blank, and she stepped down, flicking her ears back plaintively.

Achak turned his yellow-gray gaze upon the alpha male and gave a curt smile and dip of the head in greeting.

"Why hello there, good sir. Might I inquire as to why you've stopped us?"

He was completely disregarding the question of he and Amy being rogues simply because for one, it was obvious what they were, and for two, he assumed the question was rhetorical, either way.

[Hype]

Karrai watched as the younger wolf bounded up to him and stomped a paw in his way, as if that actually did something. Karrai let a small smile pass his lips before slowly lowering his head too look into the eyes of the she-wolf, “Well, aren’t we the brave one?” The fighters slightly laughed, but Karrai stopped that with a quick glance. They were to stay alert, not humored.

His ears pointed upwards as the older wolf asked his question, and Karrai was rather frustrated that he had yet to be answered. Still, he didn’t let this upset him, as he had no need to let it. Looking up at Achak, Karrai made a motion towards the young weak wolf with his head before saying, “You know, you really ought to control these younger ones. It’s not hard to get into trouble when you’re too abrasive.” The two fighters stepped ahead of Karrai and snarled at the younger one in a manner equal to hers, not to be intimidating, but to show that they could be.

Redirecting his attention, Karrai politely silenced his followers before speaking to the older individual again, “Oh, I didn’t stop you; I simply walked ahead of you. Your stopping was the result of your own decision.” With a flick of his tail, Karrai sat down, but his fighters remained standing, as they were to remain vigilant so that Karrai didn’t have to, “You certainly do look exhausted, am I right?”

[Candle]

{Grah! I took to long to make you wait for two posts so I'm just going to combine them. So sorry! D:}

Amy backed down (albiet begrudgingly) as she was openly insulted by the fat-headed alpha. Hmph... as long as he and his dumb lackies didn't hurt Dad, then she supposed she could... behave herself. It was too damn hard looking at his smarmy face, listening to the cruel laughter of his goons. Mossy eyes were pointedly shot away from the leader's face; normally a sign of respect in wolven-kind but in this case quite the negative statement on her opinions of him.

Achak hid his concern for his hot-headed daughter well- save for a small amount of crinkling between his brow muscles- but upon the words of the still nameless stranger who was currently making him feel very threatened, Achak turned a stern eye upon him.

"I would appreciate it if you would not speak of my daughter so. But you are quite right that we chose to stop because of your intervention. Would you have kept going and ignored a group of wolves that out-numbered and out-muscled you?"

He had posed his own rhetorical question, but as the definition requires he did not expect and answer. Instead, with only a weary breath and a slow closing and opening of his eye-lids, the silvery creature continued.

"We are loners, yes. We seek a pack who's ideals coincide with our own. So far we have yet to come across one, or at least one that we agree on."

Amy looked up at this, surprised by her father divulging such private information that quite possibly could be used against them in the future. Her expression of silent confusion detailed her thoughts, but she did not question Achak's behavior for fear of messing up a plan of some sort.

[Hype]

Karrai smiled at the young one’s reaction, not overly concerned of her opinion, which was probably not that good. The rhetorical question was very true, but Karrai didn’t like his words being challenged, though was willing to acknowledge and accept the response. The fighters remained completely indifferent. However, at the mentioning of their being loners, Karrai changed his mood significantly.

“Well, lucky for you, I happen to need more individuals willing to join my pack,” he said, sounding more like a prize show host than a pack alpha, “I am Karrai, leader of the Moon Children of the Marshlands, and if you would be kind enough to share your ideals, I’m sure we can find a place for you.” Once again, the fighters remained indifferent, as they held no position to shift his decisions.

Obviously, the pup wasn’t too pleased with her superiors reaction, and Karrai noted this. It was obvious that she may be troublesome if she joined the pack…but that could be fixed, ”Well? Would you mind acknowledging me as to your morals?”

---

ooc:// It's okay, and sorry for the short reply; not much to say.
>.>

[Candle]

[This thread is closed and has been subsequently locked.]