Aizin (Aili +Tenzin)

Oh, man, was he getting lost? The russet male wandered near the stream, sniffing along the ground, attempting to find his bearings. He was blind, after all, so he couldn't just look around and see where he was. He could smell water, but couldn't hear it running. But then again, it was pretty frosty around here. It was most likely frozen over. He definitely didn't want to find himself stuck on the ice. Not only would it be embarrassing, he wouldn't be able to find his way off without effort or help, provided the stream was wide enough. He didn't recognize what he could smell through the snow, and the scent of the group he found himself with was nowhere in the air. He had ventured further out than he had meant to, and now he had no idea where he was. The snow was too thick, the air too stiff for him to get proper bearings.

Tenzin's light feet crunched through the snow along the bank of the stream, unable to feel the sand underneath the fluffy white blanket that covered the ground. With a slight veer to the left, his front paw met the slick ice, and immediately escaped underneath him, causing his bottom jaw to slam into the ground. He grunted, stopped, trying to get away from the ice and get back on his feet. His back leg then followed next to slip, kicking out to try to launch himself away from the water. He rolled to his right, able to dig his claws into the dirt with his right paws to get out of the danger zone. Then he stood, shaking out his fur and taking a good few steps away from the icy hell. Tenzin had grown to not be fond of the water or sand, or any unstable ground. He could easily drown in the water, or be swept away in a river and fall off a waterfall. Sand usually indicated water was near, and it was too shaky and he couldn't feel the footsteps of others nearby. He wasn't a fan of being unable to feel solid in his positioning and feel like he was disconnected from the energies of Mother Nature.

As he was regaining himself, he heard footsteps approaching him from a distance. The perk of being blind was that his sense of smell and hearing had definitely grown sharper to make up for the lack of sight information, and he now felt that this had contributed to the success of his meditations and him being able to delve deeply into his spirituality. He focused on the sound of the stranger approaching, turning towards them and waiting for them, listening just to make sure this one wasn't going to attack him. He could be trespassing on packlands, after all.

"Good afternoon," he dipped his head in a respectful bow, a soft smile on his face. "Be careful for the stream; it's very slippery." She couldn't have seen him splayed out on the ice, could she?

@aili

At his words, he heard her shift her positioning; she must have been closer to the river for comfort. A wise choice. She introduced herself as the wolf he was looking to meet all the way out here, and with that knowledge his ears perked and he sat just a little straighter subconsciously. He nodded in response to her question. "Oh! Yes! It is truly a pleasure. My apologies for being late, I was only accompanied to the end of the territory my group roams around, and it isn't the easiest finding our bearings when you can't see."

To emphasize his point, his eyes opened wide enough for her to see the striking lilac irises clouded at the edge by advanced cataracts. Then just as quickly as he opened them, he closed them once more, taking a deep breath. She smelled nice, not like a rogue. She was from a pack.

"May I ask a little about where you're from? I haven't been in a pack since my family disappeared. I've been staying with a group for a month or two now, but it isn't a pack, more just.. acquaintances who saw a mutual benefit in sticking together for the winter." Even he, as calm as he usually was when it came to approaching everything else, found his stomach twisting in knots trying to make sure he didn't slip up and say the wrong thing to upset her. He would hate to see this encounter cut short because of his own shortcomings. But that could be said about his blindness as well--it wasn't exactly desirable of a mate to have a genetic deformity that may or may not skip a generation. Either way, he would have to believe there was someone for everyone, if you were looking.

@aili

He heard her kick a small rock before speaking. She was in a pack called Noctis, but she didn't exactly feel comfortable there, it seemed. He sensed she longed to go on her own adventures and quests, away from those who may judge her decisions. He could understand that. He may have only been in his family pack, and for a short time, but he could see how that would get suffocating. Aili continued on to ask if he was interested in staying with his group or moving on. He thought on it for a long moment. A breeze whipped through the clearing surrounding this stretch of the stream, sending chilling air through them, as if nature intended on bringing them closer. His thick, woolly fur that was used to withstanding harsher winds didn't shift an inch, but his ears twitched and his nose wrinkled at the crispness of the air.

"If I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to. I can barely hunt at all. I can catch maybe one vole out of twenty tries, and that ratio won't keep me alive forever. Maybe if I found a mate who would be willing to be with a male who has a generational disease, and if she desired to leave to do our own thing, I'd be up for it. But for now, those friends are my new home." He sighed softly, but it wasn't depressed or saddened. He turned his head towards her.

"Though, I must say, if you desire to leave your pack to find your own way, you could. I'm sure they'd welcome you back if you decided the rogue life wasn't for you, as long as you don't leave on bad terms. Back where I lived, they would encourage us to leave to find our own paths and connect to nirvana. Of course, when I lost my sight much faster than my grandfather had, I was so terrified I refused to leave the commons at all in fear of what I could no longer see..." He drifted off, half because he wasn't sure if she was interested in his backstory and half because he was slightly ashamed of the fear he had shown back then. It wasn't becoming of his kind to cower like he had. Absently, a russet paw dug softly into the dirt.

@aili

Her response was curt at first, but she opened up a bit and assured him there were those out there who didn't care about status and genetic deficiency. It sent a warm feeling trough him something he hadn't felt before. For some reason he blushed, turning his head away slightly, trying to hide whatever fuzzy and tingly feeling he was getting in his chest. At the talk of her returning to her pack if she desired to, she was skeptical. It seemed her own pack wasn't as forgiving of other's free will as his was. Truth be told, no one in his pack had ever been kicked out, either. They had only forced a wolf from the pack in the rare occasion that wolf became aggressive towards them due to insanity or bloodlust and wouldn't leave of their own accord. Tenzin tilted his head sadly. She wanted to do her own thing, but it seemed she was afraid of making a decision that could be irreversible.

"If your pack is that unfriendly towards their own members, would you really wish to come back to it anyway? If you left and got tired of the rogue life, you could always look to join a new pack, make a family pack of your own, or you could just stay with the group of rogues that I stay with now. I don't know how long everyone will stay together, at the least through the rest of winter. But we grow closer every day, and I don't see anyone with a desire to leave the area as of yet."

She went on to ask the rusty male about why he left his pack lands. He took a moment to reply, the emotional wound still healing from that day.

"My family never pressured me to leave, or even join them during meditation in the morning after my sight had gone so fast. They never pressured me to do anything. That made me weak. I stayed practically hidden for most of that time. One day I woke up to find that all of my family had disappeared. There was the stench of something I had never smelled before, and it was everywhere. There was no smell of blood, though. Nothing besides the knowledge that something had been there and taken my family. I don't know if they are still alive or not. I left the commons because I was starving and I couldn't wait for them to come back anymore. I've been on my own since, came down the mountain and kept moving."

He paused. "Am I talking too much?"

@aili