The alpha, Nymeria, bargained with him to stay a few days. She seemed concerned, but then, Asunder was a proven faulty judge for character. After all, he’d been seduced into trailing Mala, who apparently worked for some pup-slaver. That part of life seemed impossible to abandon. Mother sent him to sick wolves for company, effectively selling his adorableness for food, and then Father gave him to those bachelors, though he didn’t know the reason or reimbursement for that. Naivety was nice; he could have pretended the he was the only one misfortunate enough to be subjected to adult greed. But that door got slammed in his face.

Asunder kicked a pebble down the hill. Exploring sucked. New knowledge darkened the world a little bit more. He should have stayed in the isolation of the tundra; when he was alone, at least the darkest things were what his own brain manifested. But the tundra didn’t have a surplus of food. And it wouldn’t have much supply by the time he managed to travel back there (winter made prey scarce). Hence, why he took Nymeria’s offer to provide him a free meal. He wasn’t sure she went off to get others to hunt for him, but he figured he would give it a few days. If it didn’t show up, then he’d move on.

His ear twitched at the distant pat of paws. Wow. That was quick. Asunder turned his eyes toward the noise, only to note soon after the uncommon shortness between steps. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, and around the curve of a foothill path, came trotting a puppy. Well, it seemed his meal wasn’t around the corner. His brain felt a bit smug at the pun. The pup seemed at least 6 months old, probably a little older since he was out by himself.

The stranger was lanky with light fur pointed with cool gray. He was comically fuzzy. Who knew living stuffed animals were actually a thing? Asunder stiffened when the younger pup looked up, right at him. He started wagging his tail and trotted over. Oh. That’s right… greetings. It’d been a while since Asunder had been around the younger generation. He’d forgotten that his generation was generally more energetic than the older wolves most of his history was filled with. Asunder mustered up the ability to thump his tail on the ground once.

"Yo. Asunder," Asunder told him, "The Nymeria-‘Beast convinced me to stay a few days before headin' back to the tundra… You findin’ what your nose's tellin' you to?"

Figured he should give some justification for just sitting inside pack territory even though he wasn’t a part of it. Maybe Eldrax was patrolling? Was that something puppies that young in established packs did?

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OOC: Feel free to jump in whenever you feel it's appropriate, Dandy, Thistle, & Kalseru! Or just message me to say you won't be arriving, if you've got too much on your plate.