Eternal. Instrumental.

[Rendezvous]

Wind, ruffling the leaves in the trees, keeping the grass in sway, lifting the birds higher on wings of shining white. Up and up they soar, lifted up on the funnels of hot air. It never seems to end, until the bird breaks away from the elevation and glides, slowly falling through the atmosphere towards a gently rising ground.

Green gold eyes search out the bird, admiring it's grace and beauty. A bird was free of all ties that kept it down, only limited to how high it could go by how much air there was to breathe.
Of course, those sorts of restrictions don't hold a wolf down, but a wolf can't fly. A wolf can only walk on his own four paws and breathe the air at ground level. He is restricted to the view from where he stands, the scents within his reach, the sounds within his range.

All these restrictions and somehow these wolves found a way to live in something resembling peace. Restrictions. Those odd-coloured eyes sought out the human settlement down below, his mind registering their close proximity and serving as a reminder of the days of yore in that cold, metal cage. Instincts beyond his control compelled his throat to emit a low growl at the memory, the memory of a place he had lived for seven years.

Seven. A magic number. Seven years. Seven days in a week. Three times and half a time, three times and half a time again. Lots of three and a half years, marking significant events.

In his seventh year at the lab he had escaped. Halfway through his fourth year, a black cub had run away with a winged one. Now, just another time and a half time to go and it would be the next halfway point - that was when something new would happen again.
But what?

Perhaps something a little nicer. First he had lost hope, then he had lost himself. Hopefully this time around he might gain something from his efforts. Some peace and quiet, perhaps? Real peace, not this artificial peace he felt now. Right now he could live without the imminent danger of the scientists looming over his shoulder. He could rest without tortured screams in his ears. He could eat without the worry that it would be poisoned for some new experiment.

But it was artificial peace. He would always live with the fear that somehow he would get captured and taken again. He would always live with a fear of humans, or what they could do. What they were capable of doing. What he really wanted was real peace - the knowledge that he was safe, never to have to fear those things again. But such a thing was well beyond reach. Peace might only be able to be obtained at the expense of his life.
Free of his life, he could live.

A strong gust of wind blew, pushing at the wolf, whipping his rough coat in the general direction of the cliff edge. If he jumped now, he might land badly and kill himself. There was always that chance. Putting one metal-encased leg forwards, he stared over the edge with cold eyes.

Then again, he could hold back on the suicide attempts and see what happened. He hadn't been here long, and so far he hadn't seen any real civilizations. Just old huts and people who seemed far less superior than at the lab. It could be a trick - a false reality pulled over his eyes to lull him into a false sense of security, but he didn't want to think that. He wanted to think the best of this place, in the hopes that it really was okay.

A sigh passed tinged teeth, eyes closed, expression seemingly sad, even though the wolf himself felt nothing. He could express emotion, but for all that he tried, he couldn't feel it. His half-opened eyes surveyed the encampment again, before he moved his mechanical leg back a step and turned on his haunches, slowly moving into a stiff-legged trot. Away from the cliff-edge, and the promises it held for peace.

-- shanook.

[Centeris2]

Peace. Heh, this poor unfortunate wolf wasn't going to have peace for very long. Well, not a very peaceful time at any rate. It's not like there will be a fight or extreme aggression, just.... hyper. Over-the-top, how-does-someone-that-age-still-have-that-much-energy sort of hyper. Take a wild guess on who is currently trotting, tripping, running, dancing, walking backwards, jumping, sleeping, talking, thinking, skipping and overall just coming in his general direction. Go on, take it.

Here's another hint: this particular wolf probably doesn't even look her age, if anything most would guess by her innocent blue eyes and youthful vigor about her that she was somewhere between a year and three. But don't ask her about her age, its rude to ask a woman that question. Plus she wouldn't know. Do any wolves that have traveled all the way from Earth know their age?

Still can't guess? Goodness, you really don't know my wolves then, granted I have a lot of them but still, she is one of my more known ones. If you can't get it after this I'll just tell you. She is completely white save for the tips of her ears, angel tip, black tips.
Anyways, on with the actual post.

As forementioned, Bayla was moving in the general direction of this new wolf. At the current moment she was chasing a bird, calling after it and assuring it she just wanted to talk and play. Obviously the bird didn't believe her, even though she was telling the truth, she had no interest in eating it, but the bird's distrust is understandable. Except to the white female, sad that the bird didn't want to play. Why she was out here was another story involving another game that she was playing with her pack. Mostly the pups and Beno, but she forgot about the game after she saw a pretty flower, then there was a dragonfly, then she chased her tail, and you get the point.

The bird flew swiftly, though Bayla's pup like energy resources were enough to keep up until the bird flew from the trees out over the cliff, right past a most peculiar looking male. Bayla shot past him as well before coming to a sudden stop, thankfully she had remembered in time that she wasn't a bird and couldn't fly. Like that hardly stopped her from trying. But she would try from a log or rock first, a cliff is a bit more daunting when first figuring out how to fly. Plus the others would laugh at her and she would feel silly, assuming she lived unhurt. Which was a big assumption, jumping off a cliff and not getting hurt from it. So as she stared after the bird for a second, tail coming to a stop after a few moments, she finally realized she had just run straight past a wolf and was extremely rude. Which means she obviously had to rush back to him and apologize and become his new best friend and invite him to tea.

Obviously.

So she did.

"HI!" Was the first thing out of her mouth, and the only thing that was really intelligible when it turned into a rush of: " My name is Bayla! I'm with Varana's pack she's nice you would like her whats your name you have weird coloring but I like it!" Which was interrupted with a pause filled with her gasp as she realized his mechanical appendages. This was followed by her approaching and sniffing them vigorously while continuing on with her speech.

"Ohmygosh human stuff! I haven't seen any of that stuff since I got here because the humans on this planet aren't at all advanced all technologically and stuff or something like that I can't remember what she said something about magic not science I wonder what that really is though and how did you get here? What's your name again?" And then the torrent was over, and she stood a polite distance away, wagging her tail and smiling warmly at him, waiting for his name. If he even understood it, that is.

[Rendezvous]

The orange wolf continued to trot, weaving between trees and smoothly hopping over some logs, while ducking underneath others. Soon enough he came across a wide path through the forest, seemingly something that would have been made by humans. What else would have made a trail this wide? Ducking his head to sample the smells, the wolf determined that the path had not been used by humans for some time. The main users of it were wolves and other prey animals who lived here or passed through.

Shanook continued on his small trek, but soon a startling noise drove him to take cover in the nearby thicket. The voice of a wolf, followed by the hurried rush of wings as a bird flew past. After a second, the wolf followed, running down the path at a good clip. Shanook, satisfied that the wolf presented no immediate danger, stepped out. He wasn't exactly concerned with where the strange white wolf was going, but he was curious as to why she was chasing a bird, seemingly not in the state of mind to wish to hunt the creature. His head followed the femme as she whipped past, watching her for a moment. The path led a straight line to the cliff, and she was belting towards it, oblivious to it's existence.

Ah well, let her commit suicide by accident. Surely it wouldn't hurt to have one less wolf in the world. It was one less wolf to get caught by scientists at any rate. But the femme stopped just in time. Maybe she'd finally noticed the cliff and had figured that maybe today wasn't her day to die. Shanook turned away, moving into a fairly lifeless walk. Old age did that to you - year by year it removed all the spring from your step, and the years in that cage had made his limbs stiff. He was still getting over it after twelve months wandering. So he walked away from the cliff and female, up the road.

And he certainly wasn't that surprised to hear the wolf come gallivanting up the track behind him. He tried to ignore her for the most part, being not in the mood to socialize. She was by his side in an instant, nevertheless, hurriedly saying hi and then proceeding to spill out the most unfathomable sentence that Shanook had ever heard. The most he could make of it was her name - Beyla? Bayou, Bayala... something beginning with B, at least - and the word 'weird'. Well, that made no sense whatsoever.

All Shanook could do was pause in mid-step and stare at her with a perplexed expression on his face. The female suddenly started speaking at a rapid pace once more, while at the same time stepping forwards to sniff at his mechanical leg. The male gingerly lifted the appendage up, feeling very conscious of her sudden interest in his appearance, and for the first time really realizing how different he was from these wolves. It proved he was very closed to the outside world if it had taken him this long to stand there and take notice.

He grunted for a moment as she continued to talk, himself moving into a walk again, hoping that if he ignored her enough she might just disappear. Just being around her made him feel tired. Perhaps it was true that kids drew their energy from the adults around them - and on that note, how old was this girl? She didn't seem like a kid from the looks of her, but she didn't look like an adult either. Actually, she looked like a very young, naive teen. Shanook continued to walk, but this didn't seem to deter her inquisitive nature, as she was still beside him, chattering away, in a quite in-eloquent ramble.

Somehow, through all the noise in his ears, he managed to determine that she had asked him how he had gotten here and what his name was. Asking him how he came to be here was a very touchy subject for him, so he chose to do his best to ignore the question rather than snap completely. Instead, he figured that he would at least be polite and give her his name. Shanook paused, turning his head to stare at her for a moment. She looked so innocent and happy, it was kind of scary. He blinked, before one corner of his mouth turned down into a small growl of annoyance.

"Shanook," he said, voice unusually gruff. He tried to smile, but it was obviously fake and there was too much frown in it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss... Baylor, was it?"

A pathetic attempt at remembering her name, but you must take into account that Shanook was getting on in life, well past his prime, and as such his hearing wasn't what it used to be. And he himself had taken to speaking slower. Hearing a youngster nowadays with their fast speech, words piling into each other like nobody's business, wasn't something that he could easily keep up with. So it was understandable that he hadn't caught her name quite right.

He stood, and waited to see if she had anything else to say. While on the outside he seemed as patient as a rock, truth be told his patience was waning very quickly. He had no real patience for kids like her, and was ready to leave if she didn't say something soon.

ooc: so much writing... wow.

[Centeris2]

Receiving his name was like an injection of coffee straight to her blood stream, she smiled so brightly at him and her whole backside was shaking from her tail. She giggled when he got her name right, forcing herself to speak slowly:

"Bayla. It's a pleasure Shanook!" For a moment she wondered if she should have said sir or something, seeing as he did say "miss" and it just seems like she should reply like him. But it was too late and she couldn't go and add a quick sir to it. She glanced about for a moment, not sure what to do, she was going to walk with him. Not that she had noticed he was even walking, she was just sorta following his lead. So she stood there for a moment, thinking that
perhaps he would like to meet the others, he didn't seem very pleased with her bouncebouncebounce! Her body slowed and her smile faded, not in a sad way but turning into a more content smile than an excited one. Although her eyes still danced brightly with her excitement and energy.

"Where are you going?" She asked him in a polite minor, though it was still curious prying. She turned slightly from him, stepping forward and beginning to walk, not that she took her attention off of him or stopped her tail from wagging completely. She'd never seen a wolf like him before, she had seen blue wolves, green wolves, red wolves, yellow wolves, black white winged you know it wolves, but not one with a metal leg or orange coloring. Her zipping mind wondered how he had gotten the metal leg, but that would be just a smidge too rude of her to ask straight out.

[Rendezvous]

She was quick to reply, correcting Shanook's pronunciation of her name in the process. She hadn't left. Pity. But then, maybe not a pity, because with her there to talk to, Shanook might be able to learn from her a little more about this place. He took in a moment to catch her scent, testing it on his tongue to identify the very strong tang of several different wolves and pups. Was she part of a pack? A real, thriving pack? It was something that he made a mental note to investigate in time.

Shanook continued to walk, letting her tag along without complaint. She seemed to have calmed somewhat in the short space of time between her reply and her next question. Which turned to be a very good question indeed. Where was he going? Ever since he'd gotten here, he'd tried to convince himself that he had a reason to stay. But he was a guest in this place, and oftentimes found himself wandering aimlessly until the need of rest drove him to find a shelter for the night. Other times he was occupied hunting or otherwise foraging, but other than that, he never did anything. Just wandered for no reason at all, as he was doing now. And he'd only just realized how pointless it was.

This sudden realization drove him to inspect his surroundings, giving him reason to wonder where exactly he was. He looked around, staring at the canopy and further down the trunks of the trees, to look past into the fields beyond. His paws padded down the path, worn hard from years of constant use. His imagination kicked in, bringing to mind the memory of the cage bars and the cold cement floors of the science lab. His eyes widened in a sudden fear, increasing with a need to be in the open past the trees.

His breathing quickened, body shuddered and he felt the most intense urge in his life to move. He found himself running, tearing through trees and scrub in the most direct route out of the trees that he could find, not minding to figure out where Bayla was. Only when he had broken free of the forest confines did he stop, panting to catch back his breath. He felt suddenly very weak, knowing how that he was just getting over the initial adrenaline rush caused by the memory. His body was trying to get him to laugh as the drug wore off, but he resisted, instead choking out a more strained chuckle.

Shanook shook himself off, wondering what had possessed him to do that on the spur of the moment, completely out of the blue. He took in a last deep breath and sat down, relishing the feeling of being in the open again, on soft grass. His head lifted to the sky as he tasted the open air of the field, the wind carrying with it the scent of the fieldmice, pollen and a faint trace of Bayla. Speaking of which, where was she? He looked around, wondering if she'd followed him through the trees, or given him up as a lunatic and left him.

[Centeris2]

Bayla stared after him for a moment, confused on his sudden sprint. But quickly she jumped after him, wondering if this was some sort of odd game he played, but regardless her maw was in a smile and her tail wagging as she chased after him. When he finally stopped she ended up darting past him, jumping and twisting in the air. Why? There was a bee. She wanted to play with it. It didn't want to play with her. But seeing the orange wolf she trotted back over to him, curious.

"Why did we just run?" She asked, and I would not be surprised if he thought her to be very childlike in always asking 'why.' She could tell now that he had not intended for it to be a game, probably his choking chuckling. She tilted her head at him for a moment before raising it and looking around the open field, not sure where she was. Bayla was never really one for directions, and for a moment she wondered if this was a human place. Like where they feed those yummy white sheep, or those cows. Although Varana never let them hunt them, she always made the rest of them stay away from the pastures, fearful of provoking the humans. But Bayla did not smell any humans or their livestock, so she was not too particularly worried about it.

**I feel like both of my posts today ended very... queerly.**

[Rendezvous]

Shanook spun around to see Bayla pelting out of the wood after him, then running straight past him to jump at something. It was odd how easily distracted she could be, a fact that never failed to annoy Shanook. How could some wolves be so darned innocent when there were people like those scientists out there? Speaking of scientists and, on that general topic, humans, what was the technology available to the ones here? He was sure that Bayla had at one point mentioned the humans, and she seemed to recognize his metal leg and tail. Perhaps there were scientists here? The mere thought of it put his hair on edge.

But to distract him from that particular train of thought was Bayla, in her usual manner, asking why they'd run. Sad, he was already getting to know her to know that this was her "usual" behaviour. He blinked a few times, wondering how to answer, before resorting to a half-hearted shrug and changing the subject.

"Miss, I believe you mentioned the humans here earlier. Do you know much about them?" he asked as politely as he could, trying to conceal the slight tint of impatience in his voice. He didn't outright ask what their technological abilities were, but instead hoped that his widely aimed question would suffice to get the answers he wanted. Or at least, most of the answers. He paused, waiting for her answer.

[Centeris2]

White ears twitched and Bayla looked at him inquisitively for a moment, wondering about the random topic change.
"Well, Varana knows a lot more than I do. She's dealt with them a lot more, although a lot more back on Earth than here. She likes avoiding them here rather than risk one of us getting taken, she doesn't know what they might do to us here. They aren't as 'scientific' or 'technologically advanced' as back on Earth. Something about magic based rather than science based. I've been in their fields before, they smell different from before, they have a more earthy and natural scent. None of that icky smelly chemically smells or harsh metal scents they had before." She looked at his metal leg for a moment, piecing it together why he would ask such a thing. She nodded to herself as she understood, glancing away at a movement in the reaches of her sight.

"We avoid them and we don't hunt their animals, and for the most part they don't come after us." Bayla added, ears perked toward the distance until she saw a pair of male birds dart from the grasses and fight in the air. "They can't do any experiments on us here, maybe stick us with arrows and pitchforks, but they can't play with our bodies anymore." She said this as she took a few steps away from Shanook, sniffing some tracks. Very faint rabbit tracks, several days old and with some rain on top, amazing there was any scent there. The white female followed these tracks for a few yards before tiring of that venture and trotting back to Shanook, wondering if he had anymore questions. Perhaps he would want to go meet Varana, and that idea made her happy. Of course she would have to figure out where Varana was, or where she was... Bayla was never really one for directions, hopefully enough wandering around and shouting would get Varana to show up... right? She has super hearing for a reason: finding Bayla whenever she got lost. She didn't have Nica anymore to watch over her. Aww sadface, remembering Nica...

[Rendezvous]

Shanook sat down to listen and think over the rather invaluable information offered him. So these humans used magic and were rather less evolved than the humans at the science lab. That was a blessing so far as he could tell - no giant machines or things to run experiments with. Then again, he could be wrong - he knew what magic was, of course, but not what it was capable of.

She mentioned knowing Earth, which only served to raise more questions. How had she gotten here? Obviously she hadn't had much experience with the humans, and he was the first test subject for a transporter, so how did she manage to get across between worlds? Ears flickered and head turned to see two birds fighting on the edge of his sight. Back to thoughts again...

Who was Varana? Bayla seemed to hold her in very high regard, and mentioned her history with the Earth humans. She might make for an important character to speak to, but in the meantime, still more questions. He meant to chase up this rumor of a wolf pack in the vicinity. Best make himself known to them - the more wolves he had access to talk to, the more he could find out about this place, and the less chance he had of getting into a fight over being in someones territory or something.

Shanook sat and waited until Bayla returned from her spontaneous tracking frenzy before speaking again.

"I believe you are part of a pack, no? Might you be able to tell me more about the packs around here?" he asked, staring at her intently.

[Centeris2]

Ohhh he said something! This made the white fur ball happy to no end, there was more conversation for her to ramble on for. Goodness I need to clean up my grammar. She nodded a few times before she started talking.

"Yup! Well, my pack is apparently sorta in another pack's territory, we're from Earth and we didn't know there was a pack already here but Varana said we'll be moving to get away from the humans. As for the other packs from Earth," here Bayla got a bit sad, "I haven't seen any of those wolves for a very long time now... I barely saw anyone on Evona from Earth either... But anyway! All I really remember about the other pack is that something is going on with them, power struggle, OH and their alpha is sexist and a meany butt! He was rude to Varana! I'm surprised she didn't just put him in his place right then and there... She can get really scary when she's angry..." Bayla's voice trailed off as she recalled times when she had seen Varana display strong emotions like that. They were few and far between, but they had occurred. Or maybe that was Nye...

"Varana is the alphaess, from there I'm not really sure who is beta, either Nye or Beno. They sorta work together as beta, but then again so does the rest. There aren't really distinctions between us all, it's nice that we don't have a set order, everyone helps hunt, scout, take care of the pups... we all just look out for each other. I don't know how the other packs are doing, or how they work, but I like Stratagem..." She started waffling, not really sure where to go which means she was starting to get sentimental about it all. She shook her head, black tipped ears flopping, and look at Shanook.

"Wanna go meet them? Varana knows a lot more than me." The invitation was sincere and Bayla was hoping that she had made a new friend, she hadn't met anyone new in a while that had stayed for very long, or remained friendly for that matter...

[Rendezvous]

While the wolf rambled on about a lot of nonsense that was of no interest to Shanook, he listened intently, trying to glean as much useful information as he could while at the same time trying to keep up with her words. She was a very nostalgic wolf, but then Shanook knew nothing about her or her past. It didn't seem to be a touchy subject to her as it was to him, but it still seemed sad to her.

Or not so much sadness as a sort of longing for the 'old days'. At least she had a past with memories she could look back on with some sort of fondness, whereas Shanook couldn't. His memories either brought him pain or confusion, depending on if those memories were of him being awake or unconscious, in which case it was the lack of memory which brought the confusion. But enough of this, even I'm getting tired of rambling on about Shanook's miserable past.

He listened intently, as I stated earlier, picking up on any tidbit of information which seemed remotely useful. Firstly there was the fact that she was, indeed, part of a pack, and this pack was led by a female called Varana. Bayla seemed to hold Varana in very high regard. The pack didn't seem to have any real hierarchical order, but worked nonetheless, and the official unofficial betas were two wolves called Nye and... was it... Barno? No, it was Beno. That's it. On top of all that, this pack seemed to be a traveling pack, looking for new lands, and were at the present moment camped in another packs territory.

This other pack was led by a wolf whom Bayla described to be sexist and mean. Sexist against females, seeing as it was a male. Not much other information on this pack or any other which might be nearby.

Apparently, there were several wolves from Earth, who had passed through another world to get here. Which just made plain the obvious question: How had they gotten here? As aforesaid, these wolves had no access to any teleportation devices, unless they knew a witch or something, which seemed preposterous. Then again, best not rule out that which could be a very probable answer.

Last, at the end of the rambled explanation, came the invitation to meet the pack, Stratagem. This would likely prove to be a very good opportunity to speak with Varana. She could likely give him some more answers, although the main questions had already been asked. As Bayla waited for an answer, Shanook made up his mind.

To go or not to go?

"Of course, I'd love to meet them," he said, dipping his head with a courteous smile.

"But first, one more question," he spoke again, not wanting to leave for Stratagem just yet. "How did you get to this place? From Earth to that other place to here?"

[Centeris2]

"Magic of course, how did you get here?" Her head tilted slightly as Bayla pondered other possible ways of getting to this planet. It still needs a name doesn't it? Ugh one more thing on the to do list. Bayla's blue eyes wandered down to Shanook's leg, put two and two together, and it clicked.

"Ohh you got here from technology! How weird, but let's go meet them!" Her joy at being able to bring back a new friend was overwhelming. She bounded away from him and threw back her head and howled. Now that I think about it, she probably had a very interesting howl, Bayla I mean. She was like a pup in so many ways still, yet her body had matured -obviously, it's not like her boundless energy could fight off age- which means her voice should have as well. Ah well, regardless it was probably a pretty howl to her friends, trying to locate them. She doesn't know where she is, remember? Terrible with directions, or perhaps she just doesn't bother to remember where her paws take her. Ears perked and her body stilled as she waited for an answer.

After several moments there was a reply howl, male, and she determined it to be Beno. Her body wriggled some more as she looked at Shanook, nodding toward the direction of the howl as their course.

"Let's go, Shanook!" And with that she was loping toward her friends and family, assuming the orange male would be able to lope along with her and that he would.

[Rendezvous]

The directness of her answer amazed him. She said that it was magic that brought her here, and she said it as though it was the most natural thing in the world. So perhaps a witch teleporting them around wasn't such a far-fetched idea after all. Shanook stood in vague shock before realizing that she had asked him how he himself had gotten here. He considered answering, but it appeared to him as though she was bright enough to figure out that answer herself, and so she did.

He could have laughed when she did. How weird? How was the use of technology weird, when compared to how she got here? Actually, that's a stupid question. She'd had less experience with humans and more with magic than he, so their views were very different. He stood silently, watching the femme in mild fascination as she bounded a short ways away and howled, a most beautifully strange howl, calling to any packmates within hearing.

Soon enough a reply came and Bayla gave the order to go, which he obeyed after a moments confused hesitation. His metal leg acted as a spring on each bound as a normal leg should, giving him a bit more bound in his leap than an old wolf should have. It made him feel young again to be running with equal strides to the youthful Bayla.

After a few strides, he moved over to lightly jostle her by meeting her shoulder with his to get her attention.

"Miss, who was it that answered?" he asked, hoping to get a name to work with before meeting the stranger. He wanted to meet him or her with a good introduction beforehand, and that would be best done with a name, rather than floundering around asking more and more questions.

[Centeris2]

"That was Beno, I mentioned him already. I think I was playing a game with him, but then I got distracted..." The last part was said a bit sheepishly, as she suddenly remembered how she had been helping him with the pups and playing a game with them all. Oops, he might not be happy that she just sorta... left. There was a dragonfly! And then there was that pretty flower and then a butterfly and then some birds and then this wolf with a metal leg and- wait that's Shanook. Caught up to the present, yaa!

Bayla ran in the general direction of the sound, barking occasionally in a form of Marco Polo to locate where Beno was exactly. With each bark from his she was able to adjust her course so that they were headed right toward Beno. And sounds like the pups as well, she could hear their high pitched yips as she got close.

"Hope you don't mind puppies..." Balya said to Shanook as they closed in, and the black blue male appeared. Beno's navy eyes went from Bayla to Shanook and back, his ears focused on Shanook, and he stood waiting. Bayla gave a bark of merriment and she slid to a stop, putting her front paws on Beno's black fur, accented blue.

"This is Shanook, Beno. He's dealt with humans before like Varana and Silver Wing! Look at his leg!" She bounced off of Beno, prancing to Shanook and pointing at his leg like a child not understanding that it might cause embarrassment.

"So I can see, haven't seen another wolf like that for a very long time. The name is Beno, pleasure to meet you." The male said in a semi formal manner, unlike Bayla not invading personal space bubbles. He quite understood Bayla's naivety could make other wolves a bit uncomfortable, until they got to know her better. Or at least understand that Bayla hardly registers such a thing as 'personal space.'

"Good to see a new face, haven't seen one in a while. At least not friendly ones. Shanook, correct?" Beno asked, while Bayla bounced about, wagging her body at having two friends in the same place at once. At least until she got distracted with the pups and darted off to answer their cries for their 'Aunty Bayla.'

[Rendezvous]

Beno, a curious name but not more so than Bayla was. It seemed to be a trend for wolves to get the oddest names, but to them the names were perfectly normal. To them, every wolf had an individual name and that was how it went, but in the human world... well, to humans a name was nothing sacred, it was like a number. Just something to idenfity you in a non-personal way. Personal was nicknames. But in the lab, nothing was personal. Everything was strictly business, a cold thought.
So Bayla had been with Beno and then been distracted into going elsewhere or doing something else, not surprising. Bayla seemed to have the attention span of a goldfish and the mind of a squirrel. She was everywhere and nowhere at once, something which very much intrigued Shanook. She was so... new.
As he ran with her, she occasionally barked. A reply came from somewhere ahead of them and as they called to one another she adjusted her direction to match the bark. A form of triangulation and something that Shanook had never seen any animal do. He'd only ever heard something similar in that teleportation device, a sort of mirrored beeping between the two pads. It was odd, again.
Another sound was being added to the mirrored bark, a sort of higher, more childish bark. Again this was new to Shanook, a sound he'd never heard before. Puppies? Bayla mentioned puppies and this definitely caught Shan's attention. He'd never heard puppies before or seen them. He'd been one, sure, but never heard another.
Shanook slowed as they came into another grove of trees and a black wolf stepped into view. He seemed to be waiting for the pair and didn't even appear to take much notice at Bayla's overjoyed greeting and spatial invasion. Shanook had barely begun to introduce himself before Bayla chipped in on his behalf, already pointing out his leg, as if Beno hadn't already noticed it. Surprisingly, Beno didn't seem phased by the mechanical leg. Bayla hadn't been surprised either; rather she had been a little more knowledgeably excited. They'd both seen wolves who had dealings with humans - Varana, the leader of Stratagem and a wolf who'd been in contact with humans really did seem a good wolf to speak to, though he still didn't know what he'd say to her. He honestly didn't have much reason to speak to anyone.
Shanook dragged himself back to reality as Beno confirmed his name, Shanook nodding in response. He stepped forward to Beno, watching Bayla as she bounded over to what looked to be the young litter of pups. It was... nice to watch the group together.
"Then I take it you've already made some enemies around here, Beno?" Shanook asked, still watching Bayla and the pups as he spoke to the male. He'd said "at least not friendly [wolves]", indicating a previous encounter of sorts. It seemed an interesting enough topical beginning.

ooc: LOOK! I spat out a really bad reply with Shanook! *applauds self*