Winter task. 300+

The AniWayan had never intended to return to this haunted place. The dead human town had given him ill feelings from the very start, and the dreamcatcher he had liberated from here on that first trip had been the only good thing he had seen in the damned place. Now though, he was forced to return. The snowstorm had taken many things from the tribe. Their huts had fallen in the face of winter's ferocity, the Kalona's leg had been broken, and even one of their own had perished. It had been a harsh blow to them all, but Nayati had never been one to sit and mourn his losses. The best thing he could do was to keep going, keep working to make things better. It was even more crucial now that Dawali was incapacitated. The Gadui Kanati needed to step up and shoulder the extra burdens that the tribe needed him to carry. It was his job, his responsibility.

So that morning he had taken Iye from the stables and rode out from AniWaya's borders towards the abandoned town. The tribe needed blankets and supplies to help keep them all warm and safe. Many of them were homeless now and not much building could be done until some of the snow had melted away. The Utina knew of no other place nearby to look for such things. Moonfyre had found a blanket in this place, hopefully there would be more, and other useful things as well. He supposed he could have gone to Crimson Dreams to ask for help, surely Anu would have provided it, but he did not wish to burden any other packs. Certainly they had faced their own losses.

A shiver, not from the cold, ran up the strong man's spine as he rode into the desolate place. It had sustained damage as well, but many of the buildings still stood strong. His pale blue gaze began to scan for any sign of blankets or wood.

300+

If possible, the town had become even more of an unsettling place after the storm. Not many windows had been broken the last time he was here (and he had broken one himself), but now he could barely see any panes of untouched glass. Some of the roofs had collapsed under the weight of the snow, just as the roofs of the huts of AniWaya had. Were the winters in this land always this harsh? Nayati certainly hoped this was not the case, else they would need to rebuild their village every spring and that was no way to live. The storm had seemed to come as a surprise to Dawali though, and so it could be safely assumed that no such thing had occurred the winter prior. The Utina was never a fan of the cold season, but he was more ready than ever for it to end. He could not work on a new hut for him and his mate while the snow was so deep. There was plenty of room for them in the Town Hall, but it was not a home.

Iye and Nayati picked their way carefully through the town, the man's nerves sparking and crackling, waiting for any sign of trouble. His unease in these old human places would surely be deemed irrational by most, but to him it seemed a place where dark spirits would gather to plan misfortune. Look what had happened to that race, after all? Had they not met their doom? The less he had to do with the relics of that dead race, the better.

He had heard the sounds of approaching paws and hooves and his eyes turned to take in the rather interesting appearance of a woman walking beside her mare. Her hair was styled in a way he had never seen before, and the clothing she wore was just as much a mystery. The Utina was not one to judge on appearances though, and the woman seemed quite friendly as she approached and asked him what he was looking for. The initial word she spoke he did not understand, but the rest were quite clear. "I am actually looking for blankets and wood and other supplies to help my tribe. We were hit quite hard by the storm. Most of our homes were blown down and I thought perhaps this was the best place to look." His eyes made another uneasy sweep of the town. He slid down off of Iye's back, so as not to seem rude. "I am Nayati Utina, of the AniWaya tribe," he introduced with a smile.

300+

The snow certainly helped to alert one to signs of approach. When he had been here in the warmer moons Moonfyre had startled him quite badly; he had even drawn his hunting knife in defense before he realized it was a member of his tribe here with him. This place put him enough of edge without being scared by the unexpected arrival of another. It was lucky for both him and the woman that he had heard her coming towards him. The doggish woman seemed quite interested in him, and he had to say he was interested in her as well. Like he had thought before, he had never seen anyone quite like her. As she introduced herself, it seemed very odd that she could not immediately recall the name of her pack, but perhaps she was simply quite new here. "It is nice to meet you Krystalle. I do not believe I have heard of your pack, but I also do not leave AniWaya often." He really only left the tribe on necessary missions, such as this one.

Krystalle's mare seemed to spook for a moment, and the hunter couldn't blame the animal at all. This was no territory meant for creatures of nature and the earth. "What is her name? This is Iye," he said, placing one of his own hands upon the shoulder of his steed. Nayati had always had an interest in horses and found the bond that formed between them and their companions something extremely special. When he thought Iye might have been lost to the storm it had wrenched his heart.

"Yes, it did, and unfortunately we were not prepared for it," he said with a sad frown. It had cost them quite dearly in many respects. Many had asked him the question the colorful woman had just spoken, and each time he was not entirely sure how to answer. To him, it was home and all he had ever known, but to most it was something out of the ordinary. "AniWaya was not here originally, we come from a different place. There are actually two parts of our tribe, the part that is here, and the part that is farther away. I am originally from the Great Tribe, but I came here to help this smaller tribe. We have certain rituals and beliefs that tie us all together." Well, he felt he had done a better job explaining this time than he had on previous occasions. He was learning.

Different as she appeared, Nayati was already growing to enjoy the presence of the interesting dog woman. He liked to think of himself as a fairly good judge of character and everything about Krystalle spoke of someone he would like. Of course he meant that in the completely platonic sense. He had a mate, and Liliana was the only woman for him, he had eyes for no other any longer. The name of her horse also hit his ears strangely, but the word had a lovely tune to it that was only accentuated by Krystalle's light accent. "I do not blame her, I find them rather intimidating myself." The hunter was not ashamed to admit this fact. Something about these places just made his skin prickle. The only human building he had any experience or comfort with was the stables in AniWaya, but it was no so different from the stables the tribe would build, only made more sturdily.

At her offer to help, the man visibly brightened, the ghosts that haunted this place not seeming quite so near. "That would be much appreciated, if you have the time. I do not know much of these places and so really do not know where to look." If he had to search on his own, who knows how long it would take him to track down what he needed. Krystalle not only seemed comfortable in the ruins, but also seemed to have much more knowledge about them than he himself did. Nayati was a proud wolf, but he was never above accepting help.

That's how I do 'rock on' too! Of course Nayati will be completely clueless though, lol. 300+

He was quite lucky to have arrived here at the same time as Krystalle. Perhaps the Spirits were finally looking kindly back on the AniWayans again, though honestly he had no idea what would have brought down their spite on them in the first place. Either way, Nayati was just happy to have a guide to help him search this strange human village. The foreign fey released her horse to do as she wished while they looked, and Nayati gave a nod to Iye to express the same meaning. Whenever he needed the stallion again, he would simply call. "It is quite kind of you regardless, so I thank you." There was nothing forcing her to help him search out here in the cold, even if she did have the time, so her kind gesture lost no meaning to him.

The Utina listened as she explained where blankets could be found and he was intrigued to learn that she had the skills to repair them if they were damaged. "You are a craftswoman then?" he asked with keen interest. His mother, Talulah, was a craftswoman back in the Great Tribe. As a boy he has always loved watching his mother create things. He himself had some small skill in being able to create a handful of things, but the things his large hands made could not be called beautiful by any means.

Nayati followed Krystalle as she peered in the broken windows of the houses. "Yes wood, for burning, and building if possible." Wood for the fires was the more pressing matter, but once the snow melted they would need wood to rebuild their huts as well. It was comforting to hear they would likely be able to find some firewood here, and already broken up would be even more helpful since he could bundle it up on Iye then. Her last words and the hand gesture she gave him he didn't understand, and his strong head tilted to the side in curiosity. "What does that mean?" Meaning the gesture, or the words, or both. "This is the only one I have ever been in, but it just has an ill feeling to me. It all seems so unnatural and puts me on edge. I cannot explain it very well, it is just a feeling I get, likely no different than the feeling Senorita gets." It was something instinctual, not necessarily sensible.

Lol, yes! X3 300+

AniWaya had faced strife and hostility in the past. Not here in these lands, at least not so far as he was aware, but back where the tribe had originated. He had not personally experience those horrible times that had forced the whole tribe to uproot and move to more peaceful lands, but the stories and recountings had run rampant in his life. Sometimes people, outsiders, would judge them for simply being who they were and one could not always trust strangers, much less expect help from them. Nayati had never met any kind of hostility here though, and was happy that Krystalle was of the same friendly ilk as the others he had met here.

The doggish fey seemed about to crawl through a broken window and he was about to exclaim for her to stop before she cut herself up, but his previous question distracted her and she appeared to think better of the idea. Krystalle answered that she was not a craftswoman, and seemed embarrassed about this, but as she went on to explain what she could do the man only smiled larger. "You still sound like a craftswoman to me. Crafting includes many things, not just fabrics, at least in the tribe. My mother makes baskets out of woven reeds, among other things. She's one of the craftswomen, Equa Gatlvska, in the Great Tribe." Nayati missed his mother, and the rest of his family, and there was a momentary sad glint in his eyes.

She attempted to explain her gesture to him, but he still didn't really know what she meant. "I do not really, no. This is a good thing, though, yes?" He at least thought he had picked up on the positive connotation of it. They moved to the door of the house and he would have been happy to break the thing down himself, but Krystalle took care of it before he even had the chance to offer. The hunter was intrigued to learn that she had actually lived in the remnants of the human civilization where she was from. The image he conjured in his mind was a startling one. "Everyone lived in these places where you are from?" It seemed very odd to him, but if he thought a little harder, he supposed it wasn't that difficult to imagine.

300+

There were many things about the world that he was wholly ignorant of. When it came to his tribe, the man was more or less an expert. However, outside of the microcosm of AniWaya, Nayati could be and was quite uninformed. He had never had any desire to learn about the humans and the things they had left behind. The Utina barely left AniWaya's lands, for the tribe was quite small and there were few senior and experienced wolves. Even now in such a time of need he hated to be gone, especially since Dawali's leg was broken. Talking with Krystalle was helping to take his mind off of his many worries, aside from the immediate ones, momentarily though and it was a nice reprieve. Nayati smiled as she confirmed that her gesture had in fact been a positive one, and now they could enter the old building.

As before, the hunter followed the dog woman and he sneezed at the cloud of dust that had been thrown into their air when the door had been broken open. Distantly he wondered how long it had been since a living soul set foot in here. It was hard for him to picture where she had come from, images of these large structures mixing with pictures of the desert. It seemed a wasteland in his mind. "I have heard of deserts, but never seen one with my own eyes," he commented. "We build all of our huts ourselves, but clearly they are not so sturdy as these buildings." Even if they were damaged by the storm, they had not been utterly destroyed.

Krystalle said she had found something and Nayati came to inspect closer, seeing the blanket she had found. Carefully the man picked it up, and looked over it with a smile. "Wonderful! A good wash in the river and it should be ready to use." It might still smell a bit musty, but that would fade in time. Besides, he was in no position to be picky.

Psh, nah <3 300+

Nayati was so relieved to have found even one blanket so far. It was amazing how such small treasures could brighten ones day in the face of such catastrophe. His attention returned to Krystalle as she spoke of her father. It sounded to him like she had not lived with the man much, if she were used to human houses and he had built his own. It was hard for the Utina to imagine a fragmented family before he had left, but he understood such things more now. "Yes, I suppose they would be easier," he assented. "The only human structure of any use in AniWaya is the stables, and I do appreciate that that is there. They are much harder to construct than simple huts." Of course, when he was rebuild his hut it would not be so small and simple as his last. It needed to house not only him and Liliana, but whatever children they brought into the world in the future.

Krystalle did have a good point that he had not thought of though. Even if he would be averse to using a place that had actually been built by a human, there was no reason he could see not to learn from the way they had constructed their buildings. "That is a good point. It would take time though, yes. Perhaps someday..." Interesting an idea as it was, Nayati doubted he could ever want to abandon the huts he was used to. He was a traditional sort of person. His companion found another blanket, but it seemed to be in rather poor condition and she cast it aside. Out of the corner of his eye, Nayati caught sight of some sort of crate or trunk and walked over to it curiously. "Would there be any blankets in there, do you think?" He easily could have found out himself, but opening some strange object made him a bit superstitious and he desired Krystalle's experience and opinion.

300+

Nayati had not been with the party of AniWayans who had initially scouted out and then claimed the land that the tribe now called its own, so he could not say why they had chosen it and not some other location. He had a hunch though that it was the absence of human structures that had been one of the positive aspects in deciding to settle where they had. Not everyone in the tribe was as averse to the human remnants as he himself was, but they were a people built on tradition and the way they built their villages went along with that. He did not know how it was for other groups and packs, simply how it was for his own. Though he did remember Anu saying that her pack also lived in a large human made house.

"Neither am I. I can repair things, if they are simple enough, but that is the extent of my skills. I will definitely require help to rebuild my hut." Though he wasn't sure who exactly would or could help him. He should probably begin to inquire about that. When Krystalle asked if he read, the Utina shook his head. "I do not know how. AniWaya passes its stories and history down through telling." If you wanted to learn something knew, you asked to be taught it, and if you had a story to tell, you told it. That was the way things had always worked for him, and he was a creature of habit.

As he pointed out the chest, Krystalle came over and looked it over herself. She said it was possible there might be blankets in there, and if there were it stood to reason they might be in better shape than those laying out in the open. Bravely Nayati moved forward and carefully opened the chest, though he gave off the distinct impression that he was ready to jump back if something unpleasant were hiding inside. To his relief though, there were blankets inside. Quite a few, actually. "Look! There are blankets!" he said with a grin, looking back to Krystalle.