Jaden had fallen into a mellow and slightly dull schedule. Since leaving Ichika, X’yrin, and all the other features that had become home for the past year, the Alaskan wanderer’s days had become quite empty. He woke up in the morning and usually went looking for something to do whether that was hunting or exploring. By noon he would be full or sick of looking through dusty human ruins and find something cooler to do during the warmest part of the day. Most often that was lounging about or climbing trees for a nice view. When dusk began to fall, the Optime, as that is the form he found himself in now and almost always, would locate a good place to practice his balance and fighting stances then find sleep wherever he saw fit. A simple schedule that he only ever treated agley when he chose to go back to his stash of belongings near Halifax.
Only a few constraints befell the wanderer. He dared not venture near Ichika for fear of the pain it could cause and he had decided contact with other wolves to be unnecessary. For the last three months he had said nothing, not even to himself, and things seemed simpler this way. There was less to worry about when fellow canines became only part of the scenery.
The sugar woods smelled dully like forest today and with a few sweet hints of spring. This morning had been started with a failed hunt but it hadn’t flattened the man’s mood any farther than its normal melancholy. He had eaten well for the past month and the missed meal wouldn’t leave him uncomfortable in the least. When he happened upon the sugar houses with plenty of morning to spare, he decided it was a fine time to go looking for items of interest.
The building he chose was nothing special with it’s missing door and collapsing roof but Jaden soon found a few things worth keeping in it’s musty and dark cornered innards after shuffling through cabinets and pulling at drawers. One of them was a small jar filled with a hard brown crystal that he knew once was sweet sap. After a few moments of being examined, it had found a place in his coat’s inner breast pocket and it clanked against the half empty flask therein. The other two items were a pair of black fingerless gloves. They where in decent condition and pulled on tight but weren’t uncomfortable. He was still admiring how they hugged his palms in the morning sunlight when he stepped out of the sugar house’s door-less doorway.
An alien rustle froze Jaden only a step out of the decrepit building and he glanced toward one of the few adjacent structures. A rather plain colored wolf stepped into view and the former Ichikan quickly turned away, not even taking a moment to look the other over properly. He flipped up his hood and pulled down his sleeves so they hid the dark fur of his arms and met his black and gold gauntlets neatly. With a swish of his long, unbuckled jacket he turned and headed in the other direction with his relaxed but utterly smooth gait. He had come this far without conversing with anyone. Why would today be any different?
Jaden does. Jaden speaks. Jaden thinks.
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