"there are things that you must always remember as you call this forest your home, Youngkyun." His father would always say as soon as he was old enough to understand. Youngkyun could recount them all in his sleep now.

 

always leave signs of your presence in your territory, if any wolf disregards those signs, you can interperate that as a challenge.

 

Where there is water, there is life.

 

Always trust your instinct. Your wolf knows better than you.

 

Grab the throat and hang on if you don't want to get trampled. (and youngkyun can attest to that; elk hooves ing hurt. A rookie mistake, really.)

 

Follow the prey, when the seasons change, but don't forget that the foliage can keep you fed just as well as meat can.

 

be aware of the plants in your territory, know which ones can save you and which ones can kill you.

 

"quiet in the forest is never a good thing," Youngkyun found himself saying to blaze every once in a while, just like his father had said to him. "Prey gets quiet when they sense a predator." And each and every time, Youngkyun just hoped that that predator was him.

 

-----

 

Youngkyuns family had always been a small, nomadic pack. They moved with the seasons, and hunted and used only what they needed. It had been that way since he was a pup, and it had continued that way until his mother fell ill one day in youngkyuns 17th summer. the sickness seemed to take her slowly, seemed to drain everything out of her and they could do nothing but watch.

 

Her strength went, then her eye sight. then they were holed up in a den, watching. waiting. when she took her last breath, youngkyun could see how the light in his fathers eyes faded with her. They had been soulmates, his parents would always tell him when he was just a pup.

 

a wolf couldn't be without their mate, and youngkyun bore witness to that. one day his father sent him out to hunt for hares, and when he returned, the man had gone. his skin was cold, and his dull eyes were staring lifelessly at the den that his mother had died in. the den that his father had refused to abandon even as his son told him that the animals, their food source were moving further and further away from them. they remained until, like his mother, his father breathed his last there, too. Youngkyun was sure the man died of a broken heart.

 

Youngkyun remained in the forest though, because that was all he knew. that had been his only way of life, and now it was the only remaining tie he had to a family that could no longer walk beside him. he howled at the moon when he felt sad and lonely, and sometimes.. sometimes far in the distance, there were howls that answered back.

youngkyun is very simple. as long as his needs are met, he is happy. He fully embraces his wolf; he wears it like a second skin, and as such, he has a tendency towards letting his instincts take over rather than consiously thinking things out logically.

 

Hunting, sleeping in, his adopted fox blaze, eating, swimming, nasturtiums, sun bathing, climbing trees, digging holes, piling branches. 
 

people, unwelcome visitors, gathering herbs, snakes, winter, ice, fire. 
 

"howl at the moon in reverence, for he is the only one listening."