Hide stood silently outside of the small abandoned house he had scouted out just a few days ago. The area around it was heavy with trees, thick bushes, and most of all, snow. From where he stood, he could get a clear view of a pathway that lead directly to a large clearing that was also pretty close to a small frozen lake. The house itself, for something that had not had anyone living in it for a long time, was not in that bad of shape. A window was broken, the front door did not shut all the way, the floors creaked, and there was even a place where the roof had collapsed in because of the weight of the recent snowfall. All minor things, Hide thought. With ease, Esma and Crystal could have the roof fixed and the window sealed with their magic. Nothing outside of that really mattered, no one would care if the floor creaked or if the door didn't close all the way, he knew he didn't care in the slightest! Then again... he did turn into a bird half of the time and just slept snuggled up to someone else. So maybe they would care, but it was not like this was going to be a permanent home anyway.
In the past five years that Hide had been with the pack, they had never stayed anywhere for more than a month, maybe two if something came up. They didn't exactly 'fit' the normal pack criteria, he had come to understand shortly after they had found him. It was dangerous to stay some place for too long, especially if there was another pack in the area. He could easily recall several times they had a few run-ins with other werewolves and it had all ended badly. Not many were accepting of what Vivian did, but then again, there were not other werewolves as strong as her that could bring so many different kinds of creatures into the pack structure and bonds, either. A vampire, a half-fae, a witch, a walker. Hide had only been told stories of one other walker that had been brought into the pack magic, but other than that, he knew nothing about a vampire, a half-fae, or a witch being in a pack either, just associates or friends of it...
He might understand one day, but today was not that day! Sucking in a chilled breath, Hide slowly exhales as he fights off a bit of a shiver. It wouldn't be long before the rest of them arrived. With so much snow, he knew it was not exactly easy for Esma and Crystal to move about. They had to worry about the chill of the cold as much as he did, but he could at least fly ahead and bury himself in his clothing if he got too cold. He might have chosen a different house, as there was one other several miles in a different direction... but something told him that house was bad. He couldn't really explain it, but it gave him bad vibes, to the point he had not even walked inside to check it out. And while it was much larger than this shabby cabin, he was not going to go against his gut instinct that the rest of the pack had been teaching him to use.
Sighing softly, Hide quickly starts to trudge his way through the snow, down the path towards the clearing. As he arrived at the edge of the clearing, he stopped, tilting his head slightly before lifting a bare hand to tug his scarf up a bit more over his face. He had seen a lot of snow before, but he always found it so mesmerizing, especially when it had not been disrupted. Suddenly Hide jerks his head to the side, blue eyes going wide as the back of his neck began to tingle a bit... excitement slammed into him like a sledgehammer upside the head. He really had not been paying attention, he realized as a familiar black and grey furred wolf leaped from the trees on the other side of the clearing.
"Scooter!" Hide called loudly as he watched the large werewolf bounce around in the snow like a rabbit as he made his way across the clearing. A bit of a laugh escaped the usually quiet Walker, probably from Scooter's influence from the pack bonds. Unlike the others, Hide was not very great at blocking out others emotions when he did not want to feel them, so unless they did the work, he felt everything. But he did not mind most of the time, especially when Scooter was around. The werewolf was deaf, Hide had learned very quickly. But he was a very happy soul, much despite his loss of hearing. And what he lacked, Scooter sure made up for with is tenacity and kindness. It was Scooter who had taught Hide sign-language, too.
Though the werewolf lacked his hearing, as his name was called he came to a halt and lifted his head up. He looked directly towards the rather dark clothed figure that stood out like a sore thumb among the mass of white snow. His tail wagged rapidly before he went right back to bouncing about in the snow like a large, playful puppy. He did not need his hearing to understand his packmates. Since he lost his hearing, his other senses had developed to an impressive extent. He could hear the pack through the pack magic and he could sense when things were amiss rather well, too.
As Scooter continued to bounce around, he suddenly stopped once again and narrowed his gaze toward Hide who was just standing at the edge of the clearing with a bit of a grin on his face. A thought suddenly popped into the wolf's mind before he dashed forward at an alarming speed. It looked like he was going to crash right into Hide, who at this point had already taken a step back as if to prepare for impact... but a few seconds before he would crash into the lowest ranking member of their pack, Scooter came to a grinding halt. Snow flew all over Hide in a massive pile, enough to knock the young man over with a bit of a yelp. All Scooter could manage to do was wag has tail and let out soft, playful rumbling sounds.
"Oh, come on, man! This stuff is cold, I can't play in it like you can." Hide says with a rather loud laugh, shoving the snow off of himself as he pushed himself back onto his feet. He watched Scooter carefully, the large werewolf was moving around a bit and flicking snow towards Hide with his nose while his tail continued to wag excitedly.
"Oooooh, its on now!" Hide manages out as he brushes off some snow from his shoulders, only to have Scooter throw more onto him. Letting out a low rumble of his own, Hide suddenly lunged forward and tackled Scooter! While it was obvious Hide was nowhere near strong enough to ever actually tackle a werewolf, Scooter rolled with the motion until both of them were on the ground, practically buried in the snow, flailing about wildly with a lot of laughing and playful growling. It was like watching a wolf play with a cub almost, it was cute in a way, especially when people remembered Hide never really acted like a kid, even when he was still a teen.
