noah's body felt weak as he ventured forward, his gaze fixated firmly on the ground he swallowed beneath long strides, hearing the sound of familiar wildlife calling back and forth, back and forth, back and forth in a rather repetitive stream of dull monotony that one soon tired of unless they were hearing it anew. that is to say, if one were a child or had somehow miraculously regained their hearing where there once was just a void of soundlessness. or maybe it was just him who had grown so used to it that he no longer found the joy in it, because that was a very real possibility. he remembered times when all the joy in life drained out of him, leaving him shaking and dazed and feeling gray for days on end. he could barely hunt in those times, let alone care for the raven he had chosen to let follow him. [br][br]the raven had long since disappeared, as whimsical in his mind as the feathers she had shed. maybe the raven had just been a figment of his imagination after all, not a real thing but something thought up whenever he needed company. it certainly felt that way, at times, he almost swore he could still feel her lingering presence, but he knew he was just imagining things. it made him sad to think about how she had left him, how everyone else had left him too. but he was still standing, still fighting to live another day.[br][br]there had been a restless stirring deep within him the past few days, weeks, months, whatever it had been. he thought it might be a lot of days all added up and stacked on top of one another, but he was unsure as time had somewhat lost it's meaning for him as of late. the stirring could be described as wanting to be in presence of others since he had been by himself for so long, but noah wasn't sure that was quite it. he just wanted.... he wanted to be part of something, to be able to fit intrinsically into a whole, he just wanted and he longed so deeply and for so long that here he was: a whirlwind of sadness, regret, and fragility so raw that he didn't want to let anyone inside his walls or his heart or his soul. [br][br]he lost track of time once more as he continued on his journey, but he lifted his head when he caught the scent of.... what was it? was it a border of some sort? he had come across these multiple times in his life, but he had always shied away from joining a group. until now, that is. he seated himself a fair distance away from where he could smell the scent markers, about ten or so feet back, and then he seated himself, preparing to wait. he tipped him head backwards, letting a keening cry pour from his throat, cacophonous in it's volume. for now, he would wait for an answer, wait for someone to come to him.

// hi, ignore the recycled post

It seemed as though Worm and Noah had more in common than the lion usually shared with any new joiners, even if the former prince wasn't quite aware of it yet. He too had fallen into a state of deep pain and exhaustion – in fact, he had fallen into it rather recently – and he still felt vaguely dazed and upset, as tiredness clawed at every fiber of his being. In addition to that, he too had lost so many people, even just recently. First had been Arrow, then Beck and Sam had been taken away, and then Poet had left, and now Draekon was gone again, and Red was still missing. Everyone being taken away from him – with only some returning – had begun to steadily wear him down, and it was actually sort of impressive that he had emerged from his home to encounter Noah at the border, considering how much his body just wanted to crumple in on itself as he slept for hours and hours, until one day he would wake up and eventually everyone would finally be gone, like his worst fears. Still, he wasn't about to just neglect his duties as a member of the clan just because of the haze of depression that had clouded over him recently, and he was continuing to force himself out of the house, going out to hunt and search for joiners and everything else that needed to be done. He had even begun to collect herbs for the medics lately, after lots of late nights reading up on how to identify certain herbs.

He had been out on one of his short jaunts when a new scent had squirmed it's way up into his nose, making him pause in his tracks and look around. His blue eyes had been dull and vaguely glazed over as he had been walking through the territory, but now they were lit up with curiosity. Tail lashing behind him slowly, he lowered his head and glanced around before beginning to follow the smell, extremely glad that it wasn't the smell of a Pittian that was currently assaulting him. It didn't take long, and eventually he came upon Noah, his stomach twisting anxiety being slightly appeased when he saw that the male was just sitting comfortably a bit outside the border. He probably wouldn't be doing that if he were here to kill them all, so Worm chose to believe that it was either a joiner or an ally come with presents. Moving over to the smaller animal, Wormwood cleared his throat and stretched out his wings before speaking in a hoarse voice, wincing at the way that his throat sounded mangled and scratched from the inside, a result of him not talking as much recently as he usually did, [glow=black,1,400]"Hello there... I'm assuming you stopped because of the border line scent here... the swamp here is Tanglewood's territory? What's your name and business here?"[/glow]

The words that left him sounded so mechanical and tired that he couldn't stop himself from wincing, shaking his head at himself briefly. He didn't want to try and force himself to seem friendly and inviting, but deep down he knew that he wasn't acting like himself, and it wasn't fair to this new person. He inspected the joiner curiously and slowly, taking in the wild canine's form and the clear mutations that he carried upon his head in the form of his antlers. Worm actually found them to look quite appealing utop a wolf's head, even if it wasn't something that occurred naturally. They looked very fluffy, and quite useful if things came to blows in battle. Flicking an ear, he borderline forced a toothy smile, saying as he tilted his head to one side, [glow=black,1,400]"Erm, sorry. That sounded very cold... my name is Wormwood, I'm a member here. I'll be happy to help you out with whatever it is that you're looking for here at Tanglewood."[/glow] It made things hurt a little bit less, to be actually helping others again instead of just snarling at Feza or pacing around anxiously as he waited for the return of Red, an activity that still sort of confused him to no end. He and Red had butted heads quite frequently when the other had been safely in the group, but he still missed the gorilla dearly, and things such as welcoming joiners were the only things that were distracting him from the constant sense of fear for Red's wellbeing.

the trees whispering to the antler-adorned wolf didn't seem all that concerned about the being that had joined him, but noah sure was. this other... could he even call it a wolf? that was the only thing he knew, so that's what he called every sentient being that he came across. noah tipped his head back, bright green oculars widening in curiosity. how did a wolf get to be -- were those wings?! an audible gasp came from the boy as the other spoke, and he was soon stepping back to fully admire the other's unfamiliar appendages.

"what kind of wolf are you? you have wings? noah didn't know wolves could get wings!" he finally burst out, an awestruck tone coming to light in his voice. in his mind, that was just super cool and the only thing that he was focused on.

that is, until the trees interrupted him. you didn't answer his questions. they urged him, forcing the boy to rethink why he was here. "oh. noah is... here to.... what's that word? uh, be part of this pack! yeah, that's it. where's the other wolves at, noah can smell them but he can't see them." the child would babble, tiipping his head from side to side as he searched for the other 'wolves'. one more question then came rushing from his mouth: "uhhh what's a tanglefoot?"

Wormwood blinked in surprise as Noah stepped back to take in his entire form, but he silently reminded himself that he could be quite the frightening sight for some members of the group. After all, he was massive and mutated, with the fiery looking wings utop his back seeming to attract quite a bit of attention from Noah. Still, he couldn't help the embarrassed blush that came up beneath his fur from being inspected, and he chuckled a bit when Noah questioned what type of wolf he was. He had never encountered a joiner before that had never seen other animals before in his life, so it was quite a start for him to hear such an odd question directed towards him. Sure, Worm had lived in a pride that had primarily been made up of lions, but he had known of the other animals that inhabited the world, and had even encountered quite a few of them when they had been out hunting or when the hyenas had tried to steal from them. After he had left the pride and learned to read, he had learned about even more animals that he hadn't known of thanks to the books that he could get his paws on, and by the time he had arrived at Tanglewood, he hadn't been very surprised by the wide variety of creatures he had encountered. However, it seemed as though Noah had been much more sheltered in his "pack", and Worm couldn't help his amusement at the other's words.

Shaking his head a bit at the boy, the lion said with a warm smile, his wings twitching and shifting upon his back as if he was showing off – which he honestly might've been, [glow=black,1,400]"Ah, well... I'm not exactly a wolf. I'm an entirely different type of animal. We're called lions... although we also don't usually have wings... these were actually the result of a mutation that happened after I arrived here."[/glow] He stretched one of his golden and red wings far out to one side, wincing a little bit as he recalled how painful the original growth of his wings had been. It had been enough to almost knock him out from the painful force of it, and he had needed quite a bit of medical attention afterwards thanks to his bones and muscles snapping into place to accommodate the new limbs. Noah might've been excited just seeing them now, but Worm honestly hoped that the male wouldn't have to deal with the pain that came with new wings, even if he was excited by the prospect of it. If Noah really wanted to fly, then Wormwood was sure that he could put in a bit of effort so that Noah could ride on his back while he took a flight around the swamp.

Hearing Noah asking about joining their "pack", Worm felt a small smile come to his muzzle, and he rumbled as he gestured behind him back towards camp, [glow=black,1,400]"You're free to join us, but we're not exactly the same as a 'pack'. We are a group, but we may not have the same ranks and stuff that you're used to. This group is also made up of many different kinds of animals, not just wolves like yourself. More different creatures like me... the name of our group is also Tanglewood, not Tanglefoot."[/glow] He couldn't help the small smile that resided on his face as he explained to Noah, finding an odd sense of peace in the moment. He had been suffering so much lately that just interacting with a cute new joiner that he wanted to protect was a pleasant reprieve, and it definitely helped that Noah was incredibly funny, given his sheltered nature and the way that he interacted with the world thus far.