You meet a lot of interesting people when you hitchhike. There’s the good people, who tell stories and offer food, there’s the bad people, who’ll try to take advantage of you in your vulnerable state, and then there’s the oddities, like old people who claim the moon is a hologram. Still, they’re all the same; they’re merely people on the road, and you always have to say hello, and then goodbye. The only thing you have to focus on when on a trail, that thing being your goal.

It had been more than a year since he had gotten split up from his old group on the way to the mountains, and he had been aching for the clan lifestyle ever since. Those people were his friends, all of them. There was even a particular girly he had eyes for. But that’s all history. Now is what’s most important. After travelling for a while with a specific individual, whom Wendell was very much fond of, stories of these other clans had been shared, sparking an eager interest in the wolverine. A particular clan had enthralled him than the rest. It was one of cold and snow, where the people were kind and conflicts weren’t the norm. Wendell was aware that his species was meant for harsh freezing temperatures, along with the kind personalities that he had been attracted to before.

Following an undeclared timeframe of travelling and searching, he had found a place that matched the description from before. Beautiful snowflakes shimmered throughout the air, forming a soft blanket once they softly rested upon the ground. Tall pines were beauteous as a sparkling coat of snow glazed their branches. This was the place. He was surprised to find his body temperature unaltered. That fur that kept him sweltered in the heat was finally good for something. Trekking forward in the foreign feeling of powder, Wendell was determined to find the mystical clan of tale. Maybe this time they won’t all ditch me on the way t’ somewhere.

Wendell’s eyes widened as a small birdie landed about a metre away from Wendell’s snout. At least a warning would’ve been nice. On the topic of “nice”, what was with the crow’s greeting? He wasn’t expecting a personality like that in Snowbound, no less from the first Snowbounder he laid his eyes upon.

"My name’s Wendell, madam," he’d say in response to crystalcannon’s somewhat demanding remarks, ”and I’d like to know if I could join this, er, group? ‘S called Snowbound, right?”

.. Izuku probably would have found it awfully strange to hear about Wendell's stories of travels. Not for any real reason beyond him actually having so many good experiences traveling. But, well, Izuku did suppose that .. all the places he'd passed by lately when out and about were friendly. He just .. happened to wake up in a bad place. A very bad place. But, this isn't really the point, now is it?
Izuku had .. just been wandering, again. His usually patrol around the territory. Locket, firmly perched on his shoulder, is silent. He'd been used to the Shrike being quiet, back in the wilds, but it's unsettling now. Things weren't the same. His tail gives a nervous sweep, but the dragon's ears still perk up when he hears Cry's voice some small distance away. Somebody was on the border? He perks up and makes to approach.
"Hello!" Izuku chirps, settling on the ground below Cry's branch. A visitor or a joiner? The world may never know. .. He's kidding. The world will absolutely know in just about a minute. and that minute is now. He seems a little put off by Cry, but so were a lot of people. Izuku not included. "Y -- Yeah, this is it! You can join!" He reassures. He allows Wendell a small grin, though he's a little worried about how Wendell will take it. Not many people have seemed threatened by him yet, but there would definitely come a day. "Welcome to Snowbound! Um, I'm Izuku, the Frosthealer!" Standard getting, standard initiation. .. He hopes Cry didn't give him a bad first impression. Not that she'd done anything this time? She was doing fine, but.
"Well, I don't know why the fuck --" Locket forcibly starts to chime in, but Izuku shushes her. By that he means that he stuck his tail in her mouth with a hiss of "Locket," so she would stop talking. Anywhere but at a joining would do, no need to give Wendell a worse impression. Because, as Wendell could probably already tell, this .. wasn't really a place of mystically kind people or anything. At the least, Izuku doesn't think they'd ditch Wendell going anywhere. Unless they would, but at the least, not on purpose. Oh, but right. He .. forgot a thing. A thing. Just for a minute. Izuku's tail gives another swish as he conjures a hot chocolate. "Um. Do you want hot chocolate?" A tradition, of course. The dragon is still grinning as he offers the conjured flask in open talons.
//shh i totally didnt edit this bc i forgot the hot chocolate

It was at this moment Wendell realized what it meant to be humbled again. For a while after joining this place, which he planned on doing, he wouldn’t be known as Wendell, he’d be known as ”that wolverine”. It’ll be a while before he was on a first/name basis with everyone here. Oh well, it was best to just embrace it.

Before the brash crow could respond, another citizen of Snowbound arrived. It was a dragon. He looked heavily scarred, and had a bird perched on his shoulder. Unlike Cry, Izuku had a pleasant personality, welcoming Wendell to this place, introducing himself as a Frosthealer, which the wolverine understood was a medical position here. Like the crow, however, was another rude bird, one that did not hesitate to use profanity around a new face. Grand. He hoped that more people were like this Izuku, rather than the boorish sorts of Cry and Locket.

In the end, though, he was welcomed by Cry, after being gracefully helloed by that dragon. "Thanks f’r having me, guys, I can’t wait t’ get t’ know all you guys more.". Yikes, that was cheesy. Even as a people’s person, Wendell couldn’t do greetings.

Already, the environment hither felt more like home than his previous one, which was barren fields surrounded by valley. It was the feeling of warmth when standing in snow that got him. It was irregular, but he loved it. This was home.