Askan never ventured out this way. He'd claim that it was just a coincidence, that he hadn't yet gotten around to it, but the truth of the matter was that he just didn't want to. The Mountain of Dire looked nothing like home.

His bright, critical gaze roved over the Dire's craggy peaks and scaling slopes as a frown dawned on his features. He supposed to an outsider it might look sort of similar, but he knew better. The Selwyn mountains were... how to put it? They didn't just feel like towers of stone jutting out of the ground, there was a sense of glory, purpose. Askan had never believed in the old legends, but if there was such a thing as heaven then the mountains were the closest a mortal could ever get to it. Or so Askan thought, anyway.

This mountain though? He wasn't struck with a sense of wonder or amazement, for what it was worth he might as well have been looking at a rock on the ground. Boring and lifeless. He couldn't help but wonder if any packs had tried to tame the mountain, claimed it as their own. He couldn't see any signs of life from the foothills, but even his eyes weren't that good. Selwyn or not, he wasn't a damn eagle.

He continued on, striding over the rocks till he found one suitably flat enough to perch on. Then with a huff, he folded himself down into a laying position and folded his front paws. He had no intentions of scaling the mountain, of seeing what secrets laid hidden between it's peaks. His nostalgia could only push him so far.

Askan didn't appreciate being stepped on. Sure, it was a near miss but that was more than enough to warrant a sharp glower in the strangers direction. He half expected the loner to be plodding around with her eyes closed, at least then she would have had an excuse. But nope, they were wide with alarm as if she hadn't even realised he was there. Had Askan been grey or tawny then maybe he would have cut her some slack, but he was brown damn it! He didn't blend into the rocks at all.

"Is that it?" He demanded, incredulous. " Hi? Who the hell raised you? Aren't you going to apologise?"

And people said Askan had no manners, sheesh.

The Selwyn exhaled sharply as he adjusted his posture, he pushed himself up onto his front paws as his flank remained firmly on the floor. He wasn't going to get up for her, but he wasn't going to leave himself vulnerable all laid out like that either. As always, Askan took in the sight of the stranger with a sharp, if not aloof stare. Aside from her browny eyes-such a rare colour these days, or so it seemed- there was very little about her that was of interest to the Edge Lord. She was young, careless and inexperienced and Askan had very little patience for youthish bullshit today. Not that he often did, but whatever. He was who he was.

Askan rolled his eyes. So she was one of those huh? So meek and mild that she was probably terrified of her own shadow. In part he was amused that he'd caused such a dramatic reaction, but on the other paw it was pretty annoying to watch her squeak and scoot down till she was as small as possible. Yes, he didn't like being nearly stepped on, but he wasn't going to eat her face for it.

"I heard you the first time." He stated, his ear flicking forward to signal that they worked just fine. "Don't you have somewhere better to be?" He asked, of course referring to the fact that they were more or less in the Lore's version of the sticks.

Mountains were dangerous at the best of times, but wandering around alone didn't seem like the best of ideas. Not to mention that the doe of a wolf would no doubt have a brain fart if she encountered something dangerous, like a mountain lion. Either she was lost, hadn't thought this through very much or was suicidal. Honestly, he didn't want to take a bet as all of the options seemed pretty likely at that point.

Askan took a moment to consider her question. It went without saying that she was new in these parts, but where would be best for such a mousy creature? With coyotes infesting his neck of the woods he wasn't about to recommend the east, he wasn't that cruel.

"Depends on what you're looking for. Obviously." He could send her off in all sorts of directions. He'd seen a fair amount of the Lore, so he figured he knew enough to answer her question. "Can't promise that there won't be coyotes or not though, I've got no clue whether they're endemic to this side of the mountain or what." He shrugged, at the very least she'd know about it, take them into consideration.

"Who're you anyway?" His nose wrinkled. Askan hated not knowing things, being left out of the loop.

Silence and plants. So she was one of those then, wasn't she? A hippy. To each their own, but in all honestly it seemed rather strange to the Selwyn. Plants were good for healing and getting rid of pain, but what else? Little did he know that some enjoyed ingesting them for other uses, spiritual nonsense that would've no doubt made him sneer. Askan was a cynic through and through.  

"Try the other side of the mountain. It's mostly forest this side, thick and deep. Easy to get lost." Not the sort of place he could imagine such a dainty woman calling her home. Then again, maybe she was into that? Who knew?

"Anwhoha?" He blinked as his ears swivelled forwards. Surely he'd misheard her, it wasn't his fault she was all quiet and demure. "What about your surname, surely you have one?" He was just being noisy now, because he could.