Stonewatch Timbers My head is a jungle

@Cottongrass <3  Hope this is cool Set on the 21st

Askan once again found himself wading through the snow and clambering up a hillside with a frown upon his face. Above him, the darkening sky flashed white and rumbled with thunder. Great, just what he needed.  Sure, it was his choice to venture from home and explore the land surrounding the field, but when he'd first set off he hadn't intended to go this far. Or to be gone for so long. He'd just wanted to climb this hill so he could get a good view of the surrounding area, so he got get his bearings. But with him being such a perfectionist, only the best would do, so Askan had decided to climb the tallest of the Stonewatch hills.

Now that his legs were burning and his ears pinned to his head to muffle the claps of thunder, Askan decided that perhaps this hadn't been the best of ideas. Or at the very least he should have waited till the weather cleared up a little. But there was no point in turning back now, he was so close to the peak. So with a renewed sense of determination, he gritted his teeth and pushed on, one foot after the other. Four booms of thunder later, he made it!  He'd made it to the top of the massive hill and the view was.... Beautiful, no denying that. The valley bellow was vast and there were so many trees that it would have taken Askan an eternity to count. But that was about it really. There was snow, bare trees, a setting sun, craggy rocks and not much else.

Well... This was turning out to be a huge waste of time. Wonderful. Great. Not like he had anything better to do. Are you kidding? Of course he did. Askan was a busy man, he had shit to do, borders to patrol. Damn it. Why had he even bothered in the first place? He should have waited, why hadn't he just waited?

Askan let out a huffy grumble and stomped along the peak, pretending to not notice how he kept sinking into the snow. He set himself down onto a bolder and kicked the snow off of it as best as he could before he plonked himself down, just to rest for a little while. It was only when he sat down did he notice that he wasn't alone, a white wolf had managed to escape his notice by blending into the white scenery. Another flash of lightening, then a earth shaking boom of thunder.

Askan waited till the air stilled before he spoke. "Funny meeting a wolf here. You been following me?" He asked, his tone humourless. After meeting Kerberos yesterday he wasn't in the mood for strangers. Especially if they were going to be rude.

(This post was last modified: Dec 20, 2016, 11:13 PM by Askan.)

He liked to pretend he was sneaky. He never got to be sneaky when he was younger, and this was his chance to make up for it. The days of all of his plans being immediately foiled were gone, nothing but distant memories. His parents wouldn't ask why he ate that cache when it clearly wasn't his. Or why he made a mess out of the den. Nope, he was advancing beyond that to a higher level of sneakiness. 'Cause he was only a puppy then, a very clumsy and big puppy that didn't know how to sneak.

Or at least that's what he was telling himself as he crept along the crags, big paws moving quick through the snow. He totally wasn't scared of the loud noises roaring ahead, or the bright flashes the lit up the sky. It wasn't like the world was ending, or anything. And well, maybe he wasn't certain about that last part. But what he was certain of was that he had never been scared before in his life. Really.

He flinched when the cacophony happened overhead, rumbling on for several painful seconds. His steps came quicker and he pressed ever nearer to the wolf he had been following, and totally not secretly clinging to in intense fear. The skies returned to normal, and whoever he was following had stopped dead in their tracks. His ears rolled back and he pressed his tail behind his hind legs. 'Cause he was very brave and not cowering.

"No." He blurted out, but the sky flashed again like it knew he was lying and the dam broke. "I dunno. Maybe." He stuttered out, and immediately slunk closer towards the stranger. But not too close - just close enough to get a clearer look at them as the sky screamed.

What was his problem? Askan hadn't done anything that warranted this sort of response. His hackles were lowered, his teeth weren't bared and his scowl wasn't particularly potent. If anything, Askan seemed bemused, a little taken back by the white strangers response. Even if he'd been blind, the loner's- it was quite obvious he didn't belong to a pack- fear would still have been obvious. His voice trembled, and every word he uttered sounded forced, as though he his throat felt tight and dry. He was scared- no terrified seemed more accurate. But why? Askan quickly came to the assumption that it wasn't him, that he wasn't to blame. So what was it then? What had spooked him so?
 
And why did Askan even care?  He didn't, not really. The Rye wolf rolled his eyes and shifted a little so he could see the white wolf better. There was another flash of light, followed by a massive rumble of thunder that shook the ground beneath them. It even startled Askan a little, but he took great care in hiding his surprise. He didn't even flinch, nor did he blink. He simply exhaled slowly and then continued on as though nothing had happened.
 
"Uh huh."  He grumbled, raising a brow as the stranger crawled closer. He allowed it, for now. "And why the hell you doing that? I look like I want company?"
 
He didn't expect a response, after all the answer was obvious. It was a rare moment indeed if he wanted company. And if he ever sought it out, he was likely looking for Percy, who was an exception to most of his rules. For reasons he didn't care to explain. So rather than waiting for the kid to give a shaky response, he continued without a care, his voice its usual sneer. It wasn't anything personal, the white wolf hadn't irritated him all that much. Not quite yet.
 
"What's got you so freaked out, kid? Look like you're going to piss yourself any moment now. I won't hurt you, unless you give me reason to, so sit and calm the hell down."

(This post was last modified: Dec 20, 2016, 11:24 PM by Askan.)

"I dunno." He blurted out again, a rare scowl pulling across his features. Because it almost sounded like they didn't believe him. And really, he was never scared or freaked out before in his life. Honest. He was just - he was just.

Well.

He didn't know why he was shaking so much. Except he actually sort of did and it was because of a little something called fear. But he cut off that train of thought before it could finish forming in his brain. Instead he focused on the male with his ears pulled back and expression betrayed. 'Cause he was telling the truth. In his mind, at least.

Yet he still found himself listening to them, dropping back onto his haunches near the dark-furred male. And proceeded to try and calm down. Not like he needed it, though, he told himself. He bit carefully down on his tongue and focused on breathing a little bit. But only because it was the nice thing to do, to listen to grumpy strangers.

"I'm not freaked out." He protested, but his voice trailed off as he continued speaking. "You are." He mumbled back weakly, with all the grace and prowess of a puppy that knew they were wrong but like hell were they giving up.

He didn't know, huh? That was unlikely. Not impossible, after all even Askan knew that meaningless anxiety was a thing, but he couldn't help but get the feeling that it didn't apply to this situation. There was something bothering him, he was just going out of his way to deny it. Why though? Askan didn't care enough to pry all that much, but he didn't like being dismissed like that. And to add to Askan's growing annoyance, the stranger shot him a pointed glower.
 
At least the white wolf had the mind to do as he was told and sit down. If he hadn't, Askan would have felt all the more miffed. He hated nothing more than being ignored, and it wasn't as though he had been unreasonable. Asking him to sit wasn't too much, or so the Yukon wolf thought. The stranger took a moment to gather himself, and Askan faintly hoped he'd make an effort to gather his manners whilst he was at it. He was distressed, that much was clear, so Askan wasn't going to give the kid too much of a hard time. But he wouldn't give him a free pass either. He'd been following Askan, so he had every right to ask these questions. He deserved to know what the hell was going on.
 
Another streak of lightening lit up the sky and Askan squinted a little at the echoing boom that followed. Fuck that was loud.
 
"You're not? Could've fooled me." He asked, just a little amused at his weak protest. His next words weren't as well received. "Really? That's a bit childish isn't it? If you wanna be that way, fine, whatever. No skin off my nose. I'll just go then, cause I ain't scared of nothing" or so he would claim, despite Adelayde's ultimatum. "So I don't need you around. Just remember that you were the one who followed me." He stood up to leave.
 
But then turned to look at the trembling kid and his harsh gaze softened just a little. Askan was an ass,no doubt about that. But he wasn't heartless, not towards kids anyway. And that's all this loner was, a scared kid who didn't want to admit it. How funny, Askan had been in this position just a few days ago. As shameful as it was to remember that, he had to admit he was being a bit of a hypocrite right now. Damn it.
 
"All right kid," he flopped back down again with a sigh. "You're not scared. What's your name then? "

He winced, brows drawing together and lips pressed thin. Because he messed up again, didn't he? Probably went and made another enemy for himself, as if the thing with Rigel wasn't enough. And now he was going to be left alone, scared and trembling. The childishness wore thin, and left behind was nothing but an overgrown puppy that didn't want to be alone. But it looked like he was, and he watched as the stranger stood up and turned.

He drew in a shaky breath, jaws parting as he struggled to find some kind of words that would fix this. Because he was tired of messing things up, really. He just wanted to be good, the kind of good that made it so he wouldn't have to deal with others leaving him. His tongue flapped uselessly in his mouth, words caught in his throat.

His breath left him in a ragged rattle when the male seemed to suddenly turn around, looking pained but staying. He wondered if they were just gonna pretend to be nice. The world shook and he hunkered down, broad shoulders caving in and his head lowering. He sucked in air through his lips, ready to do things right with the wolf.

"'m Cottongrass." He mumbled, words pressed carefully through his teeth.

Askan wasn't sure what to make of him.All he knew was that getting all grumpy, as he so often did,  wasn't enough to put him off. The loner truly had to be desperate if Askan's company was more appealing than being on his own.He imagined that some wolves that he'd met- he didn't feel like naming names- would rather be anywhere else in the world than have to spend a whole minute by the Yukon wolf's side.In fact, Askan was pretty sure that he was quite possibly the first wolf who had accepted his scathing words without complaint or rebuttal. The wolf had merely winced and continued to shiver, as though he was broken. As though he couldn't do anything else. 

Which was why Askan had sort of taken pity on him. Or at the very least he made a slight effort to try and help him out, however he could. 

After a while the kid managed to form a coherent response to his question. The name he supplied though was a little unusual, to say the least. Enough to earn a slight tilt of Askan's head.

"Cottongrass huh?  Not a name you hear everyday." He didn't care to ask why he was called that, or whether there was a story behind it. He merely accepted it and moved on, like that was the natural thing to do. "The name's Askan Selwyn,from Wild Rye Fields."

He didn't really need to tell Cottongrass where he was from, after all he was a loner, but he felt inclined to. It was a part of his identity, he wasn't merely a loner like Cottongrass, he had a cause to strive towards. He had a true home, somewhere he belonged. He almost felt bad for Cottongrass, he had none of that. Perhaps that was why he was so vulnerable, perhaps he was lonely, or that he'd realised he couldn't survive alone. 

All of that was useless speculation of course, asking him why he was scared was useless. He wasn't going to admit it, and as frustrating as it was to be left in the dark, Askan could respect his resolve. Sort of. 

"You can stay till I leave, all right? The I want you gone. You can't follow me home." Askan told him with a sigh and ducked his head down to rest it on his leg.

Fade out.

(This post was last modified: Dec 27, 2016, 10:25 PM by Askan.)

There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health