Sierra Hills and we'll all float on anyway

For @Woya only please<3!
Sierra Hills | Dusk | Partially Cloudy

Paws scrabbled against red rock and dirt, kicking away pebbles as the wolf attempted to clamber up the steep incline. A whine escaped him as he slid back down, jagged rock biting into his paw pads. Frustrated, Sunny took a step back, shaking out his front paws while walking back as if it would ease the pain. He kept his head low and ears cupped back as his eyes searched up the sides of the mountains. At this rate, the wolf would either have to go back the way he came or follow the range until it dispersed. Neither of those options seemed exactly ideal, but then again, he didn’t know what would await him on the other side if he did make it. And that’s not taking into consideration the fall if he slipped… His hackles rose as he stood there indignantly. He didn’t want to think about a tumble down the sides of these hills.

The man paced back and forth, studying the terrain. The red rock was new; he’d never seen anything like it before. Even in the little dusk light, it was impressive to see. Sunny slowed until he came to a halt, heaving a heavy sigh. Red ears drooped as he plopped onto the ground, before a growl ripped its way out of his throat. In a flash, he was on his paws again as he took a few steps back before sprinting towards the incline. The momentum gave way to a reasonable distance, but ultimately the rough terrain had the advantage, and the blonde wolf slid back down, now defeated.

Lips twitched back in a slight snarl before the man threw his head back, letting out a loud and rather… Dramatic yell.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Sunny sat for a moment, before the resounding echo of his own voice reached his ears, causing him to flinch back, ears flat against his skull.

Woya was still looking. Not as often, as at this point she felt confident that if Aweho had been dead or injured she would've found sign of it by now, but in case he came back and needed help finding home again. She was thankful and disheartened all at the same time, not sure what to want or hope for other than knowing she just wanted the sweet, silver-eyed boy to be safe. It certainly didn't put her in a good mood any time she struck out with the child's absence heavy on her mind.

Hearing that racket didn't make it any better.

Woya jumped, before recovering from the shock with anger. The hell was that about? She prowled closer to it's source, and saw a wolf covered in ruddy-colored slush. Baring her fangs, Woya decided to take her mood out on the stranger.

"Shut your mouth, asshole. Wolves fuckin' hunt around here."

Hearing another voice call out to him, Sunny nearly jumped out of his fur. Hackles on end, and whatever fur that wasn't muddy and wet fluffed out, the blonde wolf whipped around to face the stranger.

"Shut your mouth, asshole."

For a moment, he shrunk back against the rock wall, ears flat against his skull and tail slightly between his legs. Worse yet, he began to feel the heat of embarrassment spread underneath his wispy fur. Like he wasn't already having a bad enough day.

"Sorry, I…" He stammered, yellow eyes peering into the ground rather than making eye contact. A frown quickly overtook his features, though, and while his stance didn't shift, his focus flicked rapidly between the earth and the stranger, debating whether to focus on her or not.

"Well, you-" his voice cracked as he snapped at the cream colored wolf. "You don't look like you're hunting, asshole." Despite the submissive stance, his tone shifted to defensive, especially punctuating the ending 'asshole'. Maybe not his wisest choice in the "times of his life to stand up for himself", but what business did she have swearing down at him?

It wasn't often Woya crossed paths with other wolves smaller than herself, but he was. Her hackles bristled and raised, making her seem even larger as she slunk closer with pointed steps and hateful eyes. He'd appeared cowed for a second, but it didn't last and he just egged her on more.

"You sure about that?" she hissed, intending to allude to him being her prey. Woya had seen nearly six years on this planet. As often as Hudson had come to her rescue in the past, he hadn't always been able to. She'd seen a fight or ten, and was certain she could take this punk on with the amount of frustration pumping through her veins.

He shifted, and so did the colors around his neck. Red shone through, and she realized it was not black fur collaring his neck and throat, but something smooth and hard. It made her stomach turn, and she stopped advancing.

"... the fuck is that?"

(This post was last modified: Jan 12, 2022, 10:22 PM by Woya.)

As the distance between them began to diminish, Sunny found himself pressed up against the wall more and more. There'd be no easy way around her or away from her, and while he was a fast runner, there was no guarantee he could high tail it out of there fast enough.

Man, he should have turned around when he had the chance. Walked his tail right back through the marsh and went some other way. Not that he did himself any favors, here. As she spoke, movement startled him, before the blonde wolf realized it was his own, shaking legs and paws. He had already backed himself into this corner, and may as well get out of it.

Slowly, he began raising himself back up, his own hackles raised, ready to at least attempt to scrabble his way out. The fact she stopped her impending approach froze his veins, expecting her to leap any moment.

"... the fuck is that?"

"It's- I don't really know," He offered, shakily. "I got stuck in something shiny one day, blacked out, next thing I knew I was awake with it on! Left my pack 'cause of it!" Had he known more he would have told her, at the least it had her attention over his outburst.

His answer did nothing to warm the chill threatening to take her over. Blacked out, woke up and things were different. It was similar enough for Woya to piece things together. This guy had been in contact with the aliens that had abducted her brother. She didn't know why this guy had a collar when Hudson didn't, nor why he would be returned to his pack when her partner in crime claimed to have woken up here, weeks from home.

It couldn't mean anything good, though, that Woya was for certain. Her lips crawled higher, pupils dilating with rage.

"Run," was the only warning she gave. She wanted this creep and his shackle as far away from Marrah and Caelyn as possible, and would do everything in her power to satisfy that.

Once again, Sunny cowed back, his chest making contact with the slushed earth beneath him as he sank to the ground submissively. Golden eyes widened as panic crept through his veins, and anxiety crawled up his throat in the form of bile that he could taste at the back of his mouth. What was her problem? But as her lips curled further back, revealing two separate rows of fangs and a rage lit in her eyes like no other, suddenly it didn't feel so important to stick around and find out.

He knew what she meant when she asked about his predicament, plenty of weird looks and questions having been shot his way, almost always entirely out of distrust. The wispy-furred man found it easier to explain what he knew rather than playing dumb, but he wasn't so sure it mattered this time.

There were options, the lanky man could bolt left or right, or if he felt particularly daring (he did not), right past her. And there was no time to think it over, and definitely no time to try and sweet-talk his way out of this. Almost instantaneously, Sunny bolted to the right, sticking close to the wall, long legs carrying him as fast as they could go. With any luck, the woman wouldn't pursue him, but if she did, he sure hoped she was slow.

Woya would be positively loving the fear she instilled in this wolf if he were, actually, a benign presence. Now a threat, there was no fun to be had. He followed her order, but set off in the wrong direction, toward the Chasm's general direction. With a snarl she shot after him, aiming to herd him around toward the south.

As far as she was aware, there was no one that way that he and the humans he'd fallen prey to could harm.

Using her teeth as necessary, she bristled up her fur and made herself as large and intimidating a presence as she could. The goal wasn't to injure him, but she'd give that a try too if necessary.

Sunny kept running, white paws thudding against the frozen grounds, hoping that following her orders would appease her or slightly smooth ruffled fur, and keep his neck out of her maw. The fear that froze his veins solid, though, was unmatchable when he slowed somewhat and glanced behind over his shoulder, only to see her white form barreling after him.

That was time lost as he struggled to pick a direction to go; would it throw her off if he attempted to race past her? Or would it be safer to scatter in some random direction and hope for the best? He didn't know these lands; a wrong direction could send him careening down a steep ravine or into a dead-end. Perhaps he waited too long, the distance between them getting smaller, and it wouldn't matter regardless of what he chose.

Goldenrod eyes wide with fear, he bolted once more, veering off to the left, towards the mountains rather than continuing his path along the red hills. He'd already been that direction, if he recalled correctly, and the thick woods that direction seemed uninhabited. Lanky legs almost tangled themselves together as he stumbled to get away as quick as possible.

Woya thought herself successful, but her efforts only got them halfway. He was after the ragged peaks to the West and she wanted to stop that too, to kill him if she absolutely needed to. That was where Aleister resided, just as much family as the children her brother had left in her care. There were limits to her small frame, however, and even a wolf as stubborn as Woya could recognize that.

She chased him for as long as she could, before turning back toward home with a heaving chest and burning muscles. She needed to tell @Adelard and the others that the abductions were very possibly still happening.