Open your eyes.

What had started as a brisk pace for the Rose wolf had steadily picked up faster and faster, until the young hunter was cantering through the rugged trees that filled the basin of the pass. His tongue flopped haphazardly out the side of his mouth as he ran, and occasionally he would throw his head back over his shoulder to check his on his packmates... Or well, Asta really. He hoped Crowe would just trip in a ditch somewhere and get lost, but no, just seeing the brute's big ol' head still following along set Rais' teeth grinding.

He needed somewhere to conveniently lose Crowe, and his first thought was to find a cave too small for the larger male to fit through. However, Rais knew no caves here that had an exit from both ends, and in that case they'd still have to emerge out from where a possibly annoyed-from-being ditched Crowe could be waiting. If underground would not work, perhaps the opposite would? Rais had a pretty good sense of where the most inaccessible places on the mountain ridges were, after all he spent a good time tucking away any choice scraps of meat for himself far out of reach of others. With this in mind he started up a rocky slope, which grew steeper as he moved up it. It was a tricky incline, and with a few jumps and a scrabble he made it to the peak, where he then turned around to check the progress of his packmates.

Asta was a little bigger than Rais, and had always been more notable in speed rather than strength. Of course, she had the stamina to match, so she could run long distances fairly well. She didn't consider whether the larger of the trio could keep up - she assumed he was bigger, had longer legs, longer strides... or something like that. Besides, she was staying focused on keeping Rais in sight as he started to pick up the pace. Asta's own paws began to fly under her, keeping her no more than a few lengths behind Rais at all times. She was nimble or she was nothing: every twist and turn she could follow. And she did it with an open-mouth smile as her tongue lolled to one side. Not dignified, no, but Asta did appear to be enjoying the run, didn't she?

All the while, she seemed unaware of Rais's intentions of ditching the mass of white fur behind them... at least until it occurred to her they were running flat-out now and approaching a rather intense... incline. Incline was perhaps a gentle word for it, however. Asta paused for a moment as Rais climbed it fairly easily (though she knew it couldn't have been) and turned back to face her and Crowe. She took that moment to see where the big male was, made a mental note, then looked back up at Rais. That had taken some fancy footwork. No doubt it would be easier for smaller feet to make the climb... I think he's making this hard for Crowe on purpose! Asta suddenly chuckled as the silver male's behavior before came to mind... Well. Maybe he was trying to get rid of Crowe? A puzzle for another time maybe, for now she was going to climb! This would be a fantastic challenge. If Rais thought it'd be hard to follow him well... Asta would prove him wrong, even if it wasn't so much meant to keep her down...

Asta's paws gathered beneath her as she began the first leap, then the next, and the next. Again, she wasn't necessarily more graceful than any other wolf, but she seemed to know all the right places to put her paws to keep from going back down. Her momentum took her up, up until she reached the peak and there, with just her forelimbs over the edge Asta scrambled a little with her hindlegs(likely skittering dirt down the side... and possibly into Crowe's face if he wasn't too far behind. Very much unintentional...) then with a little more effort managed to hoist the rest of her lithe body right onto the edge. She panted lightly for a moment before she began to laugh softly. She got to her paws again after that, so she could stand beside Rais and mirror him: look down for the Crowe-wolf.

They set off at a hefty pace and Crowe found that as Rais' momentum picked up Crowe was still able to follow at least until they got to the incline. That little shit is trying to lose me! Crowe had noticed Rais did not seem to like him, he assumed it was because the younger male was very sharp and could almost clearly see through the mask Crowe wore. It won't be that easy Rais, I eat meals bigger than you! The massive wolf growled as he set is equally massive paws on the incline, slowly making his way to the top. This guy is going to really piss me off, who does he think he is trying to lose me like that? Not today little man!

About halfway up Crowe saw Asta's rear end disappear over the top and immediately was pelted in the face with rocks and dirt."Hey watch it up there!" His voice boomed up the face. After a lot of effort Crowe finally pulled himself up and over the peak and turned to face Rais almost forgetting Asta was there. His yellow eyes burned with all the fires of hell. Play these games Rais and I will take your position away from you at my very first chance! Had this not been a pack mate he would already be dead. But that fact was there, and Crowe simply had to deal with Rais' little "game". Instead of calling him out he merely smirked at the younger wolf.

At Crowe's shouts a fiendish glint lit Rais' flame hued eyes, secretly pleased by the dirt Asta inadvertently kicked into Crowe's face, now speckling the once pristine white surface with dark little specks of debris. Asta was quick to clamber up the rock face, and Rais shifted slightly to give her some space on the narrow peak. Alongside her he watched Crowe's laborious procession up the side. Rais almost considered "slipping" a bit just to kick some more dirt in the doofus's face but that would be too cruel. He just wanted to lose the guy, not hurt someone who was, at the bottom of it all, still his packmate. Disappointingly Crowe's heft didn't inhibit him entirely from making it to the top, and Rais didn't budge to make room for Crowe, only returning the males smirk with a seemingly genuine smile. Rais knew he was dancing on a fine line here, but could hardly resist the temptation to pick and prod and see if he could reveal what was under the surface of the strange man.

"Ah! Almost thought you wouldn't make it there for a second! I forgot how steep these slopes can be." Rais joked, round eyes crinkling at the corners. Rais then craned his head about to take a look at the view the elevation afforded the trio, finally letting his eyes catch on the eastern edge of the pass, where the land dropped and opened into the forests of the Vale. "As you can see from up here," Rais continued with black nose pointed towards the landmark, still the amiable tour guide, "The pass lets out in the foothills over there, and it's an easier gateway into the mountains. It's a route deer and caribou frequent, and they'll soon be taking advantage of the thaw and heading higher up to graze. It's not too hard to find a place to trip one of them on if you care to catch something." He rambled, paying most of his attention to Asta as he spoke.

(This post was last modified: May 24, 2013, 06:43 AM by Rais.)

Apologizing in advanced for lameness. >_<'

Ah, there the Crowe-wolf was, not too far behind after all. He didn't have the climbing speed either of the smaller wolves possessed, but he was making it. Well, good on him. Especially after her own... well, shower. The young woman peered over the edge and winced, verbalizing her apology a moment later with a hasty "sorry" before backing away from the edge so Crowe had a bit more room to maneuver once he'd reached the top. He was big, but he'd made it this far. Asta was perhaps a little grateful he was on "their" side; she didn't want to imagine what it'd be like if he were part of an enemy pack, a lone wolf, or... anywhere other than the Pass, even.

Her thoughts didn't linger there for long, rather she turned to Rais who now offered his commentary from their new vantage point. Asta listened eagerly, but her eyes were for the new land within which she now lived - the place she would be calling home. She could not suppress the wave of her tail behind her as her eyes scanned the uneven horizon, then fell on the woods as Rais mentioned them. The woman became still again, her attention caught nearly fully as he mentioned hunting. Asta made a mental note: she'd need to check it out up close some time. She diodn't know exactly where or how she'd fit into the pack just yet, but she always had done well in the area of hunting... if all else failed, she could try that. Besides, exploring the area around the Pass couldn't hurt either.

Turning her head, Asta finally met Rais' eyes with her own yellow ones, a grin splitting her muzzle. "Oh, that sounds perfect," she nodded, her eyes flickering briefly to Crowe to see what he thought perhaps, then back to the place where Pass met Forest.

♥ Allie

As irritating as Rais' little game was, and as much as Crowe wanted very much to push him off the mountain, he could not. No, not now, yes there would be a reckoning of some kind for Rais Rose, but now was not the time nor place. The yellow orbs, set in the white facade of the insane male, grew neutral and cold, almost fading to the color of a dying wildflower. It was crucial, Crowe realized, to hide the madness that ate at his mind, and wrapped it's wild hands around his soul. If the insanity that dwelled within the gigantic male were to ever be seen it could be disastrous. You must harness it Crowe, use it when needed and hide it away, stash it within the very deepest reaches of your black heart, until it needs called upon. The fight would be hard but Crowe knew he could hide it, he could hold the evil, the insanity and hatred, the blackest emotions one could feel. Yes they could be hidden beneath a snow white facade, and Asta could grow to liking the cold male, even Rais, as clever as he was, could learn to dismiss some of Crowe's insane spouts of anger and madness if he came across him at a bad time.

So with this in mind he waved his tail and put his sickly grin back upon his maw trying his very best to look cheerful and spoke as if he were friendly. Though the words sounded strained and almost wrong he got them out, "Thank you Rais, I may starve if it weren't for that information, you see I am not fast enough to catch them at a run, so I would need the element of... surprise." The malice in the last word was evident, with the knowledge of where prey ran, Crowe would indeed find his outlet for insanity, and maul his prey rather than deal a quick killing blow. But with any luck, his pack mates would merely think he enjoyed torturing prey, and only prey.

Sorry for the delay, both of you! :(

If there was any tenseness at all between the two males, Asta appeared to be unaware of it. Of course, by tenseness I refer to Crowe's annoyance more than anything. It was something just barely hidden. Either Asta was completely oblivious and more naive then she liked to think or she was making an effort to ignore it and it was working wonders. The woman turned her head, yellow eyes falling on the paler ones belonging to Crowe. He had that smile on his maw again... it was no more comforting than it had been before, but Asta forced the small smile on her own maw to widen nevertheless.

Crowe's words made sense to the little woman, but she found herself turning her eyes back to Rais as Crowe finished. She perceived a certain darkness in his last words. She could've dismissed it as nothing, but something in her gut told her this was more than just a love of the ambush - of a hunt. Maybe she was reading into that too much... but even though she enjoyed the thrill, the chase, the killing bite... she did not think of hunting with such malice in her heart. It was good, fun... honorable, even. If Asta had comprehended he tortured his prey (she didn't get quite that far, honestly) she would've thought Crowe sick and deeply twisted. She would've been disgusted. But she did not know, and so she mentally shrugged off the unsettled feeling as best she could before smiling at Rais.

"We shall have to hunt together one day," she said, her eyes on Rais more than Crowe, but she did eventually cast her gaze back to the white wolf to include him as well. "Thanks for showing this to us, Rais."

♥ Allie