Pedestal Rock Sleeps in a hole in the road

Post prompt thread 1- Pedestal Rock.
"Mean Mr. Mustard" by the Beatles.
-Sage is out scouting and has to find a place to take shelter for the night while on the road. She's developed a bit of a cold which causes her to sneeze a lot.

This was miserable.

Though the sun had shone bright all day, it had offered little to no warmth and Sagacity hunched her shoulders to the sinking, golden eye as though to shun it. It might as well have been night already- the temperature was hovering around -29 which was an utterly unlikeable temperature, and to make things worse, she'd begun to sniffle a few hours ago. Perhaps it was because her immune system was trying to tell her something- Sage! You're still healing, STOP AND LET YOUR BODY GET BETTER!! was probably the message it was trying to get across. But she was stubborn and refused to be useless. The pack was still starving and she, as the scout, had to continue to perform her duty and try and find any food she could. Her last couple of adventures had not exactly set her in the best mood- she'd gotten tangled up with the wolves of Cut Rock River and had then bumped into a shadow from her past who had only reminded her of how much she'd hated being an adolescent.

Moody and sniffly, and beginning to sneeze off and on, Sage trudged on but felt her energy beginning to sap. She was close enough to Ghastly Woods that if she'd been healthy, if it hadn't been so cold and if she'd been less grumpy, she would have been able to make it back before the sun rose the next day. But she was cold, tired and not feeling at all well- and decided that rather than making herself worse and becoming prey to either the cold and sickness that advanced upon her or some opportunistic loner who managed to get the better of her, she decided to seek out some hole-in-the-ground place in which to spend the night. Somewhere that would shelter her more than a nook under a tree's branch- she needed something that would help her warm up and get over this cold bug. She sneezed and shook her head, squinting into the fading evening light. This wasn't going to be fun at all.

Avatars by Arla!

re: time-frame, could this be set after the RE hunt threads?
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The sun was beginning to set. As the sun sank further in the sky shadows stretched out from the trees. Iopah watched the shadows dance and shiver on the snow in front of her. A singular goal danced in her mind. She wanted to beat the sun home.

There was no particular reason why.

Her wound had long since scarred over, there was no curfew hanging over head. And enough wolves remained to watch the borders. She had not thought the goal aloud to herself. But, it remained, un-admitted to herself. Perhaps it was the deep-set familiarity of this winter. This was not her first famine. She didn't know how that first famine had ended. It's duration and the number of lives claimed was unknown. Three years ago she had forsaken the crumbling pack that had raised her. It was probably her guilt that kept her from admitting her need to return.

Iopah grunted as her leg sank deep into snow, stopping just past her elbow. She braced her other feet and with a soft thunk jerked her entrapped leg from the snow. If it would warm up, even for a few hours, the snow would freeze solid as ice. A layer of ice, just a few inches thick, could support the weight of a wolf, especially considering all the surviving wolves were underweight. Her dispassionate gold eyes swept the landscape, catching a quiet dark movement. The wind is wrong, blowing towards the stranger. It looks to be a wolf, just from the size and fluidity of it's movement. Anything beyond that is a wild guess. And Iopah is not one to run towards the unknown. Not anymore, at least.

So she stops. Knowing that soon the breeze will announce her presence to this newcomer. Iopah is in the relative openness of the woods. There is very little shelter to hide behind even if she had wanted to. They are a stranger and Iopah has never been one to blithely introduce herself. But she won't hide away either.

ooc: Sure thing!

There was nothing worse than having a head full of snot and a rattly, dry feeling in the lungs. Sagacity was at her worst when she felt ill, and always felt particularly sorry for herself whenever she caught any sort of cold or bug. This time was no different- and she felt even less inclined to give a damn about anyone else when she knew she was far enough away from home that she'd need to spend the night in some cold, godforsaken hole in the ground, shivering and hungry. But she needed the sleep, so she'd have to find somewhere small and cozy enough that she'd keep warm. Mending from illness was the worst. And Sagacity was not a good patient.

With her nose slightly stuffed up, it took her longer than normal to catch her companion's scent, and when she did her reaction was slow and irritated. She turned her head and tilted her ears back as she looked in the stranger's direction. She was willowy, a bit taller than Sagacity and paler in colour, but with pretty, expressive golden eyes. She didn't look much more pleased than Sagacity felt- though she doubted that the woman felt nearly as out-of-sorts as she did. She flicked her tail and licked her lips, turning her gaze away. The last thing she wanted to do right now was start a fight, though she still couldn't help the grumpiness that dogged her like a shadow whenever she was sick. In a voice slightly toneless, she quipped into the wind: "I'm probably condtageous." That in and of itself should have been enough of a warning. If her slightly ruffled posture didn't do it, then the threat of inflicting an illness on another should.

I'm planning on io getting sick... sage doesn't have to hold back.
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Iopah stood waiting for acknowledgement. The wind swept eddies in the snow between them. The seconds, then minutes ticked by. The acknowledge never came and her discontentment grew.

Was she being purposely ignored?

Perhaps, and if that was the case there was little to do besides simply continue on her way. Maybe they were naive enough to overlook her presence? Her head turned away from the mystery figure then, and her canines glinted dully in the fading light. Iopah thought back to the domesticated girl from the lower peaks. Half out of her mind with fear and fully impossible to reason with. That was a particular interaction she could do without a repeat of.

Just as she is about to stalk away when they turn in her direction. Iopah stands silently to attention, too put-out feeling to want to avert her gaze. When the statement drifts across Iopah can't help but recoil ever so slightly. Her ears pin flat and and feet step backwards to settle in their previous tracks. Everything is explained and excused simultaneously.

She should go. There is no situation in which Iopah really wants to meet a strange wolf. And this is one of those times where she has a actually has an excuse. But she stands and continues to watch, letting her posture ease when Sagacity's gaze turns away. Her eyes flick homeward, protectively, then fix themselves on the swirling snow as she pads forward. She needs to know, needs to be sure this wolf has no plans to come near her home. "What path are you taking?"

That should've done it. If everyone else hated sickness the way Sagacity did- and she felt she was right in assuming that simply everyone hated being sick, the stranger would keep her distance. Sagacity didn't want company- the only company she would have accepted would have been that of a medic, someone with the ability to cure her...Though with all the plants under heaps of snow, she knew that even a medic would be useless. She didn't expect, at all, for the woman to talk to her again, not even a 'goodbye.' An ill wolf was to be avoided at all costs. And she certainly didn't expect that the woman would be interested in going anywhere near her, let alone traveling with her. So when the woman spoke, Sagacity did not interpret her words correctly- though there was a protectiveness in her voice, Sagacity was too full of the cold to properly discern what Iopah meant by inquiring as to where she was headed.

"My path." She answered bluntly, and swung her head to look at the woman again. She was headed back in the direction of the Woods, but in all honesty, there were many packs in that direction as well, so her answer still wasn't a very clear indicator of where exactly she was headed. She scrunched up her nose, paused in her tracks, and after a moment passed, she sneezed three times in a row. "Guhhh." She said, blinking her watery eyes. "So log as this doesn't kill be first,"She said with a moody tone, and started walking again. .

hehehe...
iopah has no patience, gonna be tricky wringing the 10 replies out of her
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Her cautious approach had a predetermined endpoint from the start. In no way was she going to just sidle up next to this wolf and have a little chat. She wanted information, plain and simple. Find out what direction this wolf was going. If they planned to veer closer to the thickets than Iopah was comfortable with, then maybe she would need to be convinced to take another route. A quick exchange of words, then they would part ways. She just didn't feel like screaming her entire conversation across the snow at Sagacity.

What path are you taking?

My path.

The answer stopped her short in her tracks. Taken aback, Iopah does nothing but stare at Sagacity. Too surprised at first to know whether to be sympathetic for the misunderstanding wolf or infuriated by the purposefully blunt answer. Irritation simmered slowly inside her. To her credit she kept herself still. No tooth showing, ears still held in their relaxed position. Expressionless, save for the frustration stirring in her eyes.

She watched the wolf sneeze, and gloated in the fact that she felt no sympathy. Her ears pulled in the direction of home. She wanted to leave. This confrontation was quickly spiraling into pointlessness. Iopah should have just watched from afar, intervening only if redirection was needed. Too late for that now.

Sagacity continued on her way, and Iopah made no move to follow her. Frustrated to the point where she was content to shout across the distance growing between them. Raising herself to let her voice carry. "So long as your path doesn't take you near the thicket." A self-satisfied smirk wrinkled her lips. No way to misinterpret that statement.

(This post was last modified: Mar 05, 2014, 10:45 PM by Iopah.)

She couldn't hear the sound of footsteps, so she assumed that she was finally clear- she hoped that this stranger would stop interrogating her and simply assume that she wanted to be left alone as she headed back toward her packlands. But rather than simply taking her leave, the female spoke again, and finally clarified what had been confusing to Sagacity moments ago, and when she mentined the thicket, Sagacity stopped and turned her head. She looked beyond the female in that direction, and sniffed the air. For a moment, it might have looked as though Sagacity was thinking of going in that direction simply out of spite. Her eyes focused again on the woman, who looked quite smug. Yet again, Sagacity didn't quite comprehend her- why should she have that smirk on her face? She hadn't exactly fought Sagacity off, so the silver woman looked the slightly larger female up and down, measuring her. Could she take her...Couldn't she...

"If that's where your pack is, I'b dot interested." She said bluntly. She turned as though to leave, but thought better of it. If she couldn't find any prey, at least she could find out some information. She turned again. "Just so I know ad cad tell others to steer clear as well, what's it called ad where exacdly is it?" She asked. For once, she was being quite civil- and meant every word she said. It would be helpful for all involved if they knew which areas they were to avoid...She had, after all, blundered into Cut Rock River territory on accident, not knowing enough to have expected it to be there. If she could avoid having the same thing happen again in the future, she would.

Carried by the breeze her words seemed to echo. Unnaturally loud in comparison to the quiet around them. Iopah stared tensely after Sagacity as she retreated. Her self-satisfied demeanor was begin to crumble. It was uncertainty -not the cold- that nagged her, but a front foot lifted regardless. The white limb hung in the air for a second, then slipped back into the bitter snow. Her thoughts swirled while she was motionless. Had she inadvertently lead danger to her doorstop? She hadn't meant to spit out the location of her home. She just hadn't expected to get so frustrated. She wouldn't... just out of spite. Would she?

For a long moment that question was unanswered. Sagacity turned in the forbidden direction with the air of one considering. The already tense muscles stiffened further. Iopah was a strung bow, ready to fly forward and head her off if she stepped wrong.

The appraising look, the reply, all meet very little reaction from Iopah. There was the question of how sincere Sagacity was. How irked by Iopah's imposition she was. Trust was hard to find in wolves that she knew. This stranger.... How could she?

She had no choice. Iopah had already given the thicket away. Anyone with that knowledge and a day to spare could find them if they wanted to. As for the name of her pack. What did it matter if she gave away the name? Or if she refused? Lied? There would be no less danger they came with ill intent, but called them by the wrong name. Sagacity was waiting and Iopah sighed, having talked herself into what she had not planned to do.

Still an awkward distance, she sat down to answer. This was a give-and-take Iopah had mentally struck with this wolf. She would be here for at least a few more minutes. No reason to be uncomfortable. "Secret Woodland is just beyond the field to the west of here. Roughly south-west from where we stand now." With that information released to the cold winter air, Iopah felt suddenly exposed. Her pricked ears sank halfway to her skull and her charcoal-dusted tail curled protectively around her front legs. "I would give you the same courtesy if I knew of your pack."

Oddly enough, Sagacity's initial reaction to Iopha's description was to smile and laugh softly. Not a snide laugh, although not as bright and sincere as it might have been had she not been stuffed up with the cold and in no mood to laugh. The fact that Iopah had merited the laugh at all was a notable accomplishment, and Sagacity herself was surprised by this unanticipated reaction. She raised one eyebrow slightly, waiting patiently until the woman had finished speaking before she spoke up, to make a comment. "Ain't buch of a secret anymore," She said, commenting both on the name of the pack and the very detailed directions she'd been given. "Was it meant to be?" She asked, wondering if the woman's pack had the same laws about secrecy that hers did.

And while Iopah was right- it would have been polite of her to say the same about her pack, giving both its name and its whereabouts, Sagacity kept the same Cheshire grin on her face and winked one amber eye. "Just don't go looking." She advised, and decided then and there that she wouldn't head straight back to Hollowheart Keep, just in case she was followed out of sheer curiosity. Seeing the tension in Iopah's body which had grown since she'd told Sagacity the whereabouts of her pack, Sage felt inclined to ease her suspicions. "Your pack is safe. We've do idterest in others. We're vagrants," She said quietly. It wasn't a lie- they had, after all, moved from a place called Nomad's Pass, to a new home and Sagacity still didn't know whether they'd move again.

Feeling as strung out as she did Iopah could muster no reaction to the laugh. Whatever Sagacity found amusing did not have the same affect on her. It did not seem sinister, but it was not the reaction she was expecting. She would have to elaborate if she wanted more than a mild stare.

And she did elaborate. Iopah arched her own eyebrow to mirror Sagacity's. She wasn't sure what sort of response that obvious statement was meant to generate. If she hadn't so thoroughly spilled her guts just now she would have been inclined toward heavy sarcasm. All she could do was shrug, looking away. The wind blew sideways against and her Iopah squinted in the frigid breeze. If Sagacity wanted a more animated response then she would have to come up with a more intuitive comment.

Iopah was still squinting into the distance when the question cut across into her. She swung her head around to give Sagacity a hard stare. What on earth could she say to that? She withdrew slightly, smoothing hackles that she hadn't realized had raised. Collected, she smiled slyly. "No, I've been instructed to give out directions to everyone I meet." Her polite smiled continued until Sagacity declined the insinuated question. She huffed a laugh, a single short breathy noise.

The quiet assurance did not fully serve it's purpose. "You'll have to excuse me if I don't take your words entirely to heart." The one-sided exchange had not exactly created a feeling of trust. As for their vagrancy.... It was a state of being, it spoke nothing of their trustworthiness. "Every lone wolf is a vagrant." There was a dozen different tones that phrase could be spoken in. Here it was a resigned statement. It was meant to neither accuse, nor judge. It just was a quietly spoken fact.
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pondering how to wrap this up...