Cedarwood Forest Did I scare you?

Charcoal's eyes flew open - the last shreds of his dream slipping through his paws before he could grasp it - tensing immediately at the sudden pressure at his side. The forest was a blur of colors as he blinked the grogginess from his eyes. Ambush? His mind began to race, pulse quickening as the first signs of panic reared its ugly head. He inhaled deeply in an attempt to identify his assailant, relaxing almost immediately when an all too familiar scent entered his nose. Nanook. He thought with a soft growl as he lifted his head and turned to glance over his shoulder.

His vision had cleared and he could now make out the rough outline of a small black bear crouched beside him. Nanook blinked, then curled his lips back in a sorry excuse for a smile. Did I scare you?

Charcoal snorted as the bear removed his massive paw from his ribs. He rolled over onto his belly and got to his paws - taking the opportunity to stretch; planting his forepaws firmly into the soft soil and arching his back, tail curling gracefully over his spine - before promptly turning his back and sulking over to a more secluded part of the forest where the trees where tucked in a dense semi-circle, immediately flopping onto a bed of moss.

Nanook grunted in satisfaction at Charcoal's response and gave a soft chuff. You were so scared. You should have seen your face.

Charcoal growled again. Was not.

Nanook rolled his eyes and hauled himself off the ground, shaking the grass from his fur and sat back on his haunches. He reached forward and grabbed the tips of his feet, rocking back and forth, head turned skyward. Was too.

Charcoal ignored the bear. Now was not the time to be babysitting. This was the pair's first real rest in 3 days and he had a feeling they were going to need as much rest as they could get. Wolves obviously dominated this part of the forest. Their scent was everywhere. He had already ran all the possible scenarios in his head. If something happened he was more or less prepared for it. Charcoal signed. More or less left a considerable margin of error. But at this point the wolf was tired of thinking. All he wanted to do was sleep. If anything happened, well ... they would just have to cross that bridge when they came to it.

Hope you don't mind me hopping in!

Sideling in and out of trees, Riddick followed the scent of his sister west. The mountain was a faint spectacle in the distance- for convenience's sake, Iddi hoped she hadn't crossed over. And he also hope that Flyn had perhaps already gone over. Way over. After the not so short nap in the grove of cherry trees, Riddick was trying to make up for lost time. The going was slow- Titania's scent was all over the place- but he wasn't about to give in. Guardians were stalwart against such things as giving in. The moon would help him and he will find Titania.

Though the snow didn't help either. It came down in soft, fluffy specs, reminding him of last year- the year he was awarded his guardian role. It was cold against his nose, and shined into his odd-colored eyes. It was serene and pure- like the moon- but it covered up the scent of the Faye with unwavering absence of warmth. Pretty soon enough, it would pile up, higher and higher. He would have to hurry.

So he continued through the trees, determined. Until his nose picked up more than just Titania. It picked up the scent of bear. Though it worried him a little, Riddick stayed calm. Careful in his movements, he looked around a tree to see the source of the smell. Sure enough, there was a bear there.

And......a wolf? By the Moon, that poor sap was going to get himself killed! Was he daft, simply sitting there while a bear was in his presence?

Deciding to do something Riddick strode with purpose and speed between the two, making a move to bowl the bear over. "When I say so, you run. I've got this bear." Of course, he wouldn't kill it. He just wanted to make sure it didn't kill anything else. Even if it was small and slightly adorable. A bear is still a bear.

(This post was last modified: Dec 01, 2014, 05:00 AM by Riddick.)

Not at all

Charcoal slowly opened his eyes, lifting his head from the ground. I didn't think the bridge would be so prompt. He thought. Very well. Charcoal turned his head and locked eyes with Nanook, quickly jerking his head to the side as he stood.

Nanook let out a soft moan of fear, flopping onto his back in his desperate scramble to get away, and quickly army crawled through the undergrowth, somehow managing to squeeze into the small nook of trees and cower behind Charcoal with another moan. Charcoal paused - blinking - then hung his head. "Idiot." He murmured, whipping around and snapping at Nanook. "You were supposed to run!" He growled.

Nanook let out another moan and hid his head in the moss, stump of a tail quivering violently. Charcoal sighed and turned to the other wolf. "Excuse my friend, he's not the sharpest twig in the pile." He murmured, casually sitting down. "He's no threat. You on the other hand ..." Charcoal paused to size up the stranger. The stranger wasn't much bigger than himself, and he didn't seem much of a threat, but one could never be too careful.

Slowly shaking his head, Charcoal continued. "I'm Charcoal, the oversized house cat behind me is Nanook. We were just passing through, we mean no harm." He tilted his head slightly to size, paws slowly sliding further away until his belly gently brushed against the moss beneath him, though even if he was standing he probably wouldn't have appeared very threatening.

(This post was last modified: Dec 01, 2014, 05:54 AM by Charcoal.)

The combined reaction of the bear and his apparent "friend" was strange. Not strange enough that it completely bowled Riddick over, but strange enough to make him take a step back and tilt his head in confusion. It looked like something out of a legend, how the smaller wolf was able to snap at the small thing, and not get at least a dangerous glare back. Now he wasn't so sure how to react. With an incredulous sense of perturbation in his voice, the Faye barked aloud:"You. Are friends. With a bear? How did that happen?"

While Charcoal's slow recline into a neutral position did nothing to douse Riddick's ablaze intuitions, it allowed him enough room to take a neutral sitting position as well. The small aside comment the other wolf made on his status as a threat did not escape his notice- the Faye's eyes narrowed a bit as the other sized him up. On thing he had always kept on his mind in training was that size could mean nothing in a fight, just as much as it could mean everything. Added to the fact, that while Nanook's actions were less than......brave or typical of a bear, didn't mean he couldn't rise to the occasion.

The more he thought about it, the more Riddick was sure something here was off. Were the two of them- dare he say- blessed by Nature herself? Or were they spirits in their own right, benevolent or malcontent? They meant no harm? Then were they simply travelers bound together by something exceeding normal standards? Were they envoys for the Moon? "I'm Riddick. If you and Nanook there don't intend to hurt anyone offensively, then I have no reason to act against you." He said these words with a shrug, but cogs were turning furiously within Riddick's mind.

The corner of Charcoal's lip twitched in a small smile. "Long story." He replied simply, shifting slightly to allow his right leg to scratch at his ear. "You are, understandably, confused I see." Nanook slowly revealed himself, resting his chin on Charcoal's side as he blankly listened to the wolf's exchange.

Charcoal turned his head slightly to the side, but rather than saying anything, he merely flicked his tail. The bear recoiled slightly as Charcoal's tail whipped across his muzzle. With a chuff, Nanook buried his nose into the moss. "I'd appreciate if you refrain from telling any of your associates about our whereabouts. Rarely will others take too kindly to a bear's company, threat or no threat."

He turned his head, taking a moment to scan his surroundings. It was unusual for Charcoal to engage in conversation, and already he was itching to make himself scarce but he lacked a viable excuse. In the meantime he figured he would just ride the encounter out. In any case, there was slim chance he find an ally in this stranger.

Turning his attention back to the other wolf, he tried to play off his momentary lapse in concentration as thought he had been distracted by a passing magpie or a bush rustling slightly in a gust of wind. Charcoal blinked and glanced back as Nanook gently buffeted the wolf with his muzzle. Smooth. The bear snorted nervously and returned his snout to the pile of moss under his friend's persistent glare.

(This post was last modified: Dec 01, 2014, 06:30 AM by Charcoal.)

Riddick was slightly put off by the way Charcoal brushed away the Faye's need for an explanation. But there wee other matters to attend to- "I'm no stranger to keeping secrets." A shake of his ruff accompanied the accurate statement. "No soul will hear a peep out of me about you and Baby-Bear." In Iddi's eyes, Nanook was a baby indeed. What sort of bear just ran away when a wolf confronted it? Really though, the way Charcoal's friend hovered behind him reminded Riddick of Titania and his cousins, when they were still yet shy pups.

One thing pressed on his mind though. While Riddick did have a multitude of questions for the pair (could the bear even understand him?) the one he ended up asking was thus- "But how do you plan on surviving through the winter? As I understand, bears usually go into hibernation during this time. It's kind of odd for Baby-Bear to be traveling this far with you- he should have a den. And wolves don't hibernate. You should be looking to join a pack right about now. Do you have some sort of plan?"

In all reality, as pushy as he sounded, Riddick meant well- no matter how closely the two strange strangers were bonded, Nature would have their instincts take over for survival- it was her way. Without meaning too, the Faye had fallen in love with Nanook's adorable temperament and wanted to at least make sure that Baby-Bear and his Brother Bear weren't setting themselves up for disaster.

Charcoal's tail lightly thumped against the ground as the other wolf bombarded him with questions. "You're quite the curious one, aren't you." He huffed. "Fine." He took a moment to adjust his position, splaying his hind legs out to side while resting his head on his paws.

"Our plan was originally to find a secluded den before the winter frost set in, but we ran into some unfortunate snags along the way." The wolf decided against going into much detail and simply left it at that. If the stranger felt the need to ask more questions afterward, then so be it. "We had actually planned to bed down somewhere in this forest, though it's quite apparent that a pack has made its home fairly close by..." The last bit was more of him thinking aloud then anything else as he raised his head and scented the air when a particularly strong gust of wind cut through the trees.

"I don't take too kindly to pack life, anyway." He continued, staring off through the trees for a split second longer before returning his head to his paws. "We've been surviving well enough on our own as is. I've had a ... rocky, history with packs previous and I'm a little reluctant to join other." Charcoal fidgeted uncomfortably and frowned as the scar at the base of his neck began to itch, rolling his shoulders and trying to play it off by pressing his forepaws into the ground for traction and leaning back to scratch his ear. The scar served as a constant and tedious reminder of his past, one which he sometimes tried a little to hard to forget.

The Faye's odd colored eyes caught Charcoal's attempt to play off a discomfort- Riddick was keen enough to come to the conclusion that this "rocky history" had left some scars, as all conflicts do. "Don't go northwest then. There are at least two more packs up there." He had a smorgasbord of other alternate questions to launch at the dark wolf, but those would have to wait- perhaps until another encounter; Charcoal did not seem to be the conversationalist type. Right now he would have to ask the really important ones.

"While I have your attention, I could use some help. I'm looking for two wolves, who smell a lot like I do." At least, they should still smell like the Faye family, even if the pack scent had worn off. "One is female, and goes by the name of Titania. She's about....this tall-" Riddick rose his paw in accordance to his sister's height- "and slender, with a light tan and grey coat, and a black stripe along her back. She has gold eyes, like the upper half of my left." Perhaps this wolf has seen her in his travels? Talked to her? Iddi hoped so- it would make finding her all the more easier.

"The other wolf is a male that goes by the name of Flyn" A growl unintentionally escaped his throat, giving Riddick's pronunciation of his cousin's name a hard and callous edge. In fact, the Faye's entire demeanor changed while describing the wolf he chased after."He is slightly taller than me, with a coat that's mostly black, eyes like my right, and a lean, muscular figure. He has no concern for any wolf but himself." Iddi's guard hairs stood on end- he didn't do it on purpose. Flyn and his actions just rubbed him the wrong way. If he had killed Bastion, did that mean he also killed others? Was his cousin more villainous that Riddick had originally thought?

Charcoal blinked and inched his neck forward to give the stranger a quick sniff, giving the scent a quick mental once over in order to deduce whether he had encountered it - or one similar to it - before. After a few seconds, the wolf simply shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't recall having met wolves of your description."

He gave a slight shrug and turned his head toward the wind, nose twitching slightly, but the mist that had recently rolled in dulled his sense of smell and filled the air with a thick, rather musky odor. "I'll try to keep an eye out, though." He said, sneezing as the mist tickled his nose.

Northwest, huh? Charcoal had been trying to make a mental map of the unfamiliar territory ever since arriving in the forest. Not one but two wolf packs that called this area home was definitely going to cause some setbacks. His tail twitched as he started to rebuild his plan from scratch.

If I can locate the pack's territory borders and effectively skirt them without arousing suspicion ... then I should be home free. But how large is this area? For all I know there could be 20 different packs scattered throughout the forest and such. No, this won't do. The wolf snorted. His only viable option would be to explore the area and formulate a different plan after creating a map of the territories. Finding a secluded den was definitely going to harder than it seemed.

He didn't let his disappointment show on his face- how could he blame this odd wolf for not running across the two Fayes? In fact, he was somewhat relieved- there was the small chance that Flyn was somewhere far, far away from here. He could find Titania, make sure she was safe and take her back home, and then pursue his cousin with a vengeance. Riddick could still remember how distraught Rozalea was- and the Moon only knew how much more so she was now, with so much time that had passed and her mate's death still not avenged.

The Faye struggled to keeps his view on the matter objective- Flyn could still be innocent, by some slight faulty. But this was a matter of taking life and causing death- a sacred matter, and it ruffled his guard hairs to think that Flyn could so easily betray family like that. He couldn't keep his feelings away.

Before he lost his cool, Riddick noticed that the wolf and bear in front of him seemed to have their mind on other matters. Which was all right- they had different issues than he did. It looked like the conversation was coming to a close. He cleared his throat to gain their attention on last time;

"Ahem! Thank you anyway. I advise for you to watch out for Flyn. He's suspected to have killed a family member, and he's rather dangerous." Iddi stood up and wagged his tail in a friendly salute, ready to take his leave. "It's been....interesting, meeting the two of you. So long Baby-Bear, Brother Bear." He made eye contact with each respectively, wanting to remember their faces- it would be a fantastic story to share once he was back home- "If we meet again, I hope it's as friends." With that, the Faye trotted off, nose to the ground, following Titania's scent.

Riddick exit! One more post from Charcoal and we should be able to claim LP. It was fantastic threading with you!

(This post was last modified: Dec 03, 2014, 04:38 AM by Riddick.)