Wild Cherry Orchard nirvana

@Drestig, or anyone who wants, really

These sorts of trees were of a breed that Nauja had never seen before. They were short and knotted like the body of an elderly wolf, twisted and stooped with age. If anything, they appeared far more unhealthy than the forests she had woven through on her way here. She assumed without much evidence that it was the woeful scarcity of water of any sort, which was the lifeblood of everything to the sea wolf. Little did she know that in a few short months that this would be the cradle of beauty in this foreign land, a blush of pink on an otherwise green land, ripe with fruit. All she could see were these unkind-looking dwarf trees.

The girl dipped her head as she wandered underneath the occasional low-hanging branch, surprised that she did not smell more land-dwellers in a realm that seemed bursting at the seems with them. On her way up here she had already caught the traces of hunting parties from not one but two different factions—something that was otherwise unheard of in the large, easy-going Bella Coola tribe. It seemed almost savage, to her. But at least she had not yet heard of any wars, though she wondered if she should wander so boldly through the land. She had no idea what kind of folk were up here.

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

The snow continued, a light but consistent dusting of white building ever higher in the open land. The waving grasses of the fields were all but gone, buried under the drifts, and though the air seemed a little milder, the weather showed no sign of letting up. Tired of this constant flurry, the aging, black wolf had sought shelter, though this time he'd stayed well away from the Ghastly Woods, and the equally dense Thickets to the west. Instead he'd found a cluster of smaller trees south of the fields, their, still naked, gnarly branches at least offering a bit of cover. He didn't recognize the short, dark woods, but he wasn't much versed in the realm of plants, nor was he particularly interested. What matted was that the snow piled against the trunks was not as deep as out in the open, and at least some of the still falling flakes stuck in the branches above. Drestig found a nice, large tree to sit under, planting his fluffy rear in the snow, his back against the trunk. Like the fields, this little orchard seemed peaceful, only a few birds singing in the branches overhead sharing it with him. He'd imagine a place like this was popular with small animals too, though any tracks they might have left behind, passing through, were already covered in fresh powder; A shame too, a good, fat rabbit would be nice right now! His stomach was beginning to feel the downsides of a lone life, longing for the satisfaction of fresh, dark meat. Still he was positive though, spring was coming and with it would be a bounty of easy prey; Just have to wait a little longer… His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of paws in the snow, bringing his attention to a dark figure in the distance. Drestig silently watch as the other wolf approached, the tip of his tail waving faintly where it was curled over his paws. He shouldn't be surprised to meet someone else here, as he'd learned, the area was popular with his kind. This particular stranger looked much like himself, though a little bigger and a good deal younger. Once she came close enough for him to catch her scent, he could tell that she was indeed female, and she'd been around other wolves recently, the mix of scents suggesting a pack affiliation. Drestig struck up an easy smile, announcing his presence with a simple, friendly woof, patently waiting for the stranger to come close enough for talking. Word count: 422 ”Speech” Thoughts

Dawnthieves.de

/flails helplessly in an attempt to get into character

Silence was interrupted by the soft woof of a stranger, and Nauja stopped. Apparently the lack of wolves claiming this particular area did not prevent the land-dwellers from cropping up like seals. Her tail knocked about the back of her legs once or twice as she looked left and right. Spotting the wolf, the girl sighed. It would be selfish of her to ignore him for the sake of her own desire to stay away from land-dwellers. Hadn't she even said that they should go about collecting information about the area from the locals, once? Somewhere between arriving and this moment, the fisherwoman had turned into quite the hypocrite. It was for Bella Coola that Nauja strode towards the man who was remarkably similar to her in looks, but unmistakably different in terms of their geographical histories.

"Yo, land-dweller," the girl barked as she had comfortably closed the distance between them. Yet, still there remained many tail-lengths from her paws to his. Probably more than was customary, but she was wary. "D'you live here?" Her speech held the carelessness of youth. Nauja studied the man more carefully now that the details were coming out of the woodwork. In his scent she recognized the impression of some other female, but otherwise there were no other wolves there. He was older, but she could not be sure of how much.

(This post was last modified: Mar 13, 2016, 10:00 PM by Nauja.)

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

Surprise registered on her face as she looked around, obviously not having expected to meet someone else here. When her eyes finally found the older wolf, he thought he saw her sigh, though she came towards him with a reasonably friendly expression. Drestig shrugged to himself, continuing to flick his tail amiably while the dark girl made her way over the snow towards him. A voice a whole lot rougher than he would have expected called out, and his smile twisted into a more characteristic, crooked smirk; Land-dweller? The girl kept her distance, stopping well out of his reach, as if scared he might try to hurt her. Part of him wanted to remark on it – I won't bite – but he refrained, simply eyeing the space between them with one brow slightly raised. There certainly was no finesse to her manner as she asked her question, though that didn't bother Drestig, he'd never been much for empty manners anyway. He did quirk his head though, curious as to what might posses a seemingly weary wolf to address a stranger like that. "No." He eventually responded, levelly. It seemed an odd question too, he certainly would not choose a place like this as his new home; Where then..? A question he had yet to answer, and her certainly wouldn't at this time. Instead he gave the young shewolf a pointed look, a mischievous glint in his eye as he asked, seemingly innocently: "Do you?" Word count: 243 ”Speech” Thoughts

Dawnthieves.de

nauja the sass queen @Drestig

Well, he seemed friendly, even if his smile was a little crooked. She felt like there was some sort of charmer-boy attitude about him, from the range of emotions —smirks and that mischievous twinkle in his eye— he exhibited to a strange woman like herself, yet, now that she had looked at him long enough, he did seem a bit old to be a charmer boy. Too old for her, at least. And land-dwellers weren't her type anyway. But he was someone's type, some lady's, even if they apparently didn't live here. She couldn't say she was surprised: the stunted trees recommended themselves to no one in particular. Maybe if a wolf were really small they would not mind the minimal headroom. The thought of a pack full of midgets unearthed some well-forgotten laughter.

"Do I sound, like I do?" Though it was awfully familiar for her to speak to this wolf this way, she was emboldened by his attitude and her own, of-late rarely used carelessness. Her tone was blatantly sassy, but good natured as she shuffled her paws again. Restless, that's what this land made her. "'M from the ocean, see? Dunno how I ended up here. Kinda hate it." Every statement was punctuated with a brief shrug. "What about you, you seem to like it well enough, yeah? Got yourself a lady friend?"

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you

@Nauja lol I have no idea where he's going with this.

She seemed to be making her own conclusion while he made his, not moving to shorten the remaining distance between them, though a croaking laughter did escape her; Whether it was with him or at his expense he couldn't be sure. Still he smiled, merely shrugging of the possible rudeness in favor of delight, it had been long since he'd gotten to play this particular game; Here's hoping I haven't grown too old! Or too rusty at least. The dark woman certainly didn't hold back, her tongue quick and sharp, despite the roughness of her voice. Drestig shrugged, losing his crooked smile in favor of a disinterested expression. "How should I know?" He drawled, looking around at the naked trees, unimpressed; "There're all sorts around here, obviously." His eyes settled on her, mouth slowly curling back into a smug smile. She continued in the same style though, causing his ears to perk as he tried to make sense of the words; Ocean? Both his childhood mountains and Relic Lore lay too far from any coast for the word to have any meaning, all he could conclude was that the land she spoke of lay outside of those he knew; Which isn't unusual… His face remained blank as he listened, not betraying his thoughts, though his smile quirked a little more at her final question. Again he looked around, twisting his face like he was judging their surroundings, finding them adequate. "I suppose so," he admitted, adopting her shrugging manner, another eye twinkle send her way; "I've certainly seen much worse." Then he grinned openly, flicking his head like a rutting stag showing of his antlers; "Whatever would make you think that? Can you simply not imagine a handsome chap like me being unhitched?" His voice held the perfect balance between flattered and boasting, though he ended the tirade with a joking wink. Of course he was perfectly aware that Jessie's scent clung to him, he had no problem with that. Mostly. There was no fun in answering questions directly though, especially not against an attitude like this young lady's. Instead he put on a wide eyed, hopeful expression, adding sleekly: "Have I caught your interest?" Word count: 365 ”Speech” Thoughts

Dawnthieves.de

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity