Sunrise Ridge no direction but to follow what you know

The dense forest had begun to break up the further north she seemed to go. The elevation shifted, rising up where for the longest time Vesper thought they were about to sink below the earth itself. Down from the fjord and the foothills beyond, she still felt the chill that had lingered for days. Sunrise had broken through the boughs, illuminating a speckled path that she followed with no particular destination in mind. There was a certain sway in her walk, a hollowness that had lain over her like a pallor that she had no tried to shake. She ran on autopilot in truth, stumbling forward in something a little more than a shamble, a little more grace than a zombie in search of brains.

But truth be told, Vesper didn't feel much higher up on the on the food chain than a zombie. She gazed on the ridge with dull eyes, still scanning as though she were going to see hide or hair of the family she had so hopelessly gotten lost from. By now she had lost track completely of how long it had been since she had last heard their voices, last caught their scent on the wind. Some creatures had that innate sense of where to go, how to begin to find them, but not her. There were many things she was equipped with, but that sense of direction was not really one of them.

Heaving a sigh to the morning air, she came to the realization that she had come to stop along a snowy precipice. It wasn't a plummet down from there or anything, just a light hop. Seemed as good as any of a place to give her coat a shake out and try to shake that sense of hopelessness out of herself. She did so with vigor that had not been there in the days before and considered her options from there. The day was young, she didn't have to keep going north. Going north just meant going through more and more forest and following the same little band of mountains that she had been following... which they had kind of veered off and away...

Vesper's head swiveled about, trying to get her bearings.

Maybe she hadn't been going north the whole time.

Hope you don't mind me throwing trashkan in here XD.

Another day, another border patrol.

By no means was the Rye Guardian complaining, after all he'd chosen this role for himself but on days when the tundra below looked the same as every he couldn't help but feel as though he was left wanting. At least for something to break up the tedium of his routine. There were things he was looking forward to, of course, like filling his belly or greeting his mate once again. But those things weren't quite the same as the thrill of chasing off a hungry cougar or lynx. By no means did he want their borders to be assaulted day in day out, but something, a little excitement would have been nice. Just for a change.

But instead of all that, for a change of pace he'd headed out for a run. He didn't plan to be gone long, or so he thought as he galloped up the hill, warm air puffing out of his open mouth. He was almost at the top, when he thought he saw something at the peak. At first he thought his eyes deceived him, that he thought he saw movement when he didn't. But no, he was pretty sure that blob had a head and that it was turning this way and that.

He squinted and slowed to a trot and then a walk and yep, that was a wolf. No doubt about it. It wasn't common that he'd run into a stranger out here, but it wasn't as though this land was owned by anyone. It was neutral territory, the stranger was just as welcome to be here as he was. But still, he was curious-or more accurate nosy- so he wanted to know just what they were doing. And so without further delay he made a final push and climbed to the top.

"Oi, you." He called, not bothering to make introductions quite yet. He was sure they would come in due course. For now he withheld himself from being polite, besides it wasn't as though he was being rude. He was just blunt, or so he'd claim anyway.

(This post was last modified: May 07, 2017, 11:31 PM by Askan.)

i welcome the trashkan! <3

Her discouragement was accompanied by frustration, almost suddenly. Things had been going well, or so she had thought, or maybe that was the original thought that had guided her for so long. She had never meant to wander for more than just a little bit, just enough to stretch her legs and see a touch of the countryside that they had been going through. That had been before the Lore, though not at all that much. She had entertained the thought of maybe they had veered away from this place altogether. Maybe they hadn't seen the mountains and thought to follow them further northward. Maybe, just maybe, she had lost them a lot longer than she had even realized.

And truthfully, that was probably the case.

Vesper had been about to shove off and just keep going until something made sense again when a voice called out to her in the depths. Her head had been turned away in thought, but now it swung around to meet the visage of another dark-haired fellow sweeping across the terrain. It wasn't the helpful Iyes from before though – no, this one was male, swarthy from nose to tail; compact though not entirely. His size implied he was larger, though when it came down to it Vesper wasn't so sure. He had the high ground, either way.

"Sorry...?" Uncertainty once again pressed into her tone. She hadn't dealt with a greeting quite like the one he was offering and naturally, she concerned the very real possibility that she was somehow in the wrong. It would have been par for course at this point anyway, as she had been in the wrong in more than just metaphysical terms. Maybe she had strayed too close to his home. The thought almost sparked her tongue to start apologizing again, but she held it still. Her body language did the speaking for her anyway as deference took over holus-bolus; her ears slicked back, her posture waned, and her gaze that had been on him diverted elsewhere. Anywhere else. If he wasn't too pleased with her to begin with, then she hoped actions would buy her a little time to figure out the rest of the missing pieces.

Askan frowned and titled his head in confusion.

Of all the things that could've come out of her mouth, he didn't think that was going to be it. Most wolves took offence to his presence, they spat cruel words at him or accused him of being a malicious bastard who lived for the sole reason of making their days miserable. He didn't understand why they'd assume that but...It didn't feel good, that much was obvious to him. But this one? It was perhaps too early to tell, but he got the sinking feeling she was alarmed and more prominently cautious. Which was reasonable, considering how he'd approached her. But even so, was that all she had to say?

Taking in the sight before him , the Selwyn came to a quick conclusion. She had to be young, probably no older than a year or so. If her lanky, yearling form hadn't given that away, her innocent, inexperienced demeanour would have certainly done the job. There was nothing wrong with being young, but a young loner? He'd already come across more than enough of those. They needed to stay home where they belonged, they weren't ready for the big wide world yet.

"Why're you sorry? You haven't done anything wrong." Yet. Probably. What could Askan say? He was a pessimist through and through. He was always prepared for the worst.

With that said, he stepped up beside her and peered down, over the side of the ridge. For some reason, he wasn't quite sure why, he thought there was going to be a sheer drop with pointed rocks at the bottom. Perhaps even littered with the bodies of unfortunate wolves who had lost their footing. But of course there wasn't, it was just a slope, a steep one but ordinary nonetheless. Either way, the Guardian quickly decided he'd rather take the slow way down.

But what of her, what was she doing up here, all alone at these cold heights? He looked to her posture, how she practically radiated unease then back down at the drop below...Wait a minute, she wasn't thinking of... Side eyeing her once more, the Selwyn wondered if from this distance whether he'd be able to stop her in time. Maybe if he grabbed her scruff and hauled her back. Hm.

"You're not thinking of jumping are you? Don't be stupid."

this post is weird, sorry, haha. :C

His approach continued and more words came out of him, but they may as well have fallen partially on deaf ears. She had done plenty wrong, at least in her eyes, and they kept stacking up by the minute. There was enough uncertainty going on around her that she was beginning to sidle up to the notion that the biggest danger of the wilderness was the unknown. What she would have given to go back to when things were so much simpler. If anything, to at least have the ignorance she had about things a few months ago versus the reality that was now.

She was jostled out of the self-pity when he stepped up alongside of her, only then gazing down the slope to the jagged points of stones left there. That was much further than the area Vesper had gazed to before and even now, she eyeballed the ledges that made their way down. It was his next question that shook her out of things further and a look of bewilderment flashed across her features. She pushed back from the ledge quickly, her brow furrowed.

"What? Is that – you'd think I was going to jump?" Her words jumbled themselves up; Vesper felt a flush seep in underneath the fur of her face. "I wasn't... I wouldn't do something like that!" A harder edge crept in now and she wondered, almost aloud, if this fellow wasn't mad. She may not have been super intelligent, but she had the smarts to know that it wasn't exactly wise to go leaping off of cliff edges. The thought of throwing herself off of them was something she was unfortunately ignorant to.

For now.

"I was just trying to get my bearings, see what was out there," she went on to say and this time, a lot calmer. "You can see things better from up high, you know?" Right, he probably knew that, but hey, this was all new territory to her. All of it. Every ounce and emotion she felt was surprisingly new and it sucked. Frustration dared to come creeping back into her thoughts but for now, she managed to keep a hold on it. Making another show of that was surely not going to go over well.

There is a moose carcass that has been scavenged by coyotes nearby. +15 Health

When she skittered away from the ledge Askan quickly realised he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion. She quickly went onto insist that he'd been wrong and so on so forth, but rather than cut her off and tell her he understood, he simply allowed the loner to finish her ramblings. It was the least he could do really, considering he'd made a bit of a tit of himself. Not that he'd admit that, or take to it kindly if she said so herself.

Was it such an unreasonable assumption though? She'd been lingering by the edge looking all forlorn, so what was he supposed to think? Apparently she wasn't the sort to do something like that, well he was going to have to take her word on that as he had no proof to suggest otherwise, nor did he feel like trying to do so.

She was quick to explain what she had been doing though, and it did make sense when the Yukon wolf took a moment to think about it himself. If she was new to the area it made sense that she'd want to get to know the lay of the land. She wasn't a complete idiot then, she wasn't just wandering around till her empty stomach got the better of her. From the looks of it she was in decent condition and was far from starving. Good, at least there were some youngesters out there who were capable of looking after themselves.

"Yeah I know, I'm not an idiot." He scowled at the imagined insinuation and shook his head with a huff. Whatever. He wasn't gonna get annoyed about it, it wasn't worth it."What are you looking for anyway?"He asked as his gaze roamed over the surrounding hills. Pasos al Cielo couldn't have been all that far away. Maybe he would swing that way again sometime soon, see what it looked like without all of the snow."On your own no less."

anddd another weird post srysry; work has addled my brain

And where the frustration seemed to linger, she felt a defensive edge start to creep up into her thoughts. He had asked a very good question – what was she looking for, anyway? The cop out answers almost sprang to her lips but she held those firm too, not entirely wanting to go about spilling the beans about her sob story of a life. It sounded so dramatic in her head but everything currently did and as it were, she had enough of the dramatics to last a while.

So instead her shoulders went rolling into a shrug as she tried to find something that sounded like a better answer than my family or as cliché as my next meal. "Just a good path to take from here," she said, almost entertaining the idea itself. Yeah, maybe she'd go walking right on out of there and away from the place altogether. It wouldn't bring her any closer to finding the family that she had gotten separated from, or from whatever advantageous sprouts of dinner she had. The advantageous sprouts being, of course, whatever she had scavenged and thrown together on luck and fumes.

"I just figured that I'd see something good from here and I'd... follow it. Kind of what I've been doing so far anyway." She found a sound footing to go with and now, well, it seemed she had committed to it. Vesper wasn't entirely sure it was a lie, even though it felt like the more superlative course.

oh no i loove her

So she wasn't looking for something that was tangible, or within reach, something she could actually get. No, she had her head in the clouds just like every other youngster he had met. For what it was worth, Askan thought that she might as well chase after the breeze,to try and catch the wind between her teeth. So whimsical and stupid, the Selwyn couldn't help but roll his eyes. It was so cringy, did she really think life was that simple? That she could just look out at the horizon and have the good and the bad laid out before her so clearly? Whatever, it was a stupid way of seeing things. Surely she had to recognise that after hearing those dumb words pass from her lips.

"Hmmm, sounds like a whole lot of shit to me. But..." He shrugged. It was her life, she was free to live it as she chose.

That wasn't going to stop him from thinking that it was stupid though.

"The name's Askan Selwyn, Guardian and Second of Wild Rye Fields. What about you?" He asked, eyeing her with his usual judgemental gaze.

If he had to guess she wasn't from the Lore, if only because she didn't know the lay of the land. Sure, she might have come from further south, or even the west, but he was dubious of that. She had such curiosity in her eyes, a sense of wonder that came from exploring a new land and seeing things for the very first time.

Oh he was sure she was finding it all rather magical, but that would soon wear off when hunger and loneliness began to kick in. What could Askan say, he was a sceptic. Dubious to his core, the sort to scoff at the idea of happy endings. And yet, his life was going well and he was happy, so perhaps he should have been more lenient or a little less callous. But at the moment there was no one to tell him to, so he continued on as usual and looked out from their spot on the top of the ridge.

maybe subconsciously she's being difficult just for askan lmfao

He saw through her thinly veined reasoning and it was just another blow. Out of all the creatures she had the fortune of meeting, he was perhaps the most brusque of them, like a cantankerous grandfather that had seen and heard it all. Her life was all zugzwang at that point; at that point she went forward because it seemed like the only logical thing to do, short of lying down and giving up. But giving up wasn't really in her repertoire either – was it really in any of theirs? With no time to really ponder that philosophical diversion, the dark-haired male pushed their conversation along. Vesper had no desire to go touching on whether or not her story was full of shit. Either way that seemed a losing battle to try and fight, and fighting was really the last thing she wanted to do verbally.

Askan, as he introduced himself, seemed to have decorated titles to go with him. Those were straightforward enough to her to believe she was in the presence of someone who quite literally, had actually heard it all. His introduction was along the lines of something she would have expected from her father, or maybe one of her brothers who had worked his way into a higher position by simply being domineering. Suitable spots for those that dabbled along borders that were contested... and her mind wandered, stalling out their conversation noticeably. She didn't know what to say, she had no fancy titles or somewhere to call home anymore.

So she went with the basics: "I'm Vesper."

(This post was last modified: May 17, 2017, 07:38 PM by Vesper. Edit Reason: technical difficulties how do i do the posting things )