Thicket of Secrets time after time

@Hrun but if you wanna join ping one of us in discord.

"I think we're there, man."

There wasn't a place that they had been particularly looking for. Maugrim had no idea where he was right now, in fact. It just... felt like what he had imagined one would feel like if they happened upon a place that they might settle. Instinct, he assumed, expanded to many different kinds of feeling. This thick woods looked, truthfully, no different than the thick forests they had come through. The only remarkable thing about it was the fact that, 5 minutes ago Maugrim wasn't thinking these thoughts. Surely, this was sign enough.

They'd left their home for bigger and better things. And they would be here. While in Mosquito Bay there were a lot of things going on, none of them were Maugrim's thing. Not Hrun's thing either. Now that they were basically just granted their adulthood pass, the reasons for staying in such an irrelevant place just faded away like the buzzing skeeters behind them. They didn't look back—Maugrim didn't look back.

Vines reached out for his paws and barbed branches raked through his fur as he pressed through a narrow, hopeful seeming break in the underbrush. They appeared in a bit of a clearing, though the space was almost cramped and dark with the bundle of tight knit canopy above them. It was like being inside a little moss ball. Not incredibly unpleasant, he thought as he planted his worn pads confidently down onto a thorn.

His shout was much more boyish than he normally cared to appear.

Hrun had looked back.

It wasn’t like he’d never been away from home, but existing permanently beyond the ever-present buzzing of mosquitoes had seemed like a far-away dream. And yet, here they were, no sight nor sound of small, buzzing insects to be heard. Still, he could put his trust in Maugrim, right? He’d felt so confident of it days ago, but his confidence had wavered with each new place they’d found that, looking honestly like good places to settle down, Maugrim declined. The duo had moved forward, farther and farther from the familiarity of home.

“Here?” he called out, giving an inquisitive sniff to the ground. He didn’t try to understand his brother’s reasonings, nor did he try to think too deeply about it all. The two had set off to find someplace better than home and apparently they’d found it. Maugrim disappeared for a moment and Hrun quickly followed, one of the vines snapping and clinging to his face as he scrambled to catch up. The small clearing Maugrim had found was interesting and, admittedly, could eventually become homey.

He jumped as the wolf screamed, but realizing that his brother had merely stepped on a thorn, couldn’t help himself but to laugh. “What, a small little thorn is going to fell the mighty Maugrim?”

@Danica

(This post was last modified: Jan 09, 2021, 08:36 PM by Hrun.)

Danica had allowed her daughter to run about that morning, marking the lands. While she instead had spent her time mostly working on the den. Digging where needed, and fixing the damages as she could manage. Her joints protested and she took many a break in her efforts. After so long it came upon her the decision to take a stroll down memory lane.

She wasn't looking for anything, just letting the familar lands pull at the edges of her mind. Blissful days of childhood to rearing her first son. Any bitterness she pushed into the furthest darkest corner of her mind. 

A shrill cry caught her attention and she let her presence be made known with a small bark. Had someone found some form of danger? The thought of stepping on a thorn was beyond her, given she was born here. She walked the lands with ease in terms of them- her joints though- now that was a different story. Her tail rose and the frail old woman took up a dominate posture. "Who goes there? This is Secret Woodlands territory." She had not spotted the pair yet but she was prepared to ensure her own safety via caution, "Are you seeking medical aid?" She asked slowly coming through the brambles so that her misty eyes could make out their forms. They weren't close enough for her to pick out specific details, but she wouldn't dare closing in on strangers at her age. She offered a curt tail wag. She waited for them to respond, unsure if the two were a problem or not.

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Judging by his response, his brother did not have the same sense of certainty that Maugrim had. Hrun had suggested several places along the way to be "home" candidate, and had been convinced away from them all without much grumbling. Clearly his will was not strong and he had no good sense for home. That was fine though. He would listen to Maugrim. Probably. The farther away they got from home the... more the lighter twin look off his game, or something of the sort. Without the backdrop of Mosquito Bay he was perhaps a different wolf than Maugrim had known as a brother, rival, and confidant. It was disconcerting, but perhaps Hrun just needed some time. The journey could have been wearing on him, as it weighed deeply on Maugrim's mind as well.

Which was why it was such a relief when he heard Hrun's trilling laugh once again. It had been awhile since they laughed. The sharpness of the pain was beginning to subside, so he cracked a grin and chuckled ruefully.

"Yes," he spoke with iron-clad determination after a deep breath. "Here, man."

However the unfamiliar bark that nearly choked the air was not a relief. Immediately, Maugrim sniffed and stiffened, jerking his muzzle in a motion that invited his brother to do the same. The wolf that shoulder it's way deftly through the underbrush, into the clearing was pale of fur and excessively old. One could not say if she was lightened with age or if she had been made that way. But she spoke very firmly about what kind of place this was. It was the kind of place with a name—which was sort of what they were looking for. Maugrim just didn't like the insinuation that it was her place. She smelled mostly alone.

"I can take a thorn out of my paw, thanks," He said, used to meddling adults with no faith in his ability to survive on his own. He sat down roughly and lifted up his paw to lick and gently extract the shard from his pad. "And just what do you mean Secret Woodlands territory. we haven't seen anyone here, 'sides yourself."

"Right Hrun?"

The two brothers laughed together and, somehow, it felt like this could be home. Here. It was definitive, but in a good sort of way. Hrun was just about to lift a leg to commemorate the whole situation, there was another bark. Leg down, Hrun’s dark ears perked forward, hackles raising as a wolf demanded to know who was there. He gave her a sniff, but on the sight of the old woman, relaxed. She was hardly a threat, and honestly he felt that if he gave her a good, strong puff of air, she might fall over.

Hrun snorted at the mention of Maugrim needing medical attention, sitting himself down to idly scratch behind his ear. His brother asked for his confirmation and he gave another sniff. “Not smellin’ anyone else either,” he added. Danica might have had her daughter around, but Hrun couldn’t really pinpoint whether other wolves had the old woman’s back, or if she was just senile. Hrun gave her a good once-over, deciding that being senile seemed more likely.

Danica chuckled softly, so it was just a thorn? And he'd let out a cry that loud? She merely smiled, deciding not to patronize the young male. She narrowed her misty gaze and gave them both a once over. They didn't look too hard on the eyes, as far as she could tell. Bit blurry though, they were. She missed her crystal clear vision. "Might be singing a different tune if it were my daughter."  The female winked, it wasn't harm to plant such ideas. They could be mates themselves for all she knew but what fun was there in not stirring the pot? Grandchildren were on her mind as of late. It would be needed to rise the pack from dust. 

The male sat down and she decided, perhaps, they wouldn't be harming her. She lowered herself onto sore haunches with a wince. "Must not be from around here, then. Welcome to Ruins of Wildwoods. This here is the Thicket of Secrets, where I was born many moons ago. Secret Woodlands was a proud pack, my mother Nina Hervok lead it for many seasons. My daughter and myself have returned to bring it back to former glory." Perhaps it was the cloudiness of age but Dani seemed content to give the boys a history lesson. Whether they took interest in it or not. She snorted as the second wolf finally spoke up. 

"Must be a pair of nose-blind wolves. Daughter's been marking the boarders since sunrise." Indeed, Nia had been. By the time Danica had awoken she was long gone busy patrolling. She didn't mind these trespassers at the moment though, but knew they couldn't stay. Not if they weren't joining forces. 

Such could be taken care of if and when needed...

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You smell the remains of an elk nearby. Enjoy your feast! +10 Health

His eyebrows rose at the mention of her daughter, unsure of what she meant. Was her daughter perhaps some brute of a woman, twice their size and heft? Were they supposed to be afraid of her? He blinked dubiously. Wait, was it maybe a threat? His eyes narrowed. Maugrim's warm yellow stare bounced off of the trees in the clearing, glancing briefly at his brother for reassurance.

Obviously they weren't from around here. Honestly, he did appreciate the history lesson: it would make it easier for the Aethelred's to get their bearings in this forest, where they bobbed untethered like two dumb, lost otters. So there was a whole place, a ruin apparently. Something pretty bad had happened to the Wildwood. Interesting, interesting, all very interesting. And apparently this old lady had been her awhile? Which was strange because outside of this encounter they had caught scent of no one. Ruins of Wildwood didn't seem like very populated place. From the implication that it had to be brought back to "former glory" lead Maugrim to conclude that the pack didn't really exist anymore. It did at some point. But two wolves a pack did not make.

"You look like a nice lady, so don't take any offense to this, but you can't have a pack with two wolves. You can mark all you want but its gunna keep absolutely no one out." And Maugrim wasn't particularly interested in anyone's "former glory". He had his own future glory to look forward to. "Specially not at your advanced...uhm, living time."

Idly he sniffed at the breeze and it brought him more than this old woman and her mysterious, probably hulking daughter. Food! Eagerly, he looked towards his brother.

Was she… winking at them? Was something in her cloudy eye? Hrun blinked in surprise, not quite sure how to take the strange woman’s actions. What did it matter if it was her or her daughter? Grim glanced at him, to which he could only give his brother a confused, silent, “I don’t know, she’s probably crazy” sort of look.

The wince did not go unnoticed by Hrun, and although both she and his brother took the liberty of sitting down, he tried to nonchalantly-but-chalantly stand back up. If there was a yet-unseen daughter nearby, he didn’t want to be caught off guard… even if they had been a little bit warned about the stranger. The old woman then proceeded to give them a brief history lesson, giving names to the area. Ruins? Secrets? Who came up with names, anyways? What ruins did the woods have? What secrets did this thicket hold? Hrun had liked simpler things… Dark, Thorny Forest seemed to suit this place a little bit better, he thought.

How did one go about changing names of places, anyways?

Hrun let out an I’m definitely not laughing at this sort of snort, and had almost broken out in a laugh, but then he could smell it. Immediately, he became no longer interested in the woman with dirt in her eye or learning about the names of places. They hadn’t eaten in a while and, even if it was leftovers, Hrun wasn’t about to turn his nose up at free food. His sniffer wiggled excitedly as he sniffed out the general direction of the food (elk?) and, without taking his eyes off of Danica, slowly backed away towards it.

It wasn’t too far away, and coming upon it, it was clear there wasn’t enough for three — let alone potentially four — wolves. Hrun stood protectively in front of the meal.

THE WINTER DAME

Nia had already dealt with one stranger today, along with working hard to mark the boarders. She was tired, grumpy, and most of all hungry. Now, she wasn't necessarily sour because of her previous encounter. No, that wasn't the bother. It was working to do a patrol with no help on an empty belly. She wasn't one to shy from hard work, but to do it alone? That was something she'd either need to grow used to or solve and soon.

The Hervok Heir was making her way back through the territory. Scenting for anything edible to bring back to the den. Thus far she'd collected...well, absolutely nothing. Her belly grumbled its protest. The woman merely ignored and plunged further into the thickets.

After awhile she was on the trail of an elk carcass. Her mouth salivating at the thought of the feast. Her tail wagged happily, but as she neared, it ceased. Voices drifted into her ears and she slowed her approach. Her posture rose, straightening up to full height. She bore her teeth, tail arching. The winter dame came to the scene from behind the males. A low warning growl made her presence known, "Trespassing is one thing." She started, "but expecting a free meal is another." The cream wolf clicked her teeth with a tsking sound.