Chinook Coulee Polka Dot, See Through

Sita wandered along the edge of the coulee. It dawned on her that she may have stumbled upon him regardless if she had continued to follow the creek. Their meeting was inevitable. Maybe she'd start believing in fate or something like that. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Sita. She'd led a perfectly normal life for so long. Sad that the paint had started peeling. And then, of course, the entire wall fell down. Having a travelling companion was truly taking the edge off of her stress, though. She wanted nothing more than to find her family again. Here. Or somewhere. But at least right now she wasn't alone.

Still, she panted as she walked through the massive drifts of snow, sneezing occasionally when she snorted up a snowflake. Sleep had gone better. She had energy to search and explore. Don't be so anxious, she muttered to her own brain. And what better way to do that than... Sita dropped into a play crouch, half disappearing in the snow. She took a snort of snow before she bounced back up, sneezing and huffing, before she broke into a run across the clearing, weaving around the trees along the edge of it.

His father used to hunt beaver along this river.

He stood, wistful, on the wide, flat banks gazing out at the lazy, half frozen waters that gurgled about their memories. Wind lightly tussled his thick, winter coat and left his eyes stinging with cold tears. From the breeze, not the memories. Or maybe a bit of it was the memories—that he didn't have. Oak Tree Bend had not lasted long enough for Azra to get his feet wet flushing beavers out of their dams. His father had been really good at beaver hunting, even when most wolves found their long teeth intimidating.

There was no dam here, though. This patch of water was particularly shallow and more suited for catching salmon in the summer time.

The curious sound of crunching snow took his thoughts away from gigantic, flat-tailed rats. Slowly, Azra turned and caught a glimpse of a wolf on the opposite bank running around. They were low to the ground—oh! nevermind the stranger suddenly leaped up from the snow and raced towards the trees that sealed in the coulee. "What in the..." It was a female and she did not appear to be under any distress that he could see. In fact, she seemed sort of... puppy like?

Tipping his head back, the boy called out a greeting in his low howl.

Her paws slipped as she loped. Every few yards she'd stumble a bit, but the snow always got her back up without much trouble. A patch of ice, larger patch of crunchy, sturdy snow. Her sides heaved with the effort, tongue lolling and huffing hot air from her mouth, pushing it back into her face. It felt good. Necessary. Cleansing?

Other than Walleye, Sita hadn't met another soul. When she heard the howl that was not her own, it was startling. Sita clomped to a stop, awkwardly hopping through the snow for a few feet, since it was difficult to hard stop. Her head lifted, ears alert. She looked straight at the male and slowly began to approach him. "Thought I was alone out here!"

(This post was last modified: Feb 12, 2021, 02:30 AM by Sita.)

currently travelling with walleye

"It is pretty empty out here..." he said as she drew closer. Though the river still lay between them it was clear that this woman absolutely dominated him in two accounts: height and penetrating blue eyes. She was probably a little older than him but definitely any less energetic or youthful, as she came bounding to a stop. "I'm Azra."

It was a little strange to stumble into chance encounter one after another, but he could not have expected much else: he knew no one here and no one else seemed to know what was going on either. This wolf, too, was a loner. Just another untethered soul drifting in the breeze. "Though, if you can believe it I think it's always been the case on this side of the mountain. Out west there are supposed to be a lot more wolves." Saga had a whole group, and so had that ocean-boy. But Oak Tree Bend and its wolves had always lived in relative seclusion, protected by the deep mists and the secrecy of the Vale. Though it was tempting to see what was happening across the mountain it was hard to shake the ties he had to this forest, his birthplace. "Strange things happening, too."

She'd keep a comfortable distance from him for the time being. There was water between them, after all. But Sita was interested in yelling the entirety of the time they spent together. And the more he spoke, the more she was certain that they would have a bit to talk about. This side of the mountain. It had always been the case. How long was always? Sita tipped her head at him and lifted a paw to scratch at her nose. Damned snow.

Sita pushed up to the edge of the river, pondering it in her peripherals. "Strange things?" Let's just start there. Strange things here? Or out west? Sita hadn't noticed anything peculiar. But she hadn't been here but a few days yet.

currently travelling with walleye

"Mmmm," his head bobbed thoughtfully, as he watched her groom herself. "I've heard from a couple of different wolves now that they were dropped off here by hoomans. Taken from their home." Maybe she wouldn't know what hoomans were—the boy hadn't, but Saga had—but it was a good a place to start as any.

"They were all dumped on the west side of the mountain, from what I've seen? I've met a few other wolves on the east and they've all seemed... like natural roamers," Azra eyed her carefully. Realizing that, for all he knew, this woman could be another one of the transplants even if she had seemed to respond with curiosity and surprise to the idea that there were strange things afoot in Relic Lore. "On top of that, Idunno.... few years back there would have been a couple of packs north of here but they're just... gone." Shrugging, he stepped a little closer to the edge and sat down. Seemed to have a conversation at such an anti-social distance but he was not sure his legs would enjoy being soaked to the ankles in half-frozen water.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be such an info-dump. I'm Azra Donata."

Sita would not interrupt him. Her focus was steadfast. Things about the humans, which she vaguely remembered, and other wolves being dumped here, but to the west. A whine sat, queued up in her throat, before it slipped out when he paused. There were wolves like her here. Her family, she hoped. Her anxiety rose into excitement.

"Sita Valle," She told Azra eagerly, shifting on her paws to get closer to the water. "I think you could have met my family to the west?" Honestly, this was a conversation she'd rather have face to face. And perhaps the chilly feet would be worth it. "Sorry, I...just a moment. I'm going to jump over there." Sita backed up a few feet and took an awkward running jump to get as far over as she could. When she landed, the freezing water splashed against her underbelly, but it was less time in the water. Ideal. When she came up, she immediately began licking at her paws.

currently travelling with walleye

There is a small pile of bones gathered on the ground, there might be some marrow left in them. +2 Health

Her eyes were bright just like her voice, and they seemed to only get brighter as she—Azra blinked and took several steps back—hurled herself nearly across the river and then gracelessly bounded the rest of the way to him. Every icy droplet that hit her fur made him wince internally. Azra would have thought it was better to wade slowly across, but instantly he decided that would have been just as bad: only prolonging his time in the cold. Still, half her body seemed wet now and he whined, wondering if she would be too wet or too cold now.

"You... you going to be alright?" He was young and unsure of how much icy water was too much icy water. "I could uhh.. help warm you." Was that weird? Annie would surely bite him right in the rump if she saw him—she seemed to think he was having a late night rendezvous with an old man, for crying out loud—but it was hard to watch a nice stranger just...freeze. Maybe Sita was fine, though.

She had crossed a whole icy lake to find out about her family. Damn.

Truly an unwise decision, she discovered very quickly. She awkwardly nibbled at her paws, lapping at the pads to warm them up. Her legs shivered and Sita huffed. Eventually, she would simply give herself over to the shivers because gnawing on her feet was not useful at all. Bright blue eyes squeezed shut for a moment and she gave into a full body shiver. OK, done. Just talk. Easy.

"Oh," An unexpected offer and she leveled her nose to look at him. "That's, uhm. If that's something you're comfortable doing." Sita had basically nothing to offer Azra in return, and she was desperate to pick his brain for what information he had. "I'm looking for my children, Andrey, Xulia, and Viorel." Cut to the chase.

currently travelling with walleye