Turtleback Lake it sounded nice in russian

@Isuni

It was rare that the leader of the Bend ever took herself beyond the reach of the Vale . Spieden seldom afforded herself the time for a vacation, because when it came down to it, what was the point? She never found them restful, instead finding the additional space gave her mind a little too much breathing room. Internal worries would find their way to the surface, on top of the nagging feeling that some disaster would surely befall her pack in her absence. It was better to keep herself busy, toil away another day, another week, until the months fell away and the years zipped by.

She wasn't sure what kept her from turning back this time, miles of misted forest disappearing underpaw. This was the furthest she'd ever been from her pack, and while part of the thought worried her -- what if something happened to her, to leave her children orphaned? -- another part of it was slightly exhilarating... like she was acting like a naughty child. 

The frosted air stung against her scars, but her brisk pace kept her warm. As the treeline fell away she came to the shore of a massive lake, its surface frozen solid into a flat white sheet with little green caps of land protruding from its surface farther out. 

Spieden twisted this way and that, not sure how much she wanted to test her luck today. She had no illusions, she wasn't a dainty little waif, but the ice looked pretty solid. She snorted, shaking her pelt out and shrugging her shoulders. What the hell, why not? She needed some more excitement in her life.

With ginger steps, she meticulously placed all four paws onto the ice. She bent her knees, springing up and down a few times to test her weight. The ice groaned, but nothing cracked. It seemed to be holding up alright. She took one step, and another, and another, then the next few steps came easier. Her tail swished, this wasn't too bad at all.

 

we are not things.

Things were weird, up at Whitestone Monadnock.

Well.  Capable huffed softly.  Things were always a bit weird, up there.  The relationship between the alphas could only be described as unorthodox, and no matter how much she’d disliked the male when they first met all those months ago, the pale wolf had grown on her.  Sort of like a fungus.  Or a tick.  Her mouth twisted in a wry smile, tail twitching behind her as she loped across the open land; he’d hate the notion of being compared to a parasite.  She should probably tell him.  Piss him off.  Sort of like an older brother she didn’t hate.

…no, she hated all of her brothers.  Craw didn’t quite fight into a compartment.  She’d figure it out later.

The large female veered southward towards the body of fresh water she knew to be nearby, ready to circle back around the shore and sling towards home.  She only intended to stop for a few moments, catch her breath and cool her thirst, when the woman spotted another wolf in the distance.  It might not have caught her eye, had the swarthy female not been on the ice – like some kind of damn idiot.  Capable narrowed her eyes.  Must not be from around here.

Trotting along the shores, she woofed, tail high as she closed the distance without actually setting paws on the slick surface.  “Hey!  Hey you!” she called.  “What do you think you’re doing, huh?  That’s a great way to die, you know!”

(This post was last modified: Nov 28, 2016, 01:59 AM by Sahalie.)

A wild dissertation appears!

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

Spieden was having a grand old time scuffling across the ice. Sure, it wasn't anywhere near as exhilarating as fighting bears or escaping a flooding den, but it was a small glimmer of amusement that she sorely needed. She wouldn't go too far out, anyhow, who knew how thin the ice would get further from land, especially this early in the season.

Spieden's uneven ears flicked and she jerked at the sound of a bark coming from shore, echoing over the ice. She would be lying if she said it hadn't startled her a little, the place seemed pretty quiet and she hadn't expected any company. She turned around, eyes skimming the shore to find a ruddy coated female standing there, chastising her like she was a disobedient pup she'd been watching that had managed to get into something they shouldn't.

Spieden snorted, her tail flicking a few beats behind her. "How do you know that's not what I'm trying to do?" Spieden replied with a bit of amused sarcasm. But she didn't have a death wish, and the stranger wasn't wrong. It was best she get off of there before something happened.

The hefty female started to walk back towards solid ground, carefully minding the placement of her paws so that she didn't put too much stress on the frozen surface. It wasn't the fastest thing in the world, and Spieden was feeling a bit self conscious. She probably looked pretty awkward with the tiny shuffling steps she was taking. Was that woman still standing there? Watching her? Spieden glanced up from her paws to look at her, "Are you just gonna s-" She started to say, until her paw slid on a slick patch and the rest of her followed, falling with all the grace of a sack of potatoes.

 

we are not things.

Capable puttered closer as the other wolf turned their attention towards her, ears pricked forward as she watched fool skate uselessly across the ice’s surface.  At least the swarthy woman had a sense of humor, she supposed, mouth twisting wryly as she shouted back.  “I mean, I guess.  Freezing is a shitty way to go, though!”

Damn southerners.

Well, she assumed, at least.  No wolf that had seen another frozen to death should have interest in going that way.  It was slow, and painful; well, okay, she didn’t know that personally, but there was no way it wasn’t.  She might have said something else, had a dull thud not torn the redhead from her thoughts.  Ears pricked forward and she bit down on her pink tongue, brows raising as she realized the other wolf was on her side.

Idiot.

Capable snickered softly, shaking her head as she moved to the edge of the ice.  Considering it briefly, she stepped foot out, and then another, waddling slowly towards where the other lay.    “You okay?” she asked, unable to really tell if the woman had been injured.  Not that she’d be much help.  Morganna had taught her about ginger, but unless the stranger had developed a sudden stomach ache, it was more or less useless.  “Need help up?”

A wild dissertation appears!

Damn, that hurt. Spieden lay there for a moment in stunned silence, not quite sure how that had happened. So much for not looking like a fool. At least she didn't hear any laughing, and was greeted by the sideways vision of the rusty brown female making her way out towards her.

"It'll take more'n that to finish me off," She assured the other wolf as she slowly rolled and shifted her limbs beneath her. "I'm fine, I got it," She snuffed, declining the offer of help. Carefully squaring her limbs she rose, a false start of sliding first before she managed to leverage her hindquarters up in the air, the rest of her finally following. There was a layer of frost embedded into her pelt along her side, but despite the overwhelming urge to shake it off she thought better of it. She didn't want to lose her balance again, especially if she might take any nearby casualties down with her. 

Again she set off for the shore, keeping her concentration solely on her paws this time. Only when she made it back to solid ground, feeling solid ground beneath the thick layer of snow, did she allow herself to relax. "Ah, there we go, didn't even freeze to death," She said before she gave her thick brown pelt a shake, freeing chunks of ice and snow. She glanced to the other woman, seeing if she made it out alright herself. "I don't suppose you came out here just to watch a grown wolf flop around on a frozen lake like a beached whale?" She asked with a self deprecating grin.

 

we are not things.

Well, she had to hand it to the other woman.  She might have fallen down with absolutely no mercy from gravity, but the stranger hadn’t made a sound, not a single whimper in pain, nor a plea for help.  Something tickled the side of Capable’s mouth, lifting upwards in a sorry attempt at a smile.  Mercy, but maybe her alpha was rubbing off on her.  She should probably do something about that.

The large redhead made way, allowing Speiden onto dry land with a small bob of her head.  “Didn’t even freeze to death.  Suppose you probably aren’t one of those jackasses from way south here, then,” she replied, head tipped to the side as her tail picked up a slow wag.  Those wolves, man.  Never seen snow, prone to doing stupid things.  Why they stuck around during a winter they didn’t understand, she’d never know.

“Hm?  Naw.  Running patrol.  Well, sort of.”  Capable rolled her shoulder in a shrug. “Far way from the monadnock, out here, but I like to run.  Feels good.  Besides, only idiots stray real close to a pack border without invitation.  Never know who you’ll meet if you venture beyond the realm of safety.”  Her sienna eyes twinkled as she dipped her head, the frequency of tail wags increasingly slowly.  “I’m Capable, by the way.  From Whitestone Monadnock.  And you are…?”  

A wild dissertation appears!

"Well," She couldn't speak for the jackass part, "Not way south at least." Spieden nodded as the red woman explained, trying to look like she knew what in the hell a mod.. mondan...modandock? was. 

And then came the introduction. Capable from Whitestone Monadnock. She caught the word this time, even though she still wasn't sure what that was. "Spieden Coho, from Oak Tree Bend. Can't say I make it up this way too often, 's a bit of a hike... Hell, I didn't even know there was a lake up here until today." She said with a snort and a flick of her head, her tail's steady sway matching Capable's pace. Jeez, that probably made her sound like a shut in. It was never her intention, but one problem after another, puppies, hunts, rampaging wildlife, wolves coming and going, and everything in between left little time for travel. 

 "I, err... I lead down there," She sort of murmured, never really liking to brandish the title. Even after two years it still didn't sit right with her. Maybe in another life she would have indulged her wanderlust, but in this world she had more or less gone from being held down by force to being held back by obligation. She just didn't have the time to get much further beyond her little bubble, with the same handful of faces day in and day out, give or take a few.

"Go to far, gone too long, they start to worry. I mean, they're not wrong to, I could have fallen through and sank to the bottom of the lake just a few minutes ago, even. So you never leave. It's hard to get a moment to myself sometimes." She explained with a sigh, scuffing a forepaw against the snow. Or, did that come out wrong? She wasn't trying to become a hermit or anything, neither was she trying to hint that she wanted Capable to go away. Bright amber eyes turned wide-eyed onto the woman's sienna pair, noticing she had to look just slightly upwards to meet them. "I mean, not that I want to be alone, you don't, I just..." Spieden sputtered, stopping before she could stick her foot in her mouth further. And she probably sounded like such a downer. Capable came out here to have a good time and here she was whining. This poor wolf had already witnessed her stumbling around like an idiot, she didn't need to bear witness to Spieden's incoherent rambling, too.

 

we are not things.

“You lead?  Wow.”

It was out before Capable could think better of it, ears flipping back and forth as she thought back to the pair of alphas who made their home at the large stone outcropping.  Craw was out and about, sure, but since she’d had her pups, Morganna…?  The woman’s mouth twisted as she thought, content to fall into stride as the older wolf explained herself, her travel.  Not that it really mattered.  Who was the redhead to judge when a girl just wanted to stretch her legs?

“Hey, relax Coho.  I ain’t here to tell you want to do.  And unless you tell me to get lost, I’m content to take my rest before I head back.”

Her pink tongue poked out before she could think the better of it, and Capable laughed, more at her own ridiculousness than anything else.  “But, yeah – I’m they’re second over there.  Not that it means anything.  Still ain’t a guardian proper, and we’ve been there since pup season.”  She shrugged, words slowly drying up.  She had no real reason to badmouth the wolves of the Whitestone…  She was just…  Bored.  Really, truly bored.  She glanced back over at Speiden, tipping her head to one side.  “So – where’s this Oak Tree Bend, anyways?  Never heard of it.”  A pause.

“Maybe I need to get out more.”

(This post was last modified: Dec 14, 2016, 09:54 PM by Isuni.)

A wild dissertation appears!

@Isuni

By some miracle Spieden thanked her lucky stars that Capable wasn't too put off by her aimless blathering. Spieden snorted. She wasn't going to tell anyone to get lost, let alone her newest acquaintance. In this case "Capable" seemed unlikely to be a moniker given ironically. While maybe not in title yet, she sure looked the part of guardian. 

"I'm not surprised," She snorted at her unfamiliarity with Oak Tree Bend. It would have been more surprising if she had heard of them, the Bend wolves were of little renown. "We're south of here. East of the mountains, just past the red ferns, if you've been that far. A pretty quiet place along a river." She explained. "It wasn't always so quiet, but it seems our neighbors have left us, just some mountain wolves left who mostly keep to themselves now." She explained, her paws rearranging beneath her to settle her plush haunches down on the icy ground. If she was going to chat, she might as well make herself comfortable, after all. 

"I guess some think the place is haunted, bad blood, sour memories, whatever. A couple of our own branched off and left this year." It was her turn to shrug, obviously not terribly concerned about whatever had troubled the others enough to leave. "Now your turn, where the hell.... What is a monadnock?" She asked.