Stonewatch Timbers dancing in the dark is fine

@Kerberos - Backdated to the 20th

She’d admit that their venture north didn’t make much sense with the idea that winter had rolled around and started to settle in… in fact, she hadn’t even thought it through as much as she should have. She just felt this aching in her gut that told her to move north and the curiosity of knowing her surroundings had pushed her to go through with what her gut told her. It probably hadn’t made much sense to Kerberos either – he was bright, and a good travelling companion and he had a good set of teeth on him, even if he didn’t have much experience. He was good in a fight. She was starting to get use to his presence, his questions, and his help.

There were a lot of trees around… pretty much everywhere, from the Wildwood up to the Timbers except for the field they’d passed through in the process. Each forest was easy to tell apart from the next and the one before it because of the features, types of trees… something she’d noted for when spring and summer rolled around, and they didn’t have to worry about food as much as they did right now. “This place reminds me of the woods near the grove, just with different trees.” She commented to Kerberos, glancing at him with a smile. They’d met back up after doing a bit of wandering for a day or so. “At least it’s not as petrified and creepy as that other one…” She commented again, referring to the Ghastly Woods they’d passed through on the way north.

They had stuck together and Kerberos couldn't be happier. He had met a few strange wolves this far so having Maera as a normal constant in his life was rather nice. While the duo didn't spin every moment together, the moments when they did were exciting. "Well, that's true but it would have made for a good hiding place. Wonder if it looks better in the spring and summer! Maybe the colors aren't so dark and dreary then.."

He kept his tawny form close to her. Not exactly in the mood to split from her. After meeting Askan (and of course, Cottongrass) he felt content spending time with her.  "So what did you find in your end of the travel? Any late herds coming through?" The tawny Rigel's eyes looked over to her. He was always so curious to hear what she would find. Maera was far more advance at the life of a Lone Wolf so she usually had more luck. Kerberos did like to think he was on his way to being better at this. His dark traveling partner had already taught him so much. Maybe winter wouldn't be awful for them after all.

"Oh by the way, some place far far east of here is a pack. Met one of their members. He was kind of bleak and blunt. I'm obviously alright, though." The young male smiled softly. He wondered if Mae already knew of them or if the pack was brand new to her also.

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Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

Was it strange that the two of them travelling together felt natural to her now? She hadn’t expected it… she’d been expecting to sleep with one eye open, watching over her shoulder, but she wasn’t. At least, she wouldn’t until he gave her a reason to do just that. She did hope, for his sake and even for her own, that he didn’t. She put a greater level of trust in him that she wasn’t use to putting in wolves… not since her brother and mother had chosen the easy way out and gone into the very den they’d been cast out from before her father died.

No, she wasn’t over it, and she wouldn’t move on from it. They’d turned their back on family, and so she’d turned her back on them. It was simple math and she was doing just fine on her own. “I didn’t find much, a couple of rabbit trails that turned out to be dead ends… a couple wolves but none of them were from packs and I haven’t found any borders in the area.” That was her rundown of the situation. She’d met Yvly but he already knew about her and through Yvly, Maera had learned that there had been a pack a little to the west of the creek she’d found – she’d avoided heading that way for that reason alone.

Kerb mentioned his own findings and she gave him a smile. “You know, one day I'll get you to trust your own nose… it’s stronger than you think.” That was the one thing she didn’t understand him. He had almost no confidence in himself, and it bothered her because she saw his strengths. He could do it, he just didn’t think he could. “Good work! I hadn’t learned about anything to the east… at least it’s far out of our way, eh?”

Her finds seemed to be empty but he didn't mind. Not every adventure could be grand. "Hey, better safe but unsuccessful than injured and successful. At least in my opinion it is." His cautious words ended with a gentle laugh. Perhaps he had grown to care about his dark company more than he wanted to admit. She was just so genuinely nice to him that it was hard not to care for her.

The tawny Rigel male shook the thoughts from his brain and listened to her voice again. He felt his cheeks grow warm and flush. It would have been extremely noticeable had he not had the thick fur that covered his skin. "I, uh, thanks." His words stumbled like a nervous child. Did she trust him more now too? Had her faith in his capabilities grown? He felt proud of himself for a slim moment.

"They were far when I ran into the pack member, I'm sure they're even further now!" Kerberos chuckled. Silently he wished to bring up the topic of some sort of home up but he figured maybe now wasn't the time. Maybe in another week or two when they got even closer he'd talk about it with her. A pack to be in, even for a few weeks (despite how wrong that seemed), might not hurt the duo. He would understand and respect Maera's wishes when that time came, though.

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Dried Stone Wash

After quite a few interesting encounters over the course of the two years she’d been doing this, she was honestly relieved to have someone to have her back in case things got ugly. She might never say it out loud, or outwardly show it… but that was because she was bad at those sorts of things… she did appreciate it and maybe one day she’d be able to express it and maybe one day he’d be more confident with his presence too… baby steps was what their friendship was founded on at this point… even if t hose baby steps happened to have happened in what felt like rapid succession. It just felt natural.

She couldn’t help but offer a slightly amused smile at the way he took a compliment, a soft nudge before she started to move forward, looking around for dinner. They were far, and that was good to hear. “That’s good… I don’t think we should go near packs… how they react to others remotely near their borders can be sporadic and I’d rather not take the chance.” She explained her reasoning with the hopes he’d agree and understand what she was getting at. She got closer to a small water source at the base of a rock structure that appeared to look like a dried up stream or river when she caught site of it.

She wasn’t a huge fan of fish… but food was food. “Kerb, I think I found something to eat.”

(This post was last modified: Dec 28, 2016, 05:16 AM by Maera.)

Kerberos nodded his head softly. He needed no more of an explanation than what she had said. The point was made clear.

His ears perked up at the mention of food. A small pool of fish had been caught at the bottom of a dried up stream. The tawny male's tailed wagged and he approached the pool closer. "Not the best thing we've caught but these fish will be better than nothing!" His pale yellow eyes looked around. "I say we try to get the fish out and then explore more of this dried up river bed. Who knows what else could be hiding between the rocks."

The tawny male's head leaned down and watched the fish wiggle about underneath the surface. Kerberos liked to imagine the way they swarmed about was a sign they knew the end was near. Once the duo clamped there teeth down upon the scaley flesh the fish would be over with. He could taste it already. Not that it would be very appealing in flavor but it would satisfy any of his hunger and that was what mattered most at the moment.

"Want the pleasure of being first?" His words accompanied with a chuckle as he looked to Maera. He thought it would only be polite to offer her the first fish. She had been the one to discover them after all.

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Her nose wrinkled lightly as she looked at the small pool… it was more of a puddle and she didn’t know how the fish had even managed to get there, but they were trapped and it was to her fortune so she wasn’t going to question that… yet. He proposed catching and eating the fish and then looking for more prey in the rocks and she nodded with a grin. “Sounds like the perfect plan.” She agreed as she clamped down on one with her jaws, killing it and pulling it out… the pair made quick work of them all too.

Food! Food was good! “Definitely.” She murmured as she licked her lips, digging in when he offered her the first fish, looking up at him and waiting for him to dig into his own. “Afterwards.” She said after swallowing a bit of the fish. “We can explore those rocks some more… they divide the forest in a way I’ve never seen before.” Her curiosity was bubbling, and it was easy to see even as she devoured the food in front of her. Hopefully, they’d be able to find something else in the process, even if it meant more fish than what they were already eating. It was winter, they couldn’t be picky.

Hell, they were lone wolves, and couldn’t be picky regardless of the season because you never knew what was going to happen. At least with two of them, they could take down some larger prey if they found any.

She agreed like usual. A constant reminder he was doing something right. Kerberos never seemed to understand how or why Maera really allowed him to stick around with her but he wasn't complaining. Sure he might wish to be in a pack, warm and safe. Yet the experience he was getting with Maera, well, you wouldn't find that in a pack. At least he didn't think so.

Once his partner had taken a bite he swiftly moved in. He snagged a fish of his own from the small puddle. With his teeth in its scale covered flesh, he assured that it was dead. Kerberos happily took a bite while Maera practically repeated what he had suggested. He wouldn't say anything, though. It kind of made him feel a little special.

"Uh, yeah." He swallowed a big hunk of fish as his tail wagged happily behind him. "I've never seen something like this before. It's kind of like a tiny valley. Now one of those I've seen." The tawny male laughed gently before returning to the fish at his paws. Best to eat as much as he could if they both intended to do some exploration of the awkward dry river bed.

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@Kerberos

Honestly, sometimes Maera wondered what his parents had said to him as a child, because he seemed to always doubt himself and she honestly didn’t see why he did. It was something that almost caused her to visibly frown, but she held it in. Perhaps, at a later date, if they were still travelling together, then she could approach the topic. They both dug into their fish, and soon enough Maera had devoured hers. There’d only been three in the pond, so she went after the last one, pulling it out and killing it quickly before it could lash uncontrollably for two long or hit her in the face. She supposed they could split it – it’d only be fair. She ate her half and pushed the other half towards him with her nose.

“I’ve seen rocks, but not in this shape… I guess it makes sense if it use to be a river… and I also bet things could hide out between them. The gaps are wide enough for mice and probably even hares to fit through.” She observed as her eyes wandered over to them, her paws taking a few steps forward, just to get a better look while she waited for Kerberos to finish this meal, a grin on her face. This was more certainly exciting, now wasn’t it? It’d been a while since she managed a good adventure just for the sake of her curiosity… it was nice.

Her tail wagged lightly as the Slayer woman’s chocolate brown eyes looked for places to put her paws if they were to move farther “upstream”.