Antler Ring all the sky is filling with light

@Odin! Forward-dated to September 3rd, sunset.

It was just beginning to turn dusky out, and the grasses and fields were illuminated with a light pinkish-gold tint. This was probably Kip's favorite time of day, when the sunset and nightfall played around at the same time in the sky. The moon and stars were just barely becoming visible as the sky darkened to the west, and a cool breeze that teased the coming fall combed through her fur. It was even better on the lowlands, Kip decided, because she could turn and look in all directions however she pleased. Back in her mountainous home, that had usually been impossible, as part of the mountain would be blocking the sky, and she was never allowed up to the top.

Yeah, she liked the grasslands. They spoke freedom - moreso than the forests and mountains ever could.

It had taken her a solid five or six days to get from the place she'd met the rude pup, and then the kind alpha, to where she was now. Which consisted of hills and valleys and breezes, which Kip was greatly enjoying. She was glad she hadn't taken the black wolf's offer to live with her pack, as kindhearted as Moonshadow had been. Kip just couldn't stand the thought of being stuck on that giant mountain, isolated and trapped for the rest of her life.

The grass felt spongy underpaw as she trekked up a small hill, curious to see what was at the top (and to see if she could get a better view of the surrounding sky.) What she found was... not what she expected at all. She nearly toppled backward at the sight of what, at first glance, appeared to be a pile of sunset-illuminated bones. Thankfully, she managed to catch her balance and make her way (carefully) over to the strange... thing.

Eloquent, Kip. Real eloquent.

A hum rose in the back of her throat when she realized that she was looking at antlers, and not the decaying corpse of some unfortunate soul. But they were arranged in a perfect circle, and from what she could tell, had been there for a very long time. Her brows furrowed and she darted from one side of the circle to the next, pausing every so often to try and figure out just what the hell was going on there.

Where have all the good guys gone?

Odin Archer

Trying his hardest not to become a creature of habit, and knowing full well just how bitter the winter would be out on the open tundra once it had them in its grasp the boy had taken a late afternoon stroll. It was far from intentional that he had begun to wander south, after all, no matter the relationship the rest of the pack held with the tree-huggers, he still was not a fan of their proximity and they would be lucky to even receive a civil greeting from the young Archer, no matter how @Wraith and @Piety might choose to deal with hostility when all was said and done. At the end of the day he was his mother's son, and his habits would not be changed so easily. So it was with some surprise that he noted the bleached antlers with a smirk, noting that at least one had been displaced, no doubt someone looking to sooth some anxiety with the simple act of chewing, though whether it had come from one of the neighbouring packs or a loner would never be known to the boy, not that he particularly cared anyway.

Instead, his attention was caught by a stranger. He tried to sample the air but found the breeze against him as he approached with some measure of caution, single eye narrowing with regard as he drew closer to the small pale thing that looked like she might near well break her neck if she craned it any further. A quick glance found little out of place, not even the dancing lights were out tonight and he had to wonder. "Yer don't seem dumb enough ter belong ter them, so what's the deal? Never seen th' sky before or somethin?" He remembered his trip to visit his Nonna with a slight shudder. Too many trees. It wasn't natural.

She was so engrossed with her studying of the antlers and of the sky that she didn't even notice the large boy approaching until he spoke. The girl jumped, tearing her attention away from the sky to snap her gaze on the dark brown wolf, nearly tripping in the process. "Why the fuck does this keep happening to me?" she groaned, in regards to being spooked by wolves sneaking up on her. Or not even sneaking, necessarily. She just wasn't paying enough attention to her surroundings.

Then it registered that he'd spoken. 'Yer don't seem dumb enough ter belong ter them, so what's the deal?' Kip arched a brow and pursed her lips disapprovingly, particularly when he made the comment about not seeing the sky before. "And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?" the tiny wolf asked, but didn't really wait for an answer. To be honest, what he said wasn't super offensive. She was just pissed that he'd managed to scare her like that.

"Just trying to figure out where these antlers came from." Taking her gaze from him and turning back to the bone-colored objects on the ground, she gave them an inquisitive sniff. "What about you? You never see someone looking at the sky before?" She was going to ask if he believed in aliens, but even Kip had enough social tact to know that that was a bad first question to ask.

Where have all the good guys gone?

Odin Archer

The boy smirked as she jumped, words tumbling from her mouth only putting him more at ease. Her apparent defensiveness was almost cute, but her bristle seemed to lack a lot of Kara's fire and bite. Her answer didn't exactly make a lot of sense, given that she was looking at the sky and the antlers were on the ground... did she think that maybe it was the nest of some great bird? As to the latter, he simply shrugged, "All the time, but th' view is better from th' Monadnock, an' in the morning when the sun comes up the stones sparkle." It was no big deal to him, he'd been born under one of those rocks and seen the sight a hundred times before, but it didn't make it any less impressive he supposed... to a stranger.

"There's a pack just down on the tree line, apparently we're gettin' on now, but it wasn't that way when my ma left. I dunno if she'd approve." He moved into the antler ring, bringing himself to a seat just a short distance from the stranger. "What about you? You're obviously not from around here." He allowed himself to glance up at the slowly awakening stars. Pretty he supposed if you had nothing better to look at. His head lowered once again to offer his companion a lopsided smile, waiting to hear what her answer might be.

This guy sure did talk a lot for someone who was intruding on her conspiracy theory-slash-observation-slash-deep thinking time. She closed her eyes for a moment to make sure that he couldn't see her rolling them, before taking a deep breath and watching as he approached and sat down. Even then, his head was above hers. Damn it. And where was he getting off, talking about sparkling stones? "No shit. It sparkles?" she asked, entirely unconvinced.

She wasn't sure why he was talking about pack relations with her, but whatever. It wasn't as though she had anywhere better to be, and if she was honest with herself, it was probably a good thing that she was learning about the locals. "Hm," was all she said in reply, because how else would she be able to respond on a topic she knew absolutely nothing about? Despite the fact that he had startled her and interrupted her thoughts, the boy was giving her no real reason to be angry or rude toward him. He wasn't even lording himself over her, though he was easily three times her size.

"Obviously not," she agreed, and went back to sniffing at the antlers. They really didn't smell of much, though the other teen's earthen scent was encroaching in on what information she might have gotten from them before. "I'm from a ways off. A mountain," the girl explained, seafoam eyes flicking up to meet his singular peach one every now and again. Social conduct dictated that it was her turn to speak - to ask him questions and carry on the conversation. "Who are you?" the white-and-ginger wolf asked, looking for not only his name but why he'd approached her and started chatting like they were old friends or something. Her tone wasn't rude or harsh or anything - more to-the-point and gruff, as per usual for her (added depth and all.)

Where have all the good guys gone?

Odin Archer

No shit, well it sure was a refreshing change from the usual looks of disapproval he got for letting similar language fall from his own lips and he grinned, "Yeah, there's a bunch of big white stones on top and they're full of shiny goldy lines but it's easiest to spot them as the sun comes up." He was indirectly hinting that she should come and check them out, if only to get her further away from them and closer to the Monadnock. Small and quiet didn't suit the place where he had grown up, and he was sure with winter undoubtedly on the way that they could all be better off for working together but he also wanted to narcotize the Hey come home with me without first at least ascertaining that she wasn't an utter psychopath to his best knowledge. After all, there was Cyril and Everly to think of.

"The monadnock's like a mountain but it's flat on top and theres no trees so you can see further than you could walk in a week some days..." but of course he was being rude, and she called him on it wonderfully. "Oh I'm Odin," he allowed his tail to thump against the ground in a friendly enough manner. "An' these antlers 'ave been 'ere longer than I've been alive."

That certainly was odd. She had never seen golden mountains before - hers had just been nothing but grays and whites, and perhaps a bit of green here and there in the spring and summer. Mostly, though, the world had been monotonous and dull up until recently, and she was glad for the change of pace she'd brought herself. The young wolf could gather that he was probably expecting her to ask him to take her to the monadnock, but the thought of another mountain was unpleasant. Especially with the added factor that she would have to ask a stranger to take her there. "Sounds cool," she commented, because it really did. As a matter of fact, she wanted to go check it out. What if the lowlands were just full of weird, alien junk? That'd be awesome.

Huh. Apparently the monadnock was flat on top. Kind of like a plateau, then? The idea of seeing far and wide was appealing to the girl, but the other stuff... the pack, the 'mountain' and the risk of returning to a life that she had spent months running from... that was what she hoped to avoid. "Where I'm from, you couldn't see much. Especially not where I was allowed to go." Apparently, she would've hurt her paws or whatever, and princesses and ladies were always supposed to be as perfect as possible.

The boy introduced himself, and the girl nodded her head with a small, polite enough smile. "Nice to meet you, Odin," she responded, because he'd given her no reason to be rude. He'd been nice enough. "My name's Kip." He mentioned the antlers again and she scanned them over once more. "Yeah. I was wondering about them. Like what might have put them here." She angled her ears toward him. "You ever think about that?"

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

When you get the same SoW food drop two threads in a row and didn't realise until you're posting. Feel free to make use of it if you wish to or not. I totally missed it in this one.

Where have all the good guys gone?

Odin Archer

It was the line about where she was allowed to go that struck him as odd. From the day he and his sister were able to leave the den their mother was always nudging them just a little further, leaving them to their own devices for the most part and letting them go wherever they wanted (even if it meant they got caught in mudslides and almost trampled or drowned, or nearly fell to their deaths). She expected them to be capable, and so they had learned to be. She had taken them half way across the lore when they were just a few months old, teaching them how to navigate trees and rivers... the thought of ever being told there was somewhere that he could not go was foreign, even now. "None o' that carry on around these parts." He mentioned, puzzled expression only emphasizing just how foreign he found the concept. Sure there were borders that were to be respected, but if he wanted to be a little shit he knew he could still stroll straight across them. Problem was, he only had one eye left and quite like it where it was.

She introduced herself in turn and a lopsided smile answered as he tucked the name away for later. Then she was back onto the antlers and he realised that he had never really thought too hard about them. His shoulders heaved in a shrug, "I just always assumed they were here in the beginning." But now that he thought about it, that didn't make much sense either. He thought back to his short time in Torbine and all the wonders he had managed to see. "Lotsa people believe in a lotta different things. Maybe someone was tryin' to appease some god?" Oh but there was a way to make this a little more spooky. He lowered his voice, shuffling his body to inch closer to hers, "Maybe this is where they made their... sacrifices." The last word was punctuated with a prod of his nose and a short jump back, his tail waving playfully overhead. She was alright this Kip girl, and he was in no rush to get home.

I never pay attention to the SoW drops xD

'None o' that carry on around these parts.' God, he talked really weird. The Kipley Mountain wolves had a much more... proper vocabulary. It was slightly difficult to make out just what he was referring to, but Kip managed to connect it with the fact that they must not have been restrained in the way she had been as a child. "Good," the girl remarked, nodding her head once. It did make her wonder, though, just how many places were like where she had been born. She hoped that there weren't many. "I was worried about that when I left the old place."

Apparently, he was just as privy to information about the antlers as she was. Greenish eyes flicked up to meet his single one as he began explaining things about different wolves believing different things - which was true, because the Kipley wolves had many different gods and belief systems with each individual. But then he wasn't being serious anymore, and she stood still as he approached her. It was only then that she realized that this boy was massive - many times her size, in fact. Not that it was a deterrent or intimidation factor for a wolf as stubborn as Kip. Even if she was just about as small as a wolf could get.

She jumped slightly when he nudged her with his nose. Honestly, it surprised her more than anything. A touch like that not followed by someone patronizing her - 'Turn that frown upside down, princess!' or 'Stop working that pretty little head so hard. Don't think too much!' - was pretty much unheard of. But clearly this guy just wanted to play with her, which caused a slight wrinkle to form between her brows for just a moment before it vanished. Her own tail swayed behind her, a smirk creeping onto her lips. "This is a pitiful altar. The ones they used up in the mountains were full of bones and soaked in wolf's blood!" Of course there had been no sacrificing. She was just going on with the spooky theme. "They were going to sacrifice me, but I escaped." She lowered her voice into a conspiratory whisper, head lowering and tail wagging.