Iktome Plains gun runner

After finishing off the last of a breakfast of fat rabbit, the scout was eager to cover some new ground today. She had taken it slow for the last few days in a deep wood next to a creek, conserving her stamina and working to rebuild during a handful of particularly balmy summer afternoons. But now she was ready to move on again. Her paws danced lightly over the forest, and a small excitement over the mere idea of it prickled up her muscles already.

The coastline had always been an eventual but inevitable destination, so she headed towards where the winds smelled most like sea. First, it had been done under the pretense of rendezvousing with her brother, but she had had heard nothing of him in many weeks now. However, knowing him, it was not unusual; she took it as a sign to not rush. Perhaps he was waylaid with more enthralling affairs than just the open road.

Gradually, she found the landscape opening into a scrubby plain with a vast horizon. The scout could make it work. Interested enough with energy to spare for the afternoon, she pointed down what she perceived as the center of the rolling plains and took off at a full gallop--not caring what it took her to, as long as it was somewhere.

This looked lonely :) Would you mind terribly if it's present-dated?

On this day, and for the nth time in his life, Darcia found himself alone. His brother had not stayed with him long, and though this was something the wolf had come to expect, he found himself pining for the company he had lost anyway. He and Benedict were far too competitive to ever stand each other's company for long, and the latter wolf seemed to have a task at hand that would not have permitted him to stay regardless of whether or not they had been able to set their differences aside. He had asked why Benedict left the Blacksea despite his severe loyalty to it, but the wolf had refused to tell him, and in the end he supposed it didn't matter. If his brother could not stay, then there was nothing to be done about it.

He was grateful for their chance meeting. His kin had left him with invaluable gifts -- his name and renewed sense of purpose -- and Darcia did not wish to squander them. Besides this, Benedict had left him with a lesson too. Lose the godspeak. No one in these lands cared for the way he spoke, so he chose now to say little and exercise speech in the way wolves spoke here in the south when he did speak. If he wanted them to follow him, then he would need to be able to communicate with them better. The night before his departure from the shadewood, Benedict had practiced with him, but little of it mattered if he found none to share his voice with.

Even as this thought crossed his mind in the open sun of the plains, he spotted her. A dashing and young creature, with swathes of red that caught in the light and broke the agouti earth-patterns of her coat. Darcia stood high on the moors, perched on a pebbled hillock where he remained to watch her run. He sat down, quite prepared to see her leave without taking notice of him, and basked in the momentary pleasure of watching a free wolf enjoy its unburdened summer freedom.

not at all, she has no rules to tie her to a timeline these days lmao :D

In the instant she really got her lungs working and heart pumping with every new churn of her stride, she knew this was far overdue. All too often now she was picking along carefully or only cruising to sustain her stamina. This, while a little on the side of recklessness, was the moments she could live for, and equally not imagine herself without.

Eventually, once the scenery had shifted and rolled and risen and fallen once more around her, she finally began to pull up enough to notice the sensation of being watched. Reluctantly she decided that was enough, and changed gears once again to try to find out if she was imagining it or not. Her steps rolled slowly to a walk that stopped a few strides after.

She didn't spot him right away, couldn't, not with such a wide open expanse around her to have as possibilities.. but when she narrowed it down, she kept a stare straight his way as she panted out her run. Wind not in her favor, she would take no chances prematurely.. although he ought to know she knew now, and was curious as to why.. or if she was beginning to encroach on something; it had been a while since she'd seen anyone. That was due to change.

What? her posture suggested, tail tip quirking up and eyes bright and curious as she took a few steps towards the direction of his hill.

He knew she had felt him even before her pace had changed to slow. It was a small shift of her head— a small change from the singularity with which she had run before— that he noticed, and Darcia knew it wouldn't be much longer before she would find him: the black-and-white monolith on the hill. He watched her run diminish through the stages until she had come to a complete stop, and like the haunter he was, he continued to watch until her eyes found him there on his undeserved perch.

She took up a curiously demanding stance for a girl of her stature, and if he wasn't impressed by it then he was at the very least intrigued. When she began to make way for him, Darcia rose gracefully from his sit and descended towards her in a slow canter, his tail high and flagging with interest. Intensely aware that he intimidated most she-wolves when up close, he stopped yards from the base of the hill and waited to see if she was spirited enough to finish the small distance between them.

She trusted herself to phase across the necessary spectrum when it came to encounters and adapting to what they needed from her. Already used to meeting wolves on unfamiliar turf, she knew better than to rely entirely on the landscape's advantage when it was not her home court. Always, she assumed they knew more than she did and had more comrades at their nearby disposal--so the role of curious scout was one she fit into quite neatly, and it seemed that today her good mood (and sated hunger) added a little extra zest.

When she knew he was engaged enough to interact--loping her way with his tail flagged left no room for doubts--she refused to balk as he neared (and proved to be plenty big to boot) while she kept her momentum going his way to take her to the hill's base. Jomyo held fast to the small arc of her own banner, although it paled compared to his, and seemed a little more questioning with its wave than outright domineering. Neither did she swiftly close all of the space between them.. only leaving a few body lengths at least; she did not know enough yet, so it was certainly close enough.

Bright-eyed, she looked him up and down while her nose quivered eagerly towards the intimidating male. Far more than her, he matched the scents of this region far more than others she had smelled in passing. "Something bring you out here?" she asked, still poised to dart in the back of her mind in case this was pack buffer zones. It was a broad enough icebreaker that he could take, or leave, and she remained confident in the head start she'd get if she needed to flee outright.

Darcia was intensely glad for the girl's displayed bravery. All too often he met wolves that assumed his posturing meant an eagerness for violence, when in all actuality it was merely a blatant note that he was capable and willing of it, rather than asking for such. He was also a lone wolf, which meant that he harbored no intention to cause himself any harm in a meaningless skirmish, but most wolves— especially the smaller ones— didn't often see it this way. Her approach also let him know that she was confident enough in her own faculties to know that she could escape him, should he turn on her, which made her both intelligent and daring; qualities he admired immediately from any wolf, especially females.

The two-toned wolf perked up as she spoke, reserving any further approach as she had chosen her own distance carefully and he was unwilling to yet encroach on her tactic. "Just the scenery. I have passed along these knolls before, but never through. Mine  surroundings are things I like to know," he answered conversationally, before tilting his head at the gallant girl. "And what about th— you?"

Self-assurance held steady as she kept her distance and in turn, she saw no reason to waver quite yet. She had seen a wide variety of wolves in her travels, from the nobles to the common, warriors to monks, and whatever else on the vast spectrum of the in-between. This taught her to expect the unexpected, and then some. When he minded the space she placed between them, she appreciated it--but would not drop guards just because of that alone. She stayed sharp. "Never been here before," she answered first, unlike him, with a quick nod. Her expressive eyes stayed with him.

She tried to measure her breaths and not pant through every single thing she was going to say--but she had eased down considerably already thankfully. "And, well, I like to roam.. and scout, so seeing the sights comes naturally," she swung her muzzle to the whereabouts, and this was just the very beginning of it. "You from near here?" Before she pried deeper, that was a place to start. Him having been by here seemed to imply he was local in some way--so very likely, he might know where she could go to best busy her inquisitiveness. "I still have more ground to cover," she said, although in the lines beneath it and with a certain look, she challenged him to lure her curiosities better than the great wide world abounding.