Raven's Watch got my ticket for the long way round

Dated September 5. Rue's joining thread is in progress, but I think it's safe to assume that she smells like a BDP pack wolf.

By the time Rue summitted the Wall, the optimisitc patches of sunlight that had dotted the mountainside had more or less vanished. From this spot on the peak, Rue could see storm clouds brewing to the southeast and hear the occasional clap of thunder. There was a large flock of chatty ravens circling in the air below Rue, and they seemed wholly unconcerned with the stormtaking place on the domeside of the mountain. Since they were tenants of this mountainside, Rue took that to mean that perhaps popup storms were common over on the dome and it was unlikely the storm would reach their position. 

Even so, Rue wasn't about to bet her safety on the opinion of a bunch of birds. Descending the northern mountainside would be easier than climbing the Wall, thanks to that river cutting a path down into the fields below. Rue made her way toward the bank, looking forward to taking a drink before beginning her descent. 

stigmata rested, surly and glowering, on a stone slab perched tenuously outside a cloud of heavy mist, caused by the river-spray of water tumbling down ceaselessly from the mountains. he stared over the land opening up before him, at ease because his back remained guarded by the sentinel crags behind him -- and in his condition, he would take all the environmental advantages he could get. it was why he'd chosen this place, secluded and well-fed by flora and fauna both; it was an area in which he could survive on his own, for the time being.

lonely because he had dismissed his help several days prior, stigmata huffed out a great breath and re-situation his lounging position so that he was lying on his side.

for my reference, this would have taken place during stigmata's recovery from a bts accident in mid-august. for your reference, he's at the base of raven's watch :)

As Rue decended, both the rumbles of thunder and the raucous cawing of the raven flock grew more distant. The sounds of the river, on the other paw, were getting louder as the young woman picked her way down to the base of the Watch. By the time the land flattened out, the river was crashing down onto the rocky terrain, spraying everything in its vicinity with a fine mist. Rue had to be careful to maintain her footing as she traversed across the wet stones, and she was so focused that she might not have noticed the man perched upon the boulder had he not heaved the heaviest of sighs. 

Rue's attention turned quickly to the lounging man, and she surveyed him with a careful eye. His back was turned toward her, so it was likely he hadn't noticed her presence. She could simply slip away to continue her exploration without interruption. That was, perhaps, the most cautious course of action. She was much too far from Blacktail Deer Plateau to expect assistance with any sort of immediacy should it be required. However, for Rue curiosity often trumped prudence, and so she hesitated in her retreat. 

with the rush of a nearby water diluting the strength of at least two of his five senses, stigmata only came to notice his company when he shifted to stretch out a dull ache in his neck. the wolf froze mid-motion, cold sterling eyes locking in on her as he quickly tried to ascertain if he needed to be wary or not. she didn't look like much of a threat, but not the kind to keep his back to a stranger, stigmata pushed himself up into a sit anyway.

he looked dreary, if not downright drained, and it didn't seem as if he had any intention of dismounting his slab - let alone approaching her. typically he would try to find out what he could learn from her, if anything, but the hound wasn't feeling too curious with his body still not at a hundred percent. so instead he merely sat, head low and gaze watchful, as he wondered if she would address him herself or continue on her way. wherever that was.

Well, now she'd done it. She had hesitated so long that the stranger had spotted her, fixing her with his appraising, metallic eyes. Rue tensed under his gaze, and perhaps a bit belatedly she forced her tail to wave behind her. The man did nothing more than stare; clearly Rue would have to be the one to initiate conversation here, if that was what she desired. Honestly, she didn't quite know what she desired. 

Rue drifted forward with slow, almost overly-deliberate movements, still unsure of what she would say once she was within speaking range of the stranger. The crashing riverwater forced her to approach a bit closer than she might have liked in order to be heard, but she remained carefully out of range of a leap from the boulder. Just in case. 

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but she didn't have anything to say. Something about the man's chilly gaze chased all her words away. "Um.." she swallowed, and her ears shifted downward in her embarassment. Finally, an introduction came to her. "Hello. I'm Ruenna. I come from Blacktail Deer Plateau." She gestured vaguely southward with her muzzle. Hopefully the stranger would be able to pick up the conversation from there if he wished it to continue, because that was as much as Rue could muster for the moment. 

stigmata - who generally took pride in his often accurate presumptions - found himself surprised by the milquetoast she-wolf's gravitation towards him, though outwardly he did not seem to react to her very gradual approach. only his eyes moved, darting to each of her gentle, color-washed features as he found her at a closer angle to be both older and larger than her timid posture had originally dictated. for a first impression he found her to be full of surprises, and the haggard dragoon wished to know if there were more.

his ears perked up, leveling his drooping muzzle as she addressed him. his head cocked slightly, and he regarded the wandering packwolf with a tempered expression. "you are well met, ruenna," he said with as much deliberateness as her advance; "from blacktail deer plateau."

the male licked his chops thoughtfully. "i am stigmata, from bearclaw valley." he would give as much as he received and (it seemed) no more - and though his answer wasn't exactly true at that time, it was still the truth to him. he kept his eyes on her, silent but not yet dismissive.

Although little about the stranger could be construed as friendly, there was something about his calm presence that put Rue at ease. He welcomed her into his space with composure and curiosity, and though logically Rue knew that he could be a threat she felt herself drawn nevertheless. 

The girl's ears turned upward to catch the man's words, and her expression softened at his graceful reception. He introduced himself in kind. "A homeland named for its bears rears a resilient wolf, I imagine," she returned conversationally. The edge of Rue's mouth twisted in wry humor knowing that it was, perhaps, somewhat less impressive to hail from a territory named for its deer.

for a wolf who did not often smile, he had quite the skill for looking amused; a talent he now employed at the behest of ruenna, who insisted on complimenting him. stigmata was easily won over, and at least three of his seven sinful vices were triggered by the sweet, delicate plateau wolf. "a name can be misleading," he rumbled shrewdly. "i would not dare presume myself any more resilient than you." this was inherently untrue, as privately stigmata presumed himself to be far superior to most wolves no matter where they came from, but he at least tried (with varying degrees of success) not to underestimate his company.

"what has you journeying away from your pack?" he asked then, curious as to the state of her loyalties.

A name could be misleading. Rue wondered if the man meant this statement only as it related to the name of his pack, or if he meant to comment upon his own name as well. Stigmata...  It was a name that hinted at shame, disgrace.. certainly not a name Rue would ever claim as her own, nor bestow upon any child of hers for that matter. And yet, Stigmata seemed to carry the "shameful" moniker with pride, or at least with indifference. Misleading, indeed. 

I would not dare presume myself any more resilient than you. Rue gave a small shake of her head, signalling disbelief. No one could possibly look at her and think resilient. Doubtless he was simply returning the compliment, which was rather meaningless anyway coming from either of them considering how little they knew about one another. 

Rue hesitated to answer the question, thinking over her words for a moment before she chose to reveal anything else. Even though Stigmata had been pleasant company so far, she couldn't quite shake her compulsion to remain cautious. "I'm a recent arrival to these parts, and I'm surveying the lands surrounding my new home," she finally said, figuring that sharing such information had little chance of doing her harm. 

"Ought I keep an eye out for Bearclaw Valley?" she ventured, wondering if Stigmata's home was proximate to the Plateau. It would be good to know if there were other packs residing in the area, from a political as well as explorational standpoint. A nearby pack could be a helpful resource to the Plateau wolves, especially if they had been established in the area for some time and could share information about the climate and ecology of the Plateau wolves' new home. On the other paw, neighboring packs could pose a threat-- even under the guise of friendship, as Rue had recently learned the hard way.

her answer was sufficient, if not acceptable, and stigmata felt no need to pry any further about her home. truth be told, it wasn't where she was from that interested him. "you could," he answered, the note of a tease projected onto the sonorous, low growl that was his voice. "but i sincerely doubt you would find it this far north."

though his coyness came in and out alongside his washy moods, the warhound was not interested in seeing his present company scared away by evolving ambiguity, so he added: "i am some days away from my pack at this time. we are not neighbors, if this place is near your domain." he didn't ask her to clarify if they were, but stigmata watched her closely for a hint of the answer - though he already suspected what it was.

Something about the teasing note in the man's voice reminded Rue of a story she had been told as a child. At one point during the story, a girl named Alice had sought directions from a character called the Cheshire Cat, but the Cat refused to offer anything but riddles. Rue did not have time to be Alice today, or ever, for that matter. Her tail switched behind her, signaling her mild annoyance as it dawned upon her that Stigmata might be toying with her. 

Perhaps the man picked up on Rue's irritation, because he then switched tactics and provided a more straightforward answer. The girl's tail stilled, and she considered his information thoughtfully. "Blacktail Deer Plateau is near, just over that rise," Rue offered, turning her muzzle to indicate a southward direction. It certainly couldn't hurt for the near-stranger to know that her packmates were just a howl away. "What a shame we aren't closer." Rue let the sentiment hang without further explaination, knowing very well that it could be interpreted for a double-meaning. She could be cryptic too.

his head tilted slightly at ruenna's forthcoming direction, blinking in mock absentmindedness as he processed the information given to him as fact. her following words reminded stigmata that this little wolf was full of surprises he found himself fond of, and if he had been feeling more up to it, he would've liked to have seen just what she was made of. if she would have been too fearful to... play with him a little or not...

the wraith's muzzle crinkled into a devilish smirk. "a shame, indeed," he purred, aligning her with a predatory glance before returning to a lounging position on his slab throne. "you should run home, ruenna," stigmata advised her coolly, drawing out her name and punctuating it with a flick of his tail; "before i decide i must possess you."

The words that fell from her mouth came from a playful, carefree place within Rue that the girl had thought disappeared long ago. As soon as she had spoken, she regretted it. Coy little exchanges, just like this one, were what had fueled Sjorn's zeal for her. Because she had flirted, she had invited his attack, that much was clear to her now. How could she have allowed herself to slip up again, after her last mistake had cost her everything? 

Stigmata had taken on a predatory look quite reminicent of Sjorn himself. The fur on the back of Ruenna's neck rose and her muscles tensed. The man must have sensed that her guard had come up, because he then settled back onto his rock and encouraged her to depart. "That seems wise," the girl murmurred in farewell before turning to do exactly as advised. After the little comment about being "possessed," she couldn't get back to Blacktail Deer Plateau fast enough. 

I'm going to call it a wrap here, assuming Stigmata doesn't pursue or anything. Thanks for the thread!

his words had their intended effect, though if stigmata had known her opinion of him, he might have been offended. then again, his definition of possessing someone wasn't nearly as caustic as it implied or how a more sinister body might mean it. but she wasn't the first wolf with a past trauma to misunderstand his particular brand of entitlement, and the wraith preferred to scare off those whose philosophies and intensity didn't match his.

it was part of the reason he was alone now; for not many could share and endure the same dire principles as the sandraudiga headhunter.