Sheepeater Cliff -- ᴏᴀᴛʜʙᴏᴜɴᴅ

@Miyako

Varick hung close to where the pretty girl that accompanied him in the burned wood had parted ways to meet with her friend.  Well, where to, Varick? He did not know.  So he waited.

He clung to where she departed, unsure of what to do next.  The thought came to him, eventually, that he should find his way to the pack she had sought out and make sure she'd settled in alright.

The thought is enough to get the Rangvaldr stirring.  He pushes forth towards the packlands, coming to a resting point on a peak outside the borders.  Golden titans circled overhead, swooping down from great heights to antagonize the mountain goats that dotted the rolling cliffs.

The lone wolf had wished that one would fall off for him but simply wishing never accomplished anything, and even one as tall and broad as himself would have difficulty scoring a mountain goat on his own.  

Instead, he lifted his muzzle to the air and let out a mighty howl, summoning her ideally but whomever might be nearby.

She was just beginning to settle in the Vale when a familiar voice summoned her from afar, deep and booming. Her dark ears perked up, trying to figure out who could be calling for her. A newcomer, seeking refuge in her pack? But no. . .they couldn't possibly know about her, unless they had met her before. Maybe Drogon, or Howl, though she hadn't expected to see the latter again.

But at the end of her race to the cliff was a face better than Drogon or Howl, a face she had desperately hoped to see again but hadn't held her breath on the possibility. His dark bulk was a shadow against the gray sky, and she trotted toward him, a delighted grin melting on her thin face.

"Varick!" she called out, pulling to a halt before him. He had hardly changed since she last saw him, though, granted, it had only been a few days. She made to touch his shoulder with her nose but stopped herself in time, remembering his aversion to her touch before. Miyako settled with a warm smile in touch's stead.

"How are you? What brings you to the mountains?" They were called the Sunspire range, she had been told, with the biggest of its peaks laying to the south, at the foot of Northstar Vale.

Her heart felt lodged in her throat as she stared at him, meeting his bright blue gaze full-on. She had never been one for frivolous crushes--though Varick was the polar opposite of a frivolous man--mainly preferring hook-ups, at least after her first heartbreak. But this male. . .

He waits.

It is long enough that he begins to believe that nobody is coming, that he should move on... yet he knows that there are a million variables between himself and company.

He has almost stopped looking for her when suddenly he hears his name cried out, guard hairs standing erect, quivering as she makes to touch him and then laying flat once more when she stops herself. He rumbles and reveals a crooked grin, his silken tail giving a single wag in response to her greeting.  Miyako, he returns, cocking his chin up at her.

He wonders why she is so glad to see him.  Most people would rather be rid of him, his pompous demeanor and callous attitude turned them away, but she came to his call.

It delighted him, or as close to delight as he had felt in quite some time.

I am fine, he tells her in case there is any worry. I came to see if you had settled in.  To betray him, his stomach lets out a ravenous growl, dissatisfied with his last meal — coincidentally, the fish they had shared just days earlier.

Would you like to help me take down one of these goats?  Or have you eaten?

She shrugged. "So far, so good," she said mildly. "I haven't met anyone besides Mouse and Chusi, yet, and they're nice enough." She was still getting used to the idea of a structured pack. Her family, while it had had some semblance of order, was more of a band based on blood rather than ties of loyalty. Well, at least it had been, before Ichiro had spilled said blood.

Miyako hadn't noticed the goats before Varick mentioned them, but she now heard the bleating above, the little hooves scrabbling against the cliffs. She looked back at her friend, smirking. "They're a little out of reach, don't you think? Best to let one of them just topple off."

Yet as she voiced this opinion, her mind began to work through the possibilities. She was nimble enough, and if she were to scare one of the more decrepit-looking members into falling off the side, well. . .

"I think I have an idea. But what were you thinking?" He, after all, was the one who had thought to catch the goats in the first place. Miyako wanted to see whether his plan was superior to--more importantly, safer than--hers.

He gave her responses one single, stoic nod.  Good.  I am glad to hear it.  In which, he was glad to hear that she had been doing well but because she had been the only contact he'd had in the Teekons that had stuck by him, he could feel a posessive pressure to keep her to himself.

That is selfish and unreasonable, Varick, and you know it.

The dark man surveyed the goats once more.  Do you notice the eagles?  How they harass the goats?  His nose traced the circles of the feathered, golden beasts above. It would be easy enough to confuse them.  Perhaps one could injure itself and leave us with an easy enough kill.

He shrugged, ears flickering in a kind of embarrasment. Why?  Do you have a better idea? Because I'm all ears.

Sounds smarter than my plan, she thought wryly. "I was kind of thinking the same, though my idea was to have me go up into the cliffs to scare one over the edge," she responded. "Does your distraction not involve the possibility of me paralyzing myself? Because if so, I'm all for it."

It felt good to be with him again. She wasn't normally into men as standoffish as Varick, but the thought of him being an itch she couldn't quite scratch was oddly appealing. At any rate, the fact that he had sought her out in the vastness of the Teekon Wilds was encouraging, if only that she now knew he had been thinking of her.

The trouble was, she knew she couldn't push him into anything. And she tended to be pushy. Pushing men towards her life, towards her family, towards her future. It was a character flaw that sparked the downfall of many budding relationships for her, and she was determined not to keep making the same mistake time and again.

"What have you been up to since we last spoke?" Miyako asked casually as an aside, giving him a sideways glance after regarding the eagles for a little while. "Meet anyone interesting?" Meet any girls hotter than me?