Cedar Sweep i'll just keep go-go'n and this dance is on you
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Ooc — Mana
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#1
All Welcome 
In retrospect, making the decision to move on from Broken Antler Fen ended up being much easier than traversing the terrain between there and the lovely cedar forest she found herself in now.  Before leaving, Ivy spent several days fretting over what to do - internally, of course, as she'd never let another soul see her uncertain side - until she finally ran out of fucks to give and pulled the trigger.  Walking away from her birthplace after avoiding it for so long felt like a bittersweet goodbye to an old friend.

Not that she really had any of those.

Grumbling to herself, the too-thin yearling lowered her head to drink from the river she'd followed to reach Cedar Sweep.  After leaving the Fen, she made her way over Boartusk Heights and through Black Morass.  At first she took the path along the river to clean all the damn mud and muck out of her fur, but she found the change of scenery along the way far too interesting to pass up.  Luckily she'd been going the right direction to exit the valley, a fact Ivy hadn't realized until she was well outside the embrace of the mountain.

Thirst sated for now, she picked up her head scanned the area through a narrowed, pale green gaze.  The real reason she went this direction was to find her family and rumor had it two of her siblings were somewhere around here.  Too bad, she murmured to herself, thinking that it was indeed too bad Mato and Nova didn't call this wonderful place their home.  She enjoyed the peace afforded by stately cedar trees, especially the shade their boughs offered from what had been a surprisingly bright midday sun.  Snow on the ground once more meant nothing but headaches for the silvery female - literally.  The sun's blazing reflection off freshly-fallen snow had been a huge headache trigger for her when she was a pup and damn it if she never grew out of that.
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Ooc — remus
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#2
hope ya dont mind me stealing in here B)

mato'd instructed them to only leave the pack in pairs following brienne's return. it's good advice, yeah, but delight's too used to slipping away at his leisure. and though he's trying not to hide out so much now that the pack is doing better and he doesn't need to avoid brienne and mato together, he does still need his quiet time. 

he's still worried about them all. burke's health is on the decline and once he goes delight's main reason for wanting to stay in the forest will go with him. their numbers are bolstered but it's hard to say for sure who'll actually stick around - who'll become one of them. and if they want to survive in the warm months, their seclusion won't help. ugh. he doesn't like having to think about all of this. part of him wants to go back to mooning after mato from afar but that ship's sailed too, anyway.

the sweep feels calm and eases delight's mood a bit. it has, in a few ways, become his home away from home - and there always seems to be someone else around. there's a scent in the air - no one he knows but it's vaguely familiar, enough that  he decides to put off his moment of solitude and follow it. he finds the strange girl easily, squinting slightly as she comes into sight. no, he doesn't know her and he can't put his finger on it, but... "who are you?"
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Turning sharply to face whoever had just addressed her, Ivy's pale green eyes narrowed.  A small male was looking at her.. strangelyDo you always address strangers so bluntly? she drawled, one brow raised as she studied him.  Chocolate fur, lighter markings here and there.  All in all, there didn't seem to be much to him.  Physically, anyway.  If she weren't so thin from being a loner he'd barely have much weight on her.  Ah, but she'd been known over-exaggerate.  Flair for the dramatics and all that.

Seeing as no other wolves were around, the pale yearling decided to give him her full attention.  She turned and offered him an embellished bow of her head, eyes twinkling when she took on a more relaxed stance.  Ivy stopped herself before she revealed her name, curious as to what he'd say.  Might as well gather all the entertainment she could muster today.  Never knew when she'd have another opportunity to socialize all the way out here.
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#4


one of these days he's going to get himself into trouble. "pretty much," the androgyne says with a lazy shrug. he waits for  her to answer him, but it doesn't seem like it's about to happen, so he sighs and elaborates: "you smell kinda familiar, but i can't figure out why." it's sort of annoying, actually - delight likes having facts. having a sense of something but not being able to put his paw on it kind of sucks.
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Well, at least he was up front about it.  Ivy was the "what you see is what you get" sort of wolf and it turned out that he was, too.  Or so he said.  She watched with an unchanging expression until he realized she wasn't going to say anything else and his sigh caused a smirk to bloom on her ashen face.  Ah, patience did lead to good things!

I'm pretty sure we've never met before, she finally offered, shrugging it off as though she couldn't be bothered to actually remember every face she'd ever seen.  Truth was, Ivy knew they hadn't crossed paths.  If nothing else, she never forgot a face.  I haven't been out this way before, either.  Maybe he was losing it at a young age?
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delight frowns - a pout, really - at her response. he knows they haven't met before, that's why it's bothersome. "obviously," he says, put out, "whatever, maybe you're related to someone i've met or something." somehow he doubts she's going to offer any more explanation, so as annoying as it is, he puts it aside. it'll probably come to him eventually, right? "i'm delight, by the way," the wisp adds, figuring he might as well introduce himself (and wondering if her name will ring any other bells for him).
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Related to someone he'd met?  Hm.  Ivy considered the likelihood that this male knew her family members - if they were really out this way, then it was a strong possibility.  No way to be sure other than ask or divulge personal information.. and she definitely wasn't about to do that.  The petite yearling gave a non-committal shrug in response.  He didn't seem to be waiting around for whatever scraps of information she may have felt like providing, anyway.  Good play.

Ivy, she replied easily, deciding it wasn't too much to ask for her to at least be polite.  If nothing else, her parents made sure to instill that in their children.  Do you live around here? she asked, figuring he had to at least be part of a pack somewhere in the Teekon Wilds.  Though small, at least Delight had a healthy weight about him, which was something Ivy certainly couldn't claim.
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#8


her name offers nothing illuminating so delight gives up the ghost and resigns himself to being annoyed for a whole half day. "yeah," he says in answer to her question, pointing over his shoulder with his slim muzzle. "my pack, tindómë, is in the forest that way." 

he looks back at her, silver eyes curious. "how 'bout yourself? just passing through?" the androgyne asks. it seems to be the case for a lot of folks, but under this much cold and snow, he doesn't envy any out by their lonesome. she doesn't smell like a pack wolf but who knows -- delight's gotten used to meeting all sorts out in the sweep.
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Tin.. what?  One brow rose again.  What a name!  However, when her pale green gaze followed his general gesture back toward his pack, her mind whirled with possibilities.  It didn't seem likely that many other packs were around here.  It was too.. peaceful.  And zillions of different scents weren't floating around all over the place.  Hm.  Could that be her brother's pack?

Too soon to tell.  You could say that, she began, knowing that it was likely infuriating to hear such a non-answer.  Ivy shrugged and continued before she agitated Delight: .. looking for family.  I was born over in Broken Antler Fen and heard that some of them came this way.
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#10


she says the magic phrase - broken antler fen - and delight's moon-sharp eyes light up. oh! duh. "you're related to mato," the androgyne says triumphantly, pleased to know his nose wasn't broken. of course he'd recognize the scent of mato's kin. he knows that smell - and okay yeah, this is getting to a weird place. "mato, nova, burke and malice are all here," he adds, "or, um, there. in tindómë. mato's our.. alpha." morwinyon is still a weird word to toss at a stranger, especially since, delight's figured out, most of the rest of his family doesn't seem to be on the same druid kick that he is. (he wonders when mato picked up on his language -- he should make a note to talk to him about that sometime). "were you at redhawk caldera too?" delight asks, curious as ever to know every detail he can.
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The mask Ivy wore crumbled slightly, just enough for her to blink rapidly several times in complete surprise.  He actually knew her family?  Mato and Nova.  She inhaled sharply and closed her eyes, waiting exactly three seconds before releasing her breath slowly.  Delight's inclusion of Burke and Malice didn't have the same effect on her - she'd never been close to her grouchy ass grandfather.

She opened her eyes once more, fixing the male before her with an intensely focused stare.  The mask was whole again, though Ivy just barely had a handle on her emotions.  It wasn't often that she lost control of them and this time it had been completely unexpected.  The thin lady didn't know just how desperate she was to get back to her siblings, how much her heart ached for them, until she'd almost reached her goal of finding them.  She chewed the inside of her cheek to keep any outbursts at bay and swallowed when Delight mentioned Redhawk Caldera.  I was, she managed to get out in an even voice.  I was a few months ago.  I - I left.  And came back recently.  Glossing over her absence as always, she took another breath before placing a familiar smirk on her face.  Ran into Towhee before I came this way.  She was less than thrilled to see me.  The feeling was mutual, she drawled.  It occured to her then that he might not know who Towhee was.  Oh well.
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well. she's not exactly jumping for joy but he sees the way her expression changes for a split second, his own eyes sharpening. but whatever she's thinking, he's not a psychic and he doubts he'll get an answer out of her if he tries, so he lets it go, ignores the way her voice catches on the words. 

well, but. "towhee?" he asks, an eyebrow raised - burke hadn't named names, just talked about the pack as a whole. his opinion remains low as ever of them. before she can answer, he adds: "well, you're welcome to come by, you know," and gestures vaguely in the direction of tindómë.
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#13
Even after forcefull stuffing her emotions down from a moment ago, Ivy could feel them creeping back up, eventually settling in her stomach.  She swallowed hard and slowly, quietly exhaled through her nose right as Delight repeated Towhee's name back to her.  The grayscale yearling shook her head, hoping to somehow convey that if he didn't know her, she wasn't worth getting into at all.

Thank you, she managed after all the air had been expelled.  The pale-eyed girl immediately heaved an overly-dramatic sigh - cover for another deep breath - and gave Delight a little nod.  I might take you up on that offer soon.  When she was ready.  Who the hell knew how long that would take?  If you don't mind, I'm going to take my leave.  Apparently she became more formal when trying to beat back what promised to be a messy emotional outburst later on.  It was good to meet you, Delight, she said with a half smile before turning and continuing along up the river, destination unknown.
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