Alpine Lake you don't need a wristband
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#1
All Welcome 
tegan took off, howling to let @Towhee and @Raven know that he was headed out to do some searching for @Screech himself. or at least just do some exploring. he was old enough by now to do what he wanted, so he didn't wait for permission. X would've likely told towhee he'd left by the time he was too far gone to really retrieve. so whatever, all was good. and it wasn't like he'd find him, or... or that he'd know what to do when he found him... whatever, that was future tegan problem. he was just taking some initiative and going to do something. that was what being responsible was right? 

again, whatever, he didn't have time to think out the specifics.

he took off for a while, finding no real traces or trails to follow, just pieces for a little while... and then nothing. it was discouraging, maybe, but tegan really didn't think he'd find the asshole anyway. so... oh well. he paused at a lake, kinda high up or something weird, bending his head to drink from it, ears pricked as he listened on for any signs of anything or anyone. on alert

tags for reference... backdated to -before- towhee had actually left and found screech...
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#2
He had seen a glimpse of the coast but ignored every tempting pull to go near it. It was not an easy thing to do; the ocean enthralled him, a curious body of water too vast to see the other side. It was powerful as much as it was interesting, a delicacy when he had very much been immersed in a world of mountains and valleys and roaming plains.

The day proved to be warming and too humid to fit his tastes however, so it was higher climes he sought to break the monotony. One could reason it was also to gain the vantage point to see the sea, but all high points offered something of interest—it could have been reasoned, and perhaps he did this, that he was searching for the next point to venture to. Having left @Nyx once again to her own devices for a spell, he had made the climb with ease.

Some time later, it was the inset lake that garnered his attention. A cool gust brought it to him first by scent, stirring thirst alive and reeling him in towards the rocky shore. He had nearly touched the water himself when he caught sight of another. A pale figure, tucked away before jutting spars of stone that almost resembled their very coat, someone who clearly had the same mindset he did to quench a burdening thirst. Dirge offered him a chuff a moment before his tongue touched the water; with a small portion of the lake between them, he saw no reason to consider the wolf a threat. His eyes however, kept watch.

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the sound of pawsteps grabbed tegan's attention, and he looked up to spot a reddish brown wolf of pretty impressive size. the male stared, head raising and ears cupping forward as the stranger gave a small chuff of acknowledgement. tegan was silent, nose twitching, as he eyed the guy curiously.

when he had his fill, tegan spoke up-- cause he wasn't good at keeping to himself, clearly. "hey!" he called to the guy, who truthfully wasn't all that far away, his voice probably could've been quieter. he took a few steps closer, paw raised as he continued to wait for a response. "you live nearby?" he asked, the same question he always asked strangers when he was in a foreign place. no one ever did, everyone was always traveling.
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#4
Their separation was not meant to last, not that he had anticipated being left to his own company for long. Wolves were social creatures after all; Dirge curtailed his drinking as the pale wolf began to draw near. The last few drops that rolled away were almost snared by his snaking tongue as he briefly considered the question asked.

"Not exactly," he said, which may as well have fell in par with what his counterpart was already familiar with. The world seemed rife with the traveling sort and had that been on the table Dirge would have thought the world better for it.

But he was familiar with bits of the world around them and thus wondered if this chance meeting were like so many others he had—"Are you looking for something? A pack?"—and had already forged ahead to cut out the nitty gritty of small talk. Yet for as seemingly kept as the wolf was, perhaps it was not a pack he sought.

So he corrected: "Or directions?"
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#5
tegan shook his head wildly and furiously. hell no! was this guy joking? tegan was-- well, he should just tell him! "directions? i'm the best scout there is! i don't need directions," he said with a little puff of his chest. of course, to this grown ass man tegan probably looked like he was 4 months old, but tegan thought he looked pretty powerful in this stance.

"i'm just 'splorin," he continued, dialing back all of... whatever that just was, childish pride, mostly. tegan was, after all, still young, despite all of his escapades. "i was just wondering if you know what this place is-- like, a lake, i guess, but if you know anything about it? i just wanna take back information to my pack," he clarified. of course, tegan can easily be like 'yeah, lake to the northeast', but that's sorta lame... right?
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Another scout, only this time with more enthusiasm than his predecessors. It did not belie his youth by any means but rather emboldened it, much to the chagrin of Dirge. With ears to splay back briefly at the boasted claims—which were cast out just as swift as they came—his expression could have been summed up in a flicker of not impressed. Right. Best scout ever.

"Beats me," he said, his gaze shifting to the breadth of the lake and its raised location. "It's just a lake with a good vantage point." Not that the best scout ever needed to be told that of course, but he managed to hold his tongue on that comment. Though tempted sorely, his interests fanned out to what else the boy may have been inclined to spill, and his gaze rounded back to him inquisitively.

"How's the path ahead? You came from that way I presume."
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#7
yeah yeah, tegan was all bark no bite, all talk no walk, all 'I'M THE BEST IN THE WORD' no actually being the best in the world. but his ego was endearing, truthfully, dirge just didn't understand it, surely. nothing good came out of the guys mouth, leaving tegan's ears to flick with disappointment. damn. yeah, maybe that's all it was. but still, tegan liked when he went places and met a wolf with a story about the place, and it never hurt to ask. but, whatever, this guy was boring. lame. who cares.

"not bad, weather's been hit or miss but no crazy obstacles... a swamp, maybe, but it was easy to get through," tegan told the guy, tail waving at the sharing information. "where'd you come from?"
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#8
The swamp, he recalled that from some venture that had made him steer clear. Nothing good came out of such places, far too cumbersome to navigate and often not worth the expense of energy... but it gave him the bearings he sought; this was the doorstep of the hinterlands and all their untamed glory. It was perhaps the place he best associated with his parting from Saor and from there the roads diverged into far too many options he had not yet explored. He may have been inclined to explore them, but ultimately he would not drag Nyx along that far unless she pressed for it.

Doing so would remove him from his opportunity to encounter Hydra and rather curiously he found he was not keen on slipping away yet. But that was a matter better left explored when the day had passed and night sequestered him to rest; for when silence settled and his mind would wander.

"Nowhere interesting as here to be honest," he said, almost evasive, "but somewhere similiar to this. Somewhere warmer, less damp, and very far away. But you must live in the valleys below," and briefly he wondered where it was he remembered a pack being. The autumn of the year prior seemed a world away, packed beneath a winter far more sordid for others than himself.
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#9
hah, dude was totes wrong. Well, kinda. Dude was kinda totes wrong. ”I live on the plateau uuuuhhh—“ tegan began, turning to look back from the way he came— there were too many forests in the way, and therefore it wasn’t visable from here’s (I’m assuming anyway idk). ”we’ll you can’t see it, but it’s that way.” and then, with a smug kind of shrug— since this guy didn’t even KNOW the kind of drama he saw, like seriously, redhawks especially had the most interesting pack— tegan nodded. ”yeah, the wilds are pretty damn cool, that’s why I wanna learn as much as I can about every place I go,” he replied. Well, that and the fact that tegan was, in the most endearing way, nosey as fuck.
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#10
Plateaus weren't the most common piece of landscape around, but they did stick out. Unable to recall if he had ever seen such a place out that way, the best he could do was file it away. Should his journey take him westward more, he would make sure to slip by their claim with space to spare. He had done well this time to avoid places where he recalled their kin to lay claim to and thus had avoided conflict so far. But it was inevitable he would one day stumble upon it; hopefully it would be of his own accord than misfortune at the helm.

He could applaud the young man's desire to see and learn, however.

"If it's learning you want from the lands, you're welcome to accompany me for a spell," he decided to offer—perhaps against his better judgement. "I plan to go back the way I came, and I know more of the lands there than here." At least as far as how to rank them by interest; outside of Moonspear and some of their questionable neighbors, he lacked names for the territories. But that did not matter to him much, as he thought the sights enough to take in alone. Surely, he thought, he could put up with a rambunctious youth as well.
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"like on a journey? that'd be so rad--" tegan began with the most enthusiasm about anything he'd had in a while. a journey with this guy? who was a little lame, maybe, but he seemed to be knowledgable and actually, the dude spoke real proper like... @Ceara actually might like him. maybe he'd let her know about the dude-- even though he seemed to be traveling a lot and... maybe that wasn't the best companion. whatever? dude could totally like, hit it and quit it or something.

anyway. 

the stranger said 'back the way i came', which meant what? tegan had asked where he'd come from the the dude just sorta gave him a riddle to solve. which he was not doing. where'd he come from? where'd he go? god damn it. tegan really wanted to fuckin take off with this guy. just for a spell, hehe. but how long would that take? he'd only sorta let everyone know where he was going. what happened if he got lost? pulled an orca? too soon despite tegan's actual rambunctious and sorta trainwreckish decision making-- he thought of all that had happened in the territory lately and... thought better of just running off into the sunset with mr. prince charming. so he frowned.

"i should actually head back home after this. i'm sorta on a search mission and i found nothin-- my alpha's gonna worry," he explained with a small furrow of his brow, "but if you're ever in the area again and need an accomplice-- i'll be around." i'm proud of tegan for knowing that word. also, bold of him to assume this guy would be willing to go out of his way to pick up sir asshole and drag him around for a week...
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#12
For a moment, Dirge genuinely thought he had a taker to his plans, however vague they were. But even Rome wasn't built in a day, so when the boy admitted he couldn't, it did not surprise him. It was the same story over and over again but at least he had acquired the sour taste enough not to inwardly recoil about it.

His furry shoulders rolled in a shrug instead.

"Fair enough," he said, "perhaps our paths will cross again in the future." Chances were, should he decide to hang around, they would. It was tempting to push on and see where the world would take him, but he also had more on his plate to consider. Nyx had wanted away from the coast, she needed her time to heal. Or grieve. Maybe spend all that time regretting; he didn't know and didn't say. But admittedly, his time on his own left him with more dauntless, selfish aspects.

"What do they call you, hm? Scout?"

He smiled at his own joke, but how ironic it would have been.
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#13
"i hope so," tegan said, letting out some real genuine emotion to the guy. i mean tegan had been pretty honest and obnoxious this whole conversation, but he typically liked to keep wolves guessing. 

he snorted. "they should!" he told him with a waving tail, "but no, my name's tegan, tegan blackthorn." a good clean name. the guy was so posh, tegan almost called himself by his full real name to impress him. but i forgot how to spell it so, nah. "what about you?"
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Tegan. Easy enough to remember, to associatr a name with a face. Not that the boy was forgettable either, it wasn't like it was every day he came across someone boasting that they were the best scout ever. While the jury remained out om that case, their dissolving meeting was stumbling over the usual introductions.

"I'm Dirge," he said, traces of his smile still lingering. He sure their paths would cross again eventually, at least if Tegan hoped to hold onto that boast of being the best scout ever. "Good luck with your task," he went on to offer, affording the boy a chance to excuse himself if he so desired. The day was still young; either of them could cover ample ground if they chose.

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"dope," replied tegan, committing the name to memory. it'd be nice to maybe have someone to travel with in the future. then again, maybe he'd never see the dude again. he kinda hoped he would though... ugh, whatever, only time would tell.

he'd totally tell ceara about this though. 

with a wave of his tail and a bright little smile, tegan said, "a'ight, i'll see you around man, thanks!" and then he dipped. goodbye posh ass dude, hope my cousin gets the golden opportunity to bang you.
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Only time would tell was certainly the point to take from it all, though whether or not he would have the opportunity to cross paths with Tegan again was truly anyone's guess. He was an unusual fellow, a colorful creature by way of personality when so much had been so serious. It was a welcome break from the monotony he had been enveloped in. As the boy receded from whence he came, Dirge resumed his venture along the stony shore of the broad lake with little fanfare to follow.