Blacktail Deer Plateau reporting the patterns row by line

"Well, from description alone it is hard to tell, what it really was," Osprey said after a moment of thought. She spoke like a true pro and was so in the mood of the game that she didn't even realize that she and Mordecai were discussing imaginary things. All in a manner so serious and important, as if they were discussing gamekeeping and dynamics among the pack members.

"I mean - it could have been a dragon - there are several types that dwell in the waters - both out in the open and in enclosed spaces like lakes are. Then there are shapeshifters - you don't know, what they really look like, but they can take whatever shape and form they want," a lot like boggarts did, yet these did it for their own amusement, not to scare people. "Or merewolves and The Big Fish - with capital letters. It's told to be the king of all fish," she laid out the options so that her companion could choose, what fit his story the most.

Or the aforementioned wolf could have simply seen things or hallucinated. Those things also happened frequently.

His head swirled was sent swimming for a moment as Osprey branched out with possibilities. From there, it was perhaps easier to suggest that Mordecai did not know where the line between reality and fantasy seemed to be, because for all intensive purposes who was he to deny their existence? He had not denied the existence of the loa, perhaps much in the same way that he did not deny the possibility that all those things could have existed. Yet logically, perhaps even rationally, he could not help but hold a modicum of doubt that all there was in the world was ahead of them to see.

And so, as she spoke, any questions he would have had were left buried at the bottom of a metaphorical deep sea. "I suppose it could have been any number of those things," he surmised, not entirely sure what would have fit what it was he had seen. It could have been a large fish in the end and nothing more. "I only wish I could have seen it as to give us both a better idea." A faint smile split his features briefly. "What would you call your best guess?"

Part of Osprey hoped that Mordecai would remember and provide her with more details. A sight of scales, fins, even a vague shadow would have worked to make a network of possible guesses. Unfortunately, her companion had only a rumor to offer with no valid proof of whether it was right or not. Going to the lake and having another look was out of question. It was highly unlikely that the Ouroborous wolves would allow access for Osprey to have her quench her curiousity. Even less - that Mordecai an ex-member would be welcomed back with open arms.

"I am sorry, but it's very hard to tell. I would have to see the place myself to make some initial assumptions, but it's not possible, is it?" this was more of a rethorical question. While talking they had arrived to a certain spot in the plateau, where there lied many uprooted trees and there were some, which were broken in half, leaving tall, lifeless and moss covered stumps behind. This was a doing of a storm that had made the mess many months ago. At one particularly big uprooted tree, there was a big pit of sand, and a little lower lied a puddle of stale water that stank.

"We are here," she told Mordecai, having a quick look around. "The home design by trolls. What do you think?"

Her question hung in the air for a moment and if not for the fact that he picked up on it being rhetorical, Mordecai would have faltered for a response. In the past, perhaps it may have been if only for a moment but now, yes, it was quite impossible. For as much as he had liked the vistas and niches tucked away within the Spine, he knew he would more than likely never visit it again. Barring a massive tragedy, he felt that it would always remained claimed. If not by Cara, then someone by her choosing. In a way, it's crown-like indention to the ground suited her far more than it had ever him. And what became of it now, or what it had been, he thought modestly of.

And perhaps luckily for them both, he had no pause for introspection beyond his momentary thought, as they had arrived at their destination. His steps slowed in time with hers, bringing him to stand beside her pale frame as they surveyed the tangle of scenery before them. If not for the storytelling illusions cast, Mordecai would have thought the area rendered inhospitable by a storm. Perhaps a landslide, noting the looming wall of the mountainside beyond the Plateau's claim. But instead he saw it for what they had spoke of — a troll's nest. The putrid remainder of snowmelt and wood lingered well around them.

"It stinks," he commented. Even with the loam beneath their feet, he could not pick up on the grit that he expect sand to have. "I can see why no one ever sees them, I don't imagine anyone would want to hang around here too long. Reminds me of swampland on smell alone." Though admittedly, unspoken, he knew that not all swampland reeked as foul as the patch of earth they had come to. But unknowingly, he didn't realize that this particular smelly patch was only limited to the spot she had brought them to.

It stinks! Osprey chuckled at this choice of words to describe the "troll's nest". Very appropriate for the occasion and a troll - had it been here to hear that - would have felt flattered rather than insulted by this judgement. Stench was one of the characteristics that they themselves were very proud off. And the more fainted animals, dried up flowers and fallen tree leaves they left in their path, the better. A job well done - so to say.

"Well... it is far from what we consider acceptable and nice, isn't it?" she remarked, casting another glance around, taking in the scenery. "But then again... it's someone's home and we should treat it in a polite way," she left him to go and explore the area a bit, occasionally leaning down to sniff at various things that lied in her path. "If you were a troll," she said, while examining the roots of the uprooted tree. "Where would you want to have your nest?"

This time around as she spoke, Mordecai couldn't help but feel as though she were gently chiding him for blatantly insulting the troll's nest. He found it amusing as he branched out to explore a bit himself. It was a short jaunt through the midst of the nests, his pausing less frequent than her own. With the lingering smell of staleness lodged somewhere firmly in his nose, Mordecai wasn't entirely sure what to make of the area. Her question only caused him to furrow his brow as he sought her out, this time finding her around one particular clump of knotted, tangled, and torn roots.

He made a uncertainty noise in his throat, pressing on towards one area that he had been back through. "Maybe this one?" he suggested, eyeing the mass of fallen tree and brambles it had promptly taken with it. The shrubbery jutted out beneath the truck awkwardly, as though it had been trying to escape the entire time. And then, his interest lodged somewhere else. "No, wait, over there, near the edge of all this." Mordecai gestured towards it. "Last place anyone would suspect a troll's nest, right?" The wolves had been drawn in towards the center of the area, so somewhere off center seemed better.

He started towards it, wondering if they'd find anything at all.

Mordecai's first suggestion for the location of his own nest wasn't that bad. Quite curious - really, therefore it made her wonder, if he himself could be a tree or leaf troll. Different from the stinky ones. She put this idea in the drawer with a tag "Good inventions for future use" and closed it. There was a potential for a story.

However, then his attention was drawn to a more remote area, at the very brink of this place and Osprey had to agree that this was a clever choice. A bit too clever for a troll, if she may add, but then again - who said that there couldn't be smart ones among the simple folk? She left the spot she had been exploring and followed Mordecai.

"Probably," she replied. "I would certainly miss it, if I went to look for a troll."

As Osprey came to join him, her words brought out a simple smile to his face.  He thought the positioning clever himself.  Right on the edge of a suggestive abyss, a place where the backyard of the creatures they lived among were right there yet would have never suspected.  It was a fun charade to entertain, he had to admit.  And in a way, one may have thought it was enough to cast speculation about what kind of a creature he also was.  The Spine had also been on the fringes of what he thought to be the negotiable compass of the region.

Even when he tried to move on past that part of history, it still lingered.  These thoughts did not occur to him, however.  "Maybe you should try to mix up your search next time," he suggested jovially.  "Perhaps you'll catch one off guard and be able to give it a chase."  And that was also assuming that trolls were afraid of wolves.  Perhaps they weren't, seeing how they could topple a row of trees.  But then again, seeing also they also hid away in all those nooks and crannies available, maybe they really were.  They should have been, seeing how wolves dominant the food chain there.

His eyes ventured beyond that though, to the way the trees sheared off with the downward incline of the plateau.  He eyed the mountains.  "I bet all the trolls go to the valley in the middle of these mountains.  Have you ever been there?"  He referred to the vale well beyond the borders, but seeing how his first encounter with Osprey had been on the other side of the flatlands, he supposed it was reasonable that she had traveled southward.

Osprey admired the mountains but had never dared to cross them. She preferred to stay in the flatlands, among the lush green of the grass and foliage, dark browns and blacks of the earth and blue of the waters - the colors and very things that meant life and living. There - where gray of the stones and white of the snows ruled - as beautiful and enticing they were, she feared to set her paws on. It was safer to stay here and daydream about, what creatures dwelled there, what secret places did the mountains hide, what it was to meet clouds half-way and take paths that could lead you anywhere.

Her gaze lingered at the distant and snow-covered mountain-tops for a while, thinking about the valley trolls making their way up there to meet and talk and maybe dance. For a moment she wished she was able to follow them. But this thought was a fleeting thing. It appeared and then was flown away like a dead leaf in autumn. "Maybe they do," she eventually replied. "No - I have never been to that side. Never felt the pull that strong. Besides - even on this side of the mountains there are so many places to explore and see," she felt the need to explain herself, even though Mordecai had not asked for it.

"But you sound like an expert about The Other side," she said with a smile. "Have you seen, what's there? What's living there - folk like us or... aliens?"

Much to his surprise, she didn't go venturing in that direction. Truth be told, Mordecai didn't do a lot of adventuring in that direction either. It had fallen under his consideration more so than anything, but for whatever reason the Ostrega had never taken the steps to put himself on the other side of those mountains but once. And that one time had been to leave the region altogether with Harlyn in tow. So when she mentioned aliens, he couldn't help but chuckle a little bit himself. That world for all intents, was alien, but perhaps not at all that different.

"There's normal folk like us there," he said with a shrug. "I haven't really explored much of it, but there's a nice little valley tucked away to our south a bit. Near the wolves of the Spire, or whatever it is that they call their mountain. Beyond that, I want to say I crossed another valley, but wider. Flatlands mostly." He recalled what he could of it, but it also escaped him. He had explored the lands to some length on the other side before he and Harlyn had gone their separate ways.

"There's a few packs way north of here, some of those I think are just on the other side of these mountains. I don't know much about them. Not sure if they have trolls bothering them or not either." Another brief chuckle at their waning charade. "I spent more time along the coasts north of here, though. And to the east. Have you ever seen the ocean?" He brought his gaze around to her then, curious if she had gone as far as the coast that occupied their northern reaching region.

So there was a world on the other side of the mountains and it seemed that it was not that much different from the one they lived in now. Osprey was a little disappointed in learning that, but that was, how life worked. Sometimes there were things in the reality weren't that grand and sometimes it was quite the opposite. Who knew - it was possible that the mountains held a lot of secrets they didn't know. Aliens might have their space station right in front of her and Mordecai's noses and they wouldn't notice a thing, because they would not know what to look for.

"The ocean? Yes, I grew up near one and I also spent few weeks at the Stavanger bay. That is up North," her stay at this pack had been less pleasant than the happy childhood at the Flightless falcons, but it still counted towards experience. The ocean was a grand and marvelous creation. One of those you could never stop to admire. "Did you happen to meet the God of the Seas and Oceans himself too?" she asked him in a playful manner, remembering one of the myths about Greek god her father had shared with her.

At the mention of Stavanger Bay, he felt a momentary pang of emotion. What that emotion was wavered in the brief interlude, ranging somewhere from guilt to anger, to even sorrow. It angered him that the wolves of the Bay had let something happen to his brother and his family, but there was also guilt that he hadn't been there to do something about it. That instead of going there when he had left the Spine, he had ventured outward altogether. But it passed readily in lieu of a question, and the question was exactly the distraction that he was seeking.

"God of the ocean?" he prompted curiously. "I don't think I did, but maybe I didn't spend enough time there. I take it that you've met him?" He knew there would be another story lingering behind that and he pried tentatively. Osprey had always been forthcoming with tales and honestly, there was much about the shoreline and sea that Mordecai did not know. Her experience along that walk of life was far greater than his own.

Osprey didn't know that Mordecai was related to the bay wolves and that her little, best buddy Charon was - in fact - a descendent of the desert wolves she had been told about earlier. Therefore the emotions that probably crossed her packmate's expression in the moment of brief silence that followed, were lost to her. She had politely averted her gaze and, while waiting for his answer, was observing a squirrel running up a tree in the distance with hungry eyes.

The mention of the god, brought her attention back to him and she smiled, feeling flattered that he thought she had met the Great King of the waters herself. Unfortunately - no. Either because he didn't exist or he was too busy to appear to everyone, who wanted to see him. Or - just like with many of the magical folk - you had seen him, but had had no idea of, what you had been witnessing. Because just like all great gods, he too could take any form he wished.

"I would be - of course - all proud and happy to tell you that - yes - we have met and that we even had some adventures together, but... nope," she finished the little charade with a laugh. "It would be interesting to meet him though. Any god in that matter - I would have so many questions to ask them," and that was probably, why they never appeared before Osprey. She simply talked and thought too much. "But... I remember you telling about those spirits? Loos? Have you met any of them lately?" she furrowed her brow, trying to recall, what exactly it had been.

Lmfao, I saw "loos" and my brain went TOILET SPIRITS.

His hopes climbed up, only to be dashed briefly. A small laugh left him as they stood there, amused that not even Osprey could speak fondly of this oceanic god she had referred to. Now when it came to the matters of gods and other spiritual beings, Mordecai still remained undecided about such things. He had never encountered them, though he held a faint curiosity about them. Because of that, he did not dispel their existence either.

"Loas?" came his rhetorical response, merely correcting her take on them. "Honestly, I don't know if I have. I'm afraid a lot of what I knew about them has escaped me as well." That too, stirred old memories of Lecter and Jinx, and also of the Spine. "I suppose there's some here, if I recall they exist in basically everything. Little spirits." He shrugged, only then giving a glance to their immediate surroundings. It would have been nice to have learned more of their existence, but that too he supposed was lost to time and change.

ooc: wow, I didn't know that these existed. Btw way - I was browsing to look for the exact meaning of "party pooper" and found this - http://3girls1apple.com/wp-content/uploa...Pooper.jpg - this could be a toilet spirit as well. :D


Osprey had somehow been convinced that Mordecai believed in these spirits and therefore knew a lot of them, but it turned out that she had been mistaken. Oh, well... she wasn't going to hear about them today, but this left a nice place for her imagination to fill in the blank spots. The concept of every little thing having it's own spirit was exciting after all and that maybe... every living being was connected in some way. Just think of all the opportunities.

"Have you heard about the so called home spirits?" she asked, suddenly remembering a different old tale from her childhood. "The ones that dwell, wherever a family finds and has a home? They look after them and keeps them safe in many ways, but can be mischievous and nasty sometimes too... I am wondering, if the plateau has such spirit too? What do you think?" Mordecai had proved so far that he was flexible, when it came to having conversations. He could easily discuss serious matters and show interest and dedication, when they talked about the imaginary things.

In return, she regaled him once more with another tale of a different sort of spirit. His attention honed in carefully, unquestionably interested and curious of the images she spun up from simple words. Her wonderings aloud brought him to another note of intrigue and he too wondered, if such places could house a being like that. If anything, Mordecai imagined that it was probable.

"I'd like to think so. The Plateau is very calm, it seems," though he hardly knew of its own sordid history. He had never heard anything bad about the place, had no bad ties to it from what he could tell. "I wonder though, could those spirits also let in bad things?" Perhaps that had been what had gone wrong with the Spine, perhaps these home spirits that she spoke of were really just the loa or some otherworldly higher power that had dictated how things would go. But even though he balked at the idea briefly, because things also seemed so random.

But who really knew?

"Ummm... I think that these "home spirits" adjust very much to the people they take care of," Osprey said after a moment of thought. In other words, they were just as much the creation of all the pack members, as an independent beings themselves. "They pick up our moods and in a way... they are very much like us," and therefore different from other spirits. "It probably sounds far-fetched and obscure," she added with a smile and cast her gaze at her feet - something she did, when she felt a little ashamed, when her line of thoughts weren't that easy to explain in a way that the other party could understand them.

"And in regards of protecting... I think that they can do as much as we let them and not more because... well, bad things most often happen, when we subconciously invite them in," again difficult to explain, but there was always a reason, why something happened to you and why other things happened to other people. And more often the fault was to find in the person itself and not those around him or her.

He hadn't considered that before — subconsciously letting the bad things in. It seemed somewhat unavoidable at times, but that was also when an idle mind had too much to consider. Perhaps it was of no wonder why he had felt in better spirits when he had been traveling, there was simply too many things to see, too many sights and sounds to pay attention. Very much like the present, where those fleeting moments of emotion and memory were just there and gone in an instant.

"I never thought of it that way." He took comfort in that notion that something was out there, protecting them all. If not for that, would their paths have even crossed? Would wanderlust have such a pull if things were far more dangerous? They were not a hunted sort, not as badly any more. "I don't think it sounds too far-fetched either. A little faith in something helps once in a while. I think it makes sense anyway." A grin spread easily onto his features.

It was easier to say "we invite the bad things in" than actually catching the exact moment, when it happened. The sad thing was that people rarely saw the bad stuff coming and thought about causes and reasons later on. It was no easy task either - because even a character trait that you possessed could mean such a difference in preventing the bad. For a moment Osprey thought, whether there was a single person in the world, who could avoid any kind of trouble by having a natural instinct and thinking ahead of every action. Maybe... but then again was that kind of life any fun? Wasn't it plagued by the constant fear of losing the control over the things?

No... if given a choice, Osprey would live as she had lived before, not go against the flow of events. Even trouble was worth, if you learned something new in the end. The fact that Mordecai didn't think that this idea was too bad, made her heart swell with joy. It was nice to be reassured now and then. "So... the home spirit of the plateau... what do you think it could look and be like? The very first thing that comes to your mind?" she invited him to play a game of creativity.

He went silent as he thought about this home spirit, wondering just what it was that made the Plateau distinctly a home. He wondered what it was that had brought the wolves to claim it in the first place and knew well enough that it was not Dante who founded it. He presumed that it was the wolves before him, perhaps even Osprey, who had been apart of that. As his silence drew out longer, he began to form ideas and opinions of just what that spirit embodied.

"I think it's like the deer that roam this place," he decided at last. "That's where the name comes from, isn't it? The black-tailed deer," he queried with a cant of his head. "It's something I've only seen around these parts anyway." At least in that region, that much he could say. He knew the deer existed elsewhere, but it was something concrete to go by. His attempt at imagination was finding something symbolic and the deer seemed like the perfect thing to go with.

"A deer," Osprey thought that this was a neat idea. Home spirit could reflect something that was characteristic to the area. Something that made it different from the rest of the wilds. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to picture the spirit looking exactly like every other deer, yet not exactly. Just by looking at it you knew that this was no ordinary animal, but you could not pinpoint, why it was so. An inner feeling. The deer reminded her also stories about the forest spirits that took form of a magnificent prey, luring determined hunters far away from their lands and disappearing the moment they thought that they had got it. Would a home spirit do such a thing?

"Or it could be a wolf... Just think - a late afternoon in autumn, fallen leaves, frost and the mist setting in... then you walk and suddenly a wolf emerges, seemingly out of nowhere. Friendly and curious, asking, how are you doing and, where are you going... And you have a feeling like you know this fellow for a very long time, but can't remember how and when have you met before," she spoke, drawing a possible scene of meeting a home spirit. "Do you think a squirrel would be a good form for such a spirit? Or a crow... I have always thought these two being sort of... jovial creatures. And a home spirit - if not upset - should be that way too," it was interesting to play with the ideas.

She seemed humored in his response, though when she spoke with her own the imagery was much more visual. It must have been interesting, to be a weaver of stories in the way that she was. He liked that about her very much and in a way, he was thankful for the friendship that he was finding with her. It was a friendship he was beginning to discover with the other wolves at the Plateau as well, though his friendship with Dante was long standing.

"I think those would make interesting home spirits," he opted to say, trying to picture a spirit in the form of a wolf. Even a squirrel, at that. "Do you think they'd be like ghosts? You know, all see-through and stuff," and if they were, then they would certainly be a sight! Provided the being who saw them believed in them, that was.

"Maybe... why not?" Osprey nodded in agreement. The good thing about the Big Book of Myths and Magical creatures was that there weren't any set rules of, how a creature should look or act exactly. Of course, there were some general patterns - such as jackalope would always be a hare with antelope horns or a giant would be GIANT, not a little midget - but the rest was left to your own imagination. You could stretch it and mold whichever way you liked.

"I have heard that these home spirits can be invisible too and appear only, when they wish so," she added another - what she considered - ghostlike feature. "Now and then they can play pranks on you for the sake of having fun," she grinned and for a split of second she thought she caught a glimpse of the spirit they had invented together. It sat in a nearby tree, for some reason it had big, round, yellow eyes but with a kind glint in them. The spirit smiled and then disappeared. "So... it is almost finished. Now it needs a name. Do you have any suggestions?"

"A name?" he prompted, though it may have been entirely rhetorical. Finding a name for their little invention was more difficult than he anticipated it being, though he had quickly delved into thought about it. It was perhaps somewhere during that time that he realized what kind of a tale they were spinning and wondered for a moment, if it was a story that Osprey would retell later on. If anything, this added a sense of pressure to the naming convention. He tilted his head to the side a bit, not entirely sure what kind of a name was befitting of a home spirit. He hadn't actually thought any spirits to have names.

"I don't know, this is hard," he commented with a laugh. Did a name inspire what kind of a spirit it would be? Granted, his own name probably didn't inspire what kind of a wolf he was, though it suited him. "Maybe Cloud? Clouds are like spirits," he explained poorly. The words for explanation just wouldn't come the way that he wanted to and in turn, Mordecai brought his gaze back to Osprey to hear her thoughts. Perhaps she would have a much better name to suit their creation.

"Cloud?" Osprey thought for a little while and then told her verdict. "It's not bad, quite fitting, but it needs something more." She thought about Blue willow, who could have been named either Blue or Willow, but it would not have been the same. Therefore their home spirit needed another word added to his current name. To spice things up a bit so to say. She cast a glance around, searching for something in the environment that would inspire her, but it wasn't as easy as she had thought.

"Man, I can't come up with anything. What a shame..." she sighed after her first attempt to find a suitable second name failed. "I considered adding a "Green" to it, because there ain't any green clouds and this would make him extraordinary, but somehow it doesn't match. Maybe instead of being a Cloud Green or Green cloud he could be... a Cloudereen?" she looked at Mordecai, chuckling at this random idea.