scout thread if anyone wants to jump in
"Faen det!" Lagertha screeched as the rabbit bounded away, disappearing before she could even think of catching it. Stamping the ground with a dove grey paw, the Valkyrie glanced upwards to Valhalla.
"Odin, must you curse me so?" The shield-maiden chuckled, glancing away from the heavens.
The place didn't seem able to decide what it wanted. Behind her, the ground was hot from the volcano where Sleeping Dragon resided. Before her, the ground was half frozen from some far off source. A glacier, Laggy guessed. With her food having escaped she began to pad home, stopping to explore the area every now and again.
Menta had traveled in a zig zag pattern as she explored further out from her last Banner run-in. It was easy to get enchanted with one segment of land even before it melted into another equally mesmerizing and often times completely different ecosystem. The cream wolf had not felt the need to rush out of any of them - yet - but instead kept a steady pace as mystery turned into mental maps.
A glacier, at least, the Colorado wolf had seen before - but never like this. The glacier in of itself was unremarkable when she compared it to the ones back home, but Menta could not recall one being so close to something that seemed so -- well, hot. Her paws stopped her as she squinted towards just a bit farther; surely enough, the ground terrain was one of sparse rockiness that she had come to associate with a heated climate. Menta had never seen a volcano before, and so simply looked over it with a quick glance and mislabeled it an ordinary mountain.
And so it was that she stood, head tilted as she looked out into the distance so much that she almost missed another wolf coming towards her direction. The lone wolf snapped back to attention, her yellow eyes taking a moment to refocus and nostrils flaring wide to get as much information as possible about this stranger.
Hello, Menta called out plainly to the increasingly larger shape of a female. Undoubtedly the other had already seen her, and for that she mentally kicked herself, but the lone wolf hoped being cordial would emphasize that she meant no harm or offense by her ignorance.
The large blazing white female stood at the threshold of an unfamiliar place. She could scent unfamiliar others on the wind and didn't want to intrude on their territory without permission. She threw her head up and let a long howl emanate from her throat and mist into the cool air, telling any others nearby that she was here, but not intending any harm. She tamped the ground with her paws restlessly, as her meeting with other wolves recently had soured her normally outgoing attitude. She listens, ears perked against the wind, for any kind of reply. Suddenly a rabbit flits by Saed's legs. She jumped and instantly snapped the animal in her maw.
Ha! A snack while i wait, i suppose. She thought to herself. She hadn't eaten in a long time and her stomach seemed to roar at the thought of some food. She settles onto her belly to devour her lucky catch, her tongue running over her canines in anticipation.
because why not?
With a lot on her mind, Thuringwethil tries to keep herself busy. Mostly she sticks to the borders, circling and remarking, if only because she could avoid Wildfire. The mere thought put an ache in her chest she hadn’t been expecting and all she wanted was to see the girl, if only to make sure she’s okay even if they don’t speak, but she occasionally slips that from thought as she follows the scent of others she might begin to follow. First, she notes the newest wolf of Drageda, but it’s soon that other scents had begun to mingle into it.
Thuringwethil’s jaw tightens as a howl called out with an undistinguished message that gives her a little concern. Leaving behind Sleeping Dragon territory, the large leader—with a meal or two to account for the last week or so, more than usual—began her trip onto the ridge. She spots the grey colored wolf up ahead, and nearby a white wolf, and on the run, another, and it’s not enough to give her an answer for the situation as she draws up behind her subordinate.
I am so confused reading this.
Lag looked up as the first called out to her, smiling in welcome.
"Greetings. I'm Lagertha, who might you be?" Her voice was cheery, heavily laced with the accent of Kattegat. The second wolf who howled drew her attention, brow furrowing in confusion.
It was a white wolf at the edge of the clearing, who had apparently felt the need to announce her presence.
"Ta fuck is she howling fer?" Lag questioned, knowing the other stranger couldn't hear from so far away. A hearty laugh left her, just as a third appeared. The dark form got closer revealing that it was Thuringwethil, Heda as Gyda had named her.
While Laggy didn't know what the hell a Heda was, she guessed it had something to do with Thuring's culture. Since Gyda had said it was the same as being a Dronning of sorts, that must mean Thuringwethil was a queen as well in her own right. Lagertha showed her the same respect she would have shown a queen, dipping her head in submission.
"Hello Heda." Lag greeted, the unfamiliar word fumbling from her tongue. It was an effort to respect the other culture of Sleeping Dragon, even if delivered in a novice way.
you're telling me.. hm.
[size=11.6667px%]Lagertha, the female pleasantly introduced herself as. It was a bizarre name to Menta, having never heard anything even similar to it, but she affixed it in her memory. Her mind pulled it out slowly until she was certain she had the sounds right enough to say, Nice to meet you, Lagertha, I'm Menta. There, it sounded mostly as the other had made it sound. The accent had been just as drastically foreign to the cream, but thankfully the words coming with it were distinguishable with only some minor mental work.[/size]
Someone she knows near here? Menta guessed, not altogether sure that was the correct answer, her attention also briefly taken away towards the other wolf. Menta could smell Lagertha well enough now that she caught the scents of many wolves on her, enough wolves that it was readily apparent that Lagertha was claimed by a pack - but didn't mind a wandering lone wolf, if there was laughter to give. The cream gave her a wide grin in response to her amused laughter.
Yet another wolf joined their company quickly, and Lagertha's attitude changed to one of submission and respect. Menta followed suit out of habit - and necessity, especially if they were so close to the pack that these two both belonged to - and moved her head lower. The new wolf did not speak to either of them, although it seemed obvious that Lagertha was familiar by the - title? name? Menta was unsure - response given and same wolf pack smells. The cream was aware that she was an odd one out here - although perhaps not the oddest, judging by the other lone wolf in their presence.
Hello, she tried again, for the first time it had garnered a positive response. Perhaps the newest wolf was the one being howled for?
Just gonna fade Saed out.
She misses a bit of the exchange upon her approach, but her wolf greets her with a dip of her head and Thuringwethil acknowledges it with a slight drop of her nose, but resuming her posture in the presence of a loner. She doesn't hold the same scent as those of the grotto, for a grotto wolf this close to her own would mean certain death. A straggling wolf close to her borders, even in the am territories surrounding, give her a little unease with all the trouble they've had since their genesis.
The other portrays a similar submissive respect, enough to please Thuringwethil that action isn't yet required. It isn't as if their borders lay directly behind her but with short enough distance that back up wouldn't take long.
"Hello," she says with an even tongue, glancing toward Lagertha. Her accent faintly reminds her of Gyda but how much she struggles with the common tongue of the Teekon wolves, she isn't sure. Occasionally she bears a similar weight but immersing herself in it in Sleeping Dragon has been beneficial but the comfort of her own, just as she sure Gyda and Lagertha feel, cannot be matched.
"Do you have a reason for being here?" she asks the nameless wolf once her dark steely eyes return to the stranger.
totally missed that it was my turn to reply, whoopsies!
Laggy fell silent after Thuring began to question the wolf across from them, she hadn't gotten around to it yet herself. The wolf across the clearing seemed uninterested in them, departing swiftly. Perhaps she was afraid of groups of wolves, or maybe she had heard Lag's jest and it had offended her. Either way there was no place for her in Sleeping Dragon, not if she feared groups or was overly sensitive.
The wolf before them remained, seeming a bit cautious but that was probably good sense. If you forgot your fear of death as a lone wolf you were stupid. Lagertha smiled encouragingly at her, silently trying to let her know that it was okay. They weren't technically on Dragon land so as long as Menta didn't do anything to offend the Heda she would be okay.
DRAGIN LAND DRAGON LAND LETS ALL GO TO DRAGON LAAAAANNNDDD!
Menta noted the sudden and rushed departure of the bizarrely howling wolf but any curiosity she had surrounding that female left just as swiftly. Her attention now was on the two females near her, especially the one called Heda, and the growing realization that she also might not be particularly welcome here. The cream wolf held her dipped head low and steady, as the continuing display of submission had seemed to do her some good so far.
I was curious about the area, she replied, not confident that it was truly the best of answers but at the very least an honest one. Menta was curious about all areas, really, but this one had drawn her in with its dichotomous nature even as she remained ignorant of just exactly what the volcano was. While it continued to intrigue her, the pressing matter of whether or not this new wolf wanted her gone superceded her interest for now.
While there was no great cluster of wolf markings around the place marking it unmistakedly as theirs, Menta also assumed that it was no great coincidence that these two were packmates. Their pack lands she figured were nearby, and pack wolves often did not take kindly to lone wolves lingering too close to their borders. The lone wolf took notice of Lagertha's smile and tried to give a couple low wags of her tail even as she kept it tightly down in its submissive state. Menta was a friendly wolf, but above all else she had been trained to be obedient. If she was told to shoo, she would waste no time and shoo.
The straggler answers with a generic response Thuringwethil isn't too fond of, especially close to her home. She can't police much outside of her borders, despite her best efforts—keeping wolves out of the maplewood has been proven difficult if she can't live there—but the effort is there. Giving them the information is the best she can do in a pinch to deter them elsewhere, giving them each a taste of her legacy before moving on. She'd warned one wolf about having come to close and changed the course of a handful of others, she doesn't expect this to be different.
"There are some wolves that would be killed this close to my home," she says with a quirk of her eyebrow. Her scent reminds her of something, perhaps someone she's met before, but it doesn't come to the forefront of her mind. "Lucky for you, you don't have their scent, but perhaps you should take your curiosity elsewhere. Just in case." It is the only warning Thuringwethil will offer, giving her the benefit of the doubt against being a grotto wolf with the familiar flare she seems to carry.
Lagertha glanced at the stranger, urging her silently not to argue. It would be best if the cream female just moved along quietly, letting Thuring and Lag return home peacefully. No blood would have to be shed; clean, simple.
The Shield-maiden moved to her Alpha's side just a bit, making her alliances known. If Menta fought, Laggy couldn't help her. She was tied through obligation to Gyda not to defy the Heda, to accept her the same as she had her Dronning.
Not the best answer indeed.
Menta had been cautious and ready for this moment, knowing that it was generally was in the best interest of a pack to keep stranger wolves out of their general vicinity. Too close, she noted to herself, not altogether sure where their pack was but at least able to fix that in their mind. The cream wolf, head still down low, nodded slightly to show that she understood before wheeling her body around for her departure.
Since Menta wasn't entirely confident as to where she should be going, she figured that exactly where she came from was as good as place as any. That was a direction where she at least knew she hadn't smelled the pack these two were from, and she kept her body low as she made her way. The pace wasn't quite a sprint, but it was quick enough that she hoped it showed she took the Heda's "advice" seriously.
Lagertha moves to her side and the other bows enough to indicate her understanding, Thuringwethil's head squares above her shoulders. She watches the cream wolf turn away, presumably the way she'd came, and it isn't until she's out of sight and her scent from the area fades that she relaxes. She swings her head toward the other wolf and one twitch of her eyebrow to extend the invitation to go home.