Wolf RPG

This might be it.

They'd wandered quite a ways as a group of four now, @Figment and @Blueberry (assuming she left the island) alongside she and Bronco. It was a lot of fun seeing the new places, but as winter set in and their group got larger, even Fennec was getting restless.

No place they passed through hit the mark so far. They either were too open, too close to other claims, or did not have the security that Bronco was looking for. The last forest had been hard for Fennec to leave. It had the thick atmosphere she loved and was a gold mine of medicinal plants. She could tell even with the little plant life they had right now.

She was lucky. Even though there was no bordering mountain, Bronco had said he spotted one in the distance. She had to take his word for it, but apparently, here they were... standing in a neighboring forest, one that rested at the foot of a towering peak.

Hmm. I'm not getting any ghost vibes. She drew it out playfully, circling a nearby tree and taking in the scents of the place. It wasn't bad.

The air was still, and the forest quiet. It was bright, once they moved past the evergreens that stood like sentries along the edge of the forest, where the sunlight fell down through bare branches and dappled the snow. His ear twitched when he heard a rabbit frisk away nearby, and he licked his lips. 

Fennec had been delighted to find the valley full of plants nearby- some dormant, he figured, and he couldn't tell one twig from the next when they lacked their leaves in wintertime. But his mate seemed convinced that the place was full of herbs, which would be very useful to her. A paradise for a healer, but...It'd felt too open, too exposed. They'd need shelter from the elements, and they would have little advantage trying to stalk prey animals out in the open. And while he had seen a mountain crumble and create devastation more than once, he still felt drawn to a life lived in the lee of something natural that could protect them from invasion. 

So the forest- albeit quiet and apparently lacking in the macabre department- felt like had potential. His instincts had already begun begging him to find a place for them to settle down and nest. He could smell other wolves on the wind as they travelled; part of him wanted nothing more than to sequester himself and his mate deep within the forest, away from where anyone else could get to them. 

"Maybe they're just shy." He said. "Listen to how quiet it is," He said, falling silent for a moment, to illustrate his point. In his mind, of course, something haunted wouldn't be necessarily moaning and wailing- but quiet...Quiet so as to lure spirits in. Quiet enough so that only those who actually listened could hear. "C'mon. Do your witchy thing...I'll find you somethin' to eat here now in a minute, if you'll do a read on this forest for us." He entreated her.

She'd thought maybe it might be fun to take the places they considered and test them, just to see what signs she got. She never expected Bronco's enthusiasm though. It was catchy.

Fennec wouldn't describe the place as quiet, but nothing ever was. She could hear the branches overhead and around, Bronco breathing next to her, and even a distant sound of water. (Another good sign). But she had stopped when he did and stood stock still, taking in the feel of it. Now she huffed out a small laugh.

You check out the food situation, I'll see what kind of weird secrets this place has hidden. Or, at the very least, how our luck might run. She had never fully bought into her own "magic", but she had enough of a taste for superstition that she could base some of her opinion of this place on the feel she got.

She took a breath and listened to see if he'd stick around for it. She didn't mind an audience, but it wasn't exactly a spectacle.

"Aright," He replied- as if he needed much prompting to go and explore this forest which, in comparison to everywhere else they'd been, finally felt like something familiar. 

At first, he simply plodded along, taking note of the squirrels in the trees that chattered at him as he past- as if they'd never seen a wolf before. Through a break in the trees he caught sight of sudden movement- and watched as a small herd of deer went bounding off. They'd spotted him before he'd seen them, and it took him a few moments, squinting to get a glimpse of them between the trees, to realize they were actually elk. A good sign, he thought- elk generally roamed in huge herds that numbered in the hundreds. If there were elk here, there were likely also rocky mountain sheep or mountain goats on mount Apikuni. 

There was a stream as well- or maybe it was a river, just a bit narrower than he might have expected a stream to be. It didn't look like it was completely frozen and his thoughts were confirmed when he watched a muskrat pop out of the water with a root, and sit on the surface, gnawing at it. Not wanting to risk his life out on the ice, he left the creature to be- and instead set his mind to tracking down a rabbit. 

What he'd end up returning with was a wild turkey he'd found in a small clearing. With the small gaggle of turkeys (or whatever a group of turkeys was called- a buffet?) foraging through the snow, Bronco'd been able to sneak up to the edge of the small clearing and catch one before it could heft its feathery body into the air. 

He carried it back to Fennec, quite pleased with what he'd found. He dropped it to the ground at her feet. "One of the ugliest birds I ever seen, but it smells delicious!" He said.

While Bronco left to find something to eat, Fennec thought on what she wanted to know. The big question was what their future here would look like, but there were so many aspects to that. The members they found, how well they'd work together, how she and Bronco would work as leaders. The packs around them, what kind of trouble they'd cause, and would they be friendly to a new group settling? And even... would they be happy here? Would they have more children? Maybe it was Killdeer, or maybe it was this trip, but her insecurities on that subject had all but vanished. She wanted it.

Maybe there were a few things she could read. Fennec turned and stepped slowly sideways, moving until she'd brushed up against a tree. Rising onto her hind paws, she rested her forepaws on the bark and scratched a bit of it away to reveal the softer wood underneath. It came away easily and, when she nosed the exposed wood, she found that it was rotten. The entire tree was dead.

Fennec couldn't believe it. She dropped back down and started laughing, then couldn't stop cackling for a solid minute. Fuck, it was perfect. Maybe if all of the signs were this rough, she might consider a trend, but right now, she was taking this as a huge bonus. This place is absolutely haunted. Or, at the very least, perfect for a witch. It probably wasn't normal that finding a dead tree as her first omen made her feel more at home here than any place previous.

She composed herself, then stood where she was, breathing slowly. She felt the cold wind ruffle through her fur and paused to judge the direction it was going. It was gentle, barely rustling the branches overhead, and didn't seem to play much with the dried leaves at her feet. And there's a boring sign for Bronco, she thought, smiling. If she got anything from that, it was that they'd run into very little trouble.

Everything here was quiet. She didn't want to get all of her info from one place, so Fennec began to move, cutting a roving course towards the water she'd heard and mentally marking the trajectory to where she needed to head back to. Her pelt began to prickle as she felt the slight sensation of being watched, though the stream easily overcame any other background noise as she drew closer. Another check mark in her court... this forest had secrets hidden beneath it's seemingly ordinary surface. She didn't know if it was a history, or a tucked-away place, or some creature living there now, but she knew she'd root it out eventually. (As if she'd needed a sign to delve into the darker spaces of the woods).

When she reached the water, she bent down, testing and then breaking through the thin layer of ice at the stream's edge. The water was frigid but refreshing, and after Fennec had drank her fill, she stood and, idly, batted a small hunk of frozen earth that she felt resting near her forepaws. She listened to it skitter across the ice, then her ears twitched with surprise as it was swallowed with a plop at the middle. She'd figured it would be small enough to have frozen through by now.

If relationships are like rivers, maybe the neighbors won't be what we expect either. Fennec snorted at the thought, but shrugged. She could handle that. If the water had been tainted, that would have been a bigger dealbreaker... for a number of reasons.

On the walk back, she wound her way carefully past the trees, noting the loam under her paws. It was soft, not like the pines in that previous forest. She loved the way pine forests felt imposing, taller and darker than the ones like this, but she had to admit that this ground was more comfortable to settle on. She lifted her head, trying to judge which direction the sun was in, and her field of vision suddenly brightened. She was used to the muted echoes of colors and patterns shifting, but when they suddenly warmed up, she tilted her head back even more and beamed. She couldn't explain why, but suddenly she just knew... they'd be happy here. Really, truly happy. It was one of the clearest signs she'd ever gotten, and even a skeptic like her couldn't argue.

She sat quietly with that until Bronco returned, just a short bit after. She sniffed at the bird he'd dropped, but didn't recognize it either. Hunting's good, then? She asked, running a paw idly over the feathers. Oh, shit, these might work...

She brushed her paw against the feathers and he was pleased. Mmhmm!" He breathed. "I saw a few elk- runnin' away so I spooked 'em, I guess, but they live up in the foothills, I think. An' there's varmints like muskrats on the river, and then these things." He said. "I don't think there've been much for predators through here. It's like...It's been preserved, for us. Or somethin' I dunno." He said. After all- she was the one to read the room. 

He scooched a bit closer. "Did you...What d'you think?" He asked, eagerly wanting to know what his witchy mate had to say about the place.

Mhmm, she confirmed, sitting back and letting her tail lightly dust the ground behind her. She could sense him scooch closer, so she let the silence hang just a teensy bit longer before she relented. The anticipation in the air was too funny.

Definitely haunted. She finished, as though she were a doctor announcing a prognosis. In her expert opinion, this forest was haunted as shit, no further questions. A second later, though, her shoulders shook with a slight giggle as she gestured towards the tree.

It's dead. Can you believe it? First fucking sign and it's a completely dead tree. She didn't want to freak him out, but seriously, it was too good not to share. Don't worry, though. Rest of the signs are all fair winds and sunshine and shit. Good hunting, maybe kind of shady neighbors at the worst, and just, she paused, not really sure how to describe it.

I got a really good feeling about it. Like there's good potential here, for future things. Things. Right. Her mind should have been on the pack, but it definitely wasn't, and they could cross that bridge when they got there. This place had her stamp of approval, one hundred percent. It couldn't be more perfect.

Every wood needs a witch. And every witch needs.... she paused, wondering if he'd pick it up and finish it. He'd said he might be interested in leading with her, and she didn't really want to do it alone.

An eyeroll was all her comment merited, but a faint grin as well. A dead tree couldn't be that shady of an omen- they were in a forest, there were bound to be a few trees that weren't alive. He could see where she'd scratched the dry bark away, and wondered if that'd been a part of her process. He wouldn't ask- some elements of magic weren't meant to be questioned. Maybe if she'd chosen another tree, she might've gotten a different answer; there was really no way to fell what was fate and what was chance. 

Overall though, her tone was optimistic. She mentioned the future- and future things which was an even more encouraging sign. As far as he could tell, she was just as happy to claim this forest as he was. 

So he bobbed his head along in agreement and was still oggling the very ugly bird he'd caught and ended up finishing her sentence while on auto-pilot. "a wood." He poked at the turkey with one paw, before he looked up and noticed the look on her face. Every witch needed-

"Awwww Fenn, camannnn," He groaned, reaching out to shove her with one paw. "Baaaad joke, ugh," No matter how old he was, he was still very much the same super squeamish little boy on the inside.

There were two ways he could have finished that sentence and yes, the way he did it absolutely had crossed her mind. She laughed at his reaction and took the shove, reaching out (without even thinking) to nip at his cheek in response.

You said it, not me. Don't blame her for the way his dirty mind worked.

But seriously. I'm obviously going to be the witch of the wood here. What are they going to call you? It had to be something good. If we are going to be properly mysterious to the neighbors, sorry, but Bronco isn't going to cut it.

She was (mostly) teasing. Fennec absolutely had an idea, though, of getting their pack a bit of a reputation and of maybe even trading favors or offerings for fortunes or healing. That had always been a goal of hers, if she ever went off and lived on her own, and she'd gotten it in her head that maybe it still could be. Even if she had a pack at the same time.

His whiskers twitched when she reached for his cheek, and his lips pulled tight. He made no sound when he froze, momentarily. She continued talking, so he slowly relaxed again. He tried to concentrate on what she was saying, but couldn't help himself from wondering exactly how differently their relationship would have been if she'd been able to see his face. Maybe it was just better for both of them if she couldn't. Fennec was excellent at reading him- but some things still slipped under her radar, it seemed. 

"Oh, I dunno...Can't I just be like...The Bronco or somethin'? I don't think I've ever really thought of myself as having a sort of...Title," He was more used to traditional titles and roles, but open-minded enough to consider doing something new, especially if it was something Fennec liked. But if she requested that he be a "Warlock" or something along those lines, he'd definitely have to step in and curb that a bit.

Normally it was easy for Fennec to remember his newfound space issues, but this conversation's tone had lowered her guard, reminding her of the way they talked back when things had been good. If not better, then easier. She didn't notice the pause or the way he froze, but continued to think it over after he asked.

The Bronco? Doesn't command much respect. Or have much mystery to it. she complained lightly, musing. She should have known; he was too similar to her brother to have much imagination. She did want him to have a title he would like, and it felt weirder picking for him than it did picking for Fig. Maybe because this whole thing had been half his idea. We can workshop it. Maybe after we get rid of this we'll have some ideas. I want to see what it tastes like. She indicated the bird he'd caught, cocking her head slightly with an instinctual questioning.

He snorted. So that’s what she thought of his name; he’d always thought it was kind of dashing and made him sound like a wild, untamed creature. Apparently, though, it lacked mystique as a rank name- and she probably wasn’t wrong. 

”Aright. Well, you come up with somethin’, just…Nothing that sounds too pretentious,” He said with a slight, albeit dry laugh. He wasn’t necessarily drawn to pomp and circumstance, after all. He would’ve been just as happy without having a title at all, if it meant he could avoid having one that was a bit much. 

Regardless, she had a meal, and her payment for the reading she’d done. ”Dig in,” He said, flipping over on his side, content to relax a bit in their new home while she tried turkey for the first time.