#3!
@Vienna
Finley didn't know where she was going. Her path of self-destruction thus far had not lead her to any sort of destruction, but that was not for lack of trying. The wilderness had given her plenty of adventure thus far, and yet she wasn't satisfied. That little itch in the back of her head kept coming back.
And so, she kept searching. Searching for that special something that would finally be enough of a distraction from the thought she had no desire to think. Of course, if asked, she would determinedly deny any such allegations. She was just bored and looking for something interesting to do. There was no deeper meaning to it. It wasn't her fault that she had more interesting hobbies than others.
Speaking of more interesting hobbies...
Fin wasn't sure exactly how or when she'd gotten up into Sheepeater Cliffs, but as she set her eyes on the deep chasm before her, she found she was was not about to complain. She approached the edge to gaze down at the jagged rocks below. She had seen deeper drops before in her life, but none with such a treacherous landing below. Fin turned her gaze to the West where she could tell the land sloped upward to provide a safe passage across...
..And then it swept East where further along where the chasm widened its mouth to an even greater distance, there lied across it the rotting trunk of a long fallen tree. Fin stood at the edge for a moment, looking thoughtfully off towards her two options for continuing the journey... And then finally, she turned to the East, deciding that it was far better to earn her passage than to take it the easy way.
It was only a short time after Vienna had decided to end her wandering for the season and settle into really helping her packmates to prepare for winter. Yet here she was. These western lands had called to her and her adventurous mind was unable to ignore their siren. Besides, she hadn't wandered that far.
These cliffs were an area she had already walked, but never had she stopped to really look around. She could see the nearby Plateau, but ignored the draw to perhaps visit some of the aquaintances she had made there. Today she was here, and here she would explore.
Besides, she had company here, it seemed. Vienna had been nearing the cliff's edge herself when she spotted the other, looking as though she might be on some sort of mission. She was certainly walking with a focus. Vienna was slowly discovering a predilection for high places (only making her surname even more obviously fitting) so the proximity to the edge did not bother her one bit. She was curious, though, as to what brought her (potential) new friend up here.
Trotting over to where Finley traveled, she cocked her head questioningly. "Whatcha up to?"
She really needed to work on her introductions.
Finley wasn't quite so distracted that she didn't notice when another wolf was approaching her. She simply was too distracted to care all that much. Even as the girl matched her steps and strode alongside of her, the Blackthorn barely spared her a glance. A smile did flicker across her lips, however. It was a little more of a... crazed one... than a friendly one, unfortunately.
"Hi," Fin responded cheerfully, "Oh, just about to cross this chasm. What're your plans for the day?" The silver mockingbird's gaze remained trained upon the log in the distance. It was coming nearer and nearer with each step, and thus Fin's excitement was growing. She didn't mind having a friendly conversation in the meantime--so long as it didn't end in a panicked plea that Fin not risk her life by talking a treacherous stroll across a rickety old stick over the mountain's rocky fangs.
Vienna took the other wolf's announcement with what might be a surprisingly small amount of surprise. It didn't seem odd at all that she would be heading to use the small, extremely dangerous bridge before them to cross the chasm. It was a way from point a to point b, so why not?
"Didn't have any. I haven't seen what's over there yet, though... would you mind a tagalong?" She was always up to add another to her quickly growing list of friends in other places, and this adventure seemed a fine way to start. While she wasn't one to seek out danger (as Finley seemed wont to do), she didn't shy away from it either, especially if she wasn't alone in the endeavor.
Her new companion didn't seem phased in the slightest by the announcement of her intentions. Perhaps she didn't realize the danger she was putting herself in, or perhaps she--like Fin--didn't really mind reckless behavior. Fin was hoping it was the latter. There was a lot less stress when it was the latter.
"No, no, feel free," Finley replied easily, glancing down at the ground below her paws, and then down at the ground far, far below the ground below her paws. "So where you from," she asked, not taking her gaze away from the jagged rocks. In her mind, she envisioned herself falling towards them. She wondered if maybe she aimed to land in one of the crevices between the daggers she might survive the fall. It was still quite a ways down, but maybe she could angle herself during the fall so that she'd land on her head and snap her neck, which would definitely kill her. Better to do that than be impaled like a barbeque weiner on a toothpick and have to wait to bleed out.
sorry! Poor Vienna is falling by the wayside
Completely unaware of Finley's morbid train of thought, Vienna brightened as usual when asked about her home. "Oh, the sunspire! It's lovely there," she cut herself shorter than usual, deciding not to go too deep into the territory. She had noted that Finley seemed a bit distracted. "What about you? Do you come from a mountain?" It would explain her lack of fear in crossing the gorge before them if she was. One more used to the sharp drops and unstable terrain of the slopes would have better chance of being down for such adventures.
The Sunspire. That had a rather cool ring to it, Fin mused inwardly, although she had no idea what a Sunspire actually was. Was it a field? Was it a plateau or a glacier? A mountain? She figured it sounded mostly like a mountain, a thought evidenced further when Vienna asked if she came from one, to which Fin gave a light shake of her head.
"No, I'm from a Plateau," she replied, completely forgetting the fact that she actually came from a Caldera these days. Which was probably for the better since she would have no doubt had to explain what a Caldera even was and then they'd get into the long, drawn out story of how the pack had come to be and then they might even end up talking about... Yeah no, they were going to avoid that.
"I've climbed plenty of 'em though," she added, keeping the conversation going as they began to close in on the fallen tree.
Another plateau wolf!!! Their pack was just chock full of friendly wolves. She really did want to run by there at some point, she wanted to see it so badly. This wolf didn't seem much into dwelling on a single topic for long, but as usual Vienna was always up for conversation. So she took a stab at a topic. "So you have traveled much?" If she had seen mountains it was likely.
The girl's next question made Fin heave a quick chuckle. "Yeah," she replied, smiling, "Yeah, I've traveled quite a bit." The Blackthorn had traveled to many places in her short lifetime, and she had met many, many wolves. She could have told Vienna a great many stories about her travels, for her life thus far had been much like a sitcom that was a good ten seasons long. But there was little time for that now that their paws had brought them finally to the bridge.
Fin looked out across it with a smile twitching across her lips. It looked even shabbier and less trustworthy up close than it had from afar--a fact that ought to have made her nervous, but instead excited her all the more. She cast a glance over to her companion. "I'm Finley, by the way," she said after a beat, "I should probably let you know that in case this goes badly."
A fellow wayward soul... awesome! Travelers did always seem more personable and better able to carry conversation, perhaps due to their wider wealth of subject matter. This one seemed a bit more taciturn though, not elaborating on any of her travels. Vienna was just about to expound on some of hers when they reached the bridge. Finley beat her to it with an introduction. Again Vienna had failed to notice that such niceties hadn't been exchanged.
"Vienna. Nice to meet you, Finley." She didn't respond to the pessimism, though she wasn't quite sure what Finley thought would go wrong. It was a log bridge right? The likelihood of it collapsing while one of them was in the middle was low, right, and if it did so while they were near an end they could just jump back to land? Optimism at its finest. Vienna wasn't a stupid wolf by any means, but she did sometimes have a hard time seeing the possible negative aspects of a situation. Not stupid, but trusting. So trusting.
Finley gave the girl a smile as she spoke her own name. She was a sweet girl; friendly and welcoming. Fin was a little sad that she might have to scar the girl for life by getting herself killed right in front of her. But, at least Fin could take that bullet for her.
"Good to meet you, Vienna," Fin replied, "If I die, sing songs of my bravery." The Blackthorn gave another smirk before suddenly leaping up onto the log and darting recklessly out into the middle of it. Once there, she hopped a couple of times to test it. The log creaked and moaned beneath her, and trembled wildly. It didn't break, however, and thus Fin felt suddenly quite disappointed. She looked back at Vienna. "I guess no songs for me, eh?" she said with a little frown.
Ok, so in Vienna's thoughts of this little adventure, she was in no way expecting what Finley did next. Not only did she halt in the middle, but she jumped there. It was then that she realized Finley's taking of the bridge might have been more about the log and less about what was on the other side.
At least the thing held. There would have been little Vienna could have done if it hadn't. Immediately she wondered if Finley had known it would and was messing with her. That would make more sense that her trying to get herself killed, right?
Laughing, she shook her head disbelievingly. "You say that like it's a bad thing! Much as I may want to be a Chronicler, I don't think I want songs of that sort just yet." Stepping up on the log, she looked down at the drop, shaking her head. "And people say I'm strange." But she looked at Finley with a friendly smile. If she had been messing with her , no hard feelings. It had been a good one, Vienna had been freaked for a minute!
Fin watched Vienna laugh and shake her head, confused by the words. She actually hadn't been kidding, but she brushed it off easily with a return of her smile. It was lucky she didn't know the girl's thoughts, otherwise she would have had to correct her--she had wanted the log to break. Not so that she would plummet to her death, but only to make the crossing more thrilling. Alas, no near-death experiences today. She turned and bounded artfully across the rest of the way, hopping down onto solid ground once she reached the other side of the chasm and turning to face Vienna again.
"It's a little wobbly, be careful," Fin instructed, rather hypocritically. She hadn't been careful at all, but she didn not want for her new friend to take the same risks that she had, knowing full well that she'd never forgive herself if she drew the girl into her games only to get her killed.
Unlike her newfound friend, Vienna wasn't the sort to take risks lightly. Life was something she clung to with all her might, enjoying every aspect and every moment fully and completely. She had no desire to test her luck or tempt fate, not without reason. Exploration was reason enough to take the bridge, but not reason enough to take it foolishly.
With a nod, she stepped up, balancing gracefully and making her way across surely but not briskly. The mountain ledges had given her a surefootedness that definitely helped here, but still she was cautious when the log shifted beneath her. She knew at least that it would not break after Finley's display of its sturdiness.
"Could use a little stabilizing, couldn't it?" She said as she hopped down, glancing back. She was willing to bet by the time winter was through it would no longer be so functional a bridge. Time and weather would take their toll on it soon enough. Then she turned her attention back, wondering where Finley was headed and if this was where they parted ways.
Fin held her breath as Vienna crossed, even though she knew logically that she would be perfectly safe. After all, the girl seemed to have far more sense than she did as evidenced by the fact that she was just walking instead of hopping across the log. Fin relaxed when the girl hopped down onto solid ground with her, her tail wagging gently to match the smile upon her face.
"So where are you headed to now?" Fin asked. She herself had no particular destination in mind, so she was curious to see if Vienna's plan could inspire some plan of her own.
Vienna hadn't put much thought into her destination yet. Mostly she just traveled for the journey. Glancing about, she gave a small shrug. "Honestly, not sure! I've got this habit of wandering until I come across something interesting." She looked up at the peaks to the west. She hadn't gone that far west before, not in the mountains at least.
"I might head that way. Looks as promising a direction as any!" Her tail waved excitedly at the prospect. "You got a direction in mind?" If not perhaps she'd be down for some exploring (off or in thread) and company, especially new company, was one of her favorite things.
Last post for me! <3<3
As much as she'd enjoyed her random rendesvous with the the Sunspire girl, Finley was on a path of destruction that she did not particularly want the sweet songbird to join her down. Not because of any dislike for the girl--in fact quite the opposite. She just didn't want her to be an inadvertent casualty of her reckless rampage.
"Ah, I'm bound just the opposite direction," Finley fibbed with a smile,
"But maybe I'll run into you again someday, ya?" The silver wolf waited for a few moments to listen to Vienna's response before bidding her a fond farewell and turning to get herself lost amongst the cliffs, hoping maybe to find herself another rickety old bridge that proved to be even more treacherous than the last.
That was too bad, but not unexpected. Vienna shook off her disappointment and nodded. "Maybe! See you around." Then watched as the girl wandered off. This had been one of her stranger encounters but she wasn't picky. And she added this girl... Finley... to her ever-growing list of friends. Too bad she hadn't gotten much of her story, but some weren't as chatty as others.
With one last glance she turned and set off, making for the western horizon. With any luck she'd come across something interesting before night fell and she had to start her way back.