pre joining SC I'ma say. SHE IS ON HUR WAY. @mordecai
Her journey thus far had been a long one. She had lost an ample amount of weight due to her travels, now looking like more of a runner than she was a fighter. It was not something she could see, but feel. Her endurance and stamina both had managed to rise, and she felt her weight lift. Razorback had not been eating so much as she once had, given she was not in a pack. Typically the wolf scavenged what she could, following crows and jackdaws to old meat. Given the fact that it was Winter, she knew she would have to join a pack in time. But she had come across none nearby, and kept moving on.
Before her eyes was a jutting piece of land to climb. She imagined that even in the Summer, this would be difficult to do. Razorback was not one for stupid endeavors, but thought getting a vantage point might not be a true waste of time. She contemplated this, her eyes searching for a simple route.
The cliffsides provided him with a view that he found enjoyable. It wasn't all that far away from the Plateau, but it also brought the Spine into view. In a sense, anyway. He knew where the Spine should have lied, but it was lost beneath the canopy of bare trees and evergreens alike, recessed into the terrain. His gaze, however, lingered neither there nor the Plateau, but on his former haunt of Silvertip Mountain. If it were true that a pack had indeed settled there, he found it surprising.
But his thoughts and wonders were put on hold as the impending approach of someone reached his ears. It came from behind him, leaving the Ostrega to turn swiftly from where he had stood to bring them into view. Someone else had come to spy out the vantage point he had found, perhaps? For the moment, he held his ground, lying in wait to see how they would respond to him standing in the literal way of a vista worth seeing.
There was a wolf, on the path she desired to take. He was the true color of dirt and all of its shades, and she was sure that in the Summer and the Spring the color might aid him in many ways. During the winter, however, he was an eyesore compared to the stark white that draped the lands around him. How she had missed him to begin with? Razorback chalked it up to exhaustion. Her journey had been longer than even she had first thought, it seemed.
Having no energy to challenge him for the place he stood upon, she sought another path. There was a more difficult one nearby... but she knew full well she did not want to waste her energy on that. So she took a tentative step forward and looked to him, her aura lacking any semblance of a challenge, as though to ask if he might share.
Nary a word spoken between them, Mordecai wondered if she were leery of him. Then again, he tried to change his perspective a bit, figure out where it was that he stood. How he was carrying himself. He doubted that it was negatively, but there was a modicum of deference budding in his features. He too, wanted no challenge from another loner. So he opted for the more friendly route, picking up on the subtle cues of her being and what it was she was after. The vantage point.
"Come up here for the view too?" he queried, gently.
Razorback observed him. He did not seem aggressive and for this, she felt an immense amount of relief. Her life was spent fighting, and there was not a moment she would take back. But for the minute, she merely wanted rest. An ear leaned in his direction as he spoke, and she nodded.
He seemed amicable enough, but he had not extended an invitation toward her and Razorback was not one to assume he wanted her nearby despite the gentleness behind his tone. She blinked. I don't know where I am. I figure, it might give me some sort of bearing on where to head next.
Her voice was hoarse from its disuse, but there it was.
She didn't approach him any closer, though this time he earned a response out of her. It was then that Mordecai decided to depart from the bluff he was standing upon, so that she could have a better view of it. As he moved on, he almost considered departing fully, but thought better of it. If she was just a traveler, a creature of the wildwoods like he had redeemed himself to be, then perhaps it would benefit them both for the interaction. After all, it hadn't been all that long since he had departed the company of his own companions; the thought along let him consider what Harlyn was up to.
So he paused as he drew close to her, casting a look back on the seemingly painted view. "If you'd like, I could point out some of the landmarks. Might help you get your bearings." If she denied it, then he figured he would carry on. Not all wolves wanted the guidance of their fellow kin, as he too had been apart of denying such things. Sometimes it was better to find out on their own.
He offered her his spot, and she did not hesitate in approaching it. It was a lovely sight, and she pondered which way she ought to go. North, West, East, or South... was any way the best way? Suddenly the male was beside her, which surprised her. She did not rebuke him; he did not seem threatening. Razorback knew well enough about wolves in sheep's clothing, but, well... they were both wolves, at the end of the day.
Again the wolf showed kindness. Razorback looks into the horizon, mostly white due to the snow. The wolf could hardly imagined the colors that might dot the landscape in the Spring. I would appreciate it,
Razorback admits, a bit gruff. She was not well-versed in receiving or giving favors... but today she would try her hand at it.
The gruffness of her tone was almost not what he expected. But then again, she hadn't seemed the most interested in company. Wolves, in spite of being social, had their times when they went solo. But they were always innately drawn together. Perhaps that was ultimately why the wilderness they were in had thrived. Wolves had come together and stayed together. They had reaped the benefits of everything around them. But no thought was spared for the potential impact all of them were heading towards, if it were to come.
He turned back towards the open expanse of the cliffside then, eyeing the locales himself to give reference. And then, he spoke. "The mountain to our west is Silvertip. There's a pack there now, I think. If you skirt around to the other side and travel, you'll reach Stavanger Bay. That's another pack, and also the coast." Probably a given, but he gave her reference all the same. The Spine, he couldn't see, so he glossed over. The forests had long blocked it from view though he knew where to look. "North of us, if you follow either the river down there in the plain or this mountain range, you'll find Blacktail Deer Plateau. And I think east of here there's a pack or two out that way as well. One among this mountain range, and one nearer to the base of it laying claim to a creek." Their names, he didn't recall though he encountered wolves from there.
"But the further south and east you'll go, the more you'll encounter terrain like this."
Following his final statement, he bid farewell to the wolf and headed off back towards the Plateau.