Ouroboros Spine dry country

Outriding! c:


West of Sunspire, Cuan had traipsed through crooked meadows and towering valleys, sometimes climbing to the top of them to peer out across the ridges. It was a sea of mountains, wave after wave of tawdry blue lines rising and fading behind each other. The Sunspire's packland was a blessing in a desert, for they had sufficient space to attract prey and places for water to pool. In this desolate maze of crags, it was hard to believe anything would make a home here, and it was used only as a channel for creatures. But as the wolf picked his way through the landscape, silent save the endless chatter of wind, his surroundings were beginning to change.

His paws picked their way through the grass strewn with boulders, ruffled fur gently pried by the breeze. Cuan had been traveling steadily upwards a slope, and with good reason. He stopped at the crest, his golden pools wide with the magnificence sprawled before him. No longer a narrow canyon, the land before him opened up into a sweeping crescent-shaped, fertile valley. It was choked with a variety of forest, mostly pine, and bodies of water sparkled like jewels nestled here and there. Just down the slopes from Cuan's position was the acrid stench of pack markers, but he was more drawn to gawk at the wondrous sight.

Totally didn't realize this was AW (can't see tags on my phone, blahhh) or I would have replied to this sooner! :C

Their numbers had dwindled severely. In the days preceding the death of Ptarmigan, Mordecai had once more returned to the borders of the territory. In part to remain an outlier to the pack, but also to take matters into his own hands. He had no expectations when it came to how his assumed leadership would be taken, but at the same time he had no care for how it was received. Arrogantly, perhaps, he felt he could handle the trio that remained aside and beneath him, though he had not seen them in days. Sitri he knew would be nursing his wounds, and whatever Cara and Kaname had been up to he did not bother to find out.

On the outskirts of their territory, he had tried to keep the expansion beyond the basin theirs. But it was failing as he could only cover so much ground in so much time, and in turn he had seen the prints of canine and ungulate alike coming and going. A cooler wind had come to settle across the wilderness and with it he could not blame the herds for going on, or the wolves that had filed themselves out of the Spine's ranks in hopes for better lands. Yet all was perhaps not lost when he had come up a shallow grade to find someone else lingering through the woodland. A lesser creature with fewer problems may have donned a warmer expression, but the Ostrega retained a harder expression than he had ever bothered to wear, one marked with direct interest in what the other was doing so close to their home.

He approached swiftly, his tail turned skyward in a display of dominance. He chuffed lowly to the other, though the call may have been unnecessary. Mordecai felt he would have been spotted readily. His pace curtailed itself as he drew near, but not too near out of habit. The last perceived stray he had come across hadn't bothered to answer to his interests, but perhaps this one would be different. Still, he had learned that one could never been too certain as to what they would find in the wilds, and his caution was justified because of it. Mordecai was wordless, but the prompt of him wanting to know what the other was looking for came all the same; he canted his head slightly, eyes never leaving the earthy-coated male.

Even with the staunch border markings, there was nothing except the constant swoosh of grass that lead down into the wide sliver of a valley. For a moment, the tawny male stood with his yellow eyes closed, and let the wind brush his fur.

When the male approached, Cuan was struck by how little he had met other wolves- and for a reason. The reddish brown Sunspire solider wasn't assertive, and his outgoing nature was paired with a complacent one. He wanted nothing more than for this loner to be relaxed and happy.

The outrider's banner was low and curled, but waving in greeting. His jaws parted in a wide smile that crinkled his yellow eyes. Cuan couldn't help but avoid the male's icy stare, and was beginning to question himself. He may have stumbled upon a beautiful landscape, but perhaps the resident pack wasn't so friendly. He took a few steps back.

I'm sorry. Is this a bad time?

The deference of the scout appeased him, but it was perhaps his tone that softened Mordecai's stance easily. He relaxed, though the dominance stayed there. Mordecai knew that it was wise not to take out his bitter mood on the likes of someone who had no part in it, and he aimed to keep it that way. But it was slow going to get to that place, and to say that on some level of his mind that he wasn't annoyed with the disruption of his own wallowing was likely. The Spine needed its visitors, if only to pluck worthy souls from the road to bolster their numbers. With no knowledge of what really lied out in the wilderness beyond the flatlands, Mordecai knew nothing of the pack the wolf before him came from. The thought that he had been spoken for did not cross his mind, either.

But it was ultimately brought around to the question, and his once over the submissive creature ended in his reply. “No, but only as long as you make it worth my time. What brings you here?” He could forgive him for straying so close, as the reconstruction of their weak borders had yet to fully begin. Jinx was more than likely rolling in her grave, but he thought nothing on it.

With the untensing in this stranger, Cuan lifted his ears slightly. Now that it seemed there would be no chasing off, the Sunspire outrider could, perhaps, build some foundational ties between their packs.

I am exploring as a Sunspire outrider- My name is Cuan. What pack might this be? the lanky canine asked, his voice measured and polite. Any younger and the scout might've had a meager and smaller timber, itching to turn tail and run back off to his home. But as an almost three year old, Cuan would do his best to step up to the plate. And no doubt this other brute was quite intimidating, considerably larger and more muscular. The outrider wondered what relation this male had to the pack behind him. He exuded confidence, and Cuan guessed he was somewhere high up in the pack hierarchy.

Inwardly, he felt the grimace he imperceptibly made at learning that the male had a home to go back to. His misjudge that he had happened upon a wanderer along the borders was just a passing slight, but it went to show Mordecai that the other packs were beginning to ascertain where their neighbors were sitting and how well they were doing. Not so much out of a negative response either; there were too many good things Mordecai could see in the act that served them well. To him, it meant that while others were getting their skills build it, it played at the notion the herds were on the move out.

In spite of that, he obliged the scout with some information. “You stand near the borders of the Spine,” he started off with, shorting the name of the territory for the mouthful it felt to be. “And I am Mordecai. Where does this pack of yours live?” Between statement and question, he paused for a beat only to pick up with genuine curiosity. He knew of the Bay, and of the Plateau, but beyond that things got relatively fuzzy. While he had become aware of another pack lingering close by to the Spine, it had been just as quiet as they had in recent weeks.

Mordecai had given a name fitting to this mountain rimmed valley. There rose a blue-gray peak in the middle, the tallest in its ring, and it's pinnacle seemed to scrap the sky with a jagged claw. The peaks next to it seemed to pale in comparison as they fanned out like, well, a spine.

The Sunspire lives in a valley, similar to yours. It is in the shadow of a great mountain. His eyes swept over the land below where apparently these wolves resided. Although Cuan had gone only so far outside the Sunspire, he had come across a variety of pack landscapes, such as the Plateau. Mordecai and Cuan's commonality in their homes could, perhaps, build a deeper forge for their respective clans.

This Spine must attract many prey! It is quite the paradise, he observed, noting the grand forests and sweeping, hilly plains.

So it seemed that the Spine wasn't the only nifty find in the broad swath of the wilderness. Not that Mordecai found himself too surprised by that; he had seen many valleys in his travels, along with flatlands where packs had only rough, overlapping borders. Even in the scrubland of Sedona, the borders that his father and others had kept were constantly changing. With the Spine, there was a sense of enclosure, and Mordecai had long been using it as a guide for his marking.

He smiled demurely as Cuan described the Spine as a paradise. It had started out that way, but even now Mordecai had his wonders about the mysteries it still contained. Mysteries that for the most part, he wasn't so sure he wanted to go out and seek in light of everything. What they had found thus so far was plenty of misery, not mystery. “It certainly has its perks, as I'm sure your home does as well. Have you lived there long?” Given that the Spire resided in a similar valley, Mordecai hoped to garnish something about winters there and compare them to the Spine.

Cuan wondered what winter would be like in this curved valley, nestled between the lumbar of mountains. Where the two males stood, the hills had crested into a fair vantage point. High up, they felt the rush of breeze, but no doubt the mountains blocked a good amount of wind. But it also meant that cold would settle like an unmovable blanket across their home. It would be like a popsicle of forest, submerged in a deep freeze. Cuan shuddered at the thought, but this Mordecai seemed more than bulky enough to stand the snow.

With reminiscent yellow eyes, Cuan responded to the male.

I was in Bon Dye first; but Sunspire was only a short walk north. I think it was about a month ago when I rejoined a pack. His words were half to himself as he searched his memories.
What about you and the Spine?

More unfamiliar names spilled forth from the earthy wolf's mouth. When it came to the history of the Wilds, Mordecai knew very little. But he knew enough to make a wager that the fellow before him had been around much longer than he had. This was not a fact that struck him as odd however. History stuck to those who lived through it, which when it boiled down to it, there wasn't much history that Mordecai had lived through. Nothing as monumental or memorable as what had happened to him since they had come to the Spine. The tragedies that existed in their claim had already rose to last him a lifetime as far as he was concerned.

“I've been here since we laid our claim here,” he offered, shrugging his shoulders. Other than the fact it had been the summertime, the exact time had been lost to him. “Why did you leave your pack to join another?” His questioning turned more personal, but partially out of interest. While he had no use for wavering loyalties beneath him, the question played more into the heart of his own tendency to pack up and leave. Traveling came easier for some than others, so his interest remained piqued. Absently, he thought of Dante and their brief explorations together.

Cuan frowned slightly as this alpha pressed some intriguing questions into his mind. The lanky creature had been young for his kind to leave Blackstone and venture into Teekons. Usually it happened around two years of age, but the male had been so full of the urge to explore that he had drifted farther from his family, until one day he did not return.

I think it was the wanting to find new things. The Sunspire scout's ears flicked at the thought. Bon Dye was good to me, but we had many problems with our leadership. I stayed out of it, so I was mostly on the fringes of the territory. One day, I looked out from the ledges of the plateau and saw my pack's mountain and thought to myself, I want to go there, the male elaborated.

Is that what drove you to take The Spine?

In a sense, their stories could have mirrored each other, barring some parts. Mordecai had never had an issue with the leadership in most places, even including his birthplace. For him, it was the simple push, that indescribable urge for wanderlust that had eventually driven him out. The same wanderlust had brought him to the Wilds, and now to where he stood swiftly at the helm of a wilting pack. Months ago, he would have never seen himself in such a position, let alone having stayed for so long. It was strange to him, discovering just how easily circumstance changed everything. Much in the way Cuan mentioned beyond on the fringes of everything, Mordecai had been for some time.

“We wanted to have distance from the other packs,” Mordecai said, not dispelling that it was not himself who had been the one to choose the Spine. Jinx was dead now, and in a convoluted way he had helped to secure the claim she had made on the Spine. His qualms over bending that little shred of truth were evasive. “We used to live on a mountain at the other side of that nearby forest, though.” He gestured then, trying to capture a glimpse of Silvertip through the canopies. It evaded him too.

Cuan nodded in assent. Although the Sunspire apparently had run-ins with a neighboring pack, his home was similarly isolated. With sharp cliffs and winding trails, much of the Sunspire was cut off from many of it's surrounding landmarks. He could see some problems with their mountainous location, as snow would easily block off routes off Sunspire and into the low valleys. The scout wondered how the pack would fare in the coming months, and if they would be able to find food within their territory.

Mordecai had glanced over the ridges and Cuan turned to stare at the faint outline of forest, shrouded in blue, in the distance. So, do you like living under the Spine, compared to that? he questioned. Although wolves were fairly adaptable creatures, different terrain required different skill. And now Cuan had learned a fair amount of the correlation between their two packs, and Amekaze would be pleased to hear of it.

Cuan's question brought a rather curious moment of introspection to Mordecai. He had never considered how much more or less he had ever liked living anywhere before. Sure, some places had absolutely been full of downfalls, but there had also been reasonable upsides. Hardy creatures living in a harsh environment, for instance. But the pondering didn't last very long either, as a certain nagging to return to his patrol came in on his thoughts of hardy creatures.

Instead, he rolled his shoulders in a wolfish shrug. “I can't say that I like it any more or less than where I am now. I suppose the mountain would have been more challenging to live on come winter though,” he commented loosely. At least with the Spine, the likelihood of rolling off a cliffside to immediate doom was lower… sort of. He supposed that was just something that they would learn on their own. “Anyway, as much as I enjoy swapping stories with you, I should really get back to my patrols. And I'm guessing you have a bit of travel ahead of you, yes?”

okie last post from me! thanks for the thread!

The plateaued forest Cuan had lived on in the beginnings of his time in this park had been quite comfortable and suited to his tastes. Mordecai brought up Cuan's own reminiscent memories of the place, and wondered if it was worth stopping by on the way back to the Sunspire. But the scout did have some other locales to check out first, such as the fabled sea dwellers.

With a duck of his head, the rusty agouti creature stepped back. Well, I'm grateful you provided me some knowledge of your pack, he replied with a downturn of his ears. And yes, the Sunspire is quite a day's walk from here. I should get going. Cuan began to move off, back down the slope and away from the rim that gave such a stunning view of the crescent-shaped valley. Farewell!

Thanks for the thread! :D <3

As Mordecai watched Cuan go, he offered up a genuine smile at the farewell that cast back to him. Of all the possible creatures that could have happened upon the borders of the Spine, he was thankful that it had been someone of a good nature. Though for the most part, they had been lucky that few wolves of less than positive demeanor had happened upon them. He waited until the rust-colored fellow had dipped out of sight completely, a place where the forests beyond the Spine engulfed him, and turned back to the valley at hand.