Porcupine Ridge katakan

most of the days that had passed stigmata lately had been of the same lot: short, bleak, and grey. his nights had not been nearly as lonely as they had when he'd first left the hollow, but the wraith was determined to roam until he would forge, with blood and bone, what he had lost long before allowing himself to become distracted by an exploited existence at the behest of indra redleaf...

he thought of her unwillingly; at first in scathing review, and then with hesitant remorse. he realized that he had not given himself a chance to mourn the loss of her - and by extension, that the event of leaving her indeed had him facing some sort of emotional detriment he was loathe to admit to, let alone examine.

he didn't yet realize that he was heading east because he had already gone as far west from her as he intended. stigmata seemed to be scoping out the mountain territories and their bounties, but his thoughts rolled tumultuously, one over the other, as he allowed himself to reflect on what he had lost and what there was to be gained.

@Finch

it had been a long day for her. many hours of travelling had lead her towards the peaks; awkwardly jutting out of the ground, some of them at an absurd angle. a welcome challenge, to her. bounding over the rocks, scouting out plains here & there, this territory was an odd one to her. there wasn't much for her to think about, she had just arrived at this place. adrenaline coarsing through ther veins as she travelled underneath a cloudy, dimly-lit sky.
continuing her trek, she had come across multiple spring-like areas. looking into ever crevice as she romped around, she had been able to scope out multiple den-like areas inbetween the jagged rocks. these would probably provide lovely cover, for someone who needed it-- predator & prey alike. she seemingly turned her mind off, roaming around the mountainous areas haphazardly, unaware of the potential dangers that may be lying in wait for her.
she had noticed something-- or someone, rather-- in the distance. a tiny silhouette of another creature, their stride steady as they slowly moved eastward. finch, being her curious self, had wondered if this stranger was seeking company-- wondering if they, too, shared the love for adventure as she does. bounding over peaks , swerving around the various jagged edges, careful not to hurt herself, she approached the stranger from their side. they had a mindless, drifted expression across their muzzle. she slowly drew closer & bumped their shoulder lightly with her own. ,,excuse me?'' she greeted them with a gentle wag of her tail. ,,lovely night, isn't it? my name is finch-- i was aimlessly wandering around, and couldn't help but notice you in the distance. would you mind if i accompany you, wherever it is you may be going?'' polite as possible, finch tilted her head towards the stranger; an innocent look on her face.

stigmata was indeed tangled deep in his own thoughts, but he was not so devolved with his surroundings that he had missed the tender-footed approach of a beachcombed sylph. from the corner of his eye he watched her come nearer, and nearer - absent of any malice in her buoyant step - until she was touching him.

it was a disgraceful introduction, considering he had not invited her to fondle him, and stigmata recoiled from her with a dreadful glare. she went on to explain herself, but the wraith was only half-listening, his mood trickling rapidly past displeased. "excuse me, finch," he said tightly, addressing her by name, to both prove that he had heard her and ensure that there was no confusion; "you are a spectacular creature, i am sure, and i will most certainly keep your company... but, touch me again without invitation and it may just be the very last thing you do."

the basilisk gave a foreboding ripple, and then settled with a slicking of his tall ears. "if we can get past these bungled first impressions, we may band together for a time."

the stranger recoiled back from her touch-- oops. the fae had been so caught up in her own self, she completely disregarded the boundaries of another. the glare of the beast pierced her, slightly intimidated, she pinned her ears back. he addressed her sharply-- his tongue silver; his words direct with a tone that made her aware he was quite serious in his statements. finch moved a tad bit away from him to respect his space since she had been so ignorant of the strange wolf's own bubble.
as she backed away, she gave the stranger another stare, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. ,,apologies, sir,'' with a bow of her head, she started to speak. ,,that was quite rude of me; thank you for allowing me to occupy you regardless of my lack of respect for your space.'' her tail hung low as she spoke, waiting to ask any further questions about the man before he answered.

were stigmata newer to these parts, he might have reacted more violently to finch's unwarranted contact; as things were, however, the warhound had encountered enough wolves of these wilds to know they all varied wildly in stupidity and each of them came with a plenitude of issues - boundaries notwithstanding. as this wasn't the most harmful thing that had been done to him here - and because she had enough sense to appear contrite - stigmata was able to forgive her rather quickly.

he deflated, taking up a posture more equal to her own despite the disparities in their sizes; in their... everything. she, the sweet and golden ingenue, named for a perching bird - and he, the cinderwood wraith, gladiatorial and ungentle.

lifting his chin, he motioned for her to join him, as he returned to his path through the ridge. after a seemingly long, intimidating silence - assuming she came along - he asked her (with modest curiosity): "where you come from, is that how you greet all strangers?"

she observed his body language carefully as she apologized, he noticed him relax his posture. taking note of him, he was much larger than she was. his form was fit and intimidating, yet she had the slightest feeling, that if you were able to get past his harder shell he had a sweet center. or that had been the case for her most of her life, anyway. all things considered, not everyone is the same. the wraith lifted his chin and tilted his head in a quick motion towards the ridge, an invitation to join him. her tail wagging lightly, she trotted alongside the path next to him.
there was some silence, for a while. an eerie, empty silence after the initial small dispute the pair had-- until he broke it with an interesting question. perking up a little, she answered with shortly after a beat; ,,sometimes. most of the time, really, where i come from we were all very close. it's a habit-- i'm very forgetful sometimes, very used to my comfort zone.'' her pawsteps were gentle as she tried her best not to hit any large rocks. she could be pretty oblivious to her surroundings sometimes. ,,may i ask what your name is, sir? or what you prefer to be addressed by, if that's alright.'' she asked him the question gently-- not wanting to pressure him for an answer if he wasn't comfortable.

even though his gaze seemed distracted with something far in the distance, stigmata twitched his ears with appropriate attentiveness, listening carefully to the golden specimen beside him. she illuminated herself well enough that he felt he had a decent grasp on what her personality might be like from here on out, but he didn't feel like she had answered his real question. if anything, he was left feeling more confused. "how could you be close with strangers? by definition the term would imply you have never met them." he thought that she had, perhaps, been talking about her pack, but that wasn't what he had asked. "are you saying that all wolves where you are from, whether they recognize one another or not, greet each other physically?"

were they all blind? and she was just some seeing anomaly born into their touch-sensitive cult?

stigmata was beginning to feel annoyed with his own confusion. thankfully, finch was kind enough to change subjects. or distract him, at least. "my name is stigmata," he told her, glancing towards the fine-featured she-wolf as they traipsed over a fallen log.

as she answered, she had noticed the male's attention, although not completely focused on her, was attentive enough for her to feel she was being genuinely listened to. after her explanation came to a close, she was met with an appropriate question from him-- after hearing it, she had supposed she hadn't done a good enough job explaning the circumstances she grew up in. ,,oh, apologies. you see, where i grew up, there were no strangers,'' came her response, trying to keep it short and sweet. ,,we lived somewhere very isolated, me and my family. there weren't many others around; and when there were, they largely ignored us.'' she had hoped this shed a little more light on her unintentional rudeness as the pair had met, though she didn't want to drag the subject out for too long.
their adventure continued, carefully walking over a fallen log, finch had looked towards the sky, as the slender male turned his gaze slightly towards her. his eyes, a stunning silver, might have sent a little shiver down her spine. they were haunting, but beautiful all the same-- their brilliance could be compared to a freshly-made pearl. the snakelike wolf had answered her question, stigmata. an appropriate name, she felt. his silver, peppered coat contrasting with her own; the nymh mused back at him. ,,stigmata, it's a pleasure to make your acquiantance.'' the name rolled off of her tongue nicely as she continued to look into the distance. ,,it's gorgeous up here. are you around here often?'' she was hoping she wasn't asking too many questions, but she was a creature of curiosity, after all.

"ah, i see," stigmata purred darkly, checking their surroundings as he prowled forward, tempering his pace to match the shorter stride of his companion. he was quiet for a moment, and then added thoughtfully: "well it would be wise for you not to greet strangers physically, for the benefit of everyone; but mostly yourself, if i am being honest," the warhound advised, eyeing her nakedly; taking in the golden sylph from jawline to white tail-tip, without shame; "you need to be more discerning, if you can."

as they moved on to pleasantries, the smokewraith became less interested. small talk wasn't his strong suit, and with conquest as well as winter on the brain, he hardly had time to reflect on the beauty of things. "i have not been, but i will be," he told her earnestly. "i am going to claim these mountains. me, my companion mahler, and whoever else might think themselves fit enough to roam these high walls and hidden valleys beside us."

her explanation as met with advice-- good advice, at that; advice that finch should take to heart. she wasn't at home anymore, and things were very different here. ,,thank you, i'll take it to heart.'' her answer came quickly after the hound had responded to her own words. she took the time to observe him; his weight, his movements. he walked heavily, a sense of dignity in every step that the giant laid on the land beneath him. finch couldn't help but notice the wraith observing her; taking wholly in her appearance, free of any shame whilst doing so. a slight shiver carressed the nymph's spine, but she didn't mind it. it was welcome, to her.

their steps together continued, traversing against jagged areas, fallen logs and many other potentially dangerous things the mountains could offer-- surprisingly, to her anyway, they hadn't encountered any sort of wild animals that lay claim to the area. his deep rumblings of a voice broke the silence, as the basilisk explained to her his plans to claim the mountains as his own. her body perked up at the statements, responding to him quickly. ,,oh, my. that sounds lovely.'' her voice full of childlike wonder at the concept of roaming such untamed lands with stigmata for more than just a possible fling. she wouldn't ask to accompany him on such adventures now, no-- it was too early; however she was greatly enjoying her time with him, even despite the rocky beginnings of their interaction.
she was very far from home now. maybe a change of scenery would be good, for the creature of habit herself.

"have no illusions, dear finch," he mused; sweet, sheltered finch; "such a life is not one of ease. you, in particular, would not be accustomed to it." stigmata was under no impression that she would be good at constant travel - at the rigorous life that he saw for himself - and he was otherwise incapable of forging a chance to be painfully "honest". in reality, stigmata was being fairly guarded with himself these days, having been recently scorned and forcibly learned on a hard lesson about settling.

he wouldn't settle for just anyone's company these days. mahler had set an impossibly high standard for anyone who followed, and finch was... eager, he supposed.

stigmata hadn't lost his patience in all the time he'd wasted withering away in the peon ranks. he would give any wolf a chance, though there was likely to be only one given and the flaxen rapunzel at his side was already skating thin ice; making the probability of her turning out to actually be worth something about fifty-fifty at that moment. he decided he needed to know more, if he was going to pursue keeping her around.

he paused suddenly, catching a fresh scent of porcupine on the breeze: a smell he hadn't come across in several years. not since driving all of them out of the peaks in his youth. it had been a long and difficult process that had started before he was born and taken well over a year for the sandraudiga clan - but it was an effort that proved rewarding once the pack no longer had any quill causalities among them. his tail lifted high and wagged, remembering the wild excitement of back then.

"do you know that smell?" the warhunter asked quietly, turning his regal muzzle towards the aurous sylph.

the brute's response came, the wording blunt: this didn't bother her. little did the warhound know the reason she left her home in the first place was the unbearable reality of staying in one place for far too long-- but rather than answering him in such a tone, the wolfess silently nodded her head at him, he will understand when the time comes, she hoped. not drifting too far off into her own land, the golden shuck scanned the area around her, scenting the air as they went along.

all of a sudden, stigmata came to an abrupt stop. his posture was stiff as he scented the air, catching something on his nose. finch shot him a quick look before realizing, likely, the same thing as he: porcupine. not a smell she didn't know, but one she wasn't quite as used to as some. she leaned into him slowly, cautiously, quietly; with his muzzle turned towards her, she responded in a whisper, ,,yeah. i do-- porcupine weren't common around my home but i had come across enough of them to recognize it right away; it's part of the reason my mother made me stop venturing so far from home.'' she watched as the wraith's tail shot into the air with a slight wag-- she couldn't tell if he was excited or weary of this scent-- but regardless, she lowered herself closer to the ground, continuing to sniff out her surroundings dilligently.

stigmata watched the svelte huntress as she postured into the wind, and became fascinated with the way he saw recognition flit across her amber gaze like a bolt of lightning. his body began to thrum with enthusiasm, imagining more of her capabilities. she was sheltered, yes, but not inexperienced; things he could work with, even despite his natural inhibitions. the hound believed her far too old to be speaking of how coddled she'd been by her mother, but he supposed it was still something she needed to "grow" out of, if she had recently been displaced.

"i would take that to mean you have never been tasked to killing one then?" he murmured. "are you up for it now?" he had no way of knowing if she had left her home willingly or not, so this seemed as good a way as any to see how capable she was of shedding the skin of her comfort zone in order to join him on something potentially dangerous. he would be going with or without her, just for the thrill of it; for where finch had been raised under the protective wool of her mother's fear, his own mother had tossed him into proverbial fire after fire and demanded he come out unburnt.

finch inched her left paw slightly forward, bending her hind legs and coiling her body inwards like a viper-- being ready to shoot into a long stride at any point in time. adernaline coarsing through the beach nymph's veins as a farmiliar feeling of thrill crept into her system where calm & collected once told hold. her bestial companion at her side, if there was any time for finch to prove she was more than just a pretty face, it was now.
finally. a hunt for something that wasn't a fish.

stigmata's rusty voice echoed through her ears as her concentration on tracking the scent intensified with every passing second. ambitious, but not stupid; she was well aware of the potential danger such a rodent could pose-- moreso than most members of the family. her tongue slid across her jowl as stigmata's final question reached her. ,,i would be nothing less than honored to hunt alongside you,'' her voice quiet, low, focused. tightly curling her tail upwards, the wolfess' flashed him a quick look-- he might be tough as nails, but finch knew; she knew the feeling of flesh & bone betwixt his jaws was a feeling the wraith longed for.

his gaze swept over her admiringly, his interest in the sheltered wolf turning to quiet fondness as she eagerly displayed a readiness to prove herself a mate as fierce and resilient as the savage soldier himself. finch would be welcome alongside him as long as she continued this trend - it almost didn't matter if they were successful or not in their porcupine hunt, their ability to work together and the trust she so willingly placed in him was enough to convince stigmata she was worth protecting - worth nourishing - and given the right treatment, he thought he might be able to mold her into a diasporan loyalist.

slipping into a silence befitting only of trained killers, the ironstar led finch quickly into the moody depths of the thickening mountain woods, trailing murderously after their unsuspecting quarry. it was not long before the pair of them - deadly smoke and searing gold - had cornered their prey and maneuvered in tandem to outwit it. whether or not they were able to navigate around the knifing quills and earn themselves a meal, stigmata decided to introduce finch to @Mahler the next day, if she decided to remain by his side.

i would like a more recent thread with these two, nil, so i hope you don't mind if we fade here! feel free to toss up another post or archive as you wish <3 (tag is for reference!)