King Elk Forest Exploration of the new world

Come one, come all! Rye doesn't bite!

His mind was wondering just as much as his feet was and his paws were wondering quite a bit. Rye was exploring the surroundings of his new home and had been for a while, of course, he kept tabs on where the plataeu sat. Not keen on the idea of getting lost, it would not look good if Rye was to be lost for a few days only to suddenly turn up. Fortunately, it wasn't hard to miss, it was a plateau, not any others around so Rye didn't stress himself over getting lost. So he kept going, at a leasurly walk, his thoughts being pulled and dragged to different subjects by the second but one politely asked for Ryes attention. Thoughts of his old home gently surfaced from under the pile of other thoughts, Redhawk, Towhee, pack acceptance, pulling his weight, what the future holds and what dangers are headed for him. It was rather calming in the midst of the storm within his mind but there wasn't much time to dwell, he was already at the forest. A forest to which he did not know the name of but that most certainly would not stop him from exploring.

The forest was thick with trees but bare in lush green, save for the sporatic evergreen lightly coated in snow. Rye's paws padded swiftly through the forest, his head lifting, lowering, moving side to side as different things caught his attention. As bare-bones as it was, Rye still found beauty in the forest, the white ground starkly contrasting the greens and browns of the trees made for a beautiful sight. It had been a while since he got a chance to simply walk around, take in his surroundings and enjoy the realitive peace and quiet of the land. Listen to the birds chirp, the howling, whispering and even whistling of the wind. Rye's body relaxed, his ears lazily rested, his tail swayed side to side as he walked and his body slightly slouched as he went. Yes, Rye was at total peace and he hoped it would stay that way but it was the forest after all. So nothing was set in stone.

This looked lonely.

It was few days now, since Maia had left and Wraen already missed her dearly. Sleeping alone in their shared "cradle" was nowhere as pleasant as it was, when her younger sister and her warm body to cuddle up against. But practical reasons aside, the oldest of Osprey's children was surprised to find out that she feared her sister would decide to stay with Terance and with two mountain ranges and a whole valley between, they would not see each other often at all. She was mature enough to understand that there was no way of her keeping Maia to herself forever, but she did not like the idea of saying goodbye to her best friend. 

Therefore - to pass the time Wraen did some exploration of her own, convincing herself that not only information gathered from the scouting missions would be useful to her pack, but also that she might pick up interesting stories to tell her sister upon her return. She had discovered that a different pack was about to settle not too far from Sun Mote Copse, but she had not investigated further, choosing to go southwards, until she reached a forest and a place that felt very familiar to her. Wasn't this particular place, where she had met Burke last year? It did not have a feel of a home being in use, therefore she entered and, when she spotted an agouti pelted figure moving between trees, she stopped and observed him carefully.

 Thank ya kindly

The multi colored male continued his way through the forest, unaware of his spectator. He casually kept his pace, and occasionally stuck his nose to the ground to hunt for a scent, Rye had hopes of finding a meal but he also did so partly because another wolf may have gone through recently. So far so good until the scent of a rabbit caught Rye's full attention, his belly growled angrily, upset that a meal had been missed earlier that day. The trail seemed fresh, tracks still clearly evident within the snow and a scent still strong. Within minutes Rye was crouched somewhat low, traversing the land and weaving through trees as he followed the scent. It wasn't long before the male caught sight of the rabbit, it had its back turned to him. Everything was perfect.

Except the wind.

A sharp wind whipped Rye's scent straight towards the bun and alerted his meal to his presence. With the kick of some snow, the rabbit was gone and Rye was left rather grumpy. He was so close to having that plumb rabbit squeezed between his powerful jaws but no, the wind just had to ruin it but quickly all thoughts of the rabbit flew out the door as the male caught scent of something unknown. Instinct raised Rye's hackles and tail, his body hairs stood on ends in an attempt to made himself look bigger and more intimidating. "Who's there? Show yourself." Rye ordered, his tone harsh and demanding.

It was a while before the stranger became aware of Wraen's presence, therefore she had about 15 - 20 amusing minutes, during, which she watched the guy hunt a rabbit and fail at it. Wind had not been his friend today, but it did one good thing - alerted him finally that he was not alone in the forest. 

His tone was somewhat gruff and harsh and for a moment there she considered not showing herself and leaving the scene. After all she knew nothing about the man there and life had taught her that a "mystery" was not always something pleasant. On the other hand, it might be so that he was the less confident here with her being a native and him - a new arrival.

Therefore she stepped on the stage in a polite and curious/neutral manner and said: "Good day, fellow traveller! Under different circumstances I would apologize for scaring you, but that would imply that either you are a coward or I am the worst nightmare you can meet in this area." She waited for him to decipher her reply with an amused smile in her lips.

Rye wasn't sure what to say or how to react, the woman's words had spice to them, or so he felt, despite her neutral tone. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, her words shook him a bit and while he did feel offended he was taught no good was to come by lashing out. So, instead he took the comment with stride and laughed a smidge, in doing so his tension faded as well as his hackles. The male sat where he was, his bottom sinking into the snow as his weight sunk him down, letting himself relax further as the cool snow helped ease his tensed muscles.  

"Well, dare I say you just might be," He bantered, never afraid to chime in on jokes or insults directed towards him. "What brings a nightmare such as yourself out here? Come to haunt me?" Rye joked.

A topic about ghosts and nightmares, how convinient! Much moreso than small-talk about the weather and, what was that other most common topic, Wraen had forgotten. She liked that the guy had picked up the game and did not mind to play along for a bit. "Depends on, whether you have done something in the past that might have upset a soul that cannot therefore find it's rest or... a particular nightmare ghoul - those, actually, need very little to be pissed off," she explained. "In my case, I am your little, friendly, neighbourhood ghost - which race do you represent?" she asked.

A joking maniacal laugh sounded from Rye, an evil grin glued to his lips. "I represent a race of fiendish goblins straight from the depths of hell. Our purpose? To torment friendly, neighbourhood ghosts." He said in a, clearly, fake evil voice. Ooh boy, this female had Rye excited and in a high spirted mood. Just from the simplest of jokes had Rye in a fun mind set, he was ready to bounce around and have some fun. Obviously Rye is very fun going, always eager to mess around and have a good time. Never missing a chance to feed into any jokes tossed his way. "Run while you still can." Rye let out another evil laugh. His tail moving side to side at a steady place, giving further evidence to his excitement, if it wasn't painfully clear already.

The fiendish goblin wannabee was just a little too good with his acting, because for a moment there Wraen had hard time discerning, whether the maniacal laugh was fake or something she should be concerned about. Whether tormenting friendly ghosts was implied figuratively or literally, whether the advice to run, while she could, was a threat of, what would happen, if she decided not to. 

Being out-trumped in the game of pretence was not an entirely pleasant feeling, therefore instead of running, she remained, where she was, trying to read the other's expression first. Until finally she sat down and tilting her head to the side asked: "Does the evil goblin of Hell has a name? 'cause the ghost has and runs by Wraen."

A name? Rye briefly debated whether or not he should continue to add onto the whole joke with a fake name, but decided not to in the end. "My name is Rye, terrifying name I know. Strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies." He said, bravado laced thick in his voice. Rye couldn't help but chuckle at his own cocky manner, it was quite entertaining to him that some genuinely act that way. Not to mention the himself, though his act was purely in jest.

"Though in seriousness now, I must say, it is nice to meet you Wraen." Rye gave a gentle smile, "Where are you from?" Lone wolf? Belong to a pack? Or other? Rye didn't know what other could be but to him there was always something new that surprised him wherever he went. He didn't think she would be much different.

"You are quite an actor, mister Rye," Wraen said, relieved that the other guy was not as half as serious in his intentions to eat her or drag her to hell. Though 1/10 of her mind still kept a watchful and critical eye just in case. She did not let it show though. "And you would make a great demon - sorry - goblin of Hell," she complimented him.

"I represent the proud Firebirds," straightening herself as she said this. "We live in a copse North from here," she beckoned over her shoulder. "And, what about you? Do you belong to a pack or are a loner?"

Rye's smile grew at the females compliments, his tail slightly swaying. "Thank you, thank you. I did my best." It was true, he did his damnedest to act evil and fiendish, gauging by her compliments Rye would write this off as a total success. His happiness was visible from the wagging of his tail to the joy in his eyes. Yes Rye would no doubt live off the joy for the rest of the day.

The male took a quick look to the gestured direction, making a mental note of the pack mention but that was going to be forgotten given Rye's tendency to forget things. "Yeah, I'm from the Redhawks. I'm new around here but I'm slowly learning whats around me. I do hope our packs are on good term, else things might get awkward." Rye shyly laughed, and looked to Wraen with an almost confused/pained look. Unsure if things were about to get tense.

"Redhawks and Firebirds are sister packs, in fact. In both figurative and literal sense - our leaders are closely related to yours and vice versa," Wraen explained helpfully and maybe this piece of information Rye would remember next time he ran into a fellow firebird. 

"And at the moment we are on very good terms - that's, what I heard last," she added. There was 0.1% possibility that, when Wraen went home this evening she would find out that things had changed. But it was highly unlikely.

"So, where do your acting skills come from - is it a god's given talent or you are a professional spy?" she asked.

The news that the packs were sister packs put Rye at ease, and even made him smile. Perhaps he would visit the sister pack someday, learn more of the territory while he was at it. "Ah, well glad to hear it," He smiled, "I hope to meet more of you Firebirds someday." He meant that, meeting others would be nice, especially if he got a nice trip out of it all. "If you dont mind my asking, how long have you been a Firebird?"

As for his acting skills? "Honestly? Its a newly found skill, so I would classify this as a God given talent." 

"Since the foundation of the pack. Could be a moon or so," Wraen was not particularly good with numbers, when it came to it. "That's how talents are found. By accident - congratulations then and may you never forget this significant day," she said this in an overdone official tone and made the little charade complete by bowing lightly.

"I don't know about you, but I am getting hungry and unless you plan on becoming Hansel of the fairy tale, I suggest we go and find something for the Terrible witch to eat," she invited him for a hunt in a very eloquent way, but you would hardly ever hear Wraen say things as simple as "let's eat!". She had to show off. She had to.

Rye chuckled at the womans Hansel joke and nodded in agreement for the hunt, a faint smile still present afterwards. Admittedly he was excited to hunt with her, Rye was already quite fond of her and her jokes. A hunt with her would surly produce more fun times. "A hunt sounds good, though I must warn you. It has been some time since I have hunted with another wolf, so please excuse my rust. I do hope it will shed with this hunt but I will follow your lead for now." Rye was a little embarrassed at his rustiness, what kind of wolf was he if he couldn't hunt properly. Rye didn't want to guess.

Shall we make a new thread? Or keep this one going?

 

"Let's get going then," Wraen was on her feet and was leading the way in the next. "It might take a while to get there, but I know a place, where we might get our paws on grouse," she explained their intended destination. 

"Where do you come originally from?" she asked, always curious to find out, what tempted wolves to leave their homes and seek their luck in the wide world in the first place.

Their hunt ended in failure despite their best efforts and they parted soon after.