Whitefish River And horror in the halls of stone
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Ooc — Jennifer
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#1
All Welcome 
In all honesty, Mal wasn't sure if he was going to make it back at exactly a month.  And he was also not entirely sure how the hell he was going to cross the mountains, since he wasn't counting in time for going the long way around.  There had to be a way, but at least from where he stood now at the banks of the river, the mountains didn't look passable.  They were just huge.

Even the river itself was a bit of a challenge.  Mal paced on the banks, staring at the swiftly moving water.  He needed to cross it, but the meltwater had swollen it to high levels.  Would he have to go back upstream?  Maybe there was a conveniently-placed fallen tree for him to cross over.  The water itself was dark and murky from the silt dredged up by the current, and he wasn't exactly sure he wanted to take the risk of venturing out into it in these unfamiliar grounds.  One way or another, though, he had to get back to Elysium and keep his promise -- then he could continue his quest again.
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Ooc — Malia
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#2
Hours have passed as Ulysses aimless and endless wondering takes him to many different places. He doesn't like to just settle down, he needs to keep moving. He needs to keep hunting to keep himself in prime condition. So his senses guide him to unvail a forest, where there's plenty of deer and other animals to prey on. 

This is presicly when he comes across a river. The rushing current of the violent water shields him from being able to swim to the other side safely. He's a strong swimmer and can withstand the temperatures of even some of the coldest waters but he can't fight that current.

His intense silvery eyes soak in his surroundings as he walks up the bank of this river. The water collects on him like dew when the current occasionally splashes up. He's looking for a way across and this river goes on for miles, it's impossibly wide as well.

A couple more minutes of walking allows him to stumble upon a sketchy bridge of rocks poking out of the thrashing water just enough to climb on. He's wouldn't want to risk that but if he really had to he'll keep the makeshift bridge in mind.

So he walks a ways more, a healthy few minutes when across the river he sees another mammal, a wolf he suspects. He continues padding until he's directly across the river from them. Watching as they scout the river. For what, Ulysses doesn't know.
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Ooc — Jennifer
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#3
He probably looked pretty foolish.  And his foolishness was only broken when he paused to go down to the water's edge, take a drink of the really freaking cold water, step a paw out into the current and then decide yeah, not gonna swim that.  So, back on up to pace around awkwardly again until he spotted someone on the opposite shore.

If Mal had ever run into a bear in person he might have mistaken the other wolf for one.  But well, the youth had lived a pretty sheltered life as a hermit when you came right down to it, so that wasn't the case.  In fact, since he wasn't particularly smart at all, he couldn't quite pin down why the other dude seemed slightly off to him.  Like Mal couldn't entirely grasp the whole way perspective worked so couldn't entirely tell the dude was dang huge.

Nah, Mal was just kind of an idiot.  Maybe he'd figure out the answers to everything eventually, but for now he was just stuck here with this dumb puzzle.  Thankfully, yelling was something Mal was good at, so he called out, How'd you get over there?  Not even thinking that maybe that guy could be having the same issue he was, albeit in a much less stumped manner.
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Ooc — Malia
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#4
This wolf dips its head to take a few licks from the winding river itself. By the time his head levels Ulysses can see the gears turning, he can tell the stranger wolf is still trying to figure out some way across. His handsome face holds a certain frustration to it as he paces the river bank.

Then, as Ulysses watches those bicolored eyes land on his own form he can tell the stranger is already wondering: How did he get over there? And the real problem is, is that they're stuck on the same thing but on different spectrums. 

So the wolf calls to him, thankfully it's  loud and clear. Damn that wolf can yell. Ulysses thinks, large ears folding back due to the echo of the scream in the open valley. Ulysses indulges him though, with a light smirk his moon white eyes settle on the stranger and he yells over "Not sure. How'd you get over there?!"

Quickly Ulysses puts the jokes aside when his mind spins back to that bridge made up of mossed over rocks with the current beating against them. The wolfdog doesn't really like to risk his life for others but his dog half is winning the argument. He decides he wants to help the other male across, so he lets up the idea.

"There's a path of rocks that could work for a bridge just down from here!" He nods his head to his left and the stranger's right. "Follow me, I'll help you cross!" His words sound almost slurred due to his accent and how loud he's yelling, but he's sure he gets his message across.
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Ooc — Jennifer
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#5
Mal sometimes missed jokes.  Or maybe it was just this one time because he was kind of frustrated and unable to see things other than from his own perspective. Though there were plenty of scenarios where Mal's imagination ran utterly wild, this was not one of those, which spoke more of his inexperience than anything.  It was frozen before... was thus his reply, with a bit of a frown.  Honestly, he wasn't even sure if this was a river he crossed, but since he couldn't remember it existing it had probably been buried under ice and snow so it basically didn't exist anyway.

But hey, you know what, if this guy actually knew a way across, at least he'd be useful.  He wasn't sure whether anything was expected in return (hopefully not, Mal was pretty useless in many ways), but at least he'd be back on his trip and he'd probably not end up super late or anything.  Okay!  He probably sounded more determined than excited (let's be real, Elysium was not an exciting destination to him, it was more like doing homework).  Mal would be quick to start upstream, keeping a close eye on the grey dude just so he didn't lose track of him along whatever foliage might clutter the shoreline.
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Ooc — Malia
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#6
They walk side by side, parallel to the river. The greywhite wolf prances along, eyes following Ulysses to keep track of him. Then after some odd minutes, possibly around fifteen, Ulysses can see the crushing current spraying up from where it rushes against the rocks.

He eyes the path of broken rocks, his plan is to get across and help this young man to safely across. With caution, the wolfdog takes a careful step forward and lands a paw on the first rock. Testing the waters, he can tell it's wet with slippery moss and a mold like substance. That's dangerous.

Round moon eyes gaze up and down the current. If he slips and gets washed up in the current it probably wouldn't be too fun, but he takes another step. Some of the rocks are spaced out, some even two feet away from each other which is a healthy jump. Especially when you're jumping onto the slick surface of the rock.

His fur collects jewels of water like dew from the current as he travels across the complicated terrain. He slips twice and he's only a quarter of the way across. So he jumps and slips every so often. His eyes are hard with concentration and his muscles already ache from how tense he is.

When he finally makes it across he's panting and on edge. He just hopes the smaller male is going to be able to cross. Looking down at him at a closer distance he sees the beautiful gold of his one eye and the other looks almost identical to his own. The black blaze that runs up his nose and fades into small flecks of black and grey and the rest of his body is made up of grey and white splotches. It makes Ulysses wonder where he got such markings.

Ulysses nods to the river. "I'm going to help you cross. I'll lead in front of you so if you fall just grab me. It's fucking slippery out there." He sighs, expelling some of the tightness in his muscles.
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Ooc — Jennifer
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#7
This was it?  Okay, Mal had for some reason expected something a bit more significant.  Or maybe just safer?  Something like that.  Maybe he should just grow some wings and fly over.  It might be easier.  Could he even close those gaps?  Maybe the weather would change and it'd freeze again and he could just walk across.  Maybe.  Yeah.  Or not.

While he was pondering this, the dude started to cross, and Mal paid half attention while he glumly pondered how badly things were going.  Maybe there was a conveniently placed tree somewhere.  Though at least right here there weren't a ton of super tall ones right along the river to start with.  So, probably not.  And yeah, even if this dude had just crossed a while ago, he certainly wasn't making it look easy.  Lovely.  But as the guy approached, one thing became very clear.  This dude was kinda big.  Like really.  That other beach guy was also pretty big but honestly Mal had done his best to pay little attention to him and had attempted to put the whole thing out of his mind, so he wasn't sure of their comparable size, but he had plenty of time for this guy to get closer.  It was pretty intimidating, not gonna lie.  Mal was gonna try to pretend he didn't notice and not gawk like a fool, though.

Well. If he fell into the water and died, it wouldn't be his own fault then, right?  Ugh.  It wasn't like he had much of a choice.  Mal nodded, Okay.  I guess.  On the other hand, right now at least he didn't have to yell.