Dragoncrest Cliffs turn the world into a dancefloor

The snows continued to the fall, the wind kept blowing, and Haunt spent most of her time spirited away in the caves below the cliffs. She did venture out every now and then, during lulls in the weather, and enjoyed scouting for prey along the shoreline. Presently, she nosed along a stretch of cold sand stripped bare by the tide, which had since receded to reveal a small array of treasures on the frigid beach.

It was such a different world here than back at the bypass. And it wasn't just the change of scenery. Haunt had grown up with only her litter mates as companions, hardly knowing her older siblings or anyone else in the pack. There had been Kaertok and Arbiter, of course, but they were less like parents and more like generals, keeping their kids in line and constantly training. It had been a Spartan way of life.

Here, she was making friends and enjoying time to simply discover who she was outside of Legion. There was a sense of freedom which she'd never enjoyed before. Nobody here kept tabs on her at all times or forbade her from going wherever she liked. Funnily, Haunt never felt compelled to venture outside the territory. Of course, the blizzard was a factor but, mostly, Haunt was simply happy here.

She came across a dead fish and wrinkled her nose at the pungent odor of it. Haunt turned it over with her snout, frowning thoughtfully. She would've rejected it as food if not for the fact that it was a little hard to come by lately. Biting back a sigh, she grasped the rancid carcass in her jaws and turned, her mind wandering to @Vex.

to vex's surprise, he'd been allowed to stay ...or allowed as in he'd made up his mind and there really wasn't anything arbiter could do about it aside from trespass and haul his butt back home. thankfully, that hadn't came to pass. sapphique was a ...whole different universe and perhaps that was just because haunt was his only relative here. regardless, he cannot muster the proper level of regret he probably should be feeling. it wasn't like the wolves of legion really bothered with him; and though he knew there were 'others' they were little more than good to him then the trees in the background.

with a lull in the storm, vex set out to make himself useful; patrolling the cliff's borders, finding it nice to stretch his legs, despite that the cave that haunt had chosen to be her pad ( that invited or not he totally crashed by sleeping on her couch; oops ) was plenty spacious. he still wasn't sure whether he was fond of it, recalling the ghost of his father's words telling them that they were too old to sleep in den's.

he wraps up his patrol and subconsciously tracks haunt's scent until their paths crossed. his steps falter as he notices the rancid fish betwixt her jaws and he pulls a face, ears fluttering back against his skull. i really hope you're not bringing that home, he tells her deadpan, wrinkling his muzzle in disgust; 'home' meaning the cave, uttered so flippantly that he hadn't even realized he'd called any aspect of the cliffs home. i really don't want to sleep in a cave that smells of rotting fish.

He materialized as if summoned by his sister's musings. Haunt smiled fondly around the odious fare in her maw, gladly dropping it when Vex moseyed closer. Her gaze dropped to peer at the rotten fish at her feet before flicking back up to her brother's face with a dry laugh.

"I was bringing it back for you," she admitted, her lips pressing together in a thoughtful line as she considered his words. Haunt hadn't missed the way he'd said "home," especially not after her train of thought just a few moments ago.

"Speaking of home," she said casually in the next breath, "I guess we should be heading back soon." Haunt could still use the weather as an excuse but she didn't want to do that with Vex. Her yellow eyes trailed over their surroundings a moment before once more resting on his face. "I don't think I want to go back, though."

oh, vex breathes as she admits that she was bringing it back for him; sheepish. well, thanks, he grunts. but you can have it. i don't like fish. he doesn't know if that's expressly true or not — he's never had it. he can only imagine that if it tastes as bad as it smells he wouldn't like it.

for a moment, vex is confused about which 'home' she means and then realizes in the following seconds she speaks of legion. right, he agrees rather unenthusiastically. though he had yet to really, truly socialize with any of sapphique he realizes that he doesn't want to leave. though he misses arbiter ( because she was his mother ), the truth was he doesn't miss anything else. not legion, not royal. not any of the background wolves of legion that he knew of but didn't actually know or interact with.

haunt admits that she didn't think she wanted to go back. so let's not go back. vex suggests it as he saw it: that simple. mom'll be furious ...but it's not like she's never been furious at us and what's she going to do? go to war for us? vex snorts at the thought. though he fully believed arbiter was capable of it he doubts anyone else in legion cared that much about her wayward children.

i don't want to go back. besides, the brief time he'd been here hadn't hardly been near enough time to learn much of anything, least of all who he was out from beneath his mother's firm fist and hawk eyes.

She really didn't know how Vex might react to this information. Haunt didn't realize she'd gone stiff until he spoke and the tension leaked out of her muscles, leaving her sagging with relief. A moment later, an immense sense of gratitude washed through her and she took a step forward, pressing her snout into Vex's ruff. She stepped on the fish accidentally, causing its guts to squirt out of it with an offensive sound and smell.

Laughing and wrinkling her nose, Haunt flicked fish guts off her paw even as she admitted, "I'd like to visit Legion but I'm worried she'll try to keep us there if we go back." Her foot was as clean as it would get, so she put it back on the ground and met her brother's gaze. "And I worry that she'll come here again and try to drag us back." Haunt frowned. "I miss her though. I do want to see her. I just don't want to deal with... all that." She sighed and paused before adding, "How old do you think we have to be before she sees us as independent?"

maybe we should give it a bit, vex suggests in agreement with her concern. without sapphique to stand behind them, he doesn't doubt there'd be attempts made to keep them there. the lengths their mother was willing to go to was proven to be extreme, including following them on their very first excursion out, leaving legion without a leader — though vex supposed that warlock was a stand in while arbiter was out n' about hunting down her rebellious children.

she can't make us do something we don't want to do. vex reminds her, even though until quite recently she very well could. soon enough, the mother card would play itself out ...though to vex it already has. i don't think we'll ever be old enough, and if we are the next thing'll be we aren't responsible enough. which ...might've been true.

regardless, he enjoys the freedoms he has here even if he hasn't taken advantage of them. just knowing he has them ( within limits, of course ) was enough, for now. plus, the blizzard(s) made him lack the energy to do much other than hunt as of late. exploring and socializing had been placed on the back burner out of necessity.

Vex suggested they hold off for a while. Haunt bit her lip and nodded. What he said was true, technically, but it wasn't really that simple. It could be very challenging to stand up to Arbiter and her wishes. She sighed a little at his reply to her question, supposing he was correct there as well. The two of them may very well be destined to be failures in Arbiter's eyes, though there was always Royal, Warlock and the others to stay at home and become her perfect little subordinate soldiers.

"Well," Haunt said after a moment, peering down at the smashed fish, "guess that's total garbage. Want to help me comb the beach for other stuff to eat?" She thought briefly of Jomyo, teaching her how to scavenge from the carcass of a bighorn sheep. Haunt had liked her mother's Aquilifer well enough, thought that had been their only meaningful interaction ever. As a matter of fact, as she stood there thinking, she realized she couldn't actually remember her name.

She didn't bother trying for long, shaking her head when her brother initially declined to join her on this smelliest of endeavors. Haunt knew he was just teasing, though she shoved playfully at his shoulder before brushing past him, nose lowering to sift the sands.