Blacktail Deer Plateau where'd you go

preferably someone who could tell Cicero where BDP's moved, but.. anyone is welcome :)

As per Burke's request, Cicero had set out to check up on another pack this time -- or rather, a place where a pack had once been. He knew that they no longed resided here, but he also knew that he had to start somewhere, so it may as well be where they once did reside. Perhaps one would be here looking for nostalgia, or perhaps he would run into other clues of their whereabouts. It was midday when Cicero arrived at the Plateau, and as he had thought, there were no trails of scent markers near the borders. They were long gone, and he knew instantly that he'd get no solace to his quest here.

Cicero decided to simply look around for a bit, hoping to find a clue that he could use, something, anything, and perhaps he would run into someone interesting; or better yet, someone knowledgeable on the subject, so that he did not have to unearth the entire Teekon Wilds to get to the bottom of the Plateau pack's whereabouts.

this looked lonely so you get the most useless thing ever

He's managing to carve out some sort of existence hidden in the mountain range with good days and occasional bad ones. He has to keep it simple, otherwise he feels himself folding into his confusion and loneliness while he decides to wait for a better hint before moving on. Or, at least spring's ease. He has to step back and try to pull himself together before going off to pursue something without even a real cause or direction. It's at least the first trace of familiarity that he's known when he clings near the Sunspire, so that's hard to walk away from right now.

But in his efforts to learn a little more, he embarks up the range through the Vale first. Eventually, when he runs into the very edges of a pack claim along a ridge, he's suddenly put on a brand new edge. The scents of the strong pack that he had not expected to be there eventually just sends him fleeing onto the Plateau.

Inari slinks along now that he's found a path guiding deeper into a seemingly uninhabited territory and every step in does seem to help calm him down. Paranoia isn't far behind him, though, and its this irrational fear of something looming behind him that almost makes him miss what's in front suddenly: another wolf.

His heart sinks and he can feel his throat getting tight already. He suspects he's been seen already so he pauses delicately. He nervously fans his ears and looks anxiously at all the spaces immediately surrounding the black and white wolf, never exactly at him.

never <3 thanks for joining :D

At the approach of another, Cicero's first response was to bare his teeth into a snarl as menacing as he could produce, but the instant submission of the other wolf put him at ease. His tail twitched tensely, but his hackles fell flat fairly soon. Cicero knew all too well the possibilities of manipulation however and who knew what this wolf was really like? He decided that the only way to win was to beat the other wolf to it.

And so he approached, lifting his tail in an unusual display of dominance. "Well, well," he mused as he came closer and closer, "What can this wolf tell Cicero about the whereabouts of this Plateau's pack?" Odds were tall that he knew nothing to mirror his uselessness, but Cicero hoped to at least build upon the fear that he was already showing so that he could hold the ropes firmly in his own paws, and so that he could figure out whether or not this wolf was merely pretending to be afraid, or if he really was. It was a delicate balance between instilling fear and keeping him from running that Cicero knew he needed to keep for it to work.

He doesn't like the initial reaction the dark wolf sends his way so Inari has to stay tense and uncomfortable-looking. After reading the dominance on his stance now that he's coming closer, the silver loner has no idea what he's supposed to think now.. besides regret for having not turned back for the Spire the second he smelled another pack. Inari grimaces when he knows his answer is going to fall short by a long shot.

"I did not know this Plateau had a pack," he ventures and sinks his posture down more. In his hurry to just get to somewhere else, he hadn't given the old, fading scents any consideration. "I.. only passed one by a ridge on the way here, though.." he decides to mention and punctuates it with a shaky sigh. He's still very uneasy about this all and doesn't want any trouble, but these thoughts are fresh enough in his head that he can recite this much.

The other wolf's fear drove Cicero, for it meant that he was not afraid himself. A low growl erupted from his throat as the answer was delivered, clear that it was not the answer he was looking for. The wolf mentioned another pack but it was useless; Cicero knew nothing of the Plateau dwellers, and so knowing the whereabouts of another pack meant nothing to him, either.

"Where did the wolf come from?" asked Cicero, keeping his posture and starting to circle around the wolf to see where its triggers lay and how he would respond to being pushed around a bit. "And where is he going? He is not a spy, is he?" Mismatched eyes were squinted as Cicero said the word 'spy', and on the inside he felt a mixture of guilt and regret (for he was not truly a vile creature), and feeling powerful for driving away his own fear by handing it to another. And maybe a small part amusement that he accused another wolf of something he was and whose tactics he was using right now.

Inari folds back his ears and tucks his tail further at the very first note of the other's growl. It's expected, almost, but that doesn't make it any easier to cope with. His blood runs thick with tension and uneasiness while his eyes dart to the side in his attempt to watch the stranger while he circles. The silvered nomad stacks stock-still otherwise.

The question chills him to his very bones and the next one does not help any either. He wished so badly he had the answer for them. It was a question he asked himself, too. "I only just got here, but I have been staying by the big mountain," comes with a shaky gesture of his muzzle towards the Sunspire, as much as he's loathe to move at all and reveal his business all at once. "I was trying to see what was nearby." Compliance may save him some trouble, or so he hopes. 

"No.. I am no.. spy. I do not know anyone.." he mutters and nervously licks his lips.

The other's fear betrayed his honesty, as Cicero felt he had pushed him enough to get him straightened out. He was probably clean, Cicero decided. He followed the other's gaze towards the Sunspire. A central location from which certainly he could gather a lot of information. He assured Cicero that he was not a spy, but Cicero could not help but wonder if maybe he would be the perfect spy because nobody would suspect him.

What he did, to press the buttons of another frightened individual so willingly, was very against Cicero's normal personality but he could not help but wonder if the wolf could come in handy. And so he decided, "The wolf will be a spy. He will provide Cicero and Blackfeather Woods with information." It wasn't even that he needed any information right now, but maybe after his trip to find the plateau and reporting back to Burke? "What is the wolf's name? " asked Cicero, for that was the only missing piece in his puzzle here. He knew where the wolf lived and that he knew no one. No one would miss him if he would thwart the Blackfeather wolf's will.

He tries and fails in part to hide the horrified expression the stranger's next words prompted. Inari feels his head rush at the small handful of things he's suddenly given -- the name? Blackfeather Woods? him, a spy? At the thought that this wolf wants him to provide information mortifies him halfway to his early grave. "But.. why? I have no information." He believes firmly that he has nothing, especially when he barely feels like he exists in this body at all. There is little he can do for anyone like this, which he thinks he has already proven by not knowing about the Plateau pack. That was only the start of the great many things he does not know about..

He suddenly remembers to breath. "Inari.." he sighs. It isn't even enough because he knows its only a fragment and he can't find the rest.

Cicero continued teetering along the edges of the other wolf's sanity and he seemed convinced still that he knew nothing. But it was not what he knew now that interested Cicero, it was future uses that he wished for.

With a flash of his teeth Cicero commanded, "It's not what Inari knows now, but what he will find out while living at the spire. Blackfeather Woods is due south. The dark forest lays at the bottom of the mountain ridge. Inari will come there in two months time with whatever he knows." Any information was power, and so Cicero had good faith that whatever was presented would be good. It was good news that Inari did not even question out protest why he ought to do this. That meant, hopefully, that he would do it, if not only out of fear.

He did not mean to sign up for this and holds his breath with the teeth flash before him. This was bad.. just when he's convinced it can't get much worse, it does. He's even given a deadline and Inari cringes at the time-frame. How is he going to remember that..? "Is the information Blackfeather wants supposed to be about this Plateau place or.. everything?" he tilts his head, although does keep it lowered in clear recognition of the other wolf's dominant poses. Cicero had only said "whatever he knows" and Inari doesn't know how else to stress it that he's going to be absolutely no good at this. He does not know what is expected of him, or even anything else about Blackfeather or this wolf right here in front of him. This was well out of his immediate capabilities and he already knows to fear the consequences if he stays here.

Everything that Inari would bring would be extra, a lovely bonus to what Cicero already knew. He only made it seem as though this was really important so that Inari would return to him with the right information. Or with anything at all. Cicero looked at the confused wolf and said, "Try to find out about the plateau pack but any information on other packs are welcome too. Cicero trusts that Inari will do well." Inari had this loveable innocence about him and so he was perfect. None would suspect him off anything.

Cicero turned away from Inari then, deciding that he had reveled in the boy's fear enough, and turned around only to say, "Make sure to find Blackfeather Woods when it is time, or Cicero will find Inari." The threat was accompanied by a flash of teeth and then Cicero started trotting off in south west direction to continue his own search for the plateau wolves.

He'd rather disappear, but some clarification does help. In a way that almost makes him sick to his stomach, he likes the idea of an actual goal with a beginning point (right now) and an end (in two months at Blackfeather). The place in the middle that he was meant to fill in with the information gathering was what really fills him with intense doubt. As horrible and awful as it seems, it still may be the most structured idea he's looked at in months.

There's more teeth and he hates it, but Cicero takes his leave afterward. Inari slumps where he stood and feels awfully tired suddenly. He's already dreading the part where Cicero finds him, or he finds Cicero.. and there's that lure to just vanish again. But, he wants to stay on the mountain still..

After a while he picks himself up and mutters something about Blackfeather, Cicero, and two months on repeat, trying his best to engrave these topics in his muddled mind while he goes slinking back towards the Spire -- and is extra mindful of the Ridge's borderlands this time, too.