Bramblepoint not all of us are legends

this place would’ve been a pretty sight in the spring. lush leaves, birds chirping, and sweet berries as far as the eye could see. but nope, it was almost winter. and everyone knows winter’s a bitch. no fruit to dine on here, just sharp thorns to tear at your sides constantly. and that was anything but pretty.

a young male would be on the branches victim list today. every time they clawed at his fur, he’d curse under his breath and quicken his pace. the sooner he got out of this place the better.

This was the one of the few times since his older sisters had been gone and returned that he had managed to peel himself from the mountainside, and this one was with due cause. Somehow, one of his littler sisters had either slipped out of view, or failed to wander on back home to them--he didn't think anyone really knew for sure. Point was, one of them was a very strong candidate for missing right now, and there in which lie the problem, so he was out in search of even a hint.

Revui and Arcturus had been out on the prowl too, he knew that. The others probably as well but the sterling delta hadn't made contact saying so exactly. Also as well as he knew, no one had scrounged up any good leads. Another problem.. because he was pretty sure none of his sisters had the ability to just disappear and thanks to this, the search had to continue before it couldn't anymore.

Anyway.. he had come to this awful wood and decided it a terrible place to look, but someone had to. He picked a careful route and proceeded slowly--which did morale no favors when he had nothing to go on besides only going. Progress, however small.

He was going one way when he thought he heard something somewhere off to his left.. ahead a way and where he couldn't see yet thanks to the bramble tangled thick. It was getting closer, louder maybe? The yearling slowed down to listen and felt infinitely more aware of himself as he eased.. but so far, so good

Who's there? He tried to test the breeze, and lifted his nose.. but the forest overpowered most, all woody and rich--distinct, too. So, to test the waters, the yearling gave a low chuff with a questioning lilt before he could exactly see anyone.

his ears twitched curiously when he heard someone, or something, amongst the brambles. how strange, he thought, who would ever want to step foot into a place like this?

felipe pushed his way through the thorns until he saw someone. “hey stranger,” he greeted, “what are you doing in this shithole?”

Slowly, he tried to maneuver himself on some path of minimal resistance, and it seemed the stranger was doing the same back towards him. Somewhere along the way, he was finally able to catch a glimpse, and his ears perked up tall to the unfamiliar voice.

Keying in quick, he found some spot not too terrible to pause in--mostly so he could pick a clinger of a burr off his haunch before answering. I was trying to find any trail on a lost packmate... he grumbled, because that plan had obviously worked out well so far. Most likely, his sister had not gone into this nasty mess. Hopefully she was smart enough to avoid it entirely, quite unlike him who had to learn this the hard way. What are you doing? It's way worse in here than I thought it was going to be, he complained.

lost packmate huh? well he doubted the yearling would find them here. no one in their right mind would traverse through here. felipe grunted with amusement to himself. why the hell was he here then?

“sightseeing,” he sarcastically replied. “what’d you think it’d be like?”

Some sights it's been, I'm sure, he smirked back, hinting in his own sarcasm too. I don't know exactly, maybe not quite so terrible.. he answered, when in truth he was just spoiled by forests that were a different type of thick--which were also ones he was far more familiar with, and didn't feel so alienated in them. Are you from near here? Or just passing by? Frankly, the yearling recognized nothing about the stranger and his scent was not easy to place either; most of what he smelled was thanks to this forest, and a whole lot of unknown.

”nope, just passing through,” he replied. probably wasn’t a great idea to choose to go through this place. oh well, it wasn’t that bad. at least there was someone to talk to. 

“what of your packmate?” he asked, “have any luck finding them?”

That answer didn't surprise him very much. But, maybe in part the question back at him did. No, not here. Jarilo responded, turning his nose back towards the depths of the tangle after. Or anywhere yet. And this was what frustrated him, as well as the rest of the family. As for how his sister figured out how to vanish into thin air, he could not say.

She's petite, agouti, and misplaced from our mountain. So if you see anyone like that... the yearling drawled off, eying the stranger then too. He was hesitant to give out details too freely, so left it at that unless prompted for otherwise. He wasn't sure what else to say, really, thanks to usually keeping close to the mountain and where wanderers didn't pass right through that often. Do you know where you're headed next? he had to ask. He would offer what he knew about directions, if needed. If not, he could steer in some goodbyes, and keep this encounter in these miserable woods brief enough. They each had better places than here to be, surely.