Mount Apikuni it's not a problem if you're awesome at it.

Penn hadn't paid any attention to what direction he was going when he's left. He'd just gone. He ran, trying to leave behind the hurt and the anger that had been his farewell gift from his brief homecoming at the Copse as fast as he could. Unfortunately, emotion was something you carried with you, not something you could stick under a rock and walk away from. It stuck to him like the eternal dampness that clung to his fur from this infernal rain, so all he could do after his limbs were too tired to run anymore was to lie there and be saturated with it.

He'd slept for a while then and his days a mix of bad dreams and bad daydreams. The rain had driven him out of the plains and up into higher ground where he'd found a nice, dark cave to crawl into. He might've gone straight Gollum at that point and never emerged again were it not for this particular morning when he'd awoken from a nightmare where he'd been drowning to find himself lying in a good four inches of water.

Penn jolted to his feet, snorting water out of his nostrils and coughing it out of his lungs. He looked around him, his ears perked and listening to the rain splattering against his roof in buckets. His eyes were quick to focus in the dark on a trickle of water that was steadily flowing down the wall to his right like a tiny waterfall, then over to the next, and the next, and the next. He frowned, then his eyes snapped wide and he bolted for the entrance, barely making it out before the sound of collapsing rock grew loud enough to deafen the thunder.

The yearling sprinted along the ridge he'd followed to find the cave, then darted up a few cliffs to get himself out safely out of the way of the landslide. It was over in less than thirty seconds, though he could hear rocks tumbling down into the fiery orange and gold trees below for a few seconds longer. He dropped to his haunches and bowed his head, trembling. That had been uncomfortably close, and yet after a minute or so, he grinned and a laugh shook out of his lungs. Adrenaline was fun. God, he hadn't laughed in days.

Still shaking with the remainder of his amusement, he looked skyward and breathed deep. "Ahh... fuck... Now what," he said to himself, sighing and turning to look off towards the valley that stretched out to his left towards the horizon.

Donovan’s leg isn’t feeling any better. Especially since he took his journey south of the mountains and had a wonderful little hunt with a most beautiful wolf by the name of Leigh. Worth it. Maybe. Yet he can’t sit still. The pain causes him to keep close to reality, to toughen himself up again. Or more than he previously was. He has to stay strong. Be one step ahead of the game at all times.

He’s making his way up a narrow trail cut into the side of yet another mountain. The rain is a constant nowadays. It was insanely annoying at first and fuck does. He still fucking hate it. He’s trying to get used to it though. That’s all he can do. 

Yet this day might have been a bad day to climb a steep mountain trail. Perhaps hiking is even more fun with the threat of death. Maybe everything is more fun with the threat of death. Maybe that’s just him though.

Minding his own business, he pads along the trail. Muscles beneath a thinned, stripped pelt, flex and ache. They rest when he stops abruptly. A rumbling noise making itself know you him. What the fuck? Is the only thing that goes through his mind when a small pebble comes bouncing down the slope comically. His eyes follow it all the way down. Then another. Then another. Oh shit. He looks up and they’re not pebbles anymore, they’re straight up boulders.

All in one moment his heart leaps into his throat and he’s straight up running. His misses fail him, for he’s already reached muscle failure and he struggles to climb onto a higher, safer surface. Only a few meters to the right from the other wolf he doesn’t even know is there, perhaps a bit lower down the mountain as well. His breath comes heavy and fast. He’s not a fast wolf whatsoever and he almost died trying to get up there in the time he did.

It’s silent once again. He sighs, black tongue panting wildly from his maw. He hears a voice then. His ears swivel and he’s flicking his head and eyes around until he finally sees the ashen wolf a little way up from him and furrows his brows in curiosity. 

“Hey!” He calls out to them. “Did you see that shit?” 

The initial rush faded quickly, leaving Penn's mind open to let the melancholy creep back in. He sucked in a breath and began to look around, trying to discern a safe path down and away from the mountain. He was hopeful he might find another hole somewhere to go lie in, even though he could now see the flaw in that plan. He'd just have to pick a sturdier hole.

He was about to stand and start making his way when he heard someone call to him. Penn paused and blinked through the rain, spotting the dark wolf not too far. The question made him smirk, and he felt some familiar sense of himself come creeping back in. "Yeah, you could say that," he called back, "I was nearly buried under that shit." Which is generally not something to brag about, but there was a tone of smug pride underlying his words in a way that was so very... Blackthorn of him.

Donovan smirks at his reply, allowing a rumbling bout of laughter to bubble up from his throat. He beginning climbing his way up to him, a smile still on his maw. “Nice. You know how to get down, hotshot?” He asks hopping finally into he same slab of stone Penn finds himself on. 

He saunters easily and confidently closer, but leaves a fair amount of space between them. “Name’s Donovan, if you care enough to know.” He offers the grey scale wolf. A charming smile loitering his face, contorting it handsomely.

Penn was gratified by the laughter he received in response to his quip. He watched as the other wolf approached and pondered the question. He glanced down the side of the mountain and smirked once again. "Falling's probably my surest way of getting down at the moment," he admitted, "But I suppose there'd be a way to walk down if I wanted to go about it the tedious way."

The exchange of names came next, and for some reason, Penn paused. For a moment, he didn't want to be Penn Blackthorn. He wanted to be someone else. He wanted to say he was someone else. It was a half a second only, then he realized. Why would he want to be someone else? Fuck all the shit that made him feel so shitty about being him. He didn't give a fuck (he totally still gives a bunch of fucks).

"Penn Blackthorn," he replied with a cocky smile, "What do you think. Take the safe way down or the fun way?"

Donovan, edges himself towards the edge and peak down the dangerous slope of newly torn up and loose rock. He huff out an exhale that could be considered another laugh. “Nice.” He jokes lowly. 

Then he stares back to the silvery male as he introduces himself. After, he makes the boldest suggestion of going down the safe way or the fun way. The confident and borderline caustic smile that tilts this wolfs lips upward have Donovan’s own smile become smooth and teasing. 

He chuckles once more, much more lively this time and he shakes his head. “Not sure if you have anything to live for, but sadly I do.” He jests with a boisterous laugh. “So, sorry to sound like an old man, but I think the fun way suits me just fine, peaches.”

The Blackthorn didn't love the having nothing to live for jab, but he was well enough distracted. The stranger's words contradicted themselves, making Penn quirk a brow. The fun way was not for the old and cautious. But, maybe this guy was a bit of a lunatic. Penn rolled with that assumption rather than bother to explain it further.

"Suit yourself," he quipped as he turned and looked down along the slope. It wasn't a sheer drop, though it was steep enough that no one but the most reckless and haphazard of creatures would try to hoof it, especially not when it was raining and the ground had so recently proven itself to be unstable. Penn, of course, was a very reckless and haphazard creature. He trotted to the edge of the ridge, wagged his tail once, and hopped down.

He began to slide the moment his paws hit the slope. Swiftly, he picked up his paws and began to run, his momentum increasing swiftly with the help of the steep decline. He managed to keep his paws beneath him for about twenty seconds before he simply couldn't any longer, at which point he began to tumble and roll with a yelp that was a well-balanced mix of amusement and oh fuck, what did I do.

As Penn had estimated, though, the slope ended sharply into a flattened plain before he was too well and truly fucked. He slammed into the debris with a loud outcry of FUCK!, smushing uncomfortably into the muddy floor. He paused there for a moment to catch his breath before trying to struggle out. That's when he realized he'd banged his shoulder super good. Penn was tough, though, and headstrong. He ignored it as he pulled himself up, took a few steps, and gave his coat a good shake.

His heart was pounding, his entire body ached, but he still began to laugh as he looked up at the cliff he'd started from. It hadn't seemed nearly that far when he'd first scoped it out. That had seriously not been very smart of him at all. "Actually, the fun way is pretty safe too!" Penn called up to Donovan, wincing as a breath triggered some pain in one of his bruises.

LOLL my b that was a typo on my part. Whoops! Meant for him to say the safe way there. (@_@)

The older male watches as the other at first expertly slide down the mountain face. He nods his head, surprised that he’s doing this well — until he’s not. His footing is going all wonky and in a matter of seconds he’s tumbling down. The Grandmaster’s brows raise as he watches the scene fold out in front of him. Then a high pitched squeak and he’s on level ground again. Momentarily, the brindle giant thinks this stranger wolf is dead. 

A few moments on bated breath and the crazy bastard’s up and moving again. Soon to be screaming up at him that it was fun. Fun? No, that’s not fun. Yet it makes a wild smile come to Donovan’s maw at the show. 

“Yeah, one sec, I’ll do just that.” He yells down so the other can hear him. 

Tip toeing to the edge, he jumps into a small flattened rock. He continues this all the way down. Risking to even jump on the loosened ones. He slips and mis-steps but he eventually got down. And once his roughed paws touch the ground Donovan is smirking up to the other. 

“That was impressive I have to say. Thought you died.” He chuckles simply.

Lol I kinda figured, but I didn't want to assume anything so I just had him not really mention it :D

Penn was excited at first thinking Donovan would follow his lead and do some mountain sliding. After all, he'd proven it could be done in a relatively safe fashion. Instead, the older male opted to take the slow, tedious way. The yearling sighed and rolled his eyes, but suppressed his snarky impatience when the other wolf at loooooooooong last (I'm sure it wasn't nearly as long in actuality as it was in Penn's head) made it to the same plane.

"Me? I never die," Penn replied with a smirk, "Not bad, though. For the boring way." He chuckled a little, trying hard not to wince at the pain he felt near his ribs. He hadn't cracked one, had he? No, that would hurt way worse. This was the oh-so familiar pain of bruises--rather commonplace on the Blackthorn's athletic frame.

Looking round, Penn was quick to assess that the rest of the journey down the mountain didn't appear to have a fun or a boring way. Just the way, at least around these parts. Lame, but he supposed it was probably for the better. He really didn't want to learn what broken bones felt like, though he wasn't in the least afraid of getting any. He looked at his companion again. "Well, I think I'll be heading East from here. See what there is to see. You?" Donovan smelled of other wolves, so Penn was fairly certain he had a pack he'd likely be returning to. It wasn't a pack scent he recognized, though.

Donovan is finally able to meet the wolf once more. Paw pads roughened up, he finally stops before the ashen makes. His smirk wide and a chuckle leaving his lips at the comment regulars of the fact that he could never die.

“Oh yeah? Tell me your secrets then.” He hums with a teasing tilt of massive head. 

Yet as the other continues he does as well. Listening to his plans with interest. “Hm, East. Don’t know what’s over there.” He comments uselessly. “I’ll be heading back to my pack it seems. South of here.” 

Penn grinned, heartened that the other wolf was interested in his secrets. He really didn't have any, but it was gratifying anyway to be of someone's esteem that way. "Can't. Wouldn't do you any good anyway," he quipped, "It's a Blackthorn thing." And it felt kind of true, he thought for one pained moment. His mother had been indestructable too. Once.


"That's the point of going," he commented, letting his gaze move East again. He hadn't spent too much time that side of the Sunspire before and seeing as it was about as far away from his former home as he could get, it struck him as quite the place to be. He wasn't much interested in learning about the man's pack seeing as he had no interest in joining one any time soon, so he merely gave the fellow a nod and one of his grins. "Happy trails to you then," he said as he turned to go, "Don't fall off any cliffs, unless it looks awesome."

Can’t. Wouldn’t do you any good anyway.

Donovan tilts his head at this, a teasing smirk on his maw. “Oh okay.” He jests sarcastically. Accompanied with a light nodding of his massive head. 

Then he offers his goodbyes. To which Donovan can’t help but laugh with another shake of his head. It’s been a rather interesting experience with this man. Watching another wolf jump off a cliff and such isn’t something he regularly does believe it or not. This time it was welcome and it gave him some entertainment so he doesn’t mind.

Either way he offers his own goodbye. A solid, “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind. Good travels.” He hums easily walking in the opposite direction. “See ya.” He offers with a tilt of his chin. That was fun.