shaking the wings of their terrible youths

@kove

With shortened breaths and mighty heaves of her shoulders, Caiaphas penetrated the small heap of dirt that had caved in the tunnel's egress. Last time she had resurfaced from the chamber of underground paths, she had come across a fair and dark witch-wolf named Meldresi. As she sniffed the damp clay about her, there were no recent markings or scents -- likely because the tunnel had collapsed due to the well of recent rain.

Shaking herself, she boldly pulled from the tunnel. The borders were still a way off, but she had no intention of trespassing. Curious and somewhat fueled by the foreboding nature of the place, Caiaphas pressed into the vine-ridden bosk and made her way towards the outer edges of the swamps.

With his trip to Otter Creek having been rather eventful, the ghostly male headed back towards the border with his head high. He hadn't had to resort to any unnecessary violence, nor did he need to draw any blood, which always left him in a good mood. As he neared the fringes of the territory, his copper orbs were drawn to a slight dent in the ground. Curious, his path was veered slightly in order for him to be able to go and check it out, his steps careful so as not to fall into it himself. Once he was close enough to get a good look at it, his steps stopped and he began scanning the inverted mound, as well as the area around it. The rain hadn't seemed overly heavy to him, but maybe that was due to him being a bit distracted. Must have collapsed, he thought, glancing around. He knew it would be best to tell someone from the pack of the tunnels collapse so they could avoid it if they entered them, but that wasn't his main concern at the moment.

No, his mind was focused on the fact that another wolf had been in the tunnels, and he wasn't so sure it was a member of his pack. Following the scent, the brute soon found himself nearing a place he'd never considered going to—the swamps. The land seemed as if it would be hard to navigate through, but he didn't need to go far. He hadn't even really needed to enter the area, because the one who had left the tunnels stood on it's outer edges. Normally, he would approach in a cautious way, but they were too close to home for comfort. Stepping closer, a sharp bark of warning left his maw, his eyes trained to the female's form. "Treading a bit close to the border, don't you think?" His voice came out lower than what he was initially going for, but it couldn't be helped.

The reedy marsh before Caiaphas was dark, and rife with black puddles of depths unfathomable. Virulent green moss sprung forth from flat wells of water and the entire swamp, however healthy, reeked of decay.

She could traverse the span of wetland if she kept close to the slippery rocks that poked from the marsh -- underfoot the muck was treacherous and she wondered if any of the seemingly sleepy waters were in fact bogs unnavigable. She was just about to gingerly hop from her first stone when a low voice ominous and somewhat defensive sounded from behind her.

Caught quite in the open (yet having no intention of trespassing) Caiaphas turned to peer awkwardly at the male who hailed her -- her expression bland at best. "Am I?" She queried airily, as if some vapid animal incapable of possessing any semblance of common sense.

The way she answered, the tone of her voice, didn't seem as if it would match the lupine standing only a short distances away from him. He wasn't so sure her response was true, but also didn't feel as if she had the desire to cross over the border. Still, first impressions could often be mistaken, and appearances misjudged. His posture visibly relaxed, but not so much so that he wouldn't be able to take action is necessary. He gave her a once over, copper orbs acting like greedy whelps as they took in his visible features and the area behind her. "You are," the man finally answered, his voice much lighter than what it'd been just moments ago. "Though I'm assuming you aren't so ignorant to the area to not know that." A small smile attempted to make itself known, tugging at the corners of his mouth, but the movement was pushed aside and quickly forgotten. He needn't do such a thing during, what he assumed to be, a serious situation.

Openly, Caiaphas scrutinized the male before her -- he was much different than the last stranger to intercept her here. He was pale, a most winsome touch to his figure -- and Caiaphas did not miss the faint smile that briefly placed its bid for existence before fluttering off into a more serious expression. She did not return the warm gesture -- as usual, her narrow muzzle remained untouched by any sort of warmth in character. Her eyes, a sharp yellow, frigid in their embrace.

She did not play coy -- this male deserved much better than that. "I just come to the swamp." She explained, her voice low as she swept a paw towards the sweeping expanse of sullied marshland. "Is that all claimed by Blackfeather?"

Welcoming the answer by quirking a nonexistent eyebrow, Kove stayed silent for a minute or so. He couldn't understand why someone would come so close to Blackfeather just to see some swamps, but maybe the female had a reason for doing so. He, himself, wasn't too sure of the area, the land unpredictable and under explored. Her question made him think for a second, not quite sure how he should answer. It was true, the pack had claimed an area of swampland, but he only knew of it's direction, rather than exact location. Northeast... he thought. They were in the same direction as the Wispmother's Grotto, and that was a good enough answer for him. If he were to be wrong, may the priestess' Goddess, Mephala, strike him down herself. Or simply murder him, whichever seemed better.
"A decent bit of it is, yes," the ghost of a wolf answered. "I'm not so sure it'd be wise for you to enter the area." His voice held no threat, it was just a simple suggestion—for now. If she'd choose to proceed forward, he'd follow at a small distance, that way he could steer her away if the distance between the border lessened too much. It wasn't the greatest of plans, but Kove was never one to attack for no good reason, especially if the other were a female.

While Caiaphas did not relish the idea of company, it seemed Kove was reluctant to leave her to her own devices. Understandable -- she was, in truth, alarmingly close to his home. She stood frozen, her stance splay-legged as she regarded the swamp. Even her tail seemed to twitch indecisively as she weighed her various options.

She didn't detect much threat in his voice as he suggested she advance no further, though her eyes slid to him briefly to assure herself he was not being aggressive. He seemed benign, if not slightly reluctant in his resolve, and with her aspersions soothed she looked once more across the ugly expanse of swamp. "Is it dangerous?" She asked of him carefully, lifting one paw from the damp soil to shake the blackened gout of marsh that had already accumulated between her paw-pads.

The man's ears perked up a bit as he caught her question, regarding it thoughtfully. To him, the swamps seemed to be more dangerous than firm, dry land, yet he wasn't sure just how dangerous the area was. The swamps in and near Blackfeather were foreign, as were any other swamps that existed on the planet. Stepping into mud that looked as if it could swallow anything whole was, to say the least, unappealing. "I would assume so," Kove answered. If he hadn't made it obvious that he'd yet to go deep into the marsh before, he certainly did in that moment. "The ground could probably engulf a wolf completely if they were to step somewhere they shouldn't."

The white male's reply made it woefully obvious he had never considered venturing into the marsh's heartland -- and while Caiaphas concealed this revelation, she could not help but snigger inwardly at his lack of presumed bravery in this regard. He was likely simply a wolf of intelligence and self-preservation, but these attributes were not cognizant to the wispy female.

"Really?" She chimed with interest, turning her narrow face to the pale wolf. "There's a first time for everything, right chump?" Her voice was perky -- and with a sly glint to her eyes she suddenly lunged forwards in the hopes to shove the man aside with her shoulders. If successful she would bob and bounce from tussock to tussock, her steps assured as she lept from moss-covered rock to rock without care.

Gah, apologies for the short post again. My muse had been all over the place as of late. When/how would you like to end this thread?

First came the words, and then the attempt to move past him. Had the wolf taken after his mother's side, then the coywolf would have possibly had a chance at actually pushing passed him, but lucky for him he was more arctic than timber. Raising a theoretical brow at the female, he was almost curious as to why she believed that would have worked. Maybe he seemed as if he could be moved easily? Whatever the case, he wasn't too keen to the idea of her passing him. "It would appear that didn't work for you," Kove said rather bluntly, though a bit of amusement managed to leak into his words.

TY for the thread!

Her initial shove did not go as planned -- sulkily she braced herself, thin and tapered limbs wide-splayed. Her tail lashed in the agitated manner of a cat -- with a dark expression to her countenance she looked upon Kove with scarcely sheathed insolence.

No reason did she utter -- regretfully, it appeared he was too large a barricade to push aside -- if she was smart, she would have to come another time. She rolled her shoulders in a dismissive manner and with a flick of her svelte muzzle she saucily strode past him back to the tunnel. "Ciao." Caiaphas tossed behind her a farewell that was most haughty -- and with all the graceful insouciance of a coyote Caiaphas slunk back into the tunnel and was seen no more.