Firestone Hot Springs escaping earth

@Kesuk

Jaguara was silent and unmoving, at peace with the churning bubble of water around her and sipping at the smell of Sulphur faint in the air.  The dark beauty rested in a crag at the edge of the one of the pools, the single angle of the rock allowing her to bask in the light warmth of the shallow water. She had not moved in some time, the minutes blending together into hours and the steam billowing into her fur making her fur appear slick and damp at the treatment. The clarity she’d brushed into her thoughts allowed her a relaxed posture, and she barely shifted as a breathe fell between the slight gap of her lips. 

It was always like this, her attempts at meditation. Perhaps she put too much into it, or maybe not enough. Jaguara could cleanse her thoughts but in doing so she felt a violent disassociation, a buzzing in the back of mind that hummed into a white noise which consumed her. Too long in the void and she’d suffer a headache for it afterwards. Still she lapsed into these moods searching for some connection, a link to the inner power her mother had spoken so highly of. She felt if she could distance herself farther from this mortal shell, then she could grasp it. 

But she had yet to find anything more outside of herself.

Winding down from her blank slate, the she-wolf's ears twitched to life catching the sounds of the Wilds around her. So far this land offered her nothing new. It was just another hunk of earth beneath her paws. Taking in the night Jaguara still appeared a distance away mentally, though her thoughts ran in no real direction. It would seem they yet had to find somewhere to go. 

Kesuk let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding when she got out of the pack borders. All this drama was too much for her to take at the moment and she just needed to get away and think for a bit. Her thoughts wandered to the series of events that plagued her days as her paws took her further and further away from what had really been her first home. It had changed so much in the past months, for better and for worse. Meeting Koda was definitely for the better, but the way he was acting was making her a bit weary. He attacked the alpha for god's sake! And now he wanted her to run away with him.

She closed her eyes and shook her head to push the worries from her mind, focusing on the wonder of exploring. She hadn't been out and about for a while now, thanks to Koda's dislike of her wandering, and it felt good to be somewhere new. Her icy blue eyes scanned her surroundings, trying to place where she was. So far it looked like just any other part of the forests that surrounded the plateau, but soon a strange scent reached her nostrils.

She lifted her chocolate head and sniffed the air, trying to place the warm, damp scent that drifted around her. As she continued walking, she started to make out large rocks, enclosing large pools of steaming water. The hot springs!

Her pace sped up as she approached the springs and she smiled as the steam warmed her fur. Since her last encounter with water, she was not keen on stepping foot in the pools themselves, but she was very happy with finding a large flat rock, warmed by the feeble spring sun, and laying down on it to let the steam heat her fur.

It was not for a good ten minutes when she realized she was not alone in this place of peace. She lifted her nose to catch the foreign scent as her eyes scanned the rocks with curiosity. Finally her icy orbs came to rest on a dark figure lounging in the pools a couple yards away from her, its dark fur camouflaging it in the shadows of the boulders. Kesuk lifted her muzzle and let out a friendly bark, it was always fun to meet someone new.

The energy of the she-wolf’s bark rung out breaking Jaguara’s bubble of peace and drawing her dead stare away from particularly nothing, blinking back to life. The greeting had been so casual, outside of reason, she expected to see someone she’d been acquainted with. Her need for distance had yet to hinder whatever ability it was that drew the company of other wolves, unable to quite pinpoint what was it about her that seemed inviting. Perhaps a lack of effort on her part to appear uninviting. The witch ran her eyes over the figure of the wolf, her nose giving a curious twitch; no one she knew.

Tilting her head in acknowledgement, her muzzle dipped slightly in a silent response: her own hello. Despite her lack for stress on her vocals, there was nothing to retrieve from her posture. Her shoulders remained sloped and without a knot of tension, her tail wavering behind her in a gentle lull. She expected then the wolf would take this as a sign to draw closer, anticipating some conversation to come of this. She didn't oppose the idea, in fact, information was what she sought and what better way to obtain it than to partake in harmless banter?

Kesuk acknowledged the way the she wolf tilted her muzzle in a greeting and took that as a sign that she wanted to talk. The chocolate girl stretched on the warm rock before hopping to her paws and stepping carefully closer to the stranger. It would be rather embarrassing if she fell in before she could even say hello.

She reached the nook the midnight wolfess was lounging in and stopped a couple feet away, sitting on yet another flat rock, wrapping her tail around her paws. Kesuk looked over the she-wolf, noticing right away the interesting way her eyes contrasted each other. She thought they were quite beautiful.

"Hello, I haven't seen you around these parts before, are you new to the wilds?" she asked politely.

Comfortable with the distance between them, Jaguara observed without action until the other woman rose to speak once more. Studying her dark figure for a moment she stirred to speak, the slightest hint of a bemused smile lifting the corners of her muzzle. “I didn’t think it’d be so obvious.” She'd caught the slightest hints that a pack sheltered near the springs, but had yet to confirm anything without having run across warning flags. Either the region lacked many wolves—which she’d come to a conclusion that wasn’t the case—or as it was, the she-wolf was familiar with the particular area. The confidence in which the stranger had spoken had Jaguara guessing the latter theory was probably true. 

Intrigued by what being new possibly meant, if anything at all, Jag decided to make something of the initial question. “Do you think it’s a good idea? Me coming here?” She figured there were two possible results, one might cause the she-wolf to reveal personal details to her opinion (which, though interesting, wouldn’t do much) but there was the prospect the stranger would give her current events or a general atmosphere to the foreign lands. Even if the weather was shoddy all the time, it was best to get a notion off the bat. “By the way, I’m Jaguara.” 

Sorry for the super short post.. :/

The she wolf seemed to pick her words carefully, asking questions with specific answers in mind. Kesuk smiled as she intruduced herself as Jaguara. It seemed to fit her very well. "Nice to meet you Jaguara, I'm Kesuk. And as for the wilds, it is definitely the best place I've lived so far. Just don't get on the bad side of any of the packs." she finished jokingly with a wink.