Lion Head Mesa you got a fast car, is it fast enough so we can fly away?

@Currawong on the very edge slopes of the territory, near Redhawk :)

Mason had edged around Redhawk without going through it obviously, and he spotted a mountain like his own. So he had been gone for a couple of hours and he was already homesick? Seemed like it. With Silvertip still showing as a small blob on the horizon, Mason felt drawn to this new mountain. Sadly it was too close to ever found his own pack, because he could smell Redhawk Caldera on the wind. But it was like home when he stepped on the gravelly dirt that graced the bottom of the mountain. Mason looked up at its peak and grinned. Maybe he would climb it.

Being a mountain wolf, his muscles were matured well, even though he was not particularly large. For his age, he could carry himself well up a mountain. He was more built for endurance than speed. Mason jumped across a crack in the ground as though it was a chasm, and laughed to himself, happy for  the first time in a few days.

Things would get better. They had to.

Yay! Thanks for starting :D

Things seemed to be going well at Redhawk, well, as far as he knew. He wasn't aware of Peregrine deciding to step down, nor the rift that had occurred between the Alpha couple, but how would he? It wasn't any of his business. Without this knowledge, he was perfectly content. Without wandering too far, he crossed over the borders, into unclaimed territory once more. He didn't like it, the feeling of being without a pack. Memories of Sawtooth disappearing still haunted him. How would you feel it one day your pack just up and vanished? Of course he knew they didn't just evaporate into thin air, they had left him without so much as a goodbye. He wasn't sore about it, but it aggravated him. He would never do such a thing to Redhawk.

Trekking forward, his mind wavered from the subject of the Spire. He had no need for that kind of stress in his life. Despite his large frame, he walked silently through the forest. He had a curious mind, ironically, as his ears swiveled ever so often in search of sound. Instead, he noticed a strange wolf ahead. His eyebrows furrowed. Strange, he thought, though truthfully, there was nothing strange about it. He walked up to the male, smelling the scent of another pack on him. Instantly, he reminded himself that he was not on Redhawk territory anymore. His muscles relaxed, though he was still alert if the stranger tried anything. "Hello..?" He said, the lack of social skills evident. It seemed the male was looking at the mountain, oddly. Who looked at a mountain? Strange strangers these days, he wondered silently.

He heard the quiet, stilted call from behind him. Mason turned with a sudden jerk, almost tripping himself over. No, he'd never be a hunter like Alastor, not as clumsy as he was. But oh well, he could do other things instead.

Mason's thoughts dimmed when he spotted the creature that had made the noise - a thickset, burly shadow of a wolf. He reminded Mason of Steady, but the scent that the boy caught was certainly not one of Silvertip. Eager to appease, Mason's tail scooted low and he averted his eyes. He had no interest in being taken down by a territorial wolf (even if he wasn't on the territory) and he knew he was alone.

"Hello" Mason continued, unsure whether the stranger wanted something. He was mistaking the lack of socialism for confusion. "I was just thinkin' of climbing that mountain, a'cause I live on one, see?" Mason gave a bright smile and carefully looked into the large face of the other man. "You're huge." He breathed quietly, no longer able to keep the elephant in the room out of the topic, but hoping fervently the stranger wasn't offended. Mason was not tall, but he was quite a long wolf, kinda like the sausage dog of the wolf world.

As far as he understood, the stranger wasn't doing anything wrong. Had their meet occured on the Redhawk territory, well, things would be very different. "No need to submit, you are not on my territory," He pointed out. Though he appreciated the gesture. It wasn't everyday a strange stranger showed such respect, though, he hadn't met any strange strangers before. Maybe this male wasn't strange after all, since he had nothing to compare to. With a light shake of his head, he refocused on the male ahead. He wasn't exactly slow, he just examined things with.. more thought. 

His interest increased as the male continued. He had never climbed the mountain before. He was not agile, and a heavy step would easily send him downwards. Though he was not one to back away from a challenge, if one presented itself. He stared blankly at the male for a second at his blunt comment. He knew he was big.. but he wasn't fat. Was that what caused the male to shrink away? Was he afraid Currawong would smother him to death? Evidently, he did not understand. Though, he figured it was a compliment since he didn't know what else to make of it. "Why, thank you. Nobody has ever said such a nice thing to me," He replied, though he did not mean to be sarcastic. Genuinely, he was pleased that another had said a kind thing to him. What a nice guy, he thought.  

Confusion etched his face, "You live on a mountain? How do you not fall?" From where he stood, a mountain looked like an awful place to live. It was jagged and rocky and just ugh. There were many questions that flooded his mind, though he did not speak it. Most of them involved, if a wolf stretched out really far, could he catch a bird in his mouth as it flew by? It was a stupid question, he knew, but one day he would try it, just to see.

Curra is so cute <3!

Mason liked this guy already! He was down-to-earth and put Mason at ease. It was better to be safe than sorry, but being informed that he didn't need to submit meant he wasn't about to be ripped to shreds either. He wasn't sure he had really said a nice thing, but he wagged his tail to affirm that it was good to be huge, and he was glad that Currawong had taken it as a compliment. They stood on different sides of life; small and big, light and dark. Mason didn't think he would like to be large, but it couldn't hurt to have a large friend.
 
Perhaps he was stupidly naive to feel so at ease with the huge bulking man so soon, but that was Mason's personality. When he was asked the next question he began to giggle. When he tried to say something, he caught his breath and could only continue chortling. ".... fall!!!! ...." he choked, and his breaths came so few and far-between as he laughed that he found his front legs collapsing beneath him. Mason rolled on his side, and gradually managed to regain composure. He hoped he wasn't coming across as condescending, but he had honestly never heard anything so funny, having lived on a mountain. He lay panting on his side, gazing up at his new friend with one eye, and  most-friendly grin on his face. "You won't fall, friend... look!" Mason jumped up without warning and paced away from the black male a few steps. He looked over his shoulder and flashed a grin. "C'mon, I'll show you!" he danced up the gentle slope a couple of steps, hoping his new companion would be willing to follow. Big or small, everyone stayed put on a mountain, and Mason was willing to share this inherent knowledge, as a mountain wolf.

"We won't go far." He added with a softer tone, in case the other wolf was afraid.

Aha thanks <3 He's a total dork too lol xD

At the male's next reaction, he flinched slightly. It was purely out of shock, never had be been accustomed to something such as laughter. His shocked expression soon turned, his eyes furrowing once more in deep confusion. What was so funny? He tried to look at himself, but quickly realised he did not have that skill. Looking worriedly at the male, he wondered what was wrong with him. The sound erupting from him resembled choking, and at once did he tense. If he had to perform CPR, Currawong really would smother him. Taking a hesitant step back from the male's falling figure, he considered leaving. He defiantly didn't want to rely on him if he suffered from choking-falling disease while on the mountain. As the male looked up at him from the ground, he grimaced. That wasn't natural, that's was definitely not natural. The lopsided grin he received was pretty funny, and he let out a sound that resembled a moose in labour, his laugh. 

Ironically, he did not flinch when the male jumped right up. The laughter had subsided and he looked uncertain at the mountain. Why would he not fall? Everything fell. It was gravity, and it could not be disturbed. Or so said his sister, who miraculously had gotten herself lost somewhere in the Teekon. The next grin he received, he did not like. It was mischievous, daring infact. On any normal day, he would decline to climb the rock, but this was a challenge. Damn it. 

His eyes narrowed and he scoffed. "Don't pity me, i'm not afraid of a little rock," Placing his giant paw on one of the rocks, he began the climb. His head was held high, feeling the Lion King moment as the breeze rippled through his fur. Finesse was his middle name, afterall. Even though he was centimeters off the ground. He looked knowingly up at the male, a smug look on his face as if he had mastered it all. Just then, the rock teetered, sending him jumping up to a larger boulder that was set just a bit higher. He did not meet the eyes of the male again, admitting his insecurity. "What is your name?" He asked, trying to avoid the whole height problem. "I, am Currawong," He took great pride in the long name. Afterall, it had been given to him by Peregrine himself.

He did notice that the other man had a bit of an odd look on his face, but Mason couldn’t have stopped laughing if he tried. When Curra made the moose sound, Mason’s tail swished, unsure what it meant. However he took it to be good because he wasn’t being ground to a pulp yet.


Mason’s caring words had rubbed the giant up the wrong way – oops. Mason kept quiet about the pitying comment, in case he made things words. His ears flattened appeasingly and he kept his smile. Currawong climbed atop one unsteady-looking rock, graceful and majestic, his swarthy fur ruffling. Mason watched with awe, and wagged his tail continuously like  windmill behind him. This guy was so cool. Even when the rock joggled him, Curra jumped to the next like a pro. Mason didn’t think he had anything to worry about, and he didn’t laugh or say anything about the slight misstep.

“Hi Currawong, I’m called Mason, I like your name. You smell like Redhawk Caldera, have you been there long? I went there once but no one was ready to take a call. So my Uncle took me somewhere else instead. I was younger then, more of a boy, and I suppose now I thought I would go exploring, because now I’m not a boy anymore. I’m an adult.” It was Mason’s turn to puff up his chest after his chattering died down. He fell quiet to let the man answer, which was a conscious decision as he could sometimes chatter all day.

As they continued to climb, he noted a few things about the man called Mason. For one, he had never seen such a small person talk so many words at once. He did not know where to begin replying, for he had never been questioned so furiously before. Though he felt odd, never was he one to simply spew out a portion of his life story to just anyone. Despite his actions so far, he was a very secretive individual. Yet, something about the fact that he would probably never see Mason again made him feel better about being an open book. "I have been at Redhawk for some time now," He held no emotion in his voice, due to the fact that he didn't want to have to explain where he came from before. Redhawk was his fourth pack, and he had no interest in bringing up the past. 

He looked at the smaller male, well, small compared to him. It was quite evident that Mason was younger than him, though his adamancy on the fact that now he was a full fledged man raised a question to how old he really was. But it didn't matter to him, it was none of his business afterall. "And you? Where is your pack located?" He had not seen another mountain like this in the Teekon before, yet, the male had the scent of a pack on him. Stepping up hesitantly to a higher rock, he waited Mason's reply. As far as he knew, Redhawk didn't have many enemies, and he hoped that the male's pack wasn't one.

Mason did have the good grace to listen to his elders once he had asked them a question. If it was a youth his own age he had a tendency to butt in. Not particularly bossy, but he was certainly a chatterbox. Quite often he would ask his Dad a question, only to ask him another halfway through the explanation. Infuriating perhaps, but it was something he was gradually growing out of as he realised the decorum of waiting for a full response and sounding interested in said response.

Currawong was not a talkative fellow. He kept things straight and to the point. Mason could work with that. “Oh it’s over there.” He said airily, turning to jab his nose in its general direction. Various peaks could be seen. “It’s the tallest one… I think.” He’d have to check on that with Dad. 

“It’s really cool, and except for the massive rockslide we had, which almost crushed me in my den, it’s really safe.” No sarcasm intended, the boy beamed happily. “Dad made sure me and June my sister escaped down a back route. Good job we had one really, isnt’ it?!” He added merrily, bounding a couple of steps forwards to avoid some sharp pebbles.


“Hey, what is a Caldera anyway? Or is it just a fancy name?”

They talked some more, but in a short while Mason announced he needed to be off. After all, he had more places to see in his Scouting mission.