Porcupine Ridge We are here and now

@Vega

Without realizing it, Jinx had begun making preparations for her move. She hadn't yet admitted it to herself, being so consumed with guilt for her intent to abandon Fox, but her subconscious had already made up its mind. She hadn't been to the mountain yet, but she had picked it out. She hadn't given the word to her scant followers yet, but they knew the move was coming. All of them were poised on their toes, awaiting the right moment... And in the meantime, Jinx was preparing, all without even knowing it.

For she had come to the most treacherous of places: Porcupine Ridge. Not only was its haphazard and deadly layout a severe trial for the young woman, who had never in her life lived on a mountain, but it was also very close to Northstar Vale. No matter how many olive branches the Creek wolves and the Vale wolves held out to each other, neither they nor Jinx would admit a truce between them. Every wolf in the Creek could be friends with every wolf in the Vale, but not one of them would hesitate to strike her down. She knew this well. She expected it, and welcomed their attempts.

But she was still too injured to truly fight them, and so she stuck to the very edge of the ridge, as close to the mountainside as she could get, and as far from Northstar's edge as possible. She would practice her climbing and maintaining her footing here, but she would also have ample time to react should one of her enemy pack's wolves see fit to charge her.

Something else she hadn't realized was how her animosity had turned from Blacktail Deer Plateau to this pack... But the thought didn't enter her mind as she picked her way carefully over the ridge, stumbling every now and then.

The she-wolf swallowed thickly, her limbs heavy as she climbed the steeper sides of the mountain. She did not know where she was going – as long as it was away. Her stay within North Star Vale had only lasted a day, and the only reason she was able to leave the territory behind was the simple fact that she had been along the outskirts of where the avalanche had befallen them.

Vega, propelling herself forward as fast as she could moved like a black dart across the grounds, but it had not stopped the snows from engulfing her. Swallowed by the snow, and yet somehow.. the swarthy warrior had found luck on her side. Her world had drifted to an unconscious state as shock took hold of her body, yet upon awakening, her head had been already out of the snow. Weaving had been tricky, and she was certain her shoulder might have been dislocated, because as she had stumbled out of her frozen tomb, she fell forward, hitting the injury upon the ground where a sickening ‘pop’ had revealed to her it was now back in place.

She did not look back to find her likely dead ‘pack mates.’ Instead, she moved away from the carnage, for this was not the haven she had set to find.

She did not move fast, and days after would find her ascending the ledges of the mountain. All too soon did she come to an area that was far too threatening to move even further in.. not in her current state. Grunting, the ebony wolf slowly reclined her figure to the ground, not once noticing the ivory wolf that was not so far from herself.

Given the opportunity, Jinx would have ignored any Vale wolf to come in her direction on a normal day. Her disrespect for them was palpable in their presence, and unwavering in its severity. Even if knowledge of the avalanche had reached her ears, sympathy for them would be fleeting. They hadn't even done anything, but catching her was insult enough. She needn't justify to herself her unnecessary hatred toward this pack's established wolves, nor spare a thought for those who pledged themselves without knowing of those wolves. Their reputation was tarnished in the pale Kesuk's mind by nothing more than their persistence. An unfair judgement, for she had started everything herself, but one that Jinx made without hesitation.

But there was something different about her attitude today. It was the product of divine providence, perhaps, but she was not so quick to avoid contact. She caught sight of a dark-haired wolf investigating the lower ridges. Where ordinarily Jinx might have sought higher ground lest the Vale wolf spot her and see fit to pursue her, she instead crept forward toward the edge of her loftier position to find that the dark canid wasn't far away at all. She could make out enough of the other's figure to tell that they had sat themselves down, presumably to rest.

It wasn't the way the woman sat that pulled Jinx forward, but rather, the way she'd been walking. It was almost a slinking away, lacking the vigilance of a wolf destined for the borders in defence of their home. Strangely, Vega had chosen to sit down rather than come toward her to chase her away. It could have been a wild misjudgement on the Kesuk's part (and it was, in part), but the potential benefit of information and curioisity outweighed the risk. She dropped down a ledge so that she was on a more even level, and then boldly made her way toward Vega, uncertain whether her assumption that Vega had seen her and not chased her away was right or not. If it wasn't, she would just have to fight her way free.

"Didn't you know Vale wolves are supposed to attack Creek wolves on sight?" she wondered, knowing that that command did not actually exist in the Vale but unable to let go of her own snarky distaste for the pack, even for a moment.

The air offered her insight to her company – the whip of wind casting the scent of a stranger that stirred the ebony she-wolf’s pelt to bristle slightly, her gaze darkening as her eyes shot up to witness the ivory lynx-like creature skirting down closer to her, envying the way her lithe form maneuvered the rocky terrain with an ease that Vega could potentially mimic if she hadn’t been squashed by a ton of snow.

The words were not welcoming, though the swarthy female remained aloof upon the outside. Reaching her muzzle down, her tongue swiped at an oozing wound on her shoulder, though her stance remained tense should the other move. “Must have missed that in their newbie handbook,” she drawled, uncertain where the pale stranger was going with this conversation. Clearly there was tension between packs, and yet ex-Vale wolf could not recall hearing anything about a creek. “Though maybe I missed that section when the avalanche buried part of the Vale,” she mused quietly, her thoughts only now drifting back to her ‘pack mates’ that might have made it worse than her.

She could bring herself to care only about one thing though – and that was putting as much distance between her and that wretched place as she could. “Seeing as I’m not returning to that hell hole anytime soon I think we can drop the mortal enemy assumption.” Perhaps a tad bit more snarky than was wise given her injuries.. and the others apparent healthy appearance. Still, Vega had never been one to play overly nicely.

Jinx flicked her ears up when Vega retorted with a sarcasm that she could truly appreciate. Ordinarily, sarcasm directed at herself was dealt with defensively, but when it resembled patronization of her rivals at the same time, she could find enjoyment in it, as she did in the newbie handbook remark.

She was about to respond with an equal level of sarcasm, but was stopped by Vega's quiet revelation that something tragic had happened here. Perhaps a normal wolf would have felt sympathy for the Vale wolves despite their past disagreements, but Jinx felt something like relief instead. With an avalanche to deal with, maybe the Creek wouldn't have any more visits from the Vale wolves to look forward to. It was a definite bonus in Jinx's book if she never saw one of their kind again.

"Interesting," she mused in response to this new knowledge, with no intent of sharing it with anybody. Jinx knew her Alpha wouldn't raise the war flags to take out the enemy while they were down, so the knowledge would only serve to aid Xi'nuata and her wolves, and Jinx couldn't be doing that. Vega seemed rather hell-bent on getting out of the Vale, which was remarkably funny to the Beta and even brought a smile to her face if only because she cruelly wanted them to suffer, but it also brought relief. "Agreed. Mortal enemies can wait until you find others to run with that are not my own." A wry smile gave away the joke.

Her eyes were drawn then to the wound that Vega had previously been tending, which still seeped blood into the black fur on her shoulder. "Looks shitty," she commented, but since they weren't mortal enemies, she added a companionable, "I know a little herb-lore, could find something to help the bleeding. Or I could have my shaman look at it for you." Lecter had once despised visitors, but lately he had become more open to them, more willing to help them. She never considered it was his age.