The Sunspire nihil

Spoiled brat.

The parting words of her dear eldest brother rang through her mind, bringing a smirk to the serpent’s lips. As her father’s only daughter, and being in a matriarchal family, there were few times in her short life thus far where she’d been told no. Overall, her brothers accepted this and their place beneath her but, recently, one of them had decided to stand up for himself. When news travelled back to their father that his sister—Sen, not the ever-so-docile Zita—was in some sort of trouble, he was quick to react and plan a journey to find her. Seeing her mother’s reaction to this, and wanting to get out and experience the world, the young Gorgon was quick to volunteer in his place—much to her brothers’ surprise. And whilst two of them had not been bothered by her offer, perfectly content remaining in the mountains with their parents, Nicolae hadn’t been so quick to give in. Wanting to be the one to help his aunt, and prove to his father that girls weren’t the only source of power in their family, he argued and fought with his sister and father. In the end, however, Sorina had won the battle.

A smirk clung to her lips, recalling everything that transpired; of course, her father would side with her, he’d been conditioned all his life to respect the wishes of the females around him—especially those with Gorgon blood flowing through their veins. Her brother hadn’t stood a chance the second she got it in her mind that she was ready to set out on her own. As she traversed the land, however, she wondered if it was even worth it. Sure, she’d been sent off in the same direction travelled by Sen so long ago but, really, what were her chances of crossing paths with her? Incredibly low, if at all possible. Abandoning the task was easy to do, though she told herself that she would at least make an attempt at finding her when she wasn’t busy catering to her own desires; if she saw a dark-coated woman with amber eyes, she’d make an effort to stop and question them, but wouldn’t intentionally seek out individuals meeting said description.

Preoccupied by the thought process required to make her decision, she was unaware of just how far up the mountain she’d hiked; the plains and forests were easy to get through but the second she saw the mountain range within her reach, a flickering image of her home prompted her to take it on. Slowing to a stop, she blinked a few times before gazing out over the great expanses of land below her. There were so many places to go, so many sights to see—so much havoc to cause. These were the reasons that she suspected had made her aunt remain there, rather than return to the mountains of their family, and were the same reasons that encouraged her to repeat history. Picking out a lake in the distance, she continued through the mountain, each step calculated and paws placed perfectly on her chosen path.

She had flown south over the last couple of days, getting away from the taigi for awhile. Winter was here and there was no need to go north to get any colder. That being said even though she went south she found herself up, up on a mountain. And of all th places this was one of them that was coved in snow. Taking to the skys she found no trouble reaching a higher elevation unlike many of the creatured that traveled on all fours. The only ones that seemed to be undetured were the moutain goats and rams that found leaping from one rock to the other to be far easier then weaving between them.

But today one of the creatures making their way up the mountain was a young dark female. Astor watched from a rock above finding it amusing how complex the whole endever was as the female chose all of her steps carfully.

It was with a precision not learned but engraved into her DNA by generations upon generations of mountain-dwellers that she maneuvered the winding ridges. Where many would have slipped and either knocked themselves unconscious or went tumbling down the face of the mountain to their deaths, she stood tall; arrogantly so, too, the confidence that she had in herself as easily seen as the sun on a clear summer’s day. Whilst all forms of logic insisted that she was anything but invincible, she felt otherwise and it showed. From the way she kept her head held high to the expertise placement of her paws, there was no way to deny that she thought she was the shit—because she was. A true Gorgon in every way, really, the greatest representation of her lineage.

The recognisable sound of a winged creature overhead caught her attention, gaze drawn up towards the sky as she searched for the bird; it was easy to find the raptor, even as it perched atop a rock. For a long moment, she was motionless, staring at the bird with mild interest. Then, in the blink of an eye, she had turned back around after wrinkling her nose in the feathered beast’s direction, her hike continued.

Consider herself impressed. This wolf scaled up the mountain was much more ease then the other creatures around. But maybe that was simply a fluke. When the wolf looked her straight on she flapped out her wings before the female continued on. With still alot of the mountian to climb up, Astor thought she would see how much luck this wolf had.

She flew over head and past the female wolf and landed on another rock further ahead and continued watching the even unfold. Little bit of thrilling entertainment couldn't hurt.

When the bird flapped its wings, she expected it to fly off into the distance, never to be seen again. Instead, the sound of it pushing against the air sounded overhead and she watched as it landed on yet another part of the mountain in front of her. Slowing to a stop, her face twisted into a scowl, a low growl slipping out her throat as a reflection of her aggravation. Normally, she didn’t concern herself with the affairs of the birds; they claimed the skies whilst she ruled over the mountains, their worlds rarely coming together. But the fact that this particular raptor was watching her specifically, and following her, annoyed the fuck out of the young Gorgon.

Glaring up in the bird’s direction, she refused to bite her tongue. “Hey, bird, how about you fuck off!” she shouted at it, tired of being followed; it had been for only a short amount of time but that still qualified as more than enough in her book.

As Astor watched the female climb the mountain from above she saw her display of aggression, and heard her words of annoyance. Astor thought it to be funny. Yes it was rude, but it was funny to see just how easily annoyed this wolf could get. After all what was she really doing, just watching. It wasn't like with that other gray male, where she almost flew so close to him that she grazed his hairs. 

Being a good distance away from her, Astor didn't move or change her expression. Simply continued to watch. "Don't feel like it." she said in a calm and somewhat smug voice. 

The bird did not leave.

Her lips twisted up in a silent snarl, which faded into a malicious smirk when she began to imagine what she would do should the thing get too close; one swoop down and she’d be launching herself into the sky, snatching the bird from its domain. The mental image brought her joy, believing it to be a fine solution to the problem at hand—but there was a problem. Belonging to the sky, birds did not so often meet the earth; when there was flesh to be picked and plucked they were easily lured in but, given where they were and that she was only one, there were no carcasses that might tempt the creature. Annoyed all over again, she turned away from the bird and focused back on where she was going.

Continuing with her hike, Sorina was unusually silent in the presence of another, thinking. For now, she ignored the bird, furthering her progress down the mountain.

"furthering her progress down the mountain." Not sure if you mean to day down here. I'm assuming you meant to continue up. Let me know if I'm wrong. It will be a simple change.

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The female snarled again, but made no move to attack. Astor wondered if this female would continue to keep her head or decide to go out of her way to try and catch Astor. She imagined it and laughed thinking about it. Aside from it being rather easy to simply fly out of the way, she had had many run ins with wolves that weren't too fond of her. The ones she flew away from were left aggrovated, but she also left many with scratches and bleeding eyes. These talons were something not to be messed with. 

She made sure to stay ahead of this female as they moved down the mountain, flying to a new rock every so often to keep her distance and gain a better view point. "Did you find what you were looking for up there?" she asked and wondered. Seeing no real point other then to maybe get a better view of what was below.

As she continued down the mountain, she remained fully aware of the bird. Whenever it flew overhead, it took every ounce of willpower that she possessed to not point her muzzle skywards and snap at it; the raptor stayed high enough that her jaws would never reach it but that didn’t matter, as she sought only to make a point. Eventually, she reached a point where she could ignore the creature entirely, focusing only on where she was placing her paws and the direction in which she continued to go.

When the bird called out to her, she said nothing. She spared it not even a glance, muzzle never turning upwards or head twisting around in its direction—no, there was nothing to offer the soaring burden. All that was given to show she’d heard the question was a discreet flick of a single ear, and only because it’d been an unconscious reaction to the sudden noise.

The wolf gave no responce, simply wanted where she was going continued down the mountain. Her ears twitched slightly giving Astor the chance to see that she was infact not deft, but instead choosing to ignore her. 

Astor might have gotten angry at this if this was her first reaction to the bird, silence. But she had made it very clear that her pressence was annoying and that if Astor was being ignored, it was something the wolf would have to try and do. Even just this little fact brought satisfaction to Astor. Thinking that her presence had made the wolf so angry that she simply didn't know what else to do.

Astor continued to follow her down, same safe distance, but she spent a slightly longer time in the air now, infront of the wolf. Making it that much harder for the wolf to choose to ignore her and try to look away from her. She waited to see if this wolf would chance her actions or maybe make things fun and end up falling. 

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Feel free to archive if you want. Otherwise if something happens, I'm ok with continuing

No matter how long the bird attempted to once again try her patience, Sorina remained focused on moving. The bird was spared not a single glance more, even when it began to glide through the space in front of her. She would continue like this until she reached the flatlands and could begin her real journey, whether the guest remained or not.