Ankyra Sound one gonna bring religion right from a coleman stove

@Arrille - tagging any else who want to participate in a casual border party. cameos welcome @Wylla @Nyx @Lycaon @Kierkegaard @Chusi

ingram may have cut a comical sight, a lean black shadow perched precariously high on the cliffs. in his mouth was a long strand of tangled briar -- he had dragged the thorny plant all the way from the tangle-wood. twenty feet below sat the beach, and a small pile of briars with dirt-clods still stuck to their roots.

he may have had a brilliant plan, block all avenues down he possibly could -- but he lacked the execution to see his plan prosper. with a grunt he leapt to the next outcropping only to have it give away under his weight. "MOFTHFR" his muffled words came, and he watched in deep remorse and consternation as the tangled plant he had so carefully carried plummeted down the side of the cliff and bounced sprightly on the sand.

Arrille had been resting near the entrance. There had been something on his mind. And that thing was not so far away. Drageda. As he waited there near the entrance, he heard something that sounded like rock crumbling. He poked half his body out to see what came as a big surprise; Ingram, high up. 

"I-Ingram!" He called up, suddenly worried for the male. He didn't even notice the fallen plant.

a call caused ingram to whip his head around, almost resulting in him following shortly after the plant. he peered over the ledge and some twenty feet down was arrille's shadowed form, hugged by the mouth of the grotto.

ingram grinned, though it touched him to see worry on arrille's face. "oh hey, buddy. you look pretty small from here." he spoke casually, as if it was perfectly normal for a wolf to climb staggering heights for the asinine reason of placing barricades around the sound's weak spots. it wasn't normal -- but was ingram normal anyway?

 he leaned forward a little and inspected the drop. "if i fell, you think i'd die?"

Arrille couldn't help but stare up at Ingram, so high up. "How can you be joking like that?! You could fall!" He started looking about trying to find a way up to get help Ingram back down safely. He couldn't beleive the wolf was being so stupid up there.

"Just...Just stay there!" And then Ingram asked a question. "Don't! Don't you dare! I'll...I'll be up there! Soon" he muttered the last part, he could not seem to find a way up. "Uh...um...do you see a way down?! Safely?!"

ingram tittered from his perch, delighted by the small fiasco his inadverted stupidity had caused. he peered over the ledge as arrille paced back and forth and shouted: "oh hey, since you're coming up, bring that piece of tanglewood up, will ya?" he issued a roguish grin arrille's way, failing to see the severity of the situation.

he glanced along the trail he had followed up to the point where he was now, and thought for a moment. "yeah, it's called jumping." he giggled obscenely to himself, probably enjoying his own off-brand sense of humor more than arrille.

Arrille just shot up a confused and worried look at the wolf. Was he sick in the head? Was he crazy? He had not appeared this crazy before. "What?! No, you get down here and get it!" 

Then Ingram got him to worry more. Much more. "If you don't come down here, I'll...I'll kick your butt! I'll teach you a lesson!" Truthfully, he thought he was capable of doing so.

l m f a o

ingram inched closer to the ledge and hung a paw over it bravely, teetering over it as if he were going to fall. at the last moment he pulled back triumphantly and cocked his long ears downward, a loud guffaw escaping his muzzle as he heard the tail end of arrille's threat.

ingram wasn't sure who would win in a fight -- he was older, but arrille was kind of big and lanky. maybe he was one of those wolves that it took a lot to push over the edge and when they did go over the edge, they were as indiscriminate in their physical fury as a small torpedo. he didn't much like those odds.

"oho, is that so?" he shouted from the promontory, waving his tail over his hips playfully as he paced in a lofty trot back and forth across the ridge. "you'd have to come up here first." he teased, sticking his tongue out in a dramatic raspberry.

arrille was right though - there was nothing else to do but go down -- with his task only half finished, ingram slowly wound his way down the high stones.

Arrille glared up at the wolf's guffaw. He was starting to wonder if he did like Ingram or not, and if they'd make a good friend. "N-No! You come down here!" His mouth fell agape at the rasberry, and now he had every intention to kick their butt. "You are so...so..." He let out a frustrated yell and turned away, not noticing Ingram coming down. 

"Fine! Go ahead and jump, I don't...I don't care anymore!" he stammered, trying to hide any worry he had by turning his back on Ingram.

it took a bit of work, but ingram made it to the bottom with a heavy whummph. he landed gracelessly and felt a twinge go up his hock. he shook the affected leg out behind him and strutted confidently to arrille, who had turned away from him out of frustration.

ingram was skilled at only a few things, and one of them was pushing people's buttons. he grinned widely and circled around arrille with his tail waving playfully behind him. "i am so what? cool? awesome?" he stopped, lifted his muzzle and cast his friend a sidelong glance: "devastating handsome?"

Arrille didn't hear the sound of Ingram landing, and almost jumped as he circled around. He turned his gaze away, as if purposefully avoiding Ingram's gaze. "You are no-" he stopped when he was asked if he thought Ingram to be handsome, and his head dipped a bit, face flushing with slight embarassment. "N-No!"

you get ingram's 100th post :o

it was probably best that ingram didn't catch the flush that rose to arrille's pale face -- not that he would have minded. if anything, ingram would have been flattered and it probably would have inflated his ego further. an ego which needed no further inflation (and an ego that was noticably absent whenever chusi was afoot.)

he swirled around, as if admiring himself. "it's okay - drink it all in." he said, standing upright with his narrow chest puffed forward. "it's in the genes, you know." he leveled arrille a serious look, though a grin was faint on his lips. "so, what were you up to?" already ingram had forgotten all about lining the border with thorny barricades.

Arrille made a side glance as Ingram swirled on the spot, then averted his eyes quickly. He tried to ignore him, giving him the silent treatment until he glanced again to find a more serious look on his face. "I...I was resting...till I heard something fall." Then his expression darkened. "Then I saw you almost fall! You and Caiaphas are the only ones I know here!" He didn't want to be the only one to see Ingram fall. He didn't want that on his conscience.

ingram didn't love the cold shoulder treatment -- he sided right up in arrille's face with the deepest, most sorrowful puppy eyes he could muster.

it appeared arrille hadn't cared for his antics (gee, how do you figure?) but ingram was not the type to let his spirits be doused by seriousness. he shrugged like a little scoundrel and issued a riposte: "so my funeral would help you meet more people." he grinned, looking down the beach as he imagined such a morbid though. "you could comfort chusi -- she'd be very sad, you know."

he then slid off, heading in the direction that he had been looking. "i could introduce you to some of them if you want. fair warning: lycaon might bite. nyx is nice, i like her.. um.. kierkegaard... don't go near him, i think he'll eat you." he thought for a minute and then added: "and chusi! she's very pretty, kinda dark like me -- with soft brown eyes..." wait a minute, was he exposing that he had a crush on her? he shut his trap quickly and looked at arrille with a big squint. "don't tell her i said any of that, or i'll fight you."

Arrille tried to hold his form, but the puppy eyes! They were too much, and he had to look away to keep himself from smiling back at Ingram. 

He avoided the grinning face, that was until a name was mentioned. "Chusi? Chusi is here?" he asked. He recalled her. And how...weird she was. He hadn't thought much of her though. 

Then an opportunity arised, he could see. "Oh, really? What else you like about her? Her personality? Or is it just the eyes?" he asked, sporting a grin of his own at his taste of revenge for Ingram worrying and teasing him. The other names he did not know, having met none of them.

the side eye was not enough to quell arrille's curiosity. ingram had thought his look conveyed clearly 'NO FURTHER QUESTIONS' but someone didn't get the memo. he squirmed visibly -- it was easy for him to dish it out -- but could he take it?

the answer was no.

"nonya business." he replied defensively, speeding up his gait as he spoke. "d'you know her?" he spun back around, the needly squinty gaze returning: "wait a minute - you better not get any ideas. she's spoken for."

Arrille stifled a laugh at Ingram, smiling lightly. "Well, don't worry me and I won't bring it up again" he said back. When Ingram said that Arrille shouldn't get any ideas, he shook his head. "Never thought about it. She came off as a bit weird when we first met. Not the bad kind, just seemed...unique."

at least he had made arrille laugh -- now that ingram thought about it, he was not really sure he had seen arrille smile all that much. he was so serious. not at all like ingram, who had the predilection to be both erratically enthused and hysterically myopic within seconds of each other.

he was about to let the matter settle when arrille said chusi was weird. hey! that was ingram's woman he was talking about! ingram leveled him a look that said 'how r00d' and rushed to chusi's defense with a heated: "she's not weird! there's no such thing." cue huffy cross of arms.

Arrille smiled a bit back at Ingram. "Well when I told her that, she didn't seem to mind" he shot back, his smile widening. "But she is nice...Now, about that offer to meet the others? Or should I keep going?" he asked, wondering just how far he could push Ingram like Ingram had pushed his buttons.

ingram's defensiveness deflated a little when arrille mentioned chusi had not taken affront to the label. even if she hadn't cared, ingram kind of did -- he would not let his lady's name be sullied even by a friend. ingram would not have categorized her as weird, but maybe he was weird too. he hadn't considered it.

"she is nice." he affirmed, hoping that would be the last of that. ever so tactfully he tried to steer the subject elsewhere: "keep teasin', or insultin' my lady and maybe i'll introduce you to the sharks instead." he tried to take on a serious tone, but there was none in his voice and a roguish smile betrayed any austerity his voice might have retained.

Arrille rolled his eyes at Ingram, not believing him. "To do that, you'd have to kick my butt" he challenged, with a smiling glare. "But really, you're a fun guy, Ingram...except for when you are trying to kill yourself." He looked toward the entrance, and then realized; this had been the longest he had been outside. He started back toward the entrance after quickly checking in Drageda's direction, just in case.

arrille saw right through his bluff -- probably a good thing, because if ingram had to actually act on his words the result would be catastrophic and would probably involve unintentional casualties (mostly, his own).

he followed arrille's gaze, his chest puffing out proudly as arrille handed him an unexpected accolade. "you're a fun guy yourself - besides, i just gotta keep things interesting around here, you know?"

he caught arrille's gaze to the grotto and said: "let's drag the bramble in -- hey, last one to the grotto is a fat rotten seal!" he bolted before even finishing, not even doing the gentlemanly thing of giving arrille a headstart. arrille had longer legs than ingram anyway, so he probably wouldn't even be bothered by the black imp's little cheat.