Frogspawn Swamp whitewalls on the wheels like mayonnaise

tegan had told @Finley and @Elwood of his grand adventure-- coordinated by none other than @Raven-- filled his belly and set off with @Niamh in tow. he was fuckin stoked! he hoped fiadh and clover and lucca heard about his mission and were so jealous they shit a brick-- oh my god could you imagine? tegan sure could. boy, was he excited. they walked for a little while, tegan probably annoyed the hell out of niamh but he also shared some valuable information about himself. such as his scouting trade and grand interest in storytelling as well as his self-proclaimed journey to morningside to see easy. this was all important information that anyone should know about him if they planned on being friends with him. he added the part about him getting in trouble, cause it made him seem like a total bad ass rule breaker.

street creds, motherfucker. it also proved he was the favorite, cause his 'trouble' was the equivalent to a slap on the wrist.

they took a break at some swampy lookin place. tegan had never seen a swamp before, so this was sorta rad as hell. "look how squishy this mud is!" tegan exclaimed to niamh, his tail wiggling all about, "smells like asshole though, bleh." he dunked a paw in the mud before bringing it up and flicking all the excess off. that was enough experimentation for now. he looked to his friend.

"how ya feeling?" he asked, assuming well, since tegan felt fine and dandy!

 

most tags are for reference! slight PP that niamh and tegan have left. anyone is welcome to join, or not join! idc!

Niamh was a relatively outgoing wolf- but her chattiness paled in complexion when compared to Tegan's. It actually made travelling easier- she'd travelled plenty with her brother, but that was somehow different. The journey she took now was with someone she'd only just met, and someone who wasn't family. She was also quite aware of the fact that she couldn't let Tegan get hurt or attacked while they travelled, or she'd have the wrath of the entire pack at her heels- led by Finley, Clover and Fiadh, and that was certainly something she didn't want. While Tegan was content to jabber on, Niamh kept one ear cocked to listen to their surroundings, the other turned toward her loquacious companion. 

Tegan was the first to press one foot into the mud, and she paused for a moment, deterred by the smell. "That stank!" She exclaimed, venturing forward to press only one foot in- but when she did, the other forefoot got sucked in too. She backpedaled with a surprised, muted squeak, flailing one forepaw and then the other. "Fucking dégueulasse!" She said, using one of very few French words she knew. She moved away from the swampy mud to brush her feet against the swamp grass, trying to get the mud off and doing so relatively effectively. 

When he asked how she was, she shrugged one shoulder. "Eh, I'm dandy. Kind of nice to be on the go again, I guess I missed it, but didn't realize it. My brother and I used to do shit like this all the time." She said, flicking one foot and sending a small glob of mud flying off into the bullrushes. Something out of sight, behind the tall, sharp blades of grass made a low growl of a noise and rustled the grass slightly. Niamh bristled and turned toward the sound, eyes narrowed- until a bullfrog emerged and repeated the same, guttural noise.

"where's your brother?" tegan asked, not considering the fact that something bad might've happened to him or their relationship. i mean, maybe not also-- maybe they just parted ways. but did tegan stop to think he was maybe being sort of insensitive with his question asking? nope, not at all.

his tail waved though, and he tacked on, "i love traveling and exploring-- it's literally the dopest thing you can do. cause like, you can run out of stories to tell or fighting moves to learn, but you can never run out of places to go!" wow, wise words, tegan.

"Ambrose?" She asked, looking back to Tegan after trying to stare down the bullfrog- which didn't go so well. She wasn't even sure the damn thing had eyelids. "He stayed with a group of yearlings we met while we were travelling. Was more or less gonna try to, hah, kind of take over and lead them. He was good at that kind of thing," She said, turning her attention back to the bullfrog, as she lowered herself into a crouch. She bared her teeth at the greenish, brownish thing, but before she could do anything, it turned to the side and began to crawl toward the sticky mud. She let it be, and straightened up. 

Tegan seemed to like the idea of being on the move; maybe it was because for him, there was a certain novelty to it- he had, after all, had to tell his mom that he was leaving, so she assumed based on that fact that he didn't get out much. "True," She said, nodding. "I never really imagined settling down with a pack, so this is actually kind of awesome. You probably enjoyed travelling from the Caldera to here, didn't you?" She asked.

tegan shrugged. "i dunno his name," he said in a duh kinda way-- well, he didn't, now he did, apparently it was ambrose. tegan gave the story some thought before nodding decidedly. "he sounds dope, but i can't relate," tegan added with a flick of his nose. he didn't get the whole conquering thing. maybe it was fun, or maybe power was just super cool? now, at least, at this age, tegan really didn't get the appeal of leading a pack. gamma, he decided, would be the best rank. all bragging rights with no real responsibility. but... hm. tegan gave niamh a sideways glance, "why didn't you stay?" 

and then, snort, tegan shook his head. "i think we're the best pack to join, so you lucked out. but hell no! it sucked. i'm old enough to be out on my own, and i got to do that all the time. towhee basically tied me to her ankles on the trip here, i didn't get to do anything fun or cool," he explained with a huff. and then, wondering if it was valuable information, he added, "i used to travel to this ravine to meet up with a friend every month, that was always a cool trip."

At first, she was surprised Tegan didn't have the same kind of ambition to lead that Ambrose did....But then she thought about it for a moment, and it totally made sense. Tegan, though he seemed pretty plased to have a task to perform, and wasn't lazy, didn't seem like the type who would want to lead simply because of the responsibilities it demanded. The same way he wasn't really interested in sparring, maybe- it had something to do with asserting dominance, and she imagined that that was simply a bit too uncouth for him. She had yet to really figure out how Tegan worked, and wasn't sure she was getting any closer- but at least he didn't hate her for it yet. 

She shrugged, when he posed a question. "I dunno. Didn't really want to try and lead a bunch of losers," She said, with a laugh. "That was totally the appeal to Ambrose- he knew they'd follow him just because he could make shit up on the fly. They were kind of...low hanging fruit, y'know?" She asked. It wasn't the total truth- sure, they'd been impressionable yearlings, but she'd mostly just left because she didn't want to stop travelling. 

The trip from the Caldera, it seemed, didn't seem like it was as much fun as she'd anticipated. For some reason, he'd more or less been grounded, from the sound of things, even though this was familiar territory. "Why'd she pin you down if you knew the area?" She asked. "Because you used to sneak out anyway?"[/b]

"damn, sounds like we'd get along really well," tegan revealed to niamh with a tilt of his head. easy targets? oh yeah, sounded right up tegan's alley. he didn't have time to impress people who were a challenge to impress. no one was too good for tegan, and if they acted like they were tegan would quickly turn the other way-- they didn't deserve his time of day.

consequently, however, that tended to get people's attention-- being ignored. but that's besides the point.

with another shrug, tegan added, "who wants to take care of all those wolves though? and politics? ugh." that about summed up tegan's reasoning for his opinions on ranks and such-- verbally, for once. 

"i only ever explored east," tegan said to clarify, shaking his head as she mentioned he knew the area, "i've never been out this way, it's all new to me. but towhee made me walk with the pack, i wasn't allowed to go scout ahead or anything, it sucked serious ass." but look at him now! HAH!

She raised a brow at his comment- maybe he was more like Ambrose than she'd thought. But when he mentioned not liking politics, she got rid of that idea. Ambrose wanted to be a leader- even if it meant leading a bunch of wolves who knew nothing about politics and simply followed him because he stepped in to do so. She chuckled. "I bet he'll make his way out here someday. I wouldn't be surprised." She said. For some reason, the idea appealed to her- but also gave her some reservations. Ambrose wouldn't have kept his cool around Clover or Fiadh, and probably would've egged their resentment toward him on, had he been with her the whole time. 

She would have asked again why exactly he'd been stuck to follow Towhee while they traveled, but something else caught her attention, and made her turn one ear back in hesitation. "So...If you've only traveled out East...Do you actually know where we're going?" She probably should have clarified that before they left.

tegan made no comment in response to ambrose leaving-- cause what was he supposed to say? he had nothing to say to that. but he could respond to the comment about drageda........ in that no, he had no idea where they were going. well! kind of? but no. 

"i've never been to drageda, no, but it's just past morningside-- that's where easy lives-- and i can get us to morningside," he told her, she'd probably believe that too since he'd already explained to her the whole break-free to morningside quest he went on. whoops. "it's on the coast-- i've never seen the ocean before," tegan added thoughtfully, tail waving as he imagined it. it was probably way cool.

So...That was a no. But at least he knew the area, sort of, as he knew how to get somewhere called Morningside. If all else failed, they could probably stop at Morningside- where she assumed he was welcome- and ask for directions to Drageda. Or if they wandered for too long, she could find their way back...But hey, Tegan wanted to be a scout, so he had a good sense of direction, right? Or would he even be ok with asking for directions? They'd have to find out when the time came. 

When he mentioned the ocean, she forgot all about the possibility that they could get very lost along the way. "Really?" She asked, redundantly. She would learn pretty quick that asking redundant questions with Tegan was pointless. "It's awesome- and there are these fat, legless things that look kind of like hairless dogs, with beady black eyes that're called sea lions, that live along the shore." She said, remembering how she'd discovered them with Coelacanth. "We should totally try and find some while we're there," She said, figuring that seeing something as ridiculous sounding as that might appeal to him.

"no i lied, i was actually born and raised by whales in the ocean," tegan said without skipping a beat, but made a face, "yeah really." hopefully she learned not to ask redundant questions quickly-- cause tegan had a whole compartment of his brain dedicated to snarky responses.

but, tegan was intrigued. "oh word, those sound fuckin gross! do you eat them? do they taste good?" he questioned her, head tilting to one side. to meet a sea lion would be a great story to tell his family when he got back home! he hoped they saw some too, especially since niamh seemed to bee an expert on the matter. then, as an afterthought (but nonetheless still genuine) tegan wondered aloud, "you think we could train one to follow us around and do our bidding? like towhee's bird?"

"Explains a lot, blubber-brain," She replied, sarcastically. Yeh, so he caught her. But if he could deal it, he had to be able to take it, right?

He did seem interested in sea lions- thank god he actually believed her that they existed. Because she realized after she described them that they didn't exactly sound like something that was real. "I dunno. They're awefully fat, and kind of slow, so we could totally take on a smaller one," She said, but then she remembered how much Coelacanth had cared about not hurting, killing or eating one. "But they kind of smell, and probably wouldn't taste good." Not that Coelacanth needed to know, if they did decide to hunt and try one to see what it tasted like- but the dark, sylphlike wolf had begged her so endearingly not to kill one that she found it hard to think about doing so even after they'd parted ways. 

She actually took him semi-seriously when he wondered about training one, but grimaced, and shook her head. "They look kind of dumb. And they'd like...Take forever to flop their way back to the Plateau. I kind of want to bring a crab back, though," She said, picturing the clawed crustacean making its home in the lake. "Maybe a couple of them. And start a crab colony in the lake. Those taste pretty good, when you get past the shell and the pincers."

"hooo shit, she got me," tegan said lightheartedly, tail waving. it was a good comeback, he'd give it to her. and he thought about her description of the sea-lions a little harder before shrugging. "you're prolly right, but i think it's our job as functioning members of society to taste them," he added with pricked ears. because functioning members of society eat everything, duh. 

"c r ab?" tegan repeated with a narrowed gaze, "you mean they got teeths on they feets?" it sounded fake but tbh tegan was totally about it and therefore very excited to meet one. "bet, lets do it, i bet raven would be hella happy if we could bring more food back too." good, responsible thought, tegan.

Niamh nodded to his question about the crabs, and the way they had teeth on their feet. "I dunno if they have actual teeth, so they just kind of grab things with their mouth-feet-like pincers." She said. After all, if she had to draw any similarities between a wolf and a crab, the pincers would be much more like a wolf's jaws than anything else. As for their faces...Those feeler things were kind of weird, and she'd never really looked at one hard enough to see teeth. All she knew was that she liked crab meat- and if she could farm them in the lake at the plateau, then they could all enjoy them without having to travel to the ocean every time. 

"It's a plan then. But let's put a move on; them crabs are waiting, and so is Drageda," She said, stepping away from the swampy area they'd been in, and waving her tail. "North-ish, right?" She asked, ready to take direction, before she dashed in the wrong direction.

"bet," was tegan's response, followed by a swift nod. he looked out into the distance, nose twitching, before nodding. "yeah, north-ish... follow the coast!" it was an easy task, really, and tegan was a M A S T E R S C O U T. so he could handle it.

"aight! let's fuckin boogie," he commanded(can you imagine being given a command that said the word boogie in it?), and set off, assuming niamh was in tow.