Mount Apikuni Hla Oad

Akatosh was on the verge of adulthood -- at least on paper -- so was taking it upon himself to learn more about the world beyond the creek.  Okay, that's a lie.  He'd been tracking a deer (not that he'd be able to catch it on his own) and it lead him across the territory line.  Not a big deal, of course, but when it became obvious that it really wasn't going to be turning back any time soon, he was already part way up the lower slopes of the nearby mountain.

He'd paused then, looking up as the ground curved towards the sky.  Even from here he could tell it was a whole different world than the one down by familiar waters.  Hm.  His nostrils flared.  This wasn't an inhabited area, obviously, but it seemed like other wolves and other creatures wandered through on occasion.  Maybe he could find a hare or something and bring that home.  Or not.  He still wasn't an amazing hunter, but that would come with practice.  Or he could just explore.  That was probably ok too.  Either way, Akatosh's paws pointed upward and he continued upwards to see what he'd find.

Forsythe had traveled a long way to find some mountains again. The slope felt like home to her, but upon further inspection, she realized that part of the mountain was a giant rock slide and the other side had burned bits. She was not very keen on having a wolf pack close by, either. So the picky female would continue onto the mountain range ahead, wondering if there was a suitable living space, and most of all, she would like to find a territory of a male cougar.

However, it was not a male cougar she was meeting today. She had been resting on a big stone outcrop. Her ear twitched at the sound of someone approaching. The big feline bared her teeth into a snarl when seeing the wolf young. Her eyes flickered darkly as she crouched down, ready to pounce. This could make an easy meal depending on what the young wolf would do.

The more he traveled, an unfamiliar scent seemed to strengthen.  He wasn't sure of its source, but it wasn't something native to his creek home as far as he knew.  Maybe it was, but if so it wasn't something that had been around any time recently (recently being since he started paying attention to such things).  He didn't know to be particularly wary of it.  However, the one good thing about exploring was that Akatosh was paying attention.  This land was completely unfamiliar to him, as he wasn't a particularly worldly youth, so he was drinking in all the details as best he could.

So, when something moved up ahead, he froze for a moment and focused on what it was.  The origin of the scent was what.  And whatever it was, it wasn't happy -- that expression crossed species lines.  Even if he'd been given descriptions of what a cougar was (which is probably likely offscreen) he couldn't see the full body of the other predator, just enough to know that it was likely way bigger than him and totally grumptastic.  Maybe Akatosh had stumbled across its den?  You know what, maybe he should get out of there.  His ears tipped backwards instinctively and he started to back away, not really sure if he should just book it or try to be slow about it.  Running made things chase the thing running away, right?  Or at least he liked chasing things that ran from him...

The female watched as the wolf youth backed off. He better, she though. It seemed that the youth was smart. She leaped forward with a snarl, finding a new found confidence in the other's reaction. The other had backed off, which the cat made use off. She made herself bigger, ears flattening and teeth exposed as a warning.

Her tail flickered angrily behind her, it was clear it was not a friendly tail wag. She slowly unsheathed her claws to expose her weaponry. Her eyes were focussed on the wolf-child. Was he going to run? Forsyth wouldn't mind a little chase. Her amber eyes had an intense stare, predatory. This was the time where she expected him to run.

He wasn't exactly going to stop and see if he'd moved far enough.  Akatosh was keen on avoiding things to begin with (including family drama) so stopping to see what the cougar thought wasn't even on his radar.  The boy was sticking in reverse, moving at a fairly good clip for the fact he was moving backwards, but nowhere near a run.  The fact that she seemed to keep fussing around and not doing anything definitely was giving him a chance to get the heck out of dodge.  Was it just toying with him?  Was it lazy?  Either way, the distance was growing.  He could sort of remember what he'd passed along the way.  There was a thick clump of bushes that should be coming up beside him, and he searched for it in the very corner of his vision, not letting the other creature out of his sight.  

He felt the twiggy branch rake through the fur at his hip, a little crunch for where one dry end piece snapped from the contact.  Akatosh arced around it, getting out of sight before turning, setting his sights on the thickest vegetation he could find and barreling towards it, full-tilt.  Just about any direction that was even vaguely back towards the way he came would be okay, he wasn't gonna be too picky.

the snarl of a cat attracted stigmata to investigate. he had both common and personal reasons for doing so, but didn't have the time to reflect on either reason as he watched a young wolf bolt by - his brown agouti fur nothing but a ruddy blur through the mountain woods as he went. frightened by the cat, certainly, and for good reason. stigmata turned to track after the boy, curious to make sure he wasn't going to be hunted down by a starved feline.

he wasn't sure if he'd actually ever catch up to the wolf - his pace certainly didn't imply that he would - but he figured that if the cougar was after him, it would run into him, a larger, stronger wolf first and maybe think twice about its pursuit of the fleeing boy. not that it looked like he needed much help; with the head-start he had on everyone.

Forsyth watched as the pup backtracked at quite a speed. The female cat watched with glee that she could induce such a fear with wolves. The female leaped forward towards the youngster. It was quick on its feet though. As soon as it turned around and made a dash the female felt too lazy to charge after him. She slowed her pace and watch the pup dash off. She had made her point.

The female was about the turn away when something else caught her eye, an adult wolf. Her face instantly settled into a more grim expression. So there had been an adult with the child. Two wolves were too many for her liking. She flattered her ears and then turned back from where she came from. She was going to play it safe as her goal was to find other cougars, not play with her life. The pup had been scared so she had done her species a service. Forsyth made her way to the ridges and made sure to get a few levels lower than the wolves. Out of sight out of mind.

- Forsyth out -

IDK if you want the thread to continue or not but can do either.

The world whizzed by him, but all he could hear was the noise from his own steps.  Eventually, he slowed, stopped, and held his breath to try to hear whether he should keep going. All he could hear was his heartbeat in his ears.  A cat couldn't move completely silently could it? Not with all the snow and plants, right?  Akatosh tried to catch his breath, looking back the way he came.

It seemed he wasn't in danger.  But man, he was gonna have a he'll of a time figuring out the way home.  He could do it.  Probably.  He hadn't gone too far, as far as he knew.

i did, thank you! stig desperately needs to get acquainted with scc.

stigmata kept up after the young wolf, not yet aware that the cat did not still stalk him, and also curious to know where the youth belonged - if anywhere. he seemed too young to have dispersed, but he'd only caught a glance at him, and needed a closer look if he wanted to confirm. he tracked the boy for quite a ways, but wouldn't have caught up to him at all if the juvenile hadn't needed to slow down and reorient himself.

the hound began to bark as he closed in on the other's strengthening scent, calling out to the male as a tentative ally. when he finally caught sight of the wolf again, he was able to confirm that it was indeed a youngster, who'd had every reason to flee the scene when facing a superior predator. hell, not even stigmata would stand up to a cat alone - not unless he had to.

"the beast will not attack while i am near," he called out, hoping to reassure him enough to close the distance between them. stigmata certainly wasn't going to impose himself on the youth, but he had bothered to engage at any rate, so he would see things through if he could.

Okay, he was being followed but maybe just by that guy who'd been kind of a blur before he ran off?  His fur bristled and he paced a bit anxiously for the few moments it took for the guy to appear, uncertain if he should just keep fleeing until he was sure that he didn't have a shadow.  He was ready to run, just in case.

But then the guy called out, and in all honesty, Akatosh wasn't quite sure he should think that was at all true -- that cat had seemed pretty pissed and all he'd done was wander kind of nearby.  Shh! he hissed.  Akatosh looked past him, ears forward, searching for some sign that there really wasn't a cat following along.  He'd stay silent for a little while longer, waiting, expecting some sort of threatening sound coming from that way.  It seemed to be quiet, so maybe it wasn't a big deal.

For the most part, Akatosh's world had been pretty small.  Most of his time had been spent with his family, with a few random others that were assigned to watch him when he was younger, but most of them had since left and were now these odd fuzzy memories and that was about it.  He wasn't sure if he should necessarily thank this dude either.  He'd already been running away, so...   Who're you?  Not exactly a boy of a ton of words.

stigmata quieted as he was bade, aware that perhaps the boy wasn't very familiar with cats and their extreme distaste for a challenge. at any rate, it wasn't bad advice, and he felt no need to be contrary with the youth. if it put the runner more at ease, then it served them both for stigmata to simply heed the command. he waited quite patiently until the boy spoke again - even indulging in the silence with a bit of suspicious glancing to and fro - and he ventured a bit closer to the juvenile as he was addressed.

"stigmata," he told the sensible child, wagging the tip of his tail and keep his head almost level with his shoulders, to encourage their continued interaction. "who are you?" the smokewraith returned casually, looking over the agouti packwolf with sly-eyed interest. and why are you not with your pack? he refrained from asking at first.

Akatosh, he answered, similarly.  Wary from little exposure to non-pack members, he wasn't going to be volunteering more information, though part of that was just him being not exactly chatty in the first place.  And also he didn't really know what else Stigmata would even want to know.  Akatosh's brain was still stuck on waiting for a cat to pop out of hammerspace and then fleeing while it ate Stigmata.

Akatosh sniffed at him, trying to gain a little information despite space between them.  He did smell of other wolves, and he was pretty sure that one in particular was pretty familiar, but they were still far enough apart that he wasn't gonna be sure.  Maybe a few overlapping scents triggered a memory somehow.  Overall, the collection was (unsurprisingly) unfamiliar.  It wasn't home, thus he didn't recognize it.  It wasn't like Akatosh went on many adventures, and since this one had turned out to be not particularly great, he didn't know if he'd do it again.  He should start thinking about heading home.  From where?

tucking away the boy's given name, stigmata remained still and watched the juvenile attempt to ascertain everything he could at a distance. smart boy, he thought, flicking his ears forward as the young wolf questioned him again. "the mountains," he answered coolly; signaling towards the sunspires in an indiscriminate motion as he did so. "and yourself?" the iron wolf parried. "will you need a guard to reach it?"

Well, he hadn't been into the mountains, really.  They were just kind of there in the background his whole life.  This was as much as he'd done as far as exploring went.  He thought about it a moment.  At least Akatosh could ask his dad when he returned home.  Maybe he knew where in the mountains this dude lived, because that was a pretty big area.  Way too big for one pack, right?  And obviously not this mountain, it wasn't claimed as far as he could see.

The creek.  Um.  He looked downhill, but there was too much other stuff in the way to be able to see it clearly from here.  Where was it?  He shrugged, Down there somewhere.  Not far.  Akatosh was pretty sure he could find his way back and not have to worry too much... S'long as it's gone.  Another shrug.  Yeah, he was such a decisive kid, wasn't he?  But hey, at least he knew he didn't want to deal with the damn cougar.

stigmata followed the trail of the boy's eyes, and though his direction seemed a bit off - to which he admitted he wasn't sure - the warhound knew which pack he spoke of. he had not visited the lands before, but he had passed by on more than one occasion. "it is gone," he affirmed, unwilling to impose himself on a juvenile he did not know or have a stake in protecting. it might have been different for him if the boy was terribly lost and too far from home to easily return, but since neither of those things were the case here, stigmata was keen to leave the boy be. "you should be safe."

and with a shrug of his own, the wolf turned to slink back the way he had come, having ascertained that he would find no potential recruitment with a boy too young yet to disperse.

Thanks for going on a little longer with me! I needed the thread :)

Despite assurances, Akatosh was going to remain suspicious.  That seemed like the smart thing to do.  He did bob his head in acknowledgement of the statement, but that was about it.  It was time to go, as Stigmata proved, dismissing himself.  Time for the boy to head down and work his way through the kind-of-known lands.

Once he got to flat land, he'd be able to find the rest of the way home no problem.  Further adventuring would be needed for him to get his internal compass calibrated a bit better... Hopefully trips without cats.  But first, home, some sleep, and probably staying safely tucked away for a few weeks.