Nova Peak Your spirit's strong enough to fight

She was envoking a stay of execution by running.  She led whoever came north through the river, allowing the water to wash away the direction they had gone by following its shallow side down and through a ways.  If @Dacio had stayed with her after their discussion (in progress), she'd have gathered him, and the same for @Anaïs if she had remained.  @Yami I'm figuring definitely is there unless Kiwi puts her foot in her mouth in a big way.

She didn't stop until she hit a mountain, and here she paused, looking at it skeptically.  She would have preferred a place with trees, but she did not want to go too far, and this was close enough without being in danger.  From here she could build, train, recruit.  The climbs will make us stronger, she thought to herself, then turned.  What do you think?

Oh yeah, Yami was definitely there. It was never going to take much to talk her out of returning to Rusalka for one thing. For another, she felt like she'd found a kindred spirit in Kiwi, and though she didn't know much about the girl, she didn't seem like a complete whackjob and that was a step up from the company she'd kept the past few months. Plus, she admired her new friend's confidence and was eager to learn from her. But more than any of that, she didn't want to be alone anymore, and that's when she'd found Kiwi.

So yeah. Yami was pretty set on this. Set enough that she didn't even mind so much when Kiwi had decided to lead them towards the mountain they stood upon now. If given the choice, the yearling would always choose wide, open plains over jagged cliffs and crags. But there was still something about mountain ranges that made her feel comfortable and gave her some confidence. The area was at least more open than Moonspear had been, anyway.

"I think they'd be completely insane to follow us this far," Yami commented with a smirk. Not that she thought any of them doubted that their enemies were total nutjobs, but that would be a whole new level of fucked up if they decided to chase the small band all the way out here just to make sure they didn't try to settle next door.

if anyone else wants to join this still feel free! For now I'm going to assume only kiwi and Yami made the trip

I think they are insane, but I don't think they are smart enough to follow us this far, Kiwi responded with a smirk.  She'd definitely made sure to lose them and probably they thought she had just given up and run scared.  That's what she hoped, at least.  Unlike Dacio, her plans for reclaiming her spot didn't include destroying theirs... not unless she could think of a scenario where that suddenly became easier.

Easier to hide here too, and watch for anyone who might want trouble.  Or anyone who might want to join.  She grew excited again the more she thought about it.  She had total control now over who she accepted and who she didn't here, and if any didn't make the cut like so many hadn't back home, she didn't have to worry about judgement for telling them to hit the road.

Yami had to nod her agreement to that statement. She still hadn't learned the true identity of Kiwi's enemies, but they definitely sounded like a bunch of nutjobs. Learning who they really were definitely wasn't going to change her opinion of that either. It would only solidify that she had made a real damn good decision leaving Rusalka, in spite of the events that had followed that might've suggested otherwise.

"Yeah, if there's one thing to say about mountains, it's that they have a lot of places you can hide in," Yami confirmed, taking a few steps forward to sniff around at a grouping of rocks ahead of their path. She lifted her head after determining there was nothing interesting there to be found. "D'you think anyone's around here that would want to join us?" she asked, wondering herself. That was the second reason they were there, after all. Was a mountain a good place to find recruits? How did you even find recruits? How did you even recruit?

Probably not here here, Kiwi replied, glancing around.  The mountain itself seemed fair deserted. But around, yeah.  We'll have to go find some, and see if they are good enough.  Yami could go find, but as for the seeing... for now, Kiwi intended to keep that call for herself.  Just until she learned if she could trust her friend's taste or not.  

Have you ever recruited before?  Maybe she could check it now.

Kiwi validated her concerns that there would be no one on the mountain for them to recruit, but she didn't seem to be worried about it. Yami supposed they could just set up camp here and then search the surrounding areas for lone wolves that might want to join their cause. She had to admit that finding anyone who would want to sign up to be part of a group knowing they were heading into a fight was likely going to be a challenge. They would have to be either totally nuts or totally desperate. Then again, Yami had joined up knowing what was in store, hadn't she? What did that make her?

A little bit of both. "No," Yami admitted, "I've never been part of a group that needed me to. Have you?"

A little bit. She replied.  I was a leader before, but I didn't recruit much. They'd been strong enough as is and besides, her standards hadn't been met by half the members taken.  

Most important thing is taking either those with skills or those willing to learn. We can't take members who are just going to sit around and expect us to do things for them.  Obviously.  Yami was great because so far she'd reminded Kiwi a lot of @Clover, who she'd left behind.  A part of her felt guilty for that, but she'd brought up that stupid boy.

Kiwi apparently didn't have much experience either. So, good. This was all boding well for their chances. Yami kept her negativity quiet as she continued, nodding along in agreement even though she had spent her entire life as one of those pack members that had sat around, expecting the pack to take care of her. That particular truth didn't occur to her though, so she simply scoffed at the idea that someone would be that selfish.

"What about the whole... we have a pack of lunatics after us thing," she asked, "Do we mention that or let 'em figure it out on their own?" Yami smirked a little. It was actually an honest quetion, but she still found some humor in it.

She snickered too a little at Yami's question, a little conspiratorially.  It's not like they can find us here, she said, with a skeptical look that clearly said 'because they are stupid and we aren't'.  But I guess whatever you want.  It shouldn't make a difference, and anyone who is scared off we didn't need anyway.  She finished this statement confidently, and with a self satisfied nod.  They could hold this place just the two of them no problem, wasn't like they were desperate.  If anyone wanted to come along, they would definitely have to be able to keep up.

Yami's confidence in the situation seemed completely dependent on Kiwi's, for the moment she expressed her doubt that the lunatic pack could find them, Yami's own mind was made on the matter. She still wasn't sure how new recruits would feel about joining a pack that was planning a turf war, but Kiwi was right on that front as well. They didn't need cowards in their ranks anyway.

"I guess I'll just wing it," she commented with a shrug, not feeling overly concerned about it, "Wanna go try and kill something for dinner?" She couldn't remember just then the last time she'd had a meal, but her level of hunger suggested it had been a few days. She was always up for a hunt regardless, though.

wrap this one up? I lost track of it oops!

Similar to the way Yami fed on Kiwi's confidence, Kiwi's confidence fed on Yami's dependence.  It was honestly kind of a perfect match.  Her satisfaction grew the more Yami agreed with her and her assuredness that they were totally on the right track only got better and better.

Definitely! she replied to the dinner ask enthusiastically.  She was starving as well and felt like she could eat an entire buck, if they'd been able to reasonably take one down.  More likely they'd have to settle for something smaller.  She was sure even winging it, Yami would do fine recruiting - anyone with brains could see their group was one worth joining, and anyone without brains was better moving on to some other stupid pack.

Yami smiled, pleased that Kiwi was down with hunting. She was enjoying herself showing off how well she could navigate mountainscapes. Now she wanted to take it a step further and show off how well she could hunt down the types of prey animals that were likely to be lurking here. "I bet I know where we could find some mountain goats a little higher up," she said confidently, turning and beginning to lead them up towards the rockier cliffs up ahead.