all welcome -- meant to be a naturalist thread
After the night out under the birthing stars Amelie hadn't been able to shake the strange feeling that Kisu's nose had left impregnated in her skin. She had felt continuous chills and tickles that made her wondered if she had been bitten by some kind of lovebug.
Despite the weirdness that had followed that particular sunrise, Amelie tried her best to appear unafected by the unplanned encounter with the male. She didn't want to speak of it with the hopes that perhaps if she didn't say it out loud it wouldn't have a chance to be true. Maybe she had imagined it all.
No.
The burning touch of the male's leathery nostrils couldn't have been product of her imagination.
Buring every piece of the night's memories and shoving the image of the man out the windows of her mind she set off for the day. Deciding that this time she'd explore the mountains. She had seen the wonders of the skies and the treasures beneath the ground but she had not yet expirienced what being up high was like. The highest point she'd ever been at was the Sheepeater's Cliff.
Amelie trekked up the slopes of the mountain following her compass heart and the self-made map she had constructed on every journey she ever took.
Vienna was slowly mapping her way around the Sunspire, her travels drawing routes in her mind that she then burned into memory for later use. She had made journeys farther out on her travels as outrider-in-training, but now her target lay a bit closer to home. A few days ago she had noticed a promising-looking valley that lay almost directly west of the spire that she called home. Immediately she had made a mental note to check the place out. Such nooks within mountain ranges usually played host to a wonderful variety of vegetation.
As she descended and approached the valley floor, however, she noticed that she was not alone. (A feat for her, since normally she couldn't pull her head out of the clouds long enough to notice strangers. And the clouds were especially fluffy today.) The girl seemed young and, where Vienna was heading down, she was heading up.
"Hello," she greeted her, smiling happily.
The soft pads on her paws gripped to the gritty surface as she trekked along, ocassionally little bits of rock would stick between her toes making her stop and nitpick through the openings of her feet to get the pesky thing out. She didn't know how wolves managed to walk daily through treacherous paths like this. She missed thr soft and flat earth of the plateu for a second, though she envied the gorgeous view the wolves living on the mountaintops got to enjoy. Sadly she couldn't have the best of both worlds.
She came to a stop after having plucked a sharp bit of rock from her toes, there she stood for a couple of seconds panting and glancing around, if it weren't for the string fragance of the girl and the melodious sound of her voice, Amelie wouldn't have noticed the girl coming at her. The grey and silver hues of her body blended perfectly with the skirts of the mountain, whereas Amelie's black coat popped out.
"Oh, hello!" she answered while returning a joyful wag to the delicate-looking female.
"What brings you up here? My name's Vienna, of the Sunspire pack. You are of the Plateau? I met one of your number not too long ago. Osprey Jr was her name." She had enjoyed the encounter rather much so it remained vividly in her mind. The young aspiring outrider had charmed her.
With her tail swishing from one side to another, Amelie watched as the other approached, the thought that she might be in danger had never crossed her mind, Amelie was trusting which was both a blessing and a curse. She was practically still a child shoved into a young woman's body, still innocent and pure.
Unbroken --until now.
She listened intently as the other female introduced herself and mentioned the Plateu's little princess, Junior. "Oh Junior! She's a charm, she is the daughter of the Plateu's Alpha", she barked as if priding herself with Junior's heritage. "My name is Amelie Beaudet, nice to meet you Vienna --pretty name!" she barked in a sing-song tune while offering the girl a wide smile. She wasn't used to say her last name when introducing herself but she liked to say it from time to time, since it reminded her of her own heritage. And her true mother.
The youth was not much younger than Vienna herself and had an air of childish fun around her that the girl appreciated greatly. Vienna prided herself on maintaining that inner child, the one that allowed her to be friendly to strangers and open to new adventures. It also allowed her to see the beauty and wonder in the simplest of things. It was amazing how much some wolves lost that when they grew.
"Absolutely!" She nodded in emphatic agreement to the statement that Junior was a charm. It seemed their pack was chock full of nice, outgoing wolves! Perhaps she'd wander that way someday, not into their territory of course, but she would like to see the Plateau a bit closer up. She'd never seen one of those before.
"Amelie Beaudet" she repeated, loving the way it rolled off the tongue. "Yours is gorgeous as well! Thanks!" Vienna did not often offer her surname, though she loved it. Songbird. It was also the nickname many of her family members used for her (except her father, who had oftentimes simply referred to her as his 'little bird'). Not so little anymore.
"Enjoying the mountain? It's beautiful, isn't it?" She gazed up at the frosted peaks that reached high above their heads. "I've never been down in this valley, been exploring but haven't had time to make it over here before now. Have you explored much of it?" If the other female had been here a while perhaps she could point out some things to Vienna. If she was the type who noticed the natural wonders around of course.
For a moment Amelie could've sworn she had known this female from forever --at least that's how it felt like. Unlike with many of others she had met, she could feel completely at ease with Vienna even if in reality not more than a couple of words had been exchanged. If she is Junior's friend she is mine too, she thought as she bobbed her head up and down in agreement. Out of all the Plateu's puppy's, Junior was the fiercest, and most social in her opinion.
She gave the female a quick flash of her tail as she returned the compliment, Amelie was proud of who she was and who she had been -- even if she had been an left as a child and forced into growing quicker than she should've she still remembered the days with her biological mother fondly.
When the mountain was mentioned, the dark yearling could help but to smile again, her eyes dancing across the slopes and edges of the mountain she had left to explore. "It's gorgeous, though you live in one like this, right?" she asked, wanting to know if the mountain she called home was even more spectacular. While the Plateu had it's charms too, she couldn't deny that the beauty of the peaks was almost breathtaking. I can't even imagine how it looks like from the top, she mused while giving the Sunspire female a wag of her tail.
"Of the mountain? No." she barked with a casual shrug, "But I've been mapping the flatlands for weeks, it's very pretty though odd at some points", she barked while thinking back to the time she had found the strange steam-spitting craters on the floor's surface.
"Oooh, I haven't gotten far into the flatlands!" She too thought of the hot springs, the location actually where she had met Junior. That was the only trip west she had made. Cara she had met here as well, though not so far in as she was now, and she hadn't poked around then. "I've mostly been running around through here. I just got to these lands not too long ago so had to get acquainted with home first. Found anything interesting so far?" For her part she could share the gorgeous meadow where she had passed a nice afternoon with that Creek wolf, Shadow. It was a good source of herbs should their healers need any supplies. Some wolves would want to hoard such a place, but Vienna was not the type. If she could help, she would, even if it meant sharing. After all, it was neutral ground!
Amelie followed Vienna's snout with her eyes, her gaze finally falling upon the gigantic mountain range that rose at the distance. A little wow escaped from her lips as she admired the enormous body of the Spire, it would be incredible to be able to look down at the world from the very top. How would it feel to be up there in the winter, when even the tip was dressed in white?
Never mind that, just imagine how it could be to stand there when the stars came out, she said to herself as she continued to admire the mountain, her ears tilted towards the female as she spoke though her eyes remained of the Spire.
Then as the girl began to talk about the flatlands, Amelie turned to her with a gentle smile in her face. It wasn't as if it were some sort of competition but she was also proud about the unique beauty the flatlands held too. "Well, yes the other day I ran into the strangest things.. they were holes in the ground that spewed boiling water and steam.." she barked, her eyes glimmering with excitement; she didn't know if the female knew about the place already but she'd be willing to walk her there if she hadn't.
The springs were a sigh that couldn't be missed.
"I wonder if there are any more elsewhere?" She mused. Perhaps such things were a more common occurrence than she first thought, though she had never run across one before now. In her homeland all the water she knew of was cold. An even better question... did the water temperature vary in some places? Maybe someday she'd have to visit the two she knew of and see. She hadn't thought to check.
An enthusiastic nod and a happy chirp were all that she could manage when Vienna revealed that she was no stranger to the Hot Springs. Although she had enjoyed Kaihra's company while discovering the mysterious craters, she was thrilled to have found someone else that enjoyed them as much as she had. The yearling's tail wagged incesantly, while the girl shot a broad smile at the female.
"Sit in? Wouldn't you get burned?" she inquired suddenly, she hadn't actually touched the water but Kaihra's worried expression had been enough to make her cautious around the craters. She wondered then about the question that had arised that time she had first seen them. What was their purpose?, she thought about asking right after she finished talking.
There's more?, she wondered as Vienna told her the Spire also had a few of them. Then they must certaintly have a purpose, she thought, or if not a purpose at least a reason to be , she decided while narrowing her eyes thoughtfully at the girl.
"Do you know what they are? Or why they appear?" she asked, not being able to contain the questions in her mouth.
"I don't, though maybe it has something to do with what's happening underneath." Perhaps there was a fire beneath the earth there that heated the water? But then how did it not burn through the ground? They were a perplexing puzzle for sure. "As to what they are, they seem just water, though the smell says they might have something more within." She certainly hadn't tasted the stuff, for while she jumped headfirst into most natural experiences, she knew the dangers of consuming that which was not meant to be taken in.
"I may have to go back and take a closer look. If there are caves around perhaps there is a way to check out underneath..." It wasn't likely, but she'd like to find out. If there was a fire, then there had to be an open space underneath, right? And that led to the thought that perhaps there was an opening to get in. Not that she'd be able to go far if it was in fact burning. But there would at least be an explanation. "Maybe we could see together!?" She added with quite a bit more enthusiasm. She liked Amelie and would enjoy seeing more of her after this discussion! Someone else who enjoyed the Naturalist side and wouldn't be bored with it!
Vienna's confused expression was mirrored onto the yearling's own face, could there be a possibility they were not talking of the same types of springs? While the ones laying across the Flatland's floor were small and infernaly hot, it seemed that the ones in the Sunspire where at least large enough to sit on, plus they were comfortable to the touch.
"Ours are too hot to be touched, I mean I got close enough that I could even feel the heat without having to poke my nose down the crater" she barked her shoulders slumping slightly as she recalled Kaihra's worried face when she had seen her there. Anyways, Amelie continued to listen to Vienna's theory, they agreed about it having something to do with the ground below, but neither could yet explain what. The small comment about the particular smell though caught the charcoal girl off guard; she had not noticed it at all.
She opened her mouth to ask more about it, when the female herself made an invitation for the two aspiring Naturalist to see it together. Like a scientific research duet. Without any second though the girl squealed her agreement, her tail graciously moving from right to left.
"YES PLEASE! Though do you think you'd get in trouble for showing me?" she asked, wanting to know if the Sunspire shared the Plateu's strict no-tresspass policies.
I'm cool with wrapping up in the next couple of posts!
Ok so that place would DEFINITELY require more exploration! She hadn't gotten near enough to feel the water temperature. She'd love another look anyway so this was just even more of an excuse! For science!
Vienna had meant that they explore the neutral springs, but Amelie seemed so excited she latched onto the other idea instead. "I'd have to ask my brother and our Alpha, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind!!" Okay, well, maybe. But it was worth a shot, right? After all she would be an escort and it wasn't like they would stray far from the springs. Besides, they would be strengthening pack relations by allowing a fellow Naturalist a look at them while perhaps gaining further knowledge on the place. Win win, right?
For a moment Amelie felt again like a child (not that she was very adult-ish anyways), with Vienna, she felt like a teenager again -- they kinda looked like some anyways. Squealing and flailing their tails as they planned a little get together. It was so exciting, Amelie couldn't even stop her face from contorting into a silly smile.
"Oh yes! That'd be great, I'd ask our Alpha as well -- and my mother. Im sure she'll say yes!" she gushed while letting her tongue slip form her mouth in an overly excited manner.
Like Vienna, Amelie considered the opportunity a complete win-win. Of course if her expedition in the Sunspire (assuming it would be done) went well, the charcoal yearling would have no hesitation in taking Vienna into the Plateu's wonderlands.
You scratch my back, I stratch yours.
With all the fun she had been having, Amelie forgot completely that she had to go back. Only when she actually though of what she would tell Blue did she realize how worried she must've been. She bit her lower lip as she casted one last glance at the greyscale femme."I have tp go.. my mom must've be worried...
" she barked apologetically -- her own insides protesting against her urge to leave.
"Howl for me Vienna, see you around!" she squeaked before finally kicking herself to walk back home.