Sequoia Coast so long, little chapel

hi dis post b awkward. I don't know why I have such a weird time getting into new characters sometimes, haha. <___> For @Suinnak (pls work tag y u do dis), also set along the northern reaches of the coast. IN THE DARK AREAS IDK.

In the time following her reunite with Tonravik, Echelon had proceeded further down the coast. The rain had stopped for the time being, the sky opening up with the final hues of the day. They stood in stark contrast to the thick bank of weather to her east, but her eyes once more remained fixated on the sun as it made its crawl to the water. She knew enough about the world to know that it would not extinguish itself once it hit those waters, and hoped that the skies above would remain clear enough that she could gaze on the stars.

She had come so many miles away from her home that she wondered, if the stars here would be similar to the ones of the North. And if they were, she wondered if the auroras would grace her with their presence here too. So far they had not. Her steps began to slow as the sun dipped dangerously close to the shore, and as she settled into a stop, she surveyed her surroundings. Here, with the wind in her favor, she tested it only to find that the salt was still overpowering. But there were more signs of life further down the coast than before, and she could not mistake the prints of her own kind for anything other than what they were.

She smelled them too, but nothing substantial came from it. Nothing recognizable, obviously, and nothing that suggested to her that they were close by. For the most part she had been lucky to avoid company. Company, at least unknown company, had never exactly been associated as a good thing or a bad thing, though another pack company had most certainly been decided as a bad thing. Casting her gaze back to the waters, she shook the memory of the war that had rolled through their homelands.

The prevailing factor of travel was that it sucked. There was nothing enjoyable about walking from one point to another, at least to Suinnak. He wasn't about to enjoy this adventure. All he knew was that Arktayok Peak was far away from him - and that his paws hurt. And, well, that he was hungry, but that was a constant. Since departing from the Seahawk Valley with Ukiuk, Suinnak had hardly spared his father's ears when it came to letting him know just how disastrous a plan it was to cart him along for the journey. Somehow he had become detached from his aging father's side, leaving the sore boy to his own wanderings. Despite being on his own at this current point, he did not alleviate in his verbalized despair.

The sun was going down - and though the light was bare, he was quick to glare upon what flickering incandescence he could see. Stupid sun! Where are you going? I can't travel in the dark! Come back! But his shouting could not sway the pull of the night, and soon enough he was surrounded by an ever-growing darkness. Because of this - and because he wasn't paying that much attention to his surroundings - Suinnak was unable to see the dark figure of a wolf as it tread ever closer.

Ohhh, where are you Ookie-bear? I'm missing dinner! the boy called out, and his voice reached in to the chilling air. The nasal tone would have fit a demanding child, but hardly suited the four-year-old. He huffed and wheezed as if one more step would be the end of him. OOKIE? GRAMPS WHERE ARE YOU, I'M HUNGRY! H-U-N-G... Something something. Suinnak shouted until he could not shout anymore.

Sudden hollering detracted her focus immediately and gave her pause. Echelon's ears swiveled far quicker than her head did, though it did not take her long to spy out the figure that was making so much noise. Over the din of the ocean, his words came anything but crystal clear. He seemed to be searching, but for what? Ultimately, as his bleating died down (and bleating was exactly how she likened it), the yearling Tartok wolf slid her ears against the back of her skull for a moment. Not scowling, but almost. After a moment, they returned to their upright positions.

Echelon made no move to rush and greet him, but rather waited to see if she would be noticed at all. Unaware that he could not quite see her, a small part of her wondered if she had unknowingly stumbled into an ambush. A lone wolf, crying and carrying on along a stretch of seemingly abandoned beach… it didn't bode well. Her eyes remained on him, though she took careful note of the darkening timberline at her peripheral for movement out of the ordinary. The ocean she paid no mind to, as she did not believe anyone would come emerging from its depths to charge her. With a growl preparing itself in her throat as the wolf drew closer, the inky creature of Tartok bided her time carefully.

Where was that old bag of bones? It didn't usually take him this long to arrive and quiet his turmoil. Suinnak was lazy enough to become bored with shouting, thus the abrupt end to his cacophonous bellows. The sound of the ocean was all the response he was garnered, which made the boy huff and groan. His steps were short and quick, although he had a penchant for waddling, and after striding a few feet he came to a halt. The boy slumped against the sand without another word, doing a damn good impression of a beached seal. Stupid old man, he moaned as he rolled, a great swell of belly jiggling as he took to his back. The silver of his belly looked less lustrous under the starlight, while his dark face and legs practically faded away entirely; the light caught in his eyes but didn't exactly brighten his expression.

Lmao, I like him already!

She remained unspotted, much to her liking. Instead it seemed that the wolf had no interest in his surroundings, and she watched as he settled in and rolled himself over. If any of those words she had heard had truly been about being hungry, she couldn't have fathomed why. Echelon took note of his physical state and considered her options as she took the risk of striding in closer. If it was a trap, then it was unlikely the real threat would have come from him if she kept some of her distance. He would have never caught her, of this was confident.

Letting out a breath in preparation, the younger wolf steeled herself all the same. The air was tested once again, but no tellatale signs rose that suggested there was anything she needed to be remotely aware of. Just the overpowering burn of salt in her nares. Only a few feet away, she wondered if he had noticed her and simply paid her no mind. Echelon opted to speak before he did, on the off chance. “What are you doing?” The confidence leaked from her words, their terseness opposite of his most leisure position. Maybe he was dying, she thought.

poor ookie

The alchemist was growing hungry, and though the growl within his stomach did not peak his interest, the lack of complaining from someone else did. He paused in his step and turned his head, raising a brow to the empty space behind him. He set down his rather measly collection of herbs and then lifted his head higher, waiting; but there was nothing. Ukiuk flooded with relief: had his prayers been answered? Did Suinnak drop dead from exhaustion? His ears flicked at a distant wailing and his face turned into a scowl. Damn, he groaned internally, picking up his bundle and moving toward that godawful sound. If Aok hadn't loved their son so much, Suinnak would be six feet under by now.

Not that he hadn't tried, of course. Ukiuk used to slip a small amount of poisonous mixtures in with the boy's food when he was a pup, but had always been afraid to use too much lest it be obvious. His son, unfortunately, had been born with an iron stomach; and now had a small tolerance for certain poisonous things. Ukiuk thought of this as he begrudgingly moved toward the ocean, demeanor turning more and more sour the closer he got. He had been collecting a large variety of poisonous or strange new plants on their journey in hopes to give Suinnak a rather interesting concoction before they met up with Siku's daughter.

At the edges of the sands, he ducked into the ferns as a shadow approached his beached whale of a son. "What are you doing?" it asked, and the alchemist dropped his bundle. She actually... wanted Suinnak to speak? He covered his leaf-ball of herbs with a bit of sand and promptly marched over, hoping he could get close enough before his son tainted this poor woman with his... well, existence.

"Suinnak," he growled angrily, marching up to stand over the boy's slumped body (knowing he wouldn't get up anyway). "Get up. We're on a schedule," he commanded, turning then to the woman with a curt nod. "Excuse us," he said, trying to dismiss any conversation. He turned back to his son, hoping he wouldn't have to use too much encouragement to get his boy moving again. However, now that Suinnak was already resting his paws, getting him moving again would be quite the feat.

omfg ukiuk is gr8. also really sorry this ended up huge but i couldnt pass up the opportunity for a dream sequence.

Now that he was down on the ground, paws in the air and everything, Suinnak felt absolutely golden. He was still flustered over his missing father but his complaints had dwindled down considerably. Actually - they had come to an abrupt end. As the stranger encroached upon his location he should have seen her, or at the very least smelled her. As her question hit the air however - What are you doing? - it was met by a very loud, very nasal snore.

Suinnak had somehow passed out as soon as he was off his paws. The sound wasn't quite loud enough to dampen the girl's voice, but it did cause the fat tub of chub to wake up (sort of). He moaned as if he'd been prodded with a stick, twitched a paw, and went right on sleeping. Suinnak's hips gave a little wiggle as he settled back in to his patch of dirt. This was probably the longest he'd ever been without rambling at someone - at least consciously. While the girl was faced with a big fat wolf of indeterminate mental acuity, Suinnak was dealing with something a little... Different.

The forest was lovely, dark and deep. The shadows weren't exactly black so much as a very dark green, and the trees themselves were filled with birds. So many birds that the air should have been filled with a mess of tweeting and twittering - but there was silence. In a nearby clearing, among the tall grass and bright flowers, there sat a giant elk whose life had just been taken; it was covered in wounds, but there was no blood. Around its bulging belly comes a dark shape, a canine whose body is taller than anything in real life; he is sculpted as if out of raw stone, with a rugged quality to the mane of fur along his back, and a set of sharp red eyes. The wolf stands proudly before the qunfiq, opens his mouth, and begins to devour the choice meats of the carcass. When he has eaten his fill, another figure pops up from the shadows - a female, her body sliding up alongside his own.

"Hello, Great Warrior Suinnak," The woman practically purrs in to his ear. The dark wolf lifts his head and with one look, the she-wolf gives a shudder. "Oh, Suinnak!" She is suddenly calling out, as the Esteemed Great Master of Everything takes a step towards her; "Suinnak! Take me, you beautiful creature!" the woman pleads, and the warrior rises up. As his chest fur mingles with the fur of her back, Suinnak notices the pallid color of her pelt. "Suinnak!" She calls out.

"Suinnak!"

Suinnak, The woman's voice is suddenly very loud and clear in his ears, but it isn't the same as the voice from before. All at once the boy is awake. He lets out a lazy yawn and blinks away the dream - forgetting all about the fantasy.

Get up, we're on a schedule. Ukiuk's voice. He recognizes that easily enough, and lets out an even more exasperated groan than before. Still, the boy doesn't get to his feet. He sits with his belly up and paws tucked neatly against his chest. You would show up at the worst possible time. He states, followed by a raspberry blown towards the old man. But as Ukiuk moves towards him, Suinnak knows better than to dawdle for too long. He reaches with his paws for a few moments, realizes that he cannot in fact stand up, and sighs in defeat. Can you... Y'know... roll me, he would have said.

For now he was left to wiggle like a stranded tortoise.

And as soon as the words had left her mouth, someone else had come calling from the timberline. For a split second, Echelon closed her eyes in a manner that suggested I should have known before turning her attention to the wolf that approached. He was older, closing in quickly, and seemed very much more interested in rousing the stout fellow she was near. He broke between her and this Suinnak, leaving her to back away with a true scowl to his turned frame.

But that was when the dark-haired dozer awoke. Her irritation passed like a bad cloud over the sun, this time turned back to the interest of the elder wolf's companion. She watched the display before her… and that interest turned to some weird mixture of disgust and bafflement. Her blue eyes scanned the elder carefully, prompting her to ignore the fact that Suinnak was even awake. “Is he lame?” she queried flatly. Being lame would explain a lot of things, but that also drew the question as to why he was even still alive at all. Her mother had culled those in the litter that had been lame; Echelon had probably scraped by on will alone.

His son wasn't even awake. The alchemist opened his jaws in a silent snarl, ready to strike, before the boy groaned and opened his eyes. The man didn't quite hear what his boy had said, but the pbbt was unnecessary. His eyes narrowed as he thought of all the things he'd do to punish his son if this stranger wasn't here. As Suinnak asked for assistance, Ukiuk turned his back to him. "Is he lame?" the woman asked, and Ukiuk let out a disappointed sigh. "I wish," he commented without thinking, turning to look at her more closely.

Her eyes were a striking blue and her fur black, but she lacked the pink scar across her nose; if not for that and her bit of white fur, she nearly reminded him of a younger Siku. "If he had been, he wouldn't even be here," he went on after a moment, letting an ear turn back to listen to the struggles of his son. "In our language, his name means good for nothing, because as you can see..." Ukiuk trailed off, turning to regard Suinnak with a displeased scowl. Maybe he'd be a good decoy one day, or trap, or something. If they just left him stranded in the middle of nowhere in enemy territory, surely someone would come to investigate the sound at some point, right? That's when they could strike.

Ukiuk shook his head and with a great sigh, moved to assist his son. Using one paw, he gave the boy a small shove to get him on his side. "You do know your life will not be easy when we meet up with the others, right?" he asked bitterly. His eyes had turned cold. "She will tolerate this. You will not survive without your mother here," he warned dangerously, a bit of foreshadowing should he have the chance to feed his son the collection of poisons he'd been gathering. Little did he know that the woman standing beside him was one of two wolves they were seeking. He kicked a bit of sand toward his son's back and sneered.

The boy paddled uselessly with his paws. He looked like he was truly beached, for no matter how much effort he put in to squirming and kicking, he couldn't quite roll over. The fat of his belly seemed to cushion him just enough so that he'd teeter between two points, with his back rocking against the ground. Ukiuk seemed to be distracted and that just would not do - so Sunniak did the only thing he was good at, and belched some more hot air.

Come on! What are you two yammerin' about! I need help over here. His voice was filled with a squealing pitch, likening him further to the pig that Ukiuk no doubt thought he was. Is he lame? Someone said, and instantly Suinnak realized it wasn't just his darling daddy keeping him company. He squirmed harder, turned his head, and tried to get a good look at the other wolf - alas, his efforts only afforded him a fleeting glance of the girl's paws; dark like the ocean in the evening, with a few stray grays. Hey! I'm not lame, I'm the coolest, Suinnak refuted, and he missed the subtle conversation between his father and the stranger.

Finally, a paw was placed against his ribs and Ukiuk gave a mighty push. Suinnak's body turned and with gathering momentum, rolled to one side. His belly made a soft sound as it patted against the earth below, and then Suinnak was able to get to his paws. He lurched on to all fours, and then his bottom sagged against the soil. He sat for a moment as if to gather his breath - he had put a lot of effort in to getting up himself, this time - and disregarded his father's foreboding tone of voice.

Yeah, yeah, I've heard this before, gramps. He mumbled with a roll of his eyes - and that was when they landed upon the pretty girl. Oh, hello there, he was on his feet in the next second, his exhaustion evaporating and the sneer of contempt which had been placed upon his face for Ukiuk morphed in to a cheesy grin. He took a daring step towards the lady, as if his crotchety old father wasn't right there. Are you from Tennessee? 'Cuz you're the only Ten I see.

LMAO, OMG. I did not expect that and I am still rolling about it. I so hope he hits on all the women he comes across.

The real irony was the fact that his name meant roughly what she thought it did. The dialects were off, but it was also in part because Echelon herself spoke Iñupiaq. Knowing that made her also realize that they were of the northern sort as well, though from where she couldn't have guessed. Many wolves in the north spoke many tongues, and the dialects in recent years had only populated as they had poured in. It was safe to say though, many of them would always speak the common tongue, and it was still the one that she chose for the time being to evade suspcision for a few moments more.

As the hefty creature finally found his feet again, his attention wheeled in on her. Echelon's standoffish nature kicked in overdrive then, and she warned him off with a growl. She didn't know what a Tennessee was and didn't want to find out, but she certainly understood the tone he was using. Her own response may as well have been a firm yeah, you're not my type. She took her own steps away from him, instead more curious of the older companion that was so loving and mockingly refered to as Gramps.

“So you're from the north then, I presume? Or just him?” And though she was curious as to who they were meeting, Echelon expected that she would turn away from them altogether before then. But until they moved on, she had no problem badgering either of them with her questions. It was in her nature, and it was safe to say that her father had taught her no lessons about not being nosy. Ask and ye shall receive, right?

And yet, not, because as soon as the words left her mouth Echelon decided she didn't want to know. She gave no notice that she had changed her mind and instead turned and headed off from the pair. Little did she know that they would soon end up in the band of wolves united beneath Tartok, and whether or not they would remain for any length was just as unknown as what became of the pair after she abandoned them.