Porcupine Ridge When the chips are down

for when you have time <3

Midnight. Above the mountains, the Milky Way sprawled like a sparkling beaded shawl. Under cover of darkness Tousaint returned to his den and left it in ruin. From the earth he pulled his rooted sea lavender, stowing it hastily in the dried pouch made of woven kelp. He collected his treasures as well, and raided his most recent larder so he could scarf down the last meal he had caught.

He left with everything that he had come with- save for the hours he’d spend patrolling, the advice he had offered Chaudry, and the potential that the pack had had when he’d been a pledge. 

He cut a course that took him East before he looped back around, and approached the Ridge from the border most distant from the Vale- if Viskani sent her sons after him, he would prefer any altercation happen in territory that only @Muskrat could claim. He called for her, using short yips akin to the ones she’d used when she had visited last.

The boy’s cheeks were hot, flushed; he shrugged the kelp pouch so it might sit higher up on his shoulder as he waited. The scent of lavender was soothing, but it wasn’t enough.

<3

midnight, and the sky goddesses sent out their searching hands to guide muskrat in confident stride through the fallen night. moonlight broke across the hard-muscled form of hex's warrior as she trotted noiselessly across leaf-litter and carpets of fallen green needles.

voice in appealing tones rose now, wolven and not. compelled, muskrat held still in the creamy yellow light of stars who looked down upon she and showed a tiny path where she might eventually meet

"tousaint." from a shelf of rock she dropped down near the montagne petal of a creature. but beauty was its own knife; sliver of moonglimmer showed their eyes to one another.

razored grin; muskrat took in the lavender and its bindings, fashioned from foliage she did not recognize. but now her stare flicked to his face, searching. "why you call to me?" came the purling voice, more sibilant in these times since she had come to live in a serpent's dark.

She emerged from the inky shadows and into the moonlight, the warm tones of her pelt now turned silver yet her eyes lost none of their flowery lustre. By the tone of her voice, he inferred that she was not irritated to be called upon so late, and to the very outskirts of her claim. he'd avoided the clearing with the cairns, though he wanted nothing more than to go back and knock them over out of spite. 

"Muskrat," He greeted, with a dip of his head. "I call you because I am a spiteful creature." He said with a light shrug of his narrow shoulders. "Long story short- I be leavin' de Vale, and I be takin' wid me all my possessions- except for my secrets." Lavender eyes searched for sunflower. "I leave dem wid you, if you be wantin' dem." Unlike the fox, his gift did not come with a tether.

leaving. this brought an interested cant to her head, followed by a slow blink that suggested she was considering his offer.

nothing was free.

but perhaps tousaint offered in grace what muskrat might spin to gold before time was high.

in magnanimity she spread her forepaws and nodded at him. "i listen." already he brought her news of a fracture inside the vale, for the man in front of her seemed more wise than to quit a packland for no reason at all.

As he unleashed his secrets, he felt powerful, as if a cluster of matches had all been lit as one. He devoured the opportunity to weave with his words what might become an ornate tapestry, a warm blanket, a cloak of chainmail. Something had boiled within him; now the cauldron bubbled over. 

Viskani t’ink less of you because you be ‘alfblood.’ She believe only in de purity of ‘er bloodline so any respect she shows you? It be fake. He said. Muskrat might not be offended, but at least now she would be made aware that Viskani would never see her as an equal. 

She can not keep a deal, so do not make one wid ‘er unless you collect up front. A word from one who had been slighted. 

’er sons bicker amongst demselves. Dey be fickle, impulsive, an’ stupid. De rest of de pack… He shrugged. Mindless followers. One guardian- a woman- ‘o I believe will be useful, but de rest…Unremarkable. Insider knowledge that she could use however she chose. 

An’ dat fox? She will raise dat fox like a child just because you tell ‘er to make it be a slave. She t’ink you be primitive for suggesting such a t’ing. She feed it, baby it… He licked his lips. De way I see it, she ‘ave two big weaknesses. One be de fox, an de ot’er be dat she underestimated me, an’ she underestimated you, too. He said with an indignant sniff. 

Casually, now that the steam had a place to vent, he sighed. I be leavin’. Dere be not’ing I want to do wid a woman like dat.