Otatso Wetlands raven's cry

Silver Bone headed south. Unfortunately, straight south was right through a muddy, smelly swamp. She wondered if there were any pine forests here. Silver Bone hadn't given much thought to whether she should settle down or not, and where if so. She was used to the pack life, but perhaps there weren't any packs here that valued ravens. How could she live with digging up a cache to find something to eat, to come across a lovely raven seen as prey? Ravens were her family, they were what gave her her last name, they played a big part in her life. She couldn't see how she would live with those who saw the raven as mere food.

The plan had been to head home, to head back to the Glacier, to see if anything interesting had happened during her short time away. She enjoyed traveling away from the pack's territory more often than not, but always made a point to return back to it every now and again. Somehow, though, Sen had found herself taking a small detour. She'd visited the Wetlands once before, only to be disappointed by the lack of the ghosts she didn't even believe in, but there she was, entering the area once again. Nothing had brought her there. No ghosts, no scents, no desires, nothing. She'd gone simply to go. Maybe part of her wanted to get in one more sight before heading back to Duskfire, or maybe part of her was carrying there for some hidden reason. Whatever the case, she'd later discover it.

Sen's motions, and thoughts, came to a pause when she spotted the form of another wolf. The lupine's coat was nearly black, but not quite, and she couldn't see their face from the direction she was approaching. A small grin made itself known across her maw as she drew closer. "New to these parts?" she inquired. "Haven't seen you around before."

Silver Bone turned to look at the source of the voice. She was a black wolf with bright amber colored eyes. She had asked if she was new here. "Yes," she said, her british accent clear in her voice. "I come from the north, looking for a new home." She told the dark furred lady. Her tone was not friendly, but polite. "I am Silver Bone Ravenfeather." She introduced herself to the lady. Silver Bone didn't ask for the other wolf's name.

So, she had been correct. The wolf was, in fact, new, and better yet, looking for a new home. It was a good opportunity for her, but whether Sen would present the idea of seeing Duskfire had yet to be decided. When she answered, the dark woman instantly thought she spoke in a funny manner, but chose to save her comments for that until later. Polite, though not too friendly—two things the wolfess appreciated. She, herself, was not the kindest either, but being polite also tended to slip from her mind. Lying through your actions just to make another like you seemed troublesome to her, and wasn't a task she'd ever cared to partake in. If another lupine seemed acceptable to her, she'd play nice, but if they didn't or she hadn't yet decided, the chances of her even pretending to be kind where slim to none.

"Your name is quite the mouth full," Sen commented, amusement in her voice to compliment the grin on her maw. Her own name was not asked for, leaving the lady to not bring it up. If she happened to develop a fondness for the charcoal, then she would, but until then, she wasn't too eager to share anything about herself. "You say you're looking for a new home, so what are you doing here in the Wetlands? Plan on starting a pack with the 'ghosts' that linger around here?" Once more, her mind was brought back to the rumor of lingering spirits. If the dead did still linger around, she'd already noted them as being disappointments, not worth her time or beliefs.

"Yes. I suppose you can just call me Bone. Or just Silver. Which ever you prefer." She said quietly with a glance around the swamp. "I was coming straight southward, so I have ended up here. Which, by the way, is not a very pleasant place." She paused as her ears perked. She glanced around suddenly, as if the dead spirits were all around her. "No. Ghosts? Are there ghosts here?" She asked the dark lady curiously.

Listening to the other speak, the corners of her maw twitched slightly when she mentioned the place not being very pleasant. She'd seen it as a great place to be, but, then again, there were plenty of shadows that she loved to dwell in within the area. Sen knew not all others were like her, that not all of them enjoyed the same things as she, and she respected that—until there was an opportunity to use such likes and dislikes to play a game with them. A game that caused others to get rather annoyed with her, but it was still a game that she enjoyed to play. Or, at least, she did. The game had started to lose it's alluring nature, but still, she planned to cling to it and play it until it grew entirely too boring.

A question was pulled from her mind to accompany the answer she was about to give. "Rumors say there's ghosts here," Sen responded, giving a shrug of her shoulders as she spoke. "I, personally, think it's just the rantings of someone who ingested a bad mushroom or two." The raven of a wolf was, as she'd often say, a realist. Ghosts where just something told to the young to frightened them in her mind, and couldn't possibly exist in the world.

"Why?" she inquired. "Are you scared of the moving balls of mist and light?"

Silver Bone too had different taste then the dark lady. She believed in ghosts, her whole pack had, along with some mythical creatures as well. "No. Not scared. Perhaps just curious about them, is all. I do think ghosts exist as the spirits of the dead, not invisible things that say boo and lift objects to scare people." She said. The silly thought that ghosts were just a white sheet with two holes poked for eyes, or the thought of invisible things that said boo, was not real to her. However, she believed the spirits of the dead could haunt places, staying there as if they still lived there.

"Curious of the dead?" While it was said with a tone of inquiry, Sen did not mean for it to be answered. The words were spoken more for the soot-colored woman to get a better grip on them, to try and see where the other could possibly be coming from. She, of course, came up empty handed. It was interesting, on occasion, to learn of the deceased who had managed to do great things, but being curious of those who, allegedly, still wandered the Earth in denial seemed boring. The idea of what could have possibly made them continue on as if they hadn't ceased to live was mildly interesting, but not enough to make her believe it was possible. "Tell me, if you think these things to be real, why it is that they still linger?" This time, she awaited an answer, wondering just how amusing of an answer the other would present to her.

It was obvious the other lady did not beleive the same things as Bone. Well, too bad for her. "They stay because they do not want to leave where they lived their life, and they do not have any where better to go than home." She explained to the black wolf. Of course ghosts were real! Why couldn't this lady see that? It frusturated her to think that this wolf could just let something like the spirits of the dead fly by as if they didn't exsist. What disrespect towards her deceased ancestors!

A snort-like sound left the female when she heard the explanation. To her, it was a funny thing, and something that only pups should believe in. "They never leave their home, because most are buried in or near them," Sen commented dryly. "They have nowhere to go because they are dead and can not physically go anywhere anyways." You'd think that with a mother who was dead, and a missing father presumed to be dead, she'd be more cooperative towards the idea of there being a possibility of ghosts and spirits. Of there being a chance to see her parents again, even if the only one she actually missed was her mother. "Why do you believe in them?" The dark wolf finally asked, nonexistent eyebrow cocked. "Is it out of your own denial towards the death of another?" The answer to the question was none of her business, that she knew, and didn't expect an answer to be given. The frustration in Bone's eyes was only fueling Sen's words, knowing well she was being given what she wanted. Frustrations and annoyance; two things they were usually the end result of the games she'd play.

She sighed deeply as the wolf disregarded her explanations, and disrespected her beleifs heavily. "No. Wolves die. Their bodies rot, but their soul lingers. This is what I was taught by my family and pack." She told the dark lady. She was fed up with the fact that this lady thought ghosts were just stories and something to frighten small children. "Why do you think they aren't real?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

Saying nothing of her first words, and instead used her time to think over her answer to the question. Why didn't she believe in them? Sen could go on about how no one possessed a soul, and that it was just a myth started to keep other's in line with threats of an afterlife. It certainly seemed like the best choice of words to her, but it wasn't why she, as an individual, did not think ghosts and spirits existed. In truth, the raven lupine had no reason to not believe, it was just something she felt, something she couldn't bring her mind to see as being true and real even if she would try to. She'd tried once in order to comfort her sister when their mother had died, but had to lie with each word she spoke. She could not speak as if she'd believed when she didn't, because even when she tried to her mind would give her nothing. "I just don't," Sen answered. "I can't bring my mind, or any part of me, to see ghosts as anything more than beings in a nighttime story. The idea of it, of them, being real doesn't add up in my head."

Shaking her head to clear it of any thoughts of the subject, she brought back her grin that had disappeared while she'd spoken. "Probably can't see 'em as being real because of the stories I'd heard when younger. Not once had the stories ever been real, and so the ghosts couldn't be real either."

Bone nodded understandingly. "Okay. I can understand why you would not beleive in them." She said politely. She could see how this wolf could perhaps think ghosts were fake because the stories with them were fake, or how she just couldn't think of ghosts as real things. Despite the fact that Bone thought it would be better for her to believe in the deceased spirits, she kept her moth shut. "Well, what do you believe?" She asked the wolf, faint curiosity in her voice, although she was more looking to just keep a conversation going.

"What do I believe?" she repeated, not needing to think her answer over. "I believe when we die, that's it. Nothing comes to take us away, unless it's a family member or friend so they can bury your corpse. No little piece of us lingers behind to 'haunt' the land we left behind, either. Our bodies just rot in the ground, providing nutrients for whatever grows over us." Her answer could come off as being blunt, but that was how Sen answered questions like that. Questions that made her tell a bit about of herself and the thoughts she had; and, in this case, the beliefs she held. Only able to talk about such things for a short period of time, he words exchanged with the charcoal female had lasted longer than with most others. Now, however, it was time for her to try and steer the conversation away from said topic, and back to a previous one.

"So," she started, looking at her directly now. "Back to this new home you're looking for... Did you plan on joining a pack?" Straight to the point, rather than dancing around the subject. She planned to introduce herself later on, but now seemed like a good enough time as any. "My name's Sen, by the way," the dark wolf told her. "Sen Kapok."

Silver Bone listened to what the lady believed about death. Bone wasn't offended by how blunt and straightforward about it she was. She couldn't deny that the dark wolf's thoughts were logical, and made sense with evidence, although this didn't change what Bone believed at all. When the black wolf asked about a pack, Bone nodded. "I grew up in a pack so a pack is most likely where I will settle down." The black wolf introduced herself as Sen. "Well met, Sen Kapok." She said kindly, a bit more trust in her voice now that she knew the wolf's name.

When she mentioned having grown up in a pack, Sen saw it as a chance to strike. She had been born, and grown, as a lone wolf, leaving her a bit blind as she walked into the situation. Once in a pack, though, the idea of joining another was sure to be something that pulled at one's mind when they need to leave their old one, right? Hell, she had no clue. Her thoughts were based on how she felt about packs after joining Duskfire, even though she did spend very little time actually in the borders. "Ever think of living on a glacier?" Her grinned seemed to widen as she asked the question, growing into one that could easily match the Cheshire cat's. "You could come here as often as you want to try and find your little ghosts."

"I never really thought about what terrain I would settle down in..." She said, drifting into thought. She'd be okay with somewhere foggy or not... She had grown up on a mountain surrounded by pines, and she was used to snow from the peak. A glacier sounded okay to her. When Sen spoke next, she glanced up to her "cheshire cat" grin, which only helped to frustrate her as she cracked a joke about the spirits. "What is the name of the pack? Are you the alpha?" She asked Sen. She needed some info before she just jumped into the pack.

Sen nearly started laughing at her last question, but somehow managed to hold it in. She thought highly of herself, that was true, but even the shadow woman knew that her as an Alpha would be a terrible thing. They wouldn't even be able to call her an Alpha, she'd just be an arrogant dictator, constantly using sarcasm even if the situation called her to be serious. "It's called Duskfire Glacier," the lupine answered. "And no, I'm not the leader. I'm not even in a high position of any sort, really." She was at the top of the Middle Tier, she knew, but that couldn't be considered as being high up. She had thought of what it'd be like to rise higher and higher into the ranks once before, but had never once considered being in the Alpha rank, or any leading rank for that matter. Too much responsibility, and she thought that she'd need to be 'kind' for that.

Duskfire. That was a pretty name, Bone thought. "Nice name." She commented quietly. Sen told Silver Bone she wasn't the alpha, nor highly ranked. "Alright. Who is the alpha, then?" She asked Sen. She vaguely wondered how a non-highly ranked wolf could accept new members. Or perhaps she was just persuading her, but the alpha would do the real accepting stuff. Either way, Silver Bone was still unsure whether to join them.

Catching the quiet comment, she tried to think of something to say, but couldn't. She'd thank her, but it's not like Sen had named the place, so saying that seemed as if she'd be taking credit for it. Moving onto her following question, she had no problems answering it. "His name is Malachi," answered the woman. "You'll need to meet with him to request to join if you choose to do so. I'm just here to send you his way." She was not yet an Outrider, but was working towards it, and what better way to do that than to try and recruit a new member? It seemed like a good idea, and Duskfire could work as a fit for anyone in her eyes.

"Malachi, hmm? In what direction is your pack, in case I decide to come to your borders and join your pack?" She asked. Silver Bone was surprised she'd found a pack this quickly. Perhaps she could live a new life there, without the crows always pestering her, without all the tension from the chaos of the war between the crow colony and the raven colony. Maybe she could settle down in a nice new home here.

"Just up North," she answered, a bit of pride swelling within her. "Can't miss it." The other seemed to be showing some interest in the pack, and even asked where it was located in case of a later visit. Sen was, oddly, glad that it was going so smoothly. Her earlier want to pester and dance on the nerves of Bone was long since forgotten, instead replaced by the thought of being the one to recruit another member. She'd noticed before that, while they didn't have the lowest amount of pack members, they still did have less than some others. Why it was like that, she assumed was related to the territory's location.

wrap up? If so, this is my last post.

"Alrightly then. I guess I will see you again, then, if I am to join you, that is." She said with a friendly smile. They were even in the north, so she wouldn't be burning up with this thick fur of hers. Her thick fur would be a benefit. She was adapted to the north, so the further north the better. "Till next time, Sen Kapok." She said politely- but now with trust, as she turned away and began to trot off through the haunted swamp. Not north yet, but somewhere where she could think about her decision.

Alrighty. Last post from me as well. c:

"I'm looking forward to it," Sen commented. Her amber orbs trailed after her as she walked away, noting she wasn't heading North. The dark wolf hadn't expected her to jump right into bed with a pack so soon, knowing not many, if any, wolves were foolish enough to do such a thing without thinking it over further. Once the charcoal woman had gone farther away, the obsidian lupine began heading away herself. She did not follow the other, but instead headed North. It was about time for her to return back to pack land, even if she'd only stay for a few moments. A part of her hoped that the other would join them, but her rational side knew such a thing could not be rushed or forced. Sen would, for once, need to be patient.