Dragoncrest Cliffs up all night to get lucky

Absolutely no need to match post length, LOL. I hope I didn't get any of Wifi's history wrong! All welcome, although I tagged Tux. ;)

Bored with routine, Sequoia decided that today, she was going to visit @Wildfire. The young Drageda wolf admittedly did not know much about her, except that she was Thur's mate and had a bunch of kids. She used to be a scout, but it didn't seem like she got out much anymore. Not since half the pack had taken off on whatever adventure it was awhile back. Sequoia couldn't even remember who all had left now, and that seemed like ancient history to the Goufa. Funny how time worked like that... she was already forgetting things from her childhood. Of course, she was not a child now. No sir! She was an adult. Or so she liked to believe and tell anybody who asked.

Wildfire appeared to be tracking something down to eat, and Sequoia yipped at her. When the red wolf turned around, she seemed mildly annoyed that her hunt had been interrupted, but otherwise welcome to the company. Hey, Wildfire! she beamed, sidling up to the older wolf. I was wondering if you could tell me more about scouting and being an ambassador. I think that's one of the things I want to focus on now that I've had some practice with it. Already, she had recruited Buckshot, made another attempt with Wraen, gotten herself into trouble with Dingo, and once used Thur as a test subject for her skills. Thur had certainly been useful, but Sequoia knew it would be important to talk to others, too. She couldn't assume that Thur was the source of all truth, after all.

Wildfire asked what she wanted to know, and Sequoia's first instinct was to say, "Everything!" but she knew that wasn't a real answer. Maybe she should try to be more specific. Um... she trailed off, buying herself a bit more time to think on it. She already knew she wasn't supposed to give away certain details about the pack, and she had since learned that it was a good idea to ask about what skills a wolf had before bringing them back. Asking their name was important, too... as she had learned when trying to recruit her old leader. Wildfire looked like she was getting a bit impatient, so Sequoia blurted out something as quickly as she could.

What if they say they have a skill, but it's obvious they don't? she asked. Wildfire hemmed and hawed, eventually giving her a decent answer: make them do a little test trial to prove it. Maybe ask some follow-up questions so that it was clear they really knew their stuff. Sequoia thought that was pretty good advice, and she would keep it in mind if one of her potential recruits seemed a bit unsure about their abilities. It seemed like a good way to deduce whether or not they actually knew what they were doing.

What other packs do you know about besides Drageda? I met a wolf named Wraen who said she'd been part of, like, twelve different packs. Did you do that, too? Wildfire omitted the part about Blackfeather Woods, probably not wanting to traumatize Sequoia with what had happened to her there, but she did explain that she was born in a place called Redhawk Caldera and lived at Moonspear for a time. Oh! That's one of the ones Wraen mentioned! Did you become public enemy number one when you left? She said that happened to her.

Apparently, Wildfire's departure either hadn't been so dramatic, or her friends there had not been as mean and cruel as Wraen's friends. Maybe they had been there at different times. That would explain why Wildfire leaving wasn't that bad. Maybe Wildfire leaving was what had caused all the defensiveness in the first place! Sequoia didn't think that was terribly likely, but it could be true, couldn't it? Maybe they were so upset when she left, they decided nobody should leave ever again. She was just that cool or something. That was left up to the young Goufa's imagination, which promptly ran wild with all sorts of insane ideas.

Have you ever heard of that group called Sirens? she asked, referencing yet another pack Wraen had spoken of. They sing songs and drown other wolves. Wildfire seemed puzzled by this and shook her head, apparently either not remembering or not wishing to reveal that she knew about them. But after a moment, she did seem to finally recall them in some vague sense of the word. Either she had heard about them in passing, or she had interacted with one or two of their members at some point.

Sequoia continued asking follow-up questions about the different packs that Wildfire had encountered during her more active ambassador days. It seemed there was still much to learn, and she soaked it up as well as she could. Eventually, the conversation dwindled, and Wildfire excused herself to continue the hunt she had been on. Satisfied with what she had learned, Sequoia waved her tail and bumped her new self-selected mentor with her nose. Okay, good luck! she called after the fox-looking wolf, then turned to find something else to do.

Maybe she could track down a pack member to test her recruiting skills on. @Tux was a scout, wasn't he? Or maybe he was just training to be one. Either way, maybe they could practice on each other and figure something out. Mallaidh was also a scout, but Sequoia wasn't quite sure about her just yet. The Gona seemed to think she was still a child who wanted to play children's games... something that Sequoia was definitely not interested.

With her nose to the ground, Sequoia tried to locate the other scout in training.