Ankyra Sound another soldier with little patience to see the dawn

Open for anyone; Echelon's being nosy and checking out the remnants of Ankyra Sound!

She ventured out towards the coast a few days later, noting that Tonravik had become reclusive. And perhaps for good reason — Tartok had not rightly founded itself. Without it, without the aid and build of the wolves handpicked for their cause, any little tryst her bearish aokkatti could have had could have resulted in a rather rough start. And with her not overly accepting of Echelon's company, she had set off to scout along the coast once again. The ocean attracted her just as much as the glacier had once, though the latter had been chained to the back of her mind and left to be forgotten and rot.

She trotted easily over poorly marked borders, uncaring whether or not they had belonged to someone or not. If they did, if they were really there, then she did not expect opposition. Changes had come with the spring and among them, she was unaware that the two feuding packs had extinguished themselves promptly. Nor was she aware that she was treading sand across one such pack, the one that had been at the head of the conflict she heard whispers of to begin with. To her, this was all uncharted land that she had only crossed over once and well before their existence.

grieves — pressure cracks

After he swiped a squid from a sea lion, Luke continued his trek along the coast, spotting a dark figure far off in the distance which he pursued by quickening his pace. His pursuit however came to an abrupt halt when his nose detected the pungent smell of a pack's borders. Unlike the dark figure he chased, he did not so easily step past them, but as he deliberately sniffed further, he realized the markers were stale and had not been refreshed in sometime. If there had been a pack here, it was no longer or their boundaries had shifted. So, he resumed his jog, past the old border, picking up a stick on the fly as he went along.

When at last he caught up to the female, he called out around the stick, "Hey!" and without hesitance closed the distance to stand just before her. With the stick still between his teeth and tail wagging, a bright expression on his face, Luke invited her to an impromptu game. "Play catch?"

Once more, caught up with the sight and the sound of the ocean, Echelon let her guard down. And it always seemed that once she did let down that guard, someone found her. She could have just continued on, happy to slink along and be left alone and perhaps even go unnoticed... but today was not going to be one of those days.

The voice that called out to her was muffled and grabbed at her attention much quicker than it should have; her head whipped around to spy out the lightly colored wolf. He was less guarded than she would ever be, much more jovial and full of emotion than she would ever allow herself to be. And the stick in his mouth explained much of what he was doing there — he was looking for someone to play with.

For a moment, an ounce of glee dared to throttle itself into her veins. Echelon did enjoy her moments of play but they were far and few inbetween. She saved it for quiet times, saved it for when she knew she could get Tonravik in on the fun. Truth be told, she found that she was much more of a solitary creature barring that unbreakable bond to her aokkatti. And here, she did not know just how to take his offer of play.

So she let on that she was interested in this game of play, but only had one desire in the world at that point. She just wanted to take his stick and run away.

Luke was prepared for the female to deny his invitation to have a game of catch, as many often did. Not only had many adults grown out of their interest in playing like this, most wolves were distrusting of strangers, and lone wolves often kept to themselves unless they were just transients like him and in-between packs. So the blue-nosed wolf was delighted that she seemed receptive, his tail beating back and forth quicker than before. He did not hesitate to give the stick and fling, sending it with skillful precision toward the dark female. If he had known she intended to take his stick and make a run for it, he still would have tossed it to her, for a good chase could be just as fun.

So dumb and so eager, he threw the stick to her. Or at her, she couldn't have decided which. It landed on the ground before her with a dull thump, happening so fast that for a second or two, she could have only stared at it blankly. Realization came to her quickly though and in a flurry, Echelon snapped it up and bolted in the opposite direction from the male. Towards the sea initially, but she willingly made a broad turn to run along the coast with it.

It was simply too easy to take his toy and disappear.

She did not catch the stick. Luke watched as it fell to the earth without so much as a flinch on the part of the dark female. The wave of his tail stopped as his gaze studied her, convinced now that he had misread her body language somehow and that she was not at all interested in his offer of a game. But to his surprise, she hastily plucked the stick from the ground and in the same instant bolted away from him.

"Hey!" he barked as he launched into pursuit, but it was not a bark of indignation - he was grinning and his tail was beating back and forth as his feet kicked the sand into the air. Luke was a swift and agile sort, and she would find that he had no trouble gaining ground on her and was in fact happy to give chase. It took a few moments for him to catch up, as she did have a head start on him, but he was able to take the diagonal to further close the gap to within a few feet when she turned to run along the edge of the sea.

"You're supposed to throw it back, you know," he called to her between breaths, his silver eyes fixed on her. For now he maintained his pace and did not attempt to overtake her, remaining where he was slightly behind and off her flank, but he was itching to get his teeth back around that stick.

He gained on her quickly and that only prompted her to push herself even more against the wet sand, the stick still clutched tightly between her jaws. With nothing by the coast of the sound out ahead of her, Echelon tried to eyeball some sort of exit strategy that was beyond just staying ahead of him. Her lungs burned with the salty air and the taste was enough to make her thirst in such a short while, but she persisted right on and along. This stick was now hers and she was going to make that clear. To what end, who knew; Echelon did not care.

She did not answer him, did not so much as cast him a glance or a smile, but she did increase her pace and Luke quickened his to match, holding firm his position off her flank. He no longer believed this to be a game, rather that he had tossed his stick to a possessive female who not only had no intention of throwing it back but was bent on keeping it for herself. It was just a stick - there were plenty more like it, there paws sailed over several already, - but there was a principle that needed to be upheld. Thief though he was, he did not appreciate having his things taken from him especially when they had been offered in good faith of a game. This fueled him, and he lengthened his stride with intent to catch her. He gained a few paces, just enough to bring him closer along her side, and that was enough. Luke made his move, throwing his shoulder at her hip in an attempt to knock her off balance, make her stumble or fall to the ground. Something, to give him an advantage. He wanted to reclaim his stick, but he was still amused for the moment and there was no aggression behind his action.

He gained traction on her through a rough patch on the sand, shoulder-checking her. The action was enough to cause her to lose some of that grip on the stick, but did not come without an act of retaliation. She whirled around towards him, spittle and teeth turned towards him with a snarl. It was purposefully menacing, though she had no true interest in drawing blood. A scare tactic that was just as liable to work as it were to backfire. The stick had been cast down somewhere, lost to her in that very instant.

The shoulder check was not well-received, not well received at all. It did, however, cause her to drop the stick, but Luke's blue-padded paws had become planted in the sand, his legs and body tensed and ready to react, for his game of chase had abruptly ended with bared teeth facing him. Her snarl was menacing, but the white wolf was not so easily shaken from composure. "Aw, come on," he cooed. "Just trying to have a bit of fun here." His tail waved and he smiled, attempting to ease the black female, though he had his doubts if she would be assauged. Someone who reacts the way she did, first stealing his stick and then reacting so hotly to him, did not strike him as a real social sort.

Fade with your post? Echelon is a jerkface lulz.

His words were hardly soothing to her, but the fact that he stopped was enough for her to bolt once more and this time without the stick. She had been unsuccessful in her attempt altogether and that was enough for Echelon to beat a quick getaway from the scene. She headed for the growth of greenery beyond the shore, wanting nothing more than to snake away and disappear, perhaps even be forgotten about in time to come. There was nothing of particular interest out there anyway that she could see, and her enjoyment of the ocean had been cut crisply short.

Yup! I'll post it for archival

Luke merely watched as the black female bolted, leaving him and his stick behind. She did not do so slowly, sprinting fast across the sands, toward the shelter of the forest. The blue-nosed wolf gave his head a gentle shake and released a soft sigh as he bent to reclaim his stick. For a brief moment he allowed himself to feel disappointed that she would not play with him, but he quickly shrugged that feeling off and wandered away himself, humming an upbeat song as his feet carried him to some yet unknown place.