Sawtooth Spire Sanctuary's Still Safe

Sawtooth Spire! Warden thread meant to start laying down the borders of STS. Tagging @Arverk @Kingumut @Aegeus @Echelon @Nanuk if any of you guys wanna help. Also, open for any loners interested in joining the pack when they settle at Sawtooth Spire! Open to 1-2 participants. Thanks!

They'd decided. This was the place. This would be the location of their new home. All that was left was to throw up a few markers to warn the rest of the wolf population of their claim and officially howl (as per tradition) to let the world know this area was off limits to anyone who was not recognized as their pack family.

One step at a time.

He traced the perimeter of the mountain, placing his mark wherever he saw fit. A spray here. A roll in the dirt there. Scratch marks against a tree. He'd have to make quite a few rounds to get that imprint good and solid, but a start was better than nothing at all.

Rounding a bend, his eyes drew towards the distance where the tornado that wrecked the valley first touched down. It was still... close to here, but at least this area was unaffected and the nearby mountain range and valleys offered plenty in the realm of herds and other prey. They could make this work. Would make this work.

Back to setting up their borders.

Her overshoot of the mountain range turned out to be somewhat purposeful. At least it would have seemed they didn't have nosy neighbors to worry about, though they were far and few between to begin with. The distance between the Spine and Silvertip Mountain was short, but here she did not find anyone that remotely matched like before. Better that way, anyway. They needed the open expanse of ground around them to hunt properly, even more so to mark their borders along the rising ring of elevations.

Most of all, this place wasn't a wreck.

She had returned to the mountainside in the overnight hours, resting easily in the cooler air that prevaled here. No doubt even Tonravik was working at settling in, was probably happier. She felt happier about it, though the emotion would not show beneath her stony exterior. It showed in other ways though, like the stupid spring in her step that came as she recklessly bounded around, only pausing for moments to jokingly hike a leg and mark the ground. She did it though, somehow, entertaining no one but herself.

Further up through the winding mess of trails that brought them along their establishing borders, she spied Iqniq. He was hard to miss even against the rocky colors of the crag. Echelon joined him, slipping up quietly and close with a passive sigh. The lacking sanity of her ventures previous to meeting up with him were long behind her now.

Her speed did not slow, shoulder checking her pal with a grin full of teeth and a well meaning growl. In her own way, Nanuk was ecstatic and excited about their new place of residence. So much so that she did not notice the smaller, darker canine on SFB's other side. Gold eyes peered over his back at Echelon, offering a chuff of greeting to the female. 

Despite her ridiculous entrance, the Beta fell into step beside them, pausing to piss on a nearby rock with all the grace of... Well... A guy. She caught up with them soon after, however and continued on, not minding the silence so much at the moment.

He headed southeast, venturing in the direction of the tarns as he began his wide circle around what would eventually be their new home. Echelon joined in with a sigh that made him lift a brow towards her. A sigh? He didn't know her to be the sighing type. Glancing at her for a moment, he made the decision to lift a paw and press it against her shoulder. "What's eating you?" he asked, curious as to the current mood upon her.

They were soon joined by Nanuk who did not hold back in her approach. She shoulder checked him, rocking the red wolf upon his feet as he turned back to her with a grin and nipped at her flank. Another nudge and a smile settled on his muzzle. He'd missed this. In all their traveling and outriding, he'd very much missed the casual roughhousing that came with the seriousness of relocation. It was about time they had something of a break from the stress of traveling.

He slipped behind for a moment, pausing to piss on a rock before he wiggled himself dry and resumed his pace between them.

*hammers out a post before work*

His inquiry hung in the air, perhaps the peacefulness that resided in her lost on him for a moment.  It should have been, because peaceful was not often a term that would be associated with her.  And in response, she could not help but turn her head slightly, as though to ponder a response.  Only, there was no pondering, just a short reply.  "Nothing.  It is cooler here, I am glad."

And though she had made the attempts continuously to adapt to the warmth of the valleys below, Echelon would remain grateful of the cooler air they found along the mountain.

As Nanuk joined them, Echelon offered her a tentative wave of her tail.  This too was unsurprising, as if any of the wolves to begin laying their claim there it should have been them first.  The others were no doubt adding their power to it, but there was a part of Echelon that strove for the schism between those that were truly Tartok and their initiatives.  She pressed on ahead then, moving a few yards up to continue as Iqniq had, and marked another place.

Things were coming together nicely now.

The trio moved on, their camaraderie an easy thing. Already, the beta was pretty buddy buddy with Iqniq and with Echelon, there was no form of tension. It was a good combination of wolves to have on one of their first walks of the borders. Her shoulder rubbed up against one of the few trees dotting the mountains side, both scratching a spot there and leaving her scent all over it. The next, her claws scored marks in its bark before she moved on to squat and leave her scent again. It was a long, tedious job, but it was also mindless and she didn't mind the silence between them much as she contributed to making the mountain theirs.

Was that a sigh of contentment? His eyes widened, shock crossing his face as he realized this area might be the answer to all of their unspoken desires. These spires had enough character to them to satisfy a number of wants and/or needs. Cool air. Warmer valleys. Snow at the peaks. Ponds in the foothills. For this time of year, there was a little bit to go around for everyone, it seemed. Truth be told, he almost missed the heat. A grumpy Echelon was nothing short of hysterical. This melancholy about her was weird.

Nanuk's presence helped dismiss that. Together, they all pressed forward as representatives of Tartok to claim their new home. The only wolf missing was Tonravik, but as she was heavily pregnant he hoped she was deeper within the territory and appropriately nesting. Based on the excessive amounts of urine she left behind, he'd have no trouble tracking her down later. For now, he'd do his part Alpha and follow up with his role as a proper mate once the new range for their family was secure.

"First one to run out of piss has to catch dinner for the rest of us," he teased as he pranced a head and lifted a leg to the base of a tree. Just enough to mark without completely emptying his tank. He could keep this up forever.

Iqniq's words provoked a snort of arrogance out of her. They definitely didn't want her to go hunting, hell no. She could play billy goat up and down the mountain all day, until she found some real billy goats. Then she'd eat their faces and they'd all have goat for the rest of the year, end of story. Shortly thereafter, they'd die of starvation because oh no lack of billy goat population — actually it would have been more like billy goat fus-ro-dah Echelon goes off a cliff into render distance space. Her corpse would later be found across the map, days later much to the confusion of the player.

Narrative dribble aside, she was cocky enough to take him up on the challenge. "You missed some spots," came her voice from some bushes during a popped squat. "But don't worry, Tonravik took them." Rib jab at her aokkatti, who would have probably ate her face for it. But it was pretty true and anyone who couldn't have followed them from one rocky cavern across some wreckage obviously had a broken sniffer. Tonravik may as well have been powered by urine the entire trip as far as she was concerned and for whatever reason to Echelon, it reeked.

"Tonravik's probably done our jobs for us," she went on, surprisingly vocal about it now. "We owe her dinner. Game's over, off we go," she rattled on, snapping at the air crisply.

Their banter was amusing, drawing a grin from the great white wolf as she walked alongside them, pausing every so often to pop a squat, much as the coywolf herself did. She had filled up her tank earlier, anticipating a go around the borders at some point today. "Guess we're gonna be relying on you, Shit for Brains." Her rumble was amicable, event he name calling just so as their friendship was one created from such pleasantries.

"Or we could pin down Billy Goat Gruff here," Her muzzle pointed at Echelon, her grin spreading. "And our problems would be solved." Jokes, but Nanuk was not above cannibalism. She'd done it before and did not experience guilt or hesitation when it came to surviving. Not that they would come anywhere near the need to kill one of their own and eat them, but it was fun to taunt.

"Ha. Ha." He commented dryly as Echelon left her mark on a couple stones. His mate had enough urine in her to make him wonder how the hell she was drinking so much in a day, but if he had children trying to share the same space as his bladder, he'd be pissing everywhere too. Another reason why his gender was blessed to never experience such things. And cursed with others...

He lifted a paw, pressing at the coywolf's shoulder with a good shove before he slipped past her and lifted another leg. Grinning back at Nanuk as he passed, he gave them both a good chin nod as if to say "damn straight." He had this. He'd win this pissing contest and then they could just eat Echelon instead. Hey. Nanuk was all for it.

"Nahh. We need her to run along and cover up all of Tonravik's hormonal piss trails." Which was the reason they were on the perimeter and Tonravik had taken to the internal territories. They didn't need a beacon highlighting this pack as having young blood within it. Didn't need anyone thinking they could take advantage of them when they were a little more vulnerable than usual.

"New plan!" he announced, rubbing himself up against a tree. "We take a lap, then we hunt." Easy peasy. Plus, between the three of them, they'd be able to catch something to fill not only themselves, but also Tonravik no problem.

refusal to go to bed, therefore posts

Billy Goat Gruff? Huh, that was a new one on her, the real meanings behind it long lost on her. She really didn't look anything like a goat, but wasn't about to dispute the common tongue nickname system. Besides, it sounded a little better than Shit For Brains.

But before she could open her mouth and remark about how she was more bone than anything, Iqniq was going and changing the subject on them. Naturally, if there's a television anywhere within an area, the man of the household must be in control of the remote. Possibly because none of the women really want to clean up the blood from bashing him for it.

She rounded back to them a bit, vocalizing nonsense to the proposed plan. No qualms with it — they really did need to cut down on wherever Tonravik had decided to go wee wee all the way home. "What game have you seen up here, Iqniq?" she queried. Other than some of the smaller fares she had pursued, Echelon hadn't gone searching for something a little more sustaining.

Thinking about food made her stomach groan and gurgle, outwardly silent. She knew though, and knew that a pack hunt would be necessary soon, to bring those of the Spine back together. Their line of conversation only hammered that in, especially since there would be young mouths to feed soon, as well. 

She answered for the Alpha male, having tracked a small herd within the Hollow below. "Deer. There's a herd, small but strong at the base of the mountain." they had smelled of their young then and that hadnt been that long ago. Perhaps the three of them could fell a decent meal. Only way to find out was to try. At her words, their path shifted to head toward the Hollow to sate their hunger and, more importantly, bring something back for Tonravik.

Thread End.