Hoshor Plains finding home

@Liffey!

Storm clouds were rolling in from the east, bringing in cooler conditions upon the Plains. The morning was still young as Rannoch stirred, noticing the weather as he blinked sleepily. Despite these seemingly unfavorable circumstances, Rannoch pulled himself where he had slept for the night and yawned as he regarded the sleeping group of wolves with a quick glance. Once he saw that everybody was in their proper place, the turquoise-eyed male began to pull himself away from the group in an attempted to get his morning started. 

Even with the weather, Rannoch wanted to head out and see what he could find out there. Though he had done some scouting, the gunmetal man had tended to stay close to where the pack had settled. But, on this particular day, Rannoch felt an inkling to get going and to scout the lands around them. It was only through these efforts that Rannoch knew that they would find their eventual home. 

After taking the time to wander off and relieve himself, Rannoch trodded back to where the pack slept, seeking his siblings so that he could tell them where he was going. At this point, the rain had not begun, but, a continuous wind rolled through the plains, bringing indication that the weather would begin at any moment. To Rannoch, this meant that he had to get going if he wanted to get a reasonable distance away. Standing at the end of the group, Rannoch trained his eyes to his brother's, chuffing quietly in an attempt to both wake them and catch their attention.

Liffey was growing used to sleeping in the company of wolves she did not know very well. It was not as cozy as it had been at the Caldera when she'd slept surrounded by family, but she no longer struggled lied awake with anxiety at the knowledge she only knew the wolf beside her on a first name basis. Still, she had always been a light sleeper and no matter how relaxed she got in this situation, she would always awaken at the slightest sound. This morning it was Rannoch, rising before the rest and stepping away on his own.

When the Blackthorn rose, it was totally not to follow him. She meandered purposefully away in the opposite direction, seeking a puddle of water only a few yards away to lap up a few swallows of water before giving her coat a good shake. She sat then to spend a few minutes cleaning her coat, smoothing over the more wily tufts of fur with her tongue so they would lie flat. When she was satisfied, she turned to glance back at the pack, spying Rannoch as he returned to the rest. She watched him thoughtfully as he tried to get the attention of his sibling, wondering what happened to be on his mind today and allowing the teensy tiny selfish part of herself to wish he was seeking her attention instead.

Thankfully for the rest of the sleeping back, Rannoch was able to tell his siblings in time of what he was doing with his day. He was a firm believer in transparency amongst the group when it came to wandering off and knew that somebody should be aware that he was going off for some time. Once he had appointed Rian in charge, for the time being, Rannoch turned away from the group to face the looming mountains ahead. 

It was as he turned that Rannoch noticed a figure lingering and he stopped himself in mid-turn to see just who (or what) was looking in his direction. As his eyes laid upon her, Rannoch quickly realized it to be Liffey, and he felt a smile spread upon his lips. Not questioning how long she had been standing there, or what she was doing, Rannoch diverted his intended starting to approach her, offering a gentle woof in greeting as he drew himself closer to her.

Liffey watched as Rannoch spoke to his brothers, entirely forgetting that she was being completely obvious about staring at him. She felt a sudden jolt in her heart when he turned and spotted her, but outwardly only smiled and twitched her muzzle towards him in way of a greeting. She stood as he began to approach her, suddenly very glad that she'd decided to groom herself this morning so she could look her best for the handsome alpha.

"Are you and your brothers gossiping secretly about us all again?" Liffey asked when he drew near enough, lowering her head deferentially even as a playful light flickered in her fiery eyes.

Rannoch was met with a comment that caused a false sense of shock to flash upon his face. "How did you know about that?!" teased Rannoch as he came to a halt before her. Continuing on the fun, he elaborated: "Are we that bad at keeping that a secret?" Like Liffey, Rannoch's eyes danced with amusement as he looked to her. Momentarily wrapped up in the amusement of the conversation, Rannoch forgot all about his intentions for that day.

Liffey smirk at his response. She nodded plaintively, her head tilting to one side. "Everybody knows, Rannoch," she informed him sagely, "Truth be told, none of you are great at hiding things. I know you think you're whispering buuuut...." She gave an awkward shrug to go along with the bit, but she dropped the pretense a moment later and turned to smile at him.

"What're you up to today? Besides failing at secrets, of course," she asked with a wag of her tail.

Liffey's words were met with a crestfallen expression as he played in deeper to what she had started. But, by the time they had reached this point, the subject of their conversation shifted, and Rannoch quickly recalled his reasoning for venturing out that morning. 

"I was going to head to the mountains to find you a territory with the perfect ledge to look at stars," replied Rannoch, his voice a pleasant hum. A beat after her added: "If you wanted to, you could tag along if you didn't have any other plans." Another opportunity to spend time with Liffey was always a good use of time in his opinion.

Liffey smiled at his crestfallen expression. He was good at playing along with her little games, which she appreciated immensely. She always felt awkward and stupid whenever her companions didn't go along with her charades, which made it even more monumental that Rannoch did.

The Blackthorn was intrigued by his proposition. She was coming around to the hints he often dropped about his interest in her, even if she didn't entirely believe it to be anything more than teasing, and so she lifted her chin slightly as she smirked at him. "I think I'll have to," Liffey replied, mirth dancing in her eyes, "I'm quite picky about my ledges, after all." She waited then for him to take the lead out of respect, and also because she was truly interested in seeing where he would go and what he might try to pick out for her.

Happy that she agreed to come along, Rannoch smiled, finding both joy and amusement in what she had said. "We better get going then," mused Rannoch with a wave of his tail, "we have a lot of ledges to check out and not much time before the storm rolls in." The rain was not far from their current position, but, Rannoch wanted to get a head start before the worst of it moved into the region. Rannoch was no meteorologist, so he could only make vague predictions on what conditions would be brought into the area. 

"Lead the way?" suggested Rannoch as an afterthought, feeling comfortable with her taking the reigns. In most interactions, Rannoch felt a need to protect his position as the one on top of the pecking order. With Liffey, Rannoch did not feel this way. He found her to be more an equal, for reasons he still couldn't full grasp. He knew that she meant something to him, but he had yet to fully realize the full expanse of how important she was to him.

Liffey glanced skyward at Rannoch's mention of the coming storm. It seemed as though it hadn't actually stopped raining in days. She wondered if it was just what happened this time of year. It was her first Spring, so she had no past experiences to go on. It stood to reason, though, considering the precipitation levels that lended themselves to the other times of year. It felt like something she should know already, so she kept the question to herself. Maybe she'd figure it out on her own next year.

"Well, come along then," Liffey said in a gently teasing, faux commanding voice as he offered her the role of leader. Her ears slipped back and her head bowed slightly as she glanced back at him, smiling. It was a sign to show him that she was kidding with her impertanence. It was not a joke she would have made in front of the other pack wolves, but it felt like it might be okay just between the two of them. She was drawn to the allure of having a different sort of bond with him - one that only they were in on. Plus, she wanted to feel like she was special enough to him that she could get away with it.

The Blackthorn had already done some inspect of the Sunspire mountains that lined the horizon to the East, and so she aimed them toward the peaks to the Northeast.

Had it been any other wolf to issue a command of when or where Rannoch should go, the alpha would have quickly remedied the situation to remind said wolf of who was the boss. Liffey was different, though, and for the foreseeable future, Rannoch did not see this changing. Of course, he did not know what the future would bring either of them, but deep down he hoped that whatever they received in life, they would receive together. 

Playing into her mock leadership, Rannoch smiled, noting the indications that she issued that were driven by respect. "Coming, dear leader," rumbled Rannoch affectionately as his tail hinging with a slight wag at the base of his hindquarters as he pressed on after her. 

They spent a great deal of time traveling at each other's side, falling into step easily as he was lead into the unknown. The rain came and went; the rate in which the precipitation fell was not enough to discourage from continuing they trek, thankfully. When the weather passed, the clouds gave way to an unusually pleasant day, and Rannoch was thankful for the reprieve. 

The grass underpaw soon subsided as the two neared the mountainside and eventually on turf was to be found. Feeling discomfort from the litter of debris, Rannoch attempted to shift how he held his weight in hopes of elevating the continuous annoyance of the pebbles. 

When they reached the base of the peak, Rannoch paused as his eyes scaled the climb, wondering how long it would take. He was a not a mountain wolf by any sense of the word, and he feared that climbing would take him some time. He wondered then how Liffey fared with climbing mountains as she was not from the hills, either. "So, this is where you want to check out?" asked Rannoch, turning his attention from the mountain and towards Liffey with a lift of his brows.

Rannoch took her teasing just as she'd hoped he would, which caused butterflies to stir in her stomach. With light-hearted glee, she easily fell into travel mode, unperturbed by the waxing and waning rainfall. Hell, they could've gotten swept away by a tornado and Liffey felt quite certain she still would've been just as giddy considering she still would have been in his company.

When at last they arrived at the base of the mountain, Liffey's eyes followed Rannoch's gaze skyward. Excitement was stirring in her chest as she eyed the climb before them. The fire was easily seen in her eyes as she turned to look at her friend again, a grin unfurling across her muzzle at his question. "Absolutely," she confirmed before setting off determinedly along the slopes.

"You ever climbed a mountain before?" she asked as she moved along the dips and curves of the even terrain.

When it was agreed that this was the perch that Liffey wished to investigate, Rannoch bobbed his head in compliance. He did not feel the need to speak further on his acceptance as he knew he would follow her wherever she went. That was another thing that stuck out to him about her; whenever she wanted something, Rannoch found himself wanting to please her. He was convinced that even if she would lead him off a cliff, he'd happily follow. 

Falling into step alongside Liffey, Rannoch braced himself for what the climb would entail. Having never climbed a mountain before, he wasn't sure what to expect when it came to the excursion he would feel. "No, I haven't," admitted Rannoch, "Have you?" 

Liffey began to feel a pleasant ache in her muscles as the terrain challenged her with its dips and ledges and curves. Only exploring a new territory like this could distract her from the fact that she was hanging out with Rannoch - something that usually kept her in a giddy tizzy for the duration - but as she moved, her eyes were on the path(s) ahead and the world that stretched out before her.

"Nope," the girl answered with bright nonchalance, "I've always wanted to though. The Caldera was surrounded by slopes, but nothing like this. This is fun." Liffey grinned to herself as she hopped up onto a small ledge about two feet higher than where she had been standing. She turned around then to look back at her friend to make sure he was following, her face smiling and tail wagging all the while.

Not knowing what exactly a "Caldera" was, Rannoch felt as though Liffey's former home stuck out like a sore thumb whenever it was brought up. In the past, Rannoch had wanted to ask what it was but feared that he would look foolish for not knowing. Now that the two were climbing a mountain together, and both were experiencing something new, Rannoch felt as though it was an opportune time to ask, as his heart was already racing from the incline and the only fear he felt was towards falling. 

"What's a Caldera?" He asked suddenly; the request blurted as a rather unflattering expression fell upon his face. It had been all he could focus on since she had brought it up and Rannoch was only capable of prying the question out of himself by force. He felt a weight lift off of his shoulders as his words escaped him and yet, there was still a shyness about him as he feared she would think less of him because of his lack of knowledge on Calderas.

Liffey watched him with furrowing brows. There was an expression brewing on his face that she wasn't sure how to interpret. When he came clean with his question, she still didn't really follow what the look on his face was about. It didn't occur to her that he might be embarassed about asking, even though she would likely have gone through the same anxious inner monologue if roles were reversed. Funny how that works. But in any event, she mentally shrugged and formed her answer.

"It's kind of like a mountain that collapsed in on itself," she responded, "It's surrounded by a circle of walls on every side that are tall, but not as tall as a mountain like this. The inside of the circle is like a valley with a lake at the center." It was an odd landform and if she'd had any idea what volcanoes were, her hypothesis would have shifted to one more accurate.

Rannoch's imagination fell short on envisioning the picture she attempted to pain for him. Everything that his mind came up with seemed too farfetched to be real, and as a result, he shrugged and turned to her, voicing breathily how he felt about it all: "That sounds... interesting." Rannoch wanted to put it kindly, as not to offend his pretty lady friend. "I can't really picture it in my head," he elaborated with a slight frown, "But, I think that that just means that you'll just have to show me one day." That was if they survived this trek up the mountain. 

Rannoch quickly realized just how much effort it was taking for him to carry his well-muscled body up the incline. His tongue lolled in an unflattering manner as he turned his attention back to the road ahead and, for a brief moment, focused on his breathing in an attempt to survive this trek.

Liffey didn't need his confession to know that he wasn't getting it. She felt compelled to try and explain it better, but no other way really came to mind. Plus, she was quickly swept away at the interest he showed in actually seeing it one day. He wanted to see it? Visions came to her then of the two of them, visiting her family. She was introducing him to her brothers, grinning as they got along like old friends. Her dad would be wary and protective at first, but would warm up as Rannoch showed how very.. Rannoch he was. Her mom...

The Blackthorn's imagination stopped completely, refusing to go any further. She didn't know what she'd see if she went there, and she wasn't up for risking it. Instead, Liffey just grinned at her friend who was clearly having some issues. Turning, she surveyed the land ahead for their next path before glancing back. "We could probably arrange that," Liffey told him, not wanting to leave him hanging on his suggestion.

She waited then for him to catch up to her before starting off again, aiming for a trail she had spied ahead that looked like it curved to the East on a fairly level tract of land. He seemed like he needed a break. She kept that to herself, though, not wanting to hurt his pride by letting him know she was intentionally going easy on him. Instead, the pair trekked ahead, spending some quality time together under the guise of searching for that perfect ledge in their new home.