Firefly Glen she's sweet like candy in my veins

@Terance

The snow had been falling for hours, now, but at least the wind had died down. The sheepdog had forced herself to adopt a brisk trot as she combed the meadow for anything edible, the constant movement forcing warmth into her limbs and being somewhat successful in driving away the cold. Her large ears, however, had proved unsuccessful at retaining keep, and one was speckled with frostbite, a dull pain that pestered her no matter what she did. 

The day had not been all for nought, however, for she had found a rat scurrying through the dead grasses and disposed of it quickly. She paused now to eat quickly, scarfing it down as cleanly and rapidly as possible, knowing that to remain still for too long was to allow the cold to take up residence in her bones yet again.

terance trusted himself to travel beyond the borders-- even with this psychopath on the loser. while lyra was too small and sweet to travel safely on her own, terance felt he could handle himself-- for some reason. he ended up the same place he and lyra met, actually, where the fireflies had danced around them and the stars had twinkled above them. he'd been so lonely that day, so lost, and just the company of the beautiful shadow made him feel so much happier. but that was a long time ago, and they were not the same as that night. terance knew better than to cling onto little slivers of hope-- as much of osprey as he had inherited, he had double the dante. 

and it was not a scarred killer he came across today, but a... dog. terance had seen plenty of strays his nomadic past, but he hadn't seen a single one since his return to the teekon. she looked cold, he noticed, even from far away. he was a little chilly, sure, but his fur was so thick and he was so well fed that the change of weather didn't have that drastic of an effect on him. he watched as she worked down a meal, padding slowly and cautiously towards her. she was a pretty little thing, he decided awkwardly-- because to find a dog attractive felt weird-- but so small and... pitiful? she didn't look like a hardened product of the wild. he wondered how she ended up here.

he moved closer still, his ears perked and his head low, tail waving lowly at his hocks.

Meal scarfed down, the sheepdog was in much better spirits; confidence boosted not only by her successful kill, but the success she'd had in making friends (or at least, acquaintances) thus far. Snatching down the last bits of stringy flesh, she glanced up at the approach of another, noting the swinging tail and curiousity, and assuming this to be yet another potential friend, piped up a cheery, "hello!" Glancing once at the barren remains of her meal, she bounced to her feet, blinking through the snow at the stranger.

even as terance closed the gap, and as the dog turned to face him, he couldn't stop staring. he was intrigued, for whatever reason, and now that he could see her face he had so much more to look at. she spoke, and he was quiet for a few seconds, before he dipped his nose. "hello," he echoed, though not as high-pitched and excited as her. paused mid-step, a foreleg raised curiously as he gave her one last look down. "what are you doing in the wilds?" he asked finally, after much debate if that would be rude or not. he decided it kind of was, but he felt he said it with enough concern that it didn't sound as bad.

The wolves she met all seemed very interested in what, exactly, she was doing. "living", came her answer, as she had given before. For that was what she intended on doing, even though Murdock thought (rightly) that she would have a hard enough time existing in the wilds during the time of the snows. She was no pampered house-dog, however, and thought she was doing just fine, for the most part. This male sounded a little concerned, and the dog gave a little wag of her tail to demonstrate her fine-ness. 

"what are you doing?" She asked, words curious and rather interested. "do you have a pack?" Murdock had Easthollow and his brother Morningside, but the sheepdog wondered just how many packs - and wolves - inhabited the Wilds.

living, how cute, and somewhat relatable. after all, he and sarah had come down here to live-- make a name for themselves. now it was just him-- well wraen had come down, so maybe not-- but he was still trying to do something for himself. he merely smiled at that, noting her tail wag. maybe he underestimated her-- he had a tendency to do that to girls. 

"taking a break," he decided to go with, he forgot what he was doing, honestly. then, with a glance behind him, he added, "i live in a pack on that mountain, moonspear." 

His words had her eyes round with interest, quite taken by the idea of living on a mountain called Moonspear. "that's beautiful. don't you fall off, though?" Her gaze shifted to the mountain in the distance, pale and looming. She thought they were stunning, mountains, and powerful; but after so much of her life on the flat praire, she couldn't imagine setting foot in them, for surely they would be steep and hazardous and dangerous. The male before her, however, seemed fine, and perhaps mountains were a little less deadly than she thought.

terance grinned, following her gaze to look back at moonspear for a moment. "well, no," he answered with a chuckle-- but that wasn't entirely true. plenty of wolves fell-- and even galaxy had fallen once (and within the week, a second time). but it wasn't that common, he didn't feel like his life was in danger because of it. "you learn the cliffs pretty quickly," he added with a wag of his tail, "by now i'm pretty much an expert." 

then, as an afterthought, terance's ears pricked, and he added, "if you ever get the chance, you gotta watch a sunrise or a sunset from the mountains." 

 
He chuckled at her question, and she smiled sheepishly as he assured that wolves did not, in fact, fall off mountains. He claimed to be a cliff-expert, and she wondered idly if he would teach her. If she hadn't already tethered herself to Murdock and his promise of a pack, perhaps she'd ask; but she didn't want to be away for too long, still not quite believing her luck and unwilling to risk it. 

"I think it'd be beautiful. I've never been in the mountains, before, though. where I grew up, it was really flat. I didn't even see mountains 'till I came here."  She admitted, wondering what it would be like to be a cliff expert, and wondering if she would be considered a flat-expert. It didn't quite sound as cool as the wolf's expertise, though.

omfg i'm SO sorry why am i like this

a small gust of breeze came by, leaving terance to roll his shoulders and glance behind him for a brief second. when he turned back, he smiled. "you should uh, come visit sometime. we're like kind of strict about letting strangers into our borders but there are some surrounding areas i could show you," he offered with a soft puff of his chest. it was genuine, and terance would gladly do it. 

"you could stick to the ground though, if you'd prefer," he added, just for good measure.

no worries! <3

She beamed as Terance offered to show her around the mountains, tail stirring the snow behind her into powder as it beat in a steady tempo. "I'd like that - thank you," She replied earnestly, happiness bubbling in her chest as she regarded her newest friend. Perhaps one day she might even call herself a mountain expert; though it was quite a leap from her childhood on the prairie.

 It was only after a beat that she blinked, offering quickly; "oh! I'm poppy, by the way." Her head canted as she regarded him, asking silently for his own name in return.

terance smiled a bit at her response-- peppy and sweet-- and dipped his nose. "yeah, of course," he responded, tail wagging slowly at his hocks. and then, she gave her name, and his ears pricked. "like the flower?" he asked, almost without thinking about it. he knew what a poppy was, and looking at her now? well he could kind of see it, somehow, he couldn't decide why.  "i'm terance," he added-- terance redleaf-disarrino... of course, he'd stopped giving out that name a long time ago-- no reason in particular, just because.

 "yeah!" She was certain that was where her mother had gotten the same; there had been a little windowbox filled with the flowers outside the kitchen they'd been born in. When she male give his name, she echoed it back to him, smiling in approval. Her ears flicked back when quick suddenly she realized how long she'd been gone; what if Murdock thought she'd died, and left? He'd seemed fairly confident she wouldn't survive alone, and the thought did not seem implausible. The fact that the snow would serve to cover her tracks had her more alarmed still, and she looked to him apologetically.  "I think I have to go, terence - I left my friend back there," Suddenly quite worried at the prospect of missing her companion up and leaving her, she danced to her paws, performing a quick, antsy spin. With the promise she'd come visit, and a final wag of her banner-like tail, the girl span away and darted the way she'd come.