The Heartwood Completely free of spooks

@ the Sunspire group

It sounded like something was going down at one of the nearby packs -- a lot of howls went up in a short period of time from some mountain nearby at least.  It seemed the logical conclusion.  Curious, Treason left the forest she'd temporarily called her home and headed that way to see if she could actually find out what was going on.  She was keen to take advantage of some event that might be happening there.  Were they under attack?  Was there an avalanche?  Surely she was a fine young wolf who could be useful in many scenarios.

She first entered the wide glen on her way to the mountain, but part way there she came across something rather curious -- the tracks of a rather sizeable group of wolves heading away from her destination.  Curious.  She sniffed around, pondering what to do.  They'd passed by a fair bit earlier and now it was up to her to decide what she was going to do.  Was she going to keep going?  Investigate this group?  Had they been kicked out?  Were they an attacking army?  There were a lot of options.

Treason followed them.  It was probably the safest option, anyway.  She made good time, catching up as they entered the burned out forest she was familiar with from earlier in the month.  However, she didn't approach them right away, hanging back, looking for more clues.  They didn't seem to be keeping a low profile like someone going to attack would.. So what were they doing? Hm.  She kept quietly with at least one of the group just on the edge of her vision until they were quite far into the woods.  Treason would have to do something soon, wouldn't she?  She just wasn't sure if calling out was the proper thing to do yet.  Maybe if she waited just a little longer...

due to his inner turmoil, terance was beginning to fall into a bad habit of wandering from the group(like 7 times this day alone, currently pretending timelines don't exist). now, he ended up falling back. not because he knew that they were being followed, but just to check up on their surroundings. it seemed they weren't missing anyone, their little group was doing good at keeping mostly together, or at least not straying too far apart. 

but, actually, he happened upon something he hadn't meant to. a wolf. his ears pricked as he spotted the grayscale wolf in the distance. she reminded him of moonlight, with brushstrokes of dark clouds covering parts of her pale coat. intrigued, wondering if she spotted him, terance let out a low woof, hoping to catch her attention. she was awfully close to a whole group of wolves, hm.

With how dense some of the scraggly, snow-laden bush got up ahead, it was unsurprising she lost track of the most transient of the group.  As she leaned from side to side indecisively, attempting to gain the majority into her vision again before moving forward, she was just about to the point of making her entrance.  Until the soft crunch of snow caught her ear, swiveling towards the sound for anything else suspicious.  It almost didn't fully process until the bark came.

Her gaze snapped to face the sound, spying a blackish wolf that maybe looked a little familiar in silhouette.  Her posture had shifted, but not towards guilt at being caught spying.  Instead, she'd gone from indecision with an edge of anxious energy to being steadfast and attentive.  Wait.  Was that one of the group?  How far did he go out of the way to come from that direction?  She couldn't be certain, though.  He was a little too far and the wind a little too wrong for her to be able to confirm versus the very familiar batch of scents she'd been following.

Treason was hesitant to leave the trail entirely, but did turn to face him, canting her head ever so slightly.  From her perspective, that guy was the one interrupting her, so she was wondering what he wanted.  Despite, in her opinion being an exemplar of her species, she was not a social butterfly.  She was more like a cactus.

terance had no qualms with any kind of plant-life, he was a naturalist, after all. so the cactus was given a chance, despite the stiffness that terance observed in her. his nose twitched, ears pricked. "hey," he called out, taking a slow step forward, "you live around here?" he asked her curiously-- surely she did, he couldn't think of another reason for a wolf to just be around a group of wolves this size.

but, truthfully, terance couldn't really scent other wolves on her-- the wind was not in her favor, but it was in his-- but maybe she lived alone. terance couldn't imagine that, truthfully. the small month he was alone without sarah was bad enough by itself... he wondered how long this wolf had been by herself-- if she even was by herself. maybe she wasn't-- or maybe she quite liked being alone.

She rolled a shoulder.  Kinda.  Was staying in a different forest.  Sounded like something was happening elsewhere though, she ended with a slight nod back towards the mountain.  That was what had sent her wandering, after all.  She was curious.  At the very least, mentioning that would likely get an answer if he was part of that group.  A lot of the time Treason did her best to talk as little as possible, or at least at this time she didn't think this scenario required too much babbling away on her part.  Seemed simple enough.

Treason also always kept her cards close to her chest.  She wouldn't mind joining in a fight if they were going after someone. It'd be an amusing distraction.  The thought that they had chosen to make a new pack hadn't really come to mind.  She was a little bit of a negative Nancy.

his ears pricked. did that mean she'd heard the howls from moonspear? he wondered who else heard-- anyone important? hm.  "yeah, that's moonspear, we left," terance informed her, taking a small, curious step in her direction, "going to form our own pack to the east." there was nothing special east, except maybe the vale, but that was the direction they were headed so he figured he'd share. 

"i'm terance," the dark wolf introduced, taking a moment to dip his head in a polite, official greeting. he expected her own name in response, maybe she was interested in coming along.

She assumed others had as well. It wasn't like wolves could send email or call cell phones or something else relatively quiet -- instead they were left with the option they had, which was something akin to a schoolyard intercom and random people with megaphones.  Either way, yes, this dude was one of the group.

Treason nodded, thinking for a moment that was probably the most boring of reasons to have a bunch of howls and send a group wandering across the winter landscape.  It would potentially provide opportunity for her, though, depending on how the bunch acted.  Guess it is less crowded there.  This particular valley does seem packed. Treason gave no change of intonation that the pun was intentional, nor that she particularly cared to notice it.  More on the point, there were lots of scents around the region as far as she could tell, and that was, what, two packs kinda close to each other and enough wanderers like herself to keep things interesting?  Either way, a new pack probably wouldn't fit comfortably in the middle of the other two without likely annoying all those involved.  

Call me Treason, and she did like the name, the potential odd reactions to it were only bonus entertainment.  She didn't actually expect to do what her namesake suggested -- under most circumstances she could see, at least -- it was just fun to her.  She was a bit of an odd duck in comparison to some.

the pun didn't go unnoticed, though it reminded him all too much of hydra-- who would occasionally toss a dry pun his way. he didn't think it was intentional, seeing that this wolf didn't seem to change expression, so he didn't point it out, but a smile curled the edges of his lips away. "that's what we hope," he told her with a brief nod. 

and then, her name. his ears pricked, and the small smile that graced his dark features broadened. it wasn't funny, but something about the situation had terance amused all the same. "treason?" he repeated, his tail beginning to wag, "you should join us, you'd fit in just fine-- apparently that's what we've all done to moonspear." oh, maybe that wasn't as funny as it was in his head. his ears lowered a bit, though his smile remained. "i kid..." he tacked on for good measures-- but very clearly it had some truth to it.

And obviously, can tell her the backstory offscreen or whatever at the end of the thread. :P

Unless something's changed, I was over in the direction you're heading not too long ago.  Should have plenty to choose from.  It wasn't that exact direction, but it was close enough that Treason felt she would have smelled more scents when she was passing through.

That, however, however was not the response she was expecting.  As his smile broadened, her ears flicked forward more intently, intrigued.  Why wasn't he doing the usual of scoffing at her name in one way or another?  Then came the reason.  Curious.  So maybe it wasn't quite as mundane as she was thinking.  Either way, though the first sentence would have usually been her maximum amount of words for the round, it caused her to continue, Well if I'm to come with you, you'll have to explain why they're so pissed off at some point -- if you've really done nothing wrong.  She'd turned a bit skeptical   She looked over at the distant mountain (or it's direction) with a light scowl, Either way, good I didn't go there.  I don't like irrationality.

terance's gaze followed where she was looking at, his eyes squinting and nose twitching. "good to know," he replied, glad to hear that maybe they wouldn't have any run ins that were... well, potentially bad. terance was tired of bad, he really just wanted some good in his life. 

her comment though brought a smile back to his face and his attention back to her. he studied her briefly, tail swinging, before shrugging. "rannoch and liffey were a couple at moonspear. they wanted to leave to start their own pack and family, liffey didn't feel safe at moonspear... i'm not sure i entirely understood that but, rannoch is my closest friend, so i vowed to follow him. moonspear didn't take lightly to us leaving and... well, i'd say we're well considered traitors on that mountain, don't think we'll be allowed back or anywhere near there anytime soon. they handled it... poorly... i think, but i'm bias." he hoped that was a good enough explanation. he'd give her details on why rannoch and liffey were there in the first place if she chose to stay.

"if you're still interested... we're not that bad a group, and we've got space for you." 

So basically, they'd rather slowly overpopulate the mountain and die of starvation rather than do what instincts ask them to.  She was doing her best to pare down the fluff and get to the point.  There was loyalty, and then there was stupidity.  Treason preferred the option that allowed her to stay alive.  She'd have to keep an eye out when wandering around in the future to be wary of that particular pack, but surmised that her being some random wolf rather than the "traitors" probably would at least act a little in her favor.  She could always feign ignorance about the histories.


I'm not sure why people being left behind being idiots would be any reason to change my mind. I'll come along.  Treason apparently had no fears of some soon-to-be-distant pack causing trouble. Or maybe she just lacked fear in general -- it was hard to tell.

his ears pricked, a small smile gracing his features again. it kind of sucked to hear her talk about hydra and lyra like that… but she was merely agreeing with him. treason didn’t know all about his true feelings on the topic. but it was kind of cool to hear that she was already on board with them— terance liked loyalty. therefore, terance liked treason. well, the wolf form of treason, anyway.

“sweet,” terance said with a grin, his tail waving, “welcome aboard then— i can take you back to meet the others… you don’t have to just follow behind us anymore.” a light quip, because terance had a sense of humor— and he sensed that treason did too. and so they set off-- off to meet the rest of their rag tag group... that was actually becoming much bigger and put together than terance initially expected. wow, go team.