While still deeply annoyed by the antics of the Creek wolves, a sense of satisfaction had blossomed in turn. The Sunspire, while not a longstanding or massive force, had stood firm in their convictions on the mountain, while only served to solidify their position. They were not weak, nor a pack to be shooed off when the mischief of a mere yearling queen with far too much ego and cowardice to be taken seriously. Ame had lost a great deal of respect for the small red alpha when she had taken off to leave two of her pack wolves behind, one of which was a mere juvenile brought to a place where she did not belong.
So it was with a look of smug gratification that she jogged down the mountainside with a path that wove through the trees that grew denser around her. It was cooler recently, with summer's humidity having seemingly backed off for a day or so, but was awfully cloudy. However, she did not suspect it would rain or storm any time soon; the air lacked the familiar charge needed. She had kept an eye on the skies all day and nothing about them seemed pressing either so she would roam freely from here on out... unless something changed suddenly. Ame knew weather usually gave hints to its intentions, but not always.
She was feeling motivated in her duty today and particularly keen to see where this may lead her. Already it had been an interesting week. With her head up and ears pulled forward, she broke into a slow, smooth lope for their boundaries.
![[Image: 5ifpFkc.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/5ifpFkc.png?1)
i want to bleed in the 「r a i n」
And so it was because of this realization that the coywolf found herself bounding down the mountain right at Amekaze, a wolf she hadn’t officially met yet. The only place she remembered seeing her was at the border skirmish with Fox and her minions. That had been days ago, now. And the thing was, Red didn’t actually mean to go running full-speed into the black female. However, she hadn’t been paying very close attention in the last few minutes, which was a dangerous thing on a mountain. Suddenly, she found she had lost her footing and was now skidding painfully on her paw-pads to stop herself from slamming into her packmate. She let out a yelp, half in fear, and half to try and call out to Ame so that she could get out of the way in time. This was either going to end very badly, or they were both going to be extremely lucky…
She covered ground at ease, steadily nearing their borderlands but there was no rush in her gait, either. The mountainside was satisfying underfoot and she slowly gained speed. This, only proved to make the moments that followed more interesting.
Her attention jolted from the scenery, first towards a yelp and then to a flash of reddish furs coming right at her -- and seemingly out of nowhere, too. Ears pricked and eyes wide, she had been mid stride with far too much momentum to make for fine adjustments. With the slope of the mountain only adding power to her speed, she balked, awkwardly, as soon as one front paw came back to the ground. Adjusting course may not be enough and she was moving along far too well.
Once both of her hind feet hit the dirt, she launched herself up, over (hopefully) the skidding coywolf. Although she intended to tuck her legs close, there was not much time or space to do so, and any clipping of her limbs on the smaller wolf's body was expected. It was an awkward, half-dodge, half-leap that was far from graceful, but certainly less troublesome than a full on collision of bodies.
She held her breath, a gasp having been her last thing she'd managed, and waited until she too came crashing back down to the leaf-littered earth. Stopping and panting, she turned her sights onto the vaguely familiar coywolf curiously. It served for an interesting greeting and her tail picked up a slow, small wag as she looked to ensure the other Sunspire female was alright before going any further.
i want to bleed in the 「r a i n」
Red felt the hard kick in her side as the wolf known Amekaze tried her damnedest to leap over her. The coywolf let out a yip of surprise and slight pain, though she didn’t fault the other female any. It was Red’s fault for not paying attention and putting them in that situation, anyways. When they both came to a halt, Red winced as she turned to shoot the black wolf an apologetic look, her ears going back against her head and a small whine escaping her throat. At the same time, her ears went forward, and she attempted to lean over and sniff at Ame. All these body signals put together meant, I’m sorry. Are you okay?
Afterwards, Red dusted herself off, in a sense. Other than the small bruise that she knew would form on her side, she was alright, so there was no reason to complain. She turned back to Ame after double-checking herself, and wagged her tail as a sign of goodwill. It was a very weird first meeting, but it hopefully wouldn’t stain the she-wolf’s feelings about her. If it did, well… there was nothing Red could do about it. But she would try her hardest to apologize for nearly sending them both tumbling down the rest of the mountain.
She had made it out unscathed knowing full well it could have been much uglier. Amekaze's breaths soon settled back to a normal rhythm and the surge of adrenaline from the moment passed began to fade as well. Even still, she regarded the red-furred wolf with a great deal of curiosity and a greeting such as that one only fed the interest. She bobbed her head in a quick nod after giving her fur a good, thorough shake; all was well, on her end.
Were you in a hurry to someplace?
she quipped with a tilt of her head. The rest of her presentation was relaxed, but underlined with her vague sort of confidence. She was at ease now, and it showed. I have seen you around, even rising to the pack's defense without question, but I feel we are yet to be properly acquainted,
she went on to say with a flick of her ear. Of course their paths had crossed at times when it was not proper to really interact one on one, such as when Swiftcurrent had chosen to start trouble on their boundaries. Circumstance alone had been to blame.
But here, now, and assuming the reddish wolf was not in a massive hurry (as her hot pace may have suggested), she felt the opportunity was present to learn more.
i want to bleed in the 「r a i n」
Red was happy to see that Amekaze wasn’t mad at her for nearly sending them both to their doom. She held in a sigh when she realized she’d have to talk — using her voice — to this black wolf. She really needed to learn to socialize better, and part of that came with speech. But that didn’t mean she had to use long sentences.
Wasn’t going anywhere,
she said. I was patrolling. Wanna be a Warden. Need practice.
After an awkward pause, she added, I’m Red. And you’re… Amekaze, right? Seen you around some. You patrolling, too?
Red, to be honest, felt like an idiot. She know what she sounded like when she spoke like that, and it made her embarrassed about herself. She sounded like an idiot. But she refused to feel pressured into talking, and that was that. She would speak how she wanted to and others would just have to get used to it, or she just wouldn’t talk to them. She wagged her tail at the she-wolf, trying to convey a friendly nature to keep the other from thinking she was a freak or something. She didn’t realize how paranoid she was being…
Amekaze listened and found she could appreciate the coywolf's succinct manner of phrasing herself. She cut right to the point, and conveyed everything necessary and even a little bonus to make the answer clearest, all without excess. The dark female nodded. Call me Ame,
she replied, stowing the name Red away for later. It suited her well and would be plenty easy to remember. I was.. with all the, ah, recent mischief,
she said; her disdain for the Creek remained in the subtle undertones.
Perhaps I can help?
she inquired with an interested lilt. Red had said she needed practice and while Amekaze could not summon up something external to defend against, she could offer other assistance. Warden is not exactly my goal, though.
Patrol was not her favorite, not by a long-shot, but she was particularly keen too the safety of the pack anyway. She intended to pursue the path of offense, though, as opposed to defense.
...
But so it seemed that their paths were not to cross for long today. After brief conversation, the duo of red and black were pulled in separate directions towards their own goals. Amekaze would get to know her better at a later time, she reasoned, she sprung off towards her own doings further down the mountainside, leaving Red to do as she must.
i want to bleed in the 「r a i n」