Ankyra Sound Sometimes it takes a wrong turn to get you to the right place

@Illidan @Raleska

Ever since joining Rusalka Julep found herself more drawn to the cliffs than the sound itself, wondering whether the Drageda wolves would ever make a comeback. It was a fortress, that territory, flanked by thick redwood forests and equipped with a true bunker underneath the ground. Anyone would want to own such a bastion. But she also wondered why at all had the Dragedan crew dispersed. Was it voluntary or had they been defeated in battle by Rusalka? Had they moved on to a better territory? Were they exterminated by a plague? All of those seemed likely, but the thought that most stood out was:

'Who gets their holdings now?'

There was one thing clear from all of it, and it was that Julep hadn't backed down on her plan of making her own path in life. She had been right about Rusalka, they could make strong allies if she knew how to handle them and help their own needs. And with that certainty she thought:

'Why not me?'

With her nose close to the ground in search for hints of any competition, Julep trailed the outer limits of the Rusalka-Drageda borders. She hadn't found anything before Caiaphas had recruited her, and for days she had been coming back and still hadn't found anything worth worrying about. Maybe it was time to make a move.

Raleska had to admit there was a tenacity about Julep that threatened her from the moment she met her, much like how she had seen in Yami a fellow rival. Not to be outdone by either young adversaries, Raleska had kept her sharp eyes on the newcomer, studying her comings and goings with suspicion.

When Julep made for the cliffs, Raleska did too. She readied herself with a story for why she was stalking her packmate - oh, to keep her safe, to make sure she didn't get snatched by the Dragedan boogeymen -- anything to make it seem like she was more interested in Julep's well-being than the true cause: a brimming, budding insecurity that she did not realize was as cutthroat and natural among young women as gulls to a shore.

Finding she could conceal herself no longer, once Julep was out in the open Raleska joined her, giving the woman a rather flinty once-over before speaking. "Why are you out here?" She couldn't help how accusatory the words were - her mother had cautioned the woman might not be as she appeared, and Raleska secretly hoped in that moment she was a Dragedan spy just so she had a reason to show her what it really meant to be Rusalkan.

For a while she didn't notice Raleska skulking behind her, but ever since she met the girl she couldn't ignore the random ye-contacts and constant stalking. This girl was no doubt in love with her. There was conflict in julep over that idea, but Raleska wasn't ugly and she seemed like a fierce contender... Maybe she could have real fun with someone for once.

When she did notice her presence Julep didn't make it known. She kept o her business as usual, and only when they girl spoke did she turn to address her. She wasn't usually very talkative, not to her at least, and so she didn't really take offense in the tone of her voice. Golden eyes scanned the young gal over with a wry grin. Making sure the drags ain't back, she said. Then, after a short pause in which she met Raleska's eyes in real challenge, she said Why are you out here? matching the accusatory tone, or even sounding more incriminating than the gal herself.

Raleska would have gone red with fury at the accusation she was a lesbian -- get real, freak. Saddling her face with the darkest scowl she could muster (and Raleska was a master-scowler), Raleska met Julep's gaze in a way that said she was above being accused of anything.

"I'm out here babysitting you." Raleska hotly fired back, getting shades of Yami from this woman -- why was it that all the young women in Rusalka were so uppity? It surely couldn't be because Raleska gave off her own mega-watt bitch vibes, right? "Are you hoping they come back? Weren't they your friends?"

Ahh, the venom. It was in her eyes, in her face, her voice and in even her aura if that was a thing. Raleska was just like any other teenager, impulsive and rough around the edges, but that didn't really stray too far from her own description, did it? There wasn't really anything that Julep could blame her for, especially knowing that she hadn't really done anything herself to earn anyone's respect or trust among Rusalka's proud people.

Julep chuckled at the babysitting comment. It had been a good joke, she couldn't deny it. But the rest of the teenager's words weren't quite a joke, now, were they? Are you deaf, kid? I said I'm making sure they're not back. she spat, turning around to gaze at the cliffs in the distance before she got actually pissed with the girl. She didn't really care much about the fate of the Drageda crew, whether it was bad or good. She just needed them to stay away from her prize, but Julep wouldn't really tell Raleska that. I am with Rusalka now, whether you like it or not, she said forcing herself to stay calm, so I would appreciate it if you stopped bitching at me so I can do my job here. was that too sharp? Surely Raleska would let her know.

Raleska's mouth shut with a clap, her gaze burning. Julep's comeback stung her - she was not a kid, but if she said she wasn't a kid, she'd probably be met with scathing laughter.

So Raleska instead settled for simmering silence, doing the wolf equivalent of crossing her arms furiously and staying back. She had nothing to add to that kind of retort that wasn't childish (and didn't prove Julep's point), so she mulishly remained silent, trailing after Julep in the annoying manner of a pestilent little sister one simply cannot be rid of.

omg xD

Suddenly the chirping of Raleska's voice stopped coming, and the woods were silent aside from the fain sound of their footsteps. Julep looked over her shoulder after a moment to see the deepest scowl she'd ever seen, and almost chuckled at the image. But she mostly felt really bad. She had just been rather hard with the girl, and maybe she needed it, but maybe, just maybe, she had taken it a little bit too far.

Julep stopped walking as soon as she heard the waves crashing against stone in the distance, hoping that Raleska would catch up to her. Listen, kid she started, not looking at her per se, but using a tone that was much different from the previous one. This time she spoke calmly although still quite sternly. I'm not your enemy here. They are, and we both probably could benefit from them never coming back so... Why don't we work together instead of clawing each other's eyes out, huh? she said, turning to give a glance at the girl towards the end and meet her eyes with what she hoped would make her seem more trustworthy. Julep guessed that if she was going to earn the pack's support she could start building her way up from the very bottom. Time was really not of essence for her ambitions.

raleska positively glowered behind julep, her sullen gaze lifting in challenge as julep turned back around, no doubt to put her in her place again. it was with some surprise that raleska realized she had offered a very tentative olive branch in the form of working together.

she was made of too skeptical a clay to throw all her suspicion to the wind, but raleska accepted julep's offer with a begrudging shrug of her shoulders that was supposed to read as indifferent. "sure," she said with feigned indifference, still smarting from the woman's previous rebuke but attempting her best to disguise it.

She was playing it like she didn't care, but it really showed how much she did. Julep looked down at her, knowing well that it was not in her best interest to start something that would put her under a bad light in front of Rusalka's elite, so she took the young one's brash agreement and moved on to what really meant something for them both.

Maybe we could claim it, she said after looking away and into the distance for a moment. There was everything one could need from a territory in it, and it was right next to Rusalka's own lands. if we do, and we man it right, we would be unstoppable, she thought out loud, very well knowing that Raleska was still very much right there. Perhaps if she got someone else excited about the idea then it would be easier to see it done.

Julep saw right through her; no surprise, given the girl was as good as lying as she was at hunting (so, in other words, terrible). Trying her best to cast her wounded ego aside, Raleska rounded her back like a roach and scurried after the older girl.

She stopped short when Julep mentioned claiming the cliffs. Her gaze was slow to rise to Julep's, as if she was trying to work out if the storm-born girl had really said that. Evidently, she had -- Raleska's brow furrowed, and she cast her glance to the edge of cliffs. "You could claim it." The girl said with a sniff, her tail whisked in irritation. "but there's too much bad mojo here for me."

Raleska, being a teenager, had the cornerstone on being dramatic: there was nothing wrong with Dragoncrest Cliffs, except for maybe the memories that had happened here that she refused to let go of.

Raleska's comment came to Julep like a whisper from her left shoulder's devil. But nothing had ever sounded so sweet in her ears as the concept of someone else thinking she could stake a claim of her own. Of course it would only sound like that, for it was obvious Raleska wasn't making the suggestion too seriously.

But the tigress grinned regardless, ignoring the second half of Raleska's comment as she made mental images of herself as captain of her own ship. Damn that was a cool idea. But before it could be fulfilled she needed to figure out how to make it work. Do you think the bosses would approve? this was important. It was obvious that the bad blood that existed between Drageda and Rusalka was all born from their almost overlapping claims in the coastlands. Things like that could often brew some serious tension, and she didn't want to be on Rusalka's bad eye.

Raleska had drifted off into absent-minded thought following her last words, glancing up and down the cliff in an abstract way. Deep in thought herself, she hardly noticed Julep besides her also had her mind racing, the cogs in her brain at full spin. It wasn't until Julep asked about the bosses that Raleska's attention was brought back to the present.

She did not think her mother would care, and having been raised under the hard print of her mother's thumb, Raleska had a good idea of what annoyed her mother, and what didn't. "Nah," Raleska drawled, drawing her gaze to the sequoias that shuddered in the distance. "I think they would only care about neighbors if they were aggressive." Raleska shrugged her thin shoulders, having heard over and over again her mother's endless tirade about Dragedan scum and how they had settled shop next to Caiaphas at the end of her reign in Saltwinter, and how she had not cared until they dared be aggressive.

How sweet it seemed to Raleska that the tide had been turned, and that Drageda had at last tasted their own bitter medicine. It didn't taste good, did it? "As long as you weren't Drageda, I guess." She shrugged again, disliking that she was thinking of Eurycrates again.

Raleska's absentminded response got julep just what she needed to find more determination to see it through. Yeah, she could work something out with Caiaphas, and she truly only had good intentions for Rusalka, so that had to count for something. Now the question was... Where should she start?

I can already guess you're gonna say no... But... Wanna do it together? heck, why not? There was literally no one else she's actually had a conversation with (not that she had had much of an actual one with Raleska), and she certainly needed the help. Was Raleska her guy?

Raleska did not catch the shift in topic, looking up in surprise as what Julep had just asked sunk in. At first Raleska balked immediately -- but then, tiny little thoughts and fancies took hold. She was a homebody, and always had been. Maybe this could be her chance to shine?

But her brothers, her mother; they would not understand. She felt conflicted, but not unsure. She knew what she had to do. "I will help you claim here, but I can't leave my family." Dragoncrest Cliff was not so far from her family that she would be leaving them, or at least that's how Raleska justified it.