Blackbeak Bluff free ourselves

On their time newly on their own, the only heading she tried to apply to their travels was vaguely north. She wanted to see what was on the other side of the mountain range eventually, but first.. there were bleeding trees, strange broken boulders, and of course, more forest with a whole slew of other interesting sights and scents every which way she looked. Worst part was, that wasn't even beginning to scratch the surface of things she really wanted to see out here--like the ocean that was teased on every salty wind that blew in their way, getting louder by the mile. These were just distractions she could subscribe to in the meantime.

Which.. she had honestly started to find a bit of a routine in it all. Everything was pretty new, but just like she thought she would (and it was all fresh, novelty hasn't left..) she liked it. Just her and Spica, going wherever they felt like it, whenever.

Her literal only beef was a lack of really good, super satisfying sleeps lately--she was having weird dreams whenever they did get a chance to settle down, which was kind of badly timed, she thought. She was sometimes slow to shake that funk on waking back up, and twice now, she'd found herself bugged by it. But honestly on the whole, that was really just a minor complaint.. something she chalked up to the changes of lately. They were keeping fed, and busy, and she still had energy to keep up with her sister as they roved around and took it all in, so all was well in her little atmosphere.

But right now, when the daylight hours were starting to wane and she was actually sort of on the lookout for something to eat, the trees eventually tapered off around her and a field opened up ahead. There, in that gust of breath when the skies felt so big somehow, Syrma steadily picked up her pace towards the expanse newly at her disposal--uncharted turf, of course. Hopefully, @Spica would not be far from her.. for although their explorations often splintered, it was never long before they rejoined and this was already looking like something her sister might like.

tag for twin ref as always. just wonderin' who else is in the neighborhood too

Choosing the Watch as their home base was proving beneficial for the pair of brothers and the collection of wolves they had amassed. Not only were the fields next to them well populated but the locale overall was one of strategic placement, settled in a spot of the Wilds where they could reach many things, go many directions... Möguleikarnir voru óþrjótandi. This knowledge please the man of pale golds and creams, his tail flagging behind him at the thought of remaining with the Ravens of Sunspire.

And yet, it was not the Watch that he was found at this night, nor the neighboring fields, but the bluff beyond those long stretches of meadow, where the winds were yet wild and free. A particularly strong gust of wind thrashed past him, practically forcing a deep breath of air down and into his lungs. The salt was thick in the air, heavy on his tongue, the taste of the Wild Sea poignant and unique.

Almost as unique as the wolf he spied, her spotted grey face curious and unusual to the Northerner. The closer he came, the heavier her scent became and not only hers but another's as well. With no pack lacing her fur, Stjornuati found a thread of kinship with the girl, as he and his brother traveled alone as she seemed to with whoever's scent it was that clung to her. Hallo, He offered when he was close enough for her to hear. You travel far?

Spica had stuck around in the forest a little bit to search for some food, and she'd been successful eventually. Food came a lot more hard-fought out here in the wilds, and Spica was proud as she walked out of the forest with two dead mice dangling by her mouth. A snack, at the very least, for the pair of them. They were quite plump, if Spica said so herself (maybe they were rats or something?). When in the distance she saw some stranger approach her sister Spica muttered under her breath, Fucker better not be hungry. She only had two, after all, and it wasn't like mice were easy to share with anyone.

Without thinking much about it Spica dashed out into the open plains towards her sister and the stranger, a big grin on her face. She galloped up to them with a proud stature and her tail waved amicably as she came to a grinding halt next to her identical sister. She dropped the mice (though kept an eye on the stranger) and said, Brought us some lunch. It wasn't much; she knew that it wouldn't keep them fed for very long, not much more than just a quick snack. However, it was still better than nothing and the little fuckers had been hard enough to catch. Hopefully, they would be able to take down something a little more substantial soon. Living and hunting on their own was a lot harder than she'd expected.

While protectively pulling one of the mice towards herself Spica said, Hi! Who've you got here? The question seemed directed mostly towards the stranger, who she was looking at, although the words sounded more like she was asking her sister than the stranger directly.

Before she could be consumed by the scenery alone, she realized she was not the only one out among it. Her ears tipped towards the oncoming presence, and the rest of her followed with a curious tilt. Meeting new faces was still something that felt new to her sometimes, but it was getting noticeably better each time. Staking out on their own was helping, slowly (subtly!) nurture more confidence in herself too.

Hi, she answered back, and turned herself towards him to greet him head-on. The yearling kept her tail low, but was not afraid to lift herself into something halfway respectable otherwise--not wanting to give any impression of weakness, unease, or the big one that she felt loudest: inexperience. But she also knew that somewhere not far from her there was Spica, effectively doubling her situation, should it need to become one. Not far, really. Not yet. But I am traveling, the twin answered, proud of this new freedom still while the novelty had not yet worn away.

And then, she realized in a breath, that her other half had come and a twitch of her nose smelled the food Spica carried. Oh hey, nice.. she chimed, still one eye on the new dude. She greeted her sister fondly, bumping her shoulder against her before settling protectively beside her--now that the two of them could pair up against the unfamiliar wolf's one (and hopefully not be too distracted about the fresh food). Not sure yet--but, I only juust got here myself, she added with a head-tilt back his way, helping to give the creamy-furred guy a nonverbal nudge about filling in that blank for them all.

As Solpallur and Stjornuati were never terribly far from one another, so too it seemed that this freckled stormcloud was not far from the companion he had scented upon her. Posture remained as neutral as her own did, lacking interest in making others swell his ego by way of submitting to him; To them, he was nobody, as they were to him. Ears pricked at her answer, taking a moment to process what it meant in the common tongue.

Before he could reply, however, the owner of the scent that lingered around the stormcloud appeared, revealing another that seemed to be a mirror image of her. Tvíburar. Intrigued, he looked between the two of them for a moment, the old tale of Sigmund and Signý, also twins, whispering through his memories. The conversation between the two of them was brief, a moment arriving where they both looked to him.

Stjörnuáti, He answered, not minding the attention that had settled upon him. This one travels far, many weeks north, where snow covers mountains year-long. You live here, in these wilds?

It was always a bit of a relief to be reunited with her mirror image. Spica was always happy to entertain and so it was with a big grin that she watched the stranger look over and her sister. It took some willpower not to say fabulous, aren't we or something otherwise appropriately sassy (or rather, inappropriately, as that seemed more Spica's forte).

Eventually he said a word. Was this his name? It had to be, considering their question. Either that, or he just didn't speak their language at all. Now it was Spica's turn to gawk, and she blinked a couple of times with widened eyes and a look on her face that said ... seriously? Then he seemed to speak in third person? Was that right? 'This one'? That was Stjurniwhatshisface, right? Wow, your name's sure a mouth full, Spica said after she recollected herself from her initial shock. Don't mind me as I get it wrong the first five thousand times, Sturny. She grinned broadly as she butchered his name, then said, as his story piqued her interest: Yep! Well, we used to live a little ways south of here, but now we're travelling to discover ourselves. God, that sounded so lame. If she could, she'd take it back and rephrase that. So what on earth brings you all the way out here here? In the process, she totally forgot to share their own names, oops. She was so swept away by the story of weeks of travel north and snow-covered mountains.

The best thing about the encounter was that he didn't seem interested in their meager catch of mice so far, so she was relaxing a little at that thought while she kept her own share of the lunch close to herself, underneath one of her paws.

With her expectations all wide open, and at least twice as powerful now with her twin beside her, Syrma was surprised a bit by what the stranger provided. Starting with that name she wasn't even going to touch, he revealed himself as a traveler of many miles. She tried not to let her eyes bug when she felt a hint of envy coming.

Thankfully her sister picked it up, and loosened the humor a bit while she was at it--zeroing in on his bizarre-sounding name first. Syrma grinned. Yeah, we're out to get more experience as scouts. Explore the fresh freedoms, and all, she supplied for a helpful addition to their purpose. They weren't totally aimless all days but she had felt that the renewal of their routine was necessary.

I'm Syrma. And Spica, she added on with an obvious point to her mirror image when she named her other half. Spica had already asked the good question, anyway--why had his long travels come here, of all places? She was already way more invested in hearing about that than anything she had to add, so that was where she left it for now.

Sorry for the wait y'all <3

The repeated mispronunciation of his name, purposeful?, failed to ruffle the feathers of the foreigner, who simply grinned toothily at the pair. The expression was crude, awkward, a baring of teeth more than a good natured smile, despite the fact that aggression could not be found in him just then. Stjor. Styor, He offered, pronouncing it a second time so that they would catch it and understand how to say it.

They were indeed from these wilds, following the call of their own hringja, even if they didn't know it. Or perhaps they were fatebreakers, veering from the path the Norns had laid out for them. This one, too, discovers self, He replied, nodding in understanding as he answered their question. This one and this one's brother travel to find the source of our hringja, our... He sought a word, the gears of his mind turning slowly as he settling on one. Calling? The path led far from home, into the mountains along this sea.

Syrma and Spica. The similarity to Sigmund and Signý was curious, a possible coincidence, while at the same time it could have been a sign. He did not dwell upon it. Not yet. What have Syrma and Spica learned of themselves? The man questioned, curious what there was to discover and learn about the stormclouds.

no problem at all <3

Spica was glad that he didn't have a stick up his butt and seemed only amused by Spica completely failing to pronounce his name, somewhat on purpose. Sure, she could've tried a lot harder, and Sturny was made up on purpose so that she wouldn't have to even try to figure out how to say his name for real. He repeated it again, but instead of trying to actually pronounce it Spica pulled a dumb face of faux concentration and purposely butchered once more with a, Stee-yohr?

Syrma was the one to introduce them this time. Spica was soon very intrigued by the way Sturny spoke about himself though. 'This one'? Was he talking about himself? Are you... calling yourself 'this one' because I fucked up your name and now you're too disgusted with it to ever use it again? I didn't mess it upthat bad, did I? Spica looked rather amused as she said this, wanting to bring up his kinda weird speech impediment in the most polite way that she could think of. And what's the source of your, uh — rinya? Except then pronounced the way you said it? It was pretty interesting all in all; the way he spoke, the way he had lots of weird words and possibly concepts -- Spica could only hope that hringja was something exciting -- and Spica spared Syrma an excited glance. They'd found an exotic foreigner!! Gosh, this was exactly the kind of stuff she wanted to find when setting out on this journey in the first place.

He then asked what they had learned about themselves. That was probably one of the few things that could shut Spica up, since she wasn't very introspective. And she already knew everything there was to know about Syrma, so she hadn't really found out anything new there, either. For a change, Spica was caught unawares and she glanced to Syrma for help. Maybe she had something good to say?

He still took no offense to the butchering of his name, but broke it down for them, and kept himself well within the tracks of highly interesting. It definitely was worth a note that they searched for similar things out here where their paths could cross today. That did impress her a bit, honestly, and mostly the twin only snickered as her other half spoke to him.

Syrma got the sense that there was a lot more he could tell them, and was glad Spica asked about the source of his own calling. As for answering his question, this half was quick to pick up that slack, despite any lacking confidence she felt on the matter. It is still too early in our journey, she deflected with a smooth smirk. I know I'm ready to see more, she breathed. While the answer was kind of fuzzy, it was hopefully something to give him when she was still far more interested in what he had to say about himself--not them.

Anyway, they bothered him a bit more, and though he was by far the most interesting wolf she had seen (that was not her sister) in quite some time. When she felt the need to mull the details between them, and was satisfied with what they had got from him so far, Syrma suggested they mosey elsewhere. After quick farewells.. that she wondered if would have to be for good, she and her twin bounded off towards their next venture--wherever that would be.

gina was okay with me ending us here <3