Shadow Mountain Vhenan Aravel

for @Varian

He picked his way through the uneven terrain with the careful steps of someone who trusted his body but not the ground beneath him. The earth here could turn treacherous in an instant, the loose rocks lurking like tricksters among the sturdy ones. His paws slipped once, stones scattering noisily down the slope, but Fenrith only huffed a quiet laugh to himself, shaking the frost-dusted fur along his spine.

Fenrith paused at the edge of a copse, nose twitching as the cool breeze brought him the faintest hints of life. Small prey, no doubt—rabbits, voles, maybe a squirrel or two scrambling through the underbrush.

The air here was clean and crisp, free of the noise and strain that weighed so many other places down. He took another step forward, lope slower now.

Slumped against the frozen earth like some abandoned carcass, Varian groaned into his paws a pointed, unenthused sound. His belly was far from full, reminding him often with low angered grumbles, but the very thought of standing from his warmed spot made his appetite vanish entirely. It never seemed to matter how many squirrels he devoured, it'd never be the same as all the large game he enjoyed back home.

Another huff escaped his muzzle at the strain of movement, tucking his chilled nose beneath a bushy tail as he curled into himself. His eyes fluttered shut, lips pulled into a yawn, awaiting his sleep eagerly — when the crash of stones colliding against his rocky perch snapped him back, head instantly up and on a swivel.

His eyes skimmed the cliffs above him, narrowing at the shadows between sparse shrubs and trees. Varian almost thought himself mad, gone out of his mind from some sort of deficiency in his diet, until the slender form of an oddly remarkable wolf popped into his peripheral. He watched for a moment, taking in its graceful strides in slight awe, then shook his head free from the spectacle. Hey! His voice cracked slightly in its effort, leaving him to clear his throat in momentary embarrassment. Satisfied, he tried again, louder and more hostile than before. What the hell are you doing? 

The crash of stones startled Fenrith first, his ears flicking back as his paw froze mid-step on the uneven terrain. He hadn’t seen the wolf before—hadn’t smelled him either, obviously—and the voice, sharp and cracking with sudden hostility, made his head snap around.

The figure sprawled below was unlike anything Fenrith had expected. Fenrith blinked, caught off guard by the suddenness of it all, before the words actually hit him.

“What the hell are you doing? I’m just walking!”

He totally hadn't been trying to find him.

His tail flicked behind him, an agitated little sweep of energy that matched the furrow of his brow. “Seriously, you’re acting like I just dropped a rock on your head or something.” Fenrith’s tone was defensive but not entirely hostile, still clinging to a thread of boyish exasperation.

Working onto his feet, Varian kept his eyes glued to the dainty thing, mindlessly stepping up the slope he'd once rested upon.

Are you stupid or something? You almost did! A gruff vibration festered in his chest, urging him forward and further up the rocks. He had no intention of picking a fight, especially seeing as from the looks of it, it wouldn't have been a difficult one — But that didn't stop whatever confrontational itch he had from tugging him along.

His fur bristled wildly along his spine, a dramatic display necessary only to his ego. Maybe, if you'd paid attention to all the shit happening around you, you would've noticed.

Fenrith took a step back as the other wolf started up the slope, his lean frame shifting with a kind of casual wariness. His head tilted slightly, brown eyes wide with a mixture of confusion and disbelief as he listened to the sharp words thrown his way.

“Well, I just don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied, a reflective flash within his eyes. He flicked a paw toward the rocks below as if that explained everything. “I didn’t see anything crash, and I definitely didn’t do whatever it is you think I did.”

He took another step back, keeping the distance between them, though his expression shifted into something bordering on amused disbelief.

“Besides,” he added, a crooked grin tugging at his lips despite the bristling wolf’s clear irritation, “you look fine to me. Bit ruffled, sure, but nothing a nap wouldn’t fix.”

A nap… Slack jawed, Varian stood in silence, his bones petrified by frustration. That had been just about the most bullshit he'd ever heard out of another wolf's mouth, and considering the amount of people he'd met so far on his travels, that was truly a feat worth praise. You– His words fizzled into nothing, a thoroughly irritated expression replacing them. Varian's haunches promptly met the floor, an exasperated sigh following, accented by a passive aggressive, thumping tail.

You're unbelievable, His tone was hushed, clipped at the edges but no less astonished. He couldn't decide whether to blow up or marvel at the odd thing. Certainly too much bark for such a mousey figure. He looked the wolf up and down, flicking his gaze from deep brown eyes to fidgety paws. Where exactly do you come from, Mouse? I assume somewhere governed by softer paws.

For a moment, he just watched the wolf slump back down, his exaggerated sigh and tail thumping with a rhythm that practically screamed I’m annoyed but don’t know what to do about it.

The comment had him narrowing his brown eyes, his tail flicking with a faint twitch of irritation. Mousey figure? That one stung—just a little. Instead of pouting, he straightened, his lean frame stretching up like it might magically make him look less “mousey.”

“Mouse?” he repeated, feigning offense as his grin shifted into something more wry. “Alright, big guy, that’s rich coming from someone who looked like they were about to hibernate for the rest of winter.” He planted his paws firmly, though his posture stayed loose and boyish, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “And I'll have you know—...” He trailed off, suddenly at a loss for words, or rebuttals, his mouth scrunching up in bitter defeat. "Whatever."

With a quick flick of his tail, “What about you, though? Let me guess—some kingdom of ‘big scary wolves’, yeah?” His voice lilted with humor, teasing but without any real bite. “Must be rough being so tough all the time.”