Firestone Hot Springs Rain or Shine (II)

The day dawned bright and clear, though dark clouds amassed over the open ocean along the horizon. Throughout the morning, they rolled southeast, making landfall just before noon and bringing with them a deluge of ice cold rain showers. Simultaneously, a cool draft blustered up from the south, pushing against the encroaching weather system. The largely invisible forces met in the middle, pushing against one another and causing the rain clouds to halt a few miles inland. This created a strange effect: while heavy rain fell on the northwestern reaches of Teekon Wilds, the air remained clear and dry elsewhere, drawing a distinct line across the wilderness.

Nowhere was this phenomenon more visually evident than on the patches of open grassland parallel with the coastline: Silverlight Terrace; just south of Firestone Springs; Dawnlark Plains; and Sunset Valley. (Elsewhere, mountains and other land features largely obscured the effect.) From these patches of flat, open ground, there was a distinct fringe created between the dark, wet rainstorm and the clear air further inland. The rainfall billowed like the curtains on a great window, the dark clouds remaining stationary for at least the next hour or two.

Authored by: Kat (Wildfire)

If she was going to become an outrider, then out she would ride! Or something. The word was baffling to her, but that wasn't exactly on her mind when June went tumbling down the mountain, her spidery legs and big feet making quick work of the terrain. She was surprisingly agile when traveling across the mountainous terrain of her home; but as soon as her feet hit the grasslands beyond, they began to slip and slide. There was a light mist clinging to the grass as she tore across it, and in some places the rain seemed to be more aggressive. By the time June stopped to rest, she had reached the hot springs - but they weren't hot. The air smelled like sulfur, which was nasty, but the rain which fell was chilling everything out. It wasn't raining a few feet back -- where had this come from? Suddenly stupefied by the phenomenon, June planted her pale butt in the grass and stared up at the clouds.

Warning: Language warning, just in case Fisher gets out of hand.

Fisher hadn’t been prepared to start her life over.  Instead, she’d been flung out of the pack and out on her own before she had been ready.  She didn’t even get to say goodbye to her family.  Good riddance, anyway.  They hadn’t been there to defend her to plead her case.  She got one look from the Alpha and sent her packing without even a reason.  She knew the reason but she couldn’t explain and that rat of a wolf remained in their protection.  It rests heavily on her shoulders, even now that it had been weeks, but she tried to shed it.

She’d passed a pack or two but didn’t bother stopping.  What garners her attention is the sulfur smell clouding her nose, distracting her from her surroundings.  

“Why does it smell like dick?” she asks as soon as she spots a wolf sitting on her rump.  Her head tilts slightly, looking past her to see what she is looking at ahead of them.  Fisher shifts her weight and takes a few steps closer but leaves a sizable distance between them as she looks ahead at the clouds, rain pounding against the ground.

Whatever was causing the rain to fall there but not here, it was pretty. June watched the rain for a bit - it held her attention more than anything had before, but then there was a voice. The voice broke her concentration, making her look straight ahead with blurry vision, unfocused and startled, and then to the left and the right. On the second toss of her head from side to side, she spotted the stranger approaching. The words he used sounded foul.

"What smell?" She asked, sounding and appearing totally innocent. Her eyes were wide and bright, with her head tilting slightly - a habit common to children. But then she seemed to forget that she'd even asked a question. Licking her lips, either because of nerves or because she was thirsty, June decided to be bold and try to befriend this stranger. A good outrider knew how to make friends! "You see rain? Pretty rain." With that she turned and stared out at the horizon, watching the rain continue to fall.

The girl didn’t seem to know what she was talking about but she shook it off.  It didn’t matter.  The younger wolf is captivated by something else entirely.  It was just rain?  It just… was over there.  Fisher blinks a few times, wondering if there is something she isn’t seeing that the younger wolf is able to.  

“I see the rain.”

Fisher turns her head to look at the girl.  She took a long breath, a mix of scents on her fur she didn’t recognize.  Thick enough that made her feel like she is a pack wolf.  And she looks young still, but looks could be deceiving.

“Where you from?”

"Mun-tan, that way." She motioned with her nose towards the hills, but otherwise did not respond or react to the stranger. The rain was so strange today. It was there, but not here. But over there? But then not that way - her eyes slipped between the rain and not the rain. It was smelly and cold here, but not wet. Would the rain come this way soon? She liked the rain, it smelled nice, and might make the pools smell better.

The girl didn’t offer much to explain where she is from but it’s enough information to know she’s not a threat.  She didn’t seem interested in why a stranger asked her but Fisher didn’t care more to find out.  It wasn’t any relation to her problem, but she knew she’s headed into a region and hopefully her trail could be lost.  The other returned to focus on the rain and Fisher wrinkles her nose, shrugs it off, and turns back the way she’d came.