Moonspear New and improved. Maybe.

Dash had been quite standoffish since his conversation with Charon and Amekaze, and subsequently his requested and accepted demotion. It had opened his eyes a little regarding both of them. He had thought Charon would have been the more understanding one, but Ame had turned out to be instead. It hurt him a little that Charon wouldn't trust his own judgement about himself, but the dark male didn't dwell on it... Too much, anyways. He couldn't lie to himself, however, that he wasn't at least somewhat affected by it.

Today, he made his way around the middle of the mountain, choosing to be among the rocky surfaces. He found that although it could be difficult to traverse, the physical and mental concentration it took did something good for him. Now that he knew how, and was confident about it, he enjoyed sliding down the rock faces, as long as they were at the right angle. Too steep, and it was just a fall. Too flat, and he wouldn't slide.

His paws landed on the ground after one particular slide, and he looked back up. That one had been a little longer than ones he had tried before. He sat back on his haunches, taking a moment to rest as he looked around. He was really considering whether or not he wanted to stay here. The pack had been rather good to him, and he did feel a sense of loyalty to them, especially Charon and Thistle Cloud. He shook his head. No, it wasn't them. It was him. He needed to get over this... shyness. He needed to be bold, and outgoing, especially if he was going to earn his Gamma spot back. He knew the Alpha's felt he had earned it long ago, but Dash was the one who needed convincing.

It had been much too long since Floki had ventured beyond the borders of Moonspear, and yet he was reluctant to do so. He felt that he had much to prove to his packmates as a Beta, so he decided that he was going to acquaint himself with every nook and cranny on the mountain's slopes. This would be quite a feat, but he tackled his self-assigned task heartily, leaving behind the familiar trails he had traversed previously and instead striking out to find new paths.

He was creeping along a rather narrow ledge when a blur of black suddenly flew down the mountainside in his peripheral vision. He drew up short, eyes widening with alarm, and peered over the edge. The figure gradually slowed to a halt and then stood; Floki quickly identified Dash and wondered if the fall had been purposeful or accidental.

"Dash! Hey!" he called, his voice reverberating off the rocks. "Are you okay?"

A male's voice reached his ears and Dash turned his head towards him, his tail wagging a bit in greeting to his Beta while his head lowered in respect. He nodded, Yeah, I was just... Well, I guess you could call it rock sliding, he said with a grin. With all the steep rock faces we have, I thought it would be kinda fun to learn how to navigate some of them, instead of trying to go all the way around, he explained.

He wondered if Floki would think it was weird for Dash to take up such a hobby. It could be dangerous, after all, if Dash miscalculated the steepness, or the landing. It could result in a serious injury, and that meant having the pack care for him with nothing in return until he healed. Dash didn't want to be a burden. But, he still felt like it may come in handy one day, knowing how to slide down properly. It had, after all, been an asset when the bear had attacked.

Floki realized that he had seen Dash employ that tactic before -- he had gone sliding fearlessly down the mountain to help Nishu fight the bear. The young Beta shuddered at the memory; thankfully, no one had been fatally injured. He was pretty sure that Nishu had sustained quite a bit of damage, but he had no doubt that the knight would heal.

Refocusing on Dash's explanation and pushing thoughts of bears from his mind, Floki nodded. "It does seem a lot faster than trying to pick your way down the trail," he agreed. He grinned and then added, "But if you don't have good balance, it might not be a good idea. Wildfire would probably fall flat on her face." He chuckled fondly. Wildfire's clumsiness was no secret.

"Would you mind teaching me?" he asked in the next breath.

Dash nodded at Floki's reasoning. No, a wolf with bad balance wouldn't be able to handle sliding themselves down the rock. They would surely begin tumbling with no way to stop themselves. Dash grinned a bit at Floki's joke about Wildfire, though the thought of one of their packmates tumbling down the rock face wasn't quite funny at all.

Dash's expression conveyed his surprise at being asked to teach Floki how to do what he had just done. Uh, sure, he said, standing. But, we do have to take the hard way up. I haven't found a way around that yet, he said with a joking huff. Assuming Floki would follow, Dash made his way back up to the top of the cliff.

When he got there, he stopped, looking down where he had landed, then turned to his Beta. So, um, he began a little hesitantly. You basically have to find your balance point, depending on the steepness of the slide. If you lean too much toward the rock, you end up sliding down on your side. Lean too far away and you'll start to tumble down, he explained. Although, from personal experience, it's better to end up sliding down on your side, since you can partially control that and help yourself land on your feet, he added.

I'll go first and show you how I do it, then you can try. I'll be waiting at the bottom,he added. If anything went wrong, Dash would do his best to break Floki's landing. Lining himself up to the ledge, Dash started his decent. Since he had slid down this particular face a couple times now, he mostly did it with ease, landing on his paws easily. He looked back up at Floki, Your turn, he hollered up.

Floki wasn't opposed to clambering back up the mountainside with Dash. He fell into step behind his companion without protest, following Dash's black tail until they reached their destination. Once there, he angled his ears towards the subordinate, listening attentively as he gave instructions. It sounded like it would be tricky at first; now he understood why Dash was practicing. Rock sliding wasn't something that could be perfected on a whim.

"Okay," he said, giving a nod of his head to show that he understood what he had been told. "Don't lean too close or too far from the slope, but it's okay to go on your side," he murmured even as Dash took his leave. He watched as the other wolf expertly whizzed down the slope, landing on his feet and making it look easy as pie.

"Here I go," he called, then crept to the edge. He took a deep breath, then stepped out. It was a strange sensation at first, almost like falling, but the grinding of the rocks beneath his paws was jarring. Instinctively, he leaned forward, over-compensating his balance, and very nearly went head over heels. He quickly corrected himself, however the movement was much too sudden and sent him back onto his haunches. It wasn't the most graceful maneuver, but he did manage to make it to the bottom without completely falling over. "Whoa!" he said as he rolled to a stop, tumbling gently onto his side. "That was...interesting," he laughed.

Floki seemed to understand Dash's directions, and so Dash went down first, showing him how he did it. When he landed, he looked up, positioning himself so that if Floki ended up leaning too far away from the rock and falling, Dash could try to use his own body to soften the fall. He couldn't very well let the newly appointed Beta get injured, after all. He would never forgive himself.

Dash's heart skipped a beat as it almost looked like Floki would begin to tumble. However, the other male quickly corrected himself, maybe over-corrected. He ended up sliding on his haunches- a much better alternative to rolling down the rock face. He landed on the ground, rolling onto his side, and Dash immediately went to him, almost needing proof that his pack mate was alright. Though, by Floki's laughter, he did seem to be fine. Dash gave a huff/chuckle, Not bad for your first time. I've taken a couple of tumbles, he admitted. He had been lucky that he hadn't been very injured, just a bit bruised, and he had learned quickly how to not make those mistakes again.

Just be careful of which cliffs you do this with. Ones that are too steep won't allow you to slide, you'll just end up tumbling down, or falling outright, he advised, in case Floki had any thoughts of trying this on his own later.

Floki gathered his paws beneath him and stood. It hadn't been so bad, but he was glad to know that it had taken Dash some time to perfect his method. The older male advised him to take precautions if he chose to try it on his own, and Floki nodded. He wouldn't be taking any unnecessary risks.

"Thanks for showing me," he said, still a little breathless from the exhilaration of veritably free-falling down the mountainside. He looked up to the ledge where they had started; he didn't really want to climb all the way back up there just to try it again. Instead, he asked conversationally, "How have you been? You haven't seen any more bears, have you?"

Last post from me, since I'll be retiring Dash.

Dash nodded, a hint of a smile upon his maw as Floki thanked him. No problem, he replied. Floki asked if Dash had seen anymore bears, and the dark male shook his head. No, I haven't seen any signs of any at all, he confirmed, remembering what he had done to the last one. It had been quite a nice meal, if he did say so himself.

Dash hung around Floki a while longer, doing his best to make conversation, though he admitted to himself that he lagged here and there. When their conversation seemed to come to an end, Dash made his leave, seeking out his den for a little rest before resuming his pack duties.