Cassiopeia's View And I cannot compete with you, Jolene

I never know how to start writing start up threads.. :) AW

She was grumpy as she trotted over Cassiopeia's rise. Her stomach was insistent and a headache had descended over her skull forcing her to close her eyes and suck in her breath. Without patience she expelled a lengthy breath, her tail lashing her flank in annoyance. When she opened her eyes the snowbound glare of white snow and brightly lit rock assaulted her vision. Sharply, the shewolf turned her muzzle away and started to pick her way carefully down the slope.

While the other was coming down, Ness was traveling up. Her pace was decidedly slow, maybe a little lazy, but she did have a purpose behind her steps. The aspiring scout thought an advantageous height would give her a clear view of her directional choices, and she wanted to take the most scenic route she could while she spent her days outside of Moonspear. She certainly didn't want to travel in an unknown direction only to find it was an incredibly boring waste of her time. Bi-colored eyes scanned upwards as her ears picked up on the faint scuffling sound of shifting gravel from somewhere above her. Downwind, she had to rely on her sense of sight and sound to locate the slate-white she-wolf moving down the slopes in her direction.

Unabashedly, Ness carried on towards her, curious as to what kind of company the wolf would be.

thanks for joining!

Pallas ducked under the glare of sunlight. It stung her eyes and the famine-induced headache caused her to wobble quite unsteadily. She had detected the scent of a hare warren just down the slope, but had not yet devised a way to chase them from their harem. As she considered how to best wrench the rodents from their underground lairs a female approached her vision. Pallas tilted her head back and regarded the wolf coldly, wondering what earthly reason would compel her to travel uphill when clearly all the food was at the bottom of it. It seemed the wolf had no intentions of stopping or avoiding her just yet, so Pallas altered her course to intercept her.

The older, chalky female chose a more direct route for Ness, and the girl paused, wagging the tip of her tail amicably. But friendliness was all she had to offer at the moment. As a pack wolf, currently loyal only towards the three leaders of Moonspear, she had no respect for the loner— that didn't mean she wasn't interested, or couldn't be civil. Wasn't one of a scout's duties recruiting? She couldn't recall, but kept the thought in the back of her head as she let the she-wolf approach her. Nose and ears pressed forward interestedly. "Hey. You're a new face," she remarked, though in truth she hadn't seen very many faces int he first place to be making this statement.

They drew up alongside each other, two pearl white wolves with glistening black noses a-twitch. The Stormthorn's hackles along her spine and hip raised as she passed her nose along the other wolf's muzzle (if allowed). Never once did her eyes leave Ness', but there was no aggression in her gaze. She pulled back, her own tail suspended above her hocks. The female seemed pleasant and while Pallas would never trust a stranger, her hunger was slaked enough that she was not entirely miserable company. The she-wolf grunted in reply before asking "You're from here. Where?"

They explored one another freely, both wolves lightly touching in interest while staving any aggression. Ness' tail wagged slowly, snorting when she was satisfied with the knowledge she had obtained from the older she-wolf— well-traveled and alone for some time. The scent of other wolves, if any, were long faded save for passing greetings like this. In a rough, misused voice, she asked where she was from, and the speckled teenager smiled, motioning over her shoulder towards the tallest peak in the range. "Moonspear," she answered readily. "Where you headed?" she asked then, only assuming that she wasn't "from here".

IDK why, but I love the way you write.

Thank you! I love how you write too! Sorry for the wait

Moonspear. That didn't mean much to Pallas. Her gaze trailed past the pearly wolf towards the horizon where various peaks rose from the earth in sawtooth fashion. She hadn't run into any packs yet, but had met plenty of pack wolves. To the she-wolf, this meant the foothills must be littered with them. The stranger's question was met with a somewhat blank stare. Pallas hadn't really decided where she was going. She supposed wherever the food was. A shrug wracked her old shoulders and she spoke. "Headed after food." The reply was succinct and probably disappointing. "What's Moonspear?"

A answer that made sense couldn't be disappointing to a wolf like Ness. She understood the life of a lone wolf, but even more than that, as a girl from the Tundra, she understood hunger. Her days in her homeland had been spent in perpetual starvation; chased by it on a hamster wheel, as she endlessly chased the meals that would keep it from catching her. A vicious cycle that she had only recently eased out of. And this was not to say Ness wasn't prepared to enter it again. It was probably why she traveled so much. But with Moonspear, or maybe just here in Teekon, she had never been less hungry in her entire life.

"That mountain," she motioned again towards her base of operations; "my home, my pack." Not hers, but hers. Ness rolled her eyes as they returned to the marble woman, taking in her hardness with an appreciative bi-colored gaze. "Pack makes you stronger, y'know? You wouldn't have to head after food alone anymore."

Pallas studied the stony formation that Ness had motioned to: it rose in sharp jags, smooth stone punctuated by sharp spires. At its zenith perhaps there was a mesa beyond what the eye could see, and that was where the Moonspear wolves frolicked. She was just guessing -- from her vantage, all she could see was rock.

And rock did not feed the belly. Her gaze returned to Ness as she caught the tail end of a hidden suggestion in her words: or perhaps it was not so hidden, for Ness seemed plainly open when she spoke. "Packs also turn on you, and try to kill you." Pallas responded, the tone in her words suggesting finality. As if that was the end of the discussion, and she would hear no more of it.

"Yeah," Ness chuckled, bouncing her lean shoulders in a quick shrug before she began to resume her own trek. "Being alone can turn on you, too," she called over her shoulder, her pace intent on putting distance between herself and the she-wolf set in her ways. Perhaps the Spear wolf wasn't the recruiter she thought herself, too proud and abrasive to linger long in the company of the obstinate. The speckled girl simply couldn't care to get to know those too different from herself; hopefully something the teenager would grow out of. Without looking back, Ness continued on her way.

Sorry to bounce like this! Hopefully we'll thread in the future <3

No worries! Pm me any time you want to thread

Pallas had not directly anticipated her word would end the conversation, but in a way it was to be expected. The pale wolf watched as the younger pack-wolf turned, her slender form weaving down the foot-worn shale. Pallas did not follow: instead she remained silent and still save for the swish of her tail in the breeze. As Ness departed Pallas was overwhelmingly aware of the truth of her words, but offered no rejoinder.