Qeya River here come the church mice trying too hard

— open for anyone.

Mid-morning came and by then, Mojave had already set off to explore the surrounding area from the pack. She figured it would do her good to know at least some of the landmarks around the place, though whether or not that was true she hadn't the faintest idea. This region was different from her prior home, more like the home she was begun to let go of in her first year of life. Open valley and fields, dotting with forestry and pinched and puckered with mountain ranges as far as her eyes could tell. It wasn't dense with forestry like the Lore had been, which she found she missed. A bit more forestry would have done some good with the summery warmth already beating down on them. It may not have done a lot of good for the humidity (spoiler, it would have more than likely) but at least she would have had to contend with the heat smothering her.

When the natural landscape dipped towards water, she was drawn in towards it without question or hesitation. A drink would do her some good, maybe even enough to stop and pause and rest some weary feet that had long been on the road for many weeks. She didn't plan on going too much further than that anyway, not without giving some sort of notice about what she was doing. Last thing she wanted to do was going wandering for a bit and end up coming back to meet the unhappy mouths of angry not-so-known packmates up in arms about where she had disappeared off to.

Stretching out her limbs as she sidled up on the damp bank of the river, the milk-and-honey she-wolf licked her lips with anticipation. At least here, she didn't feel the oppression the heat was wont to give off. The shade from the glacial region above helped some and as she quickly discovered with a sure lap of the water — it was cold. Bitterly cold. Mojave jerked back from the shoreline, breathing out shakily at what was the latest shock of her life that week.

iron & wine, "sundown (back in the briars)".

hope you don't mind if I hop in! :>

Sasha had wandered far. Very far. It wasn't like she was pursuing the scout trade, though it was starting to feel as so. Worry gnawed at her gut -- was she needed back at the Caldera? She shook her head, assuming she'd figure out once she got back. Despite the dread of what she was missing back in Redhawk, she was enjoying the colder regions of the land. Not only was it devastatingly hot, but she had grown fond of the mountains over her years roaming as a loner. Her thick, wooly coat was not built for living near a volcano, that was for certain. The girl started to wonder why she chose a pack that clashed with all of her preferences. Growing up as a viking of the north didn't help her situation either. Oh well, maybe all this change was good for her.

The land sloped in towards a body of water, causing a sigh of relief to escape her lips. She not only felt like a sheep caught in a desert, but was also extremely thirsty on top of that. Without a second thought, Sasha trotted briskly towards the water, taking a few laps of the freezing cold liquid. She was used to it at the very least -- growing up she would often have shards of ice stuck to her tongue. Still, it was surprisingly cold in contrast to the heat, causing her to recoil when her tongue touched the water.

She lay down on the riverbank, watching the cold water rise and recede to and from the shore. For a moment, the viking was almost lulled to sleep. Of course, she couldn't help but notice another form on the other side of the riverbank, a bit further away from the water than she. She got up, shakily. Admittedly shy, the girl spent a bit too long deciding on the exact words she would use to introduce herself. Hopefully this other wolf was nice.

Sasha managed to force out a soft "Hello?" to the wolf on the other side. She prayed that this unfamiliar face was friendly -- she couldn't fight for crap if the odds happened to be against her.

nope, no issues with me! i am a wee bit tired so pls forgive any nonsensical sentences.

A cold chill ran its course through her, sending an unseasonable shiver along her spine. But the drink had been worth it, even if she wasn't so keen on trying it again immediately. No, there'd have to be some working up to it for it to happen again, at least from that part of the stream. Instead, Mojave geared up to follow it downstream just a touch, drawing in the sights where the glacial ridge melded with the valley below. It was a picturesque view unlike any other she had seen, though she had been making that claim to herself for days. Maybe, just maybe, she was getting a bit more used to the world without the dense cover of forest to blot out the finer details she would have otherwise missed.

And as her gaze wandered, she completely missed the rise of another that was resting along the riverbank. She didn't miss their soft call, though, and her gilded gaze snapped to the she-wolf's form swiftly. Haltingly she paused, one foot awkwardly in the air mid-step for just a moment. "Oh, hey," she called out, not unlike one who was running into someone they didn't want to see. But it wasn't like that at all; a lopsided grin broke onto her face as she laughed at her own fortune.

"Man, if you'd been a snake or something, I guess you would have bit me! I didn't even see you there!" And if she had been a snake, well, she wouldn't have quite been able to bite over the span of a river... ah, whatever, it was too late to try and amend that now. At least she thought. "Isn't this water freezing? It's so weird!" Her attempt to make up for the lame reference was only met with another—of course the water was going to be cold, it came down from a freaking block of ice.

You tried, Mojave. You tried.

no worries!

Sasha had to restrain herself from jumping when her presence was noticed by the other wolf. A she-wolf, now that she got a better look. Obviously this wolf wasn't hostile, proven by her cheery grin followed by a friendly laugh. "Hello," she responded, icelandic accent notable although she had only spoken one word. 

She couldn't help but smile when the other girl compared her to a snake. "If I were snake, I would be stepped on," she spoke, trying to sound light and funny, in a casual way. It was hard to do that when she had to think the words over in her head to make sure they made sense. The viking woman was thankful for the she-wolf's humorous personality -- it made her feel at ease. If this wolf had wanted a fight, she could just imagine her dead body floating down the river.

"Yes. Water is very cold," she agreed, nodding her head. "But I come from north, very far. I am used to it, or I was. Living down here in this heat makes anything cold seem shocking." Her wooly fur made it feel like she was simmering under the heat.

"Where do you come from?" Sasha asked, tilting her head to the side. She couldn't recognize the scent of this wolf, and was curious as to where she came from, assuming she wasn't a loner.

This time when the she-wolf spoke, it was at length, and Mojave instantly picked up on her accent. It was a strange sort of thing, almost stilted in the way it was structured. But to her, it was a captivating sort of thing that reeled her in. It was wonderful, for being so different. She listened to those words as they dropped in and off, and the smile remained on her face.

"Yeah, I figured as hot as it was down here the water wouldn't be so stupid cold," Mojave interjected to agree, only pushing ahead when a question came up. Where had she come from? Well, it was a story. "But I don't really come from anywhere. I mean, the last place I lived in was up north, but not like... way north. It was cooler there, sure, but I mean... it wasn't like snowy all the time or whatever." She couldn't have pinpointed it even if they had been anthropomorphic had a map sprawled out on the ground between them.

"I, uh, I like to wander around, you know?" She laughed as though it would break the sudden surge of awkwardness that came back to her. It didn't, it only sounded nervous to her ears. "There's lots of neat stuff to see in the world and I wanna see it all. But what about you? Have you lived around here long?" She assumed that since the she-wolf was hanging around the river, she must have lived somewhere near it. Maybe there was another pack further down it. Maybe Thuringwethil didn't know about it, since Mojave was certain she had gone in the opposite direction from where heda had pointed out not to go.

Maybe not, though. Who knew.

sorry if this post doesn't make sense--I'm on mobile :")

She listened to the she-wolf speak with genuine interest, nodding her head in agreement. Sasha was about to ask what "stupid cold" meant but realized she'd rather keep that question to herself. Again, she listened as the other wolf talked, not minding the sound of her voice. Sasha herself wished that one day she would be able to speak with such eloquence. She picked up on the she-wolf's words, opening her mouth to respond."I came from cold place as well. It was...snowy, though," she added. In fact, it was extremely cold. She wasn't intent on delving into her past, but she felt the need to explain a few things.

"I came from up north. I was like a...how do you call it?" She pondered the last bit aloud. A viking, I suppose, Sasha concluded, motioning to her wooly pelt. It appeared that the she-wolf was a traveler of some sort--the type of life Sasha had lived before joining a pack. 

"I joined the pack called Redhawk Caldera, so it is a long walk from here." The name of the pack rolled off her tongue with little difficulty--she was getting adjusted to its atmosphere. Sasha glanced at the she-wolf with newfound interest, trying to figure out where she came from. Sasha couldn't recognize   any scents, so she decided to ask what had been on her mind.

"Do you belong to a pack?" she queried, waiting patiently for a response.

no worries! i post from mobile often myself. :)

She listened with rapt attention, once more doting on those sweet little words that came with that sweet little accent. This, she thought, this was why she wanted to go all over the place. There were so many interesting things out there to experience. If she had just holed herself up with the others on that squat little volcano mountain thing, well, she'd have missed this opportunity.

"What's a viking?" she found herself asking in lieu of saying where she was from, though that was coming still. "And, uh, yeah, I'm staying with some folks right now. They live up kind on the other side of this big ice cube thing," she said, gesturing at the glacier. Not the best directions, but it was something. And so far, things didn't seem too bad there. She had been fortunate enough not to have to deal with the unpleasantry of others.

"Where's the caldera? I mean, what is it, too."

She raised a brow, expecting the term "viking" to be more of a familiar word to the she-wolf. She had heard it in use before, though loosely at that. "A viking is..." Sasha had to stop herself from stuttering, since she wasn't quite sure how to describe it herself. "It is someone who is from the north." She skipped out on mentioning their brutal tendencies and brash traditions. "That is all I know." Heat pricked underneath her skin. She called herself a viking, but she couldn't really come of with a definition for the term. How embarrassing.

Mojave started speaking again, and Sasha gratefully drank in her words, eager to leave her stumbling mess of an explanation behind. "Oh, it must be very cold then." The mass of ice looked sheer, making Sasha feel insignificant in comparison. "Maybe I will stop by some time," the girl offered a warm smile. The fact that not all packs were grateful for uninvited guests was something she had yet to learn.

Her ears pricked forward again at the she-wolf's query. "All I know is that the Caldera is much hotter. On a volcano...or near it," she explained, pausing a few times in between words. "Getting into the pack was very frightening. I feel I only got in because it was the right time for my skills to be of use." The she-wolf chuckled lightly. "I am no good at fighting. Very bad," Sasha added with a small shrug. Her alpha seemed to be the type that valued fighting over counseling-type skills, but she wasn't one to trust her assumptions.

The explanation of what a viking was... was lacking. But it didn't really dampen Mojave's spirits; she wondered instead if she had maybe asked a question she wasn't supposed to. It had been in her experience that lack of information often implied a desire not to share, and if that was the case then she thought it best they speedily pushed along. Plus, given that her new found company seemed a touch awkward to explain things, she picked up on the note of embarrassment. All the more reason to push ahead.

"It's not really super cold or anything there," she said with a roll of her shoulders. "I mean, there's geysers all over the place. Not a lot of trees, kind of barren really. We still feel some of the heat, but it's definitely warmer here than it is up there." There was a volcano too, but Mojave hadn't quite recalled it yet. In truth she didn't really find the territory to be as pretty as she had hoped, but it was very utilitarian by design. She hadn't explored it in depth either, far too eager to venture out and see what else lied nearby.

"But... why would you stay somewhere if it was frightening? I mean, trying to join them and all. If I'm understand what you said right," she went on to say, her voice dropping its jovial tone for one that had much more honed interest. Was the Caldera somewhere to avoid, wherever it was? Mojave already gleaned that they must have been more fighting-based, but maybe that spoke something to the area they were in. She was no stranger to the brawls between others, certainly not even for herself... but for a whole pack to be that way, well...

Her explanation of the pack was interesting, if not slightly perplexing. Sasha had expected it to be cold, but from the description, it wasn't too bad at all. "Geysers?" She tilted her head slightly, never having heard of it; much less stumbled across one. She listened, nodding in agreement as the she-wolf described the temperature. It made sense, seeing that she lived behind a "big ice cube thing."

Her ears pressed forward at the girl's next question, tone noteably more interested. "Everywhere new is frightening. And everything is new to me," she stated simply, hoping her message got across. The majority of things here were unfamiliar to Sasha, and she just so happened to be the faint-at-heart. "Things are scary at first, but once you get used to it, it is ok," she added tentatively.

"I had spent so much time roaming with a friend of mine. It is time for me to roam with more than one," Sasha hinted at her past life, spent predominantly as a runaway from her previous pack. If the time presented itself, she would let a few things slide about her past, though she doubted it so.

Mojave understood that, the need to roam with more than just herself to keep company with. Packs had their benefits, she wasn't about to deny that much. Finding one that was worth capturing her loyalty for even a moment was not yet a feat, and probably because she put her own survival as a priority. Chances were, that was simply how it was going to be, at least for now, and until those priorities had a chance to reevaluate themselves. Even on that note, it would have seemed that she missed part of the message that the viking gave. It wasn't so much the pack that was scary, but rather the experience. She understood it as well, and nodded to convey as much.

"Geysers are like these holes in the ground, but not always holes, and they shoot steam out of them," she went on to say, almost bypassing the question that had been asked. Her explanation started off rocky, to say the least. How had Portia explained it? "And the steam is really hot, like... melt the fur off you off. They're kind of neat, though." A haphazard smile flitted across her features then; she knew her description wasn't the best.

Sasha listened, trying to decipher Mojave's description of a geyser. Thankfully, it wasn't an elaborate explanation -- almost on par with Sasha's definition of a viking. She smiled. Her grin turned to surprise as the she-wolf described the not-so-pleasent aspects of a geyser, like the parts where they could presumably "melt off one's fur". She shuddered, not even wanting to think of something like that.

"I was about to ask if you could show me one....but now, I'm not so sure," Sasha admitted with a small laugh. The curious side of her really wanted to see one, since a "hole in the ground" provided some visuals but not enough. However, the other side of her didn't want to risk possibly dying. Eventually, the curious side of her won over somehow, causing the girl to blurt out a question.

"Actually, do you know of any geysers around here? I was wondering if we could visit one." She paused. "Or just me, if you are busy with your pack things," she added, not knowing if the she-wolf's scouting trip was strictly planned out from start to finish.

sorry for the delay, work/life is chewing me up right now

Mojave wished she could have given her a better idea of what geysers really looked like. She had tried to get up close, tried being the operative word here, but had been stopped. With good reason, at that, as she didn't wish to entirely partake in the horrific experience of melting off her face. And her fur. And probably other things.

But at the question that her new found companion had posed, the best she could do at first was offer a drawn out hmm. "I don't know," she said with a cant of her head, but she was hardly deterred. "We could go looking for one, maybe? There's bound to be something around here that's cool enough to see," and preferably, one that didn't require them going back towards a pack. She doubted Thuringwethil would have appreciated visitors; instinct told her it wasn't the wisest decision she could make. Her eyes scanned the horizon beyond them.

"What do you think?" came her final prompt, this time with wandering eyes to Sasha.

no worries! school has just started for me so I get the whole work overload thing

Sasha waited patiently for a response, listening as the girl seemed to dwell on her question. The response she gave was certainly acceptable, as she didn't mind going to look for a geyser at all. In fact, it sounded like it would be fun. "I will look with you, we will find something," she said, eyes glinting. She was excited partially because she would be able to spend a bit more time with her new friend and soon to be hiking buddy. She had never imagined herself befriending someone from a different pack, so her close bond with Mojave was valued.

"I think it sounds like a wonderful idea," she smiled, glancing at the tawny girl with warm eyes. "I'm ready to go when you are."

yeaaah, it eats me frequently from time to time

When Sasha agreed to go exploring with her, Mojave eagerly crossed the water to join her on the other side. Of course that in itself was a bit of a feat, since a river was without a doubt still a river, but she made easy work of it where the shallows would let her. A bubble energy took her by storm at that point—she was just as ready to see what they would find as she was to have company in doing so.

"Which way do you want to go first?"

Mojave navigated the river with ease, and Sasha couldn't help but admire that. Sure, she could swim decently, but at the same time she doubted it would look as graceful as what she just witnessed. She stepped in tentatively, feeling the shallow current tug and pull at her fur. With only a few mishaps she had managed to make it to the other side.

She met up with Mojave, who asked her where she wanted to head first. Truthfully, she had no idea where she wanted to go first -- there were so many options. Sasha spotted what she assumed to be a geyser in the distance, her eyes lighting up. "Let us go there," she beamed, gesturing toward the distant landmark.

sorry for the delay!

Sasha picked out their venue easily, and Mojave nodded her head with enthusiasm.

So off they went, towards their perceived geyser, their diamond in the rough in the distance. Travelling was certainly much more fun with company, she could attest, even if the journey was just a short jaunt away to somewhere else. Perhaps from there, they'd see other things that would catch their eye—at least that was the hope that Mojave had for their venture.

"So how far away is your home? You said it was a long walk away, but like, how far?"