Moonspear won't you stay till the am?

AW!! but hoping for a catch-up thread with the wonderful @Floki <3

it had been a hot minute since the pale wolf had seen her Moonspearian friend, and she had almost forgotten how much she had enjoyed his presence. Floki was laid back and cool, but he was also fun and a good conversationalist. she found a similar friend in Constantine, both polar-opposites of Casmir. 

she wandered the territory now, doing her best to learn the ways of the land. by now, Aria could walk Donnelaith with her eyes closed-- she knew every nook-and-cranny and every tree that sprouted from the ground. Moonspear was not Donnelaith, and she found herself getting lost every now and then. she'd yet to make a den, the ground was too cold and there hadn't been a warm day to try yet, so for now she merely looked for an ideal spot, and doing her damnedest not to get lost.

"Aria!"

Floki's voice bounced off the mountainside, returning to him quickly in the crisp air. He had spotted his pale-coated friend from a distance and was now moving to close the gap, his paws working skillfully over the uneven terrain. He could hardly remember a day when he hadn't been confident making his way around Moonspear.

The young Beta had intended to acquaint Aria with his home soon after her arrival, but somehow the days had slipped away. Surely she had been spending time with Constantine and Eilidh, so maybe it wasn't a bad thing that he hadn't pulled her away from them until they were more comfortable with their new residence. "Are you settling in okay?" he asked as he maneuvered alongside her. He grinned, then quipped, "The mountain looks good on you."

her attention was stolen from her task (or maybe lack there of) when her name was called. her ears perked and she turned to see the tan-legged male as he began to move towards her. he moved so well on the mountain-- and while Aria liked to think that she was well-adapted to most terrains, it'd been a while since she'd spent a lot of time in the mountains. 

"hey!" she chirped, tail waving as nudged his cheek. her nose scrunched up slightly at his joke, ears pivoting as she looked him over. "you think so?" she asked, glancing to her flank before focusing back on Floki. she sat, hoping he would too. the pale girl didn't really have much to do today besides map the territory, and that couldn't be done in a day anyway. "how've you been?" she asked him, "it's been so long."

He grinned. "Yes," he replied without hesitation. Aria was beautiful, but there was something even more breathtaking about seeing her with his mountain as the backdrop. His feelings about her were complicated; he didn't know her all that well, truthfully, despite having traveled with her on multiple occasions. But there was something about her that intrigued him, especially now that she had shown up unexpectedly on his doorstep.

Floki fell into step alongside her, enjoying the relaxing pace and the winter's cool breath upon his neck. "I've been good. How about you? How do you like Moonspear?" he asked, casting a sidelong glance at his companion. "I'm glad you're here," he commented in the next breath, lips twitching into a smile.

"i'm certainly a stranger to it," she said with a shrug, studying something off in the distance. "i grew up in a forest, left and lived in the forest, lead in a forest... and now i'm on a mountain," she added, smiling. Aria had spent all of her life on flat-land-- and even though the cold weather was no stranger to her, the height change surely was a change in lifestyle. her gaze fell back on Floki, looking him over for a moment. it was then that she was reminded he was not born in the mountains, though she wasn't sure where he grew up. 

"a pack moved into stavenger bay," she then said, curious what he'd think of that.

He nodded his agreement. Getting used to the mountain had taken him some time as well, after hailing from the much flatter terrain of the coast. "You'll get used to it," he said confidently. His ears perked at the mention of Stavanger Bay, and he frowned. He knew about the pack that now claimed his birthplace, but hadn't visited there himself in quite some time. In some ways, he had let go of Stavanger Bay, although there was still some bitterness buried deep inside him at the fact that someone else had taken what had formerly been Ragnar's -- and by extension, his.

"I know," he said, shaking his head slightly. "Do you know anything about the pack that lives there?" he asked, recalling that Donnelaith was quite close to the bay.

Aria shrugged, frowning a bit. "they didn't seem bad..." she began, sighing softly, "but i was not their biggest fan." she shifted, rolling her shoulders and focusing on Floki for a moment. "they plopped themselves down right on our borders and made allies with a pup in our pack, rather than me, and some of their wolves came to our borders and expected passages to their territory and medicine from our caches and--" she paused, smiling weakly and shaking her head.

"they left a bad taste in my mouth," she said finally, biting a cheek. 

I'm such a slowpoke these days, sorry!

Floki's frown deepened as Aria started to explain the complicated relationship between Donnelaith and the new wolves of Stavanger Bay. She spoke emphatically before cutting herself off sheepishly and announcing that they simply had rubbed her the wrong way. But to Floki, it sounded like this pack had it all wrong -- forging an alliance with a youth, and then expecting to be allowed free roam of someone else's territory?

"They sound...weird," he said, wrinkling his nose. He had half a mind to go do some investigating on his own -- and maybe recruit Kjalarr to join him -- but he knew that his brother was busy with a new leadership position and puppies on the way. And it seemed that he had made peace with the loss of Stavanger Bay; maybe it was time for Floki to do the same. "Well, I'm sorry it ended that way. But, hey, you picked a great place to live now," he teased with a smile.

He stepped away from her, shifting like he was going to start climbing the mountain, and looked back at her. "Want to do some exploring? I can show you around," he invited.

no worries <3

 

she shrugged. "oh well," she said with a small smile. his next comment made the pale theta smile a bit wider, more genuinely, and she laughed. "whaaaat?" she teased, "this old place?" it was a joke though, clearly, Moonspear clearly was a wonderful place. his offer to explore was met with an eager nod, her white gaze finding his and her paws trailing quickly behind him. 

"let's go, captain," Aria replied, bowing playfully for him to lead the way. 

He grinned and started to lead the way, picking his way up a familiar trail that traced its way up the side of the mountain. "You have to be careful in winter, because it gets pretty slippery," Floki said over his shoulder, glancing back at Aria. Surely that was common knowledge, but he mentioned it anyway. "Now that we've been here over a year, though, there are some pretty well-worn paths that should be safe, even when it's icy."

Wending his way up to a ledge that overlooked the valley, he paused, his back to the slope. "And there are lots of breathtaking views like this one," he said, gazing out over the frosty landscape. The height and prowess of the mountain was what he loved; it was hard not to feel powerful while taking in one's surroundings from such a vantage point.

"you've been here that long?" Aria asked, but truthfully wasn't that surprised. Donnelaith had been around a hot minute, and she'd been there around the beginning as well... it was shockingly easy to simply remain somewhere for a while-- ironically enough, seeing she'd left. 

her gaze followed his, and the girl looked out over the mountains at the view Floki gestured to, her ears cupping forward. she bit her lip, holding back a response about the sentinels, and how gorgeous the trees looked in the peak of summer, when all the greens so beautifully combined to make a shady canopy in what seemed like miles above her. the mountains were pretty, sure, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't grow partial to the flat, foresty terrain. "you're right," she murmured anyway, falling back to silence for a moment before glancing back to him, "how does it look not covered in snow?" 

"Just over a year," Floki replied. It was hard to believe that time had passed so quickly -- and yet, at the same time, it felt like he had lived on Moonspear forever. He and Amekaze and Charon -- and the rest of their family and friends who were no longer currently with them -- had laid claim to the mountain in the late fall, just before winter's descent.

He swept his gaze out over the picturesque view, admiring the way everything seemed to be frozen in place by the cold. "It looks alive without the snow. Green and bright," he said. The frigid weather provided its own beauty, but there was no denying the life that seemed to spring forth from the valley during the spring. Turning to look at Aria, he asked, "How do Constantine and Eilidh like it here?"

"wow," Aria said softly, but then again, if she'd remained in Donnelaith it'd be about a year today since she'd arrived. that also meant she was two years old,  which agitated her just a bit. if Lasher could've held on just a few months longer... things could've been different. she wasn't sure if it was a good different or a bad different, but it certainly would've been different. she pushed the thoughts away and focused back on the mountains.

"i look forward to seeing it," she replied, smiling at the male and wagging her tail slowly.

his next question caught her off guard, because she really didn't know. "Eilidh has not been herself lately... i'm not sure she's enjoyed much of anything," she said with a flick of her ears, "and Constantine was not thrilled that we could not find the resources for our own pack... but the season was too much and we both knew it would've ended poorly had we stayed on our own... but i think he'll adjust quickly." she wasn't sure if that sold her friends out as totally hating it here, because that's not what she meant, but she somehow felt that she was the only wolf who thoroughly wanted to join the Moonspear wolves.

Aria's words gave Floki hope that she would see Moonspear as her home, rather than just a temporary place to stay. If she made it until spring, he suspected that she would remain into summer -- and perhaps beyond. He didn't know if Constantine and Eilidh would hang around -- and, if he was honest with himself, he didn't much care -- but he very much liked having Aria nearby.

Speaking of her friends, she replied to Floki's question with honesty. Something in particular that she said caught his attention: that she and Constantine had initially hoped to found their own pack, before realizing that it would be nearly impossible to do with winter swiftly approaching. Hung up on that detail, Floki said, "So...you and Constantine wanted to start a pack?" Together? he thought, wondering if he had missed something when analyzing Aria's relationship with Constantine -- they had seemed like just friends, but maybe that wasn't the case. He couldn't help but feel jealous, however unnecessary it was; after all, Aria was just his friend too, right?

ack! sorry for the delay. fading here <3

aria shrugged. "we wanted to go somewhere else... donnelaith had changed and... it just wasn't the same as it used to be. constantine was my beta, and he agreed, so he followed. we would've led together-- i suppose," she replied, her shoulders dropping when she finished talking. it was sort of disappointing to think about, how much they'd gone through and how excited they'd both been for the big move... but it was expected. she shook her head and gave him a sad smile. "it's not important. this is somewhere i'm supposed to be... i can feel it," she added.

with a wave of her tail, the pale girl fell into a bow, leaping and nipping at the beta's shoulders playfully. "i don't wanna talk about this-- we can catch up later!" she yipped, raising an eyebrow. playing was far more fun, and far less emotionally taxing (rip all of aria's hopes and dreams). floki seemed to agree, for his lips parted in a smile and a loll of his tongue and he took the bait! carefully, aria tore away on the mountain, and the two romped happily and without much worry for the rest of the afternoon.