Duskfire Glacier the cellar door is an open throat

@Mirabelle <3 i hope this location is ok? i can change it if need be!

following his... conversation with samaantine, samothes takes to the wilds once more, searching for some truth inside himself that maybe he doesn't have. what's holding him to the creek? he's not seen thelxiope in weeks, constantine is busy with fatherhood -- respectable but offers little for him. his loyalty is a little misguided, he's realising. it's just... constantine's burgeoning claim had been the first thing for him to latch onto after leaving his childhood home, when he needed to prove to himself that he was capable of greatness in the way he knew. 

without the spectre of winter hanging over him, and without that original drive, there's nothing tethering him. is that a sign to leave? or is that -- giving up, again, running away? irrationally he misses ----, and then hates himself for it. perhaps alarian will be out today -- for once, samothes is the one with a need to vent (ha!).  but the glacier bears no familiar scent. sighing, the messeda boy leans into the ice, watching the trickle of water as the warm day leads it toward the lake, and wonders what his next step should be.

you're fine!~ i've been busybusy

she had stayed behind at the glacier (although to tell the truth, had more or less called sunset valley her home).  occasionally she would patrol, or hunt, and she'd found a rather large cavern that would do well to act as a cache.  when wanderlust gripped her bones, she would travel away, but she had not yet gone back to see etoille.

she would wait until they were founded, to come up with.. an explanation.  for she feared she would not fit at his drageda, but she had been quick to agree to stay with the northern siblings (because they were so near to him).  decisions, decisions.

thoughts that were interrupted as she came across a stranger on her patrol.  greetings, she offers, what brings you here?

youre good <3

his rumination is interrupted by a strange voice; he turns, taking in the woman's appearance with a slow sweeping glance. "oh, just wandering," samothes answers at length, adopting a casual tone, "looking for -- a distraction, i suppose." it occurs to him that there does cling the scent of others to the ice, dismissed originally as wolves going about their day, but now he wonders. "i haven't trespassed on anything, have i?" he asks, recalling the creek's early days -- when it was still ravensblood, when he was still sure of himself -- when it was three in number but fiercely protective of their claim nonetheless.

not yet, she offers with a shrug.  perhaps she should be more aggressive of the northerner's claim, but until it is more than just herself and one other occupying the wide expanse of the glacier, she sees no point in being territorial.  if it's a distraction you're after, this place is full of them.  

SHORT SRRY

not yet? he knows what that implies and yet she seems particularly unbothered by that fact. intriguing. more intriguing, her offer of distractions. "such as..?" samothes prompts, leaning in conspiratorially to learn more.

IT'S OK THIS IS BAD TOO

the glacier itself offers a variety of its own.  we have peaks and icy caverns and forests.  i keep chickens there, in the forest.  at night you can see the aurora light up the sky.  that is to name a few.

tbh i actually prefer v short/dialogue heavy so ehe

boring, boring, bo-- what. "you keep chickens," he repeats, rather incredulously. suddenly he must know more about this. "please tell me more about the chickens." chickens!

what a relief

he was uninterested until she mentioned the chickens, in which he seems to develop some kind of childlike wonder about him.  i keep them in the forest.  they would not do good on the glacier.  i sing to them, like so.

she offers him a sample of her herding call before she continues to explain.  they know i will not hurt them.  so they build their nests, and i take their eggs.

"they would not do good on the glacier," he repeats to himself, a delighted smile curling his mouth. "no, no, i suppose they wouldn't -- sing?" not only does she raise them she sings to them? at least she is getting something out of the arrangement but, but! "why not simply eat them?"

because then you run out of eggs.  it seems obvious, at least to her.  i raise them for their eggs.  they are rich and fat.  we have children here — or at least we will — and they are filling and easy for young ones to eat.  when they get old, or sick, i will cull them.

it is a startlingly well-sound answer, which takes the shine off samothes' vision of her as some strange witch. nonetheless chicken-raising remains a strange hobby, and it's far more interesting than sitting around and moping about the creek or samaantine. "of course," he says, as if he has been on board with her ... situation from the start. "well, that certainly is a distraction. you've enticed me thoroughly. when you say not yet...?"

of course, he supplies naturally, as if what she was doing was any sense of the word normal.  but it made sense — at least to her — and that was good enough, wasn't it?  there are more coming.  a family.  they come from the south, and they have children in tow.  i do not know how long they will be.  but i am waiting here until they arrive.

"a family with children" is not the most exciting thing, truth be told, but he does enjoy an excuse to anticipate.  "think your family will indulge my presence?" he asks with a smirk, assuming the answer already. besides... he wants to try one of these eggs. "i want to try your chicken eggs," he says. is this a dedication? as close as he will come for now.

as long as you do not drain our resources without contributing in turn, i see no reason they would have to turn you away.  she did not yet know exactly how many were coming back with them yet, though; for the moment she assumed it was just takiyok and her family.

i can take you to the chickens, if you would like, as long as you promise to be nice to them.

"by all means," his bemused agreement comes, willing, for now, to abstain from threatening the safety of her flock (and while she seems somewhat of a harmless kook he is not willing to test that theory and be met by tooth and claw -- currently there is only one woman on this earth with the right to steal his life). samothes goes with her, his visitation a symbolic decision. for now.