Jade Fern Grove we're doing just fine

I'm not sure if she should head for BCV, EH, or SCC, so this is sort of a free-for-all.

 

The aging creature lurked within the forest, and had done so for a number of days now, trying to acclimate. This space was so different from her usual habitat—so very crowded, and much warmer. Ningiok had decided within hours of her arrival that this place wasn't nearly as beautiful as the north, but it would do. Perhaps it was this difference that lured her out of her world and in to this place of plenty. She lurked among the trees as if in wait of something—a startled hare for lunch, another spontaneous snowfall, or perhaps one of her sister's beloved spirits.

Talos was sort of kicking along through the fading greenery, taking out some of her sulky temper upon the innocent plant matter cushioning the ground everywhere that wasn't able to fight back. It wasn't entirely satisfactory, though. Stupid ferns. Stupid moss. Stupid everything! Talso aimed a particularly vicious kick at one extra-lush fern, and then bit back a little yelp of indignation as her foot collided with a rock on the way toward it. It didn't really hurt all that much, but the little sting and slight hobbling of her steps for the moment did nothing to sweeten her disposition. Talos flattened her fuzzy black ears against her skull and stumped grumpily onward. She hadn't limped very far before a sudden much-stronger scent slapped her in the face and jerked her head upright. Her silvern eyes glittered with something akin to indignation as she turned and clomped straight toward its source. This stranger wasn't really on Swiftcurrent turf, but Talos very swiftly decided in her mind that taking out some of her high dudgeon on them was quite within the bounds of acceptability, seeing as she was near...ish...to Swiftcurrent Creek—and, more important, Talos really wanted to right at the moment.

'Ey! she barked with authority, her fur puffing up automatically to make her already-bulky young frame larger yet. 'Oo're you?! An' wha' are y'doin' 'ere?! Matter of fact the snowy-furred female didn't seem to be doing much of anything as she lurked about under the canopy of the spindly trees, which was actually kind of a pity... on some level Talos wouldn't've minded a bit of excitment to distract her from her tender rock-bitten toe and foul temper. But shouting at the stranger might do instead, in a pinch; Talos felt a teeny bit better already, riding high on her sparking anger and feeling like maybe this, at least, was a situation she might be able to sieze a modicum of control in, with so much else in her life spinning awry at the moment.

Great Unga's ghost—! She thought, when the voice first struck the air. The racket that crescendoed through the trees was enough to set her hair on-edge, and her teeth set in an exposed scowl the likes of which her grown children knew to fear. The voice was young and it was loud, both of which Ningiok had little patience for. More importantly, it was a shrieking sound filled with demands and phrases she did not recognize. It would transpire that the northerner's first encounter was with a child that couldn't speak her language. She had been minding her own business when the screeching of the gull-child spasmed through the wood, and now she was creeping out from a darkened pathway to seek the carrier.

Whatever they were harping about, Ningiok wished they would just stop. With a bold lurch around some weathered trees she slunk through some withered fern growth and with some crunching steps, stopped just shy of where the voice originated. It was a soot-sprite of some kind; a darkly robed youngster that might've earned some of Ningiok's limited compassion had the situation been any different, but instead was met by the fierce but tired glare of the old woman.

She huffed through her teeth, Ilorraallannarpoq. She knew in her heart that this child would not understand, so she made sure to reach with snapping teeth after them. There was no intent to do real harm (and in fact, the youngster was too far away to be caught by her fangs) but she snapped at the air all the same, a definitive warning that all wolf-kind could understand. Stop with the screaming, she would've said had she the ability.

The ghostly form swooped out from the shadowy recesses of the woods and around the intervening tree trunks with surprising swiftness and grace, though the ghostliness aspect was somewhat spoiled by the dry crackle of the leaves beneath her shining white paws. Talos was a little taken aback, and then even more so as the other's reply came with merciless directness and zero hesitation.

Talos physically leaned back a little from the flash of teeth and the bizarre noise that accompanied them—"ilorrwraughnannerpogwash" what?! Not a single syllable of the growly pseudoword she'd struggled to catch made sense—not that Talos had much of a leg to stand on in accusing anyone else of unintelligibility, but still. Her silvery eyes were as wide and round as the full moon. Her brow scrunched together, and her open mouth worked silently for a moment before at last she managed a slightly-garbled: W-what?

Talos stared at her bone-white elder for a long moment, trying to figure out if it might be brain damage or something or perhaps even deliberate obtuseness on the other's part, trying to throw her off her guard. Talos had never heard any language anything like this one, after all... and the notion that this might be some sort of deliberate ploy snapped her back on her guard, though still somewhat shaken. (It had shaken her right out of her absorption in her own problems, at least, however—her stinging foot, for one, was now entirely forgotten about, though half-hanging folornly in the air still as she stood there trying to make sense of this stranger.) Her voice was at a somewhat lower register and modulated by some measure of returning rationality, but still rather unreasonably peevish as she demanded in irritation: Issat suppos'ta mean somethin' t'me?! 'Cause ih don'!

On some level Talos was aware she was already out of her league, here—but she stubbornly didn't want to just back down. Particularly if this creature might be here to test their borders or her mettle. Talos wasn't sure she wanted to rejoin her pack anytime soon, but really, it was a matter of principle as she informed the other that, Yer rai' near Swif'curren's bor'ers y'know, 'n' we don' let jus' any stranger go wanderin' 'cross! She scuffed her back legs behind her a little, one after the other, almost as if she had just marked one of those aforementioned borders. So there. Yeah, that'd show her...right? Talos did keep herself warily back just out of bite-range just in case this somewhat intimidating old lady got any further bright ideas, though. She did not wanna go running home to Mommy with a big new bitemark on her...particularly since Talos was very doubtful that at the moment there would indeed be a Mommy sitting there to be running home to. The reminder made her want to tear up as her throat tried to close, but the youngster tried to fight the feeling back by clinging grimly to her anger, despite it burning itself down now to more of a sullen spark. Nonetheless she was almost pouting now as she gazed at the would-be intruder. Her first real confrontation and defense of the packlands here, and it didn't seem to be going nearly as well as she'd've liked...why wasn't this stranger more impressed, dangit?!