The Tangle Where we drift and call it dreaming

@Blixen

The sky was crackling with dark energy, making Ephraim feel paranoid about being so close to the sea. Drageda resided atop the cliffs and it would take a gale like none ever known to buffer them up there, but still. Nervous energy sat in his gut like a rock and it wasn't long before he heeded it and headed out into the world beyond the pack's territory, seeking a reprieve from his anxiety.

Twisted trees framed the horizon as he struck out. The ground was frosty and nipped at his inexperienced paw pads, so his gait was a little weird, a high sort of trot that made it seem like he was playing The Ground Is Lava with himself. When the snow began to fall in earnest his paws would grow accustomed to the chill and he would find his stride, but the feeling was new and unwelcome now, and his ears were thrown back in mild exasperation as he stalked along, leaving occasional signs of his passing as he went along in case anyone from Drageda wished to find him.

caiaphas' sudden settlement has put everyone on edge, it seems, though for once blix finds herself relatively unbothered -- is it maturity or immaturity, arrogance or acceptance? hard to tell. she's frustrated, natch, and doesn't trust any of that lot as far as she can throw them, and there's the whole thing with the natrona that blix may or may not be aware of, i don't know, but: artaax is back, drageda is basically invincible as far as she's concerned, and she's still going to lead the new branch. she wants to stay close to nomi still... which means the tangle. ugh.

she'll talk to furi about it first.

so again she's setting out in search of her friend, only this time instead of running into her sort-of enemy, she spots ephraim up ahead. she's never spent much time with ephraim, doesn't know anything about him besides nomi's role in his life as mentor of sorts. curiously she picks up her pace to catch up with him, watching the way he seems to scurry over the icy ground with some amusement. "ephraim," blix calls out, "mind if i join you?"

His unusual trot continued until he was spotted; when Blixen called out to him he stopped dead and instantly flushed. He turned his head and noted that she was walking just fine over the cold ground, seemingly unperturbed by the bite of frost on her toes, whereas his were beginning to ache just from standing still. Teeth chattering lightly, he lifted his muzzle a little haughtily and loudly proclaimed, I was uh practicing a new kind of super awesome walk yeah that's all that was heheheheheh...

Idiot, he sharply berated himself.

What are, uh, what are you up to? he asked, falling in with Blixen and desperately trying to walk normally, though he still felt the need to snatch his paws up off the ground as quickly as possible. He wanted to ask how she was able to step on the ground so easily when it was so cold on their toes, but he was so loathe to admit that he was such a pansy about a little bit of cold ground that he just couldn't bring himself to.

the younger generations' insistence on trig amuses her a little -- though she frequently slips between the two, she finds common is often her first impulse, maybe because she'd grown up with furi. she'd been teaching furi a little bit before... everything. would mallaidh be interested in continuing those lessons? it'd be an excuse to hang out again... wait, no, focus on ephraim. 

blix isn't naturally thick furred like nomi or artaax (or furi, come to think of it), having inherited the lean genes of her maternal line. but she's grown up here and so the frosty ground doesn't phase her. "oh, just checking this place out," blix answers in trig, "since the sound is -- well, you know." a small scowl crosses her features, though she doesn't dwell on it. 

she watches his feet for a moment before taking pity on him and adding, "you'll get used to the ice eventually."

The reminder of the Sound's current status made him grind his jaws together with a narrow look at the ground. Maybe no one else could feel the frustration that he felt about it—imagine finding something from your childhood only to have it snatched out of your hands. Considering Ephraim remembered very little from before the storm that led him to Drageda, it was like losing something sacred. Of course his attachment was only superficial and fueled by nostalgia, but it was enough to make him angry about Eurycrates' army setting up shop there.

I lived there when I was little, I think, he said, slipping back into the common language as they prowled along, and he had mostly forgotten how cold the ground was now. I don't know how long or when but I remember a pool in a cave and Tux and I found it there. His eyes veritably blazed. How could they take something so precious as a memory from him? It wasn't fair!

I hate them, he vehemently seethed. Only after Blixen reminded him of the ice did he notice its cold sting on his feet again and he sighed, tossing back his ears. Is it that obvious?

"it's a little obvious," blix says with a grin re: the ice, though she's distracted by his claim that he used to live in the sound. when? he's too young to have been there before the pack in the sound, she thinks, but there was the bear there... did his parents get eaten by a bear in the sound? that's probably not the sort of question you can just like, ask, right? 

she does say, "there used to be a pack in the sound 'til a bear drove 'em out," and hesitates. she could mention caiaphas to ephraim but if he doesn't remember it doesn't really matter, and famously she's not great at dealing with others' tragic backstories. letting it go she shakes her head and shrugs, saying, "they suck," in agreement with his sentiments. though it's less that blix hates any of them (yet) beyond her extremely justified distrust in caiaphas, since arrille isn't there. that'd be a whole 'nother story. they're just -- nuisances to her right now.

eager to change the subject, she switches back to his poor frozen feet. "nomi and mallaidh and most of the wolves here are so thick furred but i took after --" mm, "--not them, so. but i grew up here so i guess i adjusted real quick." to demonstrate she picks up one paw and wiggles it, before setting it back down on the ground. the ice does nip at her toes a bit but nothing she minds, and if anything, it offers an opportunity to try and cuddle with mallaidh for warmth, ehehe.

Ephraim grimaced. He hadn't wanted anyone to know he was bothered by a little bit of ice on the ground. What kind of man balked at their feet being cold? Don't tell anyone, he pleaded in a voice that cracked at the end, please? He needed to pretend to be strong. He was a warrior of Drageda now, not the weak little coywolf he might have been if Etoille hadn't found him in the storm. No one was going to take him seriously if Blixen told them how she'd seen him prancing around like a little sissy. No one could know. No one.

He took a moment to consider her words while consciously attempting to master his sensitivity to the cold, then rolled his shoulders in a shrug. I don't remember a bear— he'd suppressed that terrifying memory —maybe it was somewhere else then. It seemed so familiar. Whose arms had circled him when he was just a little cub peering into the dancing blue light of a bioluminescent pool, then? One of his parents maybe but he couldn't summon either of their faces to his mind's eye.

Oh well. They were long gone now, no sense dwelling. I don't know who I take after, he said with a renewed frown. Anyone who knew his mother might, if they squinted, see the resemblance there and know the answer, but he was at a total loss. He had short, thin fur a bit like Blixen herself and his constitution was best suited for temperate climes. The coarseness of his coat marked him as a wolf of the water, but that was something else he didn't really know about himself. You really think I'll adjust too?

It was of paramount importance that he be able to stride proudly alongside his fellows without wincing when the cold wind shook him or when a little frost on the ground bit at his toes.

blix doesn't know at first if he means remembering the sound from his childhood or his difficulty with the ice on the ground -- either way, she nods reassuringly, the point clarified when he starts to speak again anyway. she shrugs uneasily, unable to help him with his memories (she hadn't known about the pups in the sound -- really, she hadn't known anyone besides ingram and his dumb friends). 

he does remind her a little bit of mallaidh, though. even if she knows who her parents are after all -- same kind of circumstances, right? and there's always a chance ephraim will remember too. she wonders if they've talked at all. maybe she'll talk to furi about it -- furi's way better at helping with emotional stuff, anyway. still blix knows enough to grin at him, ruffling the crown of his head with her snout playfully. "yeah, i'm sure you will," she agrees, "you're made of pretty tough stuff, ephraim."

cheerily she takes a few steps forward, glancing over her shoulder at him. "c'mon, let's check out this place together," blix suggests, "i'm kinda thinking about settling the new branch here, maybe." if furi approves, she adds silently.

He couldn't have beamed more brightly when she praised him—turns out he was a sucker for it. He was pretty tough, wasn't he? He'd survived being turned away from a pack while starving with his family, he'd survived running for a whole night from a storm, he'd succeeded with his initiation into Drageda and he'd survived going to Trigeda with Heda. He'd survived his intensive training there and had earned his grown up role here. These were all accomplishments that Ephraim paraded around in his head as things that few wolves his age had done (he didn't know it was actually pretty common for juveniles to be over-achievers), though he was far too shy and withdrawn to ever gloat about them outright.

In that same vein, he didn't know what to say in response to Blixen's playful compliment, so he ended up staying awkwardly silent while smiling as if very pleased with himself until she spoke again. This was news to Ephraim, who cast a wistful glance out toward the cliffs and the little bay nestled beneath them. He would've liked if they chased out the intruders and settled the beach instead, but he supposed a part of him understood there was risk in that, albeit not very much. Had it been Antumbra's branch, he was certain they would go to battle over it, but others were made of softer stuff than Antumbra—which wasn't hard, since she was edged in diamond as far as he was concerned.

He took the time to take in their surroundings... and grimaced. Isn't it kind of dangerous here? The ground was shitty to walk on as earlier demonstrated, the trees were jagged and grotesque compared to the straight, tall ones bordering the cliffs, and there was just something altogether foreboding about the place. There was a strategic advantage here that he couldn't deny—it would be equally hard to invade as it would be to settle here—but it was overshadowed by his doubts about the livability of it.

a particularly aggressive branch sweeps under blixen's foot (not because she wasn't paying attention or anything, of course), making her stumble just as ephraim starts to speak. she catches herself, trying to play it off. this is not a very good first impression of the tangle as a potential home. "i mean, that's sort of to our advantage," she tries, then sighs and gives up, casting a suspicious glance at the row of twisting trees.

how does she explain it. "f-- mallaidh likes it here," blixen says, "she always used to come hide out here. i've never gotten that deep into it, but it is close to drageda, which i want." curiously she moves, putting a paw against a thicker branch to try and peer into the depths of the tangle. what treasures does it hide? why on earth does furi like it so much here? 

she looks back and ephraim with a falsely bright grin. "i think we can make it work."

Now that Blixen mentioned it, he supposed it made sense. Terrain that was dangerous for its denizens was even moreso for its enemies; invaders would be hard-pressed to make it far in the Tangle without being detected, and they would find their path blocked in half a dozen ways if they tried. Maybe being more familiar with the place would make it easier to traverse, although he kept his doubts. At almost the same instant Blixen tripped, Ephraim slammed his side unwittingly into a branch that arced into their pack and winced.

He blinked politely but without much comprehension when Blixen mentioned Mallaidh, then nodded his understanding at her own reasons. He didn't know what the black-hooded woman had to do with it, but he also favoured the idea of a new branch being close by. Ankyra Sound would have been perfect but this was a close second. He kept to himself the quiet design that one day Heda might allow him to take the Sound for Drageda—somehow it felt presumptuous to even think such a thing.

Her grin wasn't convincing enough to fool Ephraim, who was growing ever more clever by the day, but he shot back one of his own that he hoped was warm enough to mask his uncertainty. It's a good place, he said quietly. We'll figure out the easiest way around it soon enough. If nothing else, it would allow them to rally with scarcely a moment's notice to Dragoncrest if ever they needed to... provided they could find their way through the thick tangle of trees.

wrap up? :3

unlike ephraim, blixen is not particularly clever, so she takes the warm grin as genuine and nods, pleased with herself. even if certain brothers who shall not be named think she should be a dictator about the whole thing, it's not really her style to override her packmates desires for her own ideas, unless there's a particularly good reason. having them on board makes this a lot earlier.

"i agree," blixen says. her grin turns slightly more genuine when she adds, "not right now, though," and offers a conspiratory wink. the sky is still looming dangerously above and the last thing she wants is to be caught in a storm in the middle of the tangle (without mallaidh to direct her, obviously). no, for now she wants to call it a day, and she'll drag furi here soon to actually figure out how to get in.

Donezo!

Blixen indicated that now wasn't a good time. Glancing upward, Ephraim had to agree. When would the threat of never-ending storms come to a close? The Skayona was feeling increasingly tense with every passing day that brought dark clouds on the horizon. The air felt electric all the time on the cliffs now and it was exhausting just managing his anxiety about what was to come. Being stuck here in a place so difficult to navigate wasn't his idea of a good time either.

So they turned back to the cliffs and picked their way out of the knotted woods until they reached the forest bordering their home, at which point Ephraim parted from Blixen with a promise to try to explore the Tangle better another day, that he could offer her some knowledge of the place. After all, he was small and cunning; surely he could find paths through it all.