Blackbeak Bluff i don't even have a "pla".

Yami had always wanted to see the coast. As a kid, she'd tried to climb as high up Moonspear as she could to try and get a glimpse of it, but she'd never managed to figure out just where to go. She was here now, though, standing on the edge of a towering precipice with gray and blue spread out far and wide behind her. She'd come here for the ocean, and yet she found herself with her back to it, looking off at the mountains in the distance and solemnly wondering if the one she had pinpointed was the right one.

The girl was tired, both physically and emotionally. She had run from a life she had never felt good enough to be a part of, only to find yet another place she hadn't belonged in spite of desperately wanting to. Her heart ached with the memory of Ripley and Trouvere - a family she had felt happy in for a few short months before she'd gone and wrecked it all. Shame flooded her veins like an oil spill as she thought of him. How she had loved him, how she had thrown herself at him, and how he had completely and wholly rejected her.

Eventually, her eyes dropped away from the mountains and she turned to settle her golden gaze on the shores far beneath her toes. She needed to move forward, but everywhere she looked seemed to be so far out of her reach. Being so close to home again made her long to return, but the only ones she felt compelled to return for were the ones she had been born beside. The faces of her elder sisters kept her at bay - another series of wolves she had loved who had treated her like a nuisance if they ever bothered to look her way at all. Some part of Yami may have known she was being too harsh; that it hadn't been as awful as she remembered, and her family hadn't nearly been so cruel. But that part was not loud enough to alter the feelings she had about her past. It was those feelings and the handful of memories she'd collected to support it that she took with her.

The wind whipped hard on the cliffs, ruffling her already unkempt fur. Her gaze trailed off eventually to the West and again to the East as she considered which way to go next. Funny how having no where to go made it seem like the options for where to go next were so overwhelmingly numerous.

He'd been trying to scale the hill off of the Sound for days now, and could manage to get partway before falling victim to his own issues or his weaknesses; but today he refused to let his wounds, limp, or excuses get in the way. It took much longer than it should have - and a fair amount of cursing by the end of it - but Firefly climbed until he reached the dark forest at the fringe of Rusalka; once he was there he knew he should rest, maybe take a nap in the woods, but he was invigorated by the hard work and the triumph of his accomplishment. From up on the hill he could look down over the Sound, or the other direction — further in to the mainland.

The man decided to keep going, even though his body wasn't in the best state. The wounds from the battle had partially healed by this point but they still needed proper care and attention, neither of which he'd have available to him if he went too far. However he had already pushed beyond one of his limits, and was feeling like his old bold self again — so he ignored the potential risks and the danger, and continued on. His whole body was sore after the initial climb, but he didn't have the hitch to his step, not until he'd hiked in to an adjacent territory and noticed the stale air - the lack of indicators for Caiaphas and the rest of the band.

He did notice another scent though. It was canine, and seemed to originate along a ridge further ahead. Another test of his abilities, then — maybe he'd found one of the Drageda wolves and he'd be forced to fight again, or maybe it was just his imagination causing him to tilt at windmills so to speak; but he followed the natural path along the bluff until he came to the edge of it, and could peer down at the raging sea. For now he was oblivious to who, or what, lay lurking upon the ridge.

Yami was not so far off in her own little world that she didn't sense it when someone else was approaching. She bristled instinctively and stood, turning to peer warily across the terrain. She didn't see anyone at first, so she began to move towards the source. It wasn't a smart idea, but her curiosity was too great to deny, alarmed as she was. It took her only a minute or so to find him - a man whose incredible coat was marred with scars that.. somehow still worked for him.

The Ostrega froze, considering her options. He looked rather intimidating and dangerous. Which is of course why she came nearer and made a low chuff to draw his attention to her. "Sorry... Don't mean to interrupt, but are you from around here..?" Yami asked, not because she really wanted to know, but because she needed something to start the conversation. It was nice to have a distraction from her thoughts, if only for whatever length of time he would give her.

There was nothing about the scent that was familiar, which frustrated him. Beyond being a guardian of Rusalka and wanting only to protect the beachfront, Firefly  had questions about where he'd come from - personal questions couched in his confusing memories and flashes of violence. The chances that a random stranger would be valuable in that way were, obviously, pretty low. So, yeah, frustration was becoming one of his main personality quirks.

Then the stranger came in to view, and he paused in his approach. They looked young. Lanky. There was a disproportionate quality to their angular body which wasn't quite resolved yet, either because of their age or perhaps their lifestyle — but those glances wouldn't tell him much. They were approaching him now, and he was wary of them until he heard that voice, Are you from around here...?

Yes, he confirmed. The ridge leads to a forest, and then below that - Rusalka, my home.

The man turned his head to look at her, giving Yami a full view of the scars that lined his face the same way they lined his entire frame. She felt her pulse quicken as her instincts again said danger and run. The almost-yearling ignored them and tried to offer what she thought was a charming smile. Tru may have rejected her romantically, but he'd given her plenty of his friendship. With that had come his tutelage, and Trouvere Demonte had only his wiles to impart on her.

"Rusalka?" Yami asked, "What kind of place is Rusalka?" She had never heard of a pack with that name before, but she found it intriguing. Moonspear was the name of the territory her family had claimed, so it wasn't all that interesting. She'd never heard of any landmarks called rusalkas. It sounded kind of exotic.

The kid seemed genuinely interested. Maybe they were desperate — that led many wolves to their doorstep recently, and Firefly wondered if that's the kind of beast Caiaphas enjoyed the most. The discarded, the forgotten, those that wished for survival but did not suit being anywhere. It sounded right for him, anyway.

I could show you, the man drawled, not outright offering this kid a home but curious to see what would happen all the same. He went on to add, We live in the grotto down by the beach. It isn't for the faint of heart, he cautioned with a raise of his scarred brow, and might be too dangerous for the likes of you, kid. But he mulled over the potential of adding another youth to their group - he was sure Illidan could show this rogue a thing or two.

Her heart thrilled when he offered to show her the territory instead of just describing it. She took this as a sign that she had clearly impressed him and already began to make plans for the amazing things she would do in Rusalka and how high she would climb in their ranks. But then he kept talking, and Yami deflated at his warnings. The fact that he thought his pack might be too dangerous for her chaffed, but it also stirred up some fear and anxiety. The warning bells for her to run from him sounded again, and she may have, had the word kid not made her flinch and the sequential stab of indignance bolstered her past her misgivings and right into the open arms of defiant determination.

"I can handle anything," Yami boasted, puffing herself up a little. Tru had taught her some of how to succeed socially, but it was Ripley that had taught her self-defense. He was a slow, quiet, slug of an old man that wasn't as talented on offense, but he was a brick when it came to protecting himself. Yami likely hadn't learned even half of what she needed to in order to fit in at this Rusalka place, but she maintained her bravado nonetheless.

"Lead the way," she added, a smirk stretching across her face briefly before her eyes widened and she tacked on a quick, "...please."

He was amused by her fire, and her words shot back at him with some fervor. Firefly wondered if she was really that self-assured or if she was just desperate; either way, she would need some place to crash if she was going to survive the winter. Bringing another youth back to the pack would be good for their numbers too - if she could handle it - so he thought for a few seconds about it, but eventually accepted by saying, Alright, come on. And with that, turned and began to limp his way back towards Rusalka.

Yami was nervous that her final, accidentally demanding comment was going to cost her, in spite of her attempt to hastily tack on some manners at the end. He looked like the kind of guy that would just turn his back on her the moment he lost interest or decided she wasn't worth his effort. She braced herself for that to happen and had just begun to consider what her rebuttle would be to his dismissal (because there was no way she was going to just give up and leave him alone) when he invited her to follow and turned to go.

She gave him a cocky smile that morphed into delighted glee the moment his back was turned. She allowed herself about five seconds of happy dancing in the snow behind him before she morphed back into her cool, confident demeanor and trotted off after him, totally ready to impress the hell out of whoever was coming up next.