Blacktail Deer Plateau you ain’t no messiah with your fancy friends

Their claim on the plateau grew stronger, though Raleska thought it could be better. With @Rosencrantz dutifully attending the borders, Raleska was confident that at least no other trespassers would come by without the rest of Rusalka being alerted. It was troubling enough dealing with the way the earth constantly threatened to fall in on itself — oh and, the volcano and Firefly’s death.. and now trespassers too?

She mourned for a time for Firefly — but she mourned more for those he left behind; Erzulie and her children foremost. It was not the way she would have wished him to go —not the grave she would have preferred to see him succumb to. Illidan would have been crushed, if he was still among them. 

Much of the Plateau was still unfamiliar to the young girl; falling in step behind the tracks left by @Valtari, Raleska took in the new surroundings with a sense of dread filling her heart.

Sneaks in here...

The adults had gathered along one edge of the plateau earlier on, but Reyes could not see what they were doing or figure out why they were doing it. He was kept away for the majority of the event, herded back by one large body or another, eager to push his luck and get a look at whatever was so important. Maybe that wasn't the right word — important — because by the time they did part from the side of the plateau, there was nothing there but old blood and a dusty wolfish smell. Perhaps the pack had found a vagrant, or a pest? But then, they would have filled a cache with the remains. It was a mystery.

On Reyes chose to ignore, for now, and not try to solve. At the very least he took comfort in the assumption that it had been a stranger, or a creature, which had died. If it had been a member of the pack then they would be further gripped by loss; they had lost too much already, he thought. He went on his way. The boy patrolled through segments of narrow trees and tried to find the easiest path along the edge of the raised earth, knowing it was dangerous but being foolhardy and young, when he noticed the dark shape of Raleska.

She was distracted by something; her path swept up with the scent of another wolf, one he had not met yet, and so Reyes began to stalk after her, at least to keep himself occupied. A trail was becoming quickly apparent. He remained as silent as he could be as he followed after her, hanging back in case she did not want company.

Like a spear point driven into his side, he hated the twist and clench of hunger. With the fires of a distant volcano, a frothing sea, and the herds seemingly scattered and lost in the fog, Valtari could not say that he was pleased with the journey that he had made. And it had seemed so promising to begin with, a chance to go out and stake his claim in the world. Yet it went without saying that life was not devoid of hardships and if this was to be one, then so be it.

An easy pace took him towards the borders—at least what he supposed were their borders. It was rudimentary at best, but all beginnings had to start somewhere, and the shifting weather did little to bolster their efforts. There had been frost and snow; even now he could smell rain in the trailing traces of the wind. At least the weather was a constant, a familiar memory when he had none of what sort of climate he had ventured into fully.

His icy gaze picked through the scenery as he reached the outskirts of the plateau, but he spied nothing immediate to hold his interest. Even the tracks belonging to their smaller prey were dwindling; an omen if he ever saw one. But true to his nature, he would persevere... and there were always ways to find more food.

Raleska kept her mind busy following after Valtari, but after a time she realized she was not alone. A quick glance behind her and she saw Reyes creeping -- the image of which drew a rare and short-lived smile to her face.

Canting her head towards where Valtari was in the distance, she shared a conspiratory glance with Reyes as if to say you in?

Then, coming close as she dared before she was sure Valtari was to detect her (and who was to say he was not also playing games with them, pretending to be oblvious?) she waited for Reyes to draw alongside her -- and then burst from the bush with a loud and playful growl.

Before long she slowed and turned, evidently noticing him. He wasn't a practiced sneak in any regard so it was only a matter of time; but rather than be sent away as he had vaguely imagined, she glanced at him with a conspiratorial glimmer in her sharp eyes; then she looked to another direction, and Reyes followed with a look of his own, spotting the pale figure roaming near. A slight smirk flit across his own face, eager for the challenge — happy, too, for the change of pace and the chance to play a game. He couldn't remember the last time he felt the urge.

The shadow moved on an intercept course and Reyes followed, stalking after her path until they were moving together, concurrently. When Raleska launched from her hiding place he followed up with a playful roar of his own, aiming to grab at some part of Valtari; perhaps he was too exuberant with his teeth, as they sought to grapple with whatever part of the wolf was nearest, and Reyes was caught up in the game so he did not care if he was too rough; whether he successfully grabbed at (or potentially wounded) his target or not, the eruption of their combined playful assault thrilled him to pieces.

Oh, he heard them through the brush. He knew the difference in step, though he couldn't have told anyone that he knew it was Reyes with Raleska. His company had largely been with the latter in a smattering of occasions and beyond that? Valtari was something of a pale wraith across the plateau and it's fringes, not yet venturing out to see what could be found. Not when there was much to do there, and much to keep an eye on.

So when the pair leapt from the brush in their mockery of an actual ambush, he whirled on them—rather the approaching rogue that was Reyes—and let loose a snarl far more menacing than it was in play. To incite fear, perhaps, to warn out of habit; it was as instinctive as it was reactive. Yet it was in play with tail waving, even as his head swung towards the boy to grapple with him as he grabbed for open flesh.

Valtari soon learned that the boy was mouthy and his teeth sharp.

He would teach him as his father had taught any mouthy child—he applied the same force if not an iota more. If Raleska joined in, then she too would learn if she hadn't already, and he was certain somewhere she most definitely had.

Raleska’s teeth never came close to Valtari’s hide, for she possessed some semblance of adult restraint — but her playmate seemed to lack such compulsion and dove quickly into play. 

Valtari’s snarl was formidable, earning a jester’s grin from the yearling — she circled round him as Reyes worried his charge — and several times feinted a lunge at any exposed limb. This play was more than an idle way to pass time — it forged unity among the pack, and taught the younger wolves invaluable life lessons.

With the dark girl at his side he felt invincible! He clattered against the plateau and clamored to where Valtari braced himself with the intent to reign fresh hell down upon his target, enjoying the spontaneity of the game with the unhindered fervor of a child that did not yet know limits. He did not play often - least of all with adults - and this would help cut down some of the stress the move had placed upon him. As soon as he was reaching for Valtari however the pale man countered; his teeth flashed, and Reyes was immediately repulsed by them. Reminded of the horrible tussle with a giant (Vengeance) his body appeared to seize and go stiff with fear, and he scrambled backwards so sharply it was like Valtari had landed a hit - and then Reyes was cowering against the dirt.

Raleska annoyed him, working gently at his attention even as he spun on the young Reyes. It was all fun and games until the boy cowered at him, but this did not stop Valtari—he simply left him alone, his point made, and whirled on his other playmate with the same force as her teeth grazed his leg.

His head swept low to counter her, surging forward with every inclination to bowl her over or pin her against something so that they could spar with gaping mouths and the click of teeth against each other; but she may have been faster, more spry than he, and thus the options were great. But he would not halt readily, not for her or the boy if he gathered his courage.

since reyes was dropped, maybe fade with your next post, @Raleska?

<3

A fair good amount of effort was given by both Raleska and Reyes -- Valtari spurned each of their advances easily enough, and after some time Raleska felt her thin reserves of energy slip away. Hailing both of them to stop with a smile, the young she-wolf proposed a temporary truce -- eyeing the little scoundrel Reyes in particular in case he decided to break their palaver with a sly nip or bite.

The group readily accepted the temporary reprieve, and made off into the thinning brow of woodland to hunt what little prey remained.