Sawtooth Spire zusammenhalt

windholme beckoned, and anyone who came round the bend would find the gargyole ankle-deep in the frigid deluge, seeking fish beneath the slabs of ice that floated downstream. upon the drifted bank, two modest catches lay still and limp. one was for wylla, and the other would be for the second pregnant woman currently occupying their ranks.
cubs were the lifeblood of any pack; sagtannet would be no different. to ensure their health, one must assure the success of their mothers, and a good midwife understood this.
mahler fished on.

This place would've made a perfect home for Frolic, if not for the fact that it lay in the heart of wolf territory. Quell sighed as she made her way toward the landmark known as Windholme, eager for a drink. She wasn't prone to melancholy in the least, though she missed having her friend constantly by her side. She wondered if she could ever trust the members of Sagtannet to let him live here safely.

She spotted someone near the water's edge and nearly yelled out, "Yo, dad!" when she caught herself. This wasn't her father. His coat was more of a charcoal black, his eyes lilac versus Wintersbane's blue. Q noted all of this as she trotted closer, her former sulk disappearing entirely as she noticed he was fishing.

"Oooooh, can I join?" the young Thrall said excitedly, springing up beside the stranger and waving her tail eagerly. "Fisher is my middle name!" she declared, even though it patently wasn't.

thanks for joining!<3

he had been ready to end his ill-fated task when the young voice of a newcomer rang through the cold air. he turned, immediately hard-pressed to keep surprise from his face, for the girl who danced closer was a near-exact doppelgänger of melkor.
a daughter, he considered, warmed by her presence here in sagtannet. "of course," the eisen murmured. her enthusiasm was a good reflection of the culture already grounded here in the packlands. quietly, mahler crouched close, waiting for her to strike.

My pleasure!

He did not appear fazed by her exuberant opening line, agreeing to her company. Quell beamed at him, moving into a crouched position beside him. Before she focused on the task at hand, she glanced sideways at her impromptu companion.

"I have a first name and a last name too, do you?" she quipped cheerily, pale purple eyes drifting down to the water. She didn't see any fish at the moment, though it was often a waiting game.

his mouth quirked at her comment. the girl might have born the appearance of his fellow eisen, but that was where the similiarities ended. she was racuous, amusing, playful. "i am mahler, one of your father's co-leaders." perhaps he had been mentioned in passing, perhaps not; it mattered little to the gargoyle.
had he told anyone his first name? he could not remember.
his attention was trained upon a dark shape trailing beneath the waters; he flicked a charcoal ear but was otherwise silent, wanting to see what the thrall would do.

He gave a name and title both, which elicited a small nod of acknowledgement from Quell. Her dad had probably mentioned Mahler during the tour, though she didn't give it much thought. The Eisen no longer held her attention. It was now fixed on the shadows and shapes lurking beneath the water's frigid surface. Q inhaled sharply, wishing Frolic was here, though she gently pushed that thought aside even as she bore in mind the tricks she'd learned from the otter.

Quell leaned forward over the water, muscles quivering. When the moment to strike arrived, she did not simply try to scoop with her foreleg, like a cat might do. Instead, Q thrust her entire body into the water, heedless of its bitterly cold temperature as she plunged in after her target. If all went according to plan, she would snatch the fish in her teeth and resurface. But this was a miss and her head broke the surface with a gasp shortly before she scrambled back onto dry land, shivering and without anything to show for it.

Despite this, she offered Mahler a toothy grin, wondering what he thought of her oddball approach. "Learned that from an anthropomorphic hot dog," she declared, giving herself a shake before resuming her crouch. In her experience, it would take some moments for the fish to drift back this way, though they were pretty stupid creatures and their return was inevitable despite the splashy disruption. "They'll be back," she thought to murmur to Mahler.

he blinked as the girl threw herself into the water. it was a genuine sign of surprise for the generally implacable mahler, and he tensed in preparation to drag her out if need be. 
but it was not necessary; the young one pulled herself dripping from windholme. he could not hide his disapproval, but it was a brief cloud that passed over his features and was gone in the next moment.
not disapproval for the yearling, but for her odd method that would surely only end with a half-frozen girl to tote back for wintersbane's care. perhaps amusement rose then, but mahler tamped it down, focused on what she would do next.
belatedly, he realized he had never gotten her first name.

Mahler looked a little nonplussed about her demonstration, though he said nothing. Shivering a little, Quellcrist tightened her crouch at the water's edge, tucking her elbows into her chest and bunching her haunches as she prepared to wait for the fish to mosey this way again. While they waited, they could make conversation. Experience showed her that fish didn't seem to be deterred by sounds near the surface; perhaps they couldn't even hear them at all, seeing as fish didn't have ears?

"I'm Quellcrist, though you can call me Quell or Q," she said, snout angled so she could see Mahler out of the corner of her eye while keeping most of her attention on the water, already placid despite the recent churn. "How do you know my old man? I mean, how did you two meet and decide to tag team?" And where does Wylla fit into it? her inner voice wanted to know, though she didn't ask that one out loud... yet.

quellcrist. mahler enjoyed the name, and wondered if the former melkor had lent a hand in the naming of this wayward child. of course, it mattered little now, beyond impolite interest. she was here within sagtannet now, and applying herself to a clear task. it was not his way, of course, but as her leader, mahler was impressed by the industriousness of the yearling.
"i enjoy quellcrist," he rumbled lowly, unsure of how to answer the girl's inquiry. mentioning the fae queen might engender questions melkor — wintersbane — might not wish to answer.
"courtfall vas led by a voman i knew first. your father took over after she passed. after that, it vas easy to agree to the grouping." they worked well together; mahler had found only reasons to trust the broad-shouldered warrior, and sagtannet throve beneath the efforts of wolves from courtfall and disapora alike.

She hadn't detected his accent at first, so as Mahler spoke again and it became more apparent to her, Quell's head cocked. She was so hung up on the strange lilt and its even stranger familiarity that she barely registered what he'd said. She had to blink her pale eyes a few times and replay it in her mind. The story was far less interesting than his elocution, honestly, though she did wonder about this woman who had passed. Had Wintersbane mentioned that to her?

Rather than ask about said woman or even inquire about Wylla's role in everything, Q instead went with, "Are you a vampire?" She'd abruptly remembered, a feat considering her addled brain simply blanked on her completely sometimes. "This old guy back at Seabolt told me a story about vamps once and when he did their voices, they sounded like you do."

a large trout crept out of hiding beneath the ice, only to be frightened beyond the reach of the wolves by mahler's shocked splutter. "vell!" he exclaimed, narrowing his stare at the girl. very little threw mahler visibly off-guard, but this was one such moment.
"i have no need to drink blood, you little rogue," he began dourly, though his eyes shone with a delighted air that softened his solemn features. "come now, focus upon these fish and stop asking such things."

Quell huffed a laugh when he called her "you little rogue," though she did what he asked, making a show of zipping her lips before returning her focus to the waters. She hadn't seen the trout, though as the silence stretched between the two wolves, she did see shadows lurking in the deeps. Q mentally coaxed them upward, even as she wished Frolic was here. He could dive much faster and further than she could and wouldn't hesitate to go after one of the shadows moving far below.

Soon enough, a medium-sized trout drifted closer to the surface. Paying no attention to Mahler and whether he wanted to try targeting it, Quell repeated her earlier method and shot herself into the water. It was a noisy bit of business, not to mention cold and very, very wet, yet when she resurfaced this time, there was a fat fish clenched in her jaws. She made a whooping noise around it even as she paddled toward shore and hoisted herself back onto dry land beside the Eisen.

Without ceremony, she dropped the flopping trout at his feet and then gave herself a solid shake. Unlike her otter companion, Quell lacked the dense underfur overlaid with longer guard hairs, working together to insulate and waterproof Frolic's lissome body. She felt the chill down to the marrow of her bones, especially after two dunks, and her teeth chattered as she gave Mahler a toothy grin.

for a moment, quellcrist became an aquatic beast. he mulled over the sight in the seconds it took for the yearling to make a catch, blinking impassively as the impact washed along his chest with a wave of water.
"you hunt like you vere born in the river," mahler commented, charcoal ears sweeping forward in silent praise for her kill. until he had truly observed, the gargoyle had only believed it a childish game.
how had wintersbane made such a copy of himself? amusement skimmed the surface of his hard lilac expression. "like a otter."
of course as leadership he had heard the odd rumour, but he had never seen such a notion in action. and mahler thought himself quite logical. there was no malice in his gaze, only a clear honest stare that questioned quellcrist.

Her wobbling smile broadened as his astute observation. "I was raised by otters!" she exclaimed without missing a beat, then cocked her head as if puzzled. "Or did I raise an otter? It was one or the other." Q waved a foreleg, which helped circulate the blood, so she kept doing that for a moment before alternating to the other.

But no manner of movement could chase off the chill and Q might've played dumb and insincere oftentimes, though she was actually neither. "Man, I'll tell you all about him in exchange for a cuddle," she propositioned between chattering teeth, hugging herself now.

too enamoured with his new discovery, mahler had not noticed that the girl's shivering did not end. he moved in without another word, fatherly concern buffeting his gaze. pressing the plush thickness of his pelt sidelong against quellcrist. nostrils breathed warmth across her nape, and his broad paws moved to cover her own with a light pressure. "raised by otters? i vould like to hear about that sometime."
when quellcrist had presumably ceased quaking, at least in part, the eisen motioned along the ridge. "the stones up there are flat and free of snow. they hold vhat little warmth the sun leaves. go and take it."

She wondered if he might balk, though he moved nearer without hesitation and pressed his warm, dry fur against her. "Th-th-thanks," Q said, snorting at her own stutter. She made the same noise at his comment, bobbing her head even as she leaned harder into his fatherly embrace. "I'll t-tell you all about Fr-Fr-Frolic when I can speak-k properly a-a-again."

The Eisen made a motion which she felt, though Quell chose that moment to press her eyes closed as if that would somehow conserve heat. At his words, though, they popped open again and she nodded. Reluctantly drawing away from him, Q made a mad dash toward the ridge line, leaving Mahler and the trout in her dust. The lope certainly helped warm her muscles, though it was offset by the windchill. Her teeth continued to chatter as she reached one of the flat stones.

She hesitated. Even though Mahler was right—the stone was exposed fully to the sun, free of snow—Q knew it was still going to be cold. Clenching her jaw, she melodramatically cast her youthful body across it, hissing through her teeth at its cold press. But the discomfort passed quickly and she melted back against the bedrock, flopping onto her side to provide the most surface area for the sun's rays to soak into her.

It was perhaps a few minutes later when Q lazily lifted her head to look around for Mahler in case he'd come up here to join her. "Y'wanna hear about my pet hot dog?" she called out into the crisp air, her voice echoing comically off the surrounding crags, half a dozen ghostly cries about hot dogs fading into the distance.

frolic. so this creature had a name. he wondered how she had tamed it, considered how odd it was that an animal usually used for meat would approach even a young wolf. more questions would be forth-coming, mahler supposed.
he had been intending to leave quellcrist then, pursue a patrol of the ever-large lands, but the girl's voice billowed out in promise to answer the inquiries he had shelved for now.
while the musiker did not know what a hot dog was, he snorted a riff of laughter at her copycat tones ducking off the rocky edges, and climbed up to where she lay. the warmth enveloped his shoulders; he sat some feet away and leant with eyes half-closed into the wan embrace of sunlight. 
"i am full ears," the eisen grunted conversationally, butchering the phrase but unaware.

His voice came from somewhere nearby and Quell twisted her head to see he'd joined her on the sun stone. Quell grinned up at him, upside down, and snorted lightly at his phrasing. Her neck started to complain about the weird angle, so she flopped back into an upright position, stretching out like a sphinx.

"I took in a baby otter a while back," the youth said, choosing to leave out the part where she'd eaten his (delicious!) parents, "and raised him. We're pretty tizzight. I put him up somewhere outside the territory," Q concluded, "y'know, so we don't have to worry about him eating anyone."

tizight? an odd bit of sound he stored away to explore in a vernacular sense. quellcrist was certainly unconventional, with her strange terms, shocking approach to fishing, and now an otter as friend. mahler was quiet a long moment, made malleable and introspective by the slight touch of hopeful sunlight.
"how brave of you," he commented dryly in response to the girl's jest. "i shall have 'defeater of otters' added to your family crest." he tipped his muzzle teasing toward her, harrumphed a gruff chuckle. "vere ever did you get such an idea, raising a baby fisher."

Mahler's wry comments made her think of Mal and her tall tale about hunting large game with Frolic. The Eisen wanted to know why she'd thought to raise the otter. He actually hit the nail on the head with his idle remark.

"That's exactly it: I knew I could enslave him to bring me fod," Quell quipped. "The truth is," she went on in the next breath, shifting as she scratched idly at an itch on her haunch, "the instant I looked at him, he stole my heart. I did raise him, hoping he'd teach me his ways, and as you saw for yourself, he did just that. And somewhere along the line, we became besties."

Now there was an itch behind her ear, so Q pushed herself into a sit to lift a hind leg and comb her claws through the soft fur beneath her lobe. "You got a bestie, Mahler?" she queried as she scratched. "G'damn, I need some lotion," she also muttered under her breath.

quellcrist spoke quickly and in the odd vernacular he had come swiftly to associate with her. the idea was not so odd once explained, though mahler did not think he would ever befriend such an animal, no matter what skills they might impart. had the yearling not kept her pet from the spires, the eisen would not have been able to guarantee it safe passage.
a bestie. "a friend?" mahler asked. he thought of wylla. she was his companion, but in a different way then he had regarded stigmata or even takiyok. but a bestie, as the girl put it? "i do not think i do." the gargoyle was not a person who kept many close bonds that were not intimate in nature. 
not even sarah, who had come the closest. a frown he hid well. "i am not a very inviting individual."

Quell bobbed her head at his inquiry. He seemed to ponder it seriously for a moment, earning a small from the youth, before telling her he didn't think he did. He explained that he wasn't very inviting, a remark which made her cock her head. Sure, he wasn't particularly outspoken, nor did he seem to smile much, yet Q found him perfectly amenable.

"It's probably because you're a vampire," she quipped, her joke cut in half by a yawn. She lifted a paw to her mouth to block it, saying, "Sorry, I think I wore myself out with the—hey, where'd the fish go?" Quell sat up a little straighter, looking around as if it might have flopped up here to join them. Maybe Mahler had eaten it before coming up here? She hoped so, otherwise she'd frozen her ass off for naught.

"down in the snow," mahler commented. it had presumably died when he had moved forward to melt away the ice following quellcrist's waterlogged exit. to her mention of vampire, the man's lips curved in a wry smirk. "perhaps i am." lilac eyes shifted to her young face.
"i vill bring you the fish. maybe you should rest," the eisen suggested with a indication in his tones to press that this was less of a request, more of what he had decided the girl must do for her own health. "if you stay here, i do not think you vill become sick," he added, rising to his height.

"Rest, yes. Fish, nay! That's for you!" Q protested lightly, then waved him away. "I'm too sleepy to eat," she added, in case he tried to protest. "Smell ya' later," were her final words before she flopped back onto her side and closed her eyes, clinging to the stone's tepid warmth as she waited for sleep to come.

his lips were drawn into a brief smile, a pleased ghost that ran across his features a moment. in the next he had turned away, aand headed back down toward the river, leaving young quellcrist to her rest.