Alpine Lake the first five days after the weekend are the hardest

maybe a @Harrowing?

his encounter with ying had left him traveling westbound past silvertip, and onward toward where the viper had mentioned her fondness for a highland. she'd left a lasting impression on him. whether it was good or not, he was still trying to figure out. he knew at the very least she was interesting, and so he'd set off in search of her, hoping another encounter with her might cure him of his recent boredom.

issue was, one could only see the lake at the top of the summit, and well, there weren't exactly directions pointing to which mountain that was. and so, after about four of five trips up the wrong peak, he'd finally found his way to the lakeside he'd been in search for. curious if the serpent lay near, he sent up a call requesting her attention before moving off to go quench his thirst at the water's edge.

^______^

harrowing flinched upright as she became aware of someone's voice canvassing her undisturbed lake home. stiff and muddled from sudden wakefulness, she was sluggish to process the lilting query; though quicker to recover physically once she recognized that the message's intended audience was the deviljho herself.

yawning, her posture loosened dramatically, and the picked-clean carcass she'd employed as a teddy bear was thrust unceremoniously aside. the wildhearted wolf gathered herself up on long, swift legs, and cantered towards the source in the most direct path she could manage; a note of acknowledgement sent back for the caller prior to her arrival.

she came to a deceitfully lank pause before the cimmerian drifter -- settling him with a keen, irrepressible stare -- as her tail gave coyly measured wags like the taunting sway of an executioner's axe. she looked mildly amused, past her sharp and rough-hewn edges, but there was a questioning sort of suspicion written clear on her face too. not many could meet harrowing and come asking for a second encounter.

she tipped her chin up and asked: "couldn't jump without seeing me one last time?"

inky ears flickered at her response to his call while his head lifted from the lake's edge and drops of water rolled clumsily down his chin. he took the time to investigate her assumed claim as she closed the distance between them, his honeyed gaze eventually snapping to meet her stare head-on once her figure materialized in his line of sight. she was as much a viper as he remembered her being, an unsettling twist to his stomach causing him to remained fixated on her form.

"who's to say i haven't jumped already and survived?", he challenged with a devilishly smirk and swat of his tail. their last encounter had left him wondering what had become of her, for she so easily appeared at the top of the mountain only to vanish once more. this time the roles were reversed, and it was him visiting her atop the peak. what happened after the words left his mouth will remain as much a mystery to you as it will me, but for simplicity's sake, let's just say they chatted a bit and then went their separate ways.