Blacktail Deer Plateau they might promise you that the river ain't too deep

this is technically set outside of BDP, but I figured it'd be best to tuck it in here. @Junior

Caiaphas sat in the chill October afternoon, watching the verde-turned-flame trees as they quivered in the biting wind. Overhead crisp white clouds devoid of puffiness were shepherded along the bright cerulean sky -- and at their heels nipped a biting squall borne from the west.

The change in climate was welcome -- summer had receded and in its wake a chill set deep in the foothills. Autumn meant winter was only a beckon away -- and she knew soon the calamitous and fiery orange foliage would disintegrate into cheerless grey.

For now she was content to rest in a sliver of weak yellow sunshine. She had come across Junior's scent a day prior -- it was stale in the same manner of the whitewashed sunlight across her, but it was also unmistakable. She had noticed in recent weeks the youth's absence, and wondered what had taken ahold of her to depart so quickly. Almost sleepily, the gaunt creature threw back her rawboned muzzle and a howl flooded the crisp autumn air -- one that unabashedly called for the stark black acolyte with strikingly mismatched eyes.

Much as she wanted to please Dante, Junior could not come to a decision about the Nereides. Stubbornly, she didn't feel she owed them any kind of explanation. More than that, she was apprehensive of what they would do and say about her abrupt disappearance. Deep down, she knew she should at least let them know what had happened, even if she had to censor the explanation somewhat.

When she caught sight of Caiaphas just beyond the plateau, Junior still hadn't talked herself into going there. It seemed the decision had been made for her; they had come for to her. The youth shifted uneasily and definitely considered avoiding answering the call that split the crisp fall air. Yet it was only a matter of time, wasn't it? Aktaiê had been here already and now Caiaphas was a-lurkin'. Junior suddenly understood that they would keep sending scouts until they got their answers.

Cheeks puffing out in a long, low breath, Junior strode to the plateau's edge and purposefully down the towpath to the flat lands. "I made a mistake in joining the Nereides," she said before her former comrade could even ask, "and when I realized it wasn't the right fit for me, I came home. It... it was a spur of the moment decision. I didn't mean to just... abandon you guys — girls," she corrected herself a bit awkwardly, then fell abruptly silent.

To pass time the Varkentje watched idly the clouds, which rolled humbly and slowly in the manner of ancient and sleeping monoliths. The wind that snarled behind them was cold -- and instinctively a shiver wracked the lean creature.

She heard footsteps ahead and when Junior crested into view Caiaphas watched her distantly, unsure of how she would take her summons. Yet before she could explain, Junior had already unleashed a barrage of words in a tumbled explanation -- and Caiaphas listened without judgment in her gaze. The slender black wolf, already flecked with winter's white, seemed swift to issue an explanation that Caiaphas had neither demanded nor outwardly sought out.

"Oh." She said after Junior finished, careful this time to not let the silence linger. She rolled her shoulders as if affable to Junior's abandonment -- and slyly she canted her thin muzzle to the side. "I was just surprised to come across your scent. I just wanted to know you were alive." Her words may have sounded genuine but Caiaphas, oily as ever, issued a smile that was neither warm nor comforting. "It doesn't matter, I ended up not joining anyway. I still live near the cave you showed me, though." She lied smoothly, her posture giving no indication of her untruth. "After you left to go secure the borders, I just.. realized I didn't have a purpose there. You were so full of ambition and I was not. Funny, right?" She had lied for two reasons -- while Aktaie may not have seen Junior as a loose end that needed to be truncated, Caiaphas did -- and she did not want the integrity of their pack's seclusion violated. Secondly, it disturbed Caiaphas on some level to know there was another wolf that was not a Sister out there that knew of her whereabouts. She did not wish to cause any harm, but she also did not know how trustworthy the girl was -- and with a serpentine look about her the female waited in chill silence for the other wolf's reaction.

Caiaphas did not seem particularly bothered, nor even interested, for that matter. Junior felt herself flush when the other rejoined in a decidedly blasé tone, though the feeling of embarrassment receded when Caiaphas admitted to also leaving the Nereides. She mentioned the juvenile's dedication, which made the youth chew her lip thoughtfully. She had thrown herself, heart and soul, into the arms of the sisterhood, only to toss away that embrace just as swiftly and finally.

In reply to Caiaphas's rhetorical question, Junior shrugged. She didn't particularly care, yet she asked, "What are your plans now?" Then a thought struck her and she queried, "Were they angry with you for leaving? Did you tell them or did you just... go?" Like me?

Caiaphas recalled their past interaction and how terse it had seemed -- and was now bemused by the contrary shift in tide. While her expression did not suggest this amusement, she observed the shadowed youth quietly, her lip drawn in a similar thoughtful manner as the female posed two questions it seemed Caiaphas was not readily able to answer.

"I don't know. It is better almost to always be on your feet -- you never know what is going to run you down." The enemy we are running from is almost never the one that hits us she rejoined silently in her head. Her gaze swept past Junior's own without derision. "I don't know if they are angry. Probably not. Less mouths to feed. Where did you decide to settle?" Caiaphas didn't need to tell Junior the pickings were slim within Ankyra -- it was likely she already knew.

Belatedly it occurred to Caiaphas it was a (delightfully) cruel game to lie to Junior. But the pale female had her reasons for with-holding the truth -- and judiciously she awaited Junior's response with her tongue held sharp between her wicked teeth.

Junior's tongue poked out, then skimmed along her lips. Caiaphas didn't seem to think the Nereides would be angry with her, so perhaps they weren't upset with Junior, either. The youth wouldn't exactly put money on it but if they hadn't sent Caiaphas after her and the matriarch had already come by, perhaps it was all water under the bridge at this point.

Exhaling, the youth saw no reason to lie, especially with the plateau literally right at her back. "Here. This is where I was born. I was being young and dumb the night I ran away to join the Nereides," she confessed again, black ears folding backward with humility. "This is where I belong."

As an Outrider, recruitment was always on the table when Junior interacted with outsiders, especially loners. However, she was not in the least interested in recruiting Caiaphas. She'd done that once, hadn't she? She'd regretted it then and did not wish to repeat the same mistake. Junior didn't particularly dislike the scrappy she-wolf, she just didn't necessarily want much to do with her. She was too... unreadable, unpredictable. Even now.

Junior transparently exposed that the plateau that sat sulking and huge behind them was her new home -- or rather, her old. Caiaphas' gaze raked up the jagged monolith and there was not a hint of want or inquisition in her flat gaze.

The plateau reminded her of Isengrim, in a way. And while she missed the seclusion and the immensity of it all and sometimes she even missed Ulfurmur, she did not miss the inaccessibility of it. The constant lack of fresh resource -- the arduous treks to and from in search of the migratory prey that constantly seemed to elude Isengrim's fold. Isengrim sat on a forimidable plateau that rivaled even Blacktail Deer Plateau's -- but the conifers that crisscrossed bold and jarring across Isengrim had made it a spectral and terrible place.

Her attention returned to the gangly youth and she noted this time there was no invitation. Wryly, she thought of pressing the issue -- she had made Junior uncomfortable before and it had delighted her. "And what is here? Is there room for more?" She asked almost hungrily, her flat eyes suddenly flush with some sort of seedy interest.

It was like Caiaphas sensed her dislike (or whatever it was), then needled right in her sweet spot. It was exactly what made the youth distrust — that was more apt a word — her. Junior's eyes narrowed slightly at the inquiry and she shifted her weight. She wasn't sure if Dante and Aunt Willow would appreciate her making decisions like this, yet Junior did not want Caiaphas to join the plateau, so she determined she wouldn't allow it to happen.

"It's a family pack," Junior answered, which wasn't untruthful. "You either have to be a Redleaf-DiSarinno or be invited by one to join." Her mismatched eyes grew a bit flinty, the silence heavy when she pointedly issued no such invitation. It was a fib, of course, and Caiaphas could call her bluff by summoning a leader... at which point Junior would have to leave a little something in their ears.

A dull smile lingered quietly on her blackened gums as Junior retorted swiftly -- there seemed in her pointed statement a deliberate absence of invitation that neither alarmed nor upset the coywolf.

She shifted too, though not from discomfort -- and her copper-laced ears flitted forwards as if in newfound interest. "What is the name?" She pressed onwards, feigning a dullard and obtuse interest -- as if she were neither quick nor sharp enough to detect that Junior was uncomfortable with the idea of her joining the ranks. No sooner had Junior spoke did Caiaphas notice the sudden avoidance in her eyes -- as if she were ashamed for the misrepresentation. Caiaphas was a practiced creature of deceit and she thought, adeptly, she may have detected a hint of falsity in Junior's dodgy countenance.

And then, she switched gears. There in her eyes sat a vicious cunning and she turned her flat and narrow muzzle to face Junior plainly, her vibrant yellow gaze uncompromising as it sought to meet her own (though without challenge). "You do not want me there." Her voice was cold and insipid -- and the sharpness of it punctured the silence between them with great aspersion. While Caiaphas was rather convinced Junior was lying, she did not yet wish to expose this conviction -- rather, she remained intensely focused on the youth and awaited explanation.

She hesitated for a split second, then decided there was no harm in revealing the name. "Blacktail Deer Plateau," Junior said with a note of pride. She'd been born here and maybe, just maybe, she would die here. In between, who knows what she would do? All of that remained to be seen and had little to do with this confrontation.

Although Caiaphas's direct question made Junior's insides clench uncomfortably, she forced herself to meet the other female's gaze as she replied simply but firmly, "No."

im sorry my characters never get along with yours this is so silly BUT its always fun to write them... bringing me back to sarasvati/skoll days...

There was no semblance of vexation in Caiaphas' eyes -- not even as Junior, afflicted as she was by discomfort, looked her dead on. Caiaphas drew a slow blink as if surprised by the firm nature of her tone -- but in truth, Caiaphas was not surprised at all.

A braying and absonant laugh erupted from her muzzle -- a laughter tickled not by mirth but mordacity. She did not care that Junior thought her presence repugnant. "You're so sweet." She panted between breaths, her gums upturned in an ugly and skeleton grin. The words painted with patronizing inflection. "But you couldn't couldn't stop me from joining, could you?" To an outsider her words now seemed almost saccharine in quality -- though to Junior, Caiaphas was likely transparent.

She rose then with a flick of her tail and circled Junior lazily, her gaze languishing. "I'll have to pay you a visit sometime soon. Maybe get you to really like me." Whether or not she meant it wasn't apparent -- and she would wait for a retort then, but if none came the little wretch would turn her way back to the strand with the most unusual hint of confidence in her step.

I think it was Mo and Skoll that didn't get along. And pbbbt... don't apologize. Conflict is way more interesting than holding hands and getting along. ;)

Although the laugh was an assault to her ears and she flinched, Junior quickly recomposed her facial features. Her distrust was quickly devolving into outright dislike. The youth decided she would be happy if she never saw Caiaphas again.

"No, I'm not," she rejoined dryly to the sweet comment. "And I'm not a leader, so it's not my decision, but I'm very close to both of them," she added, nostrils flaring slightly as if daring Caiaphas to try. She sensed the other female was taunting her and told herself to stay cool.

When the older she-wolf circled her, Junior stiffened, eyes following her every movement. "Why?" was her only reply, voiced genuinely. Was she really worth that much of Caiaphas's time and effort? But she let it go at that, eyes not leaving Caiaphas's bony behind until she disappeared from view.

maybe my memory's fudged but i thought skoll was kicked out of MF by saras??? at the very least, didn't mo and starling get along? let me know if you want to thread again!!

Even as Caiaphas made her leave she could see she had ignited something in the dual-eyed youth -- and this elated her in some gross proportion. Junior's frank retort fell deafly besides her -- Caiaphas did not care for her relations with the pack leaders nor the influence Junior could play on their decisions. She swung her head around and cast a jeering look over her shoulder -- and had she been any more immature she likely would have forked her tongue between her teeth in disdain.

But she did not -- and despite the fact Junior had effectively gotten the last word, Caiaphas felt she had accomplished something. She ignored Junior's stiffened posture -- the faint ring of concern in her last question. She brushed it off because she had unsettled the youth and hopefully, had planted some sort of seed.

Though what purpose she sowed it for, she did not yet know.