Greatwater Lake Frozen Bareness of the Lands

@Sen
Feel no need to match the length of my first post. ^.^

Edit: Tag didn't work? @Sen @Sen @Sen ?!!?!?!?!?

Double Edit: Still not working, I'll just message you, and act as if it was a tag. :P

Triple Edit: Nvm, apparently it worked after I finished the second edit. And I just realized that you might get three messages for there were three tags. Sorry bout that, Wolf's just being hateful to me.

It had been a few weeks since Somnia had journeyed to The Heartwood, and once again, she found the urge to go out and search for smaller prey in a section of the unclaimed land. The reasons were simple; without a pack to live off the food, there was bound to be more. Plus, the slopes of the Caldera could be dangerous, even without the snow and ice.

This time, Somnia dared to venture further, making sure to get up before the sun and be prepared to get back after the sky was dark. She would also have to run for certain lengths of the adventure to make sure she reached her destination with time to hunt. Somnia had stayed true to her intentions, and went to sleep early the day before, so she could get a head-start on the day. The journey to her destination was pretty uneventful, but she made it on time.

Greatwater Lake spread out before her, almost undetectable under the snow. The only way a newcomer could detect the lake was that the snow had been scraped off the fringes, where ice peeked out from underneath. Some of it had even been cracked earlier in the day, probably by other animals searching for water. The other icy spots must have been uncovered for the same purposes, Somnia realized. Those spots had just refroze over the cold nights.

Somnia walked up to one of spots of broken ice on the lake's edge. Lapping up the freezing water, she satiated a thirst that had been growing within her for a while. She had already determined that breaking the ice for a drink was a possibility, but other creatures had the same idea. The creature that had opened the ice was a fox, Somnia determined by the scent.

Although there were most likely other animals to choose for preying upon, Somnia chose the fox off the bat. For one, it would take longer to examine different scents and choose, when Somnia wanted to make it quick. Secondly, it was more likely that she would waste her time, as a larger percentage of the broken ice would most likely be caused by larger animals, not all of them necessarily prey. And those that were, she may not of been able to hunt them alone. One such example was a herd of elk that must of been lingering near one of the lake's edges. Somnia stood far enough away not to alert them though, for she knew she wouldn't be too successful hunting them alone.

Looking around across the snow-covered plains around the lake, with only a few trees to break ongoing flatness, almost nothing was in view. Although the fox's scent was fresh, Somnia would have to follow it until she found its den. So be it. Let the games begin.

She bound off in the direction that the scent led, and found herself near a tree. Sniffing around the bottom, Somnia discovered a small opening at the base of the tree. The scent of fox wafted out. Tail wagging enthusiastically, she started digging until it was big enough for her to fit. The foxes (there ended up being two in the den,) snapped at her as she dug, but she brushed it aside, as they wouldn't be able to kill her. Finally, Somnia got in far enough to corner the foxes and kill them. She dragged her kills back to the outside world.

No need to apologize. c: It only sent me one message to notify me of the tagging.
I was wondering though, how is it you do the grey, indented line? It seems everyone knows how it's done, and I've just been a bit too nervous to ask anyone about it. ;v;"

Having just recently joined a pack, the female lupine had grown a bit antsy sticking to the area. Finding that she couldn't put her need to travel to bed so easily, Sen once again found herself on the move and in a new land. With her need to travel and see new places well in mind, she was sure that the life of an Outrider would be for her—though she had no plans of changing her attitude to make it easier on herself. With her paws eager to fulfill this new task of hers, the dark wolf moved farther and farther from her pack's land. Through the wetlands, along creeks and lakes, over the mountains... her travel was a long one, but her rough pads fared well against each of the terrains. Finally, she found herself at Greatwater Lake, searching for an opened place in the ice to hydrate herself.
As the sight of a hole in the ice registered through her orbs, Sen made her way over to it and lowered herself down onto her haunches for a drink. All sorts of scents lingered around it, foxes and ice being the main two, but the one that caught her belonged to a wolf. It was fresh, leading away from the lake, and while a better part of her mind thought it'd be too risky to follow the scent of an unknown wolf, she ignored it and followed anyways. It didn't take long for the other she-wolf's form to be seen, but the scent of the foxes' blood was much more invasive than Somnia's own. With no way of knowing who the wolf may be, or whether she was friendly or aggressive, the black lupine approached with little to no caution. The way she walked and held herself was quick to match her personality, as was the grin that grew across her maw.
"Evening," Sen voiced, her steps slowing as she reached hearing distance from the other female. "Or is it morning? I am no longer sure."
Even the smallest of words to leave her mouth still held an air of arrogance around them, as well as a tinge of coldness. How she managed that by giving a short, simple greeting, not even she was sure.

All you have to do is write [ ooc ] then you put your words here [ /ooc ] but without the spaces. It's like the other command things that change the text size, color, bold, and underline. Just with ooc in the brackets. ^.^

The scent of the fresh kill had masked the scent of the fellow wolf. But now that Somnia new that it was there, she could pick out the scent. The wolf was a healthy female.... Her eyes told her that this wolf was right in front of her. They also told her that the wolf was an ebony color, and her eyes were brown, like Somnia's own eyes. The wolf was also lean. If the ebony wolf had been bigger, contained much more muscle, Somnia could've mistook her as her also ebony-colored alpha male at a glance.

The greeting, though short, sent an alert signal to Somnia. Just the tone of her voice; it conveyed what Somnia assumed to be over-confidence. Somnia knew it too well. Her brothers, when she had lived outside of the Teekon Wilds, had also bore it. "Sometime in-between. Maybe around afternoon?" While she spoke, she dropped her kill at her feet so she could kick it back into the empty den. Then she proceeded to take a few steps back, so that her about half of her was in the den, blocking the entrance.

She hoped that she wouldn't have to fight the black female. Not that Somnia was afraid; she just didn't like fighting. Maybe if they got off to a friendly start the chances of thievery would decrease. "The name's Somnia." She said, trying to keep the low tone of caution out of her voice.

Of all the things I tried, and it turns out to be as simple as that... "orz
Thank you for letting me know, though. c:

The raven female gave a slight nod of her head, her amber orbs glancing up to the sky for a second to look at how bright it was. She'd never been the greatest at telling the times apart by a simple look to the sky, but it was still something she did anyways. There was always a hope that, one day, she would get the time of day correct, but that was not yet the case. When her gaze returned to the other lupine, she noticed her pushing what appeared to be a dead fox or two back into a den. She thought the action to be rather amusing, and even more so when she moved herself in front of the entrance. Not wanting to steer their conversation down a bad path so early on, Sen mouthed off no 'smart' comments when the other stated her name.
"My name is Sen," the wolfess said, introducing herself as politely as she was able. "You needn't worry of me stealing those foxes you've got there. I don't eat such creatures."

Haha, I know. I went through the same struggles before I --somehow luckily-- came across a website that showed me how by googling stuff like 'How to indent ooc posts on forums?'

Somnia's posture visibly relaxed when Sen claimed that she wouldn't steal them, supporting it with, she wouldn't 'eat such creatures.' Taking a step forward, she let her tail wag slowly. Her food wasn't in danger, so why be nervous?

Somnia took the initiative on this conversation. "So, Sen, what's your reason for visiting Greatwater Lake?" The question was of neutral ground, and the answer, most likely, wouldn't be personal. What better place to start?

Your Google skills must be a lot better than mine. I tried finding how to do it through Google, but was given no answers. Only thing I found out how to do was the blockquote thing. :I

As she mentioned how she wouldn't steal the lupine's food, Sen witnessed her posture relax. Relaxing was not something the dark wolfess welcomed so kindly, but seeing no threat from the other, her own body relaxed a bit. Not by much, but just enough so it didn't look like she was a stuffed creature.
"I came here just to explore," the female answered. "Pack life isn't so easy to get use to, and I was itching to see new places."

Sen answered the question, and gave Somnia a small piece of information about herself. So the ebony wolf was from a pack, a pack she had just joined by the sound of it. It could also be interpreted that Sen didn't like to be tethered down to one place. As Somnia was the opposite, she couldn't give any advice.... Even though it wasn't asked of her.

An idea sparked inside Somnia's head. One that would satisfy both of their reasons for coming to Greatwater Lake. "What if we explore the area?" She suggested. Sen could get any unsatisfied exploration urges satiated, and Somnia could be keep a look out for signs of prey. She could keep a mental map of where there were signs of prey, and when their exploration was over, she could go right back to where she found them to track down the prey. Somnia realized she might be a little late with the returning time she had hoped to achieve, but it would be worth it if she could catch more food.

Somnia's suggested surprised the raven lupine slightly, having not expected those words to leave her maw. Other wolves could always be so strange in her eyes, which eventually left her no longer trying to figure them out. Their ideals and ways of acting, even towards those they'd just met, always seemed far too kind.
"That sounds like a good idea," Sen said, giving the surrounding area a quick once over. "Could find some amazing things."
It wasn't as overly grand as she found the glacier to be, but it held it's own beauty still. The frozen lake was especially bewitching, and by far the best thing she'd seen since entering the land.

Sen agreed, and then commented that they could find some amazing things. First, Somnia's mind connected the word 'things' to objects. This wolf expected to find interesting stones and pine cones on the snow-covered ground during their exploration? But then, Somnia realized that an 'amazing thing' didn't necessarily mean interesting objects. It could be events, sights, scents, whatever one could find that they found interesting. It could include the random objects, but didn't have to.

"Yeah," Somnia agreed before giving the place her own visual examination and adding, "Where to first? It seems to just be the lake and its edges, as well as the vegetation beyond."

Her question tossed the raven lupine into a spiral of different thoughts, working to figure out which area would be best. The lake was a beautiful site to behold, but not much was there. All that is held was frozen water, and maybe the occasional animal stopping to take a drink; which both she-wolves had already seen or done. The edges around it were just the same, leaving not too much unseen. The vegetation, though, could be interested. If it was thick enough, she'd feel right at home with the shadows, and seeing them dance around with the wolves' movements would be breathtaking. Though she knew the chances of it being as thick as other places she'd visited was low, there was still a chance all the same. New areas could bring forth new surprises, and new surprises often left Sen in a decent mood.

"The vegetation beyond would be the best place to start," she finally answered, looking to Somnia. "The lake and it's direct surrounding areas don't seem to hold too much to them."

Somnia gave the snow-and-ice-covered lake a quick look after Sen's remark. Besides the scents of thirsty animals and some footprints, it held nothing of interest to Somnia. No dens, no coverage, nothing. "Yeah." She simply agreed with Sen.

Somnia took a few tentative steps away from the lake, looking back at Sen to see if she would voice any complaints before Somnia faced forward again to stay alert for any scents, sights, or sounds that could be traced back to food.

Sen kept quiet, her amber gaze focused on the other wolf. She was unsure of the area, of what it held or what direction lead where, and thought it best to hang back a bit. If questioned, there was a large chance she'd say she was only examining something, rather than admit she knew nothing of the land. As a lone wolf she'd visited the Neverwinter Forest and the Sea Lion Shores, and the Otatso Wetlands had caught her interest after joining the pack. Never, though, had the female visited the Flatlands, and especially not the lake. What lingered out of sight was a mystery, and mysteries were something she enjoyed solving. Finding answers and clues, hearing stories and much more, each were close to a thrill for her.

"Are you searching for something in particular?" Sen questioned, a faint bit of curiosity lingering within her words.

"Anything to do with prey such as tracks, scent trails, dens, etc." Those were Somnia's intentions and she told Sen head on. It wasn't like she had anything to hide from Sen. "What about you?" Somnia added as an afterthought as she walked towards a bush. Sniffing it, the faded scent of rabbit clung on to it weakly. Maybe a burrow had been created underneath the bush's coverage? It was a possibility, but Somnia moved on before she could find out. The scent had been old enough to tell her that whatever rabbits had been there weren't coming back if they hadn't by now.

Her eyes followed Somnia as she sniffed around at a bush, her legs moving her a few paces forward so she wouldn't fall behind if the she-wolf decided to take off after something. What about you? The questioned rang through her head, bouncing from one answer to the next. There was not a single thing she was searching for, it was more like she was just searching for anything. Strange lands, interesting places, things that people believe to be haunted. Each struck her as being fascinating, especially the latter as she had a knack for exploring such places, all in the hopes of putting the rumors to rest.

"I'm not quite sure yet," Sen answered, half of a lie intertwined with her words. "You could say I'm searching for a little of everything."

Her own words brought a small small to her face, which was a very rare thing for her. Smirks and grins, as well as glares and snarls, were normal for the ebony lupine, but a genuine smile was not. As small as it was, a smile is still a smile, and somehow one had snuck itself across her maw.

Somnia stopped as Sen's answered echoed in her mind. 'A little bit of everything.' Her face contorted with confusion as she tried to figure out what it meant. Sen was looking for anything and everything? She wanted to find everything, just to experience it in the slightest? Something else? Somnia couldn't figure out the exact meaning, and maybe that varied from wolf to wolf. Somnia turned around to face Sen. "A little of everything..." She silently repeated, liking the way the words sounded.

Then, the dark wolf smiled. Smiling back at Sen, Somnia added, "Then I guess we'll have to find a little bit of everything for you!"

No one had ever offered to help Sen in her quest of experiencing, or just seeing, all she could before. Even when she was younger, still living within the mountains with her family, they never offered help. They had done close to the opposite though, and constantly discouraged her from exploring and learning more. She had always been told exploration was not a decent way of living, and hearing Somnia's words brought her spirits up greatly. For once, in such a long time, the dark lupine was able to experience what she believed might be a feeling of friendship—but, then again, she was unsure how it felt to have actual friends. Her brother had been the closest thing to a friend she'd had, and he was not the greatest lupine to be around.

"Sounds like an excellent plan," the she-wolf responded, her smile unfaltering. Even her tail, which was usually so still it's presence could be forgotten, wagged slightly as she thought of further exploration.

Somnia walked towards a cluster of oak trees, determined to find something for Sen. She first sniffed the ground at the base. The branches of the trees had managed to protect a patch of ground from most of the snow. Digging through a pile of moldy leaves, Somnia discovered a couple of rotting acorns. They weren't much of a discovery for her, but maybe they would be for Sen. She kicked one back to the black female so she could see for herself.

The greyscale wolf then started scanning the trees themselves. One of the trees had deep gouges in its trunk. "Found something!" Somnia barked, tail wagging enthusiastically. "You see the scars on this tree? They were made by bear! It's probably hibernating right now, but those scratches mean we're on what is, or at least what used to be, its territory." She explained.

Watching as the other wolf dug through the molded leaves, her amber orbs then trailed along with the acorn as it came towards her. Lowering her head down close to it, Sen gave it a few sniffs and moved it slightly with her snout, finding it was nothing more than a simple acorn. An old, rotting acorn, that probably would have ended up being some squirrels snack later on; that is, if it didn't completely rot away by then. Her head moved back up, finding nothing interesting about an acorn. When Somnia spoke of a bear, though, her interest was almost instantly piqued. She took a few steps closer to the tree, looking at each scratch closely as if they were objects of value.

"It's good to know that it's more than likely hibernating," the sooty female commented. "It'd be a bit unsettling entering a bear's territory at a time when they're awake." Her body moved even closer to the trunk, using it to balance herself as she raised up onto her hind legs to get a better look at the scratches.

"Believe it or not, I've never actually encountered a bear before," Sen explained, carefully lowering herself back to all fours. "I've seen them from afar, but never really got close enough to get a good look—not that I'd actually want to. They are rather dangerous, are they not?"

Somnia's tail acquired a steady rhythm of wagging as Sen took interest in her findings. One thing was a start for finding a little of everything.

Somnia, on the other hand, had never seen a bear before. "Cool! I've never seen a bear before, only the scratch marks. My parents had informed us to stay out of those areas unless we wanted to become bear-food. But, I know they're dangerous for a fact! The Beta in my pack fought a bear, and she has the injuries to prove it! A gash on her back and some other things." Somnia had heard that bears were fearsome animals, but she didn't know how exaggerated her mother's tale of bears was. Whether it was exaggerated or not, Finley had still been lucky to make it out alive in her opinion.

Tilting her head an inch or two to the left, the shadow of a wolf looked to Somnia. She'd always assumed nearly all wolves had seen at least once bear before, but her thoughts were very biased. The mountains held many black bears within their trees, always searching for berries and other plants to eat. While she'd been warned not to get close to bears, the rule had never been overly enforced when it came to calm, tree-loving bears. Still, she'd kept away from them, only ever looking at them from afar so as not to risk being hurt. Grizzly bears had been an entirely different story though. They were always so aggressive, even the way they walked held onto the fact that they could kill a wolf, young or old, fairly easily. The idea was chilling, and the stories had always been vicious enough to keep her curiosity of them at bay.

"The black bears aren't usually so bad unless they have cubs with them," Sen noted. "Did your beta have a run in with one of the brown ones?" Even mentioning a confrontation with one was enough to send a shiver down her spine. Those bears always seemed so cruel from afar, and even towards other members of their species. She had once witnessed a larger one kill a child, the gruesome sight having been enough to cause bile to rise in her throat at the time. The image popped into her head as she thought of the event, making her fight to keep the bile down once more. Soon having it under control, her attention was returned completely to the other she-wolf, hoping hearing of her beta's encounter with a bear would push the image from her head entirely.

Somnia looked at Sen as she tried to learn about the bears. There were different color bears, and different colored ones were different?! Somnia, the wolf who liked to think of herself as very well educated, didn't know the basics of bears. She have to gain more knowledge on the subject sometime, or she could even go on a research trip to watch bears and learn their habits. She definitely wanted to do it now, but her bravery would most likely be gone when she could put the idea to use in the spring.

What kind of bear had Finley faced? She had no clue. "I don't know. All I know is that she had a run-in with one." Maybe a brown ones sounded to be worst by the way Sen phrased it, so maybe a brown one? But, the black ones might've still attacked if heckled, so it could've been a black one too.

Sen silently wondered what the other wolf could have done to have been attacked by a bear, but said nothing on it. For all the female know, she could have just been walking passed a bear that was having a bad day. Wouldn't be the first time she'd heard of a wolf being attacked by an unprovoked bear. The two species were competing predators, and while wolves usually had the numbers, bears had the size. They could easily harm a fellow wolf with a single swipe of their large paws, and the reasoning could range anywhere from because they felt threatened, or just because they felt like it. In the wolfess' mind, many ursines lacked the skills needed to deduce simple things such as what is okay and what is not. That, however, was just her opinion, based on the bears she'd seen from afar. Without meeting any, and only hearing things such as Somnia said of bears attacking, her low opinion on them was sure to never change.

"Sure hope the bear ended up looking worse off than her," Sen said, trying to imagine a single wolf beating a large bear. It was unimaginable, really, unless the bear already had injuries, got bored of fighting, or another wolf came to help. Something that large wouldn't go down so easily, leaving Sen a bit happy for the beta for having survived such an ordeal—or so she assumed, going by the way Somnia didn't refer to her as if she were deceased.

Oddly, Somnia could imagine Finley beating up a bear. She could be fierce to those on her bad side. She grinned at the thought of the small Beta chasing a fleeing bear. "Might've been difficult, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did end up worse than her." Bears, bears, bears... The conversation about bears could tire quickly. It was time to find a new, interesting subject.

She started to meander away from the tree. Somnia took note of the fresh scent of a squirrel; she would come back to kill it later. She moved into a more open part of the landscape before stopping. Tail wagging, Somnia gave one bark to get Sen's attention. Moving forward a couple steps, she bent down with her nose above the snow. There was a trail of elk prints in the snow. There were a couple days old. Somnia wouldn't even try to go after them this visit, but she could have some knowledge on them that Sen could find interesting.

Saying Sen was a bit taken aback about her response would be an understatement. Just what type of wolf is this beta? The thought lingered around within her head, a part of her wanting to meet this wolf, and a part knowing it'd be best to stay away. Or at least try to stay away. Such a task had never been easy for her, but this time she wanted to try and follow through with it. With a streak of angering people walking with her, going near a wolf that could take on a bear would be an extremely bad choice. Perking her ears to the sound of Somnia's bark, she trotted over to see what it was she saw. Her orbs trailed down to look at the marks in the snow, a sense of déjà vu invading her senses.

"I think I've seen these before," she murmured, then looked over to the other wolfess. "What made 'em?" She seen the marks before, that much was certain, but what created them she didn't know. It didn't look like a moose or mountain goat print, but was a bit similar.

"They're elk footprints," Somnia started off. Her tail was already wagging again while a grin had plastered itself across her face. Sharing knowledge was fun! Bragging was too, but she didn't consider sharing her knowledge to be bragging. Bragging was rubbing it in that you could do something better. Sharing knowledge was using your good skills to enlighten others.

"Elk travel in herds. Each herd tends to go over the same trail year after year. Unless they encounter a predator that is. Then, they'll find or create a new trail to avoid that spot." Somnia looked at Sen. Was an uninvited knowledge sharing session too much?