Sequoia Coast Ten Percent Luck

@Caiaphas

Her shadowy fur blended seamlessly with the dark tree trunks that lined the cliffs as she weaved her way in and out of them. She had just visited the Bay and now she was looking to meet one of those that dwelled in the sound. After her pleasant meeting with Onyx, she could only hope for something of the same sort with a member of the mysterious pack. She hadn't heard much about it and she was looking forward to meeting them.

After walking for a bit on the seemingly endless cliffside, she finally stopped. Maybe she could get someone to come to her if she couldn't get to them.

For a while she contemplated howling for one of them. What if they were hostile? Well she would figure that out if it happened, but for now she just wanted to meet someone. She sat down on the rough coastal grass and raised her muzzle to the sky, a howl of greeting echoing across the water and disappearing into oblivion.

AS's borders are cliff/trees and the middle of AS is actually the beach - i am going to assume you aren't meaning to trespass, so we can play this as if it is on the borders before AS territory?

Beneath her paws the world was wet, damp. Soil rife with dark loam. Scattered among the earthen floor a myriad of glittering raindrops distilled and suspended, cupped among half-rotted leaves. Small slits of pale sunlight flittered through the tall sequoias, the waning light shattered weakly along the shaded ground.

Caiaphas would have missed the female entirely were it not for the howl -- turning about, the waif pried through the thicket towards Kesuk. Her expression was somewhat hard -- annoyance lined her thin muzzle as she beheld the culprit behind the howl. The stranger reminded her of Lasher, down to the bright lapis in her gaze -- and she would have mistaken the female for her brown-furred acquaintance were it not for the fact she was angled in a distinctly female fashion.

The Warden hummed eerily as she drew closer, a somewhat dark smile playing her lips as she awaited Kesuk's explanation for the summon.

I changed it so it makes more sense :3

The silence was broken by the paw steps of a wolf drawing closer and Kesuk turned her chocolate head to meet the yellow eyes of a scraggly grey wolf. But by the way she carried herself and the dark smile on her lips, Kesuk knew immediately that this wolf was high ranking. She was not impressed at all.

Her sapphire eyes glinted in the faint light below the trees and the feeling prickling in her fur told her that this meeting would be nothing like the pleasant conversation she had with Onyx.

Meeting yellow eyes with blue ones, she flicked her ears in greeting, but not giving her name right away.

"Hello, are you a member of Ankyra Sound?" she asked, almost without emotion. If the whole pack seemed as stuck up as this one, then she didn't really want anything to do with them.

Caiaphas had learned long ago that reticence exposed nothing -- and so, she watched this umber-furred beast with austere resolve. There was no warmth in the impart of her stare -- and as Kesuk bravely met her gaze Caiaphas' lower lip curled in an assertive grimace. Her humming stopped abruptly, and just as quickly her tail flew over her narrow haunches in diligent superiority.

It surprised her that the wolf knew of the Sound. There were not many that knew their name -- and even fewer who knew of their existence. Kesuk's pack, on the other hand, Caiaphas was quite familiar with. "How does the Blacktail wolf know?"

She didn't even flinch as the scrawny little thing raised her tail over her back, her eyes stony. Instead she just kept her gaze steady and her voice calm. She remembered her short meeting with Rain in which the grey outrider had described a horrible pack on the coast. The way she had described them made the sorrel-furred female curl her lips at the thought. She definitely didn't like the way they ran their pack, if what Rain had said was correct.

"I met an outrider near my pack lands and she told me of a pack that lived on the coast, one I hadn't heard of before. So when I came to speak with the wolves of the bay, I figured I would check you guys out as well." she stated, leaving out the part of how much she despised them already.

Caiaphas regarded the umber-tipped wolf with renewed scorn, her little lips pursed in displeasure. It was disappointing, to say the least, that other wolves knew of her tucked-away harem. She could think of only two wolves who would share their location -- Nishu Inte, and the little harlot that had assisted him that day.

As far as she was concerned, that little harlot had been disposed of, quite literally. The last time she had seen the grey agouti was when Spyridon had thrown her over the thundering cliffs. Caiaphas snorted, incredulous of the fact that Rain might still be alive. It could mean only one thing. Slyly, Caiaphas stepped forward, her head tilted bizarrely to the side. "And was that outrider.... grey?" She hissed, her voice creepily venomous. "From the Spire?"

Not wanting to give her friend away, she simply tilted her head to match the strange wolf's position and narrowed her eyes. She blinked a couple times and faked thinking in a quite obnoxious way, her eyes raised to the sky as if she was deep in thought. Then she brought her gaze back down the sly yellow depths of the odd wolf and glared at her, not breaking her gaze as she spoke.

"You know, now that you mention it, I can't actually remember. I think he was more of a charcoal." she finished innocently, batting her eyelashes annoyingly.

While Caiaphas had not expected the female to blatantly give in, she also had not anticipated the change in story. Her expression grew somewhat taut with stormy ripple of displeasure smoothly gaining dominance over her black-ridden muzzle. Kesuk had said 'she' in her original account -- and this time, she said 'he'?

Her hackles flew upwards in fierce outrage as Kesuk dared meet her gaze -- she stepped forwards assertively, her tail held quite proudly over her narrow hips. It was one thing to lie -- Caiaphas did that often -- however, she could not overlook the challenge in Kesuk's stare. The sleek line of the coywolf's fierce muzzle was beheld in the manner of a gun -- cold, commanding -- and she returned the stare with commanding fervor. "You make a terrible liar." She growled, her expression still dour. "First she, and then 'he'. Bold is it, to lie so poorly."

She continued advancing, her gums curled back to reveal sinisterly curved teeth. "I will give you one minute to remember before I introduce the ground to the taste of your blood." The ultimatum was delivered with stony promise; and as if to back her violent assertion, Caiaphas readied herself for attack.

Kesuk had a lot of experience with alpha's that thought to highly of themselves, and this looked to be turning into one of those cases and she was not one to let herself be pushed around. Especially by someone who she didn't think deserved her respect.

Her face twisted into a look of surprise as she recalled what she had said. "Oh my, did I say he? Well I meant she, I only spoke to her briefly so I must have gotten it mixed up with someone else. But she was definitely not grey." she nodded, the sarcastic tone very evident in her silky voice. How dare this wolf threaten her! If she wanted to get information out of her, that was definitely not the way to do it.

She moved around a bit so she appeared to be in a calm relaxed sitting position, but really she was coiling her muscles so she would be ready to spring if it came to that. She didn't flinch at all as the Sound wolf continued forward with her tail raised high and her teeth bared.

Kesuk had found that the best way to irritate others without actually doing anything was to appear to not care. So she simply sat there and gazed at the aggressive wolf with a deadpan look in her eyes, her body language still not showing any sign of retaliation.

The coywolf was satisfied in knowing she had caught the mocha-furred female's impotent lie. Primly, she returned Kesuk's gaze with a harrowing stare of her own. Caiaphas had plenty of opportunities the entire of her life to sharpen the caustic qualities of her yellow-eyed stare. Dolefully, she returned Kesuk's stare with a trademark withering expression.

Kesuk didn't do anything. Caiaphas' posture practically multiplied. She had garnered enough unkind attention to know a wolf that did not immediately enforce himself was not confident in his abilities -- or that was at least what she thought. Nevermind that she was doing no enforcing of her own! Had Caiaphas been called out on this, she would have sweetly replied it was because she was not a wolf at all.

And so, she stared back. Lengthily.

After some pause, Caiaphas considered calling reinforcement. Kesuk was much too big for her to take on her own, and as scrawny as she lead herself to believe, Caiaphas had little chance overpowering the female version of the wolven hulk. Instead, the wretch settled on besting the female with her nonpareil cutting tongue. "Beat it." She commanded, her tail held proudly over her narrow hips. If Kesuk was smart, her legs would start moving.

Last post for me I think :)

Kesuk smirked at what seemed to be the little coywolf's way of giving up. Beat it? Was that really all she had? But instead of replying with some snarky comment, Kesuk slowly got to her paws. Before turning to go, she gave the weirdo one more haughty, bored look. "Well I got what I needed to know, the pack of the sound is run by a weirdo and they don't defend their borders too well. Interesting" she observed sarcastically.

With that she finally did turn away from the scrawny thing and start walking away. She cast a glance back over her shoulder and put on her most perky, annoying face, complete with the voice and sparkling eyes. "Well thanks for the chat, it was so nice to meet you!" she said happily, a huge fake smile on her face. Then she turned away and walked further out of the woods, her head held high.

ty for the post! kesuk is one tough chicka.. i like her!

If Kesuk's expression was haughty, Caiaphas' was downright condescending. She had no rebuke for the female -- Ulfurmur had once told her the man that wants the last word will always lose -- it had not been poetically wrought, but she had observed its truth time after time. If she had no retort, Kesuk would leave -- which was ultimately what the thin coywolf wanted.

With a sneer curling her black gums, Caiaphas watched Kesuk's form retreat. If she spread the word their borders were poorly marked, perhaps it would send more wolves their way -- the Sound was deplorably low on captives, and the idea of sustaining their empty captive quarters excited the waif.

She would wait until Kesuk left -- and then she would hatefully piss right over where Kesuk's tracks in a sign of both disrespect and superiority.