With a battery of guilt on which to poise,

disco for leviathan's sepulcher

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@Antares

Often times did Vendrussel try avoiding the mountain travel. They were not an easy task to climb to, and often or not, that would cause more then a day of travel. She would usually try to find a small, quick path on the outskirts, a way to pass the mountains easily. Usually, she was able to snake her way through, finding a small valley to get around - it was why she could skirt around the mountains so much, without being too far from the leviathans sepulcher.

When she climbed the mountain, the northern dragon could see her land. Through the peaks of cloudrest, she had yet to breach through vale, and was able to see the rocks from the shore. She could see the serpentine rocks rupture through the water, an intimidating look from above as they jagged across the ocean bank. Within the midst of all that though.. There was the forest island, where she had made a home. Not too many would be able to see below, but clearly, on top, it was to see seen.

Vendrussel wasn't too keen on knowing that within these peaks it could be seen, but luckily so, she had yet to smell anyone claiming it.

---

+1 Disco point for LS

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With enough time, Shiroshika had begun to permeate into his defenses--in his way, he could scent like one of them now, at least, and it helped him feel like one too. His foreign newness not so glaring anymore. Not to him. He at least hoped they trusted him enough to be back after ranging out well beyond the claim for the first time in earnest. Antares would need to get his footing here in the world at large eventually and his spirits were feeling lighter lately, contented by staying occupied, and a sense of something else underlining it too. He saw it fit to capitalize upon this and keep his wits, and strengths about himself.

First he went south, re-tracing a route that was vaguely familiar towards the wintered forest he first surfaced in. Once its trees rose on the horizon, he veered west. It guided him towards mountains, and to this gravity, he gave in readily. He had seen the view from the northern peak of Tsukiishi's claim, so had a vague enough understanding of the horizon, but it was all worth a better look. Antares could appreciate differing vantage points, and he had little to lose in investigating--it was scratching and itch he had not been able to reach in some time. Soon enough, he was climbing into the elevations where moments blurred, but he didn't mind; not anymore.

Of other scattered scents, he picked up one far more recent than the rest. Willing to track something that fresh, he followed after, mind set and strides made for the mountain. Perhaps they would know something he didn't, and in his grand absence of things here, he had plenty to gain.

But, while he had met many strangers lately since awakening anew, this one came on neutral turf and utterly unknown expectation. Antares would stay sharp. When he finally spied dark fur ahead, he perked his head, and continued closing in slower than before.

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She had a sensing of someone behind, a smell of the wind a stranger was near. Though Vendrussel did enjoy the closer he became, the stranger did not introduce himself. A closing prey she felt, a hunting of sorts as the other got closer and closer to her trail. When she could properly scent the man, his presence in the open air, the blue wolf spun around with a dubious, ocean gaze toward the other.

He was pitch black, a clashing to the smokey mist that hung closely to the mountain. His figure matched starkly against it, causing to be able to see far more then another. A tall, looming figure.. She couldn't deny even with such dense terrain, she could make out some rather handsome figures, sharp and tall in looks, and a dark, blue gaze to her. A flush to the neck that was felt, but Vendrussel ignored such feeling,

"Is there something you need?" speaking out, and taking quite an obvious note she knew he was after her trail.

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He closed in, keeping on alert--should she decide to turn on him. There were several directions she could take it in, given a wrong move by him. What if she was possessive of this place? Or, just as reasonably, prickly about her privacy? But Antares had long decided to take the gamble on it. The fogs cleared enough to help encourage him and deep down, past his reservations and old grief, he wanted to meet the other inhabitants of the unfamiliar lands he had found himself in.

At least so far, though the encounter had yet to reveal its whole nature, he was willing to keep to it and search for payoff. When she spoke to him first, his ears flicked up immediately. Was there something he needed? Need seemed heavy to him. “Just exploring,” he replied first, wondering if stating his cause would do him any good. Antares was almost certain he did not know the other darkened wolf from any time or place--not even a better look at her paler markings pinged as familiar. “Do you know this place?” he asked, and made another steady step closer to the stranger. His tail hung slack, but he carried the rest of his height fair for now, all beneath a curious, slightly prying eye.

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"Ah, as am I." It seemed but a mutual curiosity of the peaks. Further they go would just be a shroud of clouds, a look of dust within the wake and unseen from below. Though she could hear and spell the fresh streams throughout, and despite such a gloomy look it had, the area was surprisingly rather flourish in love of flora and fauna. If any would truly lay claim to this place where the clouds rest, she however was slightly displeased by the factor if go below the clouds, her land could be watched. An ocean gaze looked back, the serpentine rocks within the splashing of the great waves.. Then back toward the slickened black devil.

She shook her head, "I live around the area, out of curiosity took toward the peaks. Are you near as well?" as she gingerly walked closer, the smell of others clung to his pelt, she would assume he was a loner, though pinged with a disappointment that the man was to be claimed.

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It came with a hint of solace to find that similar motivations had brought them both here. He appreciated a more even standing that way, though it was also the knowing that he liked to have--despite also appreciating the allure of a good mystery. At least he now felt less of a need to be on the lookout for possessiveness, or her summoning others to back her up in it here and now. It opened up focus for new interest, potentially. But time would tell what there may be for him to gain, or lose. Though he was confident he had little of that.

“Not far. At another peak, northeast of here,” the scout swung his dark muzzle briefly off towards that snow-capped horizon, though was quick back towards the stranger, closer now and his breaths measured, watching. He thought he could catch a hint of the seaside with her. “With a group called Shiroshika,” he spoke, marginally more comfortable curling his tongue around the title by now that it was not so glaringly new, but wondering if she would share anything more about her own too. Something about the proximity she mentioned made him wonder what others packs may trek these heights, or near; raised on the supremacy of mountainsides, and taught to respect the bounty they could offer to the brave, he guessed there were more of this ilk somewhere. “I know almost nothing of these lands past that. Still.. too new,” Antares mentioned, eager enough to gloss over the circumstances of why he was here at all. “And you are one of the first beyond my packmates I have seen.” he went on to say, as if to cite his curiosity that way.

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Her ocean gaze followed toward the direction the man spoke of. A northern pack farther within the tundra, though she vaguely knew of more wolves that claimed toward its peaks, the name of Shiroshika, was relatively knew. She knew the name was none of she knew, yet vaguely reminded her of Kei's culture, and wondered if it was another branch off the many eastern one's she knew.. "Do you like it there?"

She looked back at the slickened man, tall as he was, he seemed otherworldly in a sense of wisdom, and yet, lacked that wanderlust and knew beyond his claim. Her head twisted to one side as she peered at him with a curiosity, "There are many within the mountains, far too many," she so commented, smelling the many that claimed certain regions, and yet didn't know all their names. Anyone who ventured into would meet a wolf right away ; far too full. 

"I am by the west."

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Right with his slow trickle of information, she questioned directly for something he was not fully prepared to hear from someone only but a half-step up from stranger. It seemed an odd thought to him with Shiroshika still so very new to him, but he did not dislike his time there. Very different, but as he adjusted with time, he supposed that he did like it. He had his needs and current wants met, simple as they might be: a place to survive in while he relearned how. “So far,” he replied simply, quite content to keep that answer concise.

After, his interests were veered towards the mountains all too easily, her comment of far too many arcing a brow out of him. All noted, though, and of course the mountains would attract attention. Antares could understand why, guilty of having the peaks catch his eye all too often, and he understood the wealth they could potentially harbor. Now that he knew, he could travel accordingly--especially if he ever wished to be undisturbed. “Any you know by name?” he asked about the range dwellers, just to see if there was anything else.

When she mentioned west, his glance that way was immediate, but short-lived as he peered back to Vendrussel in interest. He only knew it as a horizon in the distance. As to what it entailed, it was beyond his scope still. “Near a coast?” he asked, trusting his nose was not hinting wrong--that he smelled ocean somewhere, somehow, hopefully beyond a wishful thought at something halfway familiar. Still in an effort to collect his bearings, he wondered if it was the same shoreline he knew before, only perhaps in a different place.

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His responds was rather lukewarm ; she wondered if he was too new to give an accurate description to how he felt. Vendrussel settled upon her hunches, sitting nicely as her tail tucked in front of her paws. She peered at him with but a curious look, someone who was assumingly newly to a pack, yet wandering so much around. Was his loyalty to be true? Her own wolves were so little as well, she wouldn't be too pleased to find if they were wondering too far.

"Northfall, Event Horizon, Empyrean.. There is one within the plains called Little Haven. Cute name, is it not?" There was far more that the northern dragon most likely met, yet the names seem to miss her mind. So many wolves claimed to the mountains, and even more that she knew she not had met. Though her claim was at the coast, surrounded by the water and the tundra, a bit to southern mountains - though she didn't claim that part, just knew it was relatively empty. Sooner or later, Vendrussel would meet even more. As all packs would want, a relative knowledge of those within the area.

Then she nodded, though refrained from more knowledge. Raised in secretive, she couldn't help but feel to refrain such a specific knowledge of their exact location. Not to mention, the rather amusement of them attempting to find them within the isle of the sepulcher. Not many could find the Dragonford, if they didn't know where to look exactly, "Many like myself seem to claim near the sea."

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He searched for anything familiar in the list, something to give him a heading on where this was, but there was none to be found--no recognition for him to conjure. Even so, he wanted to remember such names, tried to commit it to memory--assuming he might find them one day, or they may even become relevant to Shiroshika somehow, who knows. He liked to feel prepared and it would do him well to feel more.. rooted in his surroundings at large. Then, he snickered lightly, considering Little Haven with her, wondering what they could be like “Think they live up to it?” he sneered, but knew it didn't need an answer.

Antares glanced off towards the horizon again, eyes narrowing into the clouds. He breathed deep, grateful for her confirmation of the seaside--and it seemed to carry a little more on it too, a subtle hint. Her claim stuck out to him, kept for later like many other mentions here and there alike. “Yeah. The sea catches a certain eye,” he mused with that distant look of his on, supposing this meant ones like hers too. The coastline had been a populated place in his homeland, and even he had briefly tasted the appeal, but no claims had ever seemed to last as long as the mountain packs could. Then again, a different time and place. “I intend to scout that way too.. eventually,” he breathed. Not yet, but soon. He should be more settled in Shiroshika first.

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Vendrussel chuckled just slightly, "They seemed nice, though oddly looking." Their name overall was cute but she wondered as well, if they were true to that name. Except the woman who she met was a nice individual - warm as the colors she took, though quite strange. If she remembered their face in particular held but something she couldn't classify as pleasant, but refrained from going further from completely judging on physique. For all that it may be, strange in so, her heart, seemed in the right place.

She couldn't help but look at him in amusement, as he seemed very curious on where her claim was. Though she was very vague on it, and would continue so. She followed his look to the ocean, and it wasn't exactly where the Dragonford was, but unwillingly to say out loud, it was close, "You are welcome to find us and visit, if you find yourself nearby." A smile of entertainment, as she urged the man to play but a game of hide and seek ; and to attempt to find her claim in the midst of the coast. Surely so, he may smell the beach.. But to find the isle was a different matter.

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Oddly looking? He tilted his head a bit to such, though kept that mention for later. It was tempting to press for more, but he decided not to ruin the surprise should he come across them on his own. He had many miles yet to map, anyway, and the offer she provided was right along those lines, even--satisfyingly so, but he aimed to keep this from his face. A welcome, and a subtle challenge to find their roost tied up neatly together. He couldn't say no. “I will remember that,” he replied with an even nod, glancing away with his smirk. He would see the seashore here soon, and find out what else it had in store for him.

As for here, now, he skimmed their horizons again quickly. “Are you going any further up?” he asked, flicking a gesture of his muzzle up the elevations yet. How much further did she intend to press into the secrets of his peak? And same question to himself--the temptation to go higher undeniable.

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"I was thinking about it.." It was hard to see the peak with the clouds that loomed, and wondered if there was ever a day they released their reigns. When she tried to peer through with that of sea-blue gaze, she could not see anything ; only if she truly went through. Though to continue forward was more time away from her land, she can spare a day, but Vendrussel was reluctant for anymore. She took full advantage of her position as Alpha to continue outwards in that exploration, a curious eye and a curious mind ; time where she did not have before.

A smile toward the darkened man, "Why? Is that an invitation?" she suggested with an alluring smile while slightly chuckling at the question.

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So it seemed they were on the same train of thought considering the rest of the pathway up. Antares replied first in a short, small nod. Undaunted by the chance at a climb, he was in not exactly in any hurry to turn back so soon. It was one of his first trips away from Shiroshika's claim, so he set out to make it worth the time spent. Not that he hadn't already learned a fair share in speaking with her. But he sought more connection to the lands he now lived. May as well make them here.

It was a loose invitation, he couldn't deny that much though in the end it was for her to take or leave--no consequence to either of them. “For whatever it's worth, yes,” he replied, a switch to his tail then to answer before he began to stride off on his way. For a little while, he could give in to the greedy want to know more. All the better to have it be mountain underfoot, and company willing to scale just the same as him. Still new in the pack, they likely wouldn't miss him for a few more hours anyway. No different in the long run, so he intended to roam out this way at least until night set. Only then would he consider heading back, depending on whatever the road lead to--but now he had a plan, both for here, and for.. next time he could find her.

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She raised a brow in curiosity, to what he may be offering.. Though she did not move away nor' retreat to her coast, but a following of wonder. A black pelt climbing his way to the peaks of so, and herself following along his path. She trotted upwards, to meet beside himself rather then continue to stare upon his back, a slight smile in that mischevious tint while urging him to continue on. What will you show?

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Antares would have to give way to instinct, and let the mountain decide. He had found company worth a longer look with and of course, he wouldn't turn down a chance to see what a coastal wolf could do out of their element. There was always an inherent satisfaction in finding them able to take to the peaks, too.. where he selfishly knew he was at his finest, and perhaps most real. Though the paths underfoot were strange, there was no doubt in his step; it would work out.

If he was lucky, he could find a hidden facet--caves, perhaps, against a small meadow. He saw the fog thickening and pressed on, another look back to her, curious but keen and quietly content when silence could reign.

But, together they would explore until the duty of her seaside claim would call her back, and it only be proper that he return home to the icy mountains too. He had gained much here, so it would be in good spirit--with something in mind for the next time he roved as well.

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