03-09-2021, 09:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-10-2021, 02:12 AM by zina. Edited 1 time in total.)
He began before dawn, prowling his way down the slope from where he'd found himself a small, comfortable shelter to sleep in, so that he could start the day as early as possible. Something urged him to search, though he wasn't sure entirely what he was looking for. He could only interpret it as the urge to explore and patrol, so he decided to challenge himself to the task of exploring the mountain from the bottom up, though he was sure it would take longer than he expected it to. But if this was to be his new home, he would want to know its secrets, and he would want to know its dangers as well. There were a few places where the footing was treacherous, and a hunting wolf running in pursuit of a prey animal could easily leap over what looked like a boulder- only to realize a moment to late that it was the edge of a cliff.
The foothills beyond what he and Hydra called the "Dragonsteeth" were calm, serene. Tall, lodgepole pine grew alongside spruce, making a wonderful habitat for the grey jays, which had already begun to nest. They were mountain-dwellers, just like him, and were hardy, busy little birds. Friendly too, he noted. More than once he found himself being followed by a grey jay that flew from tree to tree, occasionally winging ahead of him to land on a branch and tilt its head to the side to get a better look at him. So he stopped, and gazed up at it. The brazen fellow hopped down a few branches and regarded him inquisitively. Bronco blinked and smiled. They were just smaller than a crow, bigger than a robin. They wouldn't make much of a meal so he didn't even think to try and leap at it. There was something clever about the way it looked at him that made him almost think it was studying him.
Two seconds later, it swooped toward him and he felt a soft pinch as the bird nabbed a good clump of nearly shed fur from his back, and flew off with it, causing him to laugh. "Oh, so that's what you wanted," He called out. The bird flew to a nearby nest, and stuffed the beige fur into the branches as a soft lining. "Alright then," He said. He began rubbing his sides along the rough, scratchy bark of the spruce tree, which caught the loose clumps of fur and pulled them free from his coat. It felt good to get rid of some of his winter woolies, and he didn't doubt the grey jay would appreciate the extra nest lining.
Finding his way through the Dragonsteeth was interesting. The smaller mountains weren't as tall as the Nameless Mountain, but they were jagged and steep. Between a few of them was a knife's edge too narrow and high for him to reach, so he would continue roving about the mountain, essentially performing an entire patrol of the area's perimeter, marking with his scent as he went, and taking note of the various passages through the Dragonsteeth. A couple times, he tried a passage, only to find that it was too jagged and the footing too loose with the melting snow for him to pass through. But he persevered, and found a number of places where the wolves of the Nameless Mountain could pass safely through, so they could leave the pack whenever they needed to. For strangers, it would make almost a wall surrounding the Nameless Mountain, with only a few points of entry that were safe enough to be traversed.
It would take him a full day to charter the outlying borders and the entrances through the Dragonsteeth. He'd send the night down in the forest again, not far from one of the easier passages into the heart of the territory where the slopes of the Nameless Mountain began- and when he awoke, he found that several more clumps of his nearly-shed fur had been gently removed from his coat overnight. One grey jay nest in particular looked more fuzzy than the others.
So at the break of dawn on the second day, he stretched, and looked up to see the familiar grey birds still busy in search of nesting materials and food, before he passed through the narrow, winding passageway between two small, craggy mountains and into the heart of the territory where he faced the long incline up the Nameless Mountain.
He decided that he would wind his way along, spiraling up the mountainside so that he got a good idea of what it looked like from all angles. The first portion of the mountain, along the base, still took him a considerable amount of time, as it was a fairly wide area to cover. There were less trees within the Dragonsteeth, and they were shorter. A few grey jays, blue jays and stellar's jays were in the area, and a variety of finches and sparrows as well, but he began to notice as well that there were birds of prey in the area. He thought he saw a bald eagle soaring overhead- and at one point, he thought he saw a red-tailed hawk. Needless to say- he could always tell when there was a bird of prey overhead, as it caused all the smaller ones to seek cover.
They weren't the only thing hunted on the slopes. He saw all manner of tracks left behind in the thinning layer of snow- rabbits, foxes, ermine, partridge, deer and squirrels to name a few. The higher he climbed, the more he noticed that the range of herbivores changed, as the trees thinned out leaving little but short, crooked trees that were bent by the winds. Here, there were still tracks left behind by deer and rabbits, but there were also small hoofprints left behind by either rocky mountain sheep, or mountain goats. While he could tell the two apart (goats had goatees, after all), he couldn't differentiate their tracks. The bison herd was roughly in the same area that it had been when he and Hydra had spotted it, which was excellent. They might be able to pull together a hunt, sometime soon, once they'd had more opportunities to scout the herd.
Eventually there came a morning where he awoke at dawn, and could see the mountain's peak. He wasn't sure he could, or should attempt to summit, but he could gain a bit more elevation without harm, he thought. And as he moved along, he had a view that was open, and without end. From the high shoulders of the mountain, where the snow still hung in drifts, he could see out over the Dragonsteeth and out to the plains, over to the sea, and even to something vaguely sandy in colour in the far off distance. Still, in beholding the world from so high, he could not fathom a name to give to the peak he had explored, and he realized perhaps that some of his time should have been spent brainstorming...But there was too much to see, too much to learn. A name could come at a later time. But now, having roved through the landscape that was vague and unfamiliar, it finally began to get a new name.
Home.
the staff team luvs u
The foothills beyond what he and Hydra called the "Dragonsteeth" were calm, serene. Tall, lodgepole pine grew alongside spruce, making a wonderful habitat for the grey jays, which had already begun to nest. They were mountain-dwellers, just like him, and were hardy, busy little birds. Friendly too, he noted. More than once he found himself being followed by a grey jay that flew from tree to tree, occasionally winging ahead of him to land on a branch and tilt its head to the side to get a better look at him. So he stopped, and gazed up at it. The brazen fellow hopped down a few branches and regarded him inquisitively. Bronco blinked and smiled. They were just smaller than a crow, bigger than a robin. They wouldn't make much of a meal so he didn't even think to try and leap at it. There was something clever about the way it looked at him that made him almost think it was studying him.
Two seconds later, it swooped toward him and he felt a soft pinch as the bird nabbed a good clump of nearly shed fur from his back, and flew off with it, causing him to laugh. "Oh, so that's what you wanted," He called out. The bird flew to a nearby nest, and stuffed the beige fur into the branches as a soft lining. "Alright then," He said. He began rubbing his sides along the rough, scratchy bark of the spruce tree, which caught the loose clumps of fur and pulled them free from his coat. It felt good to get rid of some of his winter woolies, and he didn't doubt the grey jay would appreciate the extra nest lining.
Finding his way through the Dragonsteeth was interesting. The smaller mountains weren't as tall as the Nameless Mountain, but they were jagged and steep. Between a few of them was a knife's edge too narrow and high for him to reach, so he would continue roving about the mountain, essentially performing an entire patrol of the area's perimeter, marking with his scent as he went, and taking note of the various passages through the Dragonsteeth. A couple times, he tried a passage, only to find that it was too jagged and the footing too loose with the melting snow for him to pass through. But he persevered, and found a number of places where the wolves of the Nameless Mountain could pass safely through, so they could leave the pack whenever they needed to. For strangers, it would make almost a wall surrounding the Nameless Mountain, with only a few points of entry that were safe enough to be traversed.
It would take him a full day to charter the outlying borders and the entrances through the Dragonsteeth. He'd send the night down in the forest again, not far from one of the easier passages into the heart of the territory where the slopes of the Nameless Mountain began- and when he awoke, he found that several more clumps of his nearly-shed fur had been gently removed from his coat overnight. One grey jay nest in particular looked more fuzzy than the others.
So at the break of dawn on the second day, he stretched, and looked up to see the familiar grey birds still busy in search of nesting materials and food, before he passed through the narrow, winding passageway between two small, craggy mountains and into the heart of the territory where he faced the long incline up the Nameless Mountain.
He decided that he would wind his way along, spiraling up the mountainside so that he got a good idea of what it looked like from all angles. The first portion of the mountain, along the base, still took him a considerable amount of time, as it was a fairly wide area to cover. There were less trees within the Dragonsteeth, and they were shorter. A few grey jays, blue jays and stellar's jays were in the area, and a variety of finches and sparrows as well, but he began to notice as well that there were birds of prey in the area. He thought he saw a bald eagle soaring overhead- and at one point, he thought he saw a red-tailed hawk. Needless to say- he could always tell when there was a bird of prey overhead, as it caused all the smaller ones to seek cover.
They weren't the only thing hunted on the slopes. He saw all manner of tracks left behind in the thinning layer of snow- rabbits, foxes, ermine, partridge, deer and squirrels to name a few. The higher he climbed, the more he noticed that the range of herbivores changed, as the trees thinned out leaving little but short, crooked trees that were bent by the winds. Here, there were still tracks left behind by deer and rabbits, but there were also small hoofprints left behind by either rocky mountain sheep, or mountain goats. While he could tell the two apart (goats had goatees, after all), he couldn't differentiate their tracks. The bison herd was roughly in the same area that it had been when he and Hydra had spotted it, which was excellent. They might be able to pull together a hunt, sometime soon, once they'd had more opportunities to scout the herd.
Eventually there came a morning where he awoke at dawn, and could see the mountain's peak. He wasn't sure he could, or should attempt to summit, but he could gain a bit more elevation without harm, he thought. And as he moved along, he had a view that was open, and without end. From the high shoulders of the mountain, where the snow still hung in drifts, he could see out over the Dragonsteeth and out to the plains, over to the sea, and even to something vaguely sandy in colour in the far off distance. Still, in beholding the world from so high, he could not fathom a name to give to the peak he had explored, and he realized perhaps that some of his time should have been spent brainstorming...But there was too much to see, too much to learn. A name could come at a later time. But now, having roved through the landscape that was vague and unfamiliar, it finally began to get a new name.
Home.
+2 Discovery Points
the staff team luvs u
