smooth like butter

Random prompt; "Your character is traveling up a mountain but their path has crumbled and broken. It's an awfully big jump but you spy rocky ledges that haven't entirely broken. Do you risk it or do you seek a different path? " for @Jinx

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The boy had never been this way before, he enjoyed the larger body of water further north. Yet here he was, nose to the sky as he sniffed and padded into the strange land.
What an idiot.

He could already smell the coyotes, it was stupid to come down this way. The young pup had clambered down into the base of the canyon..? Valley?? Whatever you call it. He didn't know the word for it yet. So much so that the way back up was steep and rocky. The dried sands of the area not only burnt the bottom of his paws, but crumbled when he put much weight on it.

Monarch cursed to himself.

There was a leap away, at least it was a leap for a pup, to another rock a little higher up. It seemed strong enough to hold his weight if he could make it, and it might make his struggle a little easier.
So he stepped back, readied his short little pup legs, and sprung towards the rock. Sticking the landing! Ahah! Perhaps he was destined for greatness-

Then it shifted, it crumbled, and let loose from the earth. Sending the young wolf flying back down to the base of the steep hill, crying and whining when he hit the ground at the end.
What an idiot.

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The pathetic whimpering caught her attention first.

Jinx waltzed as she usually did, at her own pace and leisurely, across the 'border' of the Plains and Desert. This location looked pretty interestin', but she was here on another biz. Aloe vera was what the young woman wanted to find. Pretty simple, right? Should be easy to find, right? But she found no spikey leaf plant yet. Yet. That was the keyword in this situation. Instead, she found something even more interestin'. Somewhat. If you can count a snotty brat interestin'.

"Ya fall?" She approached from behind, as the earth rose in front of him. He seemed to be some sort of mess. Probably his first time out in the wilds by himself. While Jinx could carry on and fake lovely behavior, she decided not to. No use tricking a kid, not when she had nothing to gain from it. Moral of the story; you trick people to get something. A pup couldn't give her anything she wanted "ya okay there, kid?" She stopped, looking down at him from her superior height.

Maybe he broke his ankle. Fun! She'd get to set it, and cause some indirect pain. Maybe he was bleeding... Or had a bruise, or bumped his head. Lovely. This was beginning to become a beautiful day. Of course, consent was a thing around strangers. The kid could take one look at her and run, for all she knew. Jinx waited, tail lazily swaying to each side. Her expression was unreadable, staring at him with owl-like eyes. A tilt of her head. Waiting and watching.

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Sorry for the wait!!! lost muse for a bit </3

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Huh?

Who was this?

He hadn't seen her around the canyon before and his untrained puppy-nose couldn't tell where she was from. The boy hadn't even noticed she spoke for a moment before it registered. He snorted and stood, shaking out his coat. Just a bruise or two, most likely.

"I'm fine." The young boy said plainly, eyes staring back at her own with stoic and blank outlook. No thoughts, it seemed.

His icy blue eyes scanned up and down her form. "Have we met?" He questioned, wondering if perhaps he had just forgotten their interaction, though unbelievable as they may sound. Monarch seldom forgot much.

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fast forwarding the timeline so she's accepted into warcrest by then /headdesk cause timelines are a thing

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So he was fine. Boring.

Jinx resisted rolling her eyes. Why carry on like an utter child? Ah, wait. He was an utter child. Pups were snotty, often sticky or dirty, and gross. They came into the world grossly too. Birthing was definitely not one of her favorite things about being a budding healer. They grew out all awkward and slow too. Yeah, she had been a pup upon a time, and yeah she had been like this too. But she was now an adult and could look back with a scoff. It wasn't like she could turn back time.

She'd only get older.

She also considered just leaving him here, but the kid belonged to Warcrest and the alpha's words lingered in her mind. Take care of the pack, the pack'll take care of you. So while she could ignore him, if she wanted to rank higher and become infamous in Warcrest — Jinx better just suck it up and pretend to care. "Not until now, no" she replies to the kid, secretly relishing she could stare down at another. All the other wolves were too fucking big "I'm Jinx. I just joined Warcrest. Who're you?"

She broke her gaze from him to stare around the boneyard. She'd call it that due to the piles of sun-bleached bones. "I'm lookin' to fill the cache, so I'm out here lookin' for aloe vera. It's green and has thick pointy leaves with spikey edges. Seen anything like that around?"

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Joined? Willingly? What a strange concept. Monarch didn't even know that card was on the table. Interesting. He hesitated his response for a moment, wondering if he shouldn't in case she was lying. He didn't really care either way, what was she going to do with the name of a child, anyway?
"Monarch." He said flatly, turning as soon as his lips closed again and beginning a decent back through the canyon.

His eyes looked back once or twice as he made his way further from her.

Oh.

She was doing that thing that normal people do, where they keep talking despite the interaction being spent. He sighed.

"No clue what you're talking about." Something about caches and a low vera? Nothing that he was concerned with, at the very least. Sounded kinda boring anyway.

Well, if this woman wasn't going to help him get back to Warcrest, he better get moving on his own before the sun burns his paws to a crisp. And on he went, trotting on puppy legs.

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