Winterheart Forest to finish all that we needed to say

She's exceedingly glad that the two of them had managed to return to a normal sort of place, and as such, Juniper is glad to take a little more time to explore the area surrounding the lake. Morning had her leave @Winter's side, promising to meet up with him around middday, and head to the edges of the forest she'd been eyeing. Nare flare and pull in the scent of pine needles underfoot, the soft damp of morning and that of new growth. Spring had fully set in; the ground is covered in a lush bed of grasses and budding ferns, at least wherever light manages to trickle through the canopy. Further in, she knows, the ground would be most bare and cast in shadow, and so she remains at the edges of the wood, picking over the greenery.

She's hoping for something recognizable, though now that they're travelling she doesn't exactly have a place to store all her treasures. She promised to look for something edible, too, though it's not like she can't take a couple of hours to do her own thing, first.

the staff team luvs u

Anger.

It rushed through her veins, sang in her soul, pulling her to a state of waking that she greeted with a snarl. When had she fallen asleep? When had she fallen asleep shifted? Irritated, Alina rose to her feet, shaking out her pelt before reaching deep inside and--

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Where was her inner beast, her inner human? Why was that line no longer there? 

Red eyes glared about, pinning upon another wolf, female. She didn't smell like her, didn't smell like her pack. “You,” She snapped, bounding closer. “What the fuck is going on? Answer me. Now.”
the staff team luvs u

Something sharp and familiar; she noses over the budding greenery until she finds the source of the scent. The mint is small, barely having made its way above ground, yet still she's tempted to —

Juniper starts, badly, at the most irascible curse she'd heard in her short life. Muzzle swings in its direction to find a smaller, pale wolf to be its source, who seems to see her in the same moment. Ears fall back tightly against her crown, and then she's backpedaling as the stranger beelines toward her. Heart is in her throat as she stiffens, leaning back and away from the woman as she stumbles and plops onto her hindquarters.

"STOP." she demands, eyes widening. She realizes the woman has no reason nor apparent inclination to listen, and so thinking quickly, follows up with the best threat she can think of in an instant. "My brother's really big!" Her fangs clack nervously before she manages to adopt what she hopes is a mirror-image of her mother's angry-serious face, though it struggles to contend with her shock.

the staff team luvs u

She snorted, irritable and crass. "Ask me if I give a fuck," Came her response, barely giving the girl time to finish her statement. Her own teeth bite at the air, rage seeping from her pores, tail lashing behind her, lifted in a display of superiority. "Where are we and who are you?"
the staff team luvs u

Ineffective, though if she'd stopped to think before speaking, she'd have realized so herself. Tongue slides over her lips, her own tail giving a nervous twitch but doing nothing that might indicate she seeks to challenge the superiority the angry woman practically oozes. She realizes then, dully, that she was fairly certain the wolf hadn't been anywhere in the vicinity mere seconds ago. "I don't know," comes her answer, shock gradually giving way to irritation. "This is a forest. There's a bunch of sand," she motions with a rough flick of her muzzle, "that way." 

"Juniper," she answers curtly, and then "What — why're you so angry?" This lady's next-level pissed, though she's realized now that she seems to be taller than the stranger, which gives her a sudden and perhaps entirely unwarranted confidence boost.

the staff team luvs u

Juniper. What a god damn name. Her parents were probably hippies, flower loving dumb asses that named their kids after herbs. Alina scoffed, gritting her teeth for a moment before rumbling back: "I dunno, Juney. Wouldn’t you be pissed off if you woke up somewhere you didn’t fucking recognize?" Where was her pack? Her Guardian. That dumb son of a bitch, Eric? Where was her fucking city? Where was her phone? Her beast? Alina’s confusion manifested as anger.

"What’s the nearest city, Juney?" Gruff but at least she wasn’t yelling anymore. Red eyes glinted angrily, unnerved and grumpy.
the staff team luvs u

Shock is fading really rather fast, now, and is only hastened by the rather swift blooming of her ire. Gaze narrows, and her tail lashes tightly behind her as she shifts her weight forward once more. "Sure," she spits, "but at least I wasn't an asshole about it". Not to strangers, at least, but being an asshole to her brother had nothing to do with their situation and more the fact that it was her duty. 

"I don't know where anything is," she repeats, deciding she's grown to despise the nickname the stranger has given her very quickly. Still, she can't help but ask, "what's a city?"
the staff team luvs u

"What's a city?" If that wasn't the stupidest goddamn question she'd ever heard. Being called an asshole didn't faze her as much as the idiotic question, baring her teeth at the girl. There was only so much tolerance she had for bullshit like this. “Don't be coy, you little shit. Cordova can't be far from here so again, which way?” But if she thought about it, really thought about it, there were no roads anywhere near here. She didn't have to look; she couldn't smell them, couldn't smell the gasoline or hear the rumble of distant engines. There wasn't a mark of any city in this forest, which was... odd. Not even a cigarette butt.

No.

Not possible.

Not. Fucking. Possible.

“What the hell is going on?”
the staff team luvs u