Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn's travels led her back east as she headed toward the delta that fed into the ocean. She had hoped to arrive there before nightfall but navigating around the numerous eastern packs had slowed her time considerably. Ah, well, there wasn't anything she could do about that now. She pushed through the dense forested that surrounded the hot springs to find herself at the foot of a gorgeous series of waterfalls. A steep rock face with a number of pools had been lit up magenta and coral by the setting sun while the water flowed down like rivers of gold. It collected in each pool until that pool overflowed and it was forced to over run into another. Step by step down into the river below.

She hadn't run away from home, but, well... she was a yearling now, not a baby! She should have the same freedom of movement her older siblings had at that age, not less! She'd been sneaking out on trips long before her birthday anyway, so it wasn't much different now. Right? Besides, she went back to pack lands regularly, fed herself just fine, and she had Tansy and Dirk - which she'd finally teased out of the jay was his name, or at least what he was willing for her to call him - to watch out for her so no one could complain. Plus, she was getting cultured and shit, seeing the world and meeting new people. She still hadn't found a mentor, which sucked because she really wanted to improve her skills. She hadn't found her mother or Azure yet either, though she stubbornly believed they were out there somewhere waiting to be found. Gossamer hadn't found them yet either, but between the two of them they'd eventually do it. They'd cover the whole two continents if they had to!

"Dirk where are we going? I thought we were just going to look for peppermint but we've been walking for hoursss," she complained, grimacing as she plodded after the flitting jay.

Dirk paused and glanced slyly back at her from the branch he was perched on. "How the fuck should I know? I didn't fuckin ask you to follow me anywhere, you just decided to! I don't even know what properments even are! Good luck finding your way back!" With a raucous cackling he took off in a flurry of feathers in a completely different direction and was very quickly lost in the trees.

Spines bristling indignantly she shouted obsceneties his way long after he was out of sight. How dare that asshole bird trick her? She knew he'd done it deliberately, he'd been waiting for her to catch up before he flew on and had kept checking back to make sure she was following. "He did that on purpose!" she accused, turning to Tansy.

The ginger and cream, black-spotted cat had apparently sat calmly through Dirk's betrayal and her shouted tirade, quietly cleaning her paws and waiting. Now she stopped and turned that intense green gaze on Aris. "Of course he did," the cat yawned. "He wants to see if you can find your way back - he told you that. So... what are you going to do?"

Aris shot a venomous glare at her companion, then whipped around in a random direction and stomped off. "I'll find my way home when I feel like it!" she snarled grouchily. Tricks weren't nearly as much fun when they were being played on you.

She stomped around for a good hour as the sun sank lower in the sky, not looking particularly hard for the herbs, before coming into sight of some really cool falls, and the area around it looked like somewhere she'd find the plants she was looking for. Neat! And even neater - the creature she saw there. It was kind of like a wolf but a really weird one, all stretched out and weirdly proportioned. Obviously not really a wolf, but enough like one to look really especially weird. Super cool. Ignoring Tansy's hissed caution, she bounded up to the stranger. "Hey there! What are you?" Though the words were blunt, her tone was purely curious rather than malicious as she glanced over the tall gangly thing. "My name's Aris Fatalis, I'm a wolf."

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn stepped carefully around the base of the falls until it was clear she'd have to cross the river. She was prepared to do just that until her large ears picked up something moving through the brush and heading straight toward her. She tensed for a moment before a small yearling appeared. Jynn's ears flipped forward as she gazed curiously at the friendly girl.

Jynn chuckled at the question. She'd been asked this so many times she barely batted an eye any more. "I'm Jynn, a maned wolf and explorer. Its nice to meet you Aris. What brings you out this way?" She saw no issue with an unaccompanied yearling. At that age she'd been well on her own and it was pretty typical of her family.

Aris was a little disappointed to find out that the strange elongated canine was just another wolf, just a weird one. She didn't see why she called herself maned though, she didn't really have a mane? Why not a long wolf or a stretch wolf or something? Oh well. "Oh, I'm looking for peppermint. It's good for stomach aches." And with all the stress in the pack right now with Zee's disappearance and the growing tension between everyone, having a stack of herbs to soothe a stomach unsettled by stress was going to be a relief. "Are you going to be exploring here? Do you mind if I keep you company while I look more? Its a good place for mints, they like wet." She swept her gaze over the ground around them, squinting as she looked for the common plant.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Clearly the little girl was training to be a healer if she was out on the look out for peppermint. Jynn leapt up onto one of the scale like pools, the water only coming part way up her long legs. "Oh? Is someone in your pack sick?" The girls scent had not gone unnoticed. Jynn could only assume that there was a pack nearby. There seemed to be a number of them clustered in this area and sometimes that made navigation difficult.

Jynn nodded at the girls question. "Oh yes, I'll be here for a little bit before I head down to the bay." She bent her head and drank deeply of the water that fell into the pool she was standing in. She hoped to bask on the beach in the sun and grab what little warmth could be gleaned this autumn.

Aris shrugged with studied indifference to Jynn's question. "Not really. Upset stomachs and stuff are pretty common compared to other problems though so never hurts to have extra. Plus it makes your breath smell pretty good if you care about that sort of thing." The strange wolf didn't need to know the stressful details of life in the Armada, and Ari eyed her sidelong for a moment wondering suspiciously if they were digging for info like a spy or something, but her sidelong glance finally fevealed a patch of the very plant in question. "Oh fuck yeah," she crowed, bounding over to nip leaves off. It did leave a pleasantly refreshing taste in the mouth that made gathering it a lot more fun than some other plants. She dropped her bounty into a small patch of hide she'd carried for this very reason and quickly gathered the edges in sinew, using her teeth and paw together to pull it taut and hold it shut. Cool, that would keep until they got home and could dry it. She left a long enough loop in the sinew to slip it overher head like a big ugly necklace. It wasn't quite full but she could add more later if she found another patch.

Distraction passed,she bounced after the weird wolf. "So what do you do? Just travel around exploring everything?" Curiosity and a faint envy color her tone. She couldn't imagine wanting to permanently leave the Armada, not like all her older siblings had, but the freedom that implied did appeal to a young and restless adolescent, and she wanted a taste of that even just vicariously through Jynn.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn stepped out of the water and walked down to the base of the falls. She picked a comfortable place to sit and moved her wet forelegs over her large ears, working to clean them a little. She shook her pelt out as the girl yelled for joy, finding what she was looking for. Jynn grinned. Soon the girl bounded back to ask what she did. Jynn nodded. "Yep, that's basically my plan. Travel, see the world, maybe start a band for for like-minded wolves that love to travel." She got to her feet and stretched, her back arcing like a cat. "I'm afraid I better get going, but it was nice to meet you."

Ooo, wow, the woman led a sort of carefree life that Ari had never even dreamed was possible. Traveling the world, exploring everything? Of course, she did want to make a band, which was more in line with the heavy responsibilities and leadership line that the Fatalis were more about, but otherwise it sounded so exotic and alien to Aris' frame of reference. Even though she herself had been traveling, exploring, it had been for a purpose directly tied to her ambition, not for the sake of travel and pleasure. It was almost mindboggling. Aris felt a spurt of disappointment when Jynn said she had to go, but she covered it with nonchelance. "Oh, yeah, I should probably go too, get back to finding mint. Never can have too much of it, you know, and with all the damp lately not all of it will dry good probably." She nodded wisely as she said this, patting the bundle dangling against her chest. "So, uh, I guess I'll probably see you around, then? Was nice meeting you, Jynn!" With that she scrambled back into the meadowy area, head already down and nose working to sniff out more mint. It probably seemed abrupt, maybe rude, but as far as Ari was concerned it was the only way to leave on her terms and not be left behind like a moony little pup. This way, clearly it was her choice to end the conversation, right? Or at least that's what she told herself as she busied herself snipping off more mint leaves and tucking them into the bundle at her chest, obviously much too busy and responsible to continue a conversation. Work work work! Gotta get it done, can't talk now.

-exit Aris-