As the days came and went, Echo slowly recovered from her time out at sea. Morte had managed to help her catch some small rodents while she was resting and getting her strength back, and it hadn't been too long until she'd been able to leave the beach behind. Good riddance, she thought. If she never saw the ocean again it would be too soon, and ss she'd parted ways with the golden sand she'd not been entirely sure how to feel - a large part of her felt relieved to be leaving the crashing waves behind, surprised she was even still alive, but she still wasn't sure if she should be feeling sad for the loss of her homeland. A mixture of sad but not-sad was pulled taught like a knot in her chest and of course, Echo pushed it away, never fond of mulling over complicated feelings.

Luckily for her, although the wolves of this new land seemed strange the prey that inhabited the surrounding areas seemed normal and the scenery was as she would expect. The grass was green, the trees had leaves, the waters were clear. Thankfully nothing seemed untoward or out of place (for the moment). That was good. Echo could work with that and mapping the area was a good activity to keep her mind occupied.

From the Beach to the Plains, Echo took her time. Using the path of the sun she'd figured she was on the east side of Boreas and had taken care in noting the different types of trees and foliage the further inland she went. She'd also been very careful to make note of any scent of pack - back home she'd known where to avoid, but here she was blind. Irritating, but it couldn't be helped.

The dark girl had eventually settled herself in the Plains, finding it much more to her tastes than the Beach. She was currently minding her own business, snuffling through the grass on a bright, cold, wintery afternoon as she followed the scent of a rabbit. Her exploration brought her to a huddle of bushes and the dark girl snuffled around it some more, trying to discern where the little creature had hopped off to. If she had known the reputation that the Plains held, or even its name, she might have been more careful. Alas, she was none the wiser, and ended up sticking her nose where it didn't belong.

Something sharp dug into her nose, making her yelp loudly. Rearing back, eyes wide, she realised that there was a snake hanging on for dear life! She must have looked like a mad woman, yelling curses and swinging her head around like some deranged bull. "GetitoffgetitoffgetitOFF!" With a final scream and a particularly harsh head toss that gave her whiplash, the snake finally let go and was sent flying through the air!

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Astraios was careful not to go too far from the lands of Heiðinn. He pushed his luck a little, heading further astray to territories such as this one. He was expecting the axe to fall at some point, and his actions to get him further into trouble. However, as Thrall there wasn’t exactly any lower he could fall.

He was hunting through the plains, trying to find the trail of the Reindeer he and Spider had hunted the other day when the sound of a commotion caught his attention. He turned his head, looking over a small rise in the Plains just in time for something to go flying towards him.

He let out a surprised curse, "Helvede!" as the object smacked him in the face. He had only a second to realise the long, scaly creature was a snake before he was slamming a paw down on its neck. It struggled and writhed under his grip, but his eyes were already moving to the wolf that had attacked him. “Hey!” He called out to them, tone angry.


"Speech"

With the snake now gone Echo rested on her haunches, rubbing her nose with a deep frown. "Sonova..." There was a commotion in the background that she ignored in favour of her eyes latching onto movement within the bushes again. A shiver of disgust ran up her spine, setting her fur on end as the movement that drew her eye revealed itself to be another snake... and another.... and another!

"Eugh!" The dark woman recoiled, backing away from the bush and nest of snakes she'd unintentionally disturbed. Turning, it was then she spotted the young wolf who was glaring at her, snake pinned under a paw. It didn't even cross her mind that the snake she'd managed to shake off was the same one now hissing agitatedly beneath him and her nose wrinkled as she trotted down the slope towards him.

His blue markings caught her eye - like the markings of the red wolf she'd met at the beach the pup's markings were also curious to her, but at least he didn't seem to have his teeth growing out of his face. "Careful kid, lotta snakes about." As he was clearly young, Echo didn't mind so much approaching him as she might an older wolf, but clearly it didn't register with her that his angry look was aimed at her flinging the wriggling reptile at him.

With another frown she looked around the area quizzically, her ears perked up. "Watcha doing here?" He was surely too young to be out here by himself, and she wasn't interested in sticking around if he had a chaperone hiding in the grass somewhere.

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Strai bared his teeth at the stranger as she approached him. Despite his youth they were close in height. Robbed of height, she didn't have the same intimidating air as most strangers. That didn't mean he didn't see her as a threat. He pushed harder on the snake beneath his paw, pushing it into the dirt. He turned his head slightly to the side, manoeuvring his cheek spurs into a defensive position. 


Slowly he extended his retractable claws, slicing into the captive snake. It jerked and died beneath him. Killing the weapon she had thrown at him. If she thought the snake would soften him up and make him easy prey, she was badly mistaken. "I was minding my own business until you threw this at me" he growled. Picking up the dead snake, he tossed it at her.

With the fairly unwelcome greeting, Echo stopped in her approach before she got too close. Someone unhappy to see her? Perish the thought! Although, she was pretty sure she'd never met the pup before so she was surprised at the hostility being quite so instant. She watched blandly as his claws extended, piercing the skin of the snake and she watched as it thrashed futilely before slowly its movements ceased. He was almost as big as her and she briefly wondered whether she should be being more cautious. Perhaps it was her ego that refused to think a literal child would attack her, let alone best her.

"I was minding my own business until you threw this at me" A look of realisation crossed her features, and she silently mouthed a soft 'oooh' but otherwise showed no sign of remorse. She flinched as the snake hit the centre of her chest, wiping a paw at the area with a vague look of disgust. "I didn't throw it at you," she said, pointing a claw at her dark nose, indicating at the small pinpricks that leaked a tiny bead of blood. "It bit me." As if that should explain the situation she shrugged. "If I was in the business of throwing snakes at wolves I'd at least choose venomous ones."

Speaking of, she peered at the snake at her paws, glad it was only a simple grass snake. "But hey," quickly she snapped up the dead creature and held it confidently between her jaws. "fanks fo duh schnack!" She turned as if to trot blithely away - no point in wasting such an easy snack, right? And the kid clearly was on the defensive. If he didn't want her help getting back to mummy and daddy then she wasn't about to offer. Big lad like him? He'd be fine!

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

He wasn't entirely convinced she was telling the truth. She certainly didn't look like someone who had made a mistake. With that in mine, he continued to watch her wearily. Wondering if she would make a move of aggression against him. Strai didn't exactly trust easy.


 When she acted as if he had given her a gift - well, he wanted to wipe that smugness of her muzzle. As she picked up the snake and turned away, a wicked smile crossed his face. "...are you sure about that?" He asked her, tone casual to the point of boredom. "I saw a wolf bitten by a snake just like that die in agony half a day later" he continued. Mentally crossing his paws in the hope that she wasn't too familiar with the wildlife in this territory.

"...are you sure about that?" Her paws stopped in their confident stride, her ears swivelling back towards him as he spoke only for her head to follow as she peered behind her back in his direction, her eyes narrowing. "I saw a wolf bitten by a snake just like that die in agony half a day later" There was a pregnant pause between them, and then she turned fully to face him once more. Unceremoniously she dropped the snake to the floor, her mouth wide and her tongue lolling out. Her jaws snapped shut and she peered once more at the dead creature at her feet.

To her, it looked like a perfectly harmless grass snake, one she'd seen a handful of times back home. She was at least 99.99% certain she wasn't about to die some horrendous, mouth-frothing death... but what if he was telling the truth? He could be. She'd met a wolf with strange red markings and teeth the size of her forearms, and now she was talking to a wolf who had blue markings. If the wolves were different here, it wouldn't be so much of a surprise that the wildlife was as well?

With her nose still pointed to the floor she looked back up at the pup from beneath her eyebrows, before she lifted her head, looking down at him with a wary frown. "Uh huh." Her tone was flat as she tried to work out if this kid was just punking her or not, unwilling to believe him straight away. "And what, you're gonna tell me there's no antidote?"

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

She stopped in her tracks. She might not be buying it fully, but he planted a seed of doubt. He wondered how far he could drag it. Full blown panic would be fantastic, but even just a bit of worry itching at her would do. He shrugged at her dry words. "I'm not a healer Lady, I have no idea about antivenoms. I'm just telling you what I saw." He said, looking down at the snake at her paws, then up at her again with a sigh. 


"Everyone knows to be careful of the snakes here. I thought you were trying to kill me, throwing such a deadly snake at me earlier" he said regretfully. As if that explained his anger, and he wasn't just an ornery pup that saw insult everywhere he looked. He wondered if Delphi would help him, if this wolf believed him. She could probably cook up some really awful tea and brand it as an antivenom.

She just stared at him and hummed sceptically, and from his words she deduced that this place was apparently known for its slithery residents which, while she was tempted not to believe that as well, considering she'd just come across a nest of them it wasn't that far-fetched. Well, she knew she wouldn't be returning back here - it seemed she found herself lucky that she'd not been bitten by anything dangerous.

That was as long as the pup was messing with her. If he was he was a very good liar, but Echo had bluffed her way practically through her entire two years of existence. Was there a little seed of doubt wriggling its way like a worm into her skull? Yes. But could she bluff a bluffer?

"Well I guess it's a good job I got a friend who can help with this sort of thing then, isn't it?" With a scowl she picked up the snake again, ready to throw it at the next wolf she saw to see if it really was dangerous. With a quick look around to orient herself she started to head north, trying to keep her gait as casual as possible without giving away her nerves.

The Imp at the beach had told her he lived north. She had no idea where north but that wasn't the point - the point was to catch the pup out and then she supposed if she really did need help, she could try and... scream? God that would be embarrassing.

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

A little disappointing that she could resolve the issue so easily. If nothing else, he could entertain himself with the thought of her friend laughing at her when she brought the harmless garden snake to them. It would be a shame he wouldn't be there to see it, but such is life. He'd gotten a little revenge on her from throwing the snake at him, and wiped some of the smugness off her face. What happened to her now wasn't his concern. "Good luck" he told her as she turned away from him again.

Shaking his head he wondered what Delphi would think when he told her what she had missed out on. Likely her knowledge of healing would have made the whole thing sound more plausible. Already, his thoughts were turning to his next meal. Perhaps he could hunt a few snakes to take back to Delphi.

-exit?-