Sunset Falls On My Shoulders

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."