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Location: Corpseghoul Swamplands

A soft nose raised slightly to the scents not too unfamiliar to her. The stink of the swamplands was close to what she was living in now, though her own den she hand picked and dug in the center of a small meadow patch of lavender that fragmented off her pelt strongly, even through her steps in the mucky, soft ground.

She was gentle with her steps, checking to make sure the ground was sturdy for each of her paws and the incoming weight. And even though her eyes were scanning her fogged surrounds with her lifted nose, each leg lifted over the thick and weaving tree roots as if they sensed they were there and her paws never once faulted over them.

Dainty prints behind her, she would stop somewhere far in the land to give a gaze across anything she could see even through the light fog, only mostly interested in what herbs she could find here if any. She couldn't say she enjoyed wading through the slush and mud but it wasn't too much of a bother to her as some girls would be.

Despite his affinity for trees, it seemed lately he'd been drawn to more.. well, damp lands. He had no doubt it was by chance more than anything else, and regardless of how he felt about any sort of terrain in particular, he knew having a good idea where he was traveling was important. Little Sota was changing, season after season - a much younger him would've been scrambling for the trees, but now he found himself exploring anywhere he could. More tentatively than some, perhaps, but exploring nonetheless which was all that really mattered. This place, though, was quickly proving to be... well, not the favorite place he'd ever visited. His nose was wrinkled almost permanently as he trekked through the swamp, trying to avoid the worst of the soggy ground. The last thing he wanted was to go for a swim - as much as swamps weren't his thing, swimming really really wasn't his thing, but he had a feeling he wasn't alone in that. Any thoughts of the other wolves who might be traveling nearby were pushed aside, obscured in part by the thick fog that hung low to the ground. Only when he nearly collided with someone did he realize he wasn't alone, though he jerked back before he made contact with the stranger. "Oh! My apologies!" Sota exclaimed, his ears pinning back in a show of apology as he lowered himself, looking genuinely sorry. "I didn't realize anyone else was nearby." Surely she couldn't blame him, right?

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The faint paw steps of someone she could hear alarmed her but it seemed as though they were far enough away from her that she wouldn't care to take off and cower back home. That was, until she felt a tension behind her coming to a complete halt and it would definitely scare her at first. She quickly, but not recklessly, pivoted to face them fully to the sound of their voice, and she was quite surprised to see a tiny creature before her. It was rare if she ever came across a wolf smaller than her but this one had to be the tiniest she had ever seen. "Oh, no, it's okay." She reassured him with a slight smile. She would take a step backward to give him some personal space, seeing he was rather embarrassed or maybe even scared. She couldn't tell, but she was definitely not a scary or mean wolf in any way and didn't want him to feel uncomfortable around her even though she was a stranger.

She fought an urge to look around the premises for the boy's parents, but she was getting a sense that he wasn't a pup and was instead born this way just as she was. A curiosity remained but she tried not to make it obvious in fear of the awkwardness or frightening him away. "My name is Aranea," She introduced gently, "Did you come here to explore? That's why I've come here."

Being polite was important to him, but it seemed quite a few wolves in these lands often cared less for such pleasantries than he did. Though he tended to be a hesitant man, he wasn't what you'd really consider fearful - he just liked his own space and assumed others did, too. He recovered from his little gaffe as quickly as he could, reeling back and straightening himself as the stranger ensured him that it was alright. A faint smile touched his lips, the worry that had plagued him seeming to less instantaneously. "All the fog-" He started to explain, but realized she would know exactly why he hadn't seen her. She was exploring this place too, after all. "It's a pleasure, Aranea. My name is Sota." Though his full name was Desota, and Sota had once merely been a nickname used by friends and family... well, maybe it was time for him to have a proper fresh start in this place. It did feel like he was a new sort of wolf now, at lest one considerably different than the one he'd been back home. Though he wasn't sure the changes were necessarily for the better, as far as his life as a Songa was concerned, he had to believe they were better for himself personally. "I was just exploring this place as well. Can't say I've been anywhere quite like it," he admitted. The soft, muddy ground reminded him of the mangrove forest to the east, but then again it was quite different all the same.

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Sota easily showed he was not as young as Aranea thought, though she still had an almost motherly instinct to keep him safe from harm as if he were fragile. "You are welcome to join me if you'd like." She'd suggest with a smile. Her eyes looking down at her mucky paws before gently moving forward in the soft, swampy ground.

Her attention still plagued on Sota, she'd walk around just a small area of the center of the swamplands, her nose intent on the many number of scents she found rather overwhelming searching to pick out one from another. She'd stop at a large tree root that emerged and craned close to the height of her throat. Hear nose gently ran the wet bark of the root, a couple hidden shrooms grew very secretly underneath, hidden very well from any traveler. Her gaze would look around at the number of more vibrant, obvious herbs growing in the brush, herbs that had medical uses opposed to the rare fungi she found here on the root. But she'd have no interest in taking the distorter home. She'd much rather suffer her depression now-a-days than get high and experience the rather scary side effects.

She'd try to take note of the abundance of medical herbs here in case she ever needed to seek them out. But as she was living just by herself at this moment, she felt no need to keep them in stock at her den. She'd look to Sota, wherever he may have wandered or stayed, "Are you not from here?" She'd question with interest, not meaning to prod him about things he may not want to talk about, "Your markings are just so unique, I'm interested if they are normal from where you are." She had met a lot of strange wolves in her day but it seemed that there was never an end to the surprising makings of wolves born. "I wasn't born here on the continent myself."

What Sota lacked in size he certainly made up for in.. well, he hoped everything else. He was quick on his paws, as nimble as they came, and he liked to think he was quite clever. He still had trouble adjusting to the wolves of these lands sometimes - clinging to his traditions was far easier than adjusting to change, as far as he was concerned - but he was definitely learning, day by day. "I wouldn't mind that at all, thank you," Sota responded fluidly, losing the awkwardness that had entered the air as soon as he'd practically collided with her. He was glad for the company, truly, and he padded after her. He did his best to avoid the more precarious sections of swampland, though avoiding the muck completely in these parts seemed like a lost cause. It was quite an interesting place though, even though he still felt a fair bit of distaste too surrounding these lands. But he zeroed in on what Aranea was looking at. He was dwarfed by the size of the root, and his gaze followed hers as she sought out the mushrooms nestled beneath the root. Though he knew little in the way of fungi - or even plants, for that matter - he had little interest in experimenting with strange substances either, so he was glad when she paid no real interest to the oddly colored shrooms. "I'm not - not really," he explained after a pause. "Ah, yes. Truthfully there aren't many wolves from my homeland that look like me, at least in terms of... my colors. These sorts of patterns ran all through my family though." The Songa seemed to thrive best when they blended in among the foliage, though he supposed living here.. well, that was a different story entirely. "Nor was I. I was born on the continent south of this one. Not many wolves seem to go there," he added conversationally. Often he longed for his homelands, but then again, this was his life now, and he wasn't the type to complain at where his travels had taken him. "What about you? Are you from far away, miss?"

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She'd listen to Sota but would move onward expecting him to follow. She was just trying to find a drier, not so muddy part of the strange forest. It would be much more comfortable for both of them rather than standing and even sinking in the soft ground of the swamp.

Aranea hadn't seen many wolves of color or weird markings, but she knew they existed and wasn't as "in awe" as a lot of wolves would be. "I've met a few wolves of strange colors, but not necessarily with markings like yours." And especially not any wolf as small as him. That was definitely a new one for her.

The mention of a southern continent peaked her interest a bit, "Auster? I've been there. I actually lived there at one time." Her hidden days of living in the empire she tried to forget. It was a time she tried to bury her painful feelings of losing her children, a time she may have even tried to forget she had them. But if it wasn't her own heart that broke her, her mind wouldn't allow her to move on from the hurtful memories.

Her travel over here was a bit hard to recall. She was young, maybe a yearling. But the reasoning behind it she'd never forget. "Yes, I came across the scent of this continent a long time ago. And when things went south with my band where I am from I decided to make the travel here without knowing if I'd even make it." Her strong abilities of no one from at least her pack helped her with finding the scent of the unseen land on the horizon, but she knew other wolves had traveled to Boreas from other lands as well. She was sure some came from her land just not from her pack. "They didn't agree with my teachings so I decided it was best to leave if only to save my life." Her life wasn't necessarily in danger, but she knew if she either abandoned the pack or went against their wishes she would have found herself enslaved or dead. And it was worth the risk to try and find the land she smelled only once by chance off the coast of her own continent.

She was from Auster as well? Well, at least she'd lived there for a time. How interesting! His eyes widened for a moment as he hurried along after her, excited to be in the presence of someone who was from somewhere near his homelands. It'd been a long time since he'd been there though, and truthfully Sota wasn't sure he'd ever return. Life was different now, after all - he was different, barely following the way of the Songa at all anymore. Sometimes he wondered what his parents would think of him, but it didn't really matter now anyway. "Did you like it there?" He started, but went on to clarify more concisely why she'd left. He frowned a bit, empathetic to her explanation. Apparently she'd left a band she'd been traveling with her and she'd come here on her own. The story sounded like a serious one, even if she didn't give the full details behind what exactly her teachings were or why her life may have been threatened by that fact. "Well - I'm glad you made it. Sometimes it's worth staking your own path, even if it's much harder than staying with a group," Sota admitted. That story was a familiar one to him, though it was hard to not dwell on whether the choices he'd made had been the right ones or not. "I left my group back home too, though not for quite the same reasons. Really I was chasing after my best friend, who was chasing after a girl," Sota admitted with a soft chuckle. He had no doubt Balsam was okay now, and he wouldn't bother spending the entirety of his life worrying about him. "And.. now here I am, not exactly chasing anyone anymore." For a long while he'd been close to Eris and Oxide as well as their son, but he'd drifted from them too. He wasn't entirely sure where his path might go now but he knew he couldn't go backwards, even if the future was always wildly uncertain.

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"Yes, Auster was different. But I can't say anything bad about living there." She'd reply in truth. But she would let Sota continue his own explanation as she honestly didn't even want to go into much detail about the gap between arriving at Boreas to now. "It was difficult, especially being so young. But I believe it was what was set out for me." As she was sure Sota felt the same way she did. Everything happened for a reason, regardless of the eternal pain she felt inside. Even if she was meant to just live on earth and suffer. It was meant to be that way.

She took a seat with a curled tail into her body as she listened, interested in what the curious companion wanted to share. It was always fun to learn the history of others especially ones that seemed so out of the ordinary and special. "I've been in three packs so far through the continents." She admitted though not in a sour way. "Each time I joined a new one I felt like a new woman, going through different obstacles in my life." Sota seemed to be as well educated as she was, and she was enjoying his kind of company. "I'm sure you could say the same if you ever wanted to join a pack or a new group of wolves. Remember your journeys are valuable not only to others, but to yourself as well." She'd get lost in her own head for a moment, her mind spotting in pain as she remembered each hardship she passed. Some took longer than others.

Life was wildly unpredictable - even as a young member of the Songa he had learned as much. Though they had their own traditions, part of his own upbringing had been to expect the unexpected. Each day could be different from the last, and he knew he always had to keep moving forward rather than stay behind... in the most literal meaning of the word, given his size. He had an advantage when he was moving, but when he was still? Not so much. Luckily he hadn't been in many scenarios where he'd felt his physical being had been threatened, something the often-wary male could appreciate.

He was personally grateful for a pause in their little walk. The swamplands were already challenging to navigate, but moving while talking made it an even trickier feat. He reclined slightly as well, letting out a content sigh. He words rang true - he too was a changed man, one his family would likely not even recognize except by sight alone. "You're right about that. I've seen how I've helped shape the wolves around me. I try to make sure it's always for the better, too," he added with a faint smile. However brief his encounters with others were, he truly hoped they would bring some value to the life of another wolf. It reminded him that perhaps he was not quite as Songa as he'd once thought, but he was surprisingly not as bothered by that thought as he once might've been.

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Aranea was joyed by Sota's own knowledge and maturity to how Aranea felt and she even gave a bigger smile than she had in a long time. It was nice to know other wolves wanted to help and share their experiences over the world and not let the past come to harm them. Much what Aranea strived to be but unfortunately her past was suffocating her day by day, hour by hour. And she just wished she could let it go.

Her gaze looked up towards the tree trunks and the faint view of prairies beyond them. "It has been a pleasure Sota," She spoke while return her gaze to the tiny man. "We can walk out together if that is okay?" Her small grin now felt infinite and she wouldn't go to leave the icky lands without a response from the mooned man, following if he sought to exit the swamplands.

Sota wasn't trying to be poetic or wise or anything like that - what he'd said was simply how he felt. He lived firstly for himself, but secondly he wanted to make a positive impact on the world around him, however big or small. He'd never had grand goals like many of his peers growing up had; he wasn't destined for greatness by any means, but if he could do some good he would be content. What he knew too was that he needed to work on finding more of a concrete purpose. Aimless wandering didn't really suit him the same way it did some wolves. Having goals and responsibilities... that sounded much more appealing to him. "A pleasure indeed," he agreed, grinning slightly as he glanced toward Aranea. "I'd love that, though I should probably be going once I escape this place." Perhaps they'd meet again in the future, but for now he wanted to get out of this swamp without getting muchmore dirty than he already was.

-exit Sota?-

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Aranea would start off towards the clearing outside of the swamplands, "Yes, I should be on my way too." She agreed kindly. She herself would look for the easier way out of the wetlands, more so Sota wouldn't have to hop around on giant roots and splash back down into the mucky water. It wouldn't be long before they came to an exit and though Aranea wasn't worried about a little mud on her she felt a bit of relief. She'd only turn to Sota to give him a soft nod before going off towards the west. She too hoped they would encounter again though she wouldn't set her life goals on it. He was a rather interesting individual but she also saw he was ordinary at the same time.

-Exit Aranea-