Every step was silent, carefully thought out beforehand. This land was new, strange, and dangerous. It was very far from home and with no familiar faces, Meadowlark was truly alone. It was the first time she had ever been this alone, and she couldn't have felt more vulnerable. Every sense was heightened, including her sense of smell. At first, she could smell the nearby grasslands and fresh water, but eventually it turned into something fouler. The smell was all around her at this point, and it blocked out the previous smells from before. With no other alternative, she kept pushing forward. Maybe, just maybe, she would bypass this weird smell and move into something more pleasant. However, the smell never changed, but it didn't get worse either. Instead, after passing through some trees, Meadowlark came across several pools of steaming water. Each were shaped like crescent moons with different levels of water, supplied by a waterfall behind them. It was a weird sight, and she was sure that the smell radiated from these pools. Oh, curse her wandering brain and guilt preventing her from thinking straight! Her former life surely had a large impact for Meadowlark to not pay attention to where she was going! Heaven forbid if she saw too late that she walked off of a cliff! After cursing under her breath, Meadowlark gave the area a quick glance before slowly strolling forward, head lowered with caution so as to react in a timely manner if needed. Once out of the tree line, her cream and silver form finally was easier seen. Meadowlark stood still in the opening, body language displaying a sense of being unsure, remaining wary. A swish of her cream-colored tail only further displayed her discomfort at being in such a new place after coming from a home that wasn't welcoming anymore. While she was an adult, she had a very long way to go for her maturity to match the age. Her off-white head was lowered slightly, neck almost parallel to her spine as cream-colored ears rotated around frequently, listening for every sound that could possibly represent danger. Off-white body shifted nervously, and her breathing was slightly quickened. One off-white sandy front paw was lifted off the ground, stopped in mid-step before it was relinquished to rest on the ground, sore from being help up so long. Blackened nose sniffed the air again, desperate to pick up anything else besides this foul smell. Without sounds of danger, Meadowlark assumed the area was probably safe. Taking in a deep breath to hold for a few seconds, Meadowlark forced herself to calm. After letting out the breath slowly, she walked to the pools to examine them further. "Paw prints?" she asked herself, seeing quite a few prints of various ages all around the pools. She wasn't alone here. There were seemingly many others like her around. In her journey, Meadowlark had not come across this many wolves before. Perhaps a pack was nearby, or this was a popular place. Regardless, Meadowlark wasn't sure she wanted to stay around for long. However, something about the pools, and the placement of the prints, told her to possibly take a step in one. A paw was then raised over the pool she stood in front of, pausing only briefly in thought of whether or not this was a good idea.

She was back home now, but things weren't any easier. Flurry had returned to a storm it seemed. Her mother was... Well she wasn't exactly acting in ways that implied she was thinking straight. Maybe that was too soft. Modesty was downright scary right now. In a way that made Flurry uncomfortable. Because it reminded her a bit of Ignis, who she expected not to bother controlling himself. Was being an adult just learning that every other adult was still behaving like toddlers? Was she? Probably. Regardless she didn't know how to handle the strife between her parents right now, or the aggression her mother was showing that poor wolf-dog. Mutinous thoughts really. The woman wasn't innocent really, but she wasn't any more innocent than her father who was the one not drawing a hard line, so she wasn't really sure why her mother had decided to redirect all her aggression towards the other woman. Flurry sighed. She had enough on her mind as it was and getting herself mired down in her parents dramatic marital problems was not helpful really. What she needed was to relax. Luckily the hot springs were just a hop skip and jump away from the island her father had claimed. Time for some R&R. She wasn't alone, but unlike Meadowlark Flurry wasn't the cautious sort. The scent of another woman under the tang of sulfur didn't dissuade her in the slightest. As she pushed her way through the trees she could see the stranger now, seeming to hesitate. "They don't bite." She said as she approached, slipping up the slope to a higher pool and sliding into the warm waters as if to prove her point, watching the stranger with an amused smile. Sometimes she thought he was funny. Rarely, she was right. "Speech"

Art by Perencreste

Meadowlark was so focused on wondering if the pools were safe that she hardly noticed another wolf walk up behind her. The sudden surprise made Meadowlark jump nearly out of her skin, though realistically she only moved to the side a few feet. A quick glance to the source of the sudden voice resulted in noticing a wolf bigger than herself with a pair of horns growing from her head and sporting a pair of saber fangs. A look of confusion and shock was set in her face, scrunching up the eyebrows just a bit. “What in the world? What a weird looking wolf.." she said softly to herself, though loud enough for the other to hear. “O-oh, gods! Sorry!! I didn't say anything, honest! Don't eat me!" Meadowlark tried to pretend she didn't just say something so offensive, though she was quite terrible at it. As Meadowlark shied away a little, she noticed the wolf creature slip into the water and look comfortable in it. This smelly water was ... comfortable? Well for certain the woman wasn't screaming in terrible pain or melting to the bone, nor was she affected by the smell. Does one get used to it after a while? The woman's statement made Meadowlark freeze for a moment. “Wait, this water can bite you? Where are its teeth?" A sudden realization at just how weird that was. “Well.. of course water doesn't bite." Meadowlark said, an awkward nervous laugh escaping her lips. “It's not like water has teeth... Or does it?" End weird, awkward first impression here. Deciding to try and put that behind her, Meadowlark thought it may be best to try not to look like a freak. Time to swallow the fear and gain a little bit of courage! A few gradual steps forward and Meadowlark found herself next to the pool of steaming water. Like a child who didn't follow their good conscience, Meadowlark allowed curiosity to take over her better judgement since the other wolf was seemingly enjoying herself. A paw was lifted gently over the surface and quickly dipped, testing the waters temperature. Considering the other wolf was not melting to the bone, nor did the water actually hurt her paw, Meadowlark took her curiosity one step further and walked into the pool. At first, she wasn't sure what to make of it. The water felt... different. While it smelled horrid, it somehow felt.. pleasant. “Woah! I suppose the only biting the water may do would be the temperature if you're not used to it." she said. “How is the water this hot though?" Now the gears began to come online in the brain. Meadowlark wanted to know the source of the water and how it heated itself. And why it smelled so bad. Upon laying down so that her body was covered, but not her neck and head, Meadowlark developed a bit of a smile. Something that she hadn't done for quite a while now. “Speech" OOC: xxx

A more volatile wolf might have heard the smaller woman's words and taken offense but all Flurry could do was laugh. She supposed she could seem imposing if you weren't expecting a wolf as tall or as pointy as her. Flurry knew no life outside Boreas and Auster, she didn't know if she was uncommon anywhere else but 2 years of experience here had taught her she was hardly the most impressive wolf. Pretty sure she'd seen a guy with wings before. Now that was impressive. As the warm water sluiced over her form Flurry let herself breathe an audible sigh of relief, dipping herself so she was shoulder deep, even if it meant largely having to crouch. She drifted over to the edge of her pool closest to the pool the stranger was dipping herself into. "You must be new around here." Flurry spoke, her tone friendly, maybe even a little curious. "By my estimation I'm one of the more tame lookin' wolves. Don't got no bright colours or weird eyes. Hell I'm not even as big as they come. My dad's taller and my mom's got quills like a porcupine near her scruff. Plus she's purple." Flurry grinned, sometimes she wished she'd gotten the bright colors like Scald and Deluge but she could appreciate the beauty in simplicity. She certainly wasn't complaining about the view the stranger in front of her was giving. "Got the teeth from my old man." She scrunched her face to make the protruding fangs shift forward. Into attack position. Then relaxed and went back to her friendly demeanor. "But the horns are all me." Sure she wasn't the only one to have horns in her family but none of them looked like hers! She also couldn't help but chuckle as the other woman rambled on about biting water, shaking her head when the rhetorical about teeth was asked. Flurry considered the other woman's question for a moment. Then she jerked her head over her shoulder to the looming form in of the mountain close by. "See that? Volcano." Flurry supposed that could seem... Threatening? Being so near to a volcano but she'd always lived somewhere within its shadow, even monsters can seem friendly once you're used to them. "The pools are warmed by the underground lava. Hot air escaping through vents in the pools. It's always why it stinks too! Lotta sulfur smell escaping through there too." She looked at the smaller wolf with open curiosity. "I'm Flurry by the way. Where you from, if y'don't mind me askin'." "Speech"

Art by Perencreste

The other wolf, known as Flurry laughing at her, would make Meadowlark blush just a bit. If her fur could change to pink, it would be quite obvious. The sudden blush changed to shock and surprise at the statements of porcupine quills and purple fur. “You? Tame?" Meadowlark exclaimed. “Just how big do wolves get around here? And growing porcupine quills and saber teeth is normal? Did I.. die or something? If this is a dream.. well, I guess don't let it end!" Meadowlark laughed. After leaning in to get a closer look at the horns, her eyes widened in excitement and fascination. “Can you stab others with those?"Well, at least she knew her family wouldn't be coming anywhere near things that grew porcupine quills or saber teeth. Or better yet, looked like a morning sunrise just before it peaked. Her mind was blown by just seeing Flurry's appearance. Who or what else was out there, exactly? Perhaps this meant that she would be a little bit safer now. “But, uh, yeah. To answer your question, I'm new." Her soft, white head glanced in the direction that Flurry indicated being the source of the hot water. “Of course! A volcano! I've heard of those things. Never thought that they would create things like these pools though!" Meadowlark looked down at the water again and tried to picture the underground lava and the hot air escaping from cracks in the earth. “So.. the bad smell is .. sulfur? Wicked! And I thought bear poop was bad.." Meadowlark chuckled, not pausing to think about whether or not the bear poop statement was bad. Her brain was too focused on the thoughts of volcano powered water creating the stinky pools. Meadowlark moved a paw through the water and enjoyed the changing temperature as she moved, noting that her fur was getting a little crusty as it dried. Was that from the minerals in the water? While she pondered on what information Flurry shared about the volcano heated water, her mind clicked the gears to try and piece it all together. How the water made her fur crusty or why any soreness she had in her paws were now gone, and other questions that floated around in her mind like her tail drifted underneath the waters surface. It was all so fascinating. “Oh, call me Meadowlark, like the bird. It's my favorite bird and when I was born, my mother liked its song." She had to pause for a bit to think just about where she came from. “Uh.. well I'm not sure now. I basically followed the setting sun for as long as I could until I came here. I think I've been traveling for at least a couple of weeks now? But it definitely was not anything like this place, for sure." While Meadowlark was still quite shy, talking about the volcano heating the soaking pools helped to ease the tension just a little. “I don't think anyone will find me here now. Not like I'm that important anyway." “Speech" OOC: xxx

Flurry lifted her brows at the other woman as she seemed incredulous. "If you'd believe it..." She lifted a paw to estimate about how tall her mother stood when next to her, a whole four inches or so taller than herself. "Maybe a bit bigger, apparently got an aunt who's taller than that even, and I heard she glows." Not that Flurry had ever met much of her mother's family. There was something in there about being related to a fallen god or something? Honestly she didn't know. "As for normal I guess it depends on which family you're lookin' at? The fangs and the horns are pretty common for my lot but suppose things might get more or less close to quote unquote 'normal' in other gene pools." She tipped her head down slightly to let the stranger get a better look at her horns. "Sure can, but I much prefer to use em to impress the ladies." She tossed the woman a wink. Like a buck in rutting season. In fact Flurry had yet to use either her horns or fangs in serious combat, just sorta whatever passed for a fight with her constantly flirting with her opponents. They should come up with a word for that. Flurry let herself enjoy soaking in the heated waters. Listening to the other woman's story. Meadowlark, a very pretty name for a wolf who wasn't too hard on the eyes if you asked Flurry. "Well, their loss I guess." She sensed there was something there, something Meadowlark wasn't mentioning, something less than pleasant. Flurry wouldn't push. "You seem like pleasant enough company and I'm certainly not complaining." Flurry stuck her tongue out briefly and flashed the woman another wink. "Well then, got any questions about the locale? I can't promise I'll know the answer but I can promise I'll at least give you a fun lie." Another wink. How long had it been since she'd felt this free, this much like herself? Too long. "Speech"

Art by Perencreste

Oh, Meadowlark totally believed what she was seeing alright. The woman was hardly incredulous more so than she was extremely fascinated. Her jaw dropped when Flurry indicated how tall her mother was. That was bigger than anything she had seen before. "I guess I'd have to crane my neck a little maybe to look up." The statement was a tease produced out of amazement. The things Meadowlark wondered about being able to do if she were that tall! Let alone with horns or wings. It seemed the possibilities were endless here.  "She glows? Like the moon or fireflies? Wooooah!" As if she couldn't be more fascinated.

Flurry continued to describe features about family and what the world contained. Also, Flurry preferred to use her horns to impress the ladies. Flurry shot a wink at Meadowlark which made the girl blush under her white fur briefly. She had never been hit on before. This was new grounds that she had never been on before - but she didn't hate it. Meadow nodded in agreement when Flurry said it was her pack's loss that she was gone. It tugged at her heart strings a little bit to think about it like that, but there was a truth she couldn't deny about it.

She smiled when Meadow was considered pleasant company. That was a lot better than being called useless or considered estranged. What did Meadow want to know about the area anyway? Another wink was cast her way and this time, Meadow couldn't help herself. "Lies can be fun. It keeps the other person guessing." she sent another wink her way with a side pose and shoulder lift and roll before letting out a happy laugh. Meadowlark was enjoying herself and also didn't mind Flurry's company. And any flirts that may come her way. "No but seriously. I have no idea what to ask first. I guess -- what's your favorite place to explore?"


"Speech."