She was looking to move away from the Tar Pits. While she had fond memories of the place, she had equally not so fond memories. It was the place she had lived when she was very young, scavenging for leftovers and barely surviving. It was a place where others met their untimely deaths and held onto them for all eternity. It was a place where she had found many of her precious resources, but as time went on, she was beginning to feel that connection to the Tar Pits slipping away. Maybe her heart had finally healed and moved on. To her, the Tar Pits would always be special. To others, it might only be a place of despair. Whatever the case may be, it was time to move onto greener pastures, and the nearby gorge was looking mighty interesting! She enlisted Enki's help in checking it out and exploring it a little better. She had been there before a couple of times, but she hadn't explored it well enough to determine if the pros outweighed the cons. (though she hadn't really thought about either of those things yet, honestly) and that's where Enki would come in! Leading the way to the Gorge, she trotted forth without a care in the world, a grin on her face and a bounce in her step, ready to see what this place had to offer! "What does Enki think of this place?" She asked as she approached the entrance. "Medusa"

The young man happily accompanies Medusa to the nearby land, interested in seeing all that the place has to offer. Bright blue eyes scan the tunnels as they travel together, etching every rocky crag and stalagmite into his memory as they go. There are so many caves, ranging from small and simple to large, yawning expanses that simply bogle his mind and Enki finds himself excitedly poking his head inside each one they come across. It is a labyrinth, tunnels forking and diverging from the main one, twisting and turning until those who walk the path may lose their way.

But he is an experienced traveler and he makes sure to keep track of where they are in his mind. Medusa’s question pulls Enki from his enthusiastic exploring and he seems to bounce alongside her as he turns his baby blue eyes to her while he considers. Humming for a moment, he finally admits, “It is wonderful! I wonder how many caves there actually are. It would be fun to take time and create a map of this place. Although, it would probably take a few months to explore every inch.” Nodding to himself, he turns his eyes to the cave that they find themselves in, considering how he would make a map this place and what features he would include on it.


"Enki Klein"

Her gait slows down as Enki immediately takes to exploring the place. Good, good! His memory was probably way better than hers for this sort of thing! The caverns and tunnels of the Gorge would grow darker the further they'd go, and she was sure that at some point, they would need some sort of light to explore further. But for now, they'd stick to the dimly lit passages and check out what they could. Her ear cocks toward him as he spoke, head following suit as her eyes lit up! A map!? She had never seen a map before, that would be fun! "Can Medusa help Enki make a map!? That sounds like a fun idea!" But he was right about the whole thing, too. There were various caves and passageways, and she also wondered how many there were. Surely they'd find plenty of uses for them all! "Hmm...let's check this one!" She slips into a smaller cavern that opened up into a circular room. It was dark and dingy, and she could smell the musty scent of moss and fungi, hear the drip of water. Hmm..."Medusa thinks we'll need light for this place." She quips before walking into a rather big cobweb. The web sticks to her face, and Medusa flailed her forepaws at it to try and get it off. "Also needs to be cleaned a bit!" While she didn't mind spiders and the like, she couldn't say the same for everyone else. "Medusa"

The idea of making a map of the gorge seems to excite Medusa and Enki chuckles at her question if she can help him. With a dip of his head in agreement, the young man warmly says, “Of course! I think it would be a lot of fun to do it as group project. Maybe we can even rope in a couple of your kids if they would like to explore too. We could make it on sheepskin or something similar so that it won’t degrade or fade like it would on parchment.”

Falling quiet, he thinks of what tools he would use to make said map and catalogs the various features he would include. Maybe he could note the stalagmites that seem in danger of falling and the smaller passageways that are mostly hidden to eyes that do not seek to find them. Medusa exclaims about checking a cave and slips inside and Enki is hot on her tail, entering the musty small, circular room.

Nose wrinkles at the smell and he nods in agreement to her idea of light, adding, “We should probably also see about going around and trying to get the smell out. Maybe some of the healers can hang fragrant herbs in the various caverns and, for the ones that are really stinky, they could rub some oils on the rocks.” It may sound silly but, if some wolves are sensitive to smells than it could help keep them feel more comfortable.

Moving to the nearest wall, he lifts a paw and runs his pad down it, noting the relative smoothness of the rock. Looking to Medusa, Enki says, “It would be relatively easy to put some torches up. We could bore into the walls and put up brackets to hold them. Or we could get oil lamps to hang. The smoke of the torches might be a little much down here but the oil lamps would be easier maintain with less smoke to boot.”

At her exclamation of the caves needing to be cleaned, Enki laughs and says, “I agree. We could assign some of the younger wolves to the cleaning tasks before we open it up for others to den in.” The caves are impresses and the hidden depths intriguing and Enki is already making plans on how to map, light, and make the spaces feel more like home.


"Enki Klein"

She listened to more of his idea about this map thing. It certainly sounded like fun, and no doubt her gremlins would love to help with it! She knew absolutely nothing about map making, but his thoughts on using sheepskin definitely sounded more permanent then parchment. Of course, she didn't know what would be better to use, but she trusted his judgment and wouldn't question it. There was a lot to be discussed regarding these caves and tunnels, and she eagerly listened to each of his ideas and the input he had to share. A lot of things she hadn't thought of, to be honest! "Medusa will ask Rue to do the smell good part. She is sure that Rue has plenty to spare, and she might even want one of these rooms for her stores." She walked around the room, picking up loose debris before chucking it across the room, giggling at the sound of the clatter it made before things went silent again. It was damp and dark and dingy, but nothing that a good cleaning out couldn't fix like Enki had suggested. Yep. She was definitely going to put her kids to work. She had plenty after all, and it would give them something to do. "Mhhmmm! Medusa will have them start cleaning soon, so Insomnia can make this more like a home. Better than the tar pits. Alot can be done here, and even better once there is light to work." Which reminded her. What the hell was an oil lamp? She looked at Enki in thought, eyes squinting at him both in thought and against the dark. "Does Enki know where to get what we might need? Medusa doesn't know what an oil lamp is. If we keep looking around and find other rooms, maybe there are some that have openings in the ceilings for the smoke to go." She tapped her paw on her chin, surely she had seen a couple of rooms like that already...a place where they could keep a fire lit without being choked out by the smoke. "Medusa"

Ears are perked forward as he waits for Medusa’s input, his tail swinging slowly from side to side as the smile on his lips grows. With a nod of his head, the pale pink man agrees to letting Rue handle the aroma in the caves and nods in approval of moving from here to the tar pits. Bright blue eyes slide over to the cave wall as he considers the materials that would be needed for an oil lamp and he absently bobs his head in acknowledge as he thoughtfully says, “What materials we don’t have, I can get from the market nearby.”

The winding tunnels and caves would need to be well lit and oil lamps, while somewhat costly in materials to make, would have the added advantage of being able to control the brightness of their flames. Scanning the walls, Enki is already imagining what places suitable for boring into so that they might hang the oil lamps out and notes some spots that are smoother than others and might be easier for them to drill into. The sound of water lazily dripping from someplace nearby draws his attention and the pale man curiously follows the sound.

In a long corridor, whose ceiling disappears up into darkness, jagged stalagmites jut down toward the earth like broken teeth of a monster about to devour him. Water, like drool, drips slowly down, pooling on the sharp points of the slowly craved rocks before dropping; catching a thin ray of sunlight to sparkle like diamond teardrops before falling down into the unknown abyss below. The soft plink of the drop finding a larger body of water reaches his ears and Enki thinks that this place will be perfect for Insomnia.


"Enki Klein"