Post by hahtalekin on Aug 18, 2010 7:14:03 GMT -5
Sloping Gradient
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A wide, rocky path leading down from the mesa to the greener foothills of the lowlands, sprigs of various plants and brush line the less-traveled edges of the pass. The gravelly dirt of the grade shows vague hints of various creature's pawprints, though most of them are obscured by the occasional breeze of wind rushing through the mountain. The slope curves gently with an equally smooth downgrade, making for an easy walk up or down the mountain. A crevice in the side of the mountain can be seen - if you're slender enough, you may be able to slip inside.
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[IC] Tantallon
[IC] Thrash
>> It is currently Early Autumn (RL day 11), with a half moon (48% full).
4 RL days remain until Mid Autumn begins.
The shift from summer to autumn was subtle, the days slowly losing their scorching punch and the night's humidity settling in an ever-increasing sheet of dew. The day has faded to a dusky rose as twilight approaches, the orange clouds illuminated by the setting sun. Laid out across the warm stone, Tantallon looks off towards the setting sun, his eyes squinted against the dimming light and his face faintly creased in a thoughtful frown.
Making his way into the area is Thrash, having just come off a long patrol which was boring, and uneventful. He wishes Maul would pop up at some point to spend some time with him, but lately, they're practically distant from each other. Not to say the relationship is withering, it's just stagnant, which worries the young stud in training. He's all grown up now, handsome, filled out physically, and starved for attention! Hello ladies. Big man on campus right here! As he turns the corner, heading for his favorite sunning rock, he spies Tantallon upon it instead, and his eyes narrow for a moment. That's the new guy, the one Kein told him about, it's time he finally introduced himself. Ahem. "Hey!" He calls out in a rather gruff tone. "You're laying on my rock."
At first, it doesn't seem that Tantallon is paying the approaching and de-throned Thrash any mind and is simply content to watch the sunset. It's only after a distinctly long pause that the near year-and-a-half old cat flicks an ear backwards and slowly turns his gaze over his shoulder. "...it was someone else's before your's." He says in a simple, matter-of-fact tone before he lets out a slow breath with his eyes turning back skyward. "Rather important to them, but, it's a long story.... in any case, it's a good place to watch from."
"Yeah, well, no one has bothered me about it since I got here, so they gave up any rights to it." Thrash says as he pauses before the rock, staring up at him with a slant of his ears back against his skull. "You can use it for now though." Amused, his muzzle cracks just slightly backwards into a grin, then says, "I'm Thrash by the way, of the Amaranth. You must be Toyo, right? Kein told me that you're here, and hanging about. So, what's your story?"
Tantallon will just decline to mention the rock's previous claimant hasn't been bothering anyone since Thrash's great-grandfather was a kitten. Thrash doesn't seem the type to appreciate that as an opening comment. "I am. Feel free to call me Toyo or Tantallon... different names for different times, but, I'll listen to either. My mother called me Tantallon, but, she died when I was young. I was raised by the Ute wolves, who named me Toyo. But, one can't live with them forever, right? So, I came down this way to see what life with my own kind was like."
"... Right...raised by wolves, huh?" Thrash says with a smirk on his face. "You know, my mother tried to name me Tantallon when I was a cub, but my father would have nothing to do with it. He got so upset, I remember him yelling, saying that it sounds like a pretty stupid name, so instead, he called me Thrash." He says with a puff of his chest outwards, tail swaying back and forth behind him. "After that, mom met some guy who was a bigger jerk than my dad named Malak or something, and she took off, never saw her again."
Tantallon cranks up an eyebrow at the larger cougar's words, his tail giving a considering and jerking twitch. "Serious? ...doesn't seem like that popular of a name." He murmurs as he shifts on the stone so he can tuck his forepaws against his chest. "So, you're Thrash? Hm. Doesn't sound familiar, nor any name like... Malak. Sounds like someone with a bad furball problem." Mal-hack, more like it. "...huh, well, maybe our mothers knew each other? I never heard cougars were all that social, but, I don't think my name is exactly a commonplace one. I'd imagine they heard it from the same place."
"Yeah, I guess. My mother wasn't the brightest star in the sky though, she kept finding real jerks to lay down with. I wonder where she's at now." Thrash says as he curls up on his haunches, giving himself a bit of a flex with his broad shoulders. "I like Thrash though, kinda fits who I am and where I came from." He says with a squint of his eyes. "So, you're into spirits and stuff, huh? You'd probably get along with Maul, who's my lady friend." He pauses for a moment. "And don't touch her or I'll tear your tail off and hang you by it. She's mine."
Tantallon utters a snort at mention of this Maul-character. "Honestly, I've heard "leave off the girls" more than I've heard hello. I have more important things to do than chase tails." He gets all four of his paws under them and rises up, arching his back in a stretch before settling back into a sit. "Yes, I'm into spirits, or, they like talking to me and.. I suppose vice versa. I'm a deathspeaker, specifically. I speak to, and am often sought out, by spirits of the dead for everything from a chat to a task needing done and... sometimes because they're just plain angry at the world and feel like taking it out on someone."
"Yeah, well, welcome to Amaranth, the land of jealous boys." Thrash says with a grin on his face as he rumbles out a chuckle to the other cat. "I was just joking though, if she left me for you, I wouldn't blame her. We're like fire and water, we don't exactly mix all that well." Sniffing the air a bit, he says, "So you talk to the dead, huh? That's... pretty neat, I suppose, though I wouldn't want that on my head. I can barely deal with my own voice between my ears." He paws at the ground some, looking off to one side. "So.. you know how to hunt?"
Tantallon gives his head a slow shake, "Believe me, it's entirely more trouble than it's worth, most of the time. Now especially. Though, there's the occasional time it proves to be a good thing, on the off chance you actually run into someone you know and like and isn't angry at you." Mention of hunting brings a scrunched-up scowl to the young cat's face. "Eh.... I can feed myself well enough. I've lived on my own since spring, so, I suppose I'm doing alright. I wouln't venture to say I'm /good/ at it, though."
"Yeah, I guess you're not good at it, you know..seeing how after you kill something, they probably yell at you right afterwards in your head." Thrash says with a laugh in his throat as he snaps his tail about his ankles in an amused manner. "Me, I love hunting. I ain't got no problem killing anything that'll feed my tummy. It's just how I was raised. Daddy's little warrior." He says with a snort as his ears falter back against his skull once more, as if the memory of his father is a bad taste in his mouth. "So, what're you doing here then?"
"I learned that one fast." Tantallon remarks to Thrash as he slowly slides his way down off of the stone to settle all four paws on the ground. "A good show of respect goes a long way, and, I generally go for the oldest I can find. They... understand better." His fur fluffs up briefly as if warding off the cold before he forcefully flattens it, swiping his tongue across his chest self-consciously. "I'm here for a few reasons, among them what I already mentioned, and that's actually being around other cougars. I only ever knew one growing up. The other, well... I was sent here, by the old matron, Paoro. She told me there was someone for me to meet and that I was supposed to help the tribe. I haven't gotten far with either."
"Someone for you to meet, huh? Maybe it was to meet up with Kein then? You did meet him, and now you met me, but I'm hardly anything important, or worth searching for." Thrash says as he curls his tail up around his haunches. "Though, this place is fairly boring, though I can sense there may be some trouble brewing on the horizon. The matron here, Nayeli, doesn't appear very happy, and I don't think she's getting along with Kein as of late. Hopefully that smooths over soon enough. Anyways, about me.. my father was named Sakuru, and my mother was named Toya. My father was the war chieftain of our tribe, my mother was just one of his mates. She met another cougar by the name of Malak and she took off. I have tons of brothers, and sisters of all ages from my father, and multiple girls. I was somewhere in the middle. I left because even though I enjoy hunting, I didn't agree with my father's vision of the tribe's future, so I found myself here after the last bad winter."
"Yah. She said I'd know when I met them, but, so far... nothing." Tantallon says with a faint frown as his ears cup forward to listen to the brief story of the two different tribes, and then his look of quiet consideration at the Amaranth leaders changes. Inch by inch the fur of his tail and up along his spine and neck rise in a slow-motion chill and his ears flatten back. He seems to ignore the rest of the conversation and instead mutters faintly, "...she said..." He gives his head a hard shake and then lurches forward, all but nose to nose with the larger cat and his tone goes from the hesitant one of youth to something stronger and very quiet. "...her name... what did you say your mother's name was?"
"Woah, woah! Back off bro, I ain't into kissing dudes." Thrash says as he reaches out with a paw to shove at Tantallon's muzzle, pushing the young cat back a few inches, eyes squinting as he stares down at him with a loud snort. "Toya, her name is Toya." He says with a rumble in his throat, squinting his eyes at the other cougar as he takes a step back a bit to give himself some space. "Why'd you get excited all of a sudden when I brought her up for? She's a bit out of your age range."
Tantallon is both pushed back by Thrash's paw as well as jerking back on his own, his fur still fluffed in clear anxiety. His muzzle is pulled back into a taunt line as he paces first in one direction and then the other as his chest rises and falls in short, sharp breaths. "...she couldn't have been serious... she can't have really meant... someone I had to meet and that I'd know... but... /really/?" He mutters noisily to himself, sounding like a right loon as he rants to himself. Finally he stops pacing and slowly turns his blue-gold eyes onto Thrash. "/My/ mother's name was Toya. It's where the wolves got the idea to call me Toyo, because I was too in-shock to tell them my real name... the name that, apparently, you were supposed to have." And he can't say what's worse - never knowing he had an older brother, or learning he was already getting the hand-me-downs.
Blinking a few times, Thrash lets out a loud snort. "You're crazy, you know that, right?" He says as he watches the younger cat pace back and forth restlessly. "So..your my younger brother, huh?" He trails off for a bit, before staring down at his paws. "So, we supposed to hug now or something, and have a teary reunion, talk about girls, and our favorite food?" He says with an amused smirk on his muzzle. "The name suits you better than it does me. You look more like a Tantallon." Another twitch of a grin upon his face. "If I find out you're messing with me, you know I'll kill you, right? So, where's mom at now anyways? Why she dump you off with a buncha wolves for?"
"I wouldn't joke about this!" Tantallon says with an indignant shout. Well, a shout that ends in a faint squeak. Hey, he's still young. "She... she was killed, not long after me and my littermates were weaned. It was a hunting accident, so I was told. The wolves found us, but, my brothers and sisters had already starved and I was nearly dead. They took me and raised me... the female who's one of their alphas now, Wyanet, I guess knew her and so recognized her. It's how they knew her name."
"Mom's dead?" Thrash sputters out for a moment, then suddenly, his face grows quite solemn. Settling himself back upon his haunches, he stares off into space for a moment, before heaving out a deep sigh. Squinting his eyes tightly, his body gives a long shudder, the fur rising up along his back for a moment. "..I never got to tell her good-bye though." Curling his tail around his forepaws as it wraps about himself, he gives his head a shake. "That..sucks."
Tantallon looks almost as dismayed as Thrash, though his is clearly a large part shock and a lesser part mourning. "...at least you got to know her." He murmurs as he slowly sinks back onto his rump. "I had two chances, and I never said it. The first... just a kid waiting for mom to come home with dinner, never figuring something would happen. The second..." He looks back across the way to Thrash. "She's not really gone. Look, you're really going to think I'm crazy, but bear with me. The short version is something is hunting seers, those like me. I had thought it might be why Paoro sent me here. I was... attacked. He was some giant bear, bigger than anything I've seen. I was trapped in... well, it's where you go to dream. I couldn't get out. I'd looked for her so many times, but, I never found mom... but she found me. She saved me, but, I never even got a chance to talk. All I could do was run. It... crushed her, but... you can't kill a ghost. Not that I know of, anyway. She might still be out there, somewhere."
"Yeah.. I knew her alright. Knew her as the cougar that took off, and left me with my murderer of a father, took off for greener pasturers, popped out new cubs that I never knew about until right now. I can see how I /knew/ her, and how important I was in her life." Thrash says as he shakes his head violently to clear the ghosts of the past away. "So.. whatever, you see her again in your dreams or whatever it is that you do, you can tell her to kiss my ass." He says, rising up to his paws, starting through the grass, snorting loudly.
Tantallon watches Thrash turn to leave and doesn't follow him. He knows the older cougar as much as he knows any other cougar out here. Even with the prospect of being related to this one, the conversation leaves him feeling particularly lonely. His ears slump against his head as he turns around in place and sinks down onto his stomach with his shoulder learning against the boulder. "...she said she was sorry." He mutters, but it's to himself and the air by that point and just lays his chin across his paws and hisses faintly through his teeth. "....you coulda warned me, Paoro."
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A wide, rocky path leading down from the mesa to the greener foothills of the lowlands, sprigs of various plants and brush line the less-traveled edges of the pass. The gravelly dirt of the grade shows vague hints of various creature's pawprints, though most of them are obscured by the occasional breeze of wind rushing through the mountain. The slope curves gently with an equally smooth downgrade, making for an easy walk up or down the mountain. A crevice in the side of the mountain can be seen - if you're slender enough, you may be able to slip inside.
===================================
[IC] Tantallon
[IC] Thrash
>> It is currently Early Autumn (RL day 11), with a half moon (48% full).
4 RL days remain until Mid Autumn begins.
The shift from summer to autumn was subtle, the days slowly losing their scorching punch and the night's humidity settling in an ever-increasing sheet of dew. The day has faded to a dusky rose as twilight approaches, the orange clouds illuminated by the setting sun. Laid out across the warm stone, Tantallon looks off towards the setting sun, his eyes squinted against the dimming light and his face faintly creased in a thoughtful frown.
Making his way into the area is Thrash, having just come off a long patrol which was boring, and uneventful. He wishes Maul would pop up at some point to spend some time with him, but lately, they're practically distant from each other. Not to say the relationship is withering, it's just stagnant, which worries the young stud in training. He's all grown up now, handsome, filled out physically, and starved for attention! Hello ladies. Big man on campus right here! As he turns the corner, heading for his favorite sunning rock, he spies Tantallon upon it instead, and his eyes narrow for a moment. That's the new guy, the one Kein told him about, it's time he finally introduced himself. Ahem. "Hey!" He calls out in a rather gruff tone. "You're laying on my rock."
At first, it doesn't seem that Tantallon is paying the approaching and de-throned Thrash any mind and is simply content to watch the sunset. It's only after a distinctly long pause that the near year-and-a-half old cat flicks an ear backwards and slowly turns his gaze over his shoulder. "...it was someone else's before your's." He says in a simple, matter-of-fact tone before he lets out a slow breath with his eyes turning back skyward. "Rather important to them, but, it's a long story.... in any case, it's a good place to watch from."
"Yeah, well, no one has bothered me about it since I got here, so they gave up any rights to it." Thrash says as he pauses before the rock, staring up at him with a slant of his ears back against his skull. "You can use it for now though." Amused, his muzzle cracks just slightly backwards into a grin, then says, "I'm Thrash by the way, of the Amaranth. You must be Toyo, right? Kein told me that you're here, and hanging about. So, what's your story?"
Tantallon will just decline to mention the rock's previous claimant hasn't been bothering anyone since Thrash's great-grandfather was a kitten. Thrash doesn't seem the type to appreciate that as an opening comment. "I am. Feel free to call me Toyo or Tantallon... different names for different times, but, I'll listen to either. My mother called me Tantallon, but, she died when I was young. I was raised by the Ute wolves, who named me Toyo. But, one can't live with them forever, right? So, I came down this way to see what life with my own kind was like."
"... Right...raised by wolves, huh?" Thrash says with a smirk on his face. "You know, my mother tried to name me Tantallon when I was a cub, but my father would have nothing to do with it. He got so upset, I remember him yelling, saying that it sounds like a pretty stupid name, so instead, he called me Thrash." He says with a puff of his chest outwards, tail swaying back and forth behind him. "After that, mom met some guy who was a bigger jerk than my dad named Malak or something, and she took off, never saw her again."
Tantallon cranks up an eyebrow at the larger cougar's words, his tail giving a considering and jerking twitch. "Serious? ...doesn't seem like that popular of a name." He murmurs as he shifts on the stone so he can tuck his forepaws against his chest. "So, you're Thrash? Hm. Doesn't sound familiar, nor any name like... Malak. Sounds like someone with a bad furball problem." Mal-hack, more like it. "...huh, well, maybe our mothers knew each other? I never heard cougars were all that social, but, I don't think my name is exactly a commonplace one. I'd imagine they heard it from the same place."
"Yeah, I guess. My mother wasn't the brightest star in the sky though, she kept finding real jerks to lay down with. I wonder where she's at now." Thrash says as he curls up on his haunches, giving himself a bit of a flex with his broad shoulders. "I like Thrash though, kinda fits who I am and where I came from." He says with a squint of his eyes. "So, you're into spirits and stuff, huh? You'd probably get along with Maul, who's my lady friend." He pauses for a moment. "And don't touch her or I'll tear your tail off and hang you by it. She's mine."
Tantallon utters a snort at mention of this Maul-character. "Honestly, I've heard "leave off the girls" more than I've heard hello. I have more important things to do than chase tails." He gets all four of his paws under them and rises up, arching his back in a stretch before settling back into a sit. "Yes, I'm into spirits, or, they like talking to me and.. I suppose vice versa. I'm a deathspeaker, specifically. I speak to, and am often sought out, by spirits of the dead for everything from a chat to a task needing done and... sometimes because they're just plain angry at the world and feel like taking it out on someone."
"Yeah, well, welcome to Amaranth, the land of jealous boys." Thrash says with a grin on his face as he rumbles out a chuckle to the other cat. "I was just joking though, if she left me for you, I wouldn't blame her. We're like fire and water, we don't exactly mix all that well." Sniffing the air a bit, he says, "So you talk to the dead, huh? That's... pretty neat, I suppose, though I wouldn't want that on my head. I can barely deal with my own voice between my ears." He paws at the ground some, looking off to one side. "So.. you know how to hunt?"
Tantallon gives his head a slow shake, "Believe me, it's entirely more trouble than it's worth, most of the time. Now especially. Though, there's the occasional time it proves to be a good thing, on the off chance you actually run into someone you know and like and isn't angry at you." Mention of hunting brings a scrunched-up scowl to the young cat's face. "Eh.... I can feed myself well enough. I've lived on my own since spring, so, I suppose I'm doing alright. I wouln't venture to say I'm /good/ at it, though."
"Yeah, I guess you're not good at it, you know..seeing how after you kill something, they probably yell at you right afterwards in your head." Thrash says with a laugh in his throat as he snaps his tail about his ankles in an amused manner. "Me, I love hunting. I ain't got no problem killing anything that'll feed my tummy. It's just how I was raised. Daddy's little warrior." He says with a snort as his ears falter back against his skull once more, as if the memory of his father is a bad taste in his mouth. "So, what're you doing here then?"
"I learned that one fast." Tantallon remarks to Thrash as he slowly slides his way down off of the stone to settle all four paws on the ground. "A good show of respect goes a long way, and, I generally go for the oldest I can find. They... understand better." His fur fluffs up briefly as if warding off the cold before he forcefully flattens it, swiping his tongue across his chest self-consciously. "I'm here for a few reasons, among them what I already mentioned, and that's actually being around other cougars. I only ever knew one growing up. The other, well... I was sent here, by the old matron, Paoro. She told me there was someone for me to meet and that I was supposed to help the tribe. I haven't gotten far with either."
"Someone for you to meet, huh? Maybe it was to meet up with Kein then? You did meet him, and now you met me, but I'm hardly anything important, or worth searching for." Thrash says as he curls his tail up around his haunches. "Though, this place is fairly boring, though I can sense there may be some trouble brewing on the horizon. The matron here, Nayeli, doesn't appear very happy, and I don't think she's getting along with Kein as of late. Hopefully that smooths over soon enough. Anyways, about me.. my father was named Sakuru, and my mother was named Toya. My father was the war chieftain of our tribe, my mother was just one of his mates. She met another cougar by the name of Malak and she took off. I have tons of brothers, and sisters of all ages from my father, and multiple girls. I was somewhere in the middle. I left because even though I enjoy hunting, I didn't agree with my father's vision of the tribe's future, so I found myself here after the last bad winter."
"Yah. She said I'd know when I met them, but, so far... nothing." Tantallon says with a faint frown as his ears cup forward to listen to the brief story of the two different tribes, and then his look of quiet consideration at the Amaranth leaders changes. Inch by inch the fur of his tail and up along his spine and neck rise in a slow-motion chill and his ears flatten back. He seems to ignore the rest of the conversation and instead mutters faintly, "...she said..." He gives his head a hard shake and then lurches forward, all but nose to nose with the larger cat and his tone goes from the hesitant one of youth to something stronger and very quiet. "...her name... what did you say your mother's name was?"
"Woah, woah! Back off bro, I ain't into kissing dudes." Thrash says as he reaches out with a paw to shove at Tantallon's muzzle, pushing the young cat back a few inches, eyes squinting as he stares down at him with a loud snort. "Toya, her name is Toya." He says with a rumble in his throat, squinting his eyes at the other cougar as he takes a step back a bit to give himself some space. "Why'd you get excited all of a sudden when I brought her up for? She's a bit out of your age range."
Tantallon is both pushed back by Thrash's paw as well as jerking back on his own, his fur still fluffed in clear anxiety. His muzzle is pulled back into a taunt line as he paces first in one direction and then the other as his chest rises and falls in short, sharp breaths. "...she couldn't have been serious... she can't have really meant... someone I had to meet and that I'd know... but... /really/?" He mutters noisily to himself, sounding like a right loon as he rants to himself. Finally he stops pacing and slowly turns his blue-gold eyes onto Thrash. "/My/ mother's name was Toya. It's where the wolves got the idea to call me Toyo, because I was too in-shock to tell them my real name... the name that, apparently, you were supposed to have." And he can't say what's worse - never knowing he had an older brother, or learning he was already getting the hand-me-downs.
Blinking a few times, Thrash lets out a loud snort. "You're crazy, you know that, right?" He says as he watches the younger cat pace back and forth restlessly. "So..your my younger brother, huh?" He trails off for a bit, before staring down at his paws. "So, we supposed to hug now or something, and have a teary reunion, talk about girls, and our favorite food?" He says with an amused smirk on his muzzle. "The name suits you better than it does me. You look more like a Tantallon." Another twitch of a grin upon his face. "If I find out you're messing with me, you know I'll kill you, right? So, where's mom at now anyways? Why she dump you off with a buncha wolves for?"
"I wouldn't joke about this!" Tantallon says with an indignant shout. Well, a shout that ends in a faint squeak. Hey, he's still young. "She... she was killed, not long after me and my littermates were weaned. It was a hunting accident, so I was told. The wolves found us, but, my brothers and sisters had already starved and I was nearly dead. They took me and raised me... the female who's one of their alphas now, Wyanet, I guess knew her and so recognized her. It's how they knew her name."
"Mom's dead?" Thrash sputters out for a moment, then suddenly, his face grows quite solemn. Settling himself back upon his haunches, he stares off into space for a moment, before heaving out a deep sigh. Squinting his eyes tightly, his body gives a long shudder, the fur rising up along his back for a moment. "..I never got to tell her good-bye though." Curling his tail around his forepaws as it wraps about himself, he gives his head a shake. "That..sucks."
Tantallon looks almost as dismayed as Thrash, though his is clearly a large part shock and a lesser part mourning. "...at least you got to know her." He murmurs as he slowly sinks back onto his rump. "I had two chances, and I never said it. The first... just a kid waiting for mom to come home with dinner, never figuring something would happen. The second..." He looks back across the way to Thrash. "She's not really gone. Look, you're really going to think I'm crazy, but bear with me. The short version is something is hunting seers, those like me. I had thought it might be why Paoro sent me here. I was... attacked. He was some giant bear, bigger than anything I've seen. I was trapped in... well, it's where you go to dream. I couldn't get out. I'd looked for her so many times, but, I never found mom... but she found me. She saved me, but, I never even got a chance to talk. All I could do was run. It... crushed her, but... you can't kill a ghost. Not that I know of, anyway. She might still be out there, somewhere."
"Yeah.. I knew her alright. Knew her as the cougar that took off, and left me with my murderer of a father, took off for greener pasturers, popped out new cubs that I never knew about until right now. I can see how I /knew/ her, and how important I was in her life." Thrash says as he shakes his head violently to clear the ghosts of the past away. "So.. whatever, you see her again in your dreams or whatever it is that you do, you can tell her to kiss my ass." He says, rising up to his paws, starting through the grass, snorting loudly.
Tantallon watches Thrash turn to leave and doesn't follow him. He knows the older cougar as much as he knows any other cougar out here. Even with the prospect of being related to this one, the conversation leaves him feeling particularly lonely. His ears slump against his head as he turns around in place and sinks down onto his stomach with his shoulder learning against the boulder. "...she said she was sorry." He mutters, but it's to himself and the air by that point and just lays his chin across his paws and hisses faintly through his teeth. "....you coulda warned me, Paoro."