I told you I'd chase that Horizon

@Izumi This is kinda set a bit north of Tsukiishi

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It could be chalked up to some wanderlust but the cat of the north found himself far in the norhern lands of Tsukiishi, just barely skirting their imaginary border.  The territorial claims of the wolves' here didn't bother him much, if at all.  Its not like they respected his hunting grounds. 

But, that's not what brought him here.  In fact, it was just out of a sense of unending restlessness that drove the beast to at least travel in some direction. So today it might as well be here.  

Kuhn did marvel at mystery of the sky, the heavenly archon above that was so elusive.  No matter how far he chased the northern lights, they where always out of his grasp.
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Making small, vague assumptions here in her timeline. Tags are for reference!

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The knowledge that a stranger might've been lurking in and out of Shiroshika to steal food had Izumi on the lookout. She was no guardian in the slightest, but that didn't mean she couldn't keep a good eye out for whatever was going on outside their borders. This was her home after all, and after the events that transpired in wisteria grove, she wasn't taking chances in sitting around and waiting for danger to transpire. Perhaps it would've been a good idea to call out for @Tiberius to accompany her to the boarders, but she was too far outside to feel like making noise. Maybe even ask @Antares if he wished to keep her company? No, the dark wraith only just got here. She wanted him to settle in more first...

So the crane would set off on her own under the moonlit, color-splashed sky -- her dark leather nose picking up the scent that lurked near their borders and stalking slowly towards it. A physical confrontation was not on her to-do list (because let's be honest, what the hell was Izumi going to fight with her scrawny ass limbs??) but to stalk and observe who she was dealing with. Whoever this was might've been the culprit behind this mess, and the princess wasn't missing this chance to let them slip away.

She slunk closer, slowly towards the figure ahead and relying on most of the fur that wasn't splashed with inky markings to camouflage.

And that was when she saw it; the large form of a feline moving under the moonlight. He was massive -- couldn't have been @Rainier judging by the size difference, and the striking mane that ran from between his shoulders made her ears perk in recognition. Is that...."Khun?"

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The massive tom was to busy, stuck in his own world to hear the slender sentinel approach. The heavens above made him oblivious to her approach.  Upon hearing his name, he half thought he was hallucinating, almost stuck in a trance.  His ears reacted by locking to the source, but he had to do a doubletake before leaping to his feet.  In an instant, his fur puffed up as he pivoted around with a growl.  It wasn't that often that he made contact with another soul out in the wide tundra, but once his eyes found the target, it took a moment for him to let his guard down. 

"Izumi!" he snarled, responding with the remnants of what vicious adrenaline was left pumping through him.  Returning to its flattened stance, Kuhn's fur slowly returned to its natural state. His ears drooped for a moment, embarrassed a bit by the scare --Well that came out wrong--  The beast swished his tail to and fro a few times, before changing his tune. "Hey! what are you doing all the way up here?" He smiled cheerfully, overcompensating a bit, showing an array of deadly teeth.
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Should she have to get used to Khun being scared out of his hide everytime she walked up to him? It happened the first time they'd met, now for a second time, the Tom swiveled his body around as aggressively as last time -- only difference was that they knew each other this time.

'Izumi' he hissed, a low pitched rumble that caused her dark audits to flatten against her cranium. Not so much in fear, but surprise that she was actually capable of scaring him to this degree. A humorous part of her even thought about doing it again as a small prank....

He calmed himself down, fortunately, and replaced his tensed nerves with an awkward, forced looking smile that should've made her laugh, but the crane kept silent. Instead, she approached the large cat towards his side and rubbed her forehead against his shoulder. Similar to the greeting he had given to her long ago, in assumption that this was a greeting Khun had been more farmiliar with. Was she doing it right?

Well, she was trying. At least.

"I live here," the young crane answered, pulling away from him to direct her muzzle towards those frosted mountian tips. "upon Tsukiishi's claim. I am a part of a pack now."

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It really wasn't every day that someone could sneak up on him like that, really it wasn't even often that he would have company at all.  It would take some getting used to, of course it would startle the solitary cat, to hear a lone voice in the wind after weeks of solitude. 

She approached him without much apprehension, and Kuhn didn't show any discomfort; now that he knew what he was dealing with.  After all she was the first soul she met out here in these barren lands. The crane even seemed to greet him in the way typical of a feline, rubbing her muzzle against him.  His chest released a deep, warm chuffing sound that was mostly involuntary.  Returning the gesture, the massive feline, turned to her strafing the bridge of his nose up the side of her neck. 

Relaxing himself, the cat sat back on his hind legs, making half direct eye contact with the slender woman.  "So you found a pack?  That's good." He stated, not giving to much attention to what the name of the pack was, or its 'claim'.  For now he was just interested in Izumi, evidenced by ears fixed to target.
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Izumi believed no reason that someone as gentle as Khun had been towards her would do malicious harm on purpose, it was the reason she'd been so comfortable around him despite their zoological differences,  and the way she'd been greeted not seconds before. Even still, she knew she'd have to be careful around the striped Tom -- as she was not stupid enough to forget the difference in strength that existed between the two animals. Izumi was quickly reminded of this when his large head caressed the side of her neck, to which she would've leaned into if she didn't falter back some by the sudden force.

Shaking her coat some, the willowy crane looked to Khun, returning again to sniff at his chest while she spoke. "It is, though I would've expected to see you at least once while wandering the tundra. It's been a while..."

He smelled of a variety of scents -- of some that she didn't know, and others that were strangly familiar. Had he made new friends in these lands as she did?

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For a cat, the closeness was odd, but not unwelcome today.  The woman didn't fear him at all, and Kuhn wasn't worried about her either.  Speaking to him from under his neck, the crane seemed to sifting through his scent.  Taking that as an invitation to do the same, the striped beast arched over the slender crane, sniffing somewhere behind her ear while speaking,  "Well, I normally don't like to be seen..."  

Her scent was mostly what he remembered: floral, lupine. Though the cat was able to put two and two together, she had lingering scents that matched those he was finding in the Everfrost. His whiskers, released their grasp on the back of her head as he peeked at the northern lights from the corner of his eye.
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"Ah...I suppose" The crane drawled thoughtfully as she pulled her muzzle away to take a seat in front of him, shifting to curl a tail around her paws and allowing a small yawn to escape her chest. There were still a lot of things regarding the feline race that Izumi was ignorant towards, having spent most of her life in fear of them rather than obtaining knowledge of their habits and how they differed from canines. Solitude being one of those topics -- wolves were pack animals, after all. Were cats....not the same? Well, If that were the case,

"Then....have you met with anyone else of my kind? Since we've been separated?"

what was she picking up off his stripped pelt?

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Still trying his best to 'behave', Kuhn continued to mirror the actions of the lupine, pulling his own muzzle back, somewhat copying the motion of her tail as well.  Likewise the actions and behaviors of canines where not completely know to him. As far as he could tell, they where a lot the same, besides the fact that they didn't walk alone -- and smelled different. 

Kuhn cocked his head in observation watching the woman yawn, noting the shapes and similarity of her teeth.  Wolves didn't seem that different.  Subconsciously the yawn seemed to spread to the cat, as he reveled his own fangs, in a more drawn out yawn. 

Shaking out his mane, he looked back to the woman, twitching his tail.  "Yes, a few..." answered the demon as he began grooming his own paws, licking at the base of his claws, while giving a sort of expression that looked like he was trying to recall something. "A few different ones from that far mountain... some passerby's in my hunting grounds... and this one, sick woman, small, all white." 
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 Izumi had seen his teeth before in flashes -- while they chatted with each other, when he flashed them during his frights -- but this was the first time she'd be seeing them up close like this. He yawned in tune with her own and she couldn't help but stare a while longer -- a quartet that lined his upper and lower jaws, long and sharp like pointed ivory knifes. Khun indeed had the teeth of a carnivore, much more powerful than her own kind, and the crane only dared to imagine what such a predator was capable of.

 How strange that he'd willingly associate with his lupine counter parts without any trouble...

 These few that he'd met during their departure, had they had any trouble with them, too? Surely Khun was a man who could protect himself,, but Izumi had already been quite protective of her freinds regardless. If he'd been experiencing any problems, she'd want to know.

 The mention of a more descriptive face made her freeze for a minute, but a sigh soon escaped her lips. "Is that so?" the crane asked calmly. It was only recently that Reiko's bed riddance had been announced to her and she'd been quite on edge from not seeing the snow empress recently, but there was something calming to know that Khun had seen her wandering about.....even so -- "I'd steer clear of a particular small, sickly white woman wandering about these lands. She is my leader, Reiko." -- the crane couldn't help feel protective of the ill woman. Even if she couldn't get in touch with her at the moment, and even if this wasn't the same....coincidently farmiliar wolf the male had talked about.

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The cat continued cleaning his claws as he listened to the crane continue.  She may have assumed that he hadn't gotten into any trouble, but it was somewhat off the mark.  In the process of interacting with his lupine counterparts he had made some waves, fighting with Hravasken wolves, poaching from territories, and running down her leader. Yet, noting bad had came of any of that yet.  He didn't need to worry her. 

He side eyed her as his licking stopped abruptly with the mention of the empress; that sickly white wolf.  He didn't even know. "Oh? and why is that?" he said with a feint growl, his nose slightly scrunching. Seemingly taking offense to her lack of trust. Did she think he would eat her? Was she the one who demanded that he stop hunting here? Maybe he should have eaten her. 
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 His displeasure did not go unnoticed with the low growl that vibrated the air around them. It worried the crane slightly in wondering if she'd said something wrong, but she still kept a calmed, level head when answering the striped tom's question. "Because seeing a sick creature rouses advantage in hunting, and I don't want her being that potential meal." she explained softly, searching the man's polished steel gaze to see if this would cause a similar reaction.

 Izu wished to protect Reiko from that possibility, but if it was a wolf she did not know, Izumi probably wouldn't have cared much. A concept that might've sounded cruel out loud, but not even the benevolent would shed a tear for someone they'd never been acquainted with, would they? At least, that's what she believes....

 As long as the people she cared about were safe and sound, everything else was none of her business.

 "It is the same way I would see a sick and frail hare in my sights and help myself -- I am a predator too, afterall." Perhaps not the same heavily muscled machine Khun or Rainier had been, but a carnivorous creature nonetheless. A wolf.

 After a few moments of searching his face, she'd lift a darkened paw to place on her freind -- a shoulder, his head if she could reach it -- but she felt apologetic for fucking up and upsetting the first friend she managed to make here in this frost bitten land. "I did not mean to offend you in anyway Khun. It won't happen again..."

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His initial display of aggression didn't ward her off of the topic, and dammit, she was making a lot of sense.  Calm and respectful the woman explained verbatim what actually happened between Reiko and himself.  As she spoke, memories of that encounter washed through his minds eye.  This was accompanied by a sinking feeling in his stomach and an un- mistakable look that would betray the fact that he was hiding something. Could he believe it, how did this little wolf know him so well? 

The paw reaching up snapped him back to the conversation: something something... it wont happen again. "What, huh? I...I mean, no your right."  She hadn't offended him, in hindsight, she had called him out, and if there was one thing the cat appreciated and it was being real.  He sat there, feeling bad for his initial snappy response, and for how accurately his friend called him out.
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 Khun's vexation seemed to slip faster than it appeared when she began talking -- which was a good thing; clearly the goal here was to make him feel better, but there was no shaking the weird feeling she got when looking at his expression. A better way to describe it; he looked calm, but guilty.

 There was a brief look that crossed over her features for a few seconds, but she turned away and it was quickly brushed off as nothing more than some slight regret. Maybe Khun just felt bad for reacting the way he did, but in truth it didn't really bother Izumi. Freinds disagreed over things and made up all the time, she believed.

 Taking off the paw she had placed on his shoulder, the cranebird took a moment admire her night sky surroundings once more in remberence to when the two first woke up in these lands. It was a confusing time and place, but things were much more peaceful now.

 "So...would you care to tell me more about your other encounters? I'll share mine if you do as well?"

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Even Kuhn could tell by the face she made, that she was on to him. Apparently, she was going to let him off the hook, not seeking any further explanation. Eating Reiko really did cross across his hind brain at one point. But he didn't right...

It was still a little obvious that he held some nervousness at her almost supernatural ability to see through him. Taking a moment to lock back onto the conversation, Kuhn paged through some encounters in his mind, settling in one that he thought she would find entertaining.

"Oh... I had a run in, with your neighbors from the other mountain." He said with a half malicious smile, before lifting his head up showing off a now healed scar on the side of his neck given to him by @Stojr.
"But, I think things have been worked out now" he said vaguely, still looking entertained.
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OOF IM SORRY I LET THIS THREAD GET OLD AF AJGDHKBVV . If you want we can archive this soon after a few posts for a fresher one??

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 Curious wisteria eyes trailed up to look his direction in kern interest -- both at the scar and the words he used to explain what happened. Since when the hell did they have neighbors? The crane thought initially -- and the scar on his neck had Izumi mumbling "性交はそこで起こったのですか?" — The fuck happened there? as she faintly reached over to touch it, but decided against it in the end.

 Her brows furrowed in concern on whether or not someone actually when out their way to hurt him -- what could this have been about? "This seems like more than just a little run in Kuhn, don't you think?"

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"Yes, I would say it was more than just a little run in." He answered with a smile, obviously happy to tell the story, whether she asked or not. Standing to his feet he began to pace. "So they thought I was trying to take there food right... Then these two started snapping at my heels, so I had to pin one if them, you know so they would calm down, and then. Out of nowhere, one of their brothers blind sides me, spending both of us down a cliff, I was bleeding everywhere. I swear I was going to eat that guy but, then we just went on our way."

All the while, the cat's excitement was apparent, subtly acting out some of of the scenes, as if he was unconscious of the fact that he was doing it.

"But good thing I didn't go any farther, because now we have made good with each other, they even brought me a rabbit the other day."
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Wrapping up <3

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 Well someone was clearly happy about nearly getting chewed out. The idea of Kuhn getting ganged upon in such a way was not as amusing to her as it was to the striped tom, but it did manage to tickle a little funny bone after seeing how giddy he’d felt explaining the whole ordeal -- it made her tail sway lazily on top of the snow. He went on to explain everything and even act things out as his own puppeteer.

 The girl hummed quietly for a moment “Rabbit you say,” then leaned in a bit to look at his neck scar, as if examining it again -- squinty eyes and everything, in the most exaggerated way possible. “--for something as disrespectful as that, I’d say they owe you an elk’s thigh” All in good fun of course -- because then she’d close her eyes and turn her head away with a slight smile.

 From then on after the crane and the tiger talked amongst themselves, bickering and such, until it was time for them to go their separate ways again and bid the moon farewell...

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