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(Back RP, so it's not winter atm lol x.x)

They said the borderlands were desolate, compared to the lush expanse of the swamp's heart. Here mangroves gave way to plainsgrass and rich green turned dull, even tan, the humidity subsiding and the ache eventually setting in the farther you went. She had been warned against that place as a filly, herded back from the borders by some busybody does, but she was not a child anymore. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

Now standing at the edge of the swamp, the wind whistled past her ears, sweeping the grass blades that creeped up to her knees, nearly hiding the telltale rustling of another body in the grass at her hooves. She stood still for a moment more, let it rustle through the grass, before she pounced in a flurry of hooves and a darting jowl, her head whipping up as her jaws crushing through the neck of a snake, it's last hiss dying in its throat.

Blood trickled from her jaws as she settled down to eat her supper, golden eyes looking outward into the expanse of grass, wondering what lay beyond.

From the periphery she catches sight of the shadow just before it falls over her, turning to cast her amber gaze on the stranger. It is a buck nearly the color of the flatlands, his gaunt and weathered frame speaking bounds about where he chose to spend his time and how he fared doing so even before he actually spoke. When he did speak, he revealed the dialect of a solitary existence, and his own foul mood.

Edge tosses her head, the snake's now limp body wriggling at her movement, before she delicately places the carcass on the ground so she can speak, subconsciously shifting to place one hoof in front of it possessively. She then meets the bucks deep blue gaze, licking blood from her lips before they curl into a self-assured half-smile, her eyes glinting as she responds - "Getting lunch, what's it to you?" There's just enough snark in her tone to counter the demanding issuance of his question, but not enough to be goading. She converses in the same way she hunts, never yielding a step, but waiting for her prey to slip up first.

She observes him steadily, some might say cooly, starting to realize where his gruffness is coming from. Stubbornness, in essence, to claim a territory, especially a sparse one, as his own and be determined to live off of it. The doe does not believe in territories. A self-sufficient wanderer, she lives off the flora, but preferably fauna, of wherever she happens to be. If food is scarce, she sees no reason why one can't wander elsewhere.

"None that you aren't welcome to," she replies with a casual flick of her tail.

Her comment appeared to have disarmed the buck's irritableness, and though he is too composed to be any more than surprised, she allows herself a moment of satisfaction at having won her point, no matter how trivial.

"What's wrong with the swamp?" she asks, seeking his reasoning, her words blunt as she is wont to be, but not at all defensive. She could understand the appeal of the flatlands for the challenge of living there, dealing with the scarcity of the water and the game, but she would grow bored of that eventually, when she conquered that challenge of course.

Precipice's expression turns skeptical at his words- living out here because he dreamed of a distant place? The desert is not a foreign term to her, especially with the arrival of their Acha cousins, but to want to go there for the sake of a dream... well to each their own. She supposes there might be some sort of satisfaction in achieving that goal, however meaningless that goal may seam. She gives her head a slight toss, the movement wriggling down to her shoulders, a sort of shrug. All the more swamp for herself if he left.

"What will you do about the Ache?" Another straightforward question, measuring the buck's response. She uses the word will as well, seemingly too lazy to contradict the feasibility of his dream, but perhaps there is a shred of respect in that word as well. The buck may have foolhardy dreams, but Edge recognizes strength when she sees it.

Edge nods at the buck's reply, surprisingly accepting of his lack of preparation. She wouldn't have given it much thought either, cross that creek when she got there sort of thing. Add to that the fact that it was his problem, not hers, and that would be the end of that. If he did find a way to conquer the ache though, she would surely be back to find out how.

"I guess it was pretty far," she wasn't really sure when she'd started on this trip north, and her frame, always lean, didn't betray any particular hardship. Not that she'd been in the borderlands long enough to experience the conditions this buck had long weathered, but she was a very capable doe nonetheless. "I wouldn't call it travelling so much as wandering." Her words end there, but her thoughts continue on to why she came in the first place, and a thought crosses her mind as to reaching her goal.

She moves her hoof, nudging the carcass of the snake forward. "Care to share?" The glint in her eye suggests her offer isn't quite out of generosity.

His refusal does not take her by surprise, but his reasoning does-- she would be wary of an offer of food from another kin, expecting to give something back in return, but she would not refuse it out of custom. Again the buck baffles her somewhat, but she stifles the feeling as he stumbles upon her purpose here, her eyes lighting up with anticipation. "Yes, that I would," she replies, "and you seem to know these lands quite well..." her tone curves suggestively at these last few words, catching the buck's deep blue eyes. Certainly some sort of agreement could be worked out... right?

The buck proves surprisingly amicable, despite her first impressions, and Edge can't help but grin when the buck grants her desire. "I am more than happy to visit," she replies, picking up the snake carcass and flipping it over her shoulder so it drapes over her neck, held in place by a few of her back scales -- the motion is practiced, she's done it before. She supposes she'll eat on the way, she certainly wouldn't let it go to waste, especially seeing as the buck that was helping her was clearly worried about his food supply.

The snake settled, she quickly trots up to the buck, falling into step beside him, and not it is her turn to be appreciative. "Thank you for your hospitality," she says, meeting his eyes, her grin gleeful but her expression sincere. For all her bluntness, Edge does have the tact to give her respects when it counts, and she is truly grateful to this foreign buck for entertaining her.

As they walk together out into the borderlands she had so wanted to see, the dry wind carries back a hint of a continuing conversation - "By the way, my name is Precipice, or Edge if you prefer..."

((I think we can call this dunzo now 8D <33))