Emberwood Just keep swimming

@Marten maybe? open to anyone she hasn't met.

It had been one of her "off days" where she couldn't take more than a few steps without a spasm making her convulse and nearly flop over. Scared she would be seen by a packmate she had taken to wandering one of the farthest outskirts of the territory she could reach without secluding herself completely. There she began to stretch out each leg, growling when her hind legs each jerked and twitched of their own accord. Then she began to do short sprints working on the speed at which she could turn around and snap at the air, as if an opponent was coming from behind. The exercise got her heart racing and due to being alone, she lost herself in her own world where she was a warrior even her father would be impressed by and she was facing off against a brute the size of a giant boulder. She laughed in the face of his danger and sprang with a savage snarl, making a ton of noise as she had the battle of her life with her imaginary assailant.

marten stumbled upon this sight with a bit of a startle. the sounds of growling and howling and ruckus were alarming, but marten was shocked to find that it was just a single wolf... romping around. what was he doing along the outskirts? well, same as always. just looking for leads on medicinal herbs and plants -- to little avail, as always. it was the dead of winter, what else could you expect?

he paused, ears pressing forwards as he stared at the wolf before him, trying to decide if it was worth it to intervene or if he should just move on.

As a testament to her lack of focus it took her a few long moments to realise that there was someone nearby. It brought her up short and she visibly stiffened turning slowly to stare at him with wide eyes. A wave of embarrassment at being caught playing around washed over her and she quickly looked away "I was practicing" she said stuttering for a few seconds before getting through the sentence as her nerves got the best of her. As her body settled down her muscles twitched and she frowned, staring at the ground awkwardly "Do you need something?" she asked wincing as the tone came out more aggressively than she had meant it to. "I mean...cuz you were watching" she slowly tried to make it sound better and knew she failed, clamping her jaws shut tight and waiting with a nervous and embarrassed expression her tail tucked between her legs.

practicing. marten would be lying if he said he didn't think it was a strange way of practicing, but he supposed he didn't know much about battle. only about healing, which was all self-taught anyway. he nods rather slowly as if to say 'i see' and then watches as she got a little defensive. marten doesn't get too offended by the comment, noticing that she seems pretty embarressed. had she had his same pale complexion, she might've appeared pink. 


i thought there was a fight going on, he comments with a small shrug, i'm a healer, i came to help. with a flick of his tail, marten adds pointedly, sorry to interrupt you -- my name's marten.

The man doesn't seem to be very phased by her reaction to his presence and in a way it calmed her down enough for her to gather her composure. "There was one in my mind" she said softly flashing him a goofy smile as she eased up though briefly she thought about how her own imagination seemed all she had these days aside from her overprotective father. "I'm Lainie. It's nice to meet you Marten...so a healer?  You didn't interrupt but maybe you can help focus me a bit? Talk about healing?" she asked him tail wagging, curiously trying to see if he could make her want to learn. She recalled the beautiful intimidating woman who had been singing and collecting plants. "You use plants right? To make people better?"