Panther Park Life of the Party

Roll: 6 - where odds = encounter with a kitty; evens = no kitty. 1 = sleepy kitty; 3 = playful kitty; 5 = grumpy kitty. @Léiriú

While she rarely felt fearful crossing through forests, a sense of unease had begun to settle at the pit of Valkyrie's stomach. The surrounding area seemed to be impossibly silent, the whole world still save for fluffy snowflakes falling gracefully to the ground. It had been cloudy all day, and although she figured it was late afternoon, it was difficult to tell, for the sun was thickly veiled, and time had seemed to stop the moment she had set foot among the towering sentinels of coniferous trees.

She picked her way delicately across the snow, her movements light and careful. Shoulders tensed, she remained on alert, tail tucked low, swaying near her pale hocks. It was not difficult to discern that some type of a predator lived in the area, although Valkyrie did not think that she smelled wolf in the air. Nonetheless, there was a notable shortage of prey animals. Even the birds seemed to have flown away, or else they remained uncharacteristically silent. Blowing out her cheeks in a little chuff of unease, the lone wolf continued on warily, trying to follow the safest path that would take her southward.

It was the crow that brought her here.

The crow had appeared as she popped her head above the edge of a snowy crater, Léiriú's bed for the night, as the pink rays of dawn began to shine through the conifers. The trees seemed like friends at this point; tall and looming they shadowed her path in darkness that she easily blended to. It was comforting. 

Without second thought, Léiriú had climbed to her feet and shook the snow from her ebony coat in preparation of trailing the bird. It cawed a single time, as if to beckon, and then was gliding on silent wings through the eerie forest. Léiriú loped after it, the only sound her steady breathing and the nearly unaudible sound of her footsteps on the snow.

Several moments after following it; the crow fluttered to a low tree, little more than a shrub really. It hopped on its feet to face her gracefully; the crow tipped its head in curiosity and blinked at her as if waiting for speech. 

"An bhfuil tú comhartha, ó Lugh?" Her words were soft, little more than a whisper as the air puffed from her mouth in a white cloud. 

The crow seemed to understand; or either the bird had completed its purpose as it cawed sharply in answer and took wing. Something within told Léiriú she was not to follow this time. She perched on an icy rock and waited. 

It must have been near afternoon when the noises finally reached her ears, soft and hesitant steps. Her ears perked curiously and she rose on stiff legs to watch for whomever was coming. 

The woman appeared. She was bicolored with black along her top and ivory along her underside. She was a large woman and muscular too, not much different from Léiriú's build really. There was a vast difference between them though; in the way the two carried themselves. This woman appeared nervous in the gloomy forest; her eyes darted continously as if afraid a monster would spring from the shadows and snatch her up within its jaws. Léiriú smirked; the only monster here was she. 

"Fine weathar, isn' it?"  Léiriú called out, words coated with a thick brogue. She cared not whether the woman was startled by her presence; it was possible in the darkness the stranger could not see Léiriú's dark coat. 

"I always did luv the winta," something akin to anticipation colored her tone. Léiriú hadn't had anyone to play with in a long while and she had a feeling this one would be fun to mess with.