Firefly Glen bottle shop with benefits
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#1
All Welcome 
Weather: 23°F, partly cloudy.

There was a break in the storm, and although Dune had spent the night in this lovely, dense forest, he was keen to press on before another wave of snow hit. He was up and moving toward his next destination (the tall mountains to the west), when he latched on to the scent of blood. Not just blood, but he was fairly certain it was the blood of a deer. Setting his mountain quest to the side, he began to follow the trail, picking his way through the trees and keeping his senses on high alert.
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The scent of fresh blood had drawn Wraen out from the confines of Moonspear. She had caught the whiff of it in the air first - a faint one, but as she scoured the Firefly glen from one end, she found tracks and the red droplets in the snow as well. This was a curious situation, because, when she looked around, the possibly wounded animal was nowhere in sight. What she did notice though, was a figure of a pale wolf, who - by the looks of it - had caught the same scent too. After a little deliberation she decided to follow the wolf in hopes that he had a clearer idea of where the animal had hidden itself.
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#3
Yay, another thread with you!

Dune was on the trail, nose glued to the ground as he attempted to follow the injured animal. Thankfully, it wasn't terribly challenging to track the thing, although Dune was pretty sure the creature was nowhere near death. The drops were small, and they did not look like the amount of blood a large creature would die from losing. Nevertheless, he continued to follow the path with his nose.

At some point, Dune paused, and it was then that he heard the crunching sound of footsteps behind him. He whipped himself around to face a typical grey wolf with green eyes (not that he was daring enough to make direct eye-contact). Dune huffed in her direction, then turned back to the trail. There was no need to chase her off. If he managed to track down even an injured deer, he would need help taking it down, and he would gladly share the proceeds.
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#4
I feel sorry for all the lonely and overlooked AW threads. Plus - Dune is cool. :)

When the other wolf took notice of Wraen, she stopped in her tracks, keeping her position slightly submissive and waiting his verdict. If he told her to get lost - she would not argue, though the scent trail was very, very tempting to follow. Much to her joy - he did not, she hoped that she had read correctly the message his body language had converyed.

Delighted about the invite, she closed the distance between them, choosing to move a little behind and in paralell to the leading wolf, keeping her gaze up to spot the wounded animal they were tracking.
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#5
Aw, thanks! ^__^

She fell in step just behind him, and Dune realized with some sense of delight that she hadn't spoken. Normally, it seemed like all wolves dove right into chitchatting their stupid heads off, and Dune just... did not like it. It was not like he hated it, but the poor guy had a hard time keeping up with such conversations. He strongly preferred body language and gestures to anything else, so this situation suit him nicely.

They continued to move in tandem, with his new acquaintance just behind him, when suddenly Dune heard the crack of a branch up ahead. Immediately, he crouched down and gestured for the other to do the same. The injured creature must have been just ahead, and he wanted to get a better look without startling it.
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Wraen could be quite a chatter-box, but she also knew, when to shut up, if occasion required. And when it came to working - she was all attention and wasted no words, as long as the other person was clear about, what they were about to do.

And for a quiet chap the lone wolf was surprisingly good at this, therefore it was easy for her to be on the same wavelength and split her attention between checking, what the hunter was doing and what happened around. 

There was a noise and she was told to crouch - she did, though eyes still scanned the snowy landscape for the sight and ears tried to located the source of the sound.
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Slowly, carefully, Dune began to creep forward, belly nearly touching the ground as he did so. He slinked around a tree, but he saw nothing where he was certain the sound had come from. Dune furrowed his brow, unsure of where the creature had gone. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the blasted thing came charging at him, hooves flying and bleating like a... well, like a deer running for its life.

Dune, not wishing to die at the limbs of the very thing he was trying to kill, leaped to the side, crashing right into the gray wolf and tumbling over himself. The deer made a break for it, and Dune groaned. He didn't think he had sustained any serious injuries, but he had plenty of bruises... not the least of which was squarely on his ego.
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Wraen was so focused on the upcoming hunt and following the white wolf's directions, that the sudden appearance of the injured deer, running straight at them, caught her by a surprise. Luckily she was not in the way of the panicky animal, however, the leader of the hunt was. He made an abrupt movement to the side and the next thing she knew a mass of fur, flesh and bone crashed into her, making her fall over and yelp in pain as the other's mass pinned her to the ground. 

At this point her own flight reflex kicked in and she began moving, growling and snapping at the nearest body parts of the offending party to set herself free.
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#9
I did a dice roll in Discord to see if her teeth hit him! Kinda short since I wasn't sure how she'd react!
1d10 above 5: Wraen's teeth make contact = 2

He heard the growling and clacking of teeth, but thankfully he managed to miss anything serious. Hopefully she would understand what had happened. Dune rolled to his feet, wincing as he did so. At least the deer's hooves hadn't gotten him. That would have been a major complication. He looked after where the deer had gone, wondering if it was worth it to keep tracking it down.
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To injure the stranger had never been Wraen's intention - she just wanted him off her so that she could breathe freely and not choke on fur. Either her nip had something to do, but the man got up and stepped aside, the girl got to her feet as well, wincing, when she put weight on one of her paws. It hurt - she probably had twisted it the wrong way, but some flexing and extending it again did the trick and by the time the sole of her foot touched the ground she had all forgotten about it. 

The other appeared to been keenly looking for the deer tracks and, though she supposed that she should join the action, she thought it was safer to wait, what he had to say in the matter. At this moment and this place he was the leader and she was a subordinate.
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It seemed as though she was more difficult to provoke than Dune, which was in his favor. After he had gotten away, she settled. For a moment, he thought her foot may have been hurt, but it seemed to be fine after all. Not that Dune would have felt too much guilt over the matter if she had been injured, he certainly did not want to enemies if he could avoid it. He was satisfied that his own injuries would not hinder the hunt, so he began to head in the direction of their wanted prize.

Dune had hoped that the creature would be slower, more sluggish, and perhaps easier to take down. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. They were going to have to track it for quite some time if they intended to take it down with just the two of them. Dune had no qualms with this, but he knew his partner might wish to return home and not waste her efforts for a loner like himself.

"Deer too strong," he said, breaking the silence for the first time since they had met. Perhaps if they had been members of the same pack, it would make sense for them to call for aid. Dune lacked any allegiance, and he did not expect her to share if the rest of her own pack came to help. "Name?" he asked, curious enough for the information, even though he rarely attempted small talk.
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Wraen's keen and alert expression changed to a relaxed one, when the wolf told her that they weren't going after the deer. It was a reasonable choice, but she could not help but feel a little disappointment. She was still young, full of enthusiasm and often over-rating her own strengths and abilities, therefore she would have liked to track that creature for a while longer, even if the chances of taking it down were very, very slim. 

With a resigned sigh, she turned her gaze away from the direction, where the deer had disappeared and back to the wolf, who now asked her name. She did notice that he spoke a little oddly, but gave an answer nevertheless: "Wraen. You?"
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#13
Congrats on 500 posts!

Wraen. At least it wasn't a terribly difficult name to pronounce, and her question was an easy one for him to answer. "Dune," he replied with a small wag of his tail. Unlike so many other wolves he had run across, for some reason, he felt an urge to stick around this time instead of cutting the conversation short and going his own way. Perhaps the many weeks of being on his own really had started to wear on him.

Spotting a stick nearby, Dune pounced on it, grabbing it with his teeth and shaking it back and forth. If they could not hunt, perhaps they could work on one of the most important skills of all: play. His front half eased down, his elbows touching the ground, while his rump stayed up, bushy tail making little "thwip-thwip!" sounds behind him.
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Thanks! Always a milestone. :)

"Nice to meet you," Wraen replied and dipped her muzzle in a polite gesture. Then - since Dune was still pretty much in charge of the situation - she sat and watched him, curious to find out, what he would come up with next. Didn't look like he was in a hurry to get somewhere fast. 

He surprised her, because for a guy his age (she falsely assumed that he was older than her) and of such serious demeanor a game did not seem like the first choice to pass the time. But since he offered and she was happy to play at any time of the day, Wraen got to her feet and with a wagging tail approached him, then leaned down and tried to get hold of the stick as well.
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Dune jerked the stick away the first time, but the second time she went for it, he let her grab on, growling and wrestling in a little game of tug-o-war. He jerked at the stick, but when he did so, it slipped out of his mouth and he was left with only a thin, slick shred of bark clinging to his teeth and tongue. He spat it out, the taste anything but pleasant, and went back in for the stick, hoping it wouldn't be too difficult to get it back from her.

He crept up on her, stalking Wraen (even though he was clearly right there) before he finally sprung off the ground, jaws aiming for the object of their playtime.
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On the second attempt, Wraen managed to get hold of the desired toy and after a little wrestling she was the sole owner of the thing. The victory reflected in her facial features and wagging tail, but her eyes kept watching Dune carefully, waiting the next course of action.

He had decided to go for stealth-mode, which was a mistake on his side. Wraen's eyes lit up, when she guessed, what he was doing and what he would attempt to do. He made a move, she did the same, leaping sideways and then dancing several steps away quickly. There she stopped and eyed the man, daring him to go after her and get the stick back.
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She managed to evade him time and time again, seemingly tracking his moves even before he knew which moves he was going to make. A clever girl, this one. Deciding it would be better to try another tactic, Dune feigned disinterest, ignoring her entirely and licking his front paw. He wasn't a terribly good actor, though, and he kept an eye on the girl and her stick, waiting for just the right moment to get it back. That wasn't just yet, though, so Dune bided his time, occasionally stopping to watch the girl, but mostly focusing on grooming his front feet.
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There was no point and joy in having a stick, if the other party was disinterested. After some half-hearted chase (that's, what she thought, no that this was neccessarily true on Dune's behalf), her newly found friend gave up and settled down, pretending to be busy grooming his feet. Wraen suspected, what he was doing there, and was willing to play innocently along. Holding stick in her jaws, she approached him slowly and, when she was within few yards, plopped down on her belly and began to chew on it. Her eyes - however - were fixed on the man.
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She took the bait... at least partially, and she moved in closer. Dune was pleased, although he noted that she had not taken her eyes off him. This pleased him in another way. It was simply nice to be... noticed for the first time since he had left home. Sure, he'd had brief conversations, but this felt like an actual foundation for something. What, he was not sure. Dune didn't dwell on it for much longer.

When he thought he'd found an opportunity, he sprung up from the ground and attempted to pounce on the stick. He was sure this time he would get it!
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Dune's next attempt was lucky - he did get hold of the stick, but only because Wraen had let him have it, chewing on one end and leaving the longer end free for him to grab it. Once he was in place, she began to growl without a hint of menace in her voice, just to make it known that she could and that she was sort of serious as well. She moved so that now she was standing side to side with him, them holding the stick on the same side.
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They definitely need an updated thread! ^__^

His teeth dug into the stick, but Wraen wasn't quite ready to let go of it. The growl gurgled in her throat, but that didn't deter Dune too much. Instead, he tugged on the stick, moving her head in tandem with his own, assuming she did not let go of it. The sight was most definitely an amusing one for anybody who might have been watching, but eventually, Wraen's growl was enough to make Dune relent.

He relinquished the stick to her, tail wagging and no hard feelings toward her. "Win this time," he decided, wagging his tail and letting her have this victory. Hopefully, by including "this time," it would be understood that he hoped this would not be their last encounter. Glad to have finally gotten some good social time in, and not wishing to ruin it in some way by staying longer, Dune swished his tail in goodbye and began to trot away.
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"Works every time," Wraen replied, when she had put the stick down by her feet. Come to think of it there had not been a game she had played or an argument that she had not won, when it came to the opposite sex. Were they simply polite or was she really, really good at convincing them that "this.stick.is.mine!"?

Wraen waved a goodbye to the stranger as well, left the stick, which had lost all of it's appeal now, lying on the ground and returned to Moonspear.