Wolf RPG

heda had kept mostly to herself since she had seen him again. them. the dreadfather. not worripa. not her brother.
she was on the western side of the island, returning from a half-hearted hunting trip during which she had caught nothing. the lavender stalks reached halfway up her trailing legs, and when she paused to look out toward the twilight sea, the smell of it rose to her from where it had been crushed. a breeze toyed with her hackles. heda drew a shuddering breath.
her throat felt raw from crying. 
her golden eyes swam with pain.

Jasmine had already stayed here much longer than a rest, much longer than she’d expected, but if she’d over stayed her welcome, she was sure @Bartholomew would have tracked her down and booted her to the sea or something… okay, maybe not that last bit, but she was sure he would have at least had another chat with her, telling her to go.

As it was, he had not, so Jasmine explored the island. She had mostly stuck to the woods Bartholomew had first brought her to, and the hillside that overlooked the sea. There was plenty here to discover, everything being similar to what she knew of on the mainland, and at the same time, so much different.

And when she wasn’t poking every inch of the place she often found herself hunting. Or trying to.

She dragged herself from the ocean today soggy and dripping with brine, and with no prize in her jaws to boast about her labours.

Screw that.

She’d be back again to try tomorrow, be sure of that, but for today she shook herself off and headed towards the lavender fields, where she picked up a familiar scent that had ghosted around her since the day she’d set paw on the island.

Elation raced through her when she realized this scent was finally fresh! Jasmine wished she’d had a fish now to give the other woman, or even like, a pretty shell or something. But she was empty pawed, and half-mindedly, she picked a couple stray flowers poking between the lavender stalks, some pretty pink and yellow things she thought she would be happy to get for a present, and gave a little chuff when she finally caught up with the woman Bartholomew had told her about.

yes. there was someone else here now. heda too had found jasmine's trails. she had watched from the highest point of the greenhills as bartholomew greeted the wolf.
but she had thought them only a guest, and had been too wrapped in her mind to give it another thought. it seemed the first of them had become a mental door holding the others at bay. and as heda turned her head to glance at the stranger, that door creaked open.
first there was a great and piercing spike of anger at bartholomew. it was just supposed to be them! that's what he'd said. why had he let this other person onto the island? onto their island, her mind bitterly amended. 
this was followed by guilt and then chagrin, amid which the ugly ideation of her abandonment issues raised its virulent head. suppose because she hadn't fully committed to the island, bartholomew had replaced her? after all, she'd told him she needed to go back to the summit and say goodbye. 
too long she had just been looking at the other girl. how pretty the stranger was did nothing for her mood. heda blinked, cleared her throat. "sorry. sorry, that's ... weird of me," she said, trying to indicate everything was fine with self-deprecation. "i'm heda."

She shifted under the silent stare. Unable to fully grasp the emotions that passed through the other woman's face, but feeling wholly uncomfortable beneath them.

So Jasmine tried to focus on what was tangible about her. The purity of her fur, the golden stripe along her back. Pretty, how it almost seemed to match her eyes. But perhaps what Jasmine noticed most was how much the other was truly a woman, and how little and so much like a child Jasmine felt before her.

When the other woman, Heda, finally spoke, Jasmine offered a small smile. Unsure of what to do with her statement of being weird - because yeah, it kind of was... but she decided best not to dwell on that, so Jasmine shook her head and said, "I'm Jasmine," and remembering the flowers she'd picked and placed at her paws during the staredown, added, "here," scooped up the flowers and set them nearer the other woman, before drawing back a little ways again, "I brought you these. Wish I could've brought a more useful gift, but they still look pretty, I think."

Heda seemed flustered. Shy, maybe. Jasmine remembered how she used to skirt around strangers - how she still did at times. Maybe Heda was the same.

That somehow made her feel a little better, a little calmer herself.

“Don’t sweat it, we’re cool,” she said with a smile and a shrug, “I’ve been on my own for a while too, I totally get it.”

She wanted Heda to feel good with her, whether her stay was temporary or more permanent than she’d originally thought. Her eyes brightened at the other woman’s invitation.

“I’ve only seen a little, the coast and forest, mostly,” and while she’d enjoyed those places, she itched to see something new, with someone new, “I’d love to see more! Especially with you, I bet you know all the coolest places to go!”

The lion’s den! Jasmine gasped. She had only heard of mountain lions - had never seen them - but rumour spoke of the terrors they were. Firm warnings to stay away. But the gentleness and casual way with which Heda spoke of these lions, well, it filled Jasmine with a shadowed sense of curiosity.

But they would not go tonight; Jasmine felt Heda’s smile inspire her own, and she glanced at the sky with a thoughtful look.

Hmmm, no one had ever asked her this. Where would they go? I like weird things. Weird, but like. Still pretty. And wild places, her smile grew, I like running and feeling the wind in my fur. You got anywhere here like either of those things?