Neverwinter Forest my shell is hard, my hooks are steel

when it came to arcturus' tracking abilities, there was much to be desired. he had noticed @Hydra had gone, and arcturus, considering himself her most faithful shadow, had felt stung by her departure without an explanation.

nightfall found him well beyond the realm of moonspear, though its blackened peaks were still visible; they rose like illuminated teeth against a backdrop of navy and violet. arcturus smiled to himself, reminded of revui then -- and with newfound courage, continued to search for hydra's scent.

behemoth's a creep

He had planned on rounding back to the Hinterlands by now but it seemed his wandering paws had other plans. He let them lead while his head was empty. No plans, no thoughts, nothing but instinct. He ate when he needed to and slept when he needed to. Company was too easy to come back but he welcomed it nonetheless. Some was good and some, of course, was bad.

The ebony male could only hope that the swarthy figure he spotted would prove to be an interesting interaction. Good or bad. For now though he crept after them from the sideline's shadows. His pale eyes watched with ease.

the longer arcturus went, the more faded the trail; arcturus wasn't even sure hydra and lyra had come this way -- and if they had, he couldn't find much trace of it. all the same he was determined, if a bit boorish, to find them and continued to crisscross his path with his muzzle low to the ground.

after a while, a feeling he was being watched overcame him; the boy was no intrepid sneak, and had hardly enough life experience under his belt to be a master scout -- even then he felt a pair of eyes boring into his back, and a few times had looked behind him and caught the faint flash of bright yellow quickly eclipsed by darkness. as if testing his luck he would abruptly stop and listen, ears keen for any sign of footsteps behind him.

at first the boy thought his imagination was getting the better of him, but after a few stops and starts summoned enough courage to whirl around and face the darkness, his jaw set and scowling expression seeming to say "who is there?!"

Eventually the boy whirled around and Behemoth halted any further movement. Yellow eyes stood out in the darkness as they stayed trained on him. He was young too and awfully close to the place he had found the last boy. It was either a wild coincidence or he had just found Precious Son #2.

Like every other creature he had crept after, Behemoth moved forward. He exposed himself for the other to finally see. His stance was tall and strong but not inherently threatening. The ebony male stayed silent this time around. Perhaps his finally revealed presence would decide which way this little meeting would go.

arcturus liked to believe he looked strong himself as he peered into that swallowing darkness, haunted by a pair of crisp yellow eyes. yet the truth of the matter was baldly apparent: he was simply a cub, naive, out of place, and not at all indoctrinated to the intrinsic harshness of the world.

the shadows seemed to grow; a mass in the shape of a wolf belched from the improbable blackness, and arcturus noted the proud yet unthreatening posture. for a moment it was evident the boy was assessing this new, freshly materialized creature -- and, finding nothing out of place with his inspection of the wolf, arcturus resumed his desperate rummaging in the grass.

He had not been ignored so far upon his interactions in this land. Usually he was regarded with words or actions. Everything ranging from questions to an almost instantaneous scuffle. This one merely eyed him though before going about whatever he had originally been doing. Behemoth could not tell if he was interested or bored. Perhaps he was teetering between the two of them.

Without saying much, Behemoth instead fell alongside the boy and sniffed around himself. Although he had a strong feeling they might be looking for different things. Unless this boy also wanted a meal.

arguably one of the stupidest things arcturus had done to date was turn his back upon behemoth. he did so anyway, without fear or compunction; his soft velvet ears flickering as he heard the shadow step alongside him. a glance in the swarthy form's direction and arcturus knew the wolf was rummaging alongside him; pointedly the boy backtracked to his last scent of hydra and her followers.

he shoved his muzzle full thrust into that patch of bare grass then, eyeing behemoth with a pointed look as if to say here -- but without explanation the boy sniffed past the trail's marker and continued his way through the woods; he wasted no time, for arcturus felt a pressing need to rediscover the trail as soon as possible.. and surely... this stranger would help him..

right?

He moves over to shove his own nose into the spot the boy had just been. It is obvious by the wolfish scent that they were not after the same thing. He snorted softly and continued to trail after him. Perhaps there was something in it if he helped. The last boy had offered him to return to the mountain. Would this sweeten the deal? Behemoth still contemplated it but truthfully, at this point, it sounded like a nice set up.

At least this one he didn't have to tussle to get something. Well, not yet.

a slim ear was turned back behind arcturus, the only evidence at present that the boy still fixated some attention on the stranger. in truth behemoth could have easily taken advantage of arcturus' blithe trust in him then, for the dark cub moseyed along the curve of mountain-grass and long corridors of thorny brambles with not a single care for his own safety.

a few times the boy doubled back, sharing quiet glances with the stranger that lurked besides him; on the third attempt arcturus found clear evidence of his sister's passing and with a grunt, started pounding pell-mell through the forest.

When the boy took off, Behemoth let out a deep bark. Hey. He said sharply. If you're going to track someone, you're going to do it smartly. If the words weren't enough to stop the boy, Behemoth was more than ready to try and wedge himself in front of them. He had never been against using force to get his point across.

The ebony teen was all about a bit of mayhem he was not about to play the mayhem game stupidly. Behemoth would eye down the younger boy (who...looked a lot like himself) to make sure his words sunk in.

hey, the voice cut through the forest, compelling arcturus to stop. if you're going to track someone, you're going to do it smartly. the boy, fully immobilized by behemoth's words, slowly turned around to face the shadowed adolescent. his ears worked uncertainly atop his narrow skull yet he gave the stranger the benefit of the doubt.

arcturus' head tilted to the side as if to communicate behemoth held his attention: now what?

Do you know who they are or are you just blindly going after someone? He asked before quickly tacking on. Either is fine. Who was Behemoth to judge? If the kid wanted to just raise a little bit of hell than the ebony teen would happily follow along.

Although if this was something more personal than perhaps Behemoth would only offer a few words of advice before parting ways with the younger boy.

arcturus nodded furiously at behemoth's question, his gaze flicking back to the patch he had discovered that trailed hydra's scent. he wanted to blurt my sisters! but his tongue failed him. instead, he wandered back towards the scent and nosed it a few times meaningfully as if to say it was important to him -- and it was important to him.

it was beyond his control whether or not behemoth understood him - he couldn't be the first oddball behemoth had run across, right?

So what would they be doing? Are they skilled enough to spot you? Friend or foe? He questioned slowly, not wanting to entirely overwhelm the boy. While he expected the other to answer, Behemoth moved over and truly drank in the scent the boy had found. It was rich and feminine.

He was going to get a headache if this boy was just trying to chase some tail. Although there was something about the scent they had found and the scent of the young male.

all these questions. arcturus seemed to fumble, his brow pulled down. are they skilled enough to spot you? arcturus nodded in affirmation then; while the tip of his tongue pressed against his teeth, no works worked from his mouth. his tongue was not his to command, and he roughly groaned before returning to the patch that bore hydra's scent.

"sister-" he finally managed, quiet and mousy and barely heard over the thrumming dark. it didn't matter if behemoth heard; he had already considered his conversation with the male was a lost cause and had turned back down the trail at a slow walk.

arcturus lingered a little longer - but after finding nothing, he parted from behemoth's company and headed for home.