Neverwinter Forest my aunt used to live in Paris

Open for anyone in Neverwinter Forest!

She shot like a bullet toward the trees of Neverwinter; never had she ever been so relieved to see the tips of them, the boughs of them, the intricate patterns of their bark. Ceilidh had not intended to be away for so long; had not intended to return empy handed. She had hoped to bring back some quarry for their cache, but all she brought back was a body, banged up and scrathced, more than a little worse for wear.

At least there were no rocks in this place, no mountainsides to tumble down and crash overhead. The ground had seemed to stop shaking, too -- at least, not as violently as before. The prey, she imagined, was still all but gone.

The girl collapsed amongst the throng of the forest, once she knew she was well tucked into the safety of the trees. Mal's scent roamed heavily through the breadth of the territory and she breathed in the signs of his familiar presence. She thought she picked up traces of others here, too - their scents nearly as heavy as Mal's - and she wondered with a pique of interest if more had joined their numbers since she had left in search of better grounds for food.

Only one way to find out. With what little breath she had left, Ceilidh lent her voice to the air and called out to @Mal, or really anyone nearby, with a simple and clear message -- that she was home.

Markus lay nearby when the dark female returned to her home. He was not within sight, scent or hearing distance but he was close enough for the howl of homeland to cause him to jerk his head upward with a little start. His hackles rose a bit, uncomfortable at how startled he'd been and how close the call was. He got to his feet quickly and easily. He was newer to the land and previously very well fed. So far, he suffered a bit less from the food shortage. That wouldnt last forever. 

He came upon the - to him - newcomer quickly, stepping quietly from the woods and fixing her with a softly cautious amber stare. He didnt know her and she was beyond the borders but...she was clearly comfortable. She didnt smell of Neverwinter, either- not really. The whole situation was weird. 

"Hi." Markus said, giving a quick glance around. "Should I know you?" He wasnt idiot. She had to have some history here. That or she had the brassiest balls he'd ever encountered.

She coveted the safety she felt in this forest, secure, knowing what vigour Mal protected his homeland with. Her entire journey out and back had forced her mind to overdrive; Ceilidh had been on high alert, even when she'd slept, even more after the landslide had forced her away from the shelter of the mountains, to travel through and bed down in naked and exposed lands. She found safety in the shadows of the trees, as they swayed in the cool autumn air. The past week had been all but surreal. Being back in Neverwinter almost felt like coming in touch with reality again.

Her hackles bristled when a silver shadow peeled through the trees before her, his face a face she failed to recognize, though she pinned him as one of the new scents that filled the forest alongside Mal's. Ceilidh pulled her ears forward, and watched him through eyes as cautious as his own.

"No," she admitted to his question. Her ears flinched back, "Probably not." Mal would have told her about any newcomer he'd brought into their fold, if she had been around when they'd joined. He had told her nothing about this one. She felt, again, the weight of how long she'd been gone, but reminded herself that she could not have prevented that. "I'm with Mal," and though the answer seemed obvious, she asked for safe keeping, "Are you, too? With Neverwinter?"

She told him that while he should not know her, maybe, that she did belong here. That was good, if not slightly confusing. To her question, his face betrayed him by casting her with an incredulous 'really?' look before he fixed his expression and sighed out a quiet, almost tired sounding huff. "Yeah." He said, though he needn't really have answered, just as it hadn't really needed to be asked. He didn't really like that she said she was "with Mal", either. Wasn't every Neverwinter wolf "with Mal"? He didn't have the energy to get agiatated, however, and he pushed it to the back of his mind for later chewing. Still, he added - "With Mal." - all the same.

He inhaled deeply the smell of mountain, forest, air and other scents from her - but Neverwinter was faint, if he was being kind. Honestly, to him it didn’t exist. "Why don't you smell like this place?" He asked, looking her up and down again. He believed her, honestly, but he would be remiss if he didn’t investigate. It didn't make sense and even though Markus mostly just wanted to go curl back into his ball and sleep - it was a bad day - he had to take care of this first. At least to the effect that he was completely sure Mal knew she existed and was alright with that fact.

It took him longer than he wanted to respond.  Partially because he was just starting to doze off.  Wait.  What?  Was he dreaming?  Blearily, he yawned, stretched, then his brain started to catch up.  He wasn't dreaming.

Mal took off.  It took a bit to really home in on her call because he'd not entirely paid attention -- again, sleepy -- but he managed to get there eventually!  Cèilidh was back!  And he spotted her and Markus up ahead!  Mal had actually been kinda worried that she was maybe not going to come back.  He believed in her.  She'd seemed pretty unlikely to disappear but maybe he was a little biased since she was nice to him.  

Cèilidh! his tail wagged behind him as he slowed to a trot on his arrival.  Yeah, he was a little stoked to see her again -- but hey, being one of the first people to be nice and patient to him kind of made an impression. Where've you been?!  In case it wasn't obvious enough that he knew her, he headed right over to sniff and see if she was ok, kind of brushing off Markus for a second or two before he looked up and realized he'd kind of goofed a little and chilled out a bit so he could go back to seeming cool and stuff, Oh!  Yeah.  Uh.  Markus, Cèilidh -- Cèilidh, Markus. And looking to Markus, I didn't get you the full like.. Rundown of people did I?  You met Simmik and stuff?  Back to Cèilidh, Got a few new people.  And obviously Okeanos and Ibis and the chick she found are all still gone.  I dunno if they'll be back.

Her ears slicked back at the boy's expression of disbelief, and didn't really perk again, even after he named himself an ally -- a packmate, even. Had she said something wrong? Perhaps she should have spoken with greater confidence of her place here. She had been with Neverwinter for a full moon's turn, after all -- though what a grand job she'd done at showing that to anyone.

Ceilidh opened her mouth when he queried her further, eager to further defend herself, and with an, "I - " she started, only to find her small voice drowned by the call of her name.

Her ears perked only slightly, until she turned and saw the arc of Mal's tail -- an arc which brought a similar curve to her lips, and her own tail beat the ground in obvious joy and relief. "Mal," she breathed a laugh; she hadn't expected how good it would be to see him again. But then, perhaps she shouldn't be so surprised. He had been her first and only friend here, and she had worried -- how she had worried, the entire journey out and back again, whether the wolf-killers had returned, whether he was still standing, whether he was safe.

"I went out looking for food, but I got stuck..." she admitted with a sheepish laugh, and was about to dive into the entire story when Mal spoke again. Her explanation could wait. Now paired with a name, Ceilidh turned a gentle smile on Markus, even if she didn't quite know what to do with him yet.

She was surprised, however, to hear another name mentioned -- one she had never heard before -- and when Mal turned to her she met him with a smile, also not quite knowing what to do with the whole Okeanos and Ibis bit, either. She settled on the second words that came to her thoughts, "Hey, we can figure out what to do when they come back if they come back, but hey, look at us now," her smile broadened, and her golden eyes lingered on her friend, "You, Markus, Simmik, and me. That's three more from when I met you. Whether or not Okeanos and Ibis come back," with this she let her gaze roam to Markus, sure he would agree, "we're still making something here."

His skepticism, which was unnecessary and some strange form of insecurity, exploded into a thousand tiny pieces as Mal's voice broke the tense air between them. Markus looked up, his heart jumping a bit at Mal's sudden appearance, and was promptly ignored as the boy greeted the dark female with pure enthusiasm. It left no room for questions and no room for Markus, either, who took a few steps backward. He couldn't help the hurt that twisted his face for just a moment before he put himself in check. It sounded like the girl was a friend - an older one than Markus, if Mal considered him one. It also sounded like he'd not seen the girl in awhile, which made sense. Markus was an idiot sometimes, truly.

He scolded himself bitterly, gaze averting with a small frown though he still listened to the two of them with great attention. He heard the moment the tone shifted and he looked back at the pair, a more neutral expression on his features than his previous internal struggles might have suggested. His eyes met that of the dark female - Ceilidh - and the soft look she gave him twisted his stomach a bit. He hated himself sometimes. He returned the smile, though his was twinged with melancholy, and gave her a slight nod. He turned back to Mal.

"No, you didn't, but it's fine. I did meet Simmik...I'm figuring it out as I go." He laughed, forced but becoming more genuine. Mal was back to speaking to Ceilidh but this time Markus was engaged in the conversation. These were names he had not heard before, though apparently they had split. From what he could tell, they were before his time. He had a pessimistic outlook, much like Mal, but was surprised to hear a brighter take from Ceilidh.

 "we're still making something here."

"Yeah, we are." He agreed quickly, easily, casting a very quick and very warm glance at Mal. "Or we better be. You totally sold me on a pack...I gave you a rabbit as tribute and everything." He teased with a grin. This was more genuine, lighter - better.

He definitely felt better knowing that her disappearance hadn't been by choice.  He'd maybe ask more details about it later, but for right now he'd live in the present, But you're ok now?  We should probably just see if we can all keep pretty nearby. -- Like besides the fact crazy people exist, heck, were those maniacs ever caught?  Let's not have anyone else go missing, unless they really want to.  I guess.  People should just stop leaving though, geez.  Bit of a downturn there.

But that lasted only a little bit until she started talking again.  He was pretty sure Ceilidh had some sort of magic to her -- here she was getting both gloomy boys to be (at least a little) upbeat.  Though with Mal she had the advantage that he was stoked she hadn't ditched him on purpose -- it was practically cheating.  Yeah, we are, he agreed with both of them before continuing with a wag of his tail, and I'd say we could go have a snack of what's left of that rabbit but I think it's very gone by now.  We can go by the cache, see if there's enough left there to get you guys some food?  Mal was fine at the moment, at least given how things were.  Ceilidh probably should have something though, he thought, and since last time Mal had eaten when Markus hadn't, it seemed fair.