Neverwinter Forest cigarettes and tiny liquor bottles

Maybe someone from Libertine Coterie?

The snow had started in the early evening the previous night, and hadn't stopped falling since. It wasn't so bad; everything was coated in silver-white and the thin sunlight caused the frosted surfaces to glitter, which she liked. The cold wasn't an issue for her either. If it got even worse then the snow wouldn't be able to fall, and she was equipped with a dense double-coat to repel anything. Feeling particularly confident as she hiked through this new patch of wilderness, Tuya did not bother to hide her approach as she came upon the slanting shadows of a forest. Now there was cold — as soon as her toes sank in to the snow beneath the boughs she felt it and sucked in a frigid breath, withdrawing a moment later as if something within the depths of the great white had snapped at her. Breaths pealed from her snout as she began to investigate the forest's edge, keen on finding a path through — and that's when she noticed the streaks of yellow, crystallized and sharply contrasting against the white. The girl paused and looked around, but wasn't sure if the dark shapes beyond the marks were strangers laying in wait, or merely trembling shadows caused by a northerly wind.

It had seemed like a good enough idea this morning to go wandering around out in the snow, but after hours of enduring the relentless downpour of giant, soppy precipitation Dash was ready to mail it in for the day. He hurried on toward the protective bows of the Neverwinter Forest, which by the way had turned out to be a massively overambitious name for the place. It should have been named the Slighty-Less-Winter Forest in Dash's opinion, but funny enough nobody had ever asked him for his two cents. 

As Dash approached the outskirts of the forest, he couldn't help but notice that there was a particularly pretty stranger sniffing at the somewhat meager border the Coterie had managed to lay. Dash emitted a chipper bark, hoping to gain her attention. With a friendly flourish of his tail, he called out, "C'mon, get in here before ya freeze your tail off!" He nodded his head toward a small opening in the trees that was almost imperceptible unless you already knew it existed. He gave one more encouraging bark and disappeared into the forest, hoping the girl would accept the invitation and follow.

The trembling trees were not strong enough in their shivering to cause much havoc and when the wind finished pulsing through them, it swept across the grass and buffeted at her plush coat. The girl ducked against the bulk of it, the fur of her head and cheeks smoothing to the contours of her face, and the air stung at her eyes until it abated. Afterwards she looked more like she'd been given a hasty blow-dry, with a gloss to her gaze that she blinked away as quickly as she could. As she worked on that, a figure materialized — they spotted her, whoever they were, and their voice soon carried her way.

It wasn't in Tuya's nature to be timid even if she was new to the region; her full attention came to focus upon the stranger just as they dashed out of view, and she boldly crossed the thin line of marks in the snow as if she actually belonged. Tuya couldn't help but feel at home here. She felt connected to every place she visited. It was probably a habit that her parents had trained in to her, one they likely wished she'd trade for more caution or a stronger sense of self-preservation, but they weren't here to correct her this time. The girl kicked up some of the fresh powder as she loped along and didn't think twice about the darkness of the narrow passage once she reached it. She plunged through, ducking quickly to avoid some branches weighed down with thick layers of ice.

Her tail whisked behind her hips as she veered towards some of the pale light that filtered through the forest's canopy, and the effort didn't pay off the way she expected. She caught a few tines of a nearby branch in her coat and with a tug, twisted free. The branch sprung back to its previous position, and with it went a flurry of collected snow. Tuya shrieked at first because the sound of the groaning wood was so startling, but by the time the snow had fallen to the forest floor (and covered her head and shoulders) she was laughing garishly.

Dash's heart lifted when he heard the mottled she-wolf following behind. There was something about being pursued (even in the most literal sense) by a pretty female that got his blood pumping a little faster. As they retreated from the outskirts of the forest it seemed to grow a little warmer, but Dash wasn't sure if it was the absence of the wind or the presence of the agouty beauty that was generating the head-to-toes warm feeling spreading throughout his body. 

The first time the woman yelped, Dash turned around, startled. As soon as he saw the pile of snow cascading from the girl's head and shoulders, he knew what had happened. She began to laugh, and it was quite an enchanting sound. "Welcome to the Neverwinter Forest," he said, flashing his most winning smile. His apple-green eyes danced with amusement. He trusted the irony of her all-too-wintery introduction to "Neverwinter" would not be lost on the girl. 

Dash began bending branches purposefully as they moved forward, hoping to hear more of the woman's musical tones as snow whipped backwards. After snapping a few twigs in her direction, Dash tossed a mischevious grin over his shoulder, wondering if she had caught onto what he was doing.

The snow scattered across her coat and she was left shaking her head and shoulders for a moment, her laughter filling the gaps between the trees until she was sighing happily and looking around for her target; it wasn't exactly a fair fight since this guy appeared to know the forest pretty well but she didn't let up either, happy to have company after so many days of wandering. It was a bonus that he was such a charmer, too. Tuya, like any proper wolf, enjoyed a good fight or some rabble-rousing; however, she was just as pleased to tour the forest with someone more passive and, dare she think, purer of intention.

Welcome to Neverwinter Forest, crowed the man as he puffed and grinned at her, reminding her of a horny pheasant trying to prostrate themselves before a hen. He looked young like her — actually, he reminded her of Ymber, but that was probably just because of his age and gender — and she felt herself to be suitably charmed despite the comparison.

Then, he bolted.

Whatever good faith she had in this stranger was threatened when bough after bough came springing overhead, and she had to duck in quick succession to avoid being thwacked in the face by the wood. A scattering of pine needles blossomed as one of the branches connected to an old trunk, splitting apart almost like a firecracker, and she let out a sound of surprise as she shut her eyes and veered in another direction. The attempts to cover her in fine white powder would've been entertaining had she not nearly lost an eye to one of those barrages of needles.

With bits and pieces tangled in her neck and shoulder fur, Tuya emerged from a gap in the trees and came face-to-face with the boy she had been chasing, looking a little less enthusiastic. More like she'd just gone a few rounds with an ent. Think you got the name wrong there, buddy, she called out to him, and then paused to try and shake some of those tines free from her coat (it wasn't so successful). Looks more like a Winterheart forest, or a — hm. No, I'm outta ideas.

Dash had had just managed to find the Hulk of branches, beautifully loaded down with snow. He let it fly, and he couldn't help it-- he had to turn around and watch the show....

The branch snapped fantastically, but there was no girl back there to receive the hit. Whaa..? 

Dash turned back forward, and he was immediately nose-to-nose with the girl, who for some odd reason was not looking so amused. Hadn't she been laughing about being covered in snow earlier? He thought she'd liked the game...

She suggested a new name for the forest and then immediately went back on it. Dash couldn't really see why not. "Nah, that's a great name. You should tell it to Cyclone. It might help her name her pack." Actually... shit. Had Cyclone already come up with a name for them? Dash couldn't remember.

"You should watch out for the trees..." Dash added slyly, noting the bits of debris tangled in the girl's fur. "They'll take a swing at you, if you don't live in this forest. It's our greatest line of defense!" Dash's smile widened teasingly.

Cyclone? This brought images of wild storms filling the air of the prairies of home; the fact that it was the name of a wolf bypassed her mind for a moment but then she cottoned on to what he was saying, and her interest was piqued. Was she named for being fast on her feet? Maybe she was the fastest wolf in the area — my, what an opportunity! Tuya's eyes lit with interest and she pretty much forgot all about the mess of her fur and the snow that had been whipped back at her.

The boy was talking about the trees like they were sentient and for a second Tuya was not following. She was picturing a svelte young wolf with wild fur and the whimsical nature of the wind — and cut through whatever this guy was talking about to point out, Who is she? Your boss? Maybe she was the master in these parts! You say she has a pack — are you part of it? Who're you? You're fast too, are you one of her guard? The questions tumbled out of her so fast that she didn't give him any chance to reply until she paused to take a breath, and as she sucked in air she couldn't help but smile unabashedly, Sorry, I uh, I get excited sometimes. M'name is Tuya.

The girl paid absolutely no attention to his banter, which might have disappointed Dash had she not immediately begun questioning him about Cyclone, shifting his attention completely. 

"My boss? No way! We're all just hanging out." More questions, coming in faster than Dash could answer them. "She wants us to be a pack, and I guess we could be if we had more people." Dash scoffed at her final question. "Cyclone doesn't need a guard, she can take care of herself. We all can. We're just hanging out for fun. Most of us are the kinda people that don't fit into other packs. It's, uh.. not as strict here." 

Dash shrugged at the apology. She seemed normal enough to him. "Dash," he returned simply. His characteristic, roguish grin broke out across his features, sparking up his apple-green eyes. "Think you could be one of us, Tuya?"

Sorry!

He took her flabbergasted, over-the-top interrogation in his stride and that made her wonder, briefly, if he was accustomed to girls that were completely out of their element. It wasn't every day that Tuya met strangers in the middle of the forest and felt so charmed (by the forest, not the person; she'd never admit that Dash was actually kind of charming). The more he spoke of Cyclone the more curious she became, up until he introduced himself—and that, well, that just made her laugh again.

Cyclone was one thing, but Dash? Was she going to run in to any more wolves with descriptors-for-names? Hopeful that the answer would be a roaring affirmative, she collected her laughter behind a big grin and said, If the prerequisites involve being fast or witty then sure, I'm at least half of those things, but Tuya could learn. Besides, with creatures such as Dash involved in such a pack, how many more able bodies did they need? I've been an explorer all my life - that's bound to count for something.

Tuya laughed when he introduced himself, and Dash couldn't for the life of him fathom why. But at least she was laughing! That had been the goal. He considered this a success, even if he didn't know why he had succeeded. 

She talked about prerequistes, which was an awful big word by the way, and Dash couldn't help but notice the hidden compliment in her speech. Fast and witty, hmm? Was that the sort of impression he had made? He might be doing better than he thought here. Normally he was pretty hopeless with the ladies. 

"No prerequisites," he assured her, sending out a little prayer that he'd repeated the word correctly. He did wonder which of those qualities Tuya claimed; as far as he had seen, she was far wittier and maybe even a little faster than Dash himself. 

An explorer all her life? How old was she, like two years tops? So she'd been exploring for what-- a year and some change? "Sure it counts,' he allowed, "..But no one's keeping score." Wecome to Libertine Coterie, where everything's made up and the points don't matter. "Things are different here. No auditions. If you want in, just say so." He wagged his tail hopefully.

It counts? That's it? She gave him a sharp look for a moment, like she was about to say something about the way he handled the obviously cool thing she had shared about herself, but ended up proverbially biting her tongue. Tuya was a very proud girl when it came to her accomplishments as well as her family, and dismissing her in such a way wasn't going to win him any points.

..But no one's keeping score. he quipped, as if he read her mind. It seemed strange to Tuya that such things wouldn't matter; according to her own parents, the benefit of the pack was that the strongest wolves could find one-another, test their skills, become stronger and stronger, and eventually reach some kind of -- what was the word they used? Mastery? Ascendance?

Hmm, the girl sighed, losing a little bit of her luster, tilting her head and looking away at nothingness as she feigned some deep thought. Tuya would have never doubted her parent's word; if they said packs were for the strong, only the best, then that's what they were for. Whatever these guys were trying to do in this forest was different from that (as far as she could tell, judging from the laissez faire attitude he presented about it) and she wasn't sure it was the right fit.

How about.. she thought aloud, I go find your esteemed leader, Cyclone? I bet you I can find her before you can! She bumped him with her snout, abruptly returning to her exuberant and playful antics, and before he could respond she dashed away from him through the trees. C'mon Dash! I'll race you, and then you'll see, she thought, I'm no pushover!