Firestone Hot Springs making faces in the clouds

OOC: I've always played Jinx as if she has a rather limited understanding of the "language" of other creatures so... I'll pretend she hears Maverick as having a very very heavy accent of some kind. :P

IC: The heat of the region was beginning to press in around her the longer she sat there, and so although Jinx would've been content to close her eyes and fall into the embrace of sleep there, she forced herself to regain her feet and press on. Her thoughts were jumbled, part of her yearning to turn back and return to the cooler confines of Neverwinter and part of her knowing that finding the springs was important. Vitally so; she could not work her magicks normally here, not without the right plants, and so infusions and baths were going to be all the more precious.

She was stopped abruptly by the sight of an elk materialising out of the steamy distance. Puzzled, the female drew one paw toward her chest and held it poised there, certain that if she set it down on the earth, the majestic creature would run. If he had any ounce of intelligence, perhaps he would; what was to say Jinx didn't have a hunting party on her heels that would carry his soul to Sos' waiting jaws in the Spirit Realm and feast on his mortal flesh? But intelligence didn't seem to be abundant in this one, for though he remained at a fair distance and didn't come closer, he did address her.

Of course, Jinx could barely understand non-wolves, and so what he said was a thick tangle of slow, deep words that might as well have been "yo bitch what up". “What?” she snorted, turning her ears back in mild irritation; what kind of prey animal, buck or no, tried to converse with the sort of animal that would kill and eat it normally? Maverick wore an air of arrogance about him, but Jinx wasn't very well-versed in elk body language, so of course, he just looked proud as any bull elk to her. “Shoo, stupid elk,” she said, turning as though to leave him behind in disinterest, though there was some mild curiosity whether he was even smart enough to follow that command, or if he truly lacked wits and would attempt to communicate once more; and there was a hint of hesitation in her steps to betray it, as well.