Blackfeather Woods don't trust people you meet

astara's suspicions were already roused, even as the male kept his posture low and disarming. when he shifted up, she stiffened -- and then jolted in a spook as he sneezed. the noise was loud and unexpected and the report of it shot through the woods loud as the crack of a tree; astara's fur was on end and she was already running.

after a few strides she put together what the noise had been, and steeled her hammering heart. she turned around to see the distance she had put between them; mou was but a distant ghost in the murkwood.

she would get over it, eventually -- but for now she shouldered the toad high in her jaws and slipped into the undergrowth.