Shadow Mountain [NaWoWriMo] house of cards

As his paws dug into the scree Driftwood caught wind of a scent he hadn't encountered in many a day. His tail started to curve upward and wave side-to-side in anticipation as he turned to follow after it. She wasn't too far off, and as he came up on her and caught a glimpse of white fur his tail began to fan the air faster—Maegi! Hey!

The wide smile dawning on his face began to immediately falter, however, as the girl suddenly started screeching and spinning in place. Uh—M-m-maegi, are you— are you all right?! Stupid question. Driftwood's expression metamorphosed into intermingled horror and fascination as he stood there watching her incomprehensible shenanigans; she seemed to be talking or reacting to things that weren't even there. At least, given that she faced squarely away from him as she yelled Get the fuck away from me! Driftwood didn't think he was the target of her frustrations or fears, though he never felt like he could be totally sure... A few more creeping steps closer after some hesitation didn't catch her attention, however, so it seemed a relatively safe assumption. It took him a minute or two more to gather up the courage to mince any closer— but after another indecisive pause, he took his courage in his teeth despite his unhappily back-folded ears, and darted forward to ram sharply into Maegi's side feet-first, trying to jolt her loose of whatever crazy hallucination had ahold of her before he scrambled to leap precipitously back and hopefully out of range. Snap out of it! he pleadingly half-whimpered, as his feet clawed deep, anxious furrows into the earth trying to brace himself and simultaneously lean involuntarily away from Maegi's frenetic form.