Neverwinter Forest tear out all of your tenderness

the hello, however soft it may sound, succeeds only in activating Clem's failing stress instinct. she draws and holds a breath, the rise and fall of her chest increasing slightly as her oversized ears rove atop her head and point towards the source; a wolf she can't quite make out from beneath the canopy. right now, the fir branches above feel very much like an added layer of protection, and so she remains rooted beneath them. 

her gaze, ears, attention remain fixated on the stranger, but she remains folded up and not exactly out of sight. she'd learned pretty quickly that rushing out to meet strangers ends oft with yelling and more running in the opposite direction, and she's too tired to run.