Neverwinter Forest miles outside of the eye of the storm

Open for anyone really, though I'd particularly love folks from STM to join and give a shot at actively recruiting Mordecai. :3

Miles upon miles of trails had been crossed in order to reach what was in Mordecai's mind, the end of the road. He had come skirting up the coast in all manner of weather for some time now, only delving off of an unspoken path when it suited him. This happened to be one of those times, though it was hard for him to really place what it was that drew him inward towards the nestled region. Maybe it was the curvature that pulled him in, the way the mountains seemed to rise up from the flatland and forests like old gods standing watch. Or maybe it was simply the sights and smells that would have naturally pulled anyone in, like a flashing neon sign against the pitch black belly of a seedy city in the middle of the night. He had passed through more than one place teeming with life, notably his own species. Each one of them had their own little cultures, little rituals and laws that he found intriguing (or annoying, depending on the situation), and all of them reminded him of his own starting roots.

But none of this was particularly on his mind when he had once again broke from the beaten path into the overgrown dank that comprised yet another forest. For him, foraging had become a commodity in living, much easier than flat out attempting to hunt and inadvertently pissing off some scouting party. And in the already budding warmth and humidity… it was far easier to find someone's leftovers than bother scenting out what was still living. Like an ever-thinning wraith standing out against the vibrant foliage, he maneuvered with relative ease, pausing periodically to gather himself and his surroundings. He was alone for now, but the pressing smells of others lingered in the muggy mid-morning air. It wouldn't hurt to be on guard, but even that was of no thought to him. He was already on guard, a conditioned response that had long been ingrained in his mannerisms.

Mordecai had no real way of knowing, but he was willing to wager a fair bet that was someone was close. He sniffed once, as if to clear his airways and pushed on nonchalantly however, weighing his odds and tempting to see if anyone would actually try to smoke him out. Forests were always full of something, if not food then surely some company.

Jinx crashed through the undergrowth of her favourite hunting grounds, holding her head level with her spine and sniffing the air in deep huffs. The Alpha female was pleased that Bazi's scent had faded from around her territory, leaving only the scents of familiar wolves in the lands surrounding Silvertip Mountain. Nevertheless, the female was on the hunt for those unfamiliar to her for the purposes of either adding to her family or slaking her thirst for violence in general. The woman had no illusions about her own desire to fight and demonstrate power. Given the opportunity, she would exercise her right as a leader.

She chanced upon Mordecai quite by accident. The wind favoured the lone wolf, so he took Jinx by surprise when she rounded a tree to come nearly face-to-face with him. Bristling, the large woman moved into his path as though to bar him. He wasn't close enough to the mountain for her to care much about his proximity, but the Kesuk had other motivations. Primarily, she was curious what he would do.

Underbrush gave her away just moments before they came face-to-face. It was just enough time for him to slow his pace to avoid their collision, though the way she came through and across his path almost implied that she had been aware all along. If not for her reaction he may have been brazen enough to assume so. Still, it startled him and he bristled momentarily before easing his response, and to draw in her features briefly. She was larger than he was and more than likely on the prowl for something. He hadn't a clue what he had stumbled into, or who, but had already decided it was better to keep things neutral.

“Sorry if I startled you,” he said, paying little mind to the roughness disuse had lent him. Despite being social, Mordecai couldn't have recalled the last time he had said much to someone else. Not since he had left the coast, anyhow. “You'd think we'd stick out if not for the density of this place.” His lips upturned slightly in a smile. It was his attempt at the olive branch, redirecting a potentially hostile situation into something more tame.

A moment of tension passed between the pair of wolves, but soon Mordecai demonstrated an understanding of his place, or at least that's what Jinx saw it as. The man smoothed out his pelt, but the Alpha female kept her own guard hairs raised slightly to retain an appearance of bulk. Mordecai stood tall, but his build was more streamlined than Jinx's, so she didn't perceive him as much of a threat. She often forgot that a much smaller wolf had beaten her in combat once, and Peregrine hadn't been much of a boulder, either.

“It is a grand forest,” the Alpha commented. Truly, Neverwinter was a haunt of hers, likely because it had been the first place she'd lived when she arrived in the Teekon Wilds. At the time, the woman had been bereft of purpose and uncertain what her future had in store, but now she was rooted and borrowed confidence from her position. Flaring her nostrils and dragging in a long breath to survey Mordecai's scent, the female frowned. “What brings you to it? I smell no leader on you, so you must not be a scout.”

I totally hammered this out before I need to run away to work. Saw it, went, MUST POST DON'T NEED TO BE IN UNIFORM YET.

Things seemed to go smoothly from there, as though the fire in her eyes was quelled temporarily. She spoke, and he drew his gaze away from her being steadily, bringing attention to the forest that had encased them. He nodded conversationally, agreeing. It was a grand forest, just as many others he had been through had been. This one had something more to it, something of a history no doubt locked away behind decades of growth.

Her voice brought him back, her deductions nothing short of exact. “Not a scout, just a traveler,” and it had been even longer that he had been beneath any particular rule. “By your question, I'd assume you're a leader though, if not a guardian of sorts. You live around here?” He couldn't help but be direct, now curious, and the slight cant of his head went further to imply his wondering.

“You are correct,” Jinx answered with renewed interest. A scout was of no use to the mountaineer, but a traveler could be coerced into the folds of her society. She knew nothing about Mordecai, yet she deemed him healthy, young enough, and fit. He was a wolf whose merits would be known only with time, for she put minimal faith in another's words. Tyrande, for example, claimed to be a toxicologist though she hadn't yet poisoned or cured anyone. Lunar claimed she was capable of spying, but without evidence, Jinx could not believe it.

Mordecai was given this same doubt. Rather than asking what he was good at and pitching her pack to him, the Alpha squared her shoulders and nonchalantly asked, “and where will your travels take you?” The question was asked with the same ease she might have used if asking about the weather, yet somehow, it was weightier... As if Jinx didn't intend to let him continue his travels without something in return.

It was easy to pick up on the subtle cues that were littered about. Their mannerisms, their patterns of speech. No conversation was really a cakewalk. He was left with the sensation of being judged, which sated the anticipation that had begun to build. Mordecai didn't wonder whether or not the alabaster Amazon would tear him asunder, let alone try to. He didn't blame her for the inquiry either; if he was close to her home, then she had every right in the book to be asking him where he was headed. If their roles had been reversed, he would have been doing the same, if not more when the situation required so.

“Wherever they go, I suppose. Sometimes you just can't help but see what lies around the next bend, or in this case, over the next fallen log.” He felt like there may have been something more to her question though, and stole away another long look over her. If she had a home around there, and was in fact a leader, maybe she was doing more than just defending her home in their polite conversation. He admired the possibilities, but left them at just that for the time being. Now was not really the time for assumptions.

Licking his lips passively, he added to his statement: “Within reason, of course.” Though he had gave into temptation to come to the forest in the first place, he also knew that temptation had its way of leading to ruin if not carefully watched. And he was always willing to be persuaded otherwise. “You needn't worry about me stirring trouble up without your blessing.” Another wry smile accompanied that note, his careful gesture of not wanting to be at the receiving end of her teeth for straying too close.

She held her tail pendulous, the tip twitching toward the sky to attest to her authority but otherwise relaxed. There was nothing to fear from this single wolf passing by, but Jinx was assessing him in ways that didn't necessarily correlate with how threatening he was. She assessed his demeanour first, and found it to her liking. Perhaps he was putting on a charade and leading her astray, but the Kesuk couldn't lay much claim to her intelligence, so charming her would have succeeded if that was his angle.

There was no way of knowing. The female lowered her head, levelling it with her spine and finally drawing her tail up into the air. If she was going to know how capable Mordecai was, it wasn't going to be by asking him. Her lips remained sealed over her teeth, for she had no reason to display them just yet. Despite this illusion of ease about the Alpha, the hunch of her shoulders and the rigidity of her legs would say otherwise, if not the curt command she uttered.

“Fight me,” said Jinx, leaving as little room for debate as possible. She didn't mean to kill him or even necessarily draw blood, but the only way to know someone was to fight them. “Let me show you what me and my wolves stand for.”

At first it seemed she was going to relax a bit, as if satisfied that he was about to go and follow her back home to raise hell at her front door. And then she spoke, their conversation going in an completely different way than he had anticipated. It truly was a statement with no room for debate, that he could tell from the glow of her eyes. Her posture hadn't gone relaxed, no, it was poised something akin to a snake in the reeds. His smile still stayed affixed to his face though, truly intrigued by her demand. Mordecai had been all over as far as he was concerned, and this wasn't the first time he had been challenged, let alone tested. No doubt it would be the last time, either.

There was no utterance of approval or dismay, nothing that said he feared her in the bristling of his own coat. He sized her up at length for once the way that she had him the moment they met, his gold eyes resolutely fixed on hers. He studied her, curiosity unmasked as he made his first move. She was unquestionably larger than he was and he didn't want to find out whether or not this belied her strength. But he felt he could hold his own, so he accepted her challenge and openly began a flank, prying eyes trying to find that one opening in which he could use to his advantage. Mordecai knew better than to charge her head on, but couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't charge him.

No words were exchanged as Mordecai began to move, but the message was clearer than any words could have conveyed. He had accepted her challenge. He moved like a sidewinder, that sly partial side-step that kept her within his line of sight but allowed him to turn a neat circle simultaneously. The Silvertip Alpha watched him for a short while, until he had made about a quarter of a turn to flank her... And then, in an explosion of motion, Jinx took her first shot.

It was an outright rush, typical of the bearish northern wolves of the Kesuk line. Rarely did they prance about and tempt their opponents with fancy maneuvers. They favoured the straight-forward approach to fighting, which was evident in the plain and simple manner of her charge: long strides, jaws agape and aimed for anything in reach, and ears pulled sharply forward. Though she struck a fearsome figure, there was restraint hidden in her movements, even though her chest heaved with the excitement and adrenaline of battle.

Totally did a giddy dance in my seat when I saw your post! Jinx makes me happy. If anything is unclear about this, please let me know and I will try to (re)write it out better, too. <3

The way their battle began would later remind him of how many of his own squabbles had gone between his siblings. He had always beat his own path, even in a fight, while they had been direct. Her plan of action did little to jar him, but the strength that lied behind her speed did. Without much of a considerable gap between them, Mordecai truly found himself between a rock and a hard place, truthfully unable to veer away without seeming skittish and not quite headstrong enough to barrel his way into her. On his down-step he slowed to let her to come to him, coiling his body close to instinctively to protect himself. There was a lax motion to the way he came together, but it was purposeful.

His up-step brought them together in a flurry, a mass of colors and lack thereof. He tried to offset some of her charge by changing their center of gravity, but had no way of knowing whether or not it would work. He'd take a glancing blow over being bowled over though, and was willing to grab for any purchase that would aid him in leading her like the bull she was willing to be. Mordecai knew he would need to gauge her abilities quickly, and more than just in movement. He wanted the action, and wanted to know just how brutal they were going to be towards one another.

She had been so certain the dog would fumble and fall that she hadn't accounted for his sturdiness. Her charge was over-zealous and when he lowered his centre of gravity and lightly coiled his muscles to combat her, she hit him as though he was a cement block and it winded her. The fluidity of battle was disrupted as the Kesuk came to a complete halt with her flesh pressed firmly against his, and her hesitation was evident in the widening of her eyes, leaving her open to retaliation.

Brief as it was, the juggernaut-esque female rebounded as quickly as she could manage with a downward strike for the side of his neck with teeth bared in an ugly grimace. Though she didn't intend to spill any blood here, already the heat of fighting was consuming her, making it difficult to remember why she kept herself restrained... And it would have been easy to become accidentally carried away, all emotions aside, if Mordecai made a misstep.

The moment of impact jarred him, but partially did its trick. In their collision Mordecai was glad that she hadn't come out of the forest to barrel at him then, otherwise the results may have been much more disastrous. Due to his surprise, he didn't pull away fast enough from her to send her careening off like a stumbling fool and he likewise found himself winded for a moment. But a moment couldn't wait with the reaction time that she had, and he almost didn't catch the turn of her head towards his nape.

So he tried to spring away then, wanting to clear some distance between them. There was little question in his mind he was going to feel the brunt of some of her teeth coming to meet him, and he could only hope that he would fully get away even for a moment. If bloodlust could have been smelled in that air, it would have no doubt been rolling off of her and the swiftness of that tactic — a tactic in which Mordecai did not want to be at the receiving end of.

Her teeth snatched at his fur, but the male proved too quick for the brunt of her attack and slipped right out of her grasp. She came away with a mouthful of his fur. Growling around it, the female continued her assault, gauging his reaction time and his capabilities. So far, Mordecai seemed to be the sort of wolf to dance away rather than attack outright, which was admirable to the bulky Alpha bitch.

She pursued him, lowering her head so that her muzzle flattened over her throat to guard it, ears thrust high over her head. Her agitation was plain from the way her tail coiled and whipped in snappish movements, but there was some mirth and enjoyment dancing in her eyes as she came at him again, aiming to knock him down again but coming in lower this time, as though to completely prevent his solid defence.

Soon, she would deem him worthy or unworthy... But it was one last trial, to see how he adapted to a wolf adapting to him.

With barely enough time to gather himself and his breath, Mordecai brought his gaze to level with her. Her actions mimicked his own, but only with more ferocity. He couldn't help but be a little humorous with the wave of his own tail, the mix of adrenaline and pride flowed through him not unlike the blood in his veins. He had not truly expected to evade her grasp, and while the skin smarted where she had pulled some of the thicker hairs from his hide, it was a passing glance.

She adapted to him very well, a fact in which spoke that this was not really her first time barreling into a fight. This did not surprise him in the least, and also helped him gauge just what kind of a creature she was beneath that Amazonian status. Not just a guardian. She was like his father, a canine refined into just more than a skilled fighter. She had to be a leader. As she hunkered down and began her charge again, he took note of her streamlined assault towards him. While Mordecai would have loved to use the same tactic again, it would have been foolhardy; she was prepared.

He feinted right and left as she drew closer, trying to stay light on his feet as their distance went from feet to mere inches. Trying to find where she might have had some hint of a blind spot or unexpected opening. With a silent, domineering snarl on his face that was for all show, Mordecai held his ground as their bodies came together. Having already taking a blow from her solid frame once, he was certain he could handle it once again. In the flurry, he grabbed tightly for purchase along her body, prepared to be knocked either well of his feet.

She was too caught up in her charge to really notice his feinting, though instinctively her paws lunged her in either direction as she lumbered toward him. In the end, Mordecai didn't dance away like she half-expected him to, which surprised the Alpha bitch, and rather than finding a way to throw her off-balance again, the wolf made his own strike. He caught the skin and fur by her shoulder easily, for she hadn't been expecting him to remain there, earning himself a rumble from the Alpha's chest.

“Excellent,” growled Jinx, and assuming Mordecai would allow her to step away rather than tearing her skin right off, she would put a pace or two between them. She had wanted to see what he did in the heat of battle, what his decisions were and how he would react, and she had seen exactly that. From this encounter alone, Mordecai appeared to be not only a quick thinker and adaptable, but also a patient fighter. He had waited for her to come to him, had waited for her to be in a compromised position, and had only struck when the opportunity presented itself.

It wasn't exactly her fighting style, but Jinx could respect that all the same.

He clamped down somewhere in the mass of thick fur and muscle, and felt the tension increase dramatically. Winded once again, he tried to make good on not breaking the skin when he heard her rumble with approval. When she pulled away, he let her go and gathered himself, pacing away just as she had. Running his tongue against his teeth backward, the gold-eyed Ostrega used the downtime to spit some of the stray hairs that remained in his mouth. It was an awkward process for him, but nonetheless worked all the same.

It was the tension from the heat of the battle that remained in him though, and he also kept his gaze on her curiosity. An interesting spar or not, he didn't know if she was still about to spring an attack on him still, but that was more hyper-vigilance speaking than anything. “You're not so bad yourself,” he quipped with a crooked tilt of his head. If she was pleased with the fact that he could handle himself, he was equally pleased that she could as well. It was nice to know that her size boasted the truth in her ability.

The large female took a step back from him, allowing him the space to vent off the remainder of his adrenaline. Her tongue combed the tips of her teeth, letting fall the stray hairs that had uprooted from Mordecai's pelt in the thick of their combat. He returned the compliment, which the received without fanfare or comment. It went without saying that the two wolves had found each other competent.

“Should you choose to settle in this region, you need only seek me out here,” said Jinx, extending to him an invitation the likes of which only Bagheera had received thus far. Most of the wolves brought into the pack were found by her, but few of them were tested and earned her approval as readily as this male. “There will always be a place for a wolf like yourself amongst mine.” With that, the Alpha female made as if to return to the mountain, but a generally slow pace gave the lone wolf ample time to make last words if he wished.

While she hadn't outright tried to recruit him then, her invitation tempted him greatly. It caused a thin, accepting smile to spread the length of his maw; he had the feeling that this invitation wasn't something that she just gave out lightly. There were many things that Mordecai had received in his travels, but this had never really been one of them. He had always been the one having to prove himself to gain entry to something he needed, and sometimes direly needed at that. This was not one of those times, fortunately. He hadn't been outright looking for a place to bed down, let alone searching for somewhere to give him a sense of home.

“I will keep that in mind,” he told her as she started to descend back into the dense foliage. Her offer intrigued him greatly, and she herself did as well. He watched as the last slips of her stark coat became consumed by the depths of the wild wood, and pondered his options from there on out. Perhaps he would hang around. Another option had opened up to him, yet another fork in his twisting and winding path that came unseen but not unwelcome. Exhaling loudly to himself, with a quick cast of the land around him, Mordecai also disappeared into the wood.