Panther Park Feels like they’re washing out,

Come fight @Tony The Tiger with me?? :o

Anslem bid for Epoch the night before, informing both @Mahler and @Wylla of his intent. His pace was leisurely - there were many natural barriers between the packs, and his energy conservation was of utmost importance. 

He fell to a familiar footpath along the park. Oak and silvery fern dotted the forest floor, giving way to open sightlines and a soft meadow valley indented between the rough ridges of mountains flanking the vale. 

The scents here were stark - deer, turkeys, the occasional acrid scent of fox. But one stood out among the rest and caused Anselm’s hackles to blade. It was pungent and predatory - not bear, not wolf — it was evocative of the big cat which stalked him and Donnie some weeks before, but different somehow. 

A chill crawled the back of his spine as he saw a figure far larger than him take shape on the path ahead.

Elphaba was learning much about herself since leaving home with @Equinox. The world was full of sharp edges and sudden turns that left no choice but to evolve around them. They'd started in search of peace, but Elphie was beginning to realize that what she wanted wasn't peace at all.

What she wanted left no room to tolerate things like the presence of another predator. Elphaba did not know the creature by scent, but knew it as dangerous by intuition. She pursued the trail with hackles lifted, catching sight of the distant figure at the same time she noticed another wolf. Elphie sent him a brief look, trying to catch his eye; it seemed they would be in this fight together.

A lean figure caught Anselm’s attention. Another wolf - clad in dark fur with guarded seafoam eyes. 

No! He jerked his head to the impossibly large shape, bidding the stranger run. 

But already, the cat had seen them both. Anselm was struck by the sinewy way this thing moved, stripes along its back coiling and uncoiling like a snake. 

And much like that snake, the cat poised to strike — flying at Anselm like a loosened arrow.

Anselm has little chance. He was lucky Elphava was there, and for that he owed a blood debt to the stranger, for it was the only reason he escaped with his life that fateful day.