Porcupine Ridge i'm trying to wake up from this.

Penn was wandering again. The longer he stayed with Wraen and Maia, the less often it crossed his mind that he needed to figure out when it was time to leave them. He'd fallen into step with the little band and found himself content to just go with the flow. He'd bail when he saw fit, but until then wasn't fussed anymore about how long he stuck around.

His little jaunts into the Wilds on his own certainly helped this mentality. Had his freedom been at all restricted, the Blackthorn would've booked it long ago. With his new little "mini pack", Penn found himself enjoying the best of both worlds. Freedom and no-strings-attached companionship. It worked well for him. And, he still got to make his way into those mountains he loved.

Penn glided along the cliffs and ledges that lined the side of the mountain, panting from the effort but smiling from the adrenaline. This was why he loved mountains--they presented a challenge. He'd caught the trail of a mountain goat or sheep or something earlier that he was semi-following. He wasn't super interested in hunting at that moment, but he kept to the scent anyway just in case he found the beast. Hunting on mountainsides was exciting, but he was content just to explore for now.

Born into deep, dark wilds on a greatly vast mountain called Tsathoggua, the landloping Scorpion had made way eagerly up into the Sunspires, searching for familiarity. She had hoped to find an area that might remind her of the slopes from her home — the once proud mountain, crumbled and washed away by severe flooding that had drenched them all at the end of summer. Her birthplace, as impenetrably solid as it had once seemed, was now mostly just a pile of rubble and collapsed trees; As tall as ever, yet twice as uninhabitable.  

She was disappointed with what she found here, too, unfortunately. Despite the thick woods, this range was drenched warmly in light — not reminding her at all of the rainy peak from which she hailed. She was just starting to feel disappointed, when she saw an unfamiliar creature shuffling between trees.

The yearling slunk after it, cat-like in her approach: both wary and intrusive. It was covered in long spikes, which rattled threateningly as she was noticed by it. The animal held its ground for the most part, and tried to ward the devilkin away with a quilled swipe at every advance she made. Scorpion knew what quills were, but couldn’t know this thing was a porcupine, because she had never seen one. All she knew was that it looked like the biggest, fattest, pointiest rat she’d ever seen.

There had to be something good under all that trouble.

I’m going to eat you, she declared to her would-be lunch, circling the defensively quilled tank for an opening.

Penn hadn't realized how thirsty he was until he came across the stream. He slowed to a stop and licked his lips, then lowered his head to drink his fill. The water was frigid, but wonderful. He shivered from the chill it sent through his insides, enjoying how it revitalized him. He was just standing up straight again when he heard the words, I'm going to eat you. The Blackthorn froze then, peering slowly around. He couldn't see anyone from his vantage point, but his mind went immediately to mountain lions. Was he being hunted?

His nerves were immediately on fire at the thought. At first, it was fear, but then he morphed it into anger. How dare someone try to hunt him? HE was the hunter, and a damn good one at that. His lips curled in a silent snarl as he turned towards the direction he thought the voice had come from and began to stalk forward. If he was going to be hunted, then he'd hunt it right back. See how the cat liked that.

It took him a few minutes, but eventually he crested the right ridge and spotted flashes of a brown pelt between the foliage. Penn grinned, noting that it appeared to have its back to him. Who was the better hunter now? With as much stealth as he could muster, the Blackthorn crept forward, then broke cover and ran at the beast. "Who's dinner now, ehhSHIIT!" his battle cry turned quickly into a cry of surprise as he caught sight of the face--a clearly wolfish face that was so very unlikely to be interested in eating him.

Penn attempted to skid to a stop, felt his legs tangle, and then face planted a couple of yards away from the other wolf. Social faux pas avoided! Sort of.

smooth, rico suave, real smooth LMAO

In her preoccupation with hassling her ambling quarry, Scorpion went wholly unaware of the fact that she herself had become a target of someone else’s hunt. So, when something loud and fast came barreling out of the bushes, the duskfox was rightly frightened and whirled viciously on her would-be attacker; Her fight instinct triggered.  

Dark fur on end, pale lips wrinkled into a snarl, she was prepared to take the stalker’s tail for a trophy, but lost all the momentum in her defensive fury when she watched the soft-stone wolf take a nose dive and land in a blundering heap. She deflated almost instantly, lying down everything except her raised eyebrows. Should she kick him while he was down? Was this her chance to get away? If she left, what about that spike-creature?

She decided to be neither cruel to or afraid of the ungainly wolf, but Scorpion still wanted him to know he was dumb. Hey, skidmark, she fumed. I’m trying to slay this beast here, do you mind? Yet, unaware that her prickly prey had shuffled away, putting some unseen distance between itself and the bickering wolves.

tha's m'boy!

Penn lifted his head from the ground, giving it a good shake and spitting dirt out of his mouth. He smacked his lips a few times, still feeling dirt on his tongue as he blinked and tried to focus on the cat-that-was-actually-a-wolf. She was staring at him with a look of annoyance on her face, which... was fair. His ears flattened at the unfortunately fitting nickname, but perked again with curiosity as she mentioned slaying a beast. He liked slaying beasts.

"My bad, I heard a disembodied voice declaring it was going to eat someone and I made some assumptions seeing as I was the only one around," Penn explained, scowling a little. He looked past her then, trying to spot the beast she had referred to. All he saw was some twitching brush, as though something had just walked through. He smirked then, "What beast are you talking about anyway?"

Scorpion’s tail lashed, disapprovingly, and she huffed at the quicksilver vagabond’s answer, scowling at him. Moron! Her pale eyes shrieked, willing him dead on the spot. But when had there ever been a smiting when it was actually needed?

The russet she-wolf found herself surprised by what fell out of his mouth next. What’re you, blind and deaf? The beast right th— She had whirled to present it to him, point it out to his pluperfectly obtuse ass, but was left in open-mouthed silence as she saw that her quarry had escaped. You! She, a fanged harpy, rounded immediately on the wintergrey and accused him of fault with proverbial daggers pointed right at his chiseled soot snoot. You let it get away!

For the barest of seconds she looked like she might attack — puffing up and growling as she did — but her attention flickered, and she seemed keen on being elsewhere. Namely, chasing down the beast of many stabs. Snorting, Scorpion turned haughtily on her petite heel and sprang in the direction she thought the creature went.

The woman was clearly not inclined to become his biggest fan that easily. Penn was okay with that--he liked a challenge. He quirked a brow as she accused him of being blind and deaf, smirking with satisfaction when she realized that her prey had taken the opportunity to flee the scene. Both brows lifted when he was then accused of being the one to let it get away, but still he said nothing and sat still until the moment it seemed as though she might attack. At that point he tensed, but then he laughed when she instead turned to chase the creature down.

Penn hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not to go after her. He could keep on exploring the mountainside, but he decided pretty quickly that he had a much more interesting option. He stood swiftly and darted after her, curious to see just what her prey was and to see if she would manage to take it down. Besides, maybe he could grab a bite for himself if he helped her out with it.