Felltree Marsh Of this philosophy
nomen est omen
1,069 Posts
Ooc — Jennifer
Master Guardian
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#1
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It was hard to tell that this was a marsh. Things were rather crusty and frozen over and there wasn't much that gave a hint otherwise. Recent snows buried grass as easy as they buried frozen water. It was just relatively flat and not giving her the answers she looked for. @Vex was likely somewhere not too far away -- Arbiter was hunting for both her daughter and for something that they could eat since their journey had slowed so dramatically from the change in weather, he was likely doing similar.

Again she howled for @Haunt, but nothing breathing answered. She had to wonder if something out there really was cursed. Since they'd left the Creek, things had been more and more awful, and now she was out here, walking across what felt like a barren wasteland looking for a sign that was probably under several inches of snow. It would have been far less worrying if she was dealing with a fully able-bodied child -- at least she was of a size that was less appetizing to predators, but that didn't quell the worry. She needed a sign.
Arbiter is often not a nice person and will think mean things without acting on them.
If you aren't sure whether her snarky thoughts might be readable, just ask!  IC≠OOC
ᴋɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏɴsᴄɪᴇɴᴄᴇ
66 Posts
Ooc — Rhys
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#2
his first mistake that this place wasn’t the place he should have been came when he put his foot straight through a snowbank and felt ice cold water on the other side. lakhos had pulled his leg right back out, shaking the paw, but the damage was done. he had cold feet—literally—and now one of them was wet.
not that it mattered, because not even fifteen seconds later, all four feet were wet. a few minutes later, that dampness extended to his underbelly and chest as he mistakenly continued to forge his way across a very wrecked landscape. why anyone would keep doing something stupid was lost to him in that moment, but it was also the shortest distance to the next chain of mountains he had seen in a break in the perpetual haze of wintry weather.
even with the bitter wind boxing his ears, he had heard the howling.
not that he particularly cared about it, of course, this was predatory country to a sharp t. there were always bound to be wolves around, just like bears, pissed off birds, cats, coyotes… so on and so forth… he generally didn’t keep track of his competition unless it was staring him down in the face...
which as he ungracefully climbed over a rotting, snow-covered, damp, dank ass tree trunk, happened to be very close. he almost didn’t see her, in fact. she blended in with the winter hellscape, save that shock of granite on the top of her head—he didn’t bother to see if she had more to her or not with the about face he pulled.
to hell with this, maybe going back would be easier since he was leaving an obvious trail anyway. first the stinking grotto, now this rotten mud pit.
nomen est omen
1,069 Posts
Ooc — Jennifer
Master Guardian
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#3
Her path wandered. She was moving from one higher point to another, crossing through a lower point. Maybe from the next one she could find a sign of Haunt -- or at least let her voice carry farther. She didn't like it here, she didn't like being this far from home, she didn't like that she had to even briefly split up with Vex... Basically there was a lot she didn't like. A better question was if there was anything she did like.

Well, she wasn't necessarily gonna like the owner of the ears that popped up ahead of her either. A coyote. Her expression hardened -- if such a thing was possible since the whole scenario already gave her a glare that could cut glass. He was fortunate in a way -- mostly that he hadn't come from the direction where she'd last seen Vex nor was he heading that direction. If he had, she would ask no questions, give no warning, she'd metaphorically pull out a machete and go after him. The last coyote she'd met hadn't ended up breathing. She took a few more prowling steps forward, ears tipped forward, watching his response. There was no point in talking if he didn't act in a way she approved, so first thing was first...
Arbiter is often not a nice person and will think mean things without acting on them.
If you aren't sure whether her snarky thoughts might be readable, just ask!  IC≠OOC
ᴋɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏɴsᴄɪᴇɴᴄᴇ
66 Posts
Ooc — Rhys
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#4
he heard the wolf shift behind him—oh god no—and picked up his pace a bit. or at least, that was the attempt that he was making in his backtracking path. there was probably an easier way to go about it rather than scrambling back over slick logs and dipping back into wet pockets of marsh water… like… he didn’t know, maybe going around.
but then again he had been trying to avoid drawing attention while he scavenged and wandered about. especially after the grotto incident that he did not care to entirely repeat a second time. this wolf was probably more capable and clever than his last match and needless to say, lakhos was not keen on being catfished.
so he fell over the next log, disappearing out of sight to the world.
in an undignified heap, he stayed there, lying between a rock and a hard place and seeming like a prime steak dinner on a platter. or maybe a skinny hot dog that had fallen off the tin foil to fall through the blackened bars of a charcoal grill and wasn’t salvageable.
with a hind leg was arched over his head and the other three limbs going whatever direction felt comfortable, he sincerely doubted that he would seem boring enough to avoid further investigation. wolves were curious things. he was part wolf and incidentally, was also curious. but not that curious. he had learned it wise to avoid larger predators for a reason and nine-tenths of that was because of his mouth.
and therefore today, he was quiet.
even if he was a failure at hiding and escaping.
nomen est omen
1,069 Posts
Ooc — Jennifer
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#5
Disappearing from sight definitely didn't mean disappearing from mind. And the more he acted like prey, the more alluring he was, much in the way a wounded deer might have been. It was probably not a side of Arbiter's curiosity that he really wanted to be on... She stalked after him, weaving her way after. It was wise for coyotes to run. it was just unfortunate that she wasn't in the mood to surrender the chase. And it was probably because of the irritation that plagued her about the situation that had brought her out here in the first place that kept her from noticing anything wolf about him. Oops. Maybe.

She approached the log and raised her head to peer over it before she got to that crest. She didn't spot anyone beyond. Hm. But she was on the trail. She could smell him on the wind. Coming closer, she jumped up on the same log, expecting to see a figure maybe darting off into the weather, but there was still nothing she could see -- but she smelled like she was on top of him. Arbiter looked down, hoping to spot the trail but spotted instead a canine pretzel. Just one beat for a blink, and then she snarled.
Arbiter is often not a nice person and will think mean things without acting on them.
If you aren't sure whether her snarky thoughts might be readable, just ask!  IC≠OOC
ᴋɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏɴsᴄɪᴇɴᴄᴇ
66 Posts
Ooc — Rhys
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#6
for a good moment, he thought maybe he was doing okay. maybe the wolf would give up her quest of sussing him out and he could lay there in a weird ass heap for a while until he was sure she was gone. that would have been the best thing to happen, but if there was really one thing that lakhos could count on, it was that nothing ever went the way he wanted it to.
and honestly if it had, he would have found a way to fuck it up.
as it were, his little pocket of safety was discovered pretty quickly and before he could even begin to untangle himself and hopefully slip away again, he was met with the stony face of a wolf with a slate strip that ended at the coal black point of her nose.
uh, hi, he said—his awkward defense—right into the earsplitting force of her snarl. it pinned his ears back immediately and in a sheer moment of cowardice, the coywolf tried to peddle himself backward into a tighter crevice between the detritus.
hey, c'mon! don't eat me! let me be! panic hit a crescendo in his voice—this had been a really bad idea. running may have been a worse idea because he wouldn't have may much headway in the snow, but now he was in a prime position to get his ass bit in the literal sense. she could have hauled him right out of that hole by the tail, or at least he was pretty sure she seemed capable of it.
and worst of all, she had pretty eyes. icy, just like the personality being shared with him. it would have been a lot better if this was a bar and he was some guy trying to get laid by hitting on pretty girls and only getting attitude and the designation of asshole.
hastily, he added: i don't taste good!