Neverwinter Forest I want a slow clap for my victory

"Bring your furry ass down here, so I can eat you," Envy goaded a too-high-up squirrel, who chittered back at her nonsensically, causing the young wolf to frown. "At least I'm being honest! Would you have rather me lie to you, little snack? Don't I get a reward for being an upstanding citizen?" She bore her teeth at the bushy-tailed morsel when it seemed most obvious that her rant wasn't going to work. Hell, the thing had only stuck around in this tree because at her feet was a meager pile of its acorns -- which it had briefly abandoned for the sake of its own life. Apparently it planned on returning to get its stock, though Envy hardly seemed the type to allow it.

The stub-tailed wolf trotted off and perched herself a good distance away, though the tree remained in sight. Green eyes leered at the pile of collected squirrel-goods and waited for the creature to descend. Her plan wasn't particularly well thought-out, because she was too far away to actually catch or surprise the little beast and she had not exactly put herself out of sight either.

Harlyn's trip to the Spine had been illuminating, but not overly helpful.  Mordecai was here in the Teekon Wilds again, but the lands were so vast, he could be anywhere by then.  But that mattered little in truth, for once the druid set her mind to something, you can rest assured that she was going to accomplish it.


The paths she took were comfortingly familiar.  Even though she hadn't spent too much time in this wilderness, it was not unlike her to have memorized every aspect of the land.  Her birth pack had raised her to be extremely in tune with nature and her surroundings, and she had taken to those lessons with flying colors.  The woods she found herself in now were dark and deep, just as she remembered them.  There was so much passion in this forest that she couldn't help herself but to return to it.  With gentle steps, she shifted through the shadows like a wraith, only pausing when her attention was ensnared by a less than... graceful commotion.

Curious, Harlyn followed the sound until she found herself looking upon an apparently frustrated youth.  She canted her head slightly before closing the distance between herself and the female, her tail waving at her haunches in a neutral and amiable fashion.  "I don't mean to intrude," Harlyn said with a growing smile, "But is something troubling you?  Something small and furry, perhaps?"  Harlyn chuckled softly at her own joke and awaited a response.

Eeeeeee <3

Envy twitched an ear at the approach of another, keeping her eyes mainly on her up-high quarry (clearly overconfident to the point that she didn't quite properly consider the danger of her negligence). It was the female's words that drew her evergreen gaze to meet the face beside her, and she nodded curtly. "Yeah, that furry punk up there doesn't understand that I'm just trying to send him to meet his grandpappy and mee-maw in the great upstairs." She motioned up towards the squirrel that the stranger had undoubtedly already noticed.

"I'm just waitin' on the little sucker to make one false move," she added darkly, crouching down on spidery limbs and turning a hungry snout in the direction of her would-be meal once more. The last look she gave the fiery-eyed female was a decisive: pipe down and help, or be gone.

:D

Harlyn smiled softly, looking steadily from the hunter to its prey.  The girl's explanation made her laugh.  It was certainly all said in jest, but the Cinderloch appreciated the reference to sending the beast back to meet her ancestors.  She didn't read into it, but still - it piqued her interest even further.


It was then that the druid noticed the female's less than friendly attitude towards her.  Harlyn didn't mind too much, but made a mental note of it nonetheless.  Quietly, she sat back just to watch her continue the hunt, if it could even be called that.  She wouldn't interrupt, but simply wait until she finally grew frustrated enough to seek a second opinion on her actions.

Envy remained undisturbed as the loner chose to stick around rather than take her leave. From the corner of her eye she noticed her sit there in her peripheral, but her attention was strictly on her impossible quarry. Her stub-tail switched back and forth slowly, and she sat crouched there for quite some time before her youthful patience began to run characteristically thin. Her attitude did not improve when the squirrel hopped up a few more branches, and chattered down at them frustratedly.

The petite wolf sighed, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "You ruined it, y'know." She accused the stranger, but her tone lacked the same scathing quality of her words. She sounded, resigned more like. But this too, passed very quickly. "You down to send some other sucker on a cloud-ride to heaven?" she asked, raising a brow at the elegant gray wolf.

She took the time to notice her now, besides her smoldering eyes. Envy's name had been entirely coincidental to her nature )or maybe she felt inclined because of it) but she definitely felt a little yearning twinge in the back of her thoughts as she appraised the female: with her color and stature that immediately made Envy feel like an underdeveloped teen.

Just as she'd expected, the female eventually gave up on her efforts to get the squirrel, which quite obviously was not about the be gotten.  Harlyn couldn't help but look upon the stranger with a slightly superior look upon her face.  She gave the stranger an assessing look as she finally asked for help, a smile flickering briefly across her muzzle.


"I suppose I could help you," Harlyn replied, a genial smile slipping across her muzzle, "Can I suggest that we don't hunt game that can climb, though?  They tend to have an advantage over us."  Her tail wagged softly at her haunches.  She truly did want to help the girl catch a meal for herself.  She too was hungry, but logic suggested to her that they wouldn't be able to bring down any large game just the two of them.  She felt it was more important to help the other wolf than herself, however.  And that was what she intended to do.

"Cool," she nodded as the sedimentary wolf agreed to a temporary hunter-ship. And the stranger's request that they not chase something that had more than themselves was received just as well. It was a bright idea, though Envy would be hard-pressed to admit such a thing to anyone but herself. "Alright, deal: I promise not to go after anything that can leave the ground, as long as you promise not to turn on me with some fishy business and run off with the food. I'll share whatever we catch." Satisfied with the agreement, Envy's stubby tail perked up and she turned to lead them confidently in a hunting march.

She allowed herself to match the steps of her companion, and soon they were padding shoulder to shoulder as they went. "You got a name, or should I just call you Bright Eyes? M'name's Envy."

The girl was quick to accept her terms, as long as Harlyn accepted some of her own.  The female needn't have worried about Harlyn trying to run off with their catch.  It was not in her nature to be so cruel, and though she had been wandering alone for a while, her position was not so poor that she was forced to behave so deviously.


"That sounds acceptable to me," she said with a smile that broadened when she tried out the name Bright Eyes on her, "You can call me Harlyn."  With that, the pair of females set off to do some real hunting before parting ways.