Neverwinter Forest you're a f*cking nerd, and no one likes you

Muirrin "Spine" Blackthorn was a glutton for punishment, it seemed.

The Wilds were a stark reminder of all her failings, though she wasn't so foolish as to believe the wolves there were still hung up on her failed attempt to lead a pack. But it hadn't helped that the last time she tried her luck, to find a place she could belong in this vast wilderness, she had crossed Scimitar's path. He had made her feel like shit, though she couldn't rightly blame him. It simply hurt— like any social being, the idea of being an outcast, unwanted, lost— and made her feel uncomfortable. It fueled her own self-loathing. Home hadn't been much better, a single face in a sea of siblings and half-siblings and countless other relatives.

And so she returned here, making sure to enter from the south, rather than the north— lucky for her, (and though she had no way of knowing), Scimitar had moved to lands further out that way, and not this patch of land that (she did not know) meant so much to him. After all, she had a better chance of meeting strangers and starting fresh in the Wilds than back home. Even if there were a few that might still remember.

The darkness of the pines, the closeness of their trunks, made her feel less alone. She still did not know where she might find belonging, and thought it best to take her time, but Spine still ached for the company of a friend. She was too long alone, feeling lost and unsure of what to do with her life. Perhaps a fresh face would provide her with a much needed fresh perspective.

I like threads with you, even if it means Saena has to magically teleport across the map. >_>

Having met with a few wolves on the north side of the Sunspire range, Saena returned to the familiar flatlands. She gave Blacktail Deer Plateau a wide berth in her travels, being unwilling to face those she'd left behind for fear of judgement, and found herself in the Great Bear Wilderness before long. In spite of its name, the young woman had never seen a bear in the woods here, and even as she strode among tall and noble pines, there was nary a hint of a bear's scent in the air. If they were about at all, then they were somewhere else.

There was, however, the telltale signs of a wolf's passing. Feeling more brazen than she had ever felt as a member of the plateau pack, the ambitious young Blacktail (or was it something else, now?) hurried along Spine's scent trail, eager to catch up and find another loner... or, in her eyes, another prospective wolf for her future pack.

Saena didn't have to search for long, for soon the scent trail was more of a scent cloud, and looking up afforded her a view of Spine's back end, which included the neat point of a dark dorsal stripe. Even from here, Saena could tell her coat was simple tawny, but she wasn't all that interested in fur colour. She was much more keen on observing the other's body type, guessing at her weight and assigning stereotypical capabilities, all mentally. During this, she strode the few feet between them and announced herself with a chuffing sound, flicking her stubby red tail back and forth as a sign of friendship.

<3 <3

It was occurring to Spine that she might be having a midlife crisis. The Blackthorns were relatively oblivious to their offspring, if only because there were so many, and didn't often proclaim judgement on their descendants one way or the other. But they had laid such hope on her: Yes, you'll do alright. That kind of praise was few and far between, and it had bolstered her young ego. Her entire life had been driven by the need for something more, by ambition. She was four, now, in the prime of her life— the time she was supposed to be happily ruling, giving life to puppies of her own... except she was here, alone, with two failed packs to her name.

She thought angst was something reserved for teenage years, but she was proving to herself that such notions were false.

As luck would have it, a soft chuff behind her interrupted the negative dialogue, and Spine turned to face the one that hailed her. She was almost suspicious of the other female's apparent friendliness, before she realized most wolves here did not know her. That lit a kindling of hope in her wounded, proud heart, and she felt herself perk up slightly. If she had known the youth had been tracking her so doggedly, her demeanor might have been entirely different, but as it was she offered a chipper, "Hello!"

As Spine turned on the spot, Saena inspected her as closely as she could without looking like a complete lesbian perv. The fact that there was nothing truly remarkable about Spine aside from the streak on her back wasn't really boring to Saena, not now that she had ulterior motives. It meant that the older woman could be capable of anything. She could be a warrior, or a healer, or a chronicler, and Saena would have no way of knowing the truth because her build gave nothing away.

Blinking and forcing her gaze away from Spine's physical form and toward her amber eyes, Saena grinned. Maybe she looked sheepish for being a bit of a creep, but if that was the case, she'd just have to play it off in some manner or other.

"Hi!" she chirped back, and suddenly, didn't really know what to say. She wasn't exactly well-versed in approaching strangers and trying to entice them to join her nonexistent pack. She had a feeling that bringing it up immediately was a bad idea, but otherwise, had no idea when it was appropriate to say anything about it. Hi, I'm Saena, the wandering not-really-a-baby-Alpha, would you like to join my not-really-a-pack of one? seemed like a pretty piss-poor way to make friends.

"Are you a gamekeeper?" the Blacktail asked a little lamely, shifting a forepaw in the dirt and staving off the strong urge to turn around and bash her head into a trunk for sounding like such an imbecile or a stalker, or both. "I mean, are you hungry? We could... try to hunt something, if you'd like."