Peerance stared blearily at the man who held him up, giggles occasionally slipping out of him. When the man spoke, he shook his head, an idiotic grin on his features. “I dunno whatchure talkin bout. I am perfectly sobur.” He slurred out, his head lolling somewhat to one side as he grinned at the yak.

His attention was returned to the bearded man as he patted him. The man spoke to the younger man, though Peerance couldn’t quite tell if the yak seemed to be listening as well, or just sitting there suspiciously.

He scrunched his face up into a confused and suspicious look as he gazed at the yak, a part of him longing to rub his face over the creatures soft looking fur. He giggled again and blew the beast a kiss, promising himself he would hug it after this.

“Who tumbld down hll?” He paused then giggled again “O that were me.” He jabbed his thumb at his forehead, tapping it twice. “Meeeee” He tilted a bit too far to the right as he said that and stumbled a bit before gaining whatever little was left of his balance.

He squinted at the man, muttering his name to himself a few times before answering the mans question. “The name is Peerance Dill-pickle!” He puffed out his chest and saluted to the man, to Maximillian, stumbling a bit as he did so.

“Shifter! I aint nooo shifter.” He reached into his coat pocket and attempted to snatch out the knife, though in doing so he upset his poor balance. “I’m aa- whoops.” He tumbled forwards, falling face first into the cave floor.

“owie” he muttered scrunching his face up, he could feel a bruise already forming on his jawline. He planted his face into the dirt and reached out with his hands towards the yak, opening and closing them much like a young child would do to try and get something.

“Huggie?” Was what he tried to say, but with his face in the dirt, it sounded more like “hrrckey?” But right then, he just wanted to hug the fluffy yak and he would be content with his life, he would be complete.

Maximillian Trujillu / M / 28 / Hunter / Mentions: Artem, Yarene, Peerance

Max nodded along to him. Once the man shot a glance towards Yarene. Max couldn’t help but glare at him. He clenched his fist, ready to punch this ‘Peerance’ in his grinning little face when he blew a kiss. “You a bit flirty? Huh? Even to animals?”

Max cringed at the sight of this poor, loopy sober man. He must’ve been a handful at the village. Peerance basically placed the letter L on his forehead as he lost balance and stumbled. Max looked back to his yak, who seemed just as confused as himself. He wasn’t threatened when he reached towards the knife, if anything, Peerance would hurt himself in the process.

Max lifted an eyebrow as the boy tumbled onto the ground, eating dirt in the process. “Lord what have I done to deserve this,” Max sighed, rolling his eyes as he tried to propel the man back on his feet. Like a small toddler wanting to get picked up, the boy grasped at the yak. Yarene just huffed and snorted in response. “Get your hands away from her,” Max slapped the man’s hands, then grabbed both of his wrists.

He looked to the younger boy, Artem, locking his gaze with him. “Don’t ever get like this,” He then got a water pouch from the yak and sloshed it onto Peerance’s face. “Wake up,” Max slapped him. His bare hands backhanding the younger man’s cheekbones. If Yarene was in her human form, she’d be wheezing on the ground at this sight of a drunken man. But instead, the big beast just leaned against the wall, tumbling onto its side. “You find this funny?” Max shook his head at her, picking up Peerance by the back of his shirt, then grabbing his ear and dragging him out like a mother would do to a child that got in trouble.

“You’re a hunter, hm? A fucking toddler could take you out, such a disgrace to the name,” Max shoved him out of the cave, he didn’t like the looks he was giving Yarene. Although at first Max got a laugh out of this, he was starting to irritate him. He squinted his heterochromatic eyes at the boy before landing a hand on his own face, trying to get this poor excuse of a man out of his head.

He ruffled his hair back before grabbing Peerance by the arm and dragging him further from Yarene & Artem. He laid him against a boulder, then walked back to the cave, leaning against his yak. Yarene looked at him in a way, as if saying ‘You went a bit far,’ Max huffed, replying to her looks. “He’s drunk, he won’t remember anything, he’ll probably just black out unconscious in a bit.” Then we can leave him for the wolves.

Peerance grimaced as the man slapped his hands, puckering his lower lip out at him. “That hurt, you meanie.” He rubbed the protesting skin, glaring at the ground as he did so. That Max was a big old meanie.

He hardly even realized water was being dumped over him until he felt hands slap his face, and they weren’t gentle. He rubbed his face where the man had hit him, his murky blue gaze finding the golden yak, now tumbling onto its side.

He was slightly confused as to what the yak was doing, was it dying? Max spoke again, addressing the yak now, though the words didn’t quite register with Peerance’s drunk mind and he didn’t even fight the man as he drug him by his shirt, waving goodbye to the yak as he was drug out of the cave.

Peerance stared at the man confused, a hunter? Oh yeah, a hunter. A snicker fell from him but other than that he didn’t bother to dispute the mans words, he wasn’t in his right mind then and he could hardly string together a sentence.

He was then dragged further from the cave where he was laid against a boulder and left, the crunch of the mans footsteps fading until nothing.

Peerance gazed up at the sky, the chilly breeze ruffling his brown hair and cooling his warm cheeks. He scratched his chin, wincing as the bruise throbbed. A grin slowly spread across his features as he squinted up at the far ahead tree branches.

A yak. A golden yak. He would hug that thing if it was the last thing he did, who wouldn’t want to hug a fucking golden yak, he knew he did. He giggled again before quickly falling into a drunken slumber.

Sabine raised an eyebrow at Tove as she glared at her. What had she done? People didn't just glare at people for no reason. Then the girl got up, shifted, and unexplainable left. "Hey, wait, come back! Why are you going?" She called after her, but it was no use. The snow leopard ignored Sabine and went trudging on through the woods.

.

Sabine turned to the man. "Why did she leave? Was it something I said? Maybe I came in the wrong way, you know- maybe a little over confident? But I mean, it's not like you just hop in and say, 'Hi there, my name's Sabine, what's yours?' like a little 7 year old, right?" She asked him, brushing back her wild red hair.

.

Sabine's eyes widened as she let the Man's previous words sink in. Tove had left before Sabine could think about what he said. Sworn enemy. Black sheep. Hunter! "You're one of them!" She yelled and this time she did draw her long fighting daggers from her boots, holding them aloft, her green eyes flashing furiously. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't run you through, Murderer." She said, In a low growl.

.

He hadn't actually made an agressive move at all, in fact just the opposite. He had stopped the girl from raising her bow at her... But how did Sabine know the man wasn't just playing them? Gathering information in a nonthreatening way? But when he bowed, he gave her a mock apology, only he truly looked sincere. Sabine lowered her weapons a little when she thought about this... Maybe he is different?

Samuel Brooks - female - 20 - game hunter - arctic wolf - mentions: Laark


Sam crossed his arms over his chest and laughed, "oh I definitly can't heal, best I can do is fail to wrap a bandage; I just think that walking all the way back to the village alone with a weak ankle and infected cut isn't a fun idea- some shifters have bigger grudges than myself" that was a lie- he hated hunters. They'd killed his parents, ruined the lives of so many shifters... but this one didn't seem as terrible; she was right afterall, shifters were like humans, some good and some bad, he could imagine some hunters had the same grudges as himself towards shifters.

"I need to go back to Fellborn anyways, if a shifter sees you with me they wont attack, meaning I have repayed the debt of you saving my friends" Sam guessed hunters didn't have any sense of honer or care for debts, but he'd rather have that off his back.

"Do you want me to make a crutch? I've broken an ankle and walking without one is a pain."
He'd hurt himself when he was eight, playing in the forest he tripped over a root and broke his ankle, took months to heal; though by the hunters reaction he guessed it was only twisted.

Laark Umbra / F / 19 / Hunter / Mentions: The shifters/hunters, Sam

Laark eased herself down with a soft coo once she realized he was telling the truth. He seemed to feel more… easy about all of this, like he wasn’t afraid. Did he not think Laark would come back with friends? Laark shrugged the thought off before nodding to him. If a hunter saw Laark with him, they’d think nothing of it either. Except for… Max.

He and Yarene could sniff out a shifter within moments. They just had to avoid them, and the hunters wouldn’t get in their way. “You can make a crutch? That’s quite handy,” Laark tilted her head as she looked to him.

“I guess there’s more to you shifters than what I’ve been told,” She mumbled her words, locking eyes with him. “I’m Laark,” She paused, thinking if her decision was worth it. She didn’t care if he repaid the favor by telling her his name-maybe just a little bit but not too much. “Sorry for- you know,” She looked between his legs and pointed with her fingers. “Kneeing your nuts,” She couldn’t help but chuckle. Men had so many weaknesses.

She placed her hand behind her, finding the cold rough textures brush against her hand as she leaned into a large tree. The thoughts about earlier had popped back into mind. Were shifters really that frightened of hunters to try and kill on sight? Not even some hunters Laark knew of were that brutal. I was just sitting in a tree-they came to me. Why’d they have to attack me?

She furrowed her brows, placing two fingers on her temples and rubbing them to try and relax a vein. “Just so you know, I’m the only one who uses this kind of poison,” I think… She held up the vial from her waist then placed it back. “If you ever find someone else with one of these, I won’t mind giving you and your friends a couple of antidotes… they’re not that expensive actually.” Yea but the trip to get them is insanely disrupting your finance. She left most of her thoughts hidden, she didn’t want this guy to know where she had gotten these vials, she didn’t even know his name.

Finyx Brooks - female - 17 - scout - snowy owl - mentions: Sabine, Tallinn


Nyx watched Sabine trot away in silence, she would have worried if she didn't know the female could take care of herself.
Scouts were naturaly skilled at fighting and travilling alone; she'd be fine.
When she looked back to Tallinn her shaking had stopped, but her arm was starting to twinge in pain every time she accedentally tensed it.
"I think I do need to go to a healer... my arm's starting to hurt again" she slowly got up on shaky legs, she kept her left knee bent when a spark of pain shot through her when she straightened it.

"Helga; she's a good healer, I've seen her deal with broken bones before" she murmured; though her voice was weak she didn't feel dizzy or weak; just in pain.

"Lets go" she started making her way to Fellborn; she didn't know how close it was but she knew she was to the north of the lake, so as long as she walked south she would find the coast and follow it to the village.
The walking, no matter how many times her knee buckled beneath her, let Nyx concentrate on something besides her broken arm. She'd never hurt herself this much before; always just scratches and bruises, Sam was the one who'd broken something before... maybe he was going to the village now; he'd be awake and probably walking there hoping to find her.
How would Sam react when he saw her like this? he'd always been protective, especially since their parents died; but would he try to kill the hunters because of this?

Ren Yo / M / 20 / Tradesman / Mentions: Nala

Ren looked to the side, he had gotten surprisingly used to the slight rocking back and forth. His muscles were no longer tense as he let the horse take over. A couple of more hours- then you can rest. Ren exhaled slowly in a deep sigh. He didn’t know why, but he was abnormally tired. Did the knife carry some kind of droopy poison or was it blood loss? Or maybe everyone felt dizzy and tired after they got a dagger impaled into their sides.

He focused his attention on how the strands of hair from the horse had ruffled against the fury of the wind. The mane reminded him of the lush southern grass. Winds would plow down farms and families with their large, twisted forms as they howled in agony. They said whenever a tornado arrived, one of the wind’s children was weeping. Ren had always wondered how and why they wind wept, but he got over that dreamy stage many, many years ago.

Now that he looks back on it, it seemed so hard to believe. He was so gullible and trusting as a child, he’d believe anything. At least those senses dulled down a bit. He remembered when he was lost in a great Yukon meadow, a strange man appeared from nowhere. He promised to help Ren get back to the village, but they seemed to veer from there. Ren was only 12 at the time, still innocent and small, not having his growth spurt yet. He remembered the dark passage they took north, every time he asked the man where they were going, he cut him off.

Eventually, Ren realized this wasn’t a good man after all. The stories his parents told him about people who capture others and sell them for labor existed. Ren remembered the thumping and pounding in his heart as he realized what he had gotten himself into. He quickly jolted his wrist from the man’s grasp and hauled it back to the village. For a while, the man ran after him, but finally, he gave up. After that, Ren was warier of who to follow.

His memories burst once he heard a soft voice. It reminded him of one of the village girls. She sang a song about the glories of the wind, and the tune was just about matching to this one. It was a small village, so Ren knew about everyone, but before he got to know her, she disappeared. Her family searched for a long time, sent out bounties, but she was gone. He looked to Nala as she stopped suddenly. “It’s fine, I don’t mind,” Ren muttered, glancing back down to the horse he was on top of.

“We can speed up, I’m honestly doing fine,” Ren smiled back to her, the thought of speeding up scared him, but he wouldn’t let her know. His eyes were starting to get droopy, his lids became heavy. He just wanted to sleep. “Before you know it I’ll be galloping along the fields,” Ren yawned in the midst of his sentence, ruffling one hand back against his hair. He saw the stables coming into sight, with a relieved sigh, he relaxed once more. Almost there.