RP:Best Laid Plans
Part of the A Skull by Any Other Name Arc
Swampy Lowlands
Skylei, as always, isn't actively seeking trouble. Today her travels have taken her out of Cenril and she is heading in the direction of the swamps that rest above the city of Gualon. Her roommate's father, a member of the mages guild of little repute, has written widely on many subjects; including the flowers that make their home in the swamp and the creatures that pollenate them. The ever curious Halfling, upon reading this tome, had decided that she simply had to see them for herself. For once she had left a note with those who remained in her hometown; she dreads this journey going as wrongly as the last. She still carries the scars of that incident. Two deep cuts, one on each palm, a yellowing bruise upon her forehead and a myriad of unhealed scrapes and scratches line her body, to remind her of the last time she ventured beyond the city walls. Still, she feels safe today because, at least for now, she is alone. But trouble always seems to find Skylei when she isn't looking for it.
Senka finds Skylei. She's been searching for an hour, now, needing to travel far from her usual dark hiding holes. It's time to hunt. Everything within her is buzzing with the knowledge, pumping her heart and racing her blood. The hunt is going to be on and she won't be doing it alone. It doesn't matter that there are still twangs of pain coming from her abused ribs, so freshly healed, or that her nose is still a little sensitive after being broken twice. When the hunt calls her, Senka obeys. And she'll make sure Sky will as well…So when she spots the Halfling, the wolf finds it only natural to draw up to her side with her usual silent pace. The predator is already preparing for the hunt, and not even shaking her fur will quite get rid of the excitement. She might be a fully grown adult, but that doesn't mean she doesn't know the excitement of a pup, be it occasionally. "What is our prey?" Senka's presence drops into Skylei'd mind with her usual subtlety, although the woman will notice something has changed. The wolf's presence is a little less overbearing, a little less dominant in her mind, and the contact is more easily established than it was before. Frequent use enables the wolf to learn the half-elf's mind, it seems. Still, Sky will easily feel the excitement of the wolf. It's brought her in a good enough mood for the albino to even let her choose what they're hunting.
Skylei would never grow used to the approach of the lycan. And certainly not the albino in wolf form. The sound of her voice in her mind fills her with fear but, oddly enough, relief. Skylei has not seen the woman since she passed out under the table in the Hanging Corpse. She hadn't known if she was alive or dead, healthy or unwell or even if the two would ever run together again. So whilst fear is her gut reaction, an unfitting smile would creep over her face. She had hoped that the former alpha would find her. In her deepest heart, Sky had needed Senka to find her. The woman may not have clarified what they are to each other, but Skylei knows that the kinship between the two runs deep; even if it is by unfortunate and awkward coincidence. Unfortunately, Senka's mind knows little more than the hunt and, though Sky wants to resist the request of the lycan, she cannot. She struggles to come up with an answer that will fit Senka's need for the hunt. What creatures lurk in a swamp? "Alligators?" the Halfling questions tentatively. She doesn't even know if there are alligators living in the swamp that lies nearby. All she knows is that there are flowers that she wishes to see and, if Senka must accompany her that day, then she would persuade the lycan that the swamp was where they should hunt.
Senka is unaware of Skylei's fond thoughts. Which is probably for the best. Instead the wolf is all business, sticking her formerly abused nose in the air in response to Skylei's suggestion, nostril's flaring. It doesn't take much to catch the scent of swamp, not in these parts. "If that's what you're in the mood for," The albino agrees, her tone casual but her presence excited. There's even a little bounce in her impatient step as she shifts her weight from side to side, like a racing horse yet to be released from its stables. Finally the beast surrenders, picking a trail to follow and locking onto it with set determination. Not even the field mice can distract her now as they scatter at the sight of her big paws. Ears perked, eyes focused, Senka doesn't think twice about leading Skylei towards the swamp. The elf could probably find the swamp without her help but the albino is used to leading, now. She sets a brisk pace towards the gentle fields that do no justice to the filth they're about to find.
Skylei lets out a quiet sigh, knowing full well it will likely be audible to Senka. And yet, in spite of that sigh, and the knowledge that she is likely walking into another disaster, she doesn't think twice before following the lycan. Were Sky a wolf, the albino would be her unrivalled alpha and Sky the undoubted omega of their strange not-quite-pack. The swamp was certainly not difficult to find. Anyone with a sense of smell would be hard pressed to miss it, although Skylei notes that it smells a great deal better than the rotting flesh and spider's guts of their last hunt. Still, although she could have easily walked alongside the albino, Sky stays behind her, allowing the wolf to track the prey, or whatever it was that lycans do. In spite of her subordination, Sky cannot help but offer a few questions and seek reassurances, "You're recovered from our last hunt then. I'm glad…" Her words feel cold to her, but would likely convey an air of sentimentality to the lycan. Poor Senka. She would begin to wish she had chosen a different hunting partner if Sky continued with this nonsense.
Senka smoothly transitions from hard ground to the moist mud surface. Her paws are used to soft terrain, and even if they weren't her weight is easily distributed over four paws. The short trees are easily weaved around but the many roots sticking up from the soft soil are tricky and just tempting any creature to trip over them. The beast's paws are sure, however, and she's just turned her ears back in a relaxed stance when Skylei speaks. What is it with two-walkers and their ever constant need for verbal communication? She's noticed it in her last pack and she notices it now but the purpose will forever be lost on her. "I'm a lycan," Her husky voice is short and blunt, but not necessary biting when it enters Skylei's mind. The albino doesn't even bother to turn her head to make eye contact, a testimony to how Sky's mind seems to embrace that of the wolf. It's easy, having this connection, even if the wolf doesn't feel quite as sentimental about it. "I heal slow only in the eyes of my kind." The lycan doesn't return the question, perhaps it's the many cries from the birds around her. More likely is her usual lack of social skills. In either case, ears perk and turn, reaction to each call, before turning forward again as she firmly blocks it out. They're getting closer to the swamp, now, closer to their prey. She can smell it, she knows they're-The wolf sneezes. Suddenly and violently before uttering a low rumbling growl, coming from her throat with only the purest loathing. "Pixies." She informs Skylei, her mental voice as able to voice its disapproval as her snarling can.
Skylei doesn't transition as smoothly as Senka does to the moist muddy surface. After a few steps and a great deal of sinking, it becomes clear that she's not going to get very far in the boots she has worn and so, kicking them from her feet, opts to continue barefooted. To recap, in the three times she has met with the lycan so far she has given up a set of clothing, had another ruined by giant spiders, lost her shoes to a muddy bog and lost her dignity, and stomach contents, to a bottle of rum and the floor of Vailkrin's most notorious haunt. Really, this 'friendship' is not going so well for Sky. Then the word 'pixies' comes from Senka. An unvisited memory of that night in the Corpse returns to her; the albino confessing her allergy to the tiny race of creatures. Skylei sighs. Of course, it is sod's law that she has led the wolf into a place infested with the tiny, magical, irritating creatures. Senka would think she was an idiot. Ever conscious not to aggravate the former alpha, Sky would look to her for guidance, "So what now? You still want to hunt here?" She knew that the lycan would still be craving the thrill of the kill, but whether she would want to do it in the presence of magical-dust infested pixies, she could not be sure. For Sky, one thing was clear. Keep moving. Her weight, even without the added pressure of her shoes meant that she kept sinking into the mud below. Her ankles were already caked in the disgusting stuff and she has to shuffle around to prevent herself from sinking deeper.
Senka is curling her lip, trying to keep from uttering that low rumbling growl but not quite able to keep from it. Black lids are narrowed, in irritation although not yet from any dust, but still the wolf ploughs on. Only Skylei's voice makes the beast pause long enough to look back, only now noticing that she's put a distance between them. Right, two feet not four paws. "I thought you were familiar with the hunt?" Her voice is sharp, a sting of impatience in it, "You don't back off after one little set back. You wanted an alligator. We're getting one." Her distraction will have given the halfling time to catch up, and with a restless snort the wolf turns her noble head westward. The thought that her, much larger, lycan form would intimidate the other doesn't even occur to the wolf. If anything, she expects Sky to deal with her moodiness the same way she deals with the other's personal questions: with the illusion of patience. And patience they will need, for the marshlands are giving way to swamp and already Senka's paw has sunk into water that looked like grass. A little started by the sudden cold around her paw, the albino snorts again before picking her path with more care.
Skylei blushes as the lycan reprimands her lack of knowledge of the hunt. How was she supposed to know what she was doing?! Sky's blood is human and elf; not a drop of wolf or wild beast in her. She is a petite, bookish creature, who only ever seems to get into these kinds of scrapes when a certain white wolf appears. Still, she takes the criticism without complaint because it comes from Senka. If anyone else had dared critique her, Sky would have likely given them a piece of her mind. However, Senka would have likely chewed off her face had she tried that trick. So she scowls and resolutely continues following the lycan through the marshes. It wasn't even like she actually wanted an alligator! If they found one, Senka would eat its flesh and Sky would probably try and take a tooth or two. It wasn't worth the hassle in her mind; but it's not her mind that counts. Eventually she begins to step into grass and, after a few moments where she nearly falls headfirst as the 'grass' beneath her feet becomes naught more than water, decides to follow the path taken by the wolf directly. She didn't want to humiliate herself by being engulfed by the swamp.
Senka doesn't bother to look back and see the elf react to her. Her message is received, as far as she can tell, and that's that. No grudges, she's too impatient for that. Instead, her energies are spent on keeping carefully close to the trees, where their roots make the earth a little more stable. The wolf does well in finding their path, twisting and weaving perhaps but nevertheless leading them deeper, when the mosquitos find fresh blood to suck in. The first few can be ignored but by the time the fifth sharp sting hits her muzzle the wolf is growling her protest. Forced to stop, she runs her paw impatiently over her head in an attempt to get rid of the bugs. Around them the chorus of creatures only seems to swell, frogs croaking at their feet while birds shriek in a competition to be the loudest. It's impossible to track anything in this invasion on her senses, for the bugs are swarming and even her eyes are no longer safe from thirsty insects. No wonder, then, that the irritation in her nose escapes the wolf. The eyes that hide high up the trees, their stares heavy with hunger. A hunger the wolf is very familiar with.
Skylei follows in Senka's footsetps, though she wobbles a little more than the wolf and, soon enough, she has taken enough wrong steps to be damp and muddy up to her knees. The smell of the swamp water will undoubtedly stuck to her clothes for days, the half-elf realises, meaning that, yet again she will come home stinking to the high heavens. As that can't be helped, she would press on, keeping close behind the lycan. Mosquitos buzz around her, though few choose to make Sky their prey, seeming to prefer the blood of the wolf to the impure blood of a half-breed. She flicks off the odd few that choose to make her their feast with her fingers as she carries on along the path pausing every so often to identify the flowers that she spies for her later works; a scholar first, and a hunter second, after all. However, suddenly she stops and lets out a full blown sneeze. It is a dry sneeze, caused by some form or irritant in the air. Skylei assumes it is a reaction to the vile smell of the swamp and thinks little more of it.
Senka has a dragonfly humming far too close to her sensitive ear, mosquitoes all over her face, and an impatient frog hopping about her paws. She has her hands full and it driving her mind to speed up and then derail. They're in her coat, in her nose, biting and buzzing and stinging all her sensitive parts. It's enough to have her snarl and snap but even mouthfuls of mosquitoes hardly put a dent in the swarm. They're digging deeper and deeper into her fur, forcing her to brace herself as she shakes. More than just mosquitoes are clinging to her fur, a cloud of shimmering powder is forced free from the fur it had been steadily dropped on. Finally the albino's nose catches something other than the stink of the swamp. Something that is making her sneeze. "Pixies," Her husky voice doesn't enter Skylei's mind with its usual strength. Only as a distant echo, a failing voice and sure enough the albino drops through one of her front paws. With an angry snarl, she rises back up but it's with noticeable effort. Her muscles are tingling, her eyelids are heavier than they ever have been before, and fatigue is pressing down on her body with the weight of a thousand cows. Again the wolf sneezes but it's not enough to clear the fog slowly creeping over her mind.
Skylei doesn't even fully register Senka's words. After her initial sneeze the half-elf had begun to feel increasingly drowsy. It felt as though someone had shoved a ball of cotton wool into her brain and now her thoughts were blurred and fuzzy. She's stopped several steps shy of Senka; the effect of the dust has taken hold of her feeble frame much quicker than that of the wolf. She wants to keep walking but everything just feels so heavy and she can't see what there is that lies before her. Her knees crumple beneath her and the half-elf falls into a forced semi-slumber at the roots of a tree, with her feet trailing into the swamp water. A good shake would likely be enough to rouse her from the effects of the pixie's magic, if not permanently, at least for a few seconds.