The Hunting Grounds IV: Drops Contain 0% RNG

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Mister Slash inhales the terror felt by the Carrion Knight and grins, feeling it invigorating him. With the King in Rags remembering him and providing a contact with reality, he's unlikely to slip through the cracks and fall back into the Abyss, so he doesn't need to kill and terrorise people to prevent himself from slipping. It doesn't stop him, exactly; he feeds on terror, and can't help himself sometimes. This, though, is a mighty meal.

The bogeyman grins, revealing the broken shards of glass pressed into his gums. He drags his glass shard through the Carrion Knight's wing, aiming to cripple the fae if he can't kill it. Neither of them can fly, so depriving the Knight of its main advantage is key to winning this fight. He'll twist as he goes, to cause as much damage and pain as possible.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Damon is momentarily surprised when he finds his axe does more or less what he wanted it to do.

And while light doesn't particularly benefit him as a creature with perfect vision in darkness, the axe's apparent dismissal of the Carrion Knight's own glamour does mean he's still afforded a much clearer view of his foe in the process.

...

Not that he does anything immediately helpful with this. He would start chucking flames, but Mister Slash is right there, slashing away, and he'd rather not accidentally burn his ally. Instead he leans back and watches, a ball of black flame swirling in his hand, just in case it becomes necessary.

"Dissmisss the passst at your peril, little crow. Your actionss have sssealed your fate."

[Morty]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

The Carrion Knight shrieks when Mister Slash's glass cuts into their wing, but the pain brings them out of their stupefied terror. They've survived for centuries in dark places, tempting and eating mortals. They used to serve the King in Rags, then called the Eye of the Bird. If they die here, they won't go down easily.

They drop to the ground on all fours - they appear to have a pair of clawed humanoid arms in addition to wings and hind legs - and emit a pitched, grating cry that sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Choking darkness pours out of them, assaulting the two hunters' senses. They will find it hard to see and breathe, though Damon will likely find the first effect lessened. The Carrion Knight takes the opportunity to start escaping, but with their wing disabled, they're reduced to running on the ground.

However, something else seems to be coming from the forest. More insects? Or something else the Knight called?

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Mister Slash is nowhere near that old. He does, however, have experience fighting things that don't die easily, though less experience in killing them. As the Carrion Knight takes off, Mister Slash tries to lodge his shard of glass in its wing before stumbling around in the darkness, coughing. The darkness and smoke does affect his sight, unfortunately. He can't easily pursue the Knight- though Mister Slash will remain aware of the glass shard until he creates a new one.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Well, that's irritating.

Damon lets out an angry hiss, "How dare you. The darknesss belongss to me, not you!" He slams his hand into the ground, causing fire to erupt out in a line away from it, hissing and crackling as it spreads across the ground with terrifying speed. He's not really aiming to hit the Carrion Knight with it, unable to aim it that precisely while coughing and spluttering between hisses, instead he's intending to use the fire as a means of cutting the knight off, betting on being able to arc it around ahead of their prey, then use it to transport himself ahead.

That...will take a moment though, to make sure the fire is ahead.

So for now Damon just hunkers down and focuses on his breathing, keeping himself coated in flames.

[Morty]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

The darkness doesn't last long and the two hunters will find themselves able to breathe soon enough. The Carrion Knight is gone by then, but Mister Slash will be able to tell that the fey indeed has to rapidly change direction of their flight due to Damon's flames. Meanwhile, the sounds behind them are getting closer. It seems that more of the hunting insects are fast approaching. If they don't hurry, they will need to deal with them as well.

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Mister Slash grins as he realises the Knight has yet to remove the blade, and runs into the woods after it. He's a blundering oaf, far more used to moving through urban environments than something like this forest. He's easy to follow. "This way, I can follow him!" Loudly and unsubtly, but maybe that's a good thing. If the Carrion Knight knows it is being followed, it might not take the time to remove the thing allowing Mister Slash to follow.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Damon waves a hand dismissively at Mister Slash. "I have my own waysss."

With a crackle of flames, Damon shifts into a dark blaze that surges along the lines of fire he sent out. While short of teleport-y shenanigans, it is still orders of magnitude faster than the average running person.

Even accounting for a degree of inaccuracy due to the Carrion Knight's shenanigans, it should hopefully get Damon pretty close on track, maybe still ahead of the fey, ideally close enough to at least get eyes on his mark and take off in pursuit.

[Morty]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

The Carrion Knight continues their mad dash into the woods, even as the sounds of the insects follow behind their pursuers. Focused on fleeing from Mister Slash, the fey indeed doesn't notice Damon getting ahead of them. He will have a few precious seconds to strike before he's noticed.

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Then it seems the bogeyman has to run to catch up. He's got no movement tricks, except inhuman stamina, and this forest is not his ideal terrain by any stretch of the imagination, so hopefully Damon is able to slow the Carrion Knight down enough for Mister Slash to arrive and intervene.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Ah, there we go. Finally an opportunity.

Damon erupts out of the flames, reforming with black fire still flickering around him. Pale eyes focus on the Carrion Knight as he lets out a hissing cackle of laughter. "Ssurprissse."

Such showmanship likely ruins the surprise a little bit. But as much as Damon would like to deal with this directly, their foe is a tricky customer and there's no point doing something reckless that may cost them their opportunity. So rather than lunging forward, Damon slams his hand into the ground, causing fresh waves of black fire to ignite, spreading rapidly to either side, and upwards. It'll take a few moments, but hopefully the surprise gives him enough time to establish his wall of flames well enough to make the Carrion Knight think twice about trying to jump through it.

[Morty]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

The Carrion Knight does come to an abrupt stop in front of the wall of fire. With fire in front of them and another pursuer behind them, the fey realizes running isn't an option. They lean low towards the ground, wings spread wide and start backing away from Damon, watching for his move.

Mister Slash won't be interrupted in his pursuit, but the insects are hot on his heels. They will catch up to all of them soon.

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Mister Slash stops, ducking behind a tree. He'll have to hope Damon keeps the Carrion Knight busy long enough for Mister Slash to catch up, or at least prevents him escaping again. But for now, Mister Slash does not want to arrive whilst he's chased by reinforcements for the Knight. So he's going to stay behind this tree, pulling a broken shard of glass from the pocket of his coat, and when one of the insiects is close enough he'll burst out from behind his tree and stab it as hard as he can with the shard of glass. He's working from ambush, and so he's getting a slight and subtle boost to his strength.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Damon stalks after the Carrion Knight, taking slow, measured steps to match the pace of the fey backing away from him.

"You think you know how to usse fear? You think yoursself ssafe in the darknesss? That all would fall victim to your trickery, your misssdirection?" He asks, with a hissing cackle. The axe is held low in his hand, poised to strike at any moment. "It doess not belong to you, fey creature. It belongsss to me. Thiss iss my world, and you are tresspasssing in my domain."

As he talks, the fire continues to spread out and around. A sudden bolt of black fire erupts from his hand up into the canopy above, threatening to spread the flames still further.

"You cannot run. You cannot hide. The fire will ssspread fasster than you could ever flee, asss long asss I live." He pauses, letting those words sink in for a moment. "Sssso come on, little carrion knight. Ssstrike me down if you can, before the flamess sssurround you and burn you to asssh."

*****

[Deep in the Woods]

(Closed Scene)

Atreyu is taking a breather in the woods. It's been a long time since he did much in the way of fighting, and what better way to get back in shape than by roaming around the Hunting Grounds, brawling with all manner of beasties?

"Hells. It's been a while."

The werewolf made this rather hard on himself. With little more than enough transformation-proof clothing to protect his dignity, he's gone full survivalist and spent a couple of days out here so far. But the last thing he encountered was a bit rough, so now he's perched halfway up a tree, recovering. Fortunately, werewolf wounds heal quickly.

Bright orange eyes peer out of the foliage, just a little bit of silver-y grey muzzle showing as Atreyu scans his surroundings. A minute or two and he should be fine, but you never know when this place will throw something unexpected at you.

[Morty]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Elsewhere, a group of elves living in a hunting lodge look at a plume of smoke rising from a forest some distance away. Some of their hunters had gone there recently, despite warnings, and didn't return. This makes the elves even more concerned. The old fey who serves as their patron also watches, but his thoughts are even darker than his charges'...

The insects are focused on following the Carrion Knight's call, so Mister Slash is able to ambush one of them and deal a fatal blow. The creature trashes and flails as it dies. There are two more, one of which turns to look at Mister Slash while the other charges ahead.

Maybe we can make a deal, the fey says to Damon, as the flames close in and doom stares them in the eyes. "I can give you what you seek. Or the King in Rags. Surely he is in need of me, is he not?"

[Meowmai]

Deep in the Woods

(Closed Scene)

Stumbling through the thick undergrowth, Kestrel was trying her best to pretend that she wasn't horribly lost. The archer had heard stories of the dangers of these woods, and in her mind at the time it had seemed like a fun, challenging and risky way to spend the day. It turns out she had bitten off a lot more than she could chew.

It had started well. Or rather, she thought it had. Really, she probably should never have entered the woods at all. But it had sounded like it'd make for a great adventurer! Right up until a few hours in, when she stumbled into some... creature. She never really got a good solid look at it, but she vividly remembered that it had too many limbs and teeth. With some luck and a few well-placed shots she managed to force it to back off, but during chaos of the fight she ended up disoriented, losing all sense of direction.

So now she wandered about in a clueless fashion, looking for some way out but no idea where to start. Precious few arrows remained in her quiver, and by now she was getting tired. Each distant noise or rustle in the undergrowth only caused the panic gradually bubbling up within her to rise. She was alone, lost and confused, in a hostile environment. Could things get any worse?

It was then that she noticed the creature peering at her from above. All Kestrel could make out was it's piercing orange eyes, and the very tip of it's muzzle, but it was enough to make her freeze up in initial shock. For a moment all she did was stare at it in horror, but then her mind screamed at her to move, and she regained her senses. She started to back away, reaching to draw an arrow with her trembling fingers, almost tripping over a tree root as she kept her golden eyes locked on where she glimpsed the creature. "S-stay back!"

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Mister Slash grins as the insect turns to him, dashing forward and driving his glass shard down towards the thing's head. Hopefully this works, though now it's a straight-up fight in terrain Mister Slash isn't used to. He's not getting the slight boost from striking from hiding, either, since that plays into his nature as a bogeyman. A fight like this on equal footing, when his opponent isn't terrified of him, is not him at his strongest.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Damon smiles and shakes his head. He's rather enjoying this now, toying with the Carrion Knight in much the sameway as a cat plays with its food.

"No. You can't. There iss nothing you could offer me that would sspare your life, but-" He pauses and leans back, seemingly considering the Knight's words for a moment. "You are right. The King in Ragsss doess have need of you. Asss an example." He hisses, abruptly lunging forward, swinging the axe at the Carrion Knight's neck.

*****

[Deep in the Woods]

A rest had been the plan. Take a bit of time, rest, recuperate, maybe decide if it's time to leave since things had started to get a little more dangerous.

That had been the plan.

Unfortunately, as Atreyu had feared, he isn't going to be given his reprieve quite so easily. As soon as he'd caught sight of Kestrel, he froze in placed and watched intently. In general, adventurers come here to hunt monsters. But in the Hunting Grounds, anything goes, and an ambitious adventurer, or perhaps a frightened one, might decide to pick a fight with someone else.

Those eyes track her every movement, widening slightly once Atreyu realises he's been spotted. Well, if nothing else, he has to respect her keen eyesight. He'd thought himself pretty well hidden up here.

Well, perhaps she'll just run off and leave him in peace and- oh boy, nope, she's backing up and reaching for an arrow.

With a grunt as his rest is disturbed, Atreyu shifts and crawls a little further forward, poking his whole wolfy head out of the tree. Ears flick, and nostrils flare as he hunkers down, preparing to leap out of the way if she fires...but equally it may easily look like he's getting ready to pounce. He clears his throat and calls out to her in a rough, gravelly voice, his mouth opening to reveal a dazzling array of sharp teeth. "Easy there Missy. Put the bow down. There's no need fer anyone to get hurt, here."

A few marks around his face suggest he's been in a fight recently. Scratch marks, the occasional missing tuft of silvery grey hair, and is that a fleck of blood round his muzzle? He certainly looks quite fierce...

[Meowmai]

Deep in the Woods

Atreyu had indeed actually hidden himself quite well, in fact it had almost been through pure luck alone that Kestrel had spotted him. The birdgirl had keen eyesight sure, and that certainly helped, but she wasn't the most perceptive of adventurers usually. It had just been lucky chance.

Although she didn't consider herself lucky at all. From her perspective, Atreyu revealing more of himself only made her all the more scared. Was it a werewolf? It certainly looked like one. The scars, the teeth, the blood... to her eyes, it all seemed like they belonged to a dangerous predator ready to strike. She braced herself for it to leap towards her as she kept her bow shakily trained on him. That never came though. Instead to her surprise he spoke up, seemingly offering peace. But could she trust him? From almost anyone else, she might have been more quick to believe them, but however reassuring the werewolves' words were Kestrel found it hard to actually find them so. The rough voice and the display of vicious-looking teeth was deeply unnerving to her.

Still, after a moments hesitation she lowered her bow. She kept an arrow nocked to it though, just pointing it towards the ground. For now. She was too afraid to properly put it down, and continued to back away from the tree in which Atreyu was perched. Kestrel was trying not to show her fear, yet there was an obvious tremble in her movements, a quickness in her breath, and a worried look in her eyes as she responded. H-how... how do I know I can trust you..?"

[Morty]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

This insect is not surprised and the Carrion Knight's call directs it to fighting Mister Slash, so it will give it all its efforts. When the bogeyman comes at it, the insect retracts its body, only the front segments stretching forward to cut at his arm with its massive mandibles. The other insect continues its pursuit of Damon.

Damon's axe, meanwhile, will swing true towards the fey, but the Carrion Knight blocks the strike with their wing. This costs them dearly; a deep gouge is cut into it, breaking bones and sending feathers scattering every which way.

"You don't know what you're doing!" They cry out in panic and pain. "You don't know what you've bound yourself to! Do you have any idea what's under that rat's skull?!"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Deep in the Woods]

Hmm. The feathered archer-lady seems pretty scared. And as long as she has that bow in her hands, it makes her dangerous. One wrong move, and he could easily spook her into assuming the worst and shooting at him. Atreyu is reasonably confident in his ability to get in close and disarm her before she can get too many shots off, and as long as they're not silvered arrows, they shouldn't cause too much harm, but a single arrow could still catch him in an eye or the neck, or pierce his heart...

Point being that not getting shot is preferable to getting shot.

Still, he's not going to get anywhere while stuck in a tree, so Atryeu slowly and carefully climbs down, revealing the rest of his silver-furred body, muscles rippling faintly as he climbs down. Wearing only some shorts and a cloak loosely draped over his shoulders, there's rather a lot of fur and muscle on show.

And claws.

And teeth.

He makes sure to stay at the base of the tree, though, avoiding approaching the panicked bird-lady for the moment, lest it give off the wrong impression.

"I could ask you the same question, Missy." Atreyu mutters, folding his arms. "How do I know you ain't gonna stick me with an arrow first time a sound makes ya jump?" A valid point, but that line of reasoning is just going to see this awkward standoff continue.

Which means he still has to stay tensed, just in case she does panic, which also makes it look like he might be about to pounce, which-

Maintaining his posture, he lowers his voice. "Name's Atreyu. So what are you doing out here? Are ya lost, little lady?" Hopefully giving his name will help, at least.

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Mister Slash is slashed, and the insect's mandibles pass through his coat and the skin beneath. He doesn't bleed, though he's injured; glass dust is leaking from the injury instead of blood. He frowns at it, backing away and trying to bait it into a strike so he can try grabbing it behind the head and jabbing it with the shard of glass whilst it's extended and hopefully more vulnerable than when it's curled up.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Damon curses and attempts to shove the Carrion Knight backwards, half-turning to hurl a fresh gout of black flame at the insect closing in on him.

More company is unwelcome.

"I did not bind myssself to anything. He payss, I work, it iss jusst businesss." Truth be told, Damon's got a pretty good idea that he probably is bound to the King in some way at this point, but he's not telling the Carrion Knight that. "But pleasse, continue. Tell me of my employer. Perhapss you'll think of ssomething to sssay in time to convince me to ssspare your life!"

[Morty]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

The insect is a vicious predator, but not a very bright one; when it spots what looks like an opening, it lunges forward and is stabbed under its plate. That's not enough to kill it, but Mister Slash won't have a lot of difficulty in finishing it off, most likely.

The insect chasing Damon is stuck by the fire. Not enough to kill it, but it seems to be enough to dissuade it from attacking for now; the Carrion Knight's call is weakening in their distress and being burnt is a powerful deterrent.

"The King in Rags isn't its real name," the fey says. "It's just a title. Gentry are titles upon titles, woven together. They're forces of nature. You're not dealing with a scarecrow, but a primal fear from the dawn of time."

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Mister Slash grins as the insect is injured, though it's not capable of feeling the fear he feeds upon- at least, the last ones weren't. So he'll try to put it out of its misery quickly, rather than extend the fight, and head back towards the Carrion Knight and Damon.

[Meowmai]

[Deep in the Woods]

Kestrel keeps her eyes locked on the werewolf's form as he descended from the tree, and frankly his emergence from hiding did little to put her at ease. Instead it just seemed to show off more possible threat, exposing his impressive musculature and claws on top of the already worryingly sharp teeth. Unconsciously in response the reddish-brown feathers that adorned her arms and ears and poked out from her lower back began to fluff up, rising and flaring out like that of a wild bird trying to make itself look bigger. It probably didn't have the desired effect, and instead most likely made her look a bit cuter. Or perhaps just rather silly.

Her shaky grip on her bow tightened, but once she realised he didn't seem to be making any moves towards her she kept it lowered. Scared and anxious as she was, she still hoped that the werewolf was telling the truth when he told her he didn't want anyone to come to harm. Although, she wasn't so sure if that was the case, what with how he still seemed poised to leap at her at any moment. "... I'm not that jumpy," came an unconvincing mutter in response. Still, the birdgirl forced herself to ease off the tension of the arrow nocked to the bowstring, but she didn't quite feel comfortable enough to put it away completely.

She hadn't expected him to introduce himself though. That actually helped calm her a little for now. Kestrel still was far from enthused about having a conversation with the werewolf, but she hardly wanted to ignore him either. The last thing she wanted right now was to seem rude to the large scary monster guy with big teeth and claws and muscles. But what if he was just looking for a sign of weakness? It would probably be best not to admit everything, if that was the case...

"I, uh, well... I-I was just exploring, I guess... And I'm not lost! Or 'little', either." Woah there, Kestrel, probably a little to defensive there! And not much said there was true, either. Especially the bit about not being lost or small. "... Okay, maybe I'm kinda lost, but I can handle myself." That statement was an improvement, but not by much. "Oh and err, my name's Kestrel. Figured um, if you gave yours it's only fair I give mine."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Damon gives the Carrion Knight a disappointed look. Did the fey really expect that to dissuade him?

"Funny that, issn't it? That a creature of fear would sseek the sservice of other creaturess of fear. One might almosst sssay it makess ssensse. no?"

Boy these insects are irritating-

Well, now there's an idea.

"Sssoundss to me like you're jussst admitting you're not asss good at it asss him. Or usss. Let me sssshow you."

With a fresh burst of black flame, Damon's form shifts and grows in a grotesque half-man half-scorpion shape, his arms ending in vicious claws, legs skittering against the ground as he charges forward, segmented tail whipping round and lashing out at the insect, aiming to pierce the insect's underside in the same manner as his earlier trick.

His claws, meanwhile, reach out hungrily for the Carrion Knight.

"Cry for me, little knight. Scream out in terror!" The worlds are deep and phlegm-y, as grotesque to hear as the form is to look at.

*****

[Deep in the Woods]

This was going in the right direction. Quite slowly, admittedly, but she's still lowering the bow rather than shooting at him. The thought does briefly cross Atreyu's mind that he probably could just lunge at her and disarm her now. Archer bird is probably a pretty good shot, but she'd be hard-pressed to get a decent shot off in time at this point.

...maybe. It could be a magic bow, for all he knows.

But wait, what are her feathers-

Atreyu swiftly clamps a hand over his mouth as he feels himself starting to chuckle, his body shaking slightly as he tries but ultimately fails to hold it in. He rests his hand on his forehead and leans back as he lets out a harsh, barking laugh, still doing his best to stifle it but with little success. "Ah. Ah, hah, I apologise little lady- ah, Kestrel. I ain't ever seen one of yer kind before, but what yer feathers are doin' is very cute." He coughs and leans forwards, wiping a tear from his eye and smiling openly. For all his teeth, there is a certain softness to his smile. And whatever stories Kestrel may have heard about how fierce and feral werewolves can be, Atreyu sure seems to be in control of himself, the intelligence still clearly visible in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sure it's considered very fierce amongst yer own kind to do that."

Still, laughter does an excellent job of breaking the ice, doesn't it? Atreyu's shoulders relax and he starts walking over towards Kestrel, his silvery grey fur still ripping with every motion, but with no tension in his muscles any more.

Should she let him get close enough, he'll curiously reach out a claw to touch one of her feathers. Otherwise, he stops at whatever distance she lets him get to before showing any fresh signs of fear. "Well if yer lost, little Kestrel, I reckon I might be able to help ya." He offers with a smile, rather pointedly angling his nose downwards as he looks down at her. "And I reckon when I'm this much taller'n you, I'm allowed to say yer little. Compared to me, anyways."

[Morty]

[Forest of Stilled Voices]

Mister Slash won't be impeded any further and should quickly reach the place where Damon is dealing with the Carrion Knight and the third insect. Which isn't as easily dispatched as Damon might hope, as it leaps above the stinger and tries to land on his tail, then dig into it with its pincers.

The Carrion Knight, meanwhile, shrieks, rage and desperation overcoming their fear.

"Idiot! The Fear will devour you too!"

They launch themselves at Damon, feathers suddenly sharp and hard as blades, trying to at least wound him in a last-ditch desperate attempt.

[Earl of Purple]

Forest of Stilled Voices

Mister Slash approaches the insect, walking as softly as he can in this unfamiliar terrain. The gift of true soundless feet is not one he currently possesses, but he is planning an ambush so gets a slight supernatural edge in this regard anyway. If he succeeds, he'll pull a shard of glass out of his pocket and strike suddenly, driving the shard of glass as hard as he can into the space between two of its segments.

[Meowmai]

[Deep in the Woods]

When Atreyu's arm suddenly moved, Kestrel tensed up, expected some kind of lunging strike. Instead of the attack she was expecting, however, the werewolf started to chuckle. She stared in bewilderment, letting her bow and arrow hang loosely at her side while the stranger's laugh grew in volume. He was trying to keep himself quiet, she could tell, but he couldn't hold it in! But why? What was he laughing at? It didn't seem mocking, it seemed to be a laugh of genuine amusement, so what did he find so funny?

Oh.

Kestrel felt incredibly self conscious as Atreyu apologetically explained his outburst, and she shifted awkwardly on the spot while fidgeting with the hem of her jacket. She hadn't even noticed her feathers were doing that until he had pointed it out! And she didn't know how to feel about it at all. Part of her was indignant that he'd laugh at her because of it, but she was also suddenly feeling very shy. He had called her cute!

"I dunno that I'd call it cute, but uh, t-thanks for the apology and compliment." More fidgeting as she stands there, feeling sillier by the second. But at the end of the day, feeling embarrassed was a lot better than feeling terrified! It seems Atreyu's laughter had indeed managed to break the ice, or at least break the hostile tension between the two. So much so, that she didn't pull away when he approached, awkwardly letting him touch the feathers on her arm. Fluffed up as they were, they were quite soft, and Kestrel had to stifle a faint giggle when she felt his claw run through them. She had always found the sensation a little ticklish. "I think I could do with some help, if it's not too much trouble for you," she admitted. "Thanks for offering." Looking up at the werewolf to give her own shy smile in return, she also had to admit he had a point about the whole calling her 'little' thing. He was certainly very tall compared to her. Still, she huffed at the comment about her height, even if it was said without any mean intentions. It just happened to be another thing she was self-conscious over.