we could be so cliché

@Osiris

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The world was vibrant and ever-changing, and the curiosity that lie behind the veiled curtain (everything she had yet to see) called to the woman endlessly. She felt as if she was constantly stuck in the middle of a fable, one that her own wayfaring mother might have told her before putting her to bed, continuing on, night after night, never once reaching its conclusion. She sometimes wondered why satisfaction and contentment eluded her so, but it was not a painful journey in the least, so she leaned into her inclinations and let her lust for adventure sit in the driver's seat.

This mindset naturally meant that Olive had seen much of the world, and she found it all to be spectacular — but here? Here, Olive believed she found a paradise. The energy of this forest beat so strongly, she could feel it almost as a vibration in her paws and lower limbs. The air, it was cool and fresh and heralded a changing of the seasons. The water in the stream, tasted fresh and spoke of its high mineral content from the mountainous terrain. She noted these things as she pranced, and let the breeze rustle her still-summer coat, and as she drank deeply from this stream and that stream; cavorting amongst the earth's bounty with no agenda or intention. Yes, of course, The Hireath was a paradise all the same — but there was so much noise and activity — and here she appeared to be alone, despite scent markers lying far to the west, and the north.

Olive ducked under a fallen arbor, which lay diagonal to the earth, propped up by sapling that had prevented the completion of its dramatic death. She pushed against it with a paw, and when the little witch found it didn't move, she climbed atop it — and, like she imagined a mountain lion would, she flexed her toes and grit her jaw to prevent herself from falling off. 

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Thanks for starting, love! Tag for reference.

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Somehow, a badger had managed to sneak into The Nameless Mountain's claim. 

Osiris had taken a break from watching Hydra and had descended the mountain to hunt and find @Leta. He figured that now was a good time to steal away with his girlfriend for an hour or two. He wanted to surprise her with lunch, catch up and steal a few kisses, too. But his plans quickly changed when he came across the creature's fresh scent trail. 

He tracked the badger hastily, his powerwalking growing into a gallop as he got closer to the intruder. When Osiris found the animal, it was stealing from a cache; the nerve of it! Launching towards it, Osiris growled deeply and pursued it. The badger reacted with a snarl but then realized that its efforts would be in vain. It was still a juvenile, and they couldn't fight a wolf alone yet. So the hunter and the hunted ran, and soon they were beyond Empreyean's claim. However, Osiris wanted to teach it a lesson, and so he chased it further away. 

Osiris was near Olive when he decided to let it go. Then, sliding to a sudden stop within the sylph's view from her vantage point, he barked as the badger scurried into the nearby underbrush. Watching it go, Osiris stood rigid and tall with his tail lifted as he tried to catch his breath.

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Olive attempted to place one paw in front of the other, edging forward on the felled tree, feeling as if she were a majestic eagle soaring above the forest's canopy — her ears flickered towards a sound in the distance; something running, no, crashing, through the underbrush. She could tell by its footfalls that it was not a wolf, nor something light-footed and harmless. Unsure exactly where the sound was coming from and where it was likely to go, Olive gripped the branch and braced herself, though she didn't know for what.

"Hey!—" It did shock her when a badger burst from the background and scrambled directly under the space beneath her tree and the ground; it was clearly being chased, as it didn't stop, and continued to run with such fury that it left Olive's heart beating wildly, even as the sounds of its snarling dash died away. Momentarily relieved, the woman allowed her stature to slacked only for a moment before swinging her head to figure out what had been chasing it — thankfully it was only a man, who seemed more tired from the encounter than she was rattled by it. Olive took a deep breath and called out, unsure if he had seen her yet. "Thank the Gods that I was up here," she said, the endorphin rush lighting the smile upon her finespun maw.

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Osiris jumped at the sound of Olive's voice and whirled around to see her. "What're you doing up there?" he asked, still catching his breath. His adrenaline was still coursing through his veins, which caused him to be more blunt than usual. 

He took a moment to steady his breath, but doing so did not stifle his curiosity. Osiris found it strange that Olive was in a tree, and her behavior wasn't very wolf-like, in his opinion. Instead, she was more like a bird, safely perched on a branch overhead.

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The man was perplexed, as Olive supposed he ought to be. Wolves were not found in trees, nor off the ground usually. Even though she was only a short leap away from the earth, the dove couldn't help but feel proud, and she ruffled her alabaster feathers briefly as she thought about how she evaded the fearsome badger with one adept, intuitive move upwards. "I was testing my balance," she divulged, not yet ready to part with the innate bond she had with this over-sized, decaying tree branch. "Turns out, i'm pretty good." with this, Olive peered over her shoulder to glimpse the view behind her and ensure her footing was solid, then pointed her nose at the ground, clearly demarcating the spot where she intended to land. One last test.

Seeing as it wasn't very far at all, the woman leapt down with considerable ease and grace. She felt the jolt of her four paws reconnect with the dirt, kept her frame loose to absorb the shock, and then was standing quite handsomely, facing affront the guardian. "What did it do you, to piss you off?" she asked, wondering if he was engaging in a chase for fun. Feeling quite liberated, Olive played it loose with her words. Certainly, he wouldn't mind her impropriety.

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"Hm," Osiris hummed in reply. He had only practiced his balance on logs, and he had never considered doing so in a tree. He thought that it'd be dangerous, but he kept that to himself, knowing he'd never risk an injury like that. Still, it was impressive. "You seem to be a natural," he complimented. 

When Olive motioned to where she would land, and Osiris scooched back to give her more room. When she lept, she did so with the grace of doe; her strength and poise were admirable. "It trespassed," he answered. Osiris was not one to speak loosely, nor was his family, so he found her saying "pissed off" strange. 

"How long were you up there?" he wondered next, motioning towards the gnarled branch with his snout.

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The creature had trespassed, so it seemed! Olive wondered, albeit briefly, if the badger would agree with that statement. Non-wolf animals didn't often abide by lupine law, and thus, Olive found it hard to uphold them to the same standards. Still, a danger was a danger, and it made her wonder if this man had young children at home, to worry about a badger so. Perhaps, it was even just their caches.

"Only a moment or two," she explained, not wanting to appear as if she were a wolf who thought she was a bird. Her past-time of climbing upon fallen trees had begun, and likely ended, this very afternoon. "Quite auspicious, no? As if I knew you'd be coming through." she couldn't help but mention again, still marveling at her incredible timing. If she hadn't know better, perhaps she might have assumed that the wolf had driven the thing right towards her, on purpose. Instead, she sought his name. "I'm Olive," the pale woman offered in exchange, but she had little time to waste. She had places to be. "Nice to meet you, but I must go!" she bade him a quick farewell, and scampered the same way the rogue badger went.

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