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During the 10 minutes Chris was gone, Erik scanned the nearby area for Branwan, but he saw nothing, he would've called out for her, but he felt too ashamed of himself to say anything to her, his ears then went flat against his head. He felt like such an @$$, what was he thinking? He was making such a connection with both of them, and then he blew it sky-high. Leaning against a nearby tree, he let out a sigh/whimper.

When Chris came back he wondered what was in the box. When Chris opened it, Erik was surprised to see a beautiful wolf tail, and it was well-preserved too. "Yeah, it is." he replied. He wanted to touch it, but after what just, he was a little hesitant to touch anything. The music the box played was like a lullaby to Erik, him starting to relax. Hearing about a Lyall person, he asked Chris "Where did Lyall get it from?"

Branwan smiled happily, she had reached the top of a tree and was looking out at the world, something about being up here, feeling the rays of the sun hit her mad her feel content.

Her eyes caught hold of a branch of a near by tree and her smile became that of an adventurer. She examined the branch, judging the distance before hopping on to it. She felt strangely weightless as she jumped and almost overshot the branch, just grabbing it with her hand.

She hung there for a few minutes her heard hammering with adrenaline before pulling her self up and doing the same with the next tree, and the next, and the next…

BRANWAN?

The call came from almost directly under her and she nearly fell in shock, managing to grab on to the branch and hang there, sloth like. “Yes?” She called, her voice slightly breathless.

“You were yelling.” Branwan called down in the direction of Chris’ voice. That answer was clear enough to her they where yelling, she didn’t like the sound, in fact, she found it overwhelming, so she left.

It occurred to her that that might not seem very clear to Chris, “I was feeling antisocial.” She clarified.

“Alright,” she let go with her feet, letting them drop down to the branch under her. Once her feet felt stable she let go with her hands, swinging unstably for a moment before grabbing the trunk.

She repeated this several times until she was on the last branch “ya’ outa’ the way?”

“Ri’...” Branwan dropped. She landed on the ground with a soft thump, knees bending to prevent her bones from breaking, “Very funny,” she said in a way that said it was not.

She felt it wasn’t polite to crack jokes about what someone was changing into right after you meet him or her.

“You wanted to show me something?” she asked casually, tilting her head upward.

As Branwan came down, Erik walked out from behind Chris, and watched as she made her way down. Watching her, he leaned towards Chris and without thinking said "Man, she's pretty...I-I mean graceful, pretty graceful." Blushing, he hoped neither Branwan or Chris heard what he just said.

Being extra careful with the wolf tail, Erik looked at it, imagining what it must've been like to work with animals as amazing as wolves. Then, he carefully passed the tail to Branwan.

She pretended not to hear Erik or Chris said, looking self-consciously back up at the tree. He feels that way about me? She thought in surprise, wow, but I’m not even pretty any more, I mean, my hands! My feet! My tail!

Branwan recoiled at the sight of the tail. It was a lump of flesh, preserved, yes, but still a lump of flesh. Under normal circumstances she probably would have found it cool but when she looked at it she felt a strange hunger, and that was not cool. She swallowed compulsively, hiding her feelings.

“No thanks,” she said evenly, holding up her hand to block the tail, “I’ve already seen it,” plus, she thought, I don’t think Chris would like to see me eat his prized tail, neither would I for that matter.

“Naw,” said Branwan absently, still thinking of the tail, “I’m not very hungry, thanks.”

“No,” said Branwan, shaking her head as if to clear it of these decidedly not human thoughts, “I’m fine, I-I just need a little time to lie down.” With that she turned and ran back to the village. Yes, she thought as she ran, maybe I will feel better after a little lie down.

((Branwan is GONE!!))