You're going to have to be faster than that

With Nirvana safely stowed away in a den in the near by woods, she took the time to start exploring out a little further from their temporary place of residence. The woods served as a place to live well enough for now, but she was still looking for something to give her a reason to stay for more than a few days at a time. She knew the child was as tired of the travel as she was by now, but they couldn't just claim something that was sub par as their own. She refused to accept anything but the very best for her daughter and for any of her future children. She didn't plan on moving again for quite a while once she finally put down roots so it had to be ideal.

She had spotted the mountains in the distance from the forest and they had caught her attention, bringing her here to the base of the rocky cliffs over head. At least in her experience mountains usually meant caves and caves were certainly more attractive to her as a place to establish her home than a glorified hole in the ground. As she began to explore the mountain throughout the afternoon she certainly wasn't disappointed with the selection of different caves that it held - though they were slightly difficult to access. Some were more difficult than others, but she did end up finding one that was closest to the base of the mountain and only had a short climb over a few fairly manageable rocks to reach it. So far so good.

As she stepped into the shadowed interior of the cave, the earthen smell of damp dirt began to fill her nose. Some of the other caves she had explored had been more rocky with stalagmites and stalactites dotting the edges of the space inside, but this one was not like that. It was much more of a tunnel bored out of the earth than a worn away cavern of rock. While not her favorite smell in the entire world, she wasn't immediately put off of it as an option so she pressed forward with a critical eye scanning the darkened space.

Only a few moments after she began to sink deeper into the cave, a rumbling growl echoed off of the walls around her and a large figure began to lumber out of the shadows ahead of her, causing her to stop and watch the creature cautiously. As she backed away toward the entrance a bit just to get the beast to come out into the faint light that was filtering in through the entrance, she saw that it was actually a wolf - though it was unlike any wolf she had ever seen. She considered herself to be quite tall and certainly taller than most, but this brute easily towered over even her and bore huge, ugly teeth that he bore at her in a vicious snarl.

A smirk quirked the corner of her mouth as she stared up at him. "Oh, pardon me, was I intruding on your space?" she questioned as she took in the beast that she could only loosely call a wolf. He was over grown in the worst way and his ragged pelt was about as muddy and dull as the cave he lived in. In fact, if she couldn't see the texture of his fur so well she would have guessed that he was just covered in mud. The roaring growl and hard snap of his teeth told her that in no uncertain terms he wanted her gone. She hadn't even decided if this cave was really worth the effort, but she hadn't had a good fight in ages and she didn't take too kindly to someone telling her what to do - not even a wolf that might as well have been some sort of experiment gone wrong.

"Well, you see, that's just too bad. This space is mine now so you'll have to leave." A full on grin pulled at her lips as her body instinctively shifted into a defensive stance and the adrenaline began to run through her veins, gearing her up for a fight as she added, "Or you can fight me for it." That was clearly the option he chose since he let loose another of those growls that felt like it could shake the earth under their paws before lunging toward her with those overly sharp teeth.

She darted out of the way, gracefully leaping to the side and out of his reach with a wild giggle, amusement dancing in her vibrant blue gaze. "Too slow, big boy!"

WC: 777/1500

Manea