For what felt like the millionth time Haezel found a tree with the tip of her nose. She stopped to take a deep breath and to relax her neck which was growing tense from the stiff way she was forced to walk with her nose down. This place was unlike any she'd been to before and she was trusting it would be worth her time. A traveler had pointed her this direction. Supposedly this was the place she was most likely to find a rare mushroom. A mushroom she needed now more than ever. Haezel needed guidance. Without her familiar to help her travel or the cult to provide stability she was rudderless and without cause. She was unsure of her next move and she could think of no one better to ask than her dearly departed mentors. Some of her kind could enter Somnium at will, but Haezel wasn't far enough along in her training for that. To speak with them she would need spellwork.

Haezel held her breath as a sound caught her attention. She canted her head to the side to listen. Footsteps. She was sure of it. Though she couldn't yet smell whatever was coming a steely assurance settled over her with this realization. Whoever - or whatever - was coming was for her. Excellent. She was in need of assistance so that, surely, was what had been sent to her. There had been all sorts of chatter in the woods when she'd awoken this morning. While none of it had been particularly helpful in the moment one whispered phrase had stood out to her - and it was that phrase that now became relevant: found in the woods.

She seated herself, her head tipped to the side where she thought she heard the footsteps, and asked, "Who's there?"

WC: 300

Artisan had just found out that he was going to be a fucking pirate, and that was the coolest shit he'd heard all year. He was thrilled and could hardly wait to tell his other siblings about just how much more awesome he was going to be then any of them, but before that he figured he'd look around and help ol' Captain Sparrow to fill the pirate stores with plants that could be turned into booze or some other mind altering substance. Artisan - knowing next to nothing about plants - didn't know which ones he should be gathering, so he grabbed a small sack and figured he'd just pick them all. Eventually one of them had to lead to fun times, and a part of the thrill was in the risk anyways. Being a friendly dude, he gravitated in the direction of the scent of wolf as soon as he caught wind of it. Maybe they could help each other out, or maybe he would simply pause his gathering to have some fun and sober times. It's not like being a pirate was as huge as a commitment as being a pack wolf, he could put a hold on his self-declared duties to meet a new individual and add a new bead to his collection while he did it. "I come in peace!" He declared loudly, stepping confidently towards the wolf and roaming his eyes across her desaturated form. She was quite beautiful, and it wouldn't be too hard to find a stone to match her colors either. "I was hoping you could help direct me towards which of these flowers might get me as high as possible." TOTAL WORD COUNT: 578 "Talk" "Listen" Think

Whoever he was, he had a nice voice. And that, sadly, was about all the observation Haezel had in the moment. She supposed he sounded happy and harmless but committing that to fact seemed a bit of a stretch considering just how little information had gone into it. At any rate, she wasn't concerned. He lacked the accent that would have marked him as a rival come to kill her and gobble up her soul which meant that no matter his intentions, he couldn't threaten the things of hers that truly mattered. For that reason Haezel was content to take him at his word. If he was going to present a carefree persona why waste time doubting the truthfulness of it?

"That is all well and good," she observed, "But what if I don't?" Haezel's expression was serious as she lapsed into silence. Her face was still pointed roughly in Artisan's direction but her eyes missed the mark by a wide margin. If they weren't so noticeably unfocused in that moment it would have been easy to mistake them for looking over his shoulder. After a moment Haezel smiled softly to indicate she was teasing. Of course she came in peace. Look at her. All tiny and blind. How could she be anything other than peaceful?

"Flowers? No, no, no." She said with a dismissive, motherly wave of her paw. "Do you believe in destiny, stranger?" She got to her paws. "I ask because it sounds like we are looking for similar things. If you'll help me navigate these woods and find what I'm looking for I can promise you the most intense high you've ever had." And she meant it too. Altered states of mind were part and parcel for spellcasting so she knew a thing or two. She could make good on her promise with ease. "And it will not come from flowers."

Artisan found it hard to anticipate the wolves of this new land, but he definitely did not expect such a tiny and light wolf to be a self-proclaimed troublemaker. His brows raised and he looked down towards her, then back down to himself. Well that wouldn't do - he wasn't here for a fight, he was here for fun. When he looked back up from his chest however, a soft grin had been spread across her muzzle and he let out a laugh in reply. "You got me - y'know I wouldn't even be surprised if you were looking for a fight. I didn't think the first raccoon I met would be an asshole either but, well, he definitely was. If him stealing my worldly possessions was destiny I'd like to have a word with it because I never asked for a progress reset. The creatures in this land are startlingly weird and violent and rude." He sure had had a kickin' hat though. That much Artisan could admit; the thief had style. "My name is Artisan, and an intense high sounds fantastic. I can't offer much in return other than my friendship. Which is actually an amazing offer because while you might not be able to tell-" His paw lifted to gesture to her blank expression, and then he realized she couldn't see that either and quickly dropped it. "- I'm quite sexy, actually. So there's that." It was very odd to be speaking to a blind wolf and he found himself squinting into her unfocused gaze, then shaking his head. How was he supposed to get across his charisma if she couldn't look at him? Oh well. "Anyways yes, lets find your thing. I'm ready to get high, what am I looking for?" Art assumed that it was because he could see and she could not that she needed assistance, he only hoped whatever they'd be looking for was a distinctive enough in appearance for him to find. TOTAL WORD COUNT: 1222 "Talk" "Listen" Think

Hazel's expression became incredulous as she listened to the stranger's plight. An asshole raccoon stole all of his worldly possessions? Perhaps, she mused to herself, giving him the most intense high ever would be harder than she had first thought. In the end she decided to take his word for it. Raccoons were clever and if the one that had stolen from him was anything like her recently departed familiar then it was capable of more than most wolves could imagine. "Is that so? Hm. I'm new to these lands as well so that is valuable information indeed." A hint of a sardonic smile touched her lips. "And I'll keep an eye out for raccoons."

His pause mid speech caught her attention and her expression turned smug. "You gestured, didn't you? That's adorable, really." Since losing her sight Hazel had discovered just how much fun she could have with others who didn't know how to handle it. It was a small but welcome bonus all things considered and it had yet to get old. She got the sense that this guy would be a good sport about it, but even if she hadn't there was no telling whether or not that would have stopped her.

Her smile turned sweet. "If you are half as lovely as your voice I have no doubt that is a good deal." Though she may have been young Hazel wasn't in the least bit shy. Artisan was the one who had opened the door on flirting and she considered it a viable route to get what she wanted so here they were. It boded well in her opinion. This she thought she could handle. "Oh," she said with another sweet smile, "And I'm Hazel. It's a pleasure, Artisan."

"Alright, yes, let's get you," And her, technically, but he didn't need to know that, "High." She paused as she considered what she was going to send him after. It had been awhile since she'd seen them. "You're looking for scarlet mushrooms with white stems. They'll have white spots on top and any, technically, will do, but the more spots the better." Her smirk returned. "Bonus points for an odd number of spots."

WC: 1,588

Artisan felt good that at least he could be seen as that wonderful kind guy spreading the warning around about thieving raccoons. He'd sleep sounder knowing that the fuzzy rascal with the kick-ass hat would struggle to ever steal another precious trinket from a wolf's own pelt. The benefit of his companion here being blind as a bat was at least Artisan didn't need to keep any particular expression out of politeness - so he allowed himself to frown deeply as Armando stole his focus once more. However, the beautiful lady with the sightless eyes had a particular quality to her that made her hard to ignore, and Artisan found himself forgetting the thief entirely as she accused him of being adorable. The colorful man looked exceedingly shocked - offended beyond belief, in fact - when he remembered again that his theatrics were for nothing. Fuck, this was going to take some getting used to. He took a moment to try and come up with a suitably witty retort to her praise when he remembered the goal and shook it off. "We can flirt later when I'm well and truly high."  He decided, nodding although she couldn't see it. "I'm a much more cunning linguist under the influence." Artisan didn't know whether that was true or not, but it sounded accurate enough. Most days dedicated to illicit acts were ones he found difficult to remember the next. "Alright Hazel, red mushroom white stem, white spots. I can do that."  He couldn't begin to wonder why the number of dots possibly mattered, but perhaps that was where the psychedelics were held in the fungi and so he reminded himself to give the cap a good lick before handing it over to her, just in case. He began to circle the woods, peering around tree trunks and squinting under fallen logs. "So, how exactly do you find your fun-flowers when you find yourself lacking an incredibly handsome seeing-eye-wolf?"  Small talk, he had to small talk to call her a friend and thus add her to his wrist-bead collection. TOTAL WORD COUNT: 1929 "Talk" "Listen" Think

Hazel stood there completely oblivious to Artisan's facial antics. If she'd known she would have had a great deal to say about it, but alas his lack of experience with the visually impaired left her with nothing to work with. His loss. She thought she was funny. Artisan mentioned saving flirting for when he was high and a better speaker which earned a chuckle from her. "Oh is that so?" That would make him a novelty, at least in her experience. "I'll be the judge of that."

She moved to his side when it sounded as though he was about to start looking. Hazel let her nose be her guide. Using the last place she'd heard his voice from she stepped gingerly forward until her nose bumped into what she thought was his shoulder. It sure felt like a shoulder and it didn't smell like an ass so she thought she was in the right direction when she oriented herself to be parallel to him. Maybe touching him was taking too many liberties but it had been her experience that she could get away with such things by virtue of her disability. Few wolves questioned it and if there was no harm, why not go in for a feel every once in awhile? He felt nice. Smelled nice too.

As for how she got around without him, well, funny story. Since losing her sight her familiar had stepped up and been her eyes for most things. It hadn't quite been the same, of course, but it was better than nothing. And of course he was dead now which was why she needed Artisan's help in the first place. So...maybe not a funny story, then. Since the question seemed flirty Hazel opted not to bring it down by mentioning her dead companion. "Do you really think," she asked wryly as she bumped into his side for what had to be the tenth time. "That you're my first handsome, helpful stranger?" Hazel paused to let him chew on that before continuing, "I will say there is usually a lot of falling involved sans handsome stranger."

WC: 2,282

She didn't appear to believe his claim and he hoped desperately that he could follow through with it post-mushroom. "That is so." He emphasized, feigning confidence. While interacting with a blind wolf was hard, it wasn't as hard as he would have expected it to be. In fact it only made it easier to be fond of her when she kept bumping into him, and Art couldn't help but grin the whole damn time he searched. "And I will say that if you're not falling with a handsome stranger, he's not handsome enough." Art hadn't quite managed to make a girl swoon for him yet either, but it was definitely on the bucket list. "You know," He began, ducking his head beneath another fallen log and taking a sniff of the moist mildew-y scent. "If you wanted to feel me up you could have just asked." And then he turned and gave her another gesture she couldn't see, frowned to himself, and decided to simply announce it. "There was a wink there, by the way. We're gonna need to find you a non-thieving raccoon or something equally intelligent to interpret all my dramatic cues, I think." And then there was a particularly odd scent that stung his nose, and Art gave a few glances between the blind wolf and the mushroom. In the end, friendliness wore out over his selfish want to keep the high all to himself. "Is that one, over there? Gonna be honest, I can't say the difference between 'crimson' or 'scarlet' but it's definitely red." TOTAL WORD COUNT: too drunk to do math. it's over 2000. "Talk" "Listen" Think

"If you wanted to feel me up you could have just asked." To this Hazel hummed noncommittally before retorting, "And waste this perfectly good blind pass? I think not." His wink comment made her chuckle. At least he was learning. If he'd just announce all of his gestures they'd get along like a house on fire. "Would you really want someone other than yourself telling me what your face is doing? What if," she feigned horror, "They don't do you justice? I might be left thinking you're less dramatic than you are."

Hazel stood still for second after Artisan asked if "that is one over there" to let him think about what he'd just asked a blind woman. Then for good measure she parroted him slowly. "Is that one...over there." Another beat of silence. "Let me just feel around blindly for 'there' okay, I'm sure I'll get it eventually." She was just messing with him and after another moment of silence her smirk gave that away.

She made a point of feeling down his side in search of the direction he was pointed. Surely whichever direction that was had the mushroom in it. "They grow in clusters so where there's one there's more." Finally her nose picked up its scent and she zeroed in on it. "Yep, that's it." She would recognize that scent anywhere. "We'll leave one for the forest and split the rest among ourselves. The number of spots has nothing to do with the high you want so just give me all the many spotted odd numbered ones."

Art had to consider her feigned horror and the words that brought it, but it didn't take him too long to come up with a rebuttal. "Alright we'll get you a tiny wolf then, at least we'll know it will be able to understand facial cues well enough. And if you're ever left wondering whether it was a dramatic enough translation, just assume it was even more dramatic." There really was no such thing as too dramatic for Artisan, anyways. At least not until she called him out on his poorly-thought out choice of words. He narrowed his eyes at her as she teased him, and then quipped out a short. "Can you feel the burn of my glare, or shall I describe it to you?" Eventually she let him off the hook and wandered towards where he'd gestured - even if she couldn't figure out very easily what direction that may have been in. "Well if it's nothing to do with the high I want, then why do you want the spotted odd ones?" He asked curiously, shuffling around the cluster of mushrooms and gingerly yanking a few choice ones out of the ground. TOTAL WORD COUNT: 2643/2500 (complete) "Talk" "Listen" Think