Whisper Caverns i stay niche

Your Gift is: You smell something undeniably sweet wafting through the trees, you can't quite place what it is but it reminds you of being a pup at home. How nostalgic!
All welcome!

She had come here with the intent to find shelter. A network of caverns seemed to be the best place for that type of thing, right? She figured far enough back she'd manage to find a cozy little place to bundle up for a couple of days, stock some fat back up before she meandered her way further.

What she hadn't come here for was the sudden smell that blasted her senses when she stepped within the caverns.

Something...sweet. Something that recalled memories from a far distant time of happier, sunnier days. It jarred her enough that she nearly stumbled over a rock that jutted up. How on earth could the caverns smell anything like home?! Maybe somebody had made this their home already and she was picking up on those scents? Impossible, she hadn't smelled borders at all but...

Well, she barked out sharply to see if she might gain a response that wasn't her own echo.

Perhaps wandering so deep into the caverns was… Unwise, to say the least. Everything felt so small in here, and the further he crept along the, harder it became to tell up from down, and worse yet, which way he had come from. All of the smells, his own and the underlying scent of the caverns themselves, had started to mingle together, further confusing him. The swell of panic began to build in his chest, but he fought it back down; panicking would be the last thing he needed to do in this situation. He'd find his way out, he just needed to-

An unfamiliar bark echoes through the caverns, causing Moore to freeze. At first, relief swept over him; maybe he could follow the noise. Then the uncertainty struck.

He hadn't been in a pack's territory, he was sure to check for markers, but as of right now, the huge wolf was effectively trapped if this has the potential to become a worst-case scenario. His ears prick forward, listening carefully. When no other noise came, he took a step towards where he at least thinks the bark came from.

"Hello? Is someone there…? Wait! Did you just come into the caverns?" He called out from deeper within the caverns, attempting to keep his voice solid and stable, not willing to let the uncertainty show.

Now now now, what was this?!

A voice called back but it seemed awfully confused with all the questions it asked! And she could only rumble back a deep cackle for it.

”Oi, duh!” And maybe it would be stupid of her to get too cocky. Maybe she had wandered into a pack and this was a big dog Alpha ready to strike. Although she figured he wouldn’t ask if she had just walked in if he really wanted to rumble. ”I smelled somethin’ familiar so I wanted to check it out!” Bellowed back once more as she listened to her own words ricochet off the cavern walls to…whoever was out there.

She couldn’t really see whoever she had struck up a conversation with.

Vultures are circling something out of sight. Hunt Opportunity! +5 Health

As the stranger's voice and… a cackle? Bounds off the stone walls and reaches him, he could feel his ears pin back and go hot. This was so embarrassing, to begin with, and now he'd certainly done himself no favors. Scolding himself for wandering so deep in his explorations, Moore listened to her carefully before confidently padding in the direction he at least thinks her voice is coming from.

Smelled something familiar? Taking a moment to take a deep breath, he only found the way the many scents had mingled so thoroughly together during his panic that it was almost dizzying. Shaking out his thick fur as if it would shake off the feeling of entrapment, he continued.

"I don't know what you smelled, but if y'think you can find it, then good on you." He calls back, no bite to his words. No point in upsetting anyone, especially not in his position. "I must have missed it." Not exactly a lie.

His eyes adjust as the caverns start to lighten the further he walks. He must be close to the exit, and the stranger, by now.

"Well o'course ya did!" She hollered back into the cavern. "It's wafting in from the front, I think. Real sweet like honey." She contemplated her own description of the scent, uncertain if that was entirely correct but it would be the best thing she could provide.

Still she padded in a bit further, eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lighting that swallowed the cavern whole.

Where eventually they managed to come into view of each other. He looked like a miniature bear, if she had to pin him for something. Although he was a bit too muddled in color for her to think he really was a bear. Not to mention those orange eyes didn't match the beady gaze of the beast in her mind.

"Well lookit you!" Features cracked with a crooked grin, it was all she offered in greeting at the moment.

Ah, there she is. With the exit not very far behind her, it looked. The feeling of confinement that had ensnared him began to loosen its hold. Determined to save face, Moore held his head high and proud, a broad and toothy grin on his maw. As if he hadn’t just been hopelessly lost in the caverns. One could only hope it was convincing.

“Look at me? Look at you! It’s good to see another face ‘round here!” He jerked his head around, gesturing to the walls of the cavern around them. “Wherever here is.”

Actually able to get a look at her now, he regarded her for a moment. Smaller frame than him, but that wasn’t necessarily unusual when he ran into strangers. Tipping his head slightly to the left, he narrowed his dark orange eyes in thought.

“What were you saying about honey? I don’t think I could smell it back in there,” Lifting a massive paw, he motioned toward where he came from and attempted to keep his hackles flat at the thought of going back in there. “Flowers or somethin’ in the caves somewhere, maybe?” Lost in thought for a moment, he attempted to recall any flora from his old home that held such a scent, before his ears flicked back almost flat against his skull.

“Er. Well. If it wasn’t winter, I guess that’d be more likely, haha.…” Oh, he was undoubtedly on a roll today. An embarrassing one. Still, he held himself proudly.

She chortled deep and fierce. Alight with laughter at the way he reasoned why she had smelled honey. This one sure did seem to be a bit on the all hunk side, eh?

Regardless she found it nice, enjoyed it even!

”Nah, I think it’s comin’ from outside. Just caught whiff of it when I came inside for some reason.” Jutted her head over her shoulder to motion her nose where the sweet scent still seems to tingle at her senses. ”You smell it, don’t ya?”

Maybe she had finally lost all her brain cells, scattered to the wind and now she smelled things that weren’t there. Wouldn’t that be something.

An embarrassing stumble, maybe, but at the least, she was good-natured about it. Letting out a chuckle, the immense wolf let himself relax entirely at last.

Besides, he could feel curiosity bubbling in his mind; what could possibly be emitting such a smell? Lifting his nose, Moore took a deep breath in, the scents finally separating themselves from the amalgamation that had assaulted him when he was panicking. There, it was faint, but something different certainly caught his attention.

“You smell it, don’t ya?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I think I do? Smells kinda sweet?” The deep brown wolf glanced from the stranger towards the exit. This place had an abundance of exciting things—first the dancing clouds, now strange smells. “If you’re still lookin’ for it, mind if I tag along? I could help find it,” A grin broke across his face as he looked back to her. While he normally had little problem inviting himself to tag along with strangers in their journeys, he's had enough run-ins where others did in fact mind. It was safer, and not to mention more polite, to ask.

“Oh, I’m Moore, by the way. Or Moose. Plenty of people have called me either.”

"Yeah, c'mon!" She grinned with a wide wave of her tail. Admittedly it was counter intuitive to head back to the entrance and the world outside but...well, she wanted to know where the scent had come from. Maybe a delicious reward awaited them wherever it came from.

It certainly reminded her of treats from childhood.

"Moose!" She blurted with obvious delight as she led them along. "Moose and Queenie, sounds good, doesn't it?" She teased with a wolfish wink. Also hoped he was quick enough to notice that she introduced herself in that same vein.

"You go cave adventuring often, Moose?"