[closed] forest foray

[positivestars]

Who: Ren and Maya
What: Questing!
When: December
Where: The Southern Forest
Warnings: None at this point, will amend if needed!

There haven’t been any traces of a shadowy Deerling in town, which is a shame, but… someone like that would be sure to have been noticed, right?

Outside of town offers more chances to see if anyone’s spotted anything. With the colouration Noelle described to Ren and Maya, it’s likely to be trickier to spot them- but at the same time, maybe that means it’s more likely that they stayed out of town for that purpose. Questioning the Pokemon living outside does at least give them the information that there have been some shadow-coloured Pokemon around- though they don’t appear to have seen a Deerling specifically.

Still, that’s at least some kind of lead! Where there’s one Shadow, there might be others. Presumably. Maybe! It makes Maya a little anxious, truthfully, but- it’s a different situation. Maybe it’s just heading out into the forest on a full quest. She’s much more of a city person, so she turns to Ren, head tilted and offering him a smile. “I’ll bet you know more about tracking than I do, so… how do we start?”

Comments

[positivestars]

Something out of the ordinary… She watches where Ren's looking, and does her best to follow his gaze. That's fairly straightforward to learn by example, at least, and she nods when he points out the bent foliage.

"If you're trying to keep quiet, you want to stay away from the commonly used paths… That makes sense."

Seeing and hearing she can do! Scent seems a bit more difficult, and certainly harder to pick up from observation. Still, she leans in to some of the foliage as they pass, taking a sniff- no, she's just getting the smell of plant here. How annoying!

The trail Ren's found continues on for a little while, though it takes a sudden turn. Maya stops, looking around, frowning. She's listening, but… "This doesn't look like it'd be where they stopped," she says. There's a little bit of noise, like someone's moving, but- in the distance. "So if I was going to conceal where I was going next… I'd look for a natural passage?" Does that make a difference, when it's bushes and plants? Still- there does seem to be dark fur, snagged on a thorn where someone might have wiggled past.

[colorsflyinghigh]

"Sounds about right," Ren hums quietly. His ear twitches, instinctively trying to angle itself towards the noise... but it's too far away to get a proper read on it. Hmm. "Let's see what we can find."

He keeps his eyes peeled, trying not to disturb the foliage too much himself. After a few moments of him and Maya looking around, his nose catches something that doesn't quite belong- and his eyes fall on it moments after Maya's.

"That looks promising." Especially considering their target is a dark-furred Deerling. It looks a little too small to fit one, but it's the best lead they've got so far. He's certainly fit through places he had no business crawling through before. "You wanna go first? Or me?"

He's used to going first as the leader of the Phantom Thieves, but this isn't the Metaverse, and his mission partners here aren't the Phantom Thieves.