Wanna Bet?

"You know..."

"Know what?"

"I miss Klein, already. It's not like I can just hop in a ship and jump right to his tree. He's now far enough away to be a time investment, and I don't really have the time to dally."

"Like what we're doing, now?"

"That's different. We have a couple of locals that can go a day without taking a break every few hours, so technically I upgraded." Wolf shakes her head.

"But... yeah, I need to take things around here carefully. I'm not exactly certain how well received a 'human' will be in a village full of wolf people."

"Not to point out the obvious, but you have a couple of wolf people to ask that question to. Like, right within knife-throwing distance."

The Hunter chooses that moment to focus back on her surroundings. Magpie's mobile shop is on the move, but she's forbidden anyone else to ride on it. When she asked why, the 'basitin' answered with a cheery "Because you three are going to steal something if I do." Which isn't entirely untrue; if she didn't do business with her and stayed hidden, Wolf would've snatched a few choice items for Ghost to analyze.

Which left her and the assassin brothers to walk. It's not too bad, seeing how Magpie is taking her steeds at a reasonable pace for the three of them. What was hilarious to Ghost was how each of them tried to trail behind the other, on instinct, so that they would have some sort of natural advantage over the other. They ended up awkwardly shuffling for a bit with eye contact that made it way worse than it should've been, resulting in an uneasy lineup shoulder to shoulder. She has her personal space, of course, with the brothers keeping to themselves 'within knife-throwing distance', as Ghost said.

She's curious if they even have any throwing knives.

The terrain, itself, is starting to get hillier. The trees are as dense as ever, giving everyone some shade, even though it's a bit too chilled out to need it. Looking back over to the wolf brothers, Wolf sees the robes they are wearing, then tilts her head to the side to look behind them. She doesn't see any knives, but a Hunter worth their salt always have a couple hidden away for emergencies.

She clears her throat, breaking the silence that's been stretched out for the past couple hours. "Aren't those hot?"

The one closest to her, Zen, pretends he wasn't watching her out of the corner of his eye and faces her fully. "Come again?"

"Those robes. Aren't they a bit much for the weather, or does the fur not do much for you?" She pulls at her hood a bit, feeling the cold on her own skin. It's probably been the longest time she's been outside of armor, and the feeling of air on certain parts of her body is starting to get to her.

He takes a moment to respond, looking at her as if there's some alterior motive to talking to him. "The fur is enough, but I'm just really attached to these robes. Can't say no to an extra layer of protection."

Wolf nods. "I can understand that. Wished I had some when I had to cut through some mountains, a couple years back. Gets cold enough at night that your spit freezes before it hits the ground."

He looks behind her and up a bit, and she follows his gaze to the mountain range behind her. "Really? Never been up one, myself. Hopefully never will."

The other brother, Natani, lets out an actual bark of laughter. "Wouldn't want to drag your frostbitten tail all the way down the mountain, either. Life's good enough down here, anyways."

Zen puts on what might be mock offense. "You'd leave your own brother at the cruel hands of the mountain cold? Alone?"

"Yup."

The way it was delivered, either the timing or the tone he did it in, made her snort out a genuine laugh. As in, it really caught her off guard how hard the laugh was, for just a simple bit of banter. "Well, at least you get to keep his stuff. Bet he has the good knives on him."

With that said, the awkward comes back with a vengeance. He looks over to her, surprised. "Why would he loot me?"

She opens her mouth to say 'oh, you know', then pauses. "...right, it's just-" She shakes her head. "It's just a Hunter tradition. We're all waste-not want-not, when it comes to more tactile possessions. Especially if you knew the person well."

Natani gives her a confused look. "'Hunter'? What kind of hunter?"

Wolf shrugs. "I'm more of a skirmisher, if that's what you want to know. 'Hunter' is just a name we gave ourselves for being good at the whole weapons thing."

"So you're a soldier, then. Why are you way out here in wolf territory?"

She fishes around for a good response. Ghost comes to the rescue - she whispers to him "Best Ghost." which got a warm, fuzzy feeling from him - and she eventually comes up with a decent half-truth.

"Well, I was looking for traces of ancient human ruins, see if anything was worth noting, maybe a bit of looting, but now I'm more curious about, well," She waves a hand at the two keidrans. "Wolves. Also a bit curious about if the village up ahead is going to just let me waltz right in, or not."

At her expectant look, the brothers trade another look, seeming to have a silent conversation only they can hear. While they silently debate, Ghost hums. "Strange..."

"What are you picking up, bud?" She tries to pay attention while keeping her gaze on the brothers.

"I'm picking up some odd fluctuations in the 'mist', again. Nowhere near as strong as the Tree of Bitharm, but it's been happening on and off for a while. Speaking of," Ghost puts on his lecturing voice. "The 'glowing rocks' that Magpie sold you? They have high concentrations of this 'mist' inside of them, acting as some sort of vacuum for it. I can't quantify how much is in there, or why they're storing it, but it's there. And there it is, again- why is it doing that?"

Wolf starts paying attention to Ghost at his outburst. "What do you mean-"

"You know what, it's probably the brothers. Get closer to them, again, I need to get a better reading."

Shrugging to herself, she decides to close the gap between them, stepping around Zen and going up to Natani's side. It takes him a second to notice her presence, taking in her staring. When she doesn't say anything, he shoots another glance to Zen - who just rolls his eyes - and makes an awkward coughing sound. "Um, can I help you?"

"Sorry for implying that you'd desecrate your brother. Not everyone is used to 'Hunter Talk', or whatever we call it." She tries to make her tone softer, hoping it doesn't come off as sarcastic.

He blinks, the look being... oddly adorable, like when she used to play around with Saladin's wolves when he isn't watching her. "Oh." He shrugs. "Wasn't even thinking about that, to be honest. Was wondering more why you're so calm for being around a couple of assassins for hire, really. And I'm the one with the better knives, by the way; Zen can't aim."

"I'm right here, you know." Said wolf gives them a flat look.

"I know." Both Wolf and Natani say. They share a look and a smile at the timing.

Zen sighs. "Anyways, you should be fine, as long as you stay with us. Keep your head down, and nobody should try and bite your head off. Might get a few insults, but you seem tough enough for that."

Why?

They can see the looks everyone gives them. In the Reef, it was always a look of disgust from the Awoken there, seeing an undying corpse walk amongst them. They never try to give ground, when it comes to the little things. Even then, when it comes to something of importance that needs to happen NOW they dig their heels in as if pride is more important than their own lives. Petra is the only exception, and still they had to earn her trust through a bloody crusade in the Tangled Shore.

In the more shady parts of the Shore, anything that isn't human looks at them as if they're a monster, a savage, a stain on their lives. For those, they didn't mind at first, but when they started to realize that they're people, too, it stung just like the rest. They even expect Mithrax to snap at them, one day. Just... take up those massive talons of theirs and rip her to shreds for all she's done.

Not Eido. Never Eido. She knows what they did, and forgiven them. They never felt so undeserving of such kindness after she-

But then they needed more. Their enemies were getting stronger, with the Drifter's words on their ears saying that the Dark can be their weapon, too. First was the sculpting of the weapon that would make them an enemy of hope, but it wasn't enough. They needed more strength, so they delved into a Dark, derelict place once housing a King, and sought out a lost fragment of Him. One thing that they slain with their own two hands.

They found it, and made it theirs, crafting a weapon that could put down those that dare take what was theirs. It was majestic.

Then she got a letter, hand written by a man that only spoke what's right to them. He said that they were an enemy of hope.

They broke down, then. Hope was the last thing they wanted to lose. They tried to fix this, going into a place where time and space folds back in on itself and hiding it there. They ran so many strikes for Zavala, just so they could forget where they put it. They went to Eido, who gave them... her, a drink that made that pit in her gut from burning straight through.

And Eris, who said that death must happen to sculpt Deathsong into material form, looked worried when she looked back through all the death throes of her enemies screams, only to find a single Guardians screams, stretched over a hundred different deaths. Eris knew, then, that she would go to any length to keep her hope.

But those who knew her, said that once a Dredgen, always a Dredgen. It hurt.

Wolf shrugs. "I'm used to harsh words. I can take a verbal beat down or ten."

"Good. So, what exactly are you looking for, so we can get that done as soon as possible."

"A map, for one. Magpie doesn't have one; said that she knows the roads by heart and doesn't need one, and guessed that nobody else needed one, either." She purses her lips in thought. "Then... I don't know- hate to ask, but do you people have a library?"

Natani gives her a look. "Do we look like we're rich enough to own books?"

"No, I mean like a public place. Like an archive, or something."

The brothers both think for a moment. "Not unless you want to get cushy with nobles, we don't." Zen shrugs.

Wolf never thought she would say this, but not having any books around is a lot more worrying than it should be. But what else would there be that could hold something of the past, anyhow?

"Now that complicates things." Ghost adds.

"Thanks for stating the obvious, captain."

"Anytime."

She shakes her head. "No thanks, I'd rather avoid royalty. It's not super vital, anyways. Maybe human territory has some? Has to be some bookies lying about, practically dying to tell people what they know and that their last name means something in some foreign language."

"Tch." Zen scoffs. "Yeah, met this other human once, one of the first things she told me was that her family name meant 'of the fire'. Don't remember what her name is, though."

Wolf smiles. "Yeah..." She holds her hand out to the side, letting Ghost - at her mental prompting - transmat the blue crystal she picked up from Magpie. "Speaking of knowing things, any idea what these things are?"

"..." Natani gives the hunter a look that might be flat, but she isn't sure. She doesn't like that look.

Zen, however, is surprised. "You don't know what-" He cuts himself off, glancing at his brother.

"Huh." Her little Light says. "Yup, there's some sort of... resonance? Whatever it is- between those two; the 'mist' is bending around them whenever they get quiet."

Interesting. "So, what- are they doing something to it consciously, or is it a side-effect?"

Ghost just gives a mental equivalent of a shrug. Wolf is impressed she managed to get that from a small fluctuation of Light. To the brothers, she narrows her eyes. "These aren't radioactive rocks or something, are they?"

This time, Natani goes to answer her, but Zen just gives him an even harder look to shut him up. At that point, the hunter watches them enact a very expressive, if entirely wordless, argument. Wolf glances over to the wagon, catching Magpie's equally confused face, shrugs, then looks back in time to see the two starring each other down.

"Oh." Says her Ghost.

"What?"

"...I think they're exerting limited psionic capabilities."

"What told you that: the mist, or the Golden Age-worthy comedy going on right now?"

"Both, really," She feels something shimmy in herself. "Ironic, seeing how we're having one, ourselves. Minus the psionic energy, of course."

Rolling her eyes, she steps closer to the bothers. "So you're not going to tell me about the rocks? Not a peep?"

Natani performs some impressive show of willpower by seeming to pretend that whole exchange between himself and his brother didn't happen. "We're- I'm, confused why you don't know what mana crystals are. You have to know something about magic, if you managed to take down a wyvern. Not much direct use to you, if you really know nothing about it: just a shiny crystal, otherwise."

The wolf managed to get her attention. "Magic? What kind of magic are we talking about?"

A quick look back at his older brother - who responded with a shrug - has him seem lost. "Like, spells and... stuff."

The hunter nods. "Ah, yes. Spells. Very informative." She looks down at the now-dubbed mana crystal, a faint brushing of its stored energies giving her a phantom pins-and-needles sensation. "Magic. Too bad I'm not a warlock, or I'd be a natural. So how does one... magic? I just hold this and say the magic words, then I pull a rabbit out of a hat?"

Natani seems to be battling with himself over something, while she hears Zen mutter something close to "Why a rabbit?" After seeing the most expressive wolf-face she's ever seen yet, the younger brother puts his hand to... what might be the canine equivalent of his temples? "Look, I'm not going to play teacher with you. We're here to do you a favor, get paid, then hopefully get through the winter without anything crazy happening. If you're not lying to us, then I've heard that there's schools for this sort of thing in human territory; it's probably the best bet for you, anyhow. Not like dirty magic is going to get you far."

"Oh," Wolf chuckles. "No. I don't do well with schooling. Might start a fire, or something. But 'dirty magic', huh? Now that sounds more my speed."

Once again, Natani breaks out the flat look. "I'm not going to teach you. It's going to take at least a week, just to get your control over it good enough to make spells work, which we aren't sticking around long enough to have a chance of it happening, in the first place."

Hm. Well, Wolf never learned how to throw a knife as well as she does in a day. She doesn't really know if the wolf-people around here have some store of knowledge on this mist- mana, they have a name for it now, which is connected to a paracausal power of some sort- so she's a shit out of luck for that. And staying long enough to pull double-duty on researching this planet sounds like too much work, not enough time.

Unless.

Wolf looks over to Natani, a spark of - in Ghost's own words - hellish shenanigans igniting. "How about if I pay you?"

His answer comes quick. "No. You're not going to buy me out on this."

"Oh, no no no," Wolf shakes her head, cocky smile firmly planted on her face. "I don't mean extra money, I mean the payment."

"...what are you talking about?"

"I'm so glad you asked!" She adjust her pace so that she's standing in front of Natani, forcing him to stop. "I propose a bet. If you win; you and your brother walk away with your payment early, without having to do anything for me. I'll even throw in whatever made you two follow me in the first place."

Right then and there, Wolf can see the gears turning in his head, with the greed flashing in his mis-matched eyes for a moment. He quickly buries it, fixing her with a stoic look. "And if you win?"

"But if I win?" She walks up to Natani, looking up at him and poking a finger into his chest. "You'll still get paid, but you have to hang around long enough for me to learn a spell. One spell. That's it. How about it, wolf boy?"

Without breaking eye contact, he brushes her hand aside. "What are we betting on?"

"I made the bet, you make the contest. Only seems fair. Try not to make it something impossible, or I won't shake on it, by the way. If you want some time to think on it, we can wait until-"

"Knife throwing." He cuts her off. "Whoever's more accurate will win."

Wolf almost feels sorry for him, as she holds out her hand. "Deal."

Natani almost feels sorry for her, as they settle in for the night.

They made some good progress, in heading towards Llwynderw. If the human didn't insist on them stopping before sundown, they could've made it to the north gates a bit into the night. Would've been better for them, too, since they have a human with them.

But they have a bet to settle, and Natani couldn't turn down the idea of being able to skip out on bringing the human into town and getting paid at the same time. Zen had his doubts, but after a bit of convincing on his part, he couldn't turn down a chance to curb Wolf's ego. And he wanted Natani to win so he can have a bit of revenge for the punch.

The chance at the sky-rock, too, but Natani can feel the annoyance coming off of him while they 'spoke' to each other.

The group found a decent place to stay for the night, not too far from the road. The first thing the assassin brothers saw Wolf do was help Magpie settle her wagon in, which had to stay closer to the road. The two had some sort of quiet conversation, which resulted in the excitable Basitin getting, well, more excited than usual. Himself and Zen set aside their things, with their more valuable items hidden away when neither of the two women were looking.

With that settled, Natani makes his way over to Wolf. Seeing him approach, the human turns and meets him halfway.

Wolf stares at Natani.

The wolf keidran stares at the hunter.

"You ready to square off, fluff?"

Natani raises an unseen brow at 'fluff.' "I've been waiting for you; saw you had business with the long-eared weirdo."

She gives him a crooked smile. "Well aren't you a gentleman."

"A right, upstanding wolf I am, among other things." He returns the barb.

"Indeed, 'among other things'. Hope being a good sport when you lose is one of them."

"Bold of you to assume I'll lose, whelp. You trying to tell me something about yourself?"

"Only that I'm confident. Thought you'd like a woman with confidence?"

He leans in close to her, teeth slightly exposed. "Only thing that confidence will get you is empty pockets, hunter."

Surprising him slightly, she leans in, too; so close that their noses almost touch. He can smell something sweet on her breath. "Well that depends on how well you work your hands, assassin."

"Are you two done with the foreplay?"

They both turn to see Zen giving them a tired look. It takes a moment for Natani to process what his brother said, his face flushing slightly. Before he could say anything, Wolf shrugged. "Well, no, but if you have something to do..?"

Natani cuts in before his opponent can say anything more embarrassing. "Do you want to do this or not?" He backs his head away slightly, seeing that she never moved away.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop pulling your leg." Her smile never falters; if anything, him backing away made it grow. "So, you're the one who chose to throw knives, how do you want this counted?"

"Whoever throws better from farther away wins." Simple, easy, and something that he's staked his life's work on, alongside the handful of spells he's worked out.

Now her smile falters. "That's it?" She almost sounds... disappointed?

What is the deal with this human? He nods, looking over his shoulder and watching Zen mark a crude cross over the bark of a tree. "What else were you expecting?"

"I was hoping for some bankshots, but I guess you wolves do it different in the bush."

"...what?"

"Nevermind. So," She suddenly bends down and digs her hand into the ground. After turning up the earth for a bit, she pulls back her hand with a bit of dirt in them, then rubs the dirt between her palms. While he stares at her doing this bizarre action she continues. "Whoever goes first technically has the disadvantage, because all the second person has to do is one-up the other and win if they go far enough. Being so kind, I shall do the honors."

Natani shrugs, himself. He's not about to turn down an advantage freely given. "Go right ahead, then."

Standing right where she upturned the soil, she pulls a knife from... somewhere. He can see the multitude of pockets she has, but none of them seem to be able to carry a knife. As she holds the blade, he almost raises a brow ridge at her technique, then chalks it up to being a foreigner. Then, almost like a strike of lightning, her arm snaps out, the knife singing through the air and landing dead center of the cross mark with a surprisingly heavy thunk. She then leans theatrically forwards and pretends to shield her eyes from a non-existent sun, as if she has a hard time seeing the target, then states "Fifteen paces. Easy enough to start out, right?"

He's about to respond, but then an applause cuts him off. All three of them look back in the direction of the sound, finding the long-eared woman watching them with a smile on her face. At all their looks, she stops, then frowns back at them. "What? It's not every night that I get entertainment on the road."

"...okay." Wolf looks back to Natani. "Careful, you got a girl to impress, now."

Zen speaks up from the sidelines, side-eyeing the human. "Says the other girl playing with knives."

"That's because I'm trying to impress myself, Zen."

"...are you sure we can't stab her and make off with the money?"

Natani doesn't hide the laugh, pretending he laughs at what Wolf said. "What, because she's the one woman you can't woo in a heartbeat? If anything, I almost want to keep her around just for that, alone."

"Ass." Zen rolls his eyes. "Just in case she doesn't mess this up, we still have our backup, right?"

"Right. Hope it doesn't come to that; we need to be careful not to shatter our mana crystals."

"Same, here." A beat. "And I'm not trying to 'woo' her, she's human, for the Mask's sake."

"Right..." All he gets back is a scoff, which tells him all he needs to know.

Natani takes about ten paces away from Wolf's mark, making another on the ground with a claw from his paw. Ruffling around in his robes, he pulls out a knife of his own. Giving it a flourish, he places it between his index and middle finger and-

"What are you doing?"

-stops to look over at Wolf, seeing her giving his hand a confused look. "What?"

She points at him. "You're holding it-" Then cuts herself off, a look of concentration crossing her face. "Nevermind."

"..." He resumes his stance, ignoring the outburst. Holding his wrists in, he flicks his wrists out sideways, the knife sailing through the air and landing right next to the other knife. "There, not too hard."

Both of them go up to the target, pulling out their knives and walking back. The basitin claps. Zen looks bored.

Wolf goes up to the mark he made, then keeps going another ten paces further. Lazily, she holds up her knife and squints in an exaggerated fashion. "Startin' to get tough to see the target in this light, eh? Could be asleep, if we decided to do this in the morning."

Holding up her offhand to her mouth, she covers a yawn at the same time she reels her hand back and chucks her knife.

The absurdity of not looking at her target from over thirty paces away is blasted away from his and Zen's shared shock of the knife hitting dead center.

After finishing her yawn, the hunter drags a heel of her boot on the ground, making a line. "There. Not too hard, right?" She repeats back to him.

...they need the backup plan, now.

With a short glance to Zen, and a 'worried' rubbing of his sides in response to his brothers glance, Natani chooses to ignore the human's mocking and walk right pass her, continuing for another ten paces then, after some thought, another five on top. Turning around, he sees the human giving him that same look from earlier.

She steps off to the side, still watching him. "Uh, I get that this is a competition, but usually we start slowing down to eek out another foot or whatever."

As he readies his knife, the wolf says to Wolf "Well this is how wolves do it." then-

-"Now!"

As the human shakes her head at him, muttering something under her breath, Zen clasps onto a mana crystal hidden inside his robes. Natani feels between their link a pulling force, then he feels it in his hand as the knife leaves his digits. The knife flies in a perfect arc, whistling through the air until-

-it hits the mark. Perfect.

Wolf casually looks over at the tree, and the look on her face is priceless. The basitin is equally quiet, looking genuinely impressed at the 'throw'.

Now it's Natani's turn to grin, fangs flashing a smug look. "There. Not too hard."

It takes her a few seconds to respond, voice flat. "Damn."

Natani continues. "Now, I don't know if this is too much for you furless folk, but I'd understand if you'd start feeling... intimidated." He closes his eyes, basking in his victory well-assured. "But hey, since we're nice and all, I'll give you a couple of pointers if you're still intent on heading into the village." He opens his eyes. "But first, I believe you owe us-"

She strolled right up to him while his eyes were closed, then stands right behind him. Without breaking eye contact - and her eyes are sharp - she drags a boot through the ground with exaggerated slowness. What's left is a line drawn about one pace further back; exactly what she suggested earlier.

Something in her voice sends a shiver down his tail. "It's not over until Lord Shaxx sings, friend; and he's very nervous about his singing."

He doesn't know who this 'Lord Shaxx' is, but whatever she said had weight to it. Regardless, he tries one last time. "This is pretty far away, you sure you want to keep going?"

Her brow raises ever so slightly. "Are you going to keep begging for a win?"

His eyes narrow. "I don't beg."

She ever so slightly nods her head to the tree. "Knives. Then we'll see about that."

They go and retrieve their knives, then Wolf takes her time walking back, kicking random bits of leaves and branches out of the way. Zen calls out to her. "Hey, we don't have all night, I'd like to get some shuteye."

"Don't worry," The human returns, turning at the mark and... looking up? For a second, Natani swears he sees a razor-shard smile on her face, but the light from the campfire flickers and it's gone. "I'll be quick."

She reels her arm back, knife in hand, then throws the knife up?

...what?

It genuinely throws Natani for a bit, because the arc is so off-mark that it wouldn't even hit the range of her last throw that she didn't even watch, much less where she is. Zen, on the other hand, chuffs a laugh at her. "Wow, that has to be the worst throw I've ever-"

Then the knife comes spinning back down to earth and, instead of planting itself into the dirt like he expected it bounces. He can almost see the moment the pommel of the knife hits it perfectly, the spin slowing in favor of launching itself forward, bouncing off the ground again-

Right above his knife, the impact prying it off the trunk and lamely falling to the ground with a barely audible thud.

With a casual saunter, the human makes her way up to her knife, the only sound in the clearing being her footfalls. She yanks her knife out of the tree, pauses for a moment, then crouches down to pick up his. All eyes are on her as she walks up to him, then holds his knife out to him handle-first.

"Your-"

"-turn, fluff." She says casually, drinking in the oddly hilarious slackjaw looks she's being given. It's strange, seeing it on a canine muzzle, but the effect is the same.

Internally, she's laughing her ass off. "Oh, those lessons with Efrideet are so worth it."

"Right, and not all those times it saved me from rezzing you too soon?" Ghost quips.

"Naw, that's just standard affairs and what not. It's way more fun like this."

It takes a while longer, but Natani eventually takes his knife from her. "That was a throw and a half. Where'd you learn to do that?"

Wolf just gives him a crooked smile. "Fishing for tips on how to win, are we?" She shakes her head. "But seriously, I learned that from both a lot of practice, some self-inflicted stab wounds, and a Lady to impress."

"...oh."

"Yeah," She twist around him and, deciding it's worth it, gives him a slap on the rump. "Now come on, top that and I'll finally be out of tricks, trust."

He flinched, spine going rigid and- and then something at the back of his robe flips up. She looks down, jumping back at the sudden movement thinking it was a retaliatory kick...

Natani turns around, voice an octave or two higher than she remembers, his free hand going to his backside. "D-don't do that!"

Her head slowly turns to the side, trying to get a look behind him. "Is..." She loosely points a finger, then gives up halfway. Wolf licks her suddenly dry lips, as if that would get rid of her confusion. "I, uh, didn't know wolves' tails were that fluffy. I mean, I saw an old, dead keidran and there was a- you know what, nevermind." She shakes her head. "Go throw your knife, or whatever."

As Natani patters off to do just that, she slides up to Zen, who's giving her a wary look. She looks right back at him. "What?"

"You're... pretty awful at talking, aren't you." The words are phrased like a question, but his tone is all accusatory. She hates accusatory tones, even when she herself does it.

"Yup. Secretly, I'm being told what to do by a ghost possessing me; I'm just some meat-puppet for it."

"...meat-puppet?"

"Meat-puppet."

He scoffs, which sounds weird coming from a wolf. "You're insane."

"Took you long enough to realize it."

Now, the wolf laughs. Not for long, however; he sobers up as he focuses on his brother's next throw. While he does that, she does another pass over the taller assassin. Much like the other wolf - and Klein, for that matter - they wear robes that cover over most everything except their extremities; hands, head, even the hints of paws that Klein hinted at having show up while they walk. Having to move around on such little surface area must be a testament to some measure of balance for the species. Although, she wonders if having a tail while being bipedal even helps, but sussing out how evolution works isn't her wheelhouse, plus she's no ink-drinker, so...

She 'nudges' Ghost. "So he did something? You're certain?"

She feels a stir of Light from within herself. "Positive. They definitely did something, I just don't know what, yet."

She shuffles a few ideas around in her skull, but a fairly obvious one comes to mind. "Could always see if Void suppression works? If i get caught, I can just turn the tables right back on them."

As Natani lines up the throw, Wolf gets a bit closer to Zen and, as Ghost informs her of the disturbance coming up, slaps a hand on Zen's shoulder. As he flinches from it, she pulses a bit of cold, suppressing smoke from her hand, causing whatever he was cooking up to fall flat from under her fingertips. The knife leaves Natani's hand, sailing barely over half the distance before lamely flipping across the forest floor.

And so does Natani, collapsing to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.