[OOC - After Con and Lynx have posted twice the NPC Bear can come into play.]

Careful steps trod the soft mud of the dark forest, leaving light impressions in the black dirt. The Enchanted Forest was no place for a pup to be, at least in the opinion of most, but not to Conláed. It was a good place for his plan, having things to weave around and shadows to hide within. He wondered if pack wolves and other creatures would be fearful of such a place as this, when there was nothing really to be afraid of but the darkness, which was a very nonsensical thing to fear when he thought about it since night was going to fall upon the lands at the end of every day. Even in the short period of time that he had existed, he had seen that the stars never failed to present themselves and were actually one of the few consistent things that recurred. He was quite certain that most of his brothers and sisters wouldn’t think twice about wandering into the depths of these woods. They had been brought up knowing that as rogues they would be able to go wherever they pleased and do what they wanted, not tied to a pack or any one place, so in a way they didn’t have much of a pre-programmed fear of the unknown. Conláed in particular didn't seem to fear anything. From what he assumed and what he had heard from his mother, pups from packs were closely guarded and would not be allowed to go wherever they wished. Even he and his siblings were not supposed to go far from home, since there were dangers around that they could not protect themselves from alone, yet he still got away to investigate things whenever his mother was away or distracted. For pups in a pack, he could understand they were treasured since they were the next generation to continue the life of the pack, but why was it necessary for him to be watched over all the time? After all, if he was forgotten about and left on his own it would be less for his mother to worry about and feed. The young brute ran his tongue across his maw at that thought. Perhaps others didn’t think about things so practically as him. Really, it was probably more significant that he wasn’t so apt at considering the importance of abstract concepts, such as love. If he had been, he would understand more of why his mother cared for him so much.

'The trees look like skeletons, with bones covered by rotting flesh...'

He stalked deeper through the mass of spindly, crooked trees, his ears pricked and swivelling to every noise and his green eyes scanning around him. What he was doing was dangerous, especially on his own, but he didn't fear for his life. For him it was all about pushing boundaries and constantly learning, because the more he knew the better he could use his knowledge for survival, and this test was to practice the art of outsmarting. The young brute wasn't so blinded by hope and desire that he wouldn't abort his mission if it started to fall apart either, so if anything, he would at least have something to occupy his striving mind and something to spend his time on. He had timed it so that he had arrived at the forest in the late afternoon, when the sun was not so bright but there was enough visibility for him to see around him should he need a quick escape. About a quarter of a mile back he had picked up the scent of blood at the edge of the woods, and from the trail it seemed that the prey had either been limping or been dragged into the forest so that whatever had killed the creature could consume it in peace. At that moment he wasn't sure which predator it was exactly, since he hadn't come across the scent before. He didn't need to know that though to know that an animal wasn't going to give up its food without a protest, he knew that enough from his siblings at mealtimes. How it was going to go down he couldn't know for sure, since he didn't know what he was faced with, but he could picture how the other beast would react. He would find out soon enough. The trail grew more pungent as it was fresher the nearer he got to the corpse's location. The 'pup' stopped for a moment in the shadows, gathering his thoughts together before he delved into action. It was then that he heard the steps of another off to his side. Pausing his stream of thoughts and ideas, he glanced in the direction of the approacher, peering slightly around a tree trunk in order to see who else was wandering beneath the dark branches.