Hunting for herbs(open)

Kirin shrugged, but still didn't put her blade away. She had learned long ago not to trust wolves or any predators. They hunted her sheep after all, and she needed those sheep for a living. Gritting her teeth, Kirin eyed Shimmer warily. It was interesting for a human to befriend a wolf, and impressive, all the same.

Tom walked over to her then, and said, "I don't believe I know your name." Kirin flashed him a brief smile, opening her mouth to introduce herself. But before she could, a rustling sound burst from the bushes, growing closer and closer, and Tom immediately brushed his previous statement away. Kirin though was already bringing her dagger back out, straightening into a fighting stance; slightly bent at the waist, knife in place. She could tell by the rustling that it was an animal; she'd already heard enough to last a lifetime at her farm.

A giant paw stepped out from the leaves. Cursing under her breath, Kirin threw the knife into the bushes, wanting to get it over with. There was a sharp scream and a giant bobcat flew out, her dagger embedded inside its muscular shoulder. Blood was seeping freely from the wound, to Kirin's sick delight. Still, it wasn't enough to completely kill the thing. "I'm Kirin, by the way," she told Tom, just for the heck of it. Then, narrowing her eyes, she drew out a much longer blade, almost like a sword - except not quite. Kirin was immediately glad that she'd had tons of practice with skinning the wool off of sheep - and sparring with her brother back home.

The bobcat crouched onto the ground, keeping its green eyes fixed on the three humans and wolf in front of it. Kirin arched an eyebrow, challenging it, but that was before she heard another noise, a noise that alerted all her senses and blocked out the danger of the bobcat at once. A familiar buzzing sound, heading their way.

Tracker jackers.

Forget the freaking bobcat, Kirin thought wildly. Take care of the tracker jackers first. But that was easier said than done. She took Mollee's advice at once and ran off, not glancing back to see if she and Tom had done the same thing. Glancing back would only slow her down, and God knows she didn't need that at the moment.

She could hear their annoying buzzing sounds in her ears, non stop and threatening. Cursing under her breath, Kirin swerved around a large oak tree and heard the satisfying smack as the tracker jackers slammed into it, not being able to reverse directions as fast. Their absent sound was reassuring. Now she couldn't get stung. There were better things to do than seeing hallucinations.

And that was when Kirin saw Shimmer.

He was fast and sleek, running straight forward, as if he knew where to go. Well, Kirin thought dryly. If the wolf knows, then I might as well follow. Maybe Tom and Mollee'll be there, too. But the chances of that was unlikely. She knew that they'd probably split up. Still, Kirin followed, and watched, until Shimmer seemingly disappeared. And then, a few seconds later, Tom was there, "disappearing" as well. She knew it could probably be an illusion, but she ducked behind a tree all the same. Now Kirin was staring at an arrow notched, pointed at her chest, unwavering. Mollee was standing behind the bow.

Wasn't she - She sighed, and shook her head. Clearly she was running this way too. Oh well. "They're gone," Kirin began, inhaling deeply until her breathing was back to normal. "Well, they didn't follow me anyway, and I don't think they'll find us here. So you can point that bow somewhere else."

Kirin forced herself to stay calm, but Mollee's arrow didn't budge. Well, she thought dryly. This is going well. But that was before Tom arrived, popping almost out of nowhere, advising Mollee to drop the bow. Kirin immediately wondered if the bow was Tom's, and then decided that she was probably right. It seemed that both he and Shimmer knew this place well, so any weapons around must probably belong to them, too.

And then the noise of the trackers was back.

"Get inside," Kirin repeated, more of a statement than a question. She could feel her body trembling to the buzzing of the tracker jackers, wanting to both run and stay. "Right. Uh, how do we do that? Where is this place anyway?" She still couldn't exactly make out the hideout, just the thin, almost invisible outline of it all. It was carefully hidden, and impressive.