Cold Blood

Chapter 1: When Wolf Meets Viper

A woman was quietly reading a book, sitting up in one of the many tall, gigantic trees in Sumeru's rainforest, without a care in the world. She messed with a small ball of vines in her hand, a book of botany in her hand, humming softly, enjoying the sticky weather of the rainforest. Enjoying the quiet.

Meanwhile, a group of eremites, known as the scorpions, had everything to worry about. Matri was a terrible planner, and she did not plan for reinforcements. It left them scattered, but they should all be able to make it back to Port, hopefully. Maziri ran through the forest, getting smacked in the face by a giant leaf.

The woman, who was reading quietly, looked down and started laughing at him, thinking it was comical that he ended up getting smacked by a random giant leaf. He looked up, trying to find the source of the noise. It was hard to see whoever it was, but he could see someone. Great, a witness, there wasn't supposed to be any witnesses. Maziri looked back before he sighed and started climbing up the tree. He could keep them quiet that way. She closed her book as he got to the top of the tree where she was sitting. "It's funny to see an Eremite here..it's quite a rare sight to me.." she muttered, smiling a bit. Maziri caught his breath once he got up, "Probably better for the both of us if you say you never saw me," he replied, because otherwise he would push her out of the tree and let them get her instead. He really didn't want to do that, not to someone innocently reading in some random tree.
"Hm...Maziri, correct?" she asked, tilting her head, fixing her bracelet as she smirked.

Maziri looked over at her, then narrowed his eyes, "...Yes?" He replied, it wasn't strange for people to know his name, but it was strange for someone to smirk at him like that. "What's it to you?"

"I'm assuming you know of a little fox that has been around these parts," she said, "specifically an inazuman fox."
Maziri stared at her, then groaned, resting his back against the branch as he stretched back. "You're the fox?" He asked, "Why'd you let us do all that?" His cheeks flushed from the embarrassment.
She laughed and shrugged, "I like toying with people... it's fun..." she said, "Besides, life is much simpler as a 'pet'" she said. Maziri was about to reply when suddenly thunder came from below. He quickly hid himself from view, but also pressed his hand against her mouth and gestured for her to keep quiet. A bunch of mercenaries ran past; they were going too quickly to notice the footprints ended at the tree, thankfully.

"What are you hiding from?" She said, "They're just simple mercs..not hard to fight."

Maziri rolled his eyes and backed away, "It isn't about them, it's about who hired them," he replied, "Less chance of it being traced back to us if we do things quietly," he explained, "and we're all scattered, it was a terrible plan from the start," he added in a grumble.
"Hmm, maybe you could use the help of your fox, I've been in 'hiding' for years.." she said, smiling slyly. "Illusions are amazing little things."

Maziri thought for a moment, "Are you homeless?" He asked, randomly.

Esme stayed quiet for a moment before huffing, "As far as you know, apart from the fox form that your friends so dearly love, yes." She replied

Maziri nodded once, "Good, it's basically the only requirement for our recruitment," he replied, "We will charge you rent for your fox's stay though, pretty impolite to crash in one's home without asking."
"Hey, you guys willingly took me in!"

Maziri shrugged, "And? Tell me you got some mora, or are you broke too?" He asked drily
"I've got a few bits of mora.."

Maziri sighed, "Not great," he muttered, but shook his head, "Where are you from? Inazuma?" He asked, referring to her fox form.
She looked away for a moment, staying quiet, "Khaenri'ah." She replied, "I'm an old sack of bones." She joked