An offer to nature itself, Part 1 of 4

Pushing aside bushes and branches in her path, a lone night elf strolled through Sholazar Basin. It wasn’t uncommon to see such adventurers exploring the almost mystical like jungles in Northrend. Given that the land was known for its ice, snow and cold, to see warmth and tropic plants growing there came as a surprise. In addition, the basin held many riches which drew adventurers in from all around, be it to look for lost titan treasures, mine the precious supplies of ores and crystals or join in the hunt for animals for their fur and meats.
In fact, it was the animals of the basin that drew most adventurers in. Armed and armoured, they set about hunting all matter of dangerous and exotic beasts. So it wasn’t uncommon to see a heavily armoured person walk by carrying their fair share of furs for a hunt. But the night elf that walked through the underbrush was not armoured and armed like those who were there. In fact, she lacked any armour, weapons and clothing, leaving her completely naked.

Her slender form ducked under roots and over crevices, her purpose unclear as to why anyone would be in a dangerous place without any protection at all, let alone completely bare. Twice she had tumbled into the mud, forcing her to wash off in one of the various pools of water until water glittered on her body.
Calissa, as she was known as, did have a purpose to her behaviour. Those who knew her did not understand it, while those who did not understand tried to intervene, verbally or by force, but always failed as she continued her practices, much to the confusion of everyone.

Having entered the basin wearing nothing but a robe, which had long been ditched and forgotten near the entrance of the place, she had spent the last hour travelling through the jungle, looking for the location she had found the previous day. It would be perfect for her goal, isolated yet exposed just enough that only the animals would pass by.
Far away from adventurers hunting or fighting over the ores. Far away from scavengers and fighters. Far away from...
Her thoughts were rudely interrupted as she felt something grab her arm. Immediately, she prepared for the worse, but instead of violence, she heard instead a voice.

“What are you doing out here?”

The voice was a female’s and full of concern. Calissa turned her head to see a fellow night elf, dressed in leather armour and with a bow attached to her back. A long light green silk scarf wrapped once around her neck showed that she was new to the Basin, having escaped the coldness of the land elsewhere.

“Why... do you have no clothes on?” she asked, a mix of puzzled and concern in her voice as she kept a firm hold on her arm. “Are... are you ok?”

“Yes, I am fine. Thank you for asking.” Calissa replied, tugging her arm free. The night elf hunter kept close to her. “I am simply... doing something.” She replied to her concerned look, not wanting to reveal her intention.
“...But it is too dangerous to be out here like this. There are Wolvar, Horde... wild animals.” The night elf explained, still coming to terms she found Calissa naked in the middle of a jungle.
“I am aware of that. Please, understand that I am doing something important.” Calissa explained in return, unfazed by the hunter’s attempt to spook her with the dangers around them. “I am a hunter, like you, and I am well aware of what I am doing.”

“...What could be so important that you expose yourself like this?” the night elf pressed.
“...Personal importance. Please understand that.” Calissa replied again, refusing to unveil her reasons. “I have come here to do something for myself and I would like to perform it without interruption.”
“...I... I can’t... Surely you need some protection.” The elf hunter stuttered, not willing to simply leave her alone.

“I need no protection. If I did, I wouldn’t be here like this... Would I?” Calissa stated, smiling. “Rest assured, I am fine and I must perform this task alone.”

The night elf stood there, not moving despite being reassured by Calissa several times. It took many minutes of repeating and vague explaining for her to finally sigh and move on, if slowly to keep an eye on her. Calissa watched as she disappeared into the jungle, then waited a while longer as she scanned the area around her to make sure she was gone for good.
It was better this way. No-one would understand. Only she knew why she wanted to do this and the fewer interruptions she got, the better.

Within a few minutes, she had reached the location she had seen the day before. Flatten ground covered in various patches of grass, few bushes, but little else to provide cover. Small rocks dotted around the location, but aside from a single boulder, there was little else there. An exposed area of land in the jungle, one she considered to be the heart of the jungle area. And it would provide exactly what she needed.
Moving to the boulder and sitting down on it, she took a deep breath as she felt her heart race and head spin at the thought of it all. The location would leave her exposed in the middle of the jungle, unarmed and an easy target for any matter of creature that lurked in the dark shadows. All she needed was to wait for a creature to appear.
The sun shone down upon the clearing, warming her bare body as she waited. All around, she could hear distant roars and squawks of the wildlife, never granting a moment of silence. If she listened carefully, she could even heard the sounds of battle, far away, as was common due to the wolvar fighting with the gorlocs.
Time pasted as she waited, her ears twitching as she waited for a creature to emerge. She didn’t have to wait long before a giraffe emerged from the side, but upon seeing the night elf, bolted in fear. Calissa barely had the chance to perform any action before the creature was gone. And that would be one of many. Each time a creature of the basin emerged from the jungle line, they either bolted from the sight of the elf, gazed at her curiously before departing or flat out ignored her. Any attempt to move close to those that looked or ignored her resulted in them leaving even more swiftly.
Then there was a long period of no creatures emerging. As if she or something else had spooked them, she felt as if all the beasts had left the area. But, still determined, Calissa refused to leave. With a sigh, she looked around, lifting her legs up and down in boredom. She had hoped that a creature would have approached her by now, so she did not expect that she would be stuck waiting.
Out of sheer boredom, she noticed a large droplet of water on one of her breasts, having dropped down from her still drying hair. Cupping her hands up into her breasts, she started shifting the droplet left to right, moving from one breast to another as it left a small, wet trail. A smile crossed her face as she circled her breasts around, squashing them up to each other to help the water drop travel between them. Carefully, she jiggled them around, watching the water ripple and bounce on her skin.

The fun ended as soon as the droplet sunk down between her cleavage. She could keep playing with her breasts, but she would prefer to do such a thing in a secluded room with a locked door. Beside, her ears picked up movement heading towards the clearing. The rustle of leaves and snap of twigs made it easy for to identify which direction it was coming from.
At first, she saw only a moving shadow, with flickers of light appearing briefly. As she watched, she saw that the light was not natural sunlight, but instead blue, crackling as if it were lightening. When it stepped out into the light, Calissa could not help but gasp. Snow white fur, dotted with crescent spots. Eyes glowing with blue, mystical energy and a mouth which emitted a similar coloured like glow.
Loque'nahak.

Mate to Har'koa, the snow leopard loa goddess. Sought out by many a hunter. Calissa could barely believe her eyes. The spirit beast had seen her, and was slowly moving towards her. But when Calissa looked again, she saw something was off.

Dangling from the mystical creature’s mouth, was a light green scarf, exactly like the one the night elf hunter who had stopped her before was wearing. And as Loque'nahak got closer, Calissa could see a wiggling bugle, poking out from either side of its stomach, muffled cries emitting from within as it wobbled about from movement.
Loque'nahak passed by Calissa, the night elf only able to watch as the creature moved on, carrying with him the night elf hunter from before as it disappeared into the jungle once again. Calissa watched and waited until he was gone before muttering out a curse. Her chance with such a creature was gone.

She continued to wait, but thanks to the spirit beast’s presence nearby, it had effectively scared off all matter of creatures from the location. In addition, she had no intention of moving away from this spot, mainly because she had a feeling she would easily get lost and she had not intended on this taking so long. By now, many hours had passed since she first came to the Basin.
A gentle breeze rustled the trees around her, bringing with it the echoes of beasts far away. The rock beneath her grew uncomfortable as she waited, the images of Dalaran’s cushioned Inns flickering into her mind. Her ears twitched as she listened for anything that approached, but time was making her uneasy with doubt starting to seep into her mind.

Each shift of movement taunted her, each snap of twigs made her twitch. Her heart raced inside her chest, waiting for action to jump out at her without warning. But what did emerge was no furred beast or exploring adventurer. This creature moved in fluid motion along the ground, brown scales glittering slightly in the sun light as it skimmed slowly over the leaves and twigs, passing by her feet without so much as a notion that it has seen her.

Calissa watched as the slithering reptile started curling itself around a tree, slowly making its way up, marvelling at the length of such a creature. Easily longer than any cobra which stalked around the homes of the Oracles, yet not a sign of aggression could be seen from the creature. It moved gently and calmly around and up into the tree. The elf watched the bronzed scales gleam as the large snake draped itself across a branch.
Calissa could only watch and smile as the snake seemingly did its own thing. Did it see her, or did it not care? Either way, it did not leave like the many beasts before. Perhaps...
Extending an arm, she moved it slowly in a slow wave, an attempt to attract attention without spooking it. She was careful and caution with her movement, watching for any signs that would indicate shock or fear. The snake’s head shifted slightly, tilting until it’s black, glittering eyes were staring at the elf.  It made no other movement, save to flick out its tongue briefly, but made no movement to advance or flee.
Calissa focused, bringing her hunter training into practise. While hunters were good at tracking and slaying... they were also good at forming bonds with any willing creature. The snake did not appear to show any warnings of aggression, which allowed Calissa to start forming one of the bonds, enticing the snake to approach her.

At first, the snake did not move, still gazing at her with the two black eyes. Then, slowly, it started to shift, the lower end of its body dragging up along the tree as its head circled around, approaching closer to the elf. With a cautious move of her hand, Calissa let the snake rest it’s head into her palm, gently rubbing the underside of its mouth. The snake flicked its tongue out, lifting its head up as the elf continued to tickle under with a single finger.

“You... Yes, you are good one.” Calissa murmured out, “You’ll be perfect.”

............................................................................................................................

Calissa returns as dinner for yet another co lab.

This time we have Donutwish doing the linework:



Me doing the colouring, and Icey providing the story of the lovely *prey* night elf, Calissa.



To be continued ofc

Wow (c) Blizzard