Backpacking Adventure (Stormwind)

Annie finished her food shortly after him, feeling eyes on her and she looked up, her ears drooping back in a cute way and she blushed heavily under her fur as she saw him looking at her, "D-do I have something on my face?" She asked quietly, her tails laying out on the ground behind them.

Oliver felt his heart begin to pump a little faster when Annie leaned her head on his shoulder, loving the feeling of their closeness. Taking a deep breath, the bobcat finished his foot and set the plate to the side, turning and watching her eat until he made eye contact with her. She was pressed so close to him, and he couldn't find the words to speak as they locked eyes.

Annie quietly ate beside her friend, her tails wagging and she leaned softly against him while munching on her food.

Oliver soon tired of sitting in the opposite direction of the sunset and moved to face it, scooting right alongside the fox in the process, almost as close together as they'd been in the airplane. He didn't notice, glancing distractedly over the illuminated landscape between bites.

"Up with the sun, down with the sun" She chuckled softly, getting her plate once it was done and she began eating, her tails swaying as she sat there.

"Then hopefully it stays nice tomorrow, so we can get a real move on." Finally, rubbing his hands together to signal a job well done, Oliver announced "Tent's ready just in case though!" It wasn't huge by any stretch, but he'd bought the three person tent by the recommendation of the internet, who said that things would be cozy rather than cramped that way. Smiling, he turned around and sat cross-legged in the floor, putting his plate in his lap and waiting for Annie to eat.

She chuckled as she watched him, her tails wagging while she started cooking, "I checked the weather before we left my place, its supposed to be nice, but things change quickly" She said softly, getting his plate ready first and setting it aside for him when he was done.

"Then you must also know I was joking about cooking!" Oliver replied, sticking his tongue out cutely at her until a pole he'd bent into place snapped out of where it needed to be, causing the bobcat to mutter some inaudible curse and get on his knee to fix it.

"You know I'm joking around" She said softly as she got everything ready to cook, sitting by her "station" and she let her tails sway softly.

"Whatever you say." Oliver shrugged, taking care not to move too fast, just in case she had hurt herself more than it seemed she had. When they reached the top of the embankment he gladly handed her the portion of the cookware he'd brought and then started laying out a tarp for their tent, the sun setting before them all the while.

Annie looked up when he stood, softly taking his hand and she stood with his help, keeping a hold of his hand just in case, "How about you set up the tent, and I cook" She offered with a soft laugh.

Oliver gave Annie a quick, comforting squeeze, and then carefully stood up, offering his hand to the fox to help her get up as well. "Let's get back to the trail, I'll set up our tent and then get dinner going for us."

Anita sniffled and whimpered softly, staying pressed close, she slowly looked up at the sky, giving a small smile, "Its beautiful.." She said softly, her tails slightly wagging, but she was still trembling.

"You didn't ruin anything, anyway." Oliver replied earnestly, hugging her tightly. "We'll camp here for the night just to make sure we don't push you too hard. We wouldn't have made it much farther anyways." As he spoke, he noticed the sun setting over the valley, casting an array of beautiful colors across the sky. "Annie, look at that." He breathed, somewhat awestruck.

"That's because you were the only one at my party besides my cousins... Remember that was the year I lost almost all my friends besides you" She mumbled, pressing as close as she could to her best friend, "Oli... I had just wanted you to feel better because I thought it was my fault... It was my trampoline after all" She sighed, her tails curled tightly around herself.

"For what? Everyone makes mistakes." Oliver soothed, putting both arms around her now that she was buried in his chest. "Like when I broke my arm on your trampoline at your seventh birthday party." One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile. I thought I ruined your party, but you were so excited to sign my cast you forgot all about that."

She flinched as she felt his touch, almost pulling away before she nuzzled closer to him, hiding her face in his chest as she trembled, slowly calming down but still fairly upset as she held onto him, "I-I'm sorry Oli..." She said quietly.

Oliver flinched at her words. Despite knowing them to not be true, it still made him angry that she had to feel that way about herself. After giving her a moment of space, he scooted over closer to her, and put an arm over her shoulder comfortingly again. He didn't speak as she whimpered, letting her have a moment to collect herself before he tried to comfort her.

She slowly sat back down at his command, her ears drooped and she gave a soft whimper, "I knew I'd do this... I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this, I'm already wrecking the trip and we haven't even been on the trail for an hour!" She pulled her knees close to herself and she wrapped her tails around herself, trembling softly and whimpering, her ears flat against her head and she closed her eyes tightly in an attempt to stop herself from crying.

Oliver watched her stand, then stumble, a dangerous movement on the fairly steep hill. The last thing they needed was to fall any further down. "No, just sit for a minute, you're too dizzy." He commanded, something that was quite unlike his usual laid-back self. Though he didn't reply yet, more focused on her welfare, he wanted to tell her that she had no need to feel sorry for something so beyond her control, and silently cursed her previous relationships for harming her self-confidence.

"Yeah.. Just a bit bruised I think" She said softly, sighing as she looked up, "Sorry" She said quietly, slowly getting up and she stumbled a bit, still dizzy from the tumble she took.

"Shit," Oliver muttered under his breath, dropping his pack at the edge of the trail and half-sprinting-half sliding down the hill to reach Anita's side. "You alright, Annie?" He huffed, a bit breathless from the effort of traversing the slope quickly without getting hurt himself.

She smiled and wagged her tails, she jogged back up the trail whenever he caught up, she wore a tank top and short shorts, showing off her curves, her tails swayed and she continued to stop and wait before running ahead of him again, she kept this up until her ankle ended up giving out and she hit the ground fairly hard, rolling a small way down the hill and she whined softly as she sat up, rubbing her head softly.

"How about you get back here!?" He retorted, laughing as he started to run with his heavy bag in an attempt to catch up to the nine-tailed fox.

Annie climbed out on her own, playfully shoving her friend out of the way before she grabbed her bags, slinging them over her shoulders, looking to the trail, "Come on slowpoke!" She giggled, her tails raised and fanned out as she jogged toward the trail, looking back and smiling.