Blacktail Deer Plateau See myself molded in clay

perhaps @Aditya but anyone is welcome! <3

After a day of resting and laziness, activities that she had sworn against the day of her joining, Kaevo wandered west, following the scent of the river. It was dusk and the sky had become a  cold blue-gray. Eventually, the dark she-wolf emerged from the forest and found the snowy meadow yawning before her. the idea had come to her the other day to start creating nice stash of small animals that could be frozen and kept for snacks (or something). she could present this to her leaders and thus prove herself a worthy woman of morningside. 

her leathered paws moved easily over the glittering snow pack, despite the slippery surface. kaevo assumed her hunting position, head low, tail straight out, searching with the movement of a sly polecat. there must be rabbits here, and voles, burrowed beneath the ice. it would be a job to dig them out without scaring them off, a job that the young female did not know if she was up for. but she had to do something with herself, otherwise she would surely go insane. her nose twitched, ears cupped alertly forward, and kaevo moved slowly across the meadow.

hope you don't mind me!

 

Raid deposits her latest catch in the cache before exiting the site once more, feeling somewhat restless. Today had been full of headaches and fragments of memories which made no sense in bits and pieces - she needs more before she can understand anything. With a shake of her head, Raid fluffs her coat and pads forward, hoping to clear her mind as she breaks free from the treeline, emerging into a snowy meadow.

She's about to leap forward and roll around in the snow, just for the sake of it, when her nostrils flare - there's a new scent. Raid glances around until her amber gaze lands on a somewhat familiar figure. The girl - Kaevo, if she remembers the name correctly - is covered in a pelt of sleek ink, pure uninterrupted blackness which stands out starkly against the white background of the snow. It's bad camouflage for winter and for hunting in winter in general, but it makes her easy for Raid to spot, and she thinks Kaevo looks cool and pretty, especially as she moves now, all tall and slinking and inky, like a graceful cat. 

Raid watches silently, almost amused at how quickly she's been charmed by the other girl - and the girl isn't even doing anything on purpose. This is not their first encounter - they've met before, with Grayday, and had already thought the girl was beautiful then, all tall and pretty eyed.

not at all!  glad you joined :)

there is a skittering noise and kaevo pauses momentarily,  slightly overlarge ears twisting like satellites in an attempt to discover the noise.  but instead,  another sound interrupts... footsteps, she thinks.  turning her lengthy neck,  she alters her stance and finds the warm chocolate hued woman watching her a distance away.  they have indeed met beforehand and kaevo feels a skyly familair skipping in her heart. the woman is beautiful. a small smile appears on kaevo's dark lips as the irritation dissipates;  oddly,  she is quite pleased to see raid again.  

"hey," she greets,  taking a smooth step towards the other. her tail rests coolly between her heels.

Raid watches as Kaevo pauses and turns. She feels the other's orange gaze on herself more than she sees it and quickly averts her own gaze, shuffling her feet awkwardly. She's been caught staring once - she doesn't necessarily want to be caught twice. Too occupied with appearing discreet and casual, Raid doesn't see the smile on the girl's face, but she does hear the soft greeting and almost reluctantly, the aspiring medic lifts her chocolate crown and makes eye contact. "Hi," the amnesiac murmurs in turn and allows a polite smile to flit across her lips. She's always been quiet and shy around strangers, but it's worse around those she finds attractive - a bit ironic how the only time she needs full use of her tongue and her brain's articulate eloquency, she's tongue-tied and stupidly speechless.

The earth-toned woman had stared at her during their last encounter,  but now she seemed reluctant to make eye contact.  It was confusing to Kaevo,  who didnt know whether this was a case of attraction,  or if Raiden was just shy and awkward,  or both.  In any case,  Kaevo didn't want her to be uncomfortable.  She continued to smile, even letting her tail lift up and swish once or twice.  "you wanna catch some mice?" she glanced across the snowy meadow.  "or whatever is under there." maybe doing something would help Raid feel a little better,  more comfortable. Activity certainly did that for kaevo.

Kaevo continues to smile and Raid feels her muscles relax as the tension evaporates. She's nervous, especially since she doesn't know what the other girl thinks about her given that she'd been caught checking her out during their last encounter, but Kaevo hasn't said much about that - hasn't said anything about it, really. Raid knows what she wants, what she wishes, but she also knows that reality is never really as kind and the majority of the wolfish population aren't particularly inclined to fall in love with the same gender. She doesn't want to expect anything. But as she stares into those orange orbs and Raid's gaze falls to the smile, she feels her breath catch, just a bit, and though it's really quite impossible to like somebody you know nothing about, the amnesiac knows the erratic pounding of her heart isn't necessarily because of shortness of breath due to too much exercise (firstly, because she hasn't been moving in first place) or because of the cold. 

Kaevo's tail swings behind her amiably and she invites Raid to catch mice. The chocolate medic's glances at her, then at the meadow surrounding them, then back at her again and tilts her head, a hesitant smile spreading across her lips. There's a bit of confusion in her eyes, and if the way she's biting her bottom lip is any indication at all - she's nervous, but she wants to get to know Kaevo more. "Yeah, sure, sounds fun," Raid agrees quietly, smiling shyly at the other girl.

Kaevo had a warm,  pleasant feeling in her chest. It was familiar, but it was something she had not felt for months.  She thought of the few encounters she'd had during her time as a loner,  the thrills and the fun of mutual attraction, the hopeful daydreaming if where it might lead.  She never knew what she really wanted, and none of it had lasted too long, but she was pleased nevertheless,  to have this feeling again.  Raid was beautiful,  and her shyness and her mannerisms seemed to amplify her beauty somehow, rather than diminishing it. She was kind of adorable. 

Kaevo was glad when the girl accepted, coming up beside her and bumping her shoulder with her snout,  just softly,  and said,  "c'mon... " Then,  she slunk back into her hunting posture,  moving slowly,  ears twitching in search of that skittering noise.

Beautiful. That isn't a word Raid has associated with her often. She doesn't think she's attractive - at best, she's above average but she's never been pretty in the way Kaevo is. She's always, as far as she can remember, been the small, adorable one. It's always been the others who attracted attention, male ond female alike - those who are tall and slim, bearing long lissome legs and an outgoing personality. She has none of that, what with having below average height, a nothing special face and the shyest, most reserved personality to ever exist on this planet. Thing is, Raid's not angry or insecure about that. She's pretty secure with her image and who she is, content to wait for someone to fall for who she is really is - but it means that every girl or boy she finds attractive, she also finds to be way out of her league. There's no way they'll like her, she's sure.

Kaevo bumps Raid's shoulder with her snout and the girl swallows and forces a smile on her face, trying to pretend to be a suave, charming person - and probably failing. She gives herself a shake and tilts her head in that 'I don't know if I can do this' manner but adopts a similar posture to Kaevo's. Chocolate brown ears swivel as they search for a telltale noise, but Raid's not really concentrating on the hunt.

@Raid I suck.  I'm so sorry. 

Raid gives a cute sort of smile,  and Kaevo returns a small grin as she stalks forward.  She thinks she might return to the spot where she'd heard the noise originally,  and heads in that direction.  Once she reaches the general area,  she pauses and her ears prick, tilting her snout down to listen for activity nearby. After a moment she hears nothing,  and turns to Raid with a frown.  

"Do you hear anything?  Because I definitely don't." She chuffs softly.  She isn't deeply frustrated however as this isn't a hunt that she is taking seriously. Half of her focus belongs to the cocoa girl accompanying her.

it's no problem! take your time :)

 

Kaevo grins and Raid ducks her head almost shyly. Though she does think the other is attractive and interesting, it is not a strange sight to see the chocolate girl avoiding eye contact with strangers. There is something strangely intimate about the meeting of eyes and sometimes, Raid feels like whenever she does it, the other has a clear opening into the depths of her soul. It makes her feel vulnerable, and she's not ready for that with anyone. Well, there was someone, but she doubts...nevermind. It doesn't matter, not anymore.

Raid follows Kaevo, paws landing as softly as possible as she stalks forward. Dark ears prick and swivel, trying to catch any hint of sound, or any scent but the crisp winter air is empty of anything which would indicate prey and she hears little to nothing. It appears it's not only her, and Kaevo turns to look at Raiden, a frown creasing her brows. It's cute. Raid swallows, tries to tell herself the sudden thumping of her heart has nothing to do with attraction. It's half truth. Some of it, maybe, the other - as much as she hates this, much as she thinks she wants nothing to do with her, the frown reminds her of someone else. 

"Um," Raid ducks her head to lick at the wayward strands of fur on her chest and clears her throat. "No, can't hear anything either."