Big Salmon Lake Almost like home

He hadn't been gone from home for more than a few months but he already missed the place, the lake that routinely had salmon to catch but was also populated by bears frequently because of it. When he entered this new land he hadn't been expecting to find a place just like it, but he had stumbled upon this lake and settled himself there for some time.

He'd left about a month later than Awinita had, finding hinself unable to live there while her scent faded and everyone continued in like it was nothing. Her mother and father had tried explaining to him that it was natural for a wolf to want to go off from their family and start their own path, but it hadn't seemed right to him. She was his betrothed and his best friend, they were supposed to do everything together but she had given all that up and left him. The thought made him so damn angry! As his temper flared he struck a paw against the water and growled, odd unnatural eyes gleaming with rage. After a few moments of staring down at his reflection he looked away and across the lake. "Was I just not good enough?" He murmured.

The wraith picked her way across the lake's edge, ripples spreading every time her limb slipped like a knife through the featureless surface. It was cold, but she enjoyed the way the limbs burned and were numb at the same time, testing just how little she could disturb the surface as she searched for something that might constitute a meal. She paused, and fangs hoovered a moment above the surface of the pool, a dark shadow had caught her attention. It slipped deeper beneath the surface, however, before she could make a move, and she rose, neck twisting as she gazed around the edges of the lake.

Gaze settled a moment on the male by the surface, staring into the late with something like sorrow. Brow twitched a moment and she decided to stay far away, never much for the sappy sort that liked to stare into lakes in all their melancholy. Moving, she continued on her way, making to pass the male a little further out from shore lest he attempt to make contact, and encountering a messy portion of half-frozen lake that had her slow as she navigated it.

Nikan lifted his head as he caught sight of the female from the corner of his gaze, a single ear twitching as they stared at one another for a few moments before she continued on. He was neither very sociable to begin with nor in the mood for conversation so he just watched her walk over the lake. A nasty part of him hoped she fell through the ice, but then he might have to save her. Or he could let her freeze to death. His dark musings made him chuckle, shoulders rising and falling once quickly as the laugh shook him.

The flicker of something beneath the ice had her pause, her fangs prepared above the water's surface as she waited, carefully, ignoring the slow laughter of the male as it began. With a quick dip of her jaws did she pull a small cod from the lake, crunching through its spine and yet failing to kill the thing. Gaze darkening a fraction with irritation, she moved towards the shore a short distance away from the male, a quick movement of her head serving to crack the skull of the thing against the rock, its struggles dying down quickly. Dropping it at her paws, turned brown with the filth of the shore, thinking detachedly of how remarkable it was that lesser minds seemed to find amusement in such menial tasks. "do I amuse you?" She asked with a kind of detached interest, stripping the fish of its side as she examined the male, making quick work of her catch.

It would seem that his laughter had been too loud because after he watched her catch a fish he was annoyed to find that she was approaching him. Lifting his head to watch her without a single hint of amusement now he narrowed his eyes. Then she spoke asking him if she amused him and he snorted "No. My thoughts do." He responded simply as the stench of fish was breathed in.

Soon the catch was a small pile of bones at her feet, kicked effortlessly back into the lake as her tongue made quick work of the tiny shreds of her catch lingering at the sides of her muzzle. She moved a little deeper into the water to sate her thirst, glancing back towards the male as he answered. For a moment she was silent as she lifted her muzzle from the water, tongue seeking to catch a stray droplet before she answered, "delightful." The words were empty of emotion, and the woman glanced once more towards the male, surveying him once. He had the bulk, but not the formidable menace that Vengeance had carried, nor did he appear very interesting in the slightest. Still, something had her pause as she regarded him, making no move to broach the considerable distance between them. Another flash had her pause and glance toward the water again, though this quick snap of fangs turned up nothing, and she pulled her muzzle from the water, empty.

Nikan quirked an eyebrow and simply say there watching her. He turned only his head as she looked back at him and strode into the water to drink. Her response was short and he rolled his eyes releasing a long sigh. Dragging a forepaw against the ground in a bored fashion he stared at her turned back until she once again looked at him, this time longer than normal. He lifted his muzzle and flicked an ear returning her scrutinization. When she turned away he stood up "Well...that was an exhilerating conversation. I hope you liked whatever you were staring at" he said and then turned around to leave.

He seemed dissatisfied with her just as she was thoroughly dissatisfied with him, though she could not stop the words that left her tongue a beat later. "it is most difficult to make conversation with the dimwitted," She glanced back towards the water, once more following a shadow before it flickered away beneath the surface, not glancing back towards the male as she continued, "and it takes a certain level of stupid to find such amusement in one's bland thoughts."  Her fangs flashed as she made another dive at the water, this time coming away with a tiny minnow that she regarded a moment before swallowing whole, crunching it betwixt her fangs once, twice, before slipping it down her gullet.

Nikan blinked once as her words floated to him. He did not respond but instead turned to look over his shoulder at her. She had her back turned to him, face in the water again. He slowly turned around and began to stalk toward her carefully before booking it toward her rear end. Once he reached her he turned a broad shoulders and rammed it into her arse.  


Satisfied as she flew into the water he backed away slowly from the edge. He didn't laugh nor did he smile, but kept a Stony expression. "I'd say you underestimated the dimwitted. How about next time you put that mouth of yours to good use and kiss my ass?" He spoke calmly though there was a hint of menace in his voice.

As soon as the brute made contact the woman whipped around, crashing halfway into the lake, before gathering her limbs beneath her and lunging towards the male, aiming a snap at his face but at the last moment dropping down to seize one of his forelimbs, fangs seeking to grasp hold around his limb. She did not allow him to finish his sentence or get far away from the shore, moving with an unnatural speed that came with her years of experience in the trade she'd dedicated herself too. She ought to have expected the brute to make his move, as often was the result of the dimwitted having their intellect questioned. Her side burned with an icy fire, but this was ignored for now, her focus completely on putting down the male as quickly as possible.

Nikan blinked once in surprise and then looked down, an almost comical expression of shock written on his face. She was attached to his leg. Suddenly the pain of her shredding his forelimb snapped him out of his shock and he snarled. As she was lower than him he twisted his head and lunged for the side of her muzzle, teeth grabbing hold of her lips and biting down while tugging back. If she didn't let go he would proceed to rip her mouth apart, savage with his attacks.

He was quick in his strike, grasping her tender lip and tugging. Silent, she withdrew quickly, lip torn and smarting, and launched another attack on his side. Fangs grasped for flesh as she darted around him, but found only a thick mound of fur that she was quick to reject from her maw, her attack doing no real damage save for perhaps tugging out the odd clump of hair as she sought to distance herself from the male in the slightest to ready for the next strike.

Nikan tensed as he prepared for the next hit, but only felt the tugging of his fur in response to her lunge. He growled and whirled around stalking after her to close the distance, not ready to give up the fight quite yet. Now facing forward he leaped at her, coming down too hard on his bloodied forelimb and wobbling slightly ending up snapping his jaws at the air near her face instead of making any contact.

The woman was like a shark in the way that the male's weakness called to her, the slight wobble of his limb having her dive down again, darting forward low to the ground like an adder, fangs closing around his weakened forelimb as she tried to increase the damage she'd already doled out, glacier-like gaze glinting with the thrill of the fight, blood surging and thought singing in a beautiful chorus, moving like a dancer as she attacked and parried, dodged and lunged.

Nikan snarled both in rage and in pain as the woman used his moment of weakness to lunge and reclaim the limb in her jaws. The pain was intense and now his drive was more to get away rather than to hurt her more. As she once again was lowered to him, he snapped his jaws downward and bit into the flesh above her eyes, tearing at what he could and hoping that the blood would stream into her eyes and impair her vision.

He bit and tore at her skull, blood dripping down her face and around her left eye, and still she was silent. She worried the leg a moment longer before finally surging upward, a swift, perfect strike that aimed to connect with the tender flesh around his right eye, and then sought to deal as much damage as possible to his face. The woman was cold and silent in her fury, and yet her movements were driven not by raw anger, but cool logic and the echo of many battles previous.

The sharp Tang of blood made his mouth water and he relished in it for a few moments before she surged upward and slashed his eye. He roared in pain and closed the eye, ducking his head to avoid any more damage to that eye and taking the rest of her bites to the tops of his ears and skull. Frantically he jumped backwards and snarled as he turned around, bolting away though his tail remained untucked. If she gave chase to him he'd return his attacks, but if she let him go he'd run like hell until he felt like he was far enough away to tend to his wounds.

Fangs rent flesh, and the male's roar broke the heavy silence of their battle, turning on his heel and bolting. The woman stared after him with something like dissatisfaction; she took no pleasure in the quick, dirty fights. It was the drawn-out dances, the cycle of attack and parry, that brought her pleasure. Salmon tongue drew slowing across her split lip, catching the blood before it could slip down onto the snow. When the figure of the male retreated entirely did the woman resume her journey around the lakeshore, casting about for anything that would serve as a meal while ignoring the slowly clotting wounds on her face, the burn of them far too familiar.