Mount Apikuni don't go out tonight

his chest rises. if she were to glance up at his toxic gaze she would find something lingering behind it that would have her skin prickle and burn. and yet she does not look up.

"I do not know, yet."  she offers quietly. she knows. it means her blood sings through her veins and her pelt burns, fear mixes with sharp intrigue. but that is all hidden beneath careful layer of docility, and then he is behind her and her nook behind him. 

he pokes and prods, a creature sharp as he is thin, perhaps. most do not question, merely accept. her muzzle tilts to the left in the slightest, yet her gaze does not find him. "it is both and it is survival." a learned reflex; a careful show made reality every time someone decides to press down on it like a heel on an ant.