Grimsley had spent, perhaps, a week total in the valley and he was beyond done with it. There was no food here - he would soon find that there was no food anywhere - and beyond that, the air felt thick and stuffy. He had tried to live outside of the mountains, though if he were being honest with himself he hadn't given it his best effort, and he had found that he simply did not care for life near the ground. There was nothing and no one of interest. Not even the little curly female was curious enough of an encounter for him to have considered his time in the lowlands worth it. He was headed back up - post haste.
Although the mountain peak with the foreboding cloud...he had not been there. Perhaps he would see to it first and then turn around for the ranges he'd already passed through. Indeed, at least then he could say that his spending time in the valley had not been for nothing.
He loped along at an even pace, purpose to his step but not hurry. He was irritated and hungry and it showed in the quiet, dark expression on his features. He would feel better once the land began to slope upward and he could leave this pointless place behind him.
Her coal tinted paws silently move her form across the seemly endless amount of dead grass and fallen autumn leaves that litter the ground beneath her. She’d just come from a fitful and rather arduous hunt; though not so much arduous as it was tedious.
She’d gotten out of it with a medium sized rabbit, which is good enough for her considering the loss of food due to the upcoming winter. The only way she was able to find it was squeezing into the rabbits own home just as a fox would do. Amita has always thought of her size as a curse but today it seemed to be a blessing.
So she walks–no real destination in mind–right along the tree line of this oddly beautiful forest. The light wind blows against her whiskers and bristles the hair of her ears. Her full tail swishes back and forth when the wind brings Amita a different type of scent; the scent of something alive and certainly wolf like. The scent makes her large ears prick up to listen and she drops the rabbit to get a good whiff of where it reins from. The she-wolf assumes it’s coming from a couple hundred feet in front of her so she grabs her rabbit in her jaws and attempts to trot in an arc, guiding herself further into the tree line as to not run directly into them but it seems like they’re a lot closer then she anticipates.
The wolf she sees is big, especially compared to her. Though she is confident in her ability to escape if things were to go south, she still feels a shiver run through her spine at the looks of them. The raven haired wolf seems young still but that just makes it so much worse. Knowing they’ll grow to be a hulking beast for sure. The mask on his face seems almost skull like and it intrigues her as to how he got those markings.
Lost in her own thoughts she hears a cracking sounds and realizes that she’s stepped on a stick. How cliché. She thinks and she winces at the sound. She’s sure they’ve heard her now.
Sorry it took me awhile!
Grimsley did not even notice the female - not at first. In his arrogance, he was not overly vigilant on any given outing. While in such a foul mood, he was even less so. He did hear the stick, however, and against his will his hackles rose ever slightly from his shoulders. A fresh flash of irritation caused his muscle to twitch as he turned to look in the direction of the sound, feeling as though he had to - at a minimum - make sure it wasn't some kind of giant, mutant predator.
It wasn't. It was a she-wolf.
The look he cast her was a dark, cold one. There was a rumble starting in his throat - a warning to leave him alone, if she were thinking of bothering him at all. But then he spotted it - the rabbit. It hung in her jaws and his gaze shifted from cold to curious to bright in a matter of moments. His eyes flicked back to hers and a smooth, easy grin appeared on his lips.
"Hello, lovely." He purred, forcing himself to relax, willing his eyes to shine with an interest and admiration he hoped looked genuine.
"You've done better at hunting than I have, I see. Smart and beautiful." The grin returned, wolfish and toothy.
Aero’s form stiffens when she sees the hairs on the back of this massive wolf’s back bristle and rise. She clenches her teeth against the rabbit till held within her jaws and she eyes him warily. The stranger wolf already has a sort of ominous aura that tinges on the edge of anger, it makes her just that much more cautious.
As this skull-faced wolf turns towards her she meets a pair of eyes the color of a deep crimson. They’re full of fire; full of intelligence, and possibly something else she can’t quite put her paw on. Though when his demeanor does a complete 180 she notes to herself that he definitely could be up to no good. Then as she thinks she might be able to skim by, the loveliest words come from his mouth; most suspicious indeed.
She keeps her posture headstrong and confident as he approaches. Her golden eyes half mast and she cocks a brow at him as she sees him eyeing her down. Though she assumes he’s more after what she’s got in her jaws more than anything. She loves playing games.
Amita drops the rabbit and lazily steps over it; sure to keep her motions fluid and confident. Furred tail swishing from side to side, a sly smirk settles on her muzzle.
“It seems I’ve only had better luck. I’m sure you’ve got the skill to hunt a bear though.” She jokes smoothly, turning her body a little more sideways to show that she was purposely standing between him and her food.
Amita paces back and forth, starry eyes never leaving his massive form. She’s not opposed to sharing but she likes to see how he’d go about the situation. She wants to see what kind of wolf he really is. Sure he seems genuine but there’s something else to it. She thinks offhandedly.
Gazing up to those blood red eyes of his she smirks up to him, lifting her tail slightly and swishing it a few more times. “What brings you around these parts?”
@Amita - sorry for my absence!
He reads the confidence in her and thinks for a moment that he likes that. It would be a pity to play a fool - too easy, too much like taking advantage of nature. He tracks from his peripheral as the rabbit falls to the ground, his eyes not leaving hers. His stomach clenches with hunger but he ignores it, cocking his head and looking at her with a playful glint in his eyes. His grin never falters. A bear? Not quite but he's happy to be whatever she wants at the moment.
"Oh, indeed. They don't taste well, though." he says, rolling his broad shoulders in a shrug and gesturing casually at the rabbit she has carefully placed herself over.
"Besides - there are far more rabbits than bears. Your skill is much more useful - I am envious." He looks at her with bright, thick admiration. He does not hate this show, this game, but his patience is thin. He will either do what he came to soon or he will leave her and move on. He is not as careful as he normally would be and not as slow as he says -
"Passing through. I'm from a pack a great distance from here. We are well known and prolific on that peak and..." he looks her up and down appreciatively, grinning
"-the gene pool is pretty small."
Their eye contact is practically unbreakable as he sidles closer, he’s got a certain glint in his eye that makes Aero just a tad suspicious but still too curious to really fall back. Though Amita smiles as he replies, cocking her head back. “Hm, really? Can’t say I’ve ever actually got to taste one.”
Though as he continues and she watches him gesture to her rabbit her grin becomes positively devilish. Then she watches him slide his blood red eyes over her form and she chuckles at his last reply. She raises a brow and cocks her head once again, only stationary for merely a second before her paws make her move again. She shakes her head in a joking kind of way.
She actively paces back and forth still, now bravely leaving her rabbit and coming just a hair closer to him. “I’m not the most skilled hunter, but how could I not take a compliment?” She shrugs as she finally breaks eye contact. Only to bump her shoulder into his chest to brush her sleek body lightly against him.
“I see.” She comments, her voice velvety soft but strong. “Though I can see what else you’re interested in.” She jokes, nodding her head towards the rabbit. She glides the rest of her body along him and finally parts to walk back to her kill; but not before lifting her fox-like tail and slithering the appendage under the raven haired wolf’s chin, finally parting ways.
Lastly the small she-wolf gazes back at him. “I’ll share; or maybe even give you the whole kill.” She pauses theatrically. “If you can catch me.” She grins, her canines showing and her full tail swishing back and forth.
He was pleased with her response. Grimsley prided himself on being much, much smoother than that but he would accept a win when he got one. She was responsive, moving toward him - leaving her rabbit. Grimsley made no indication that he even remembered the scrap of prey, although that was the only thing on his mind.
She bumped his chest, sliding against him sensually. They were an attractive difference in size but Grimsley was fighting an extra flash of irritation instead of arousal. He disliked being touched - particularly without permission. It was different when he was the one doing the touching or when he was in the company of those with certain privileges but he did not tolerate the general riff-raff mingling fur with him. It made his skin crawl and he fought the urge to snap at her viciously. He swallowed down the instincts, which was becoming increasingly more difficult to do, and kept on smiling...his teeth gleaming.
"Indeed." He told her, though he felt no interest in sex. She was too small, too skinny - she would bear runts, at best. He could not allow himself to get on a tangent about that, however - there was a task at hand. She stepped away and though he did not miss the contact, he disliked the distance from her to the rabbit being less. She offered a race in a most suggestive fashion and the big monochromatic male chuckled almost heartily. "That isn't fair!" he protested good-naturedly and in defiance, he reclined to a neat sitting position. "As you said, I am built for bear hunting - I am by no means fast enough to catch someone so...athletic." he nearly purred, hoping to draw her in again. He was getting tired of this game.
She could feel his aura change. Oh, he’s not in the mood for games. She smirks internally and externally. She’d have fun with this. She doesn’t want to antagonize him, she just wants to play. Though sometimes it comes hand in hand.
Amita’s stance is casual; carefree. Though she knows what he could do to her if he truly didn’t want to play this game, she carry’s on how she’s been. She still wants to play. The small she-wolf tilts her head when she sees him plop into a seated position; a polite decline to her offered chase. It doesn’t deter her. She sighs and keeps an airy smile.
“Oh well.” She shrugs, turning her back on him and heading to her kill. Her tail lifted confidently and swishing much like a cat. Her body fox like and her personality practically matching. The plume of her haunches blows in the light breeze along with her tail.
She paws at her prey, “Shame, was looking forward to a chase. Really gets my heart pounding.” She laughs before she grabs the rabbit by the back of the neck. “Better luck next time I suppose. With your hunt–I mean.” She teases lightheartedly, voice muffled out through the rabbits fur.
The trickster begins a slow trot away, her starry eyes side eyeing him in a more seductive way than irritating. “Unless you change your mind.” She mumbles quietly.