Cold air rolled down from the Nova Peak and gathered in the forested surroundings of the grotto, where the trees collected scents and held them in place, protecting them from the dispersing winds. Sakari's nose twitched, catching the telltale fragrance of a bitch's heat. Her eyes rose toward the peak with interest. There was a woman on the mountain who had come into her season.
The scent would draw men to this area and fill them with desire. That was a good thing. Desiring men were easy to dupe. Sakari decided she would would linger in this area and see what opportunities arose.
this place gives her the creeps. it had been here that Laurel had tossed her into the abyss and left her for dead (she's surprised the woman hadn't clambered down to finish her off). had she known the significance of the grotto to her bloodline, she'd be even more disturbed.
as it were, what does disturb Avicus is the presence of a wolf close to her territory, sniffing around as if looking for clues. the Rise's leader-in-waiting had come to observe the peak more and had instead run into another stranger.
who're you?
she demands in her typical acerbic fashion, descending with a careful purpose, her eyes blazing.
she soon is face-to-face with a dark wolf around her age, a little smaller but with the same lithe musculature, and Avicus stares her down, her question hanging between them.
It was not long before she was joined, but much to Sakari's chagrin it was a woman who approached. Women were much more difficult to manage, and this one looked especially pissy.
"Who're you?" the woman demanded, and Sakari scoffed. She was a bossy one, wasn't she? They were strangers to each other, on unclaimed land, with no absolutely no reason to interact with one another. They could have each just gone on about their business, but noOOooo... someone had to have a stick up her ass, for absolutely no apparent reason.
The woman's eyes burned into her, demanding an answer.
"No one to you," Sakari answered finally, edging away from the pushy woman. Her tail flicked in annoyance. This lady was all up in her space with her demanding questions, and Sakari wanted no part of it.
she blinks, once, at the retort, and there's a burning in her chest that she manages to quell before it escapes her in some mad tirade. instead, she gives the woman an impassive once-over, nods, and replies, No One.
Avicus begins to sniff around just as the other had been, and she pauses at a particular point of fragrance.
it's something she hasn't quite smelled before, but it means something to her. like the richness of earth, or the smell of rain before it comes. it is woman, down to flesh and bone and. . .
you know 'dihh wolf?
she asks, lifting her head to face the other again. her voice has lost much of its imperious tone, replaced by simple curiosity instead.
The woman appeared to be satisfied with Sakari's reply, which surprised the rogue. She had thought for certain that she would be adding another scar to the vast collection she sported beneath her inky fur.
She caught the unknown woman's scent then. After a minute, she spoke a question with the worst lisp Sakari had ever heard. Was she having a stroke or something...?
After a long moment, Sakari answered the question.
"No. But I know she's in heat. She'll draw in all the free men within a half-day's travel." Sakari had every intention of being here when they arrived.
Avicus purses her lips, pondering the answer. men,
she echoed, and glanced thoughtfully up the ragged slopes of the grotto.
she's in need of men. women, too, but men are by-and-large bigger and stronger.
she needs the best.
and maybe this woman will—
she sniffs harder, then, feeling an oncoming, overwhelming sense of deja vu. i know her,
Avicus says, finally, brow furrowed.
she had said she was moving on. . .
i know her,
she repeats, surer this time, and turns to the shadow.
This lady wasn't much of a talker, was she?
She repeated several times that she knew the unnamed woman. Sakari was starting to wonder if she was a few eggs short of a full nest.
"I don't think she's looking for company," Sakari pointed out. "..At least not ours. Neither of us has a dick." Or so Sakari assumed.
her head tilts slightly. dhhick?
she asks. but she doesn't doubt Sakhmet isn't looking for company. what confuses Avicus is why the woman is here, after being so fervent about herself and her companion movingo on.
she begins to pace the perimeter of the hollow, eyes lowered. she wonders where she'd hit the ground, upon stumbling into empty air and down to the bottom of this place.
her indigo gaze fixes hard on a fairly large, jagged rock. had she hit her head when falling. . .
d'you know a bigh whihh' woman? Nyra?
she asks suddenly, her muzzle snapping upward to find the dark woman's face.
Sakari suppressed an eye-roll. "She's in heat. She'll be wanting male company." Sakari's own first heat would be arriving this year, most likely. She had every intention of capitalizing on it.
"Wh--?" Sakari flicked her tail in annoyance at having to decipher the horrendous lisp. "I don't know anyone," she assured the woman, speaking slowly since it seemed pretty clear she wasn't the brightest star in the sky. "I'm No One to everyone."
Who was she even looking for? A big, wide woman? A big, white woman? A big, wise woman? It didn't matter, Sakari hadn't run into anyone fitting any of those descriptions, or using the name Nyra.
"..But I could find her for you," Sakari offered quickly. If this woman really was as slow-witted as she seemed, maybe there was an opportunity here. Maybe she could be tricked.
she may not have the gift of gab, but Avicus is well versed in body language.
this woman's mien put her off.
the question is already answered, even as the offer comes her way. but she's hardened by then, indigo eyes turning frosty upon the other. no,
she answers, and shakes her head, definitively.
heat. male company. she files it away for later.
with a sigh, Avicus begins to move toward the edges of the Grotto, picking her way back to the top unless this stranger has something else to say about that.
The woman backed off hard on this interest in Nyra, declining very definitively when Sakari offered to find Nyra. That was interesting... The woman wanted information on Nyra, but she didn't want Nyra found. Sakari could only assume that meant she was hiding from Nyra.
The woman moved off, apparently losing interest in Sakari now that she realized that she was truly No One here in the Teekons.
"Hey," Sakari called after her, "What's your name?" She knew the woman's face and her desire, but not her name. "Mine's Rook." A lie. Or maybe not. She had so many names now, she wasn't sure which one could even be considered her true identity.
her shoulders stiffen, legs halting as the other calls after her. Rook. she doesn't turn to answer, pausing a minute before reluctantly responding, Bloodh-flower.
it sends a shiver down her spine to say it.
Merrick had given her the name with such love and care. when she was his princess. when things were right.
Nyra had flung Aventus to the ground. Nyra had ripped open the chasm between the two. Nyra had killed Astara.
it all came down to her.
but this Rook? Avicus doesn't trust anyone but herself to the downfall of the white woman, especially not a complete stranger.
she begins to climb again, hopefully, this time, leaving the woman behind for good.
Blood flower? Sakari had heard a lot of names-- hell she had worn a lot of names herself, but that was a unique one. Perhaps it was culture-specific to this area? She would try it out sometime and see how it worked for her.
The woman continued to stalk away, and this time Sakari watched her go silently. She felt a bit sorry for the woman in heat at the top of the mountain, who she had little doubt would want nothing to do with the surly, lisping woman called Blood Flower.
Sakari would depart to drift around the base of the mountain, putting distance between herself and Blood Flower while still remaining close to the mountain itself.