Dove-gray skys, charcoal shadows, this was her world of somber darkness. The daylight was worse than the night with its gray pallor. The nights were rife with moondust and stark colors, whereas the days were full of muted mixtures. She could feel it coming - could see it in the waning sun, and yet it still had not arrived. The world hung in the in-between - where the sun had gone to rest, but the moon had yet to wake.

This her mind focused on. It occupied space in her thoughts until it became the only one that remained. She had yet to bother herself by watching where her mitts fell on the water-laden snow, not until her foreleg slid through the slush into a large divit in the earth. Only then did her cerulean optics snap in to focus. After which, they found themselves in line with a creature prowling through the meadow before them.

Asteria felt him before she saw him. Freeing her forelimb from its entrapment, she searched the barren land for the gaze piercing her. There. Her optics locked onto the viridescent stare of a wolf-like creature. She merely watch him as those eyes ran over her, her own taking in the pitch-black of his pelage. As she looked closer, his night-kissed pelt seemed dappled with copper hues that caught in the waning achromic light.

Her ivory maw parted, then promptly shut. It felt nearly wrong to speak - she did no such thing. It was not unlike her to simply give him a flicker of her chestnut tail, so that was all she offered.

She had yet to see his kind before - 'his' becoming an association to the creature, though she knew not why she assumed he was male. Perhaps a female innately knew a male when she saw one. The cant of her head indicated her confusion. Large ears, dainty snout, diminutive limbs - an odd being he was. He reminded her of the vibrant red ochre foxes that used to roam just past her pack's territory - and yet, he seemed more refined. Like the foxes, she assumed he could not - or would not - speak to her, as they had done. 

Perhaps she should have simply snubbed him - a part of her whispered for her to do so. Instead she found herself mimicking his position, her haunches lowering to the ground and her plume wrapping about herself.

As his ears swiveled towards her, Asteria seemed to relax from her upright position ever so slightly. It was true, she could best him in a fight by sheer size alone, but she was not raised for quarrells.

She stiffened as the peculiar - yet prepossessing - male nimbly dropped to the ground. His tail was raised behind him, his forelegs stretched out before him. Her body's instant reaction was to mimic - to imitate his exact movements. In a single maneuver she was down - the bottom of her maw nearly grazing the algid snow. The rest of her lithe form was angled up towards the ashen ether - her plume fanning out behind her.

The fae let out a dulcet chuff to him - a universal invitation.

She was delighted at his response - the only noise in their impoverished world of ice. Charmed by the breeze of snow he left in his wake, the female hesitated - that is: until he was nearly eight body lengths away from her. It was then that her mitts sprang to life, giving chase to the flurry of dark umber before her.

Her paws had barely even left the earth when he turned back towards her - a large stick lolling from his jowls. She felt her chest stutter - a chuckle releasing from her maw - before she let out a low rumble. Her growl was betrayed by the glimmer of glee and approval in her aquamarine eyes.

She padded nearer - until she was in reach of the branch. The female paused before him, lowering her head to the ground before darting out to grab an open space on the stick.

A mewling noise escaped her as she tugged on the branch - the result of her instant gratification. Their interaction was so simple - so base in nature - that she could not help but feel subdued. His own mischevious snarl lead to a smirk growing upon her muzzle - a curious thing in appearance, especially with a stick between her ivories.

The female edged backwards, wrenching the stick back and forth within her grasp. She made sure not to exert too much strength - as she would have done with a pack juvenile. She needn't scare her newfound entertainment away - not with those dark skys threatening to darken her mood.

Her partner seemed to be enjoying their play - indicated by the insistent tugging on the other end of the stick. He seemed to be putting up more and more of a fight, but to no avail. Even she could best him if she truly wanted to - though she was having far too much fun to simply rip the branch from him.

Alas, he managed to loosen the stick from his own grasp, pulling too far to her right. While he moved, her paws remained cemented to the ground - resulting in the other end of the stick feeling bereft of weight. For a moment in time the fae froze, until a gleeful yip escaped her maw. Seconds later she was bounding away - only to turn back to her small companion with a rueful, yet impish look painting her features. She dropped down to the ground, the stick still housed within her ivories, and rolled upon her back. Now looking at him upside-down, she rubbed her back on the water-laden ground before freezing in place. The female appeared to be doing her best impression of a corpse - that is: if her cerulean eyes had not been open and glimmering with amusement.

Asteria only tensed minutely as the creature approached, instinct telling her that he was not like she was. 'Do not trust them' they always said. She never saw any reason not to though. The foxes only ever stole food from their caches to survive, she never saw them hurt anyone. It was the wolves that always hurt the others.

The fae could have kept the male from his prize, but there was not much fun in that. They both knew that she could easily keep it away from him, just as easily as she could harm him. It was astonishing that he even got this close to her. The thought gave her a bit of comfort, perhaps she had gained an aquaintance from all of this - instead of a stranger.

Allowing him to take the stick from her maw was not a hard task to swallow, for she merely wanted companionship at this point. There was a plus side to it as well, for the creature seemed joyful with his newfound toy.