the tale of a fallen kingdom was as poetic and romantic as a love story. and here at the base of the the jagged mountain lied the ruins of a pack long forgotten, their history carefully woven into the very soil they'd once ruled over. yet all that remained of their existence now were the beaten paths they'd once patrolled along and the hollowed bones of their prey. 

the rag boy found the sight amusing as he meandered across the graveyard, cerculean eyes falling upon the battered skull of what he imagined to be a fallen king. he stared at the bewitching, empty sockets for only a moment before moving along the mountain's framework, steadily pushing himself towards the neighboring ridge and further away from this neglected ghost town.

She was smart, but impulsive. This was her fatal flaw. And though she had let @Mou know she would be gone for a little while, lest she disappear without warning again, it was still a fool's errand to travel toward the mountains, alone, headed into the danger she had once faced, long ago.

She had escaped these crags with her life, but her body and soul forever were marred. And now she ran into the fire again?

He had to die.

This was not the peak she remembered, though. It vaguely resembled her captors' territory, but it was not an exact match. Maegi climbed and climbed, eyes narrowed and staring across the range as she wondered just which one it could be. She was contemplating her next move when a figure approached, big and gray. From a distance, he resembled--

Skullchaser--

--and her heart stopped, her fur bristling. Lips pulled upward to reveal gleaming teeth as she snarled, without volition, staring down the man (?) who'd (?) hurt her.

her presence was noticed long before she had the chance to spot him, her scent musky and a beacon for anyone in the area with a functional nose. it took the insolent brat half a second after realizing he was not alone to determine she was insignificant and so he continued to press forward without a second thought, even after she finally materialized in the distance. it was only when she had the audacity to act hostile towards him did he turn to acknowledge her. 

kerkios might have found her to be quite the attractive little thing if not for the grotesque glasgow smile painted menacingly over her face. but with no redeeming physical qualities that stuck out to him she quickly became a mundane stranger and the urchin boy felt the familiar coil of disgust and disapproval increasingly swirl around in his stomach the longer he had to stare at her. he eventually moved to mirror her aggressive appearance, only changing his form slightly so that his tail was purposely held higher than her own, silently daring the alabaster girl to make a move against him.

She knew, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, that she was wrong when the brute drew closer: this was not Skullchaser, and her preliminary anger had been misguided. Her face fell, the rage leaving it blank, and she began to sink--still stiff, but not bristling. Her bicolored gaze flashed across his face, hoping he would relax as well.

"I thought you were someone else," Maegi said flatly, looking wary. "Sorry." Perhaps he would forgive, perhaps not. If more scars were in the cards, she could bear them. Anything more and it would become a problem, very quickly.