Duck Lake and we'd break under the weight of any pain that ever came in this life

@Tashkent

at first she did not notice the scent of coyote trickle into the hinterlands; she was coursing the trail of a rabbit, and suddenly, was put off by the heavy scent of her canid cousins. indra was not afraid of coyotes - as small as she was, she still dwarfed them significantly -- yet from the interloping waft of wind, there were many nearby.

perhaps they had banded together for the winter; she would steer clear of them, and present no trouble. she was largely unfamiliar with their customs, and other than tadec, had never had much an interaction with them at all. if they were capable of great good or great evil, she certainly didn't know -- all she knew was that she preferred her home to be free of them, but she could say she preferred her home to be free of wolves too, family excluded.

deciding then it was better to leave before she was detected, indra rounded her shoulders into a slouch and made back in the direction she had come.

she skirts the edge of the lake, enjoying the vanity of her reflection in the rippling water and the coolness of it on her pads. what she enjoys even more is the sight of a stranger, and-- oh, dear! it seems as if they were taking off. well, that wouldn't do.

with a gentle, crooning bark, tasha breaks into a trot, eventually catching the woman up. she falls in step beside her, eyes glowing in silent admiration. she smells of a place with which the marauder is not familiar, and her intrigue is impossible to miss.

"are you exploring?" she murmurs gently, brows lifted to emphasize her question. "may i join you?"

indra had every mind to set this unfortunate encounter with coyotes behind her, yet it appeared fate had other designs. a bark, sharp yet commanding, cut through the keen fall air. indra paused, a triangular ear pressed back as she considered what good it would do for her to heed it.

she turned around just the same, though a part of her tired heart fretted that it might be a coyote come to cajole or trick her. instead her jaded gaze landed on the hale form of a female -- a long and lean thing, yet no less deadly than the delicate arch of a spike. indra surmised those eyes were the eyes of a maneater -- at the very least, the ruddy wolf that called for her seemed at once both titillating and venomous.

indra wouldn't have liked such a lingering aspect worn by a male -- but this wolf was distinctly female, and distinctly deadly: indra drew her mahogany gaze across the piqued ears and cold yet simmering seafoam eyes: commanding, chilling eyes as restless as the sea in which they seemed to mirror.

are you exploring -- may i join you? a male would have been turned away by the flash of teeth, but indra seemed to carefully set her words in order, and then with an equal amount of care, spoke. "by the way that is asked, do you expect 'yes' as an answer? would you take 'no' as one?"

well, well; this is intriguing. she expects friendliness from the woman and instead gets cold pragmatism, an orderly choice of words that masks the true feeling behind them. a battle of wits, as it were. tashkent smiles wider, a small chuckle rolling off her tongue as she regards the stranger with mirth dancing in her gaze.

do i seem the type of woman to take 'no' for an answer? she parries, tilting her head slightly. i only wished to make friends, äyel. i saw you from afar and thought you might need one, too.

her ears cant far forward, her eyes big and guileless all of a sudden, like twin seafoam moons. am i wrong? tasha asks, her tail swishing behind her.

no, tashkent didn't look like the type of woman to accept no as an answer to indra. not now, not ever -- it wasn't the cool flit of her seafoam eyes that suggested that (though indra thought their unreadable depth might have helped). it was the cocksure swagger of her gait, the rounded, careless tousle of her fur -- hell, even the mirth that danced across her sharp features seemed to say she was a cobra that delighted in posing as something far more harmless.

indra wondered what it was about her that suggested she needed a friend -- least of all, from a woman who looked like she could cut the balls off of a man simply by looking at him -- but, for all of her wondering, she didn't ask. she was not the type (read: self-centered) to be fascinated enough by what others saw in her to press further, and simply accepted this judgment with an idle roll of a shoulder.

if tashkent wanted to suffer indra's sour presence, so be it. tashkent might be dangerous, but god damn, indra was bitter -- and bitter was not always better, and often, it had a way of chipping at the self-resilience of others until they could stand you no longer.

"maybe not." indra answered, but she was already walking away -- she assumed the dark-furred woman would follow. "but something makes me think you are not wrong often." she glanced over a shoulder, as if to read from the ruddy she-wolf's complexion whether such an assumption was true.

she lengthens her stride to draw alongside the other, laughing at the assumption. some of my family might disagree with you, tashkent shot back, glancing over toward the russet woman. i am more inclined to agree. in any case, when i am wrong, i try to make it right. i hope you have not taken offense to my presence, she adds, her face falling into solemn sympathy.

there is something about the woman that is inexplicably fascinating. perhaps it is the set of her shoulders--a fighter, though her stature might suggest otherwise. or the depth of her eyes. she has seen a lot, tashkent thinks. good and bad, the latter more prevalent.

tashkent has seen a lot, too, but mostly good. her life has been largely free of emotional strife (or perhaps she lets the bad roll off her back like spring rain). those who have struggled, those whose hearts have been stolen from them and returned with pieces missing. . .those were the souls tashkent was drawn to. for better, for worse.

indra's tread had not slowed, though takshent's catlike stride seemed to match her. she couldn't help but wonder if the reason takshent was (gracefully) enduring her ostensible company was because she was lonely. the redleaf woman supposed that life had a strange way of springing opportunities at you -- perhaps this ruddy woman, lean yet tenacious as cholli cactus, was a new opportunity for indra.

at least she had a family; mentioning that somehow softened the colder edges of indra's posture; it was the lone wolf that indra truly suspected, and it seemed tashkent was not alone. "i would take more offense to your presence if you were male." indra implied, smoothly stepping over the round face of a stony cairn as she walked. "why are you not with your family right now?" nimbly, she landed past the natural barricade, and continued her saunter -- but not before looking to see if tashkent had followed.

her face returns, once more, to a cheeky grin. very interesting, tashkent responds. men are tricky beasts, indeed. you have to. . .oh, a wise woman once told me that you have to 'love the cock, ignore the mouth.' there are only a few parts of a man i care about. women are much more to my liking. she blinks gently at indra, as if she hadn't just imparted bawdy marauder wisdom unto the redleaf.

we do not stay together all the time, tasha continues, curious as to why indra supposes this. we are not connected at the hip. we wander, we hunt and we play, and then we come back together again when our duties are finished. she falls into silence for a few moments, content to walk alongside the other with naught but the sounds of the wilderness to keep them company.

and you? she shoots back. the rebuttal is only fair.

an impish grin flashed across the proud features of the mongol; indra caught the brief flare, her mouth formed in a quiet gasp at the cheeky wisdom that followed. love the cock, ignore the mouth -- it was an incredibly ribald adage, but it tickled indra all the same.

women were more to indra's liking, but for different reasons --she found in many ways the fairer sex was more dangerous, but not in the same savage ways as a male. perhaps their virtue was not colluded by whatever malign discomfiture settled in a male's heart -- certainly indra had never heard of a she-wolf disfiguring a stranger for no reason, and she had little faith it was simply because women were considered less physically capable.

no - there was something defective about being male, in indra's eyes. they were born rotten, and rarely overcame it. whereas she thought women were more likely to be born pure, and gradually, became blighted by the iniquities of the world.

tashkent's family customs intrigued indra, but she didn't find the exotic's life particularly appealing. laurel was her net and her rock - while the two were independent, they were better as a package deal. "that is an interesting lifestyle. i am never far from my family. they are just beyond that ridge." she motioned to the settlement of timbers in the distance. "i say i was hunting, but really, i was looking for a puppy from our pack that disappeared months ago. i don't think we will ever see him again, but i can't help but be watchful when i am out."

her eyes soften as indra speaks of the pup. she is not terribly sweet on children, but she knows she has to pretend as though she is in order to fit in. yes, yes, she knows this dance all too well. and anyway, it does affect her new friend, which added an extra layer to the facade. the corners of her mouth tug downwards in a mournful frown.

i am sorry to hear that he is missing, tasha murmured, shaking her head. i will tell my family to look out for any pups--if we find one, we shall ask if they hail from bearclaw valley.

after a little more conversation, tashkent dips her head and regretfully informs indra she must depart. hopefully she will see the russet woman again. there is something in her that tasha very much admires. she has taken a lot of shit from life and fought back, tooth and claw. tashkent loves the fighters.

@Tashkent i am not ok with tashkent's most recent RO!!!
indra hadn't caught the feigned compassion - to her it looked real as the earth they stood upon, hard and firm and existent. she nodded, appreciating the token of empathy -- it sucked, frankly -- and lucas' departure had taken a toll on bearclaw as a whole.

"thank you. i appreciate it." indra murmured, feeling her guard could be let a little bit down around this coy empress - there was something about tashkent that seemed so quick and catty and raw that indra aspired to, and while they exchanged pleasantries a little longer, the redleaf was in truth sorry to see her go. as she made for home, she wondered if she would ever see that brown devil again -- and quietly, hoped that would be the case.

now the wren has gone to roost and the sky is turning gold,
and like the sky, my soul is also turning.