Deepwood Weald rising

"i got into a fight, i told you," asmodeus muttered in @Belharra's direction. he had woken here, last eddies of fever swirling away. whatever had happened, he didn't recall. or chose not to remember.

the canopy overhead was thick, throwing them both into shadow. he raised his paw, staring at the new scar where his dewclaw had simply fallen off. "it could have been worse."

Fancy thinking Belharra was the type to stay and nurse a wounded stranger: that's exactly what Asmodeus was, despite their hunt several weeks prior. As it stood, the wolves that Belharra liked in the Teekon (and the reverse: the wolves that liked Belharra) were slim. It was in her best interest, of course, to make sure the Snakeyman was okay.

That's what she told herself as she clucked and inspected his feeties. Gross as they were, he would live. Minus a digit or two. When he woke Belharra pounced to his side a little too brightly. "ABOUT TIME YE WAKE UP, SLEEPIN' BEAUTY." Her tail wagged as she pranced around him, pausing just long enough to reply: "oh yes, could be worse - ye could've lost more, like yer sense of humor - which I assume is still intact, no?"

"that, among other things," the serpent deadpanned back to the rogue. she'd played nursemaid to him for some time, and he'd discovered the amusements to be had in joking with someone who never intended to fuck you.

maybe they would be friends, now. maybe they were already that, in their own way. "i could go for a bite," asmodeus suggested, gathering himself up with a grunt and a wince.

Belharra didn't miss that innuendo. Her gaze strayed foxlike towards his nethers, pointedly as if to say "intact...? where?" Her gaze did not linger long, not to give him the wrong idea. Food didn't seem like a bad idea. Her stomach grumbled in agreement as she stood up, ready. "Are ye sure you're in shape for such things?" His toesies were frozen right off - Belharra didn't think gallivanting through snow was a comfortable pastime for those missing numbers.

"If ye tell me I'm pretty, an' yer favorite, I might see what I can grouse up." Belharra recalled he was not fond of puns and so, dug right in with a merry twinkle to those shit-stirring eyes.

his pallid muzzle tipped slowly to belharra, tongue lolling as the flat glitter of his stare rested upon her. it was a warm expression, for a pair of lightless black eyes. "you're pretty, and you're my favorite," asmodeus deadpanned, before the corner of his mouth quirked sardonically and he groaned at her ridiculous jest.

"if i like what you pick, maybe i'll bring dessert," he smirked, jerking his muzzle toward belharra in lieu of actually going after her given the state of his stupid ankle.

Belharra was off with a cackle, as soon as she heard what she wanted. Asmodeus delivered a fine deadpan reply, and it warmed her frosty heart.

Off she went, leaving the man to inspect his remaining digits and wonder how many days were left before they departed too.

She came back within the hour with rough fare. A mealy looking rabbit. A tormented grouse. "Slim pickin's, but I imagine a freeloadin' savant such as yeself can't complain." She moved both towards Asmodeus, her expression stonily serious: "now pick one and quit yer gripin', unless ye want me to snack on your remaining toesies."

Another laugh gurgled in the rough wolf's throat as she grabbed whatever Asmodeus hadn't and dug in.

"no whining from me," the snake teased, rolling to his belly from where he had reclined to await belharra's return. he pawed the grouse toward him with his good paw, tucking it against his chest to begin his meal.

in time, asmodeus sighed pleasantly, licking at the bib of blood smeared across chest and muzzle. he surveyed belharra with a mildly intrigued glint to his matte stare, wondering why their paths had crossed so often.

"did those kids ever claim that forest?" he grunted, thinking of the pale brat that had tried to give him lip.

Belharra was happy to get her fill in food and silence. She cleaned while Asmodeus licked his chest, stopping with her tongue poking between her teeth when he spoke.

Had they claimed the forest? She squinted, recalling. "They're a persistent lot, so they are. My friend's joined them. I think that makes them a pack now, though I still live in the forest undisturbed. Ye know of them, then?" She grinned, her tongue receding. "Delightful folk, aint they?"

he grinned. "beat one of em up a while back. little shit tried it when i was just passing through." he had learned her good, the serpent told himself amusedly.

asmodeus' ears flung round at her words. "if your friend joined them and you live around them, pretty sure that makes you part of the pack."

what friend? was it a guy? why did he care? he didn't, the man decided, flipping a thin birdbone toward him for a chew.

A bit savagely Belharra hoped it was Mal that Asmodeus had taken his learnin'-stick to. He didn't specify, so she was free to imagine the bespeckled child getting his Come-To-Jesus moment and did so with a dreamy grin. (Author's Note: this thread preceeding the one where Mal was nicer than Belharra and let her be part of his pack, even though she hardly deserved it.)

She missed the flare of jealousy because she was too self-involved in her own indignation. "WHY, I never!" Belharra huffed, flicking the carcass his way in feigned affront. "I live where I want, and it just so happens he's trying to edge in. He'd have better luck shaving a barnacle off a clam's ass, if ye ask me."

that provoked a grin from the jaded serpent; he flopped onto his side and snapped playfully at the air in belharra's direction. "they'll have their hands full with you, that's for fuckin sure."

with spring upon their hides, he supposed it made sense for the rough woman to seek out a pack. she wasn't exactly the maternal type, but the season came for you all the same. that's where he came in, asmodeus noted uncomfortably. 

"i never thanked you for patching me up. that was real nice," he went on, tail thumping once against the earth.

Belharra dodged his bite, thank-you-very-much - she leapt over his form with a laugh, sitting not so far from him but just out of reach of any wandering teeth.

She was gonna say something sassy, but then he had to get all sentimental.

"Aye, think nothin' of it." Belharra hastily added, in case he got really sappy. Gross. "Ye wouldve done the same for me, I'm sure. Though, that pretty golden lass looked like she was gonna jump ye bones soon as I left. Get ye a good boink in, so, don't be thankin' me when I acted as a nice cock-block." She tipped her head and did a bow. "My pleasure, ye know."

"how dare you," asmodeus deadpanned. "i really don't remember shit about it." only her brazen voice and fierce visage bursting through the crowd around him. certainly no golden woman, not that his dick would have been usable then anyway.

"do i talk in my sleep?" he asked next, mildly concerned but more amused than anything at the idea he'd kept her up with feverish, delusional ravings in the night.

They made a winning combination, Belharra observed. For one, she was dead funny - and for two, Asmodeus deflected her humor artfully and with his own brand of wit. She grinned, imagining what might have befallen her poor comrade if the golden harlot had descended upon him unawares. She forgot, of course, that not much would have happened without him being a willing participant.

Okay, so she had just described being a brilliant cock-block. You're welcome, Azzy. Really, what would he have done without her around, lost his poor paw AND gotten charmed by a gilded succubus? It was for the best she'd intervened.

"Oh, ye talk a lot." Belharra noddled sagely, crossing one paw in front of the other with a serious look about her. "Summat about, 'Belharra no' -- 'Belly I love ye,', 'Oh Belly, make me a man' --" She grinned widely, totally unabashed. "Ye's obsessed. Can't say I blame ye."

"wow," he retorted dryly. "that sounds exactly like me." perhaps it did, but he would never give belharra the satisfaction. "make me a man. must have been some dream." tongue lolled then. "i don't blame myself either, but don't get a big dick about it."

and that marked the end of an unspoken boundary he had never questioned once belharra had laid it down. flirting, acceptable. courting, not. and after all that, he found he was disinterested in trying to make a situation happen that wasn't about to fly. he had grown comfortable, he decided, and placid.

Fade with your post? <3

Had he grown placid... or flaccid? Belharra eyed the ophidian male with a glint in her eyes. Their relationship had grown from hunting partners to something more comfortably affable. How long would it be before...?

Nah.

Belharra didn't have a quip at the ready for Asmodeus after that, so it took a second for this zinger. "At least one of us has got to have the big willy." Grinning mirthfully, Belharra laid on the ground and stretched -- ready for a nap now that she had rudely roused Asmodeus from his own.

<3

"i'll measure my dick against yours anytime, belharra," asmodeus sniped back, mattteblack eyes watching the teasing woman recline upon the ground.

he was ready enough to join her, returning to his now-cold position against the loam and shutting his eyes as he sought sleep in a warmer presence than his own.