Emberwood i: blood for blood

caw watches her coolly, almost blankly, as avis takes wing. watches her eyes follow the crow, for a moment. his initial thrill -- at finding someone who would address avis -- has waned slightly, because avis does not want to even acknowledge her. avis does not like her, and usually avis has a point, as much as caw cheerfully ignores it. but that does not mean he is more careful now. all it means is that the excitement -- almost friendly, almost genuine, as genuine as caw ever gets -- has cooled back to something sharper, something aggressive.

"delilah," he parrots. it does not hold the usual singsong tone that repeated words often come with, when spoken from his mouth. it does not hold much inflection at all, in truth. he slinks forward, and almost as soon as he takes the first steps she mirrors him, and suddenly they are close enough that they are practically touching.

it does not bother caw, of course; it never does. it is odder to him to leave space between them, after all, and this way his teeth are close, and so are hers. this...he has a sense it is building to some sort of conflict, and that is exactly what caw seeks out these days. his tail flicks slowly against his legs, and his nostrils flare. a prickle of eager interest runs down his spine.

"are not mine," caw says. he lingers for a moment, and then turns, pacing a tight half-circle around her with slow, careless steps, a crow circling a scavenger, waiting for prey. close enough that their fur brushes when he moves. his eyes gleam like blood, like that of the bird in the trees. "passing through." his smile holds too many eager teeth. "until now."