Verdant Basin the stray

<33

his voice was warm and charming in way that wasn't overbearing. he spoke with eagerness that she hadn't heard in a long time, but it wasn't enough to overwhelm her into shrinking away. there was a genuine gentleness to his words and his actions. though she wanted to trust him, she knew better than to be won over by the sweet words of someone. after all, the dark man who had attacked her had been kind to begin with too. he had changed quickly, but he had been kind... she hated to think of him, and so the dark shadow forced the image of his haunting yellow eyes from her mind.

“fluke?” she repeated his name in a soft voice. it was cute, she thought. it would have made a perfect name for a young pup. she didn't dare admit this out loud, but she did offer him a weak smile. “i like that.” it was then that she realized that the man spoke of many things that didn't really make much sense to her. there were words that she didn't recognize, or couldn't piece together, but she assumed that he belonged to a forming pack.

“what's a firebird?” lucy inquired with a slight cant of her skull. she did not want to recognize that he had indeed startled her when he had first appeared. more than that, she did not want to show weakness in a world where she knew it was so easily taken advantage of.