Totoka River keep cool but care

roll here!

smiling’s good, owlglass says, and that smile is there curving along his face as he tilts his head, looking down the slender edge of his nose and the tenuous edge of civility yunxu is holding onto snaps, just like that. tail up, ears forward. his lips curl all the way back; his smile matches owlglass’ own.

he is leaning forward almost before owlglass does. paws set in the mud, heedless of the wind and rain. in the empty focus of yunxu’s eyes is all the sympathy of a shark in that minute before it breaches, and something more; something eager now, straining the tension between them until

it

snaps.

owlglass does not approach, there is nothing delicate in the way he barrels forward, he is silent and there is something too-intense behind his eyes and he is still smiling and

teeth rake over his shoulder and the blood mixes with the rain; there is iron and salt in his nose now and like that shark scenting blood he turns, yunxu is snarling, the sound raw and furious in the back of his throat, jaws open like a steel trap after the side of his neck matted dark with mud, rainwater sunlight gleaming on the curve of his fangs.