Bramblepoint ACT III SCENE I

Just north there was a lake filled with salmon that at times could grow larger than a wolf’s berth. There, Cassian spent some time fiddling with the slippery species and, eventually with enough persistence, managed to garner forth one of those feisty water beasts within the clenches of his jaws. Was he hungry? No, far from it. Was he happy? Yes, right on the nose. It had rattled, flailed about, and struck him a few times in the eyes and nose while it wrangled for its life but after enough time passed it went lifeless. This was simply the cycle of life and how it was meant to progress, but for this wolf in particular it’d been nothing more than a game.

Walking southbound, Cassian did contemplate tossing it on the ground, but decided against doing so. He’d keep it for a few more hours and maybe dissect it. Learn of its bone structure, tear at the flesh, riddle it with claw marks and figure out how exactly the anatomy of such a thing worked. Why it worked.

Then, murky brown eyes caught sight of a soul out in the open. It took solace under some shadows from the berating heat of the sun and when the man’s eyes glossed over its pelt and general demeanor…Cassian felt a certain….something wash over his body. This was a new emotion, something the wolf never once felt before. What was it? Why did it feel so…heavy? So….dense?

A yard at best separated them before Cassian tossed the fish at the other wolf, allowing it to bounce once, twice, and then watching as it landed between their paws.

“Hey there! Man, you look really…I don’t know! Just looking at you makes my body freak out, haha! I’ve never felt like this before. I was going to toss out that fish and let it rot somewhere since I was getting bored with it, but maybe you should take it and gnaw on it in the meantime, yeah?” Lying down, Cassian’s ears lopped to the side and the man’s tail swayed from left to right in the grass. Apprehensively? No, curiously. Right now, this new person held the entirety of his focus underneath the alders.

“Hope I’m not spoiling a good time or a good nap, I tend to do that sometimes, hah!” A single sniff, and then Cassian’s nose crinkled. “Oof, you stink! Got enough energy in you? If not, maybe we could wait a bit for the sun to set and then take a dip in the lake I just came from. It’s up north, not too far away!”