The Heartwood heart to heart

@Vaati

Alya had still never been to the dark wood where the Cerberus's newest ally resided. For more than a year, now, she'd lived beside it. From her lofty home, she could see the stand of trees, thick and insidious even from her own distant hearth. In her youth, she'd thought them only wolves - friends of her father, even. She remembered the dark girls that had come to the borders, their pale mother ahead of them. They'd been a family just like her own. As she grew, she'd thought very little of them - not when the Redhawks had been a much larger irritation.

But all that had changed when Vaati had attacked Rannoch. It seemed like so long ago. She could still feel that same indignation, but now, she saw that it was misplaced. Now, she was indignant that Rannoch had ever been thought worthy of her sister. Now, she was indignant that he'd survived to bring a Redhawk bitch into their borders, that he'd had the audacity to place her above Lyra in his affections. Now, her thoughts were for a different male... bloodthirsty and rather dashing.

Alya had returned to the last place she'd seen the gnarled young male, curious about what he'd done with himself since being spared by Hydra. Part of her wondered if she'd find his broken body in the black woods she travelled. That would be a shame, of course, but another part was quite certain he was alive and well. He was a resilient creature, Vaati; something that attracted the Ostrega girl all the more.

Her scent carried along the wind from a not too far away distance and Vaati, despite his quite visible weakness in the loss of part of his neck, could not tame his curiosity in order to save himself the trouble of getting up and putting himself in danger to seek her out. Which of course, he did. Pulling himself from the shadows, he daringly crossed the border as her scent paved the path he took, moving slower as to accommodate his injuries yet acutely alert for those who roamed nearby. He mistook her for "Hydra," calling out her name as if greeting an old foe who had recently become a friend. Despite their obvious differences, there was something about her that intrigued him beyond simple curiosity. Perhaps it was because she had proved to be the only worthy opponent he had come across, challenging him for who he was whilst holding his life in her hands. It was a predicament he had never wound himself into until she had come along, shaking him from childish arrogance and what he thought he knew. He would not be the same man he is without her influence, deadly or not, and in some part of his mind, he acknowledges that. 

But he does not know the names of the other two who have shaped his life monumentally, and up until that point, had not truthfully cared. Vaati's ears flicker curiously -- slightly suspicious -- as he nears the girl of midnight fur. There is nothing to distinguish Hydra from her sisters and vice versa. Nothing besides the way they move, react and express themselves that show differentiating characters. But those are things he cannot pick up visually, and as he slows his pace even further, wonders whether or not he had made a monumental mistake in seeking her out.

As surely as if she'd called him, the pale man came. Alya would know his scent anywhere, and as it thickened around her, heralding his arrival, she took a deep, hungry breath. Even injured, his scent was strong and beguiling. Blood and feathers - evil in her youth, but in womanhood, evil and appealing. As she waited for him to appear, the dark woman wondered if he would be like the rest of the men she'd coveted.

She was so tired of waiting.

He was a ghost in the grayscale wood, and she was merely a shadow. "Almost," she replied, taking slow, measured steps in his direction. He'd seemed to submit to Hydra, but there was no telling where his true allegiences laid, or how he would react to one of his former enemies. "Will you try to hurt me if I come closer?" she asked in a low, toneless voice, drawing nearer all the same. She wore the same Mona Lisa smile as she had before so that he might recognize her.

She who was indeed not Hydra prowled closer, beckoning him in with a charming smile as if to proclaim her good intentions. That was good enough for him. Besides, he believed the time for hostility between the Cerberus and himself was behind them, a conclusive end to a rather silly and overly-exhaustive quarrel that ended in them finding a common enemy. "No, unless you beat me to it." He chides without hostility and only slight suspicion, matching her pacing until he comes to a stop just a foot away from her approaching form. Her name lingers at the back of his mind, recalling that they mostly rhymed with Hydra. Lyra, was it? Perhaps not. He figures it may become slightly insulting if he continued to call her by the wrong name, and instead goes by the best bet and voices his curiosity. "Which one are you then?" Vaati's eyes narrow a fraction, unsure if she would lie as he would have done.

Their chance encounter was balanced on a needlepoint as Alya awaited the man's answer. She could be faster than him, she knew, but her body burned to be near him - near to any man, in fact, but especially to one like him. Vaati was strong and scarred, pale and battle-worn like her father. Hydra's mark was upon him, somehow more erotic than ugly in the gloomy half-light. And then he said those freeing words - unless you beat me to it.

Cold, blue eyes bored into his for a moment before they warmed, apparently accepting the words as truth. The dark woman closed the distance between them, still watchful and wary but unable to keep herself from trying to touch the strange young man. A dark, damp nose sought refuge in the uninjured sight of his shoulder, and unaccoutably, Alya felt a shiver rake itself down her spine.

The woman pulled back, feeling strangely threatened. "Alya," she replied.

She leaned forth, touching her nose where her sister make her mark, and to his surprise, he liked it, sending a rush of adrenaline through his bloodstream. The manner in which she did had only ever been performed by his brother, a relationship he had not explored beyond implication. But despite how much he liked the nature of her touch, he didn't feel towards her the emotion he had once felt towards Cassiopeia. Forcefully pushing the thought of her out his head, his steely eyes settled upon the girl as if he couldn't quite identify how he felt about her action. "Alya." He repeats as if a sultry hiss on his tongue. "Pretty." The yearling makes up his mind with a quirk of his brow and slight upturn of his lip, feeding into the intended emotions she emitted in his presence. Her sudden hostility, he doesn't take note of. Stepping forth and bridging the gap she had left when she pulled away. How far would she take this? How far was she willing to go to satisfy herself with his availability? He leaves it up to her to dictate where their interaction goes, unable to risk ruining the situation or saving himself from it.

Alya's breath hitched when he repeated her name. Stupid boy, she thought viciously, distantly wondering if that was the best he could come up with. Just repeating her name. But it was working, and she gave another feverish shiver and pressed forward again, actions lacking the cool fabrication that she'd hid behind in past encounters with the opposite sex. Lately, all encounters with men seemed to go by too fast to comprehend. She was out of control, she knew, but completely helpless to do anything about it.

"You're Vaati," she said, not acknowledging his pronouncement. Pretty, she inwardly scoffed. And the sky is blue. Perhaps at some other time, she might have appreciated the homage, but at that moment, her body burned for the pale wolf's touch. She could not expend the energy to feel grateful for compliments when her whole being was focused on figuring out how to achieve other goals. If she'd had more time to plan this, she might've thought of something clever and sultry to say, but as it was, she could only thrust herself at the almost-stranger and demand of him, "Touch me."

He doesn't know what "Touch me." means. He wants to ask her, "Where?" and "For how long?" but he doesn't, instead, acting on instinct to as what he thinks she means. Vaati snaps forth and seeks her neck, aiming to grip her and throw her down to the ground below him. A comfortable position to be in, in his mind, where he both asserted his need for dominance and kept intact the intimate feelings between them. She wants someone to take charge, he figures. And he could play that part very well, despite his obvious lack of knowledge on how seduction worked. This, he feels, her below him, is seductive enough for his tastes; that combined both violence in the act itself and the active chemistry between them, this was the right choice of action following her command.

Had her awareness of him not been so completely, she might have fallen under Vaati's blow. He was bigger and stronger than her, after all, and for once, Alya's sister were not a step behind to rescue her. But she was aware, and when the male lunged, her head snapped around to catch his. Their teeth clashed painfully for a moment before the dark woman had drawn away, affront and desire writ clearly across her face. Where she'd expected anger at this sudden betrayal of trust, she felt only a deep well of reciprocal violence. And how did that work? How was is that she wanted to rip and tear and draw blood and yet not?

"Not like that," she huffed, intending to punish him by putting distance between them but at once giving up on the thought. She was not in the habit of punishing herself, after all. "Like - " She eyed him a moment, a mountaineer surveying a tall peak, and pressed forward once more, warning him with sharp glances not to make any sudden movements. "I don't know. Like..." 

And she meant to be gentle, as she felt she wanted him to be, but she couldn't stop herself from raking her teeth through his fur, seeking out the places where his scent burned the strongest. She was pressing against him, dizzy and confused, a strange buzz filling her ears. She wobbled and sat, hoping the action had looked deliberate. "Uhh... I don't know what I'm doing," she confessed.

At the clash of their teeth and the surprise it brought, he withdrew his previous intent and skidded backwards. Was that not what she wanted? Ultimately, she seemed conflicted about what she wanted, moving away and back again as he simply stood there, watching as she showed him her intentions. This time, he doesn't lunge nor moves to make his own way about her bodice, unwilling to let the opportunity slip away while he still has her. She buries her face within his coat, inhaling his scent as if she needed it, and he likes the fact that she does. It is her company he yearns for and the nature of it that draws him in, as if she presently had him enchanted and wrapped around her finger. But all too quickly does she pull away again, and he represses a growl within him. Alya looked like she had begun to panic, unsteadily leaning against him then plopping herself down to the ground. To be fair, he had little idea himself as to what they were doing and how to do it, but he went with it anyways as nature told him to do. "Calm down." He breathes out to her rather soothingly, uncharacteristic and foreign to his mannerisms. Instead, he drags his nose along her muzzle tantalizingly, enticingly but steadily, moving through the ridge where her ear meets her skull and downwards, to the soft spot of her nape where he pauses, breathing heavily in and out. "Like this?" His eyes flicker up to her, almost daringly, taunting her with her own game and questioning how much need she had for it to go on.

Oh - thought Alya - that was better. Whatever he was doing was definitely working, although it did not seem much different than what she'd done with Ben, or what she did with her sisters. But the Cerberus's carresses had only ever brought comfort - had never ignited her the way that Vaati had. It was certainly enough to drive her to distraction, such that when Vaati told her to calm down she only huffed in response.

"Like that," she agreed, unabashed and ardent. "But more - " More what? Alya only knew that it needed to be more and that she was completely incapable of describing what exactly that entailed. Another huff escaped her - aggravated and almost desperate. "More," she repeated. Maybe more teeth? But not as much as before. Gosh, this was such a fiddly practice. What should she be doing? It seemed like an awful lot of work just to stay still -

and then as soon as she thought the words, she realized that sitting still was certainly not what she should be doing. The dark woman surged up, unwittingly performing the same movement that Vaati had beeb rejected for only moments before. Her jaws, however, sought only to have soemthing between them, not to pull Vaati to the ground. She caught fur, thick and fragrant, and then smoothed away her saliva with a few swipes of her tongue.

This wasn't any better than sitting, she realized.

More. More of what? The whole ordeal had begun to annoy him, for he too wanted more, yet was unsure how to go about it while Alya's indecisive feelings were involved. It is a grey area for both of them, but one he readily explores, yearning to go further than perhaps she intended. Maybe, he would test the waters and slide a forearm over her lower end, if she would let him. And that is what he does. But in the act, he gets greedy and moves to hook both limbs over her hide, aiming to pull her closer to him. Despite the intensified need to do so, he does not go beyond that, unsure if that was what she wanted. She had been conflicted, overwhelmed by mere caresses, and while he more than desperately wants her, he will not risk his head being severed from his body by her protective sisters. A situation he would deem more trouble than its worth if Hydra became involved.

post 200 ;)

Vaati grabbed her - not exactly the more she was looking for, but different, and near enough that she didn't complain beyond a reflexive snarl at being forcefully manipulated. And then he pulled her close, which she allowed with yet another snarl and a well-aimed lunge toward his face, which she almost succeeded in halting when she remembered that they were not fighting. It put her off balance, and she wobbled for a moment but still bore his weight.

It occured to her to ask if she could be on top, but she thought she'd wait and see what Vaati was doing before trying to mimmick him. It would do her no good to hold a pistol if she didn't know what a trigger was, after all.

Lust, hazed eyes watched Vaati's every move, tinged with only the tiniest hint of suspicion. She didn't like this very much - it made her feel weak - but she had to admit that there was something intriguing about the way their bodies lined up, and how his claws felt against the skin of her belly.

Apparently, she doesn't like that either. Under his weight Alya snarls, biting at his face and he bites back, returning the sentiment with a silencing growl. He suspects it is the lack of dominion she has over the situation that bothers her, and with a smug smile does he pull her in closer, enveloping his body over hers completely. Lust generates between them, and he meets her eye, focussing hard on the sensations passing between them. He grips her scruff in his jaws, biting down and pulling (perhaps not so lightly) in tune with his movements. Friction is created between them and friction only, which, is enough for him for the moment. Besides, it is not as if he can truly tell the difference. This is not a skill for him but he learns quickly, knowing that the next time they meet he will know exactly what he wants and how he likes it. Vaati supposes he cannot same for her, as still, she did not seem to be enjoying the dry act as much as he. What they do is enough to satisfy the both of them, but not enough to fulfil, and as it gets slightly tiring to perform the same movement over and over again without much reward, he pulls himself off of her.

Vaati bit back - something that, later on, Alya would admit she had enjoyed. In the moment, though, with her head in a whirl and so many new things happening at once, she could only snap and snarl in retaliation. None of her bites were the hard-hitting, blood-drawing strikes that the Cerberus had perfected, but some of them were still probably painful. No more painful than the grip Vaati had taken of her scruff - and no no no, she was not okay with that!

But... she was also not about to tell him to stop. All this jerking around didn't seem quite right, but she couldn't help but feel that he was onto something. Alya wiggled against him, trying different angles and, ultimately, only finding more frustration. Vaati seemed to be on the same page.

"Maybe - " said Alya, falling silent as a familiar sound reached her ears. That chirp - though it sounded much like a ground squirrel's - belonged to Hydra. Alya supressed a giggle, feeling suddenly rather hysteric about the whole situation. How much had Hydra seen? She was surely a bit concerned - but Alya flicked her ears in a calming gesture and turned back to Vaati. "I have to go," said Alya, not quite sure how to say goodbye. He wasn't Nikai or Cypress for her to press herself against, and yet, she felt as though they'd shared something more intimate than what she'd experienced with either of those boys. With anyone, really. "But will you meet me again? I think we nearly had it," she said breathlessly, her body feeling oddly light without Vaati's powerful form above it. Her scruff twinged, and she had to supress a strange shiver of pleasure.

She was right, something had happened between them that seemed to be on the right track. With practice, he thinks, they could overcome their very apparent lack of insight into how the whole thing was supposed to feel. He nods at her request, internally more than eager to go at it again at the earliest convenience. Perhaps, if he -- and she -- were daring enough, he would sneak her into the dark woods where at least there, some unfortunate soul wouldn't accidentally stumble across them in the act. 

Devilishly, Vaati draws his tongue across her muzzle sharply before she can help it, knowing the act would either bother her or sexually frustrate her even further. "You know where to find me." He says so and saunters away rather victoriously as if he had achieved something in the minutes of aimless dry humping. As he walks in return to the dark woods, he wonders if she would pursue the same relations with other men. Likely so. Vaati isn't sure how he feels about that. He isn't in the business of contracting any diseases, nevermind sharing his toys with others. The idea of an inferior class of man mounting her in the manner he did unsettles him and a low grumble releases from his chest; not that Alya could hear it. The yearling is a possessive creature by nature, something that could not and would not be helped.

Alya's teeth snapped after his seeking muzzle and caught only air - he was lucky. Vaati's sudden movements would be greeted with violence until she got used to the idea that they were no longer enemies, but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate his gestures in retrospect.

And Alya, being inclined to romanticising even the briefest of encounters, found herself watching Vaati retreat with her heart all a-flutter. They were certainly not... involved, or committed, but they'd agreed to see each other again. That was something, wasn't it? Either way, she decided she didn't care as long as they eventually figured this out. She had an idea that examining his equipment might help her to understand what needed to be done, but that would have to wait until next time.

"Coming," Alya called, heading off toward her sisters. They had a lot to discuss.