crawl from the fire into the pan, what we don't need, hell will demand

@starling 0:)

the sunmelt wolf roamed the countryside without much in the way of any plans for himself or the afternoon. he had little interest in securing a future for himself as a pack animal and behaved in such a way that supported that lack of desire, keeping a ward between him and the neighboring claimed regions out of deferential courtesy, and deporting himself in an aloof manner –– to keep indwellers well within the context of his activities.

the day wore on with every stride that carried him deeper into the lowlands, but confidence not yet instilled kept the lone wolf retained by the mouth of the teekon wilds. he was not sure he wanted to proceed further, in case his presence was ill-received, so it was with discretion that he familiarized himself with the range surrounding him.

the deliquescing ice and water running under the soil nipped at the tough pads of his paws as oddleif racked alongside the glen's many galleries of trees, though he did not mind the cool sensation that snaked up his legs.

ears hitched on the soundwaves as well as constant surveillance, in search of mental enrichment oddleif crashed through the brush, mopping himself along the ground and rearing up on hindlegs to scrub his shoulders against tree trunks in an attempt to slough the itchy winter pelt from his body.

with a lazy sigh starling slid into the bosk's embrace, tucking her head as she slid past the outstretched arm of a prickly briar. the day was temperate enough that she was emboldened by its lack of threatening precipitation -- and casting one last wayward glance to the sky the songbird slid under the cover of brambly-vines.

she paused when she heard a strange noise she could not outright allocate -- a friction of pelt on bough. casting her wary gaze about her she made her way towards the noise, a stupid thing for a stupid girl to do when alone.

it was not long before she saw the masked culprit - a wolf of sundry warm hues and a gentle pall of russet on his face. he looked quite bedraggled, carrying with him the artifacts of a deranged winter pelt. it was enough to make her snigger unkindly, for in contrast she was primly groomed and bore the bright gossamer plumage of a well-kept wolf. "maybe you should give yourself a bath once in a while." she called out to the stranger, uncaring of the pompous tone that slid naturally from her snobbish mouth.

no treebark or ground cover could relieve leif of the irritation that grieved him. no matter what surface he fretted his slough against, the prickling sensation crawling under his skin could not be appeased, and things were beginning to chafe.

looks of sorrow took on a life of their own upon his mien as the wolf peddled backwards, feeling his way about the tree's girth with unguided feet, gradually, slowly, propping his tailpiece up against the trunk by his hindlegs. his claws fumbled for purchase with the husk...

...and just when he was about to start grinding against it, quiet like a deermouse rummaging through its tunnels, the kettleblack she-wolf approached unnoticed and curled her lip, tittering at his wardrobe malfunction.

startled by the patronizing voice that cropped up from behind him, oddleif punted his right leg backwards against the bole and by mistake lodged it firmly in a cavity that some tree-dwelling critter had been (newly, as in, right at that moment) evicted from. a damper of gloom crept over his features.

scowling, leif whipped his head to cast starling a fierce look. like a doctor with a malpractice suit, he had no patience for this. "maybe you should keep your nose out of it." he quipped back, snapping his gaze to glare straight ahead again. he shifted on his forelegs, flexing his toes into soil underfoot and halfheartedly yanking the entrapped appendage, trusting she was bright enough to take a hint and leave him to his woes.

the songbird watched unimpressed as the wolf pulled around the tree's heartgirth, smearing along the coarse bark copious amount of ecru-tinged fur. she found his unbelievably dis-coordinate pelt to be a sign of incivility -- and her silent judgement passed clearly across her reproving features.

his riposte smacked her in the goading manner of a physical fist -- how rude! starling had never had anyone call to mind her nose and its wayward intentions, and she visibly fluffed like an offended gander at his remark. she raced for a comeback, desparate to pull the wily wolf down to his suitable place as a pauper. "maybe i would if i couldn't smell you a week out." she turned her slender muzzle to the brilliant sky in a gesture of highbrowed disdain. "you reek." take that - PFTTT.

the impertinent remarks lashed from her tongue and scourged the flesh of his ears –– remarks that limited her intelligence to juvenile argot, and dumped what he guessed was the greater part of her capacity for verbal abuse on him in the form of insults targeting his personal hygiene. "maybe i would if i couldn't smell you a week out," if he could roll his eyes far back enough he would have seen the face of god. her mouth, liable to give the most skilled track team a run for their money, would be her detriment in bad company.

he tried to ignore her presence, thinking maybe she was one of those princess prototypes that felt validated by spitting out throwing knives and warming herself in the afterglow of indignation, and continued pulling his caught foot and appealing his sentencing to 100 years stuck in a tree with a snobby prima donna yapping in his ears.

"you reek!" she blared, leaving him up to dry with the bombastic flourish of her snout. in that moment his efforts came to an interlude and he let his cheek fall to rest against his nape, an air of skepticism trotting across his features. "yeah... well... i can go roll in a patch of dandelions and wake up tomorrow smelling great." his ears listed and he drifted his attention away from her again, voice contemplative as he studied the rhytidome of the tree that held him captive.

"you'll wake up tomorrow, and still be a bitch." with that cutting statement set free, he gave one final, annoyance-motivated tug, and the tree liberated his appendage from its greedy clutch.

"and your face will get stuck like that. so attractive." he whispered with squinting, sardonic eyes, sizing her up as he sauntered up to her. instead of halting once he had closed the short distance between them, oddleif pranced past her with his head aloft. "bye bitch." his barbed tongue jabbed.

he figured he could recover just fine from her disdainful castoffs, if she had the restraint to find someone else to play the existence lottery with and leave him his peace, and as he strode past her, he swore he could almost see her father's disappointment reflected in the glint of her malachite eyes.

if karma existed, it came in on a weak wind for the songbird -- starling watched indifferent as her 'pleasant' company struggled to free himself from the roots of what seemed to be a rather persistent tree. the songbird had neither the kindness nor the inclination to help the cur lodged firm within the gnarled embrace of a rotted stump.

she took his vitriol in stride, and in a way admired the sharpness in which he verbally slashed her -- leaving her ego in ribbons and her bank of witty repertoires lacking. her expression lifted into one of dubious affront as he pranced by her like a fairy deserving of a flyswatter.

if she didn't dislike the drudge before, she vehemently disliked him now -- she considered it neither his place nor his station to insult a wolf of her caliber. her fur, arisen with offensive dedication, bristled along her shoulders and nape. "you know, i'd respond with some sort of insult.. but mother nature's already done such a good job." she fluffed herself haughtily, casting a pink tongue on the front of her chest to smooth the fur that had been disturbed moments prior.

the imminence of her retaliation to leif's scathing comment was hilariously predictable. starling poofed up with indignation and sputtered some remark disrespecting the integrity of his existence –– getting biology involved, naturally.

he continued to step lively in the direction of wherever she wasn't, acknowledging her counter-insult with a snort. "keep practicing!" he hollered, straining his pinnas against the crown of his head to catch any tatters of her lip as distance developed between them.