Northstar Vale You're just like your father.

Open! Maybe someone from PR? All threads open to @Saghani in case they want to drop in.

It felt strange to have something in his stomach, let alone to know his belly was full and any immediate threat of starvation was abated. It was also bizarre that he had a traveling companion. Neither of these things was worth objecting to; however, Tryphon now had time to wander without worry, to use his new-found energy to climb the mountainside and discover what was just beyond its reaches. The slopes gradually began to descend, and with the path went the boy. The shadow was not at his side presently - he had become separated from them, but trusted that it wouldn't last for long - so the ghost drifted on his own along the cliff's side, coming to rest at a patch of frosty forest. He stopped to relieve himself on level ground before continuing, finding that the air was thin but the mountain was not so difficult to cross after all. And here, nestled in the bosom of the range, Tryphon was surprised to find green hills and strange trees - the snow did not seem so heavy here.

*creeps in*

Having taken some time to herself, Saghani presently trailed the path her companion had taken. She kept her head low and her attentions at their peak, ears receptive to any sound that might come to them. Saghani was used to the general movement of the wood but in particular she sought sounds that meant danger. Since she no longer hungered after her great meal, the breaking of the underbrush did not cause her to whip her head every which way when it occurred. That did not mean she did not generally peruse the scents surrounding her; she took inventory casually, in case the day came when she would need to find grouse or a drove of hare.

The setting gradually changed. Snow did not have a hold on everything in its path, it seemed. She witnessed the same thing the silver one did, with him embraced by the warm-colored warm despite the chill that whispered past them. But the winds had no real hold here. Saghani paused long enough to relieve herself conveniently over the mark that Tryphon had left, tail waving as she broke into a headlong sprint to meet him once she had finished.

There was a disturbance in the force snow, a crunch which made Tryphon lift his head and turn, alert. As soon as his gaze settled upon the oncoming shadow, the tense energy in his limbs swiftly abated. It was wonderful to have her company again. Strange, too, that the boy would so easily fall in with the rogue without protest - but she seemed able and willing, and had yet to tarnish that reputation. On her approach he moved to greet her, sniffing at the fur of her scruff as soon as their bodies intersected, probing her for potential injuries with his nose, and gathering information that may have clung to her fur. It seemed as if she had encountered few others since last they'd sojourned. He gave her shoulder a playful bump then, and raced away from her side - only to duck in to a play bow beneath the boughs of one of the alien trees.

Saghani watched his tension wash away; at this, her tail waved. As he probed her for potential injuries, she in turn did the same; satisfied that there was nothing there, except for the scents of others, Saghani chuffed as his shoulder moved against her own. Saghani was then the static electricity which kept things connected, refusing to peel away from him as he raced away. She raced with him, letting him lead them for a moment (and even relenting to that thought; after all, they were equals in this realm they ran in). Only when he slid into a play bow did Saghani bound backward and slip into one herself, mirroring him exactly. Yellow eyes caught the yellowing features of his face with intrigue, before growling playfully toward him, slapping her forelegs against the earth in a feint of movement to encourage him to move. It was a teasing bluff, and she grinned at him. Saghani was in good spirits, now that they had again returned to one another.

They charged through the snow for a few feet, and then Saghani spun around and bowed to him, paws and claws crunching the snow. Tryphon happily bowed in return, his eyes bright for a change; his tail waved above his hips like a big gray flag. With a low play-growl passing from his own throat, he dove towards her and playfully grabbed at her scruff, her ears, her cheeks, his teeth grazing her skin as carefully as he could.

Saghani played into his moves, accentuating them with the embellished and exaggerated response of her body; as he moved for her scruff and gripped it, she arched her back in compliant yielding, her form giving. As he went for her cheek, Saghani curved and exposed her neck in utter openness, and as he went for her ears Saghani moved with him to prevent any tearing, gentle though his fangs were they were the most likely to be effected by them. 

In turn, Saghani reared to try and hoist a leg over his withers, so that she might nibble between the exposed area between his shoulder-blades before withdrawing and sprinting off with an eager whine, ears flitting forward-then-back as she listened for him, looking once over her shoulder with a positively conspiratorial look upon her countenance. The point of this, for her, was to bolster and stroke his ego—and perhaps a little more—as she saw something in him that belied his tame behavior. A wildness they could share. A greatness they could bring. In her days alone, none had given her pause as this one had... and she, now, sought to find out why.

Something came over him as they tussled and played - something he would not have words for, even if his voice were to return - rooted deep in the primordial, instinctive side of him. He chased after her, kicking snow, weaving, ducking his head only to rear up and snap carefully at any close parts of her; almost like he wanted to consume her the way he would a deer. But he did not see her as the target of his hunger - at least not the kind of hunger that made sense to him. Tryphon pursued her until there was no more ground between them, and he reared up, landing square on the small of her back for the briefest of moments. He was reaching for her ears and was thinking of nothing else, although his body reacted to the heat of the moment, sending a heat rising from his groin. Put off by this sudden strange feeling, Tryphon loses his balance - and as he slams back in to the snow, hearing it crunch beneath his paws, it is once more forgotten - and the chase continues, albeit in more closed quarters.

WELL SAGHANI  

 
It was strange with him. Strange and wonderful. She was on the precipice of discovering something. Then and there, she wanted to discover it with him. Saghani felt for this one. Had from the moment she had seen him. Felt it then and there. But the feeling frightened her, some. It had come unexpectedly, out of nowhere. It had come to her in the woods, with their bent backs and their bowed boughs. She could feel her heart in her throat as he slid up the square of her back, and she willed him to, willed him to seal them together—

but he slid away, and Saghani's ears melted atop her head meekly, for a confused moment. He had fallen, but Saghani wondered at herself, at what she was doing, if this was the smart thing, the best thing. To look at him was to know, and she did look at him; she saw the right thing. But she was young and misguided and mistook her heart for weakness, him for weakness. Saghani let him catch her, brought him to her, and moved to kiss him a thousand times over thinking, let me be weak, let me, this once, for a moment. Without reason, inexplicably, Saghani loved him, had loved him from the moment she saw him. His soul called to hers. Each element brought her nearer to him. The fire of his touch. The liquid of their forms melding to one another. The wind urging her closer. The earth rooting her— 

And then the fierce Saghani turned to try and go, and fled from it at once, needing to think, needing space, needing a moment where she wasn't reeling and where she was strong and where she understood. Without question, Saghani believed she would return to him, and although she had always been told to never look back, she did.

I should be leaving for work in the next three minutes but I can't because feelings ?!?!?!!

And just like that, where once her warmth was pressed against his chest, there was nothing. Air first, snow second, and the cold of winter engulfed him while she stared. The look was brief; she had distanced herself from him somehow, while Tryphon had been stupefied by a feeling he could not identify, and the expression upon her face made him question what was going on. He saw nothing wrong with their game. Perhaps he was a fool for his naivety, having never experienced a closeness like this before. They had a bond. A wordless, eternal bond. And while Saghani fled from him - leaving Tryphon looking blankly at her retreating form - he believed she would return to him in time. Maybe with a brief separation they could make sense of things.