Bitterroot Valley "excuse me if I seem a tad fucked in the head"

@Steele i guess if you don't like Nym, we can try Uki next

 

She'd never known how old she was. 

Perhaps that was an odd thing to be worried about, particularly for The Reaper, but she'd never had anyone to tell her. When she looked into still water, she saw a girl fresh out of childhood with eyes as dead as any grizzled warrior. The years she'd lived in her head didn't match the single cycle of seasons that she'd seen and she was constantly left off kilter by this perception. 

Kizok figured she must have been around four months old when she was sold to the charter though the general opinion was that she was much younger based on her size. She must have been about six months, perhaps seven, when initatied and eight when she began to infiltrate other territories. By Kizok's count - nine months when the war with The Dead Brothers started and ten by the time she was a slave. Eleven months saw her with the nomads and now, only a month or so past her first birthday,  and the only thing that she had left was the mark on her shoulder.

The Night Stalker was but a blip amongst the colorful blooms - bitterroot flowers bursting with fuchsia and vermilion, the whole meadow scented with their aroma and  the distant ash of a volcano.

Deep groves littered the ground, drawing the femme's attentions. Her slender neck dipped, mouth open to allow the scent of prey animals to flood her senses. Deer, by her guess, though there was a tinge that suggested an elk or the odd buffalo. Insects buzzed in the air, threatening to irritate whatever shaggy creature lingered too long and the wolfdog moved away soon enough. 

Her gamine frame could be seen slinking through the flowers, pausing at the edge of a stream to drink - moving cautiously all the while in case a threat lay in wait.

Nym is fine! :)

Steele hung his head low while pacing himself going wherever his feet may lead him. He felt bad for the Sanctuary leaving them one man short after bringing them news of a bear from his other pack. His head was full of worry and bad thoughts, he wasn’t usually like this. It seems his feelings had been getting the best of him lately and the conversation with Lily before he left didn’t make it any better. 

The brute came up to the valley and picked up his head to look around. The valley was beautiful today. The suns rays had shined off the grass, the birds were chirping awfully loudly, and the wind was wishing slowly. This was a mood lightener. Steele felt as if this could be where his life wanted him to go first, after all he wanted to be happy again. 

He made his way through the valley sniffing here and there until he had caught scent of someone. The brute’s ears cupped and he scanned the area. Off in the distance was a shadow of a wolf, his paws slowly made their way to it. He gave a chuff in greeting, it was a female by their size and smell.

She's not alone for long. 

She lifts her head from the water, eyes the color of sunshine but not nearly as warm, scanning him over once - almost indifferently. She dips her head low, ears flattening as her eyes drop again in submission. The movement seems oiled, practiced - as if there's no real fear to her movements, only a dance she's learned in the wild. 

He's larger, a brute of tall and muscular proportion. His coat thick and grey, two toned with ash and shadows. The girl remains quietly deferential - a survival tactic that's worked in the past with other men.

He chuffs and the silent girl straightens, far too small to be considered dangerous. Nym gives  him no hint that she is, posturing with a delicate curl of her shoulders that speaks of vulnerable femininity. 

The girl will keep the game up as long as she can, chirping a soft note to him.

Steele watched as her body language gave off a submissive type feeling. His brow kind of went up in the air and he didn’t know how to react. This was the first time that anyone had ever done this toward him, was he that scary? The brute took a few steps back and then laid down on the ground so he would seem smaller to the woman. His heart was dropping because he had meant no harm but did she even know that?

He cleared his throat and then looked up at her with soft eyes. “I’m not here to harm you. I just want to meet new friends. Trying to find my inner self out here.” He said and then shifted his gaze away trying to seem less threatening. His tail was firmly touching the ground and his head came down to his paws. Hopefully he could get to know why she did that, it seemed to him like she had been hurt in the past.

His words, meant to reassure her, do not make her give up her facade. She's seen them like this before - soft eyes and kind voices and sweet touches - and she's even believed them too.

Nym's found they have more perverse needs than the openly abusive males she's encountered. 

"Who?" She asked after a moment, staring at him blankly as he spoke before speaking up. She's unable to ask him exactly what his name is and now she gives him a mere tilt of her head, hoping this accompanying gesture will help him understand her question.

Steele let his eyes wonder to her slowly and then gave her a warm look. “To find my inner self. Find who I wanna be from here on out? I guess it only makes sense to me. I’m Steele by the way.” He offered his demons in a sweet way and then his name. Still laying down he moved his eyes away again so she wouldn’t feel compelled to tell him anything. 

As he lay lay there he thought about how it would feel to be female and how superior males always thought they should be. This thought got his blood boiling, what a sexist world we all lived in. Then his thoughts returned about what this wolf was doing out here and why she showed submissive body language toward him, a fellow loner. It was all a lot to take in but he was glad for it to be taking away from his life for a short moment.

When she was a child she remembered being frustrated to the point of tears when she found she could not speak. She could understand, having been able to hear the words, but had missed the window for learning the majority of speech. 

She's visibly confused by the overload of words, squinting at him with perplexed golden eyes and shaking her head. The one thing she does catch is his name, storing it away for later. 

"Nym," she offers somewhat reluctantly, wanting to hold onto the name Kizok gave her and keep it close to her heart.

Steele perked his ears at the sound of her name. Her expressions made Steele worrysome, it seemed as though she was confused by his words. The brute was hoping he could get a little closer to her. He stood slowly and then inched a bit closer stopping every couple of steps to look up at her for approval.

”Nym, is it okay if I move closer?” He asked softly during his first few steps. He would have never asked anyone permission to come closer to them but it seemed she would cower away, or that’s what he had thought. The woman seemed interesting like an interesting he would like to get to know. Steele was trying to portray himself as non threatening so his body was still half to the ground and his eyes wondered every once in a while.

As he approaches, her golden eyes widen with a mixture of panic and anger. Within moments she's on her feet, backing away from him slowly - eyes locked on him the whole time as if to track his every move. Her lips peeled back, revealing bared fangs in his direction. 

Hunched aggressively and bristling, she waits until he's gotten the message - back the fuck up. Given that he's understood, she huffs softly - a sound of confusion and fear. 

The Reaper sways on pale toes, sunshine gaze flicking to the side in search of the closest escape. 

Steele stopped dead in his tracks when she curled her lip into a snarl. It was a clear message that she was sending and it didn’t go unnoticed, the brute backed away slowly until there was a big space between them. It was clear that he wasn’t welcome close to her even being non threatening. Steele was confused by her reaction and sat back on his haunches with a ‘what the fuck is going on’ look on his face. 

His eyes met the ground and he slowly looked up to her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He voiced softly almost at a whisper. The male was at a loss for what to do now, this situation had never happened to him before now. It would take more than just soft voices and submissive body language to get this female’s trust. It broke his heart to see her like this even though he barely even knew who she was.

Perhaps he was just confused as she was. That didn't matter to her. Her sunflower eyes scanned the distance, every now and again finding the male in front of her. She never quite met his amber eyes with her own, keeping them low in submission. 

Her body seemed to speak for itself and with a last confused whuff, the feral girl took off. Before he could stop her, she'd disappeared into the undergrowth with one thought in mind - escape. 

It was in an instance that she was gone, like a flash of light or lightning that touches the ground and then retreats. The brute felt bad as he watched her disappear, he wanted to speak and wanted to tell her how sorry he really was but it was with regret that he couldn't even open his mouth. He dipped his head in defeat, all he wanted was a new friend, someone to talk to. 

Steele took one look in the direction she left in and decided it would be best to go the other way. He turned his muscular body and took off, running just as she. Thoughts filled his mind, it was like he was cursed never to have any good luck in his life. First it was the bear then the sanctuary and now her. Tears welled but he held them back as he left the place where he had met Nym.