Phoenix Maplewood if everything is honey, & i am what i eat...

@Sanguinus!
Setting Evening, during return journey.
Time Sometime during 1.23-1.27.

Aure didn’t want to dwell on the her excursion. She didn’t want to recall those she’d met along the way to and from Diaspora. For once, a rare moment, thoughts of her brother faded from her weary mind. Worries of going into estrus — she hadn’t — during her journey had receded as well. No. She wanted to sample this... whatever this was that gurgled like burnished blood from the puckered veins of the maple. From the smell of it, it was rather sinful in its delectability. On top of that, she could detect no telling that this may be poisonous. 

The world seemed to dim around her, and for a rare moment, she was a little whelp again; some babbling moon-maid. Like then, she now had an insatiable sweet-tooth, and a penchant for being entirely unawares of the crones that may lure her away and into their own bellies.

And since she felt rather travel-worn and deserving... why not?

Hesitant above all else, the porcelain skayona edged closer to the bleeding maple, nostrils flaring inquisitively. If she peered with much focus, she could almost spy the hazy case of herself in its dark depths; but then her nose alit upon the sap, tongue following in a rasp, and she just about lost it.

Suddenly feverish with an abandon of childish enthusiasm and none of the courtly elegance she’d always preened in, Aure tucked in for a feast that she believed, frankly, was well-earned. All the while, her tail flared with girlish delight, and she gobbled up heaps of said syrup without a single, immodest care of who would see.

In the end, as she drew away, the viscous, ambery remained slathered among the white velvet of her muzzle, oozing in globs upon the pink of her nose. The pads she swept along in an attempt to rid herself of it proved futile.

Oh. Oh no.

Quivering with some hazy, helpless anxiety, she shook her head to and fro, but that seemed to make the syrup all the more resolute to stay. A soft, strangled whimper left her, and then began a fervent search for some moss; for some stream nearby. At the moment, it seemed as if those two properties were more myth than matter.

His mind wandered as much as his feet did these days, though was not nearly as worn as he'd imagined it'd be. Perhaps it was the last drops of freedom tingling on the tip of his tongue that allowed him to wonder with such openness, for the thoughts that crossed his mind now would have caused him a beating so great in his youth he'd still be bleeding to this day. But that was the beauty of the mind, he could dream of ideas and not have to worry about the actions that followed for his mind was his own and until he gave it away he was free to fantasize to his heart's content. But no matter what sinful ambitions he may brew up, Sanguinus was far too grounded in his ways to move on the thoughts he concocted. He only knew of blind obedience and the natural will to survive and it was this that kept his fantasies tethered to reality. 

But no matter, for it didn't take long before his thoughts were dismissed as the wind uncovered the whereabouts of the porcelain babe. He was quick to fall into structured routine and began his descent into the scene filled with anxiety and other emotions he did not handle well. After a brief moment of contemplation he let out an erratic chuff to try and draw her attention his way, though would not be surprised if she missed his entrance in her fevered agitation. 

As anxious as she was, Aure was not so blind to sense as she may have figured herself to be. The breathy greeting made her whirl about, the fur of her nape and spine ruffling like swan's feathers, eyes fuller than moons and at once prepared to defend her foolish urges. Instead, she was left blinking dimly at the swath of scarlet and gloom before her, syrup lacing her pale muzzle where the makings of a snarl should be. Voice close to dying, she squeaked the first thing that came to her maple mind:

"...Oh." Perfect start; nobody would dare question the effortlessness in which she handled conversation.

Clearing her amber-ridden throat, she tried again, quite unable to look at the older male before her as she felt her cheeks sting with the blood of child's guilt. "I, ahm... I am Aure." It was all she could offer, meek and useless as it was, her ears pressing further back in mortification and uncertainty. Not fearing for her livelihood as she should be, if this sable male before her was of an inglorious nature. For a fleeting moment, the red cast of his ruff reminded her of her once-guardian, Wintersbane; it wasn't too hard to imagine, to wonder, if this wanderer may be related to him in some way.

His ears swept backward against his crown when her hackles flared, the amber tracing her lips shining like liquid gold in the evening sunlight. To his surprise she made no further move to fight or flight and whatever counter he had prepared slunk back into the darkness from wince it came.

It was unusual for him to show concern for someone he'd only just met considering sympathy was not something he'd been taught as a child but, the velvet innocence in her voice stirred something in him he couldn't quite place. "Are you alright?" he began, voice rough and awkward as he tried to surge some type of emotion into his tone. "You seemed...distressed." She held no visible injures which left the elder man baffled as to what had caused her such a great disturbance.

”I... I am weary, but well,” she admitted, and though smeared, the skayona canted her muzzle with a modest gratefulness for the asking. And then her lips pulled back into a mild frown, brows creasing over wide eyes, ”Distressed? I... well, I can’t seem to get this... this sap off of me. S-sorry, whatever it is... Um..”

Her snowy head whirled to one side, as if straining to hear the gurgle of some creek or other. ”I only wanted to wash it off before it dries; if I c-could find a stream, or—“ Was it possible to die from embarrassment? Was it too much to ask that she simply pass away where she stood, petrified as if she were a little girl caught with her grimy hand in the cookie jar?

Never mind the fact that, should this dark wanderer choose to, she could easily be overwhelmed? Aure supposes that she could die here, in fact; drowning in syrup and her own blood, or drowning herself in three inches of water of a creek. The possibilities were endless!

In the end, though, she was able to ease her cinched muscles, at least somewhat; she then stilled, and only her tail was left trembling. Gazing back up into the sable male’s façade, her guillible attention was again drawn to red of him. Rather off-topic, she inquired dazedly, ”Are... are you a war-lord?”

A faint sigh of relief slipped from his velvet lips as she assured him there was no immediate threat concerning her well-being - only that she had gotten herself into a sticky situation, quite literally. "It's not causing you any discomfort is it?" he asked with a furrowed brow, nose wriggling as he leaned close to inspect this so called sap among her porcelain maw.

It gave off an overbearing sweetness to the air, one that made him quick to withdraw as the corner of his lips tugged downward. He did not know what it was that ensnared her and was not given much time to wonder either as a question rather unrelated to the situation reached his ears. A warlord? He couldn't blame her for assuming such an occupation given his flawed appearance, but such a title was hardly his to claim. "I am a champion" he corrected gently, "a faithful servant to a master I have yet to find."

”Ce? Un maestru?“ The inquiry was a bit warbled, as the ambery ‘sap’  toed about the corner of one of her lips. The scent was, indeed, overbearing and rather sugary, and the aroma of it began to ooze like molasses into her lungs. Through a little lurch in her belly, she was able to further pip, ”What master would abandon h-his champion? Especially in ze Teekons?”

The snowy female seemed to be under the impression that some lord had forsaken his guardian — in the dead of deep winter, no less — and had left this champion behind to search for him. The concept of indentured servitude hadn’t once crossed her mind; especially not with this amber on her maw.

”I-I hope you find another, of course,” she stuttered, tipping her chin up and to the side to redirect the crawling tree-stuff. ”I kn-know what it is like, to search for someone with next t-to nothing to guide you.” All the while, full-moon, shivery eyes flit between her predicament and the sable champion before her.

The peculiar mess of a foreign language, one she seemed to slip into subconsciously, caused burnished eyes to widen in the wake of her outlandish words. They were well polished in that mellifluous tone of hers and he unknowingly found himself wishing to hear them once more, if only for a moment. But alas he was luckless, and she quickly adjusted her words to those he could understand as he let out a faltering breath he hadn't been aware he was holding in.

"I was not abandoned" he began, eyes following her gaze until they landed upon the amber stained maple just a few paces away. "I simply have not chosen one yet." He found that choosing his eternal commander was a lot like falling in love - either it simmered and intensified with time or happened all at once in a flurry of inflamed emotions he couldn't quite place into words. 

After a brief moment he pulled away from her as the last of her enlightening words fell from sap laced lips, ears swiveling atop his crown as he neared the sticky residue from where she had indulged in her sweet tooth. After a quick inspection of the candied amber, a salmon pink tongue carefully slipped between velvety lips an ran it's way along the syrupy liquor, the realization that this sap could be washed away in a different sense than she had suggested was slowly dawning on him.  

She studied him warily, ears slick to skull as he approached the syrup that he'd so recently gagged at; the same type from the same tree to which she now wrinkled her muzzle towards. Why would he examine the substance if it repelled him so? "Wait, um," Her slim brow narrowed in confusion, her own plight with the maple-on-maw momentarily forgotten. Tail feathering uncertainly at her hocks, she curved herself about to face him more fully, "I-it's not poisonous... er, I think. Only very filling."

She raised a pale paw, as if somehow trying to weakly convince him of the truth. But... maybe it was poisonous, and it simply crept up on you like some gradual plague. At least it seemed like a good way to go; death by syrup. Not as sweet as comoara ei from the cliffs, but she supposed it would suffice.

Her anxious gaze began to flit about, wondering where she should lie her body down. Perhaps this champion could help her burrow down somewhere, and then hold some kind of vigil for her, too? As long as this fatal amber left her able to see her stars until her dying breath then, well... leggo, I guess.

The swarthy man had been taught many things by his milk-maid, her refined lessons often proving useful in situations he would not have thought himself caught up in, much like the one he found himself in now. "It is not poisonous" he let out smoothly as his lips smacked together not unlike a dog's would after a spoonful of peanut butter, tongue slipping out to lick the corner of chops as the last of the amber fled from his maw. 

After a brief moment of hesitation he turned back towards the alabaster and honey-kissed siren, his glazed periwinkle eye tracing over the golden laced edges of her pearly jaws. "I believe I've found a way to rid you of the sap" he announced as he slowly drew closer, feet pausing just a few paces away from where she stood so anxiously, her uneasiness practically drowning him in the sugary air. "May I?" he questioned with the slightest tilt of his head, the scarlet tip of his tail twitching restlessly as he awaited her answer.

Aure watched the male return to her, full-moon gaze wide and unassuming. His proposition crept upon her like ivy; slow-moving, but once she realized what he alluded to, her entire being burst into a blushing colorautra. It took her mind more than a few heartbeats to follow her body, but she noted the cant of his dark head and the way he inquisitively eyed at the amber on her maw. As she took a moment to consider it all, the fur along her spine quivered to life.

Usually, she would've condemned anyone from edging towards her scars, yet... "Y-you," she stuttered out, but faltered into a little grumbling sigh, before turning a pale cheek for him to work with. Keeping her gaze pointedly on anywhere but the sable-sange male before her was a challenge in itself, and she eeked out a tiny little "You... may." from the sudden, girlish prance of her heart.

Although another held her heart, was she... betraying herself? ...Was it okay to feel such emotions? Snowy lashes fluttered as her marred face stung with the shame, at the anticipation gave her cause to tremble as her advanced. It's... it's not a kiss, she murmured to herself, eyes glancing towards his shadow despite her mortification. He's- he's only helping.

But helping who, really?

With permission received and no further hurdles halting him from completing his task, Sanguinus moved in a single fluent motion towards the porcelain babe and attentively began ridding her the of tacky syrup as gently as he could. Had he been aware of the innocent blush hidden beneath her stark white fur, the stygian man would have likely found a similar heat burning underneath his own cheeks as well, for such a thought would have been enough to cause his heart to flutter from his chest while butterflies danced about in his stomach.

But he remained naively unaware of her situation and the thoughts that plagued her mind and perhaps, it was for the better that way.

As he finished cleansing her of one amber ridden side, his gaze, content and glossed in satisfaction, turned to search for her starlit eyes while seeking silent consent to begin working on the opposite cheek she had turned to him with. If granted he'd move in the same manner as he had before with his tail now comfortably swinging behind in a rhythmic beat similar to that of a metronome.  

Aure couldn't help but shy away as he crowded in, her skull only edging a fraction from his jowls before he set about with his ministrations. It was more out of proclivity than anything; that weak, whimpering instinct in her that wanted to neither flee or stay. The sense of it increased incrementally as the unnamed male tended to her — so lost in her own timidity was she that, by the time their gazes finally met, she'd forgotten there was another side to her that needed cleaning.

Ever a she-wolf to never be at attention, the pallid she-wolf consented with a sheepish blink. Then, she hurriedly made to cast her head the other way; but instead bonked the still-slathered side of her snout against his own. "C-cer iertare..." only a mute hiccup, flushed and all, left her and she promptly clamped her gaping mouth shut. With the weak excuse of an apology given, she resumed to present the rest of her syrup-ridden self to him.

The unforeseen bump to his snout had caught the sable champion off guard and caused him to flinch ever so slightly away, a few slow, dazed blinks eventually bringing him back to reality as she quickly turned from him and stuttered what he assumed was an apology. "It's ok" he returned in an airy laugh, not bothered by the syrup that now clung to his own jaws despite the rather uncomfortable thickness of it's sugary odor.

After allowing a brief pause to collect himself once more, Sanguinus continued his task with dutifulness and only pulled away once the last of the amber had vanished from her scar stricken maw. He took but a single step backwards to ensure he had rid her of the miserable sap all together and once pleased, turned to her with a sterling smile and a few delighted wags of his tail as he awaited her hopeful reaction.

Aure’s silvered gaze waned open, meekly, to see the smile and that relieved expression on the champion’s face. For a moment, when as her body uncurled from her abashment, her heartbeat fell quiet as she felt the sudden weightlessness of her marred maw. For a moment, it seemed as if she was struck with wonder and wouldn’t reply at all. Then, in gullible, girlish gallant:

”Ești uimitor, minunat, un sfânt, un adevărat campion! Mulțumesc mult! Cum pot să vă mulțumesc vreodată?“ And even as she began to flurry about him, like an insignificant little frost-fae spinning through winter, her foreign gratitude didn’t cease once. ”E ca și cum ai fi spulberat și tu ai făcut-o! Ai făcut! A fost minunat, mă simt atât de eliberat, de ce nu m-am gândit la asta mai devreme?“

All the while she flit about him, coltish legs erratic and dancing over welts of sap upon the winter terrain. It was only after she was breathless from babbling that Aure drew herself up before him again; her mortification would arrive later, but she was able to ruffle out a sprightly ”Thank you!” before she broke out in fidgets again. ”I-I owe you a life debt, yes? I am Aure.”

Her sudden joyous dance was unforeseen and rather unconventional yet, was appreciated nonetheless, for her unique individual way of showing gratitude was easily going down as one of his favorite ways to receive thanks and he found himself wishing to one day see it once more. "You owe me no such thing" came his response to the words he actually understood, a sincere smile spread wide across his maw as she began to wriggle about once more.

"I am simply glad to have helped" and with that he spoke true, for he had not aided her expecting to receive some form of payment in return, and if truth be told - her name alone was enough of a reward. "Aure" he said aloud, testing the syllables on his lips as he ran through them twice more in his head. "I am know as Sanguinus" he introduced with a well mannered dip of his maw, tail swaying contently behind him. 

He waited a moment to hear any more words she had yet to share before once more checking to make sure she was relieved of the amber, for he did not wish to leave a job half finished. Once he was sure she was fine and was about to be on her way, he bid her a formal farewell and wished he safe travels to wherever it was she might be heading. Curious thing he thought she was, but he enjoyed her company and wished to, if fate would allow it, bump into her once more - perhaps in more favorable conditions.

Now all he had to do was figure out how to get the sap off of himself...