Altar of Twilight thinking of you is a poison i drink often

@Dacio

With the prey came the p r e d a t o r.

Willowy, lithe, and serpentine - she moved with purpose, her steps steady yet filled with a liveliness that'd make one believe there was a fire dancing beneath her toes.

Deer - tracked from the edges of the earth to the base of the mountain she stood before now, their triumphant return marking the arrival of the urchin queen come again. She was calculating, poised, and filled with just enough madness to make her interesting as she continued her hunt across the moonlit valley, teeth eager to sink into flesh once more.

He had not expected to see her again, not did he anticipate feeling familiar curiosity bloom to life within him when he did.

Their last encounter had been a delightful one, and Dacio thought he showed his interest in her well enough. For a time he held onto the hope that she would return for more of the attention he'd lavished her in, seek to allow him the opportunity to begin courting her. When she failed to find him again, the silver yearling shed her from his thoughts and returned to routine in Roangeda.

Grey-green eyes observed the she-wolf's moonlit frame from a distance as she loped across the valley, graceful and lovely on nimble paws. Dacio remained rooted for a while to simply admire her before he loped forward with a playful arch to his dark tail and and eagerness to join in on her prowl.

There was no matter of confusion when she saw him again, his appearance, his aroma, their last encounter together; it all still rung clear in her head.

A smile, coy and filled to the brim with desire, crept it's way along the edges of her lips. He had been among the few of her suitors whom she had not immediately turned away, and that alone was enough to rouse her curiosity for him once more.

And so with an eagerness floating in the air between them, Solaris momentarily abandoned her pursuit to lean over and place a mischievous, inviting, nip along his shoulder should he allow it.

She did not turn teeth on him, instead welcomed him to her with that sirensong smile, and he dived head-first into the opportunity to draw near. Dacio let his gaze roam her slight frame, curious as to where she'd been - who she'd been with. That thought roused a hideous jealousy in him, one that made his stomach flop uncomfortably.

The she-wolf shifted, aiming a well-placed nip to the warrior's sterling shoulder. His own response to this playful attack came swift and he veered close to her, jaws parted to clack his fangs in the direction of an ear. He meant to miss, of course, for Dacio was eager to preserve her natural beauty.

"I waited for you to come back," he rumbled after a time, recalling his hope that she might choose him as he had her, and the sore disappointment to follow his realisation that she would not. "Where did you go?"

A kittenish rumble echoed in the depths of her chest, his playful attack earning him both a flirtatious smile, and approving flick of her tail while her head lowered to breathe in the deer's scent. They weren't far off from the herd, five to ten minutes at most, but it was still enough time to leave room for conversation should he wish - which apparently, he did.

His question, though unexpected, did not surprise her in terms of it's motive. She had left abruptly and did not fault him for wondering where she had gone after their initial encounter together. Rather it was his statement, open and honest, that took her a moment to digest.

He had waited for her where others had not - his words enough to send a flutter to warm her heart when normally it was so cold.

"I went where there was food", she revealed, briefly recalling her time within the wilds and the lack of prey during her short-lived visit.

"Why did you stay?"

"My sister," ge answered the question simply, "my young charge. Our kru." Too much to sacrifice. They all could've gone, of course, but together they'd worked tirelessly to bring Praimfaya's vision to life and letting go had never been an option they'd considered. Even as the earth roared beneath them, as the herds vanished and prey grew scarce, Dacio knew he could not turn tail on Roangeda and all it had come to mean for them. The outsiders had dispersed, the wolves not of his kind, until only their trio remained and Moonspear opened its arms to them.

He was bitter to think of Henwen, of Aleks, of those who promised loyalty to their Wanheda and won her naive trust by words alone. Each of them had abandoned her when she needed their support most, yet he and Opalia remained. Roangeda would rise again, and Dacio held fast to the determination to see it through.

He shifted focus once more to the wolfess, keen to leave his misfortune in the past where it belonged. "Do you intend to remain, this time, I wonder?" A smirk then, tugging at the corner of his maw as cool eyes shot her a suggestive, sideways glance.

Ah, f a m i  l y.

The subject had never meant anything significant to the sylph, at least not in the sense of blood-ties. Her mother had reared her and any other whelps she might have birthed with the sole purpose of them surviving the wilds on their own by the time they came of age.

There had been little loved shared between them, so when the time came for Solaris to leave the metaphorical nest, the first step into the unfamiliar world had been remarkably easy.

"Do you want me to?", she asks with an arch of her brow as she turns to meet his glance, a playful yet sincere curiosity dancing in her mismatched eyes.

She spoke up, presenting another question for him. Dacio, made suddenly uncomfortable by such a direct enquiry that he didn't know how to answer without sounding too bold or too forward, lowered his crown and, other than a low hum, he maintained his silence as he trudged on through the snow.

Pace quickening, he moved to lope ahead of the tawny wolfess. He inhaled deep the scent of deer nearby and a charcoal ear swivelled back toward his lithe companion. "I think we're close," Dacio changed the subject, though was hardly graceful in doing so. He hoped his lack of response would not offend her, that she could understand his reluctance to be too honest with his desires. Better to keep her guessing, no, as she did him? "What's the plan here?"