Grouse Thicket Where the wild things are.

hunting is by no means caligula’s favorite task, or even a task he enjoys. to eat is necessary to live, and for everything that has happened – perhaps it is determination or pure stubborn spite holding him together, that keeps him moving. perhaps just the fear of what it would be like to die.

it is not something he cares to examine too closely.

a wolf should enjoy such a kill. he did, at one time. but in this moment, the salt-smell of blood and the splinter of bone and the sudden jolt of terror all combine to a nauseous roil in his stomach. he drops the body to his feet – his startled recoil has placed him several feet away from the stranger – trying very hard to breathe; the air rasps in and out of his lungs, thick with moisture, every fiber of his body singing a warning that is familiar, by now, too familiar –

– she speaks.

the words swirl back and forth for a long moment, refusing to register. caligula stares at her, his lips shiny with blood, though the body is far enough away that he tastes mostly clean air and grass and animal with each gasping inhale. the tenseness of his shoulders relaxes by degrees when she does not move, when she merely blinks at him instead.

it is perhaps not the ideal meeting. but no teeth have been bared, no harsh words exchanged, and perhaps someday, that knowledge will actually do something for him; for now, no matter what he knows, it is not enough to control the spiking adrenaline, even if he maintains enough presence of mind to be able to force it back down.

it takes him an extended, awkward moment to reply, though at least his stomach has stopped threatening to revolt.

“i…thank you?” bewildered confusion threads his words together. he stares for a moment longer, still breathing too hard. “i am – i apologize, who –”

right. okay. caligula snaps his mouth shut before he can sound any more of a mess. exhales. “i am. sorry if i…disturbed you?” the words are painfully formal, and sound more like a question than an apology. “i did not know that, ah, that anyone else was here.”