Blackfeather Woods kissing wounds

referencing location from here

he didn't really know what he was doing.

he didn't really...know much of anything, it felt like. his life was nothing worth noting or sharing. he ate, he drank, he slept.

he wandered far and where he wanted, because blackwater hadn't really worked out. rivenwood hadn't worked out. home hadn't worked out.

veran, Ålesund, whatever anybody wanted to call him, didn't work out anywhere.

he lacked everything that made for a good friend or family member. so maybe it was time to just simply be alone. drift wherever he wanted with no consequences for cowardly actions. indulge in whatever he wanted, live however he wanted.

maybe that was how he found himself at an odd willow tree, brain looping into some nonsense he hadn't deciphered yet. shadows seemingly taking life before him.

Malila was familiar with not fitting in. First Rivenwood and then Mereo. Back then, she had been desperate. Found no other choice because of the harsh winter season and her poor condition. While her former pack had hardly been the ideal fit for her, she had learned much in her stay there. How to fight, or at least, to defend herself. She knew her weaknesses. She had studied more of herbs, under the guidance of Aquene. But most importantly, she learned what she did and did not want out of life.

She wanted her freedom. Choices. Without any regret, now that the weather was beginning to warm, she descended into the unknown. The forest was dark with curling shadows at every turn. Quiet and mysterious. She almost liked it, even if a pale, wispy thing such as herself was so out of place.

She was feeling unusually optimistic. It had to be the spring season creeping in. Or the likelihood that prey would be easier to catch. The perfect time for her to sharpen her piss poor hunting skills. Something moved a ways up ahead. Her attention caught, she went to investigate. She was led to a willow tree, where, cautiously she sniffed at the base, yet unaware of the other wolf stationed at the opposite side.

sights and sounds blurred together.

he was unaware of the spores from the tree, of their power against him.

but he was all too aware of his surroundings right now, amped up on a creeping sense of paranoia brought on by the living shadows around him. her steps may have been light but there was far too little sound to mask her arrival.

even if she remained on the other side of the tree.

hey...hey, he hoarsely whispered. whaddya doing? he lazily drawled, as he rolled onto his side, as if that might be enough to peer around for her.

Malila's chocolate and cream furred form flinched slightly from surprise when the hoarse voice addressed her. Although she was not nearly as flighty as she had been before, she still kept on edge. Delicate ears pricking, she bent down low and peered round the tree. Her eyes confirmed what her nose had just picked up. Another wolf.

"S-sorry. I just heard something and came to investigate." She skirted in a wide arc to the side, plainly giving him ample space. "I didn't mean to startle you. It's just...this place is so strange. Like it is playing tricks on my eyes." She settled lightly onto her haunches but kept ready to rise again and skitter away, depending on what his body language said.

veran — was he still veran, he thought? — peered at her with owlish eyes. The mismatch hues of her fur blended in his gaze. his dark head against the earth, scarred muzzle top smooth with a lack of aggression.

she stood out in the swirl of shadows.

she was like a beacon of light and him a moth.

yeah i...don't know what's up with that, his usual fear in the face of strangers ebbed away. spores altered his mind into something twisted from his usual skittish self.

how did you get here?

There was no trace of hostility to be found radiating from him. In fact, he seemed perhaps just as mystified as her. Assured enough to relax, she let her slim frame slide down onto the earth. Slender legs outstretched, her stomach pressed against the cool leaf litter. Shadows from the swaying tendrils of the willow tree twisting over her.

She studied him. He was a sharp looking wolf, with a pale body and a dark brown masked face with a scarred muzzle. "Whatever it is...I actually don't really mind it." She said with what could be described as a smile in her voice. She stretched her front legs out, as if to scoot her way closer. But she didn't move. 

What had brought her here? Her mismatched eyes lowered thoughtfully, but only for a split second. Finding the blue of his gaze, she replied "I dispersed from my pack recently. The one in the canyon." She wondered if he knew of it. Malila didn't seem bothered by what she had said. Quite the opposite. "What about you?"

she was nice.

she was pretty.

his chin tucked against his chest, almost sheepish and coy. as if she had asked him something grandly personal. he knew nothing about the pack in the canyon, or why she seemed pretty dang content to be rid of it.

i, uh, dunno? i guess i dispersed my pack too. i don't really...i guess haven't found somewhere good to be.

tried to shrug his shoulders. despite that obviously being out of the equation when he was down on his side.

Ah, so he was a disperser like her. Were it possible, her expression softened even more but her lips did not form a smile. "Then that is something we have in common." His lack of a response to the canyon pack had her assuming he did not know of it, or did not care to. 

"This isn't the first time I've left a pack voluntarily." She offered openly, while her tail waved freely above her hips. Observing him laying on his side, he looked relaxed. But she could be wrong. "Why...why did you choose to leave?" She asked, with a lift of delicate brows.

she was so brave, he thought. she seemed so carefree and wild.

an aura radiated around her — brought on by whatever hallucinations he was suffering from the spores — and he could not look away from her. heron blue eyes wide with wonder at her.

oh, uh, sheepish still. lips exposed teeth in a crooked, boyish grin. i...just didn't fit in? they were all...kind of super dedicated to stuff there.

what about you?

his stomach rumbled with a gnawing hunger.

oops.

Malila would hardly call herself brave. Wild? Not quite. Carefree? Well, not just yet. But certainly free. Oblivious to the aura he saw emanating around her from the spores in the air, she gazed openly at him. She felt the urge to let out a good humored, girlish giggle.

She gasped lightly. "Whaddaya know. Me too. I felt under pressure. Or like I was being forced to be someone I'm not. That's...no way to live." She admitted, shaking her head. His stomach rumbled. Following, came the giggle that had not been released before. 

"Oh, oops. Are um, you hungry?" She peered close, shuffling on her belly nearer. Her ears fell slightly, her face donning an apologetic look. "I'm not a very good hunter at all...but maybe together we can catch something. And um, it is spring. Baby animals are easier to catch, so I've heard." 

boyishly smitten.

she glowed and glowed, each word brought with her an intensity to it. a pulsating light around her. so warm, an invintation.

how could he fear that? how could he fear her?

he couldn't. she was the first woman he could face without cowardice.

thanks, hallucinations.

he rolled onto his own stomach, neck stretched out to nose near her. taking her in more. her scent, her mismatch eyes. enamored in all of this haze. even further enamored that she would offer to hunt with him.

oh. i-i dunno how good i could hunt right now? i feel kinda...off. he laughed, clearly not a bad off. but, uh, we could go look for something together? sometimes you can get real lucky and find a left behind food store.

Had she any idea of what he was feeling, what he was thinking, Malila would have blushed beet red under her fur. She was hardly anything fierce. Rather, she was like the plants she so loved in her childhood. Delicate. Light. Almost fragile. Everything about her was soft. There were no harsh lines in neither her form nor her way of life.

"Well...we could try and search." Something he said stuck out to her. In the next inhale of breath, the very same spores floated into her nose. It would be some time until she felt their effects, or if at all. "Huh? How do you mean?" She found herself rolling onto her side, then onto her back in a cutesy display. Like they might as well have been besties. She booped his nose softly with her own, smirking with the teeny tips of her pretty teeth poking past her lips.

Okay, so maybe she was getting a little loopy.

ohhh her new avatar ;u;

how?

how could he even begin to explain? the creeping shadows, her glowing aura, the ebb and flow of emotions that felt so raw.

he was not a man of tactful words. especially when he bubbled with laughter at her touch.

here she was. bold and carefree. so stunning in her radiance.

just...kinda funny. maybe it's the woods. strange, like you said. playing tricks on my eyes or...something.

if, uh, you got nowhere to go...? we could eat and hunker down for the night.

a bold offer from the usually timid young man.

OOC: <3!

"Huh. Maybe that could be it after all." She wriggled, enjoying the shift of the grass tickling her spine. "Come to think of it, I haven't felt this...well...relaxed in a long time." Boy was that the truth. She had always felt either out of place, useless or under pressure. And now here she was embracing her new sense of freedom. Be it thanks to the influence of the spores or not.

She certainly had no complaints.

She rolled back over onto her side, facing him. Perhaps a little too quickly, creamy paws brushing harmlessly against his shoulders. In a flash, Malila was up on her feet again. "That sounds great. Especially the part about camping out in a place like this.." Her eyes darted around, alight with excitement. "Something about it...it's thrilling." 

Now her stomach made it's hunger known with a soft grumble. Swallowing thickly and looking flustered, complete with half folded ears, she stepped back. Maybe that was the final prompt they both needed to find a snack.