Dahozhoni Meadow I'm starting to hate it here

It was strange, the way things were falling into place.

He had left home to find something more accepting, only to return with his brother a month or so later. He had left Verapaz to venture out, and yet he had crawled back to the basin all the same. At the very least Kemal was here now; it was good to have someone he knew he could trust.

Venturing forward from the packlands he held an unassuming expression, one that left much to be questioned. Stars hung over the lowlands, framing the moon as it beaconed down on the earth. It was quiet, the only sound being the wind as it softly blew past.

Releasing a sigh Arslan lowered himself to a sit. Just for tonight, the lion had doused his flames.

sorry for the ramble :3

Nanou looked for field mice darting about the thin layer of snow, dark ears attuned to the slightest of sounds beneath the surface, or the feintest of scuffles against frozen meadow grass. Where a fox had this technique perfected, she was left to do far more guesswork. Within her penance, she'd found her skills were sharp enough to snatch up a fair few of the unfortunate things, which met with a crunchy, swift grave.

It was less strain on the body than hunting a deer, even if it was tedious. And for some reason, she felt her eyes worked best in the dark.

Even when sometimes, in the dark, she saw the faces of old ghosts, the look they got in their eye right before...

She licked the blood from her lip, the pure steel of her maw swiftly restored. This had never bothered her before... perhaps it only did now because she was shown the futility of it all. That was enough to radicalize a girl. But was it guilt or was it anger?

She would've done it all again for just one glimpse of her. The thought was one unconscious, a reflex, but how could she help it? To her she was sworn.

Now, unsworn. Hunting mice in the dark. Meaningless. Unchained. which was it?

Ahead she caught wind of another, and already her ears pressed to her head, suspicion a dangerous tingle on the back of her neck and her expectations rather low. To cross paths with a stranger was often a gamble. Then again, perhaps her mind could've used the distraction, whether it was the simple exchanging of words, or that of blows.

His figure was one sandswept, swathed in sienna, sat quietly looking up at the moon. Nanou drifted closer, her own gaze following his up to the sky. It's hardly a sliver to look at now. She filled the empty air, her voice a low hum.

A stranger approaches and he eyes her with a calm confidence. There is no fear to be found in the lion now. But it is something, is it not? He responds. There are worse things to be staring up at.

His tail curled around his lower half, shielding it from a winter chill as it blew past the pair. Decided to go out for a late hunt? He spoke the question as if he knew this wolf well, but then again it was the same way he would have addressed any other stranger. It was his calm tone that was out of the ordinary here, for his usually fiery personality at least.

He meets her 'greeting' with easy words of his own, and the fur of her spine lays back down to rest. Worse things to stare up at? You sound like you speak from experience. She remarks idly, snatching up another mouse and snuffing it out with a quick snap of her jaws.

She shrugs and her gaze finds him once more, as if she is reluctant to allow him to slip from it, even in this unshattered peace they now shared. Something like that. I figured if I could not sleep, I could at least fill the time doing something else

The realm of sleep, of dreams, it was a cruel place. In the cold and crisp night air, there was only what was in front of her, not what was behind.

He gave a long, low 'mmhm' in response. He had been on the underside of enough men on nights like this to know that for certain. Some of them were damn ugly once the shade of night was no longer shielding them.

Quietly he listens to her reasoning, finally adjusting his gaze to meet hers, unrelenting while his was far closer to non-existent. He had never been someone who needed to look over his shoulder, and so he had never learned. You're much more productive than I ever have been. He snickers. What's your name? We can fill the time together. He makes the decision promptly, inviting himself into her hunt - though he likely would not be much help.