Long past dawn

A siren's song that would tempt the lone sailor into precarious waters, the violet blossoms had called him to return again and again in much the same way. A wordless beckoning to the most mysterious place... one that he kept obeying. Each time searching for answers that would never fill his grasp. Sundance Grove, he would recall the white woman say. The words had rolled off her tongue smooth and delicate, devoid of the enigma he had felt was at work there. The wind tasted of autumn's breath. Leaves that had already begun to change danced and crackled against one another as they swayed briefly in the treetops above. However the colors that painted their bodies were lost upon him, the fog quickly flowing in.

A cloud had nestled itself within the valley, blanketing the grove in a thick haze of bright white. It was altogether eerie. Even with the enormity of his body and the strength that resided within those thick muscles, Beck moved about the fog with careful steps. Advancing slowly, he placed one foot in front of the other as soundlessly as he could manage. The thick foliage was moistened with dew, each blade of grass wrapped in a blanket of moisture that clung to his paws. Twirling around him, tendrils of mist moved and danced in a synchronized ballet. It was like a dreamy cocoon, disorienting him from the direction he had came and the one in which he was going. Yet, that disorientation became part of the perceived magic of the grove itself.

The silence was deafening, a faint ringing that hung in his ears as they swiveled and searched for an anchor.

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u

She'd fallen in love, it'd been a simple conclusion—the only conclusion. One she hoped was never remedied. The purple field was more solace than she could ask for, so she'd returned after a hunt alongside the pale woman, happily bidding goodbye so she could take home to the bliss tasted on her tongue. The wistfulness of the grove had been the first thing capable of making her breathe, its fruitful nature blessing her in more ways than its mere growth. It eased her sorrows through the sickly scent of lavender, but one she found that only deepened the rich pine clinging to her coat.

The picturesque view of the grove came into view after a few quick paces, the daintiness of her steps paying more respect to the beauty of nature around her than it ever would herself. The morning's dew still reflected against leaves cascading from the weather's neglect, but it was a shower of gold that distracted her outright. The sunrise wasn't nearly as beautiful.

A beat passed as the dame eased her way into the field, her cascade of gold dimming with the presence of a thickening blanket painted white she'd failed to notice. It was enough for her to pause but with it, came a chill stark against the warmth expanse of her back. She could barely see, but with only her and Velyre's stale scents clinging to purple petals, her worry faded as pale as the cloud resting around her. Instead, it sparked a child-like innocence she'd almost forgotten, a hum of contentment resounding within her throat as she set off.

For a moment, a long and pleasurable moment, she harbored no fear. There were no expectations she'd have to meet, or company she'd need to entertain. Kaida was herself, blissful amongst the clouds and a purple expanse of ocean. Her steps, as light as she, began in a trot, pale green eyes shut behind brown lids and a wide smile ever apparent on diluted black lips. She let her mind and senses guide her around the field, low bubbles of laughter leaving her while she mingled with the medicinal scent of lavender.

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Faintly could he recall a story he had heard in the years of his youth. It was a tale about a far away land where there existed a mystical meadow, forever blanketed in a thick fog. It was said that those who ventured into this ethereal place were transported to a dreamlike realm where reality blurred with imagination. Whatever would follow he was unable to recall, but the meadow of the story and the one he currently traveled felt as if they had been one in the same. Less did he think of the yarn as a fictionality designed to pacify restless whelps before bedtime, but instead he'd question the possibility of a prophecy at its depths. Many things had occurred as of late, things he could not explain intellectually. Deeming the metaphysical innocent in it all seemed a farce not to be trifled with.

There was a gentleness to the evening mist. Torn clean the precise edges of the land, it invited the dreamy bliss of the oncoming night to linger. In the heart of the fog, amidst a carpet of small purple flowers, Beck continued to roam. He wandered through the meadow with elegance, his paws barely causing a sound on the moistened ground as they sailed across the emerald grass with grace. The air was filled with a sweet fragrance as the delicate flowers released their intoxicating scent, creating an aura of enchantment. The atmosphere was altogether dreamy, it was as if the very essence of romance and mystery had coalesced around him. 

As he strolled, a sense of hope radiated within his spirit. The mist caressed him like a lover's touch, and he allowed himself to be lost in its embrace. With each step, he imagined the sound of whispered promises, and allowed himself to be carried by the wind that carried him. He closed his eyes, inhaling the sweet scent of the flowers, allowing his mind to set adrift.

Unbeknownst to Beck, another wolf was also wandering through the same meadow. Lost in his reverie, he suddenly felt a warmth against his fur. A gentle breeze had carried the intoxicating precursory scent that engulfed his senses only a moment before something, or someone suddenly collided into his chest. Opening his eyes, he found himself face to face with another. Had the breath not escaped his lungs from the impact, he would have been left rendered breathless all the same.

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u

There were not many things Kaida let herself have, liberties she'd been taught to never take. Permission was a skyward wall with nothing but a hollow of needles for an entrance. To give her pain would mean to grant her permission, and she'd do it. She'd walk a path of needles to get to her dreams on the other side, even if it meant they were never touched. But she'd hope. She'd hope until her lungs gave out, hope even when she bled, and hope when all that was left of her dignity was the gentle croon of her mother's voice in her head. It urged her onward despite the inward scars, an attempt at promises left to her by the most repulsive of men.

Here, where the nights were short and the days long, the wall had crumbled to nothing. There was nothing to keep her confined to the cage she'd been born into or a lifelong sacrifice she'd been born to be. There was nothing but the lightness in her head, a feeling so foreign she almost thought it didn't exist. The field, in all its eerieness, must've been playing tricks on her, toying with her feelings of longing, and giving her something she thought she'd never even begin to deserve.

But the picture cracked, the glass shattered, and her wall rebuilt in the form of something strong and smothered with the smell of a freshwater creek. She could almost hear the water rolling over stones, feel the coldness as it washed over her toes. However, despite the images stoking a burning fire in her mind, it was snuffed out just as quickly the moment she was able to recollect herself. Pale green eyes, disoriented and lingering on the petals of purple, blinked until her surprise ebbed and she was letting her head travel upward.

With each inch of her wall uncovered, her breath quickened. Her wall, sturdy as it was, was in fact no wall at all. Tall, dark, and dappled with scars she could only imagine called respect, stood a male she'd been too preoccupied to notice. The woman's eyes widened with something akin to terror, but the word was far from what she'd felt. His pelt reminded her of the men back home—dark and handsome, but volatile and abusive in the worst ways of the words. Kaida couldn't speak, she couldn't think. Her limbs, frozen to their spot, only twitched with an inkling to run that settled into her bones.

Too cowardly to run. Too petrified to stay. The dark woman simply kept still, hoping with all her might that she wouldn't be punished for such a disgraceful introduction.

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Suddenly, with an unexpected twist of fate, a beautiful female wolf emerged from the mist, colliding effortlessly into Beck's broad chest with an audible thump. Stumbling backward, he found himself face to face with the exquisite girl. Her fur was a beautiful plethora of browns that exuded a comforting warmth and quiet strength. Her eyes, shinning like pale green emeralds, held a captivating depth that instantly drew him in. He blinked in surprise, silenced by her delicate beauty. It was as if the fog had formed her, sculpting every line and contour with the utmost care. Delicate fingertips that would mold her body, her curves, the gentle bow of her spine before it gave way to a long silken tail.

Stunned by the collision, Beck was taken aback by her sudden appearance, but as he studied her delicate features, he found himself unable to tear his gaze away. Her every movement was graceful and ethereal, even as she remain disheveled, it was if she belonged to another realm entirely. The fog caressed her, spinning an intoxicatingly bright halo around her sparkling frame, enhancing her beauty and lending an air of mystery to their encounter. Time seemed to stop as they remained in that hazy meadow, words stolen from their mouths and the world around them falling muted and distant. Beck's heart pounded in his chest, his breath quickened by their chance meeting.

It took only a moment for him to recover from the surprise. Her pale green eyes glimmered with innocence, captivating the male's heart within seconds. Beck, realizing the gravity of the situation, rushed to her side, his concern evident in his deep heterochromatic eyes. “I am so sorry! Are you alright?” Moved by her beauty, he extended his large paw towards her, warm and tender. The fog embraced them, intertwining with their fur and casting their surroundings in an otherworldly glow. Just as her composure had insinuated, her smell was just as warm. Taken to a memory far away, it reminded him of the pines where he used to roam, wheat fields where he would watch the clouds traverse the sky, and of the sweet herbs he had always left out to dry simply because he had enjoyed their fragrances. With a voice as soft as a whisper, he'd inch his muzzle slightly nearer to her and ask again, “Are you hurt?”

He was captivated by her every movement, mesmerized by the delicate curve of her silhouette. It felt like a dream, a fairy tale unfolding there before him. Indeed their was more to that childhood story, there had to be, but why couldn't he remember it? He wracked his brain but the thoughts trailed off beneath the gentle touch of her gaze. Again his lenses sought hers, silently conveying the desire to know her.

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u

All was silent save for the soft coo of an owl in the distance and the rapid thunder of their hearts. It only played on the eerieness of the grove, soft gusts of wind intermingling pine with pine and making it almost unbearable. The woman's heart was a drum in her chest, pounding to the beat of his trailing gaze until it landed back on hers, grasping hold of whatever fear she held within them. It took a moment, a brief and uncontrolled moment that Kaida woefully regretted. Words left her lips in a sultry song, soft and rasped but shaky as the sound left the hollow of her throat. “Your scars are beautiful.”

Kaida wanted to take it back the second she felt her mouth move. She'd spoken out of turn, and the moment that realization set in, his words fell on deaf ears. Her mother's voice chided her, but despite the regret Kaida held for opening her mouth, her words spun with truth. Scars were a fortune, a kiss of strength only a few harbored. When she was a yearling, still being groomed to become the obedient woman she was destined to be, she always wanted scars. She wanted the proof that she was a survivor, that she was strong, perhaps even a force to be reckoned with. But they left her with nothing but memories, sordid nightmares that clung to her like petals to a blossom. They faded eventually, but it only meant new ones she'd forgotten took their place.

He was moving then, by her side in a moment's turn, and speaking to her. Still, her fearful eyes never left him, bound by an invisible force tethering the two together at that moment. A warmth seemed to pass through her chest, wrapping around her heart and squeezing before it faded away. The cold took its place thereafter, frigid fingers grasping her heart and her throat. She was petrified still, frozen in time until he began to extend his paw and everything in her thawed. Not with warmth, but with instinct, her body recoiled in a flinch, eyes pinched shut, and mouth parted while baited breaths left her.

But then he was speaking to her again, a soft and kind baritone asking her if she was alright. A wetness gathered in her eyes as she carefully inched her head back in his direction. No one ever cared for her feelings, no one cared enough to ask, not even her mother. So when this...stranger worried for her when she was the one to run into him, it was enough for a twinge of that fear to fade.

“I am alright.” She'd murmur, head tilting up so she could open her eyes—glossy as they were in her attempt to keep tears at bay—and look upwards at him. “Are you alright?”

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He saw it then. What he had refused to see earlier, what he had hoped was only alive for the moment, the result of a sudden shock to the system such as colliding unknowingly with another. Yet it would remain, blooming the guilt within his center like a blossom as it unfurled its petals to the sun. Fear. In an instant, she shrank away from him. The outstretched hand quickly fell away, returning to its place where it shifted uncomfortably upon his wavering weight. Beck's ears swiveled, practically hanging off every small utterance that passed upon her tongue as she peeked beneath those long dark lashes. He did not miss the question that she had asked. Though, he hadn't felt comfortable answering it. How could he feel alright when he had just clasped down the wings of a beautiful dove and tossed it to the squalors of the sand? He swallowed, brows knitting together as his eyes grew with concern.

Words that hummed softly from off her lips, no matter how sweet the sound, would come to betray her. Those declarations a farce as moisture brewed within her eyes, the tears one blink away from spilling over the edges of her lids. Beck's heart ached at the sight, and he vowed to make amends in any way he could. “Please forgive my clumsiness,” Beck pleaded, his deep voice filled with remorse. He recalled the way she'd recoil like a wounded animal, eyes clasped shut against the terrors of the world around her. “I'd never wish to harm you.. I.. Are you sure you're alright?” Moved by the glassiness that clung to those pale emeralds, Beck reached his nose tentatively nearer still. Impulses of nuzzling her tender cheek, conveying a meek offering of warmth and comfort flicked through his mind as his body acted before his mind could register the movements. On a dime his progression stilled as rationalization set in, and he would quickly withdraw himself, aborting the gesture in its infancy.

Reminded that she has said something-- something as the wave of panic had washed over him, when he realized his mistake and his ears rang with the sting of remorse, Beck's expression flickered with a whisper of curiosity. Afraid that she might be afraid or injured, he had rushed to her side in a frenzied wave, apologies spilling from his tender eyes before he considered the alluring words that exuded from her sweet voice. “Did you say something about my scars?” He recoiled slightly so that he could better see her, his gaze transfixed between the soft green glow of those eyes.

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u

The woman's ears lifted as he pleaded, words she would've thought foreign when they departed from him with a flick of his tongue. In any other situation, perhaps with any other person—a friend,—she would've smiled, maybe even laughed at his need to apologize to her for something that was quite apparently her fault. But in this specific situation, despite the way her fear ebbed with each concerning gaze he'd pass her way, and every lilt in his tone that turned with an apology, she was still fearful. It wouldn't matter how he would've approached her, with him being similar to something she'd feared in her past, her reaction would've been the same. She loathed it, but it wasn't a habit so easily broken. It was never meant to be broken, that was the point. But oh how she wanted to be able to ease this man's sorrows, tell him she truly was alright, and it wasn't him that had wounded her.

She wanted to. Her teeth ground with the urge to, but she couldn't—perhaps not yet at least. In due time, there was a chance, a fleeting moment where she felt she could open up to this male and he'd listen. He'd care. It might've been because of the way she fell for the fervor of concern he'd displayed for a total stranger or the way he seemed to flinch as she did. Whether it was guilt or a pain at the fact that she feared him that much, she didn't know. Kaida wanted to ease it though, soothe out the furrow in his brow when he looked at her like something that might break into pieces if he stared too long.

“I am fine.” She'd urge again, softer this time and with a faint tilt of her lips into a smile, hoping that it'd be the final piece to ease his concerns. “Is this smoke toxic? You keep asking the same question.” Her head shifted to the side slightly, childish wonder twinkling in her eyes for a moment. She was genuinely curious, and slightly worried for him in the process. Despite her fear, if her question rang true, she couldn't leave him out here by himself, and by no means would she be able to drag him to someplace safe. Her own brows furrowed with worry as her gaze stuck to him like burrs to her fur.

Her worry had preoccupied her too much it seemed. So much so that she hadn't even noticed the lessening distance between his muzzle and hers, not until the heat of his breath on her cheek was there and gone. Her eyes, still filled with wonder and confusion, followed his retreat but it was ultimately his question that took her attention.

“Your scars.” She'd begin, lifting her own paw to gesture to them on his face. “I said they were beautiful.” His eyes were alluring themselves, but it was ultimately the kisses on his face that she was mesmerized by, scars she wanted to know every story behind. Her posture straightened slightly the longer he stared at her, suddenly more aware of herself than she'd ever been since arriving.

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She was charming even through the fear that displaced her, he'd give her that. Beck would not refute the mirth that tugged the corners of his lips, the invisible threads that shaped his mouth with the suggestions of laughter despite the dubiousness that still resided from within him. Concern continued to wrestle his mind, a swirling ocean with waves so large they'd crash and spray droplets of worry. He had never seen fear like that. Never imagined his reflection to gleam back at him in the depths of those striking, terror imbued depths. It felt as if she had gazed upon a monster-- Eyes gleaming with hunger, fangs dripping with salivation as the behemoth stalked into her presence with every intention of reaping from her whatever it wished. Virtues ripped easily from those gentle hands, unable and unwilling to put up any resilience against it. It churned his stomach. What must her life been like? Albeit gradually, the feelings appeared to ease as the curve of her lips lifted gently. Be it fact or fiction, he hadn't been sure. Deniability hadn't been working in her favor after all. Was she even aware of the tears that threatened her eyes, the terror clearly painted on her face?

Beck shifted, throwing down his hand of cards without any intention of picking them up again. No matter how many times she'd try to convince him, insinuate it was his own perceptions gone askew, he knew better, and yet, he would relent all the same. This was not the man who'd thieve the unwilling from those delicate palms. She'd not be disclosing the candor behind her spooked emotions, at least not in this moment, and that was okay by the gent. Masking his own worries, he'd burry them for her sake, drawing his own sort of doubts in the inexplicable way he felt them for a complete stranger. Maybe she had a point. Be it smoke or fog, perhaps it was messing with his head.

He allowed the smirk that begged to accompany his features with her last comment take up residence upon his handsome face. She looked up at him as though it were entirely possible. As though actual worry had flicked through those doe eyes, a panic of another kind. “Probably.” His smile grew at the edges, a soundless chuckle playing across his lips. “It might explain a few things anyway. Have you always had two heads?” The jest sparked a mischief in his eyes, a soft whisper of something more that desired only for her smile to lift and her heart to grow lighter.

Quirking off to the side slightly, his head tilted as he peered down at her. The confidence growing within to stand up straighter now, he rounded his shoulders and lifted his body away from hers. Perhaps it had not been he who had been so menacing, but a memory that had stolen his face and replaced his feature's with its own fiendish ones. Flitting the thought away, he allowed himself to meander over her silhouette. She was taller than most he had come across in this most unfamiliar land, though still, the difference in their sizes remained absolute. He could have curled himself about her entirety, covering her like a blanket clutched upon a cold night. 

Beneath those light tender words, he could only stare back beneath the examination of her kaleidoscope eyes. Never before did he think of his scars as beautiful, they were everything but. Growing accustomed to the looks he received from that of the acquaintance to that of the passerby, no longer did he feel lowered by the stares of the prying gawkers. He noticed her straighten, the heat that rushed to his face, and the swallow that hitched in his throat. The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy, the fog weighty upon him as it crackled with feelings he didn't understand. Like a bird just learning to fly, his heart leapt unsteadily within the cage of his chest. “No one has ever said that before.” His voice was markedly softer, a notion of awe creeping into the velvety caress of his gaze. Who was this girl?

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u

A breath of disbelief expelled from the woman's lips, contemplation marbled across her pale gaze. Her own question had been rewarded with the gentle pulls of his lips upward and a jest to match. That alone was enough to widen the grin tickling her maw, the slow caress of her paws one over the other only serving to display her thoughts on the chosen topic. Two heads would've been a ghastly sight, but perhaps it'd make her intelligence more grand? Enhance her beauty if only by a margin? The thoughts were forgotten when his head turned to hers. Tendrils of cold warmed underneath the joviality of his gaze, suave and soft to the touch of her own against his. He worried for her still, she could tell, and despite everything else, it only prompted a bloom of warmth beneath the fur of her cheeks—embarrassment she was sure was the cause. “Two heads? A girl can only dream. But I believe that, too, is just another effect of the fog.” She'd coo with the soft remnants of a laugh hiking her shoulders, her eyes closing for a mere moment to relish in what enjoyment she could savor.

But then they were open again, slow blinks to let her hues regain their composure against the starkness of light. He was in the midst of shifting, retreating from their closeness and uprighting himself to a stature she would've been intimidated by if his words weren't so kind. Her fear was alight still, apparent in the way she'd shift her paws or when her limbs would tremble. But not of him, her fear for him had diminished the moment he uttered words to her, so heavy in their meaning but light in the way he spoke. How could she fear him? The way he looked at her warmed her more than it sent her spiraling down a pit of insecurities. A pit with hands sprouting from every side, tugging and pulling at her strands of fur until she lay bare and shaking within their harsh purgatory. Climbing from their tight grasp was a nearly impossible feat, but one she'd overcome nonetheless back home. Back then it was something she'd done for so long, a skill she held close to her chest—she'd fall, but it was her job to get back up again.

Kaida's eyes traveled across his frame, neither objective nor appreciative in their perusal. She was simply looking—observing the way in which he was built. Chipped away piece by piece, he was pristine, a finished masterpiece chiseled to perfection and then some. He exceeded her height by a mile and she was sure he was skilled in more ways than she'd been able to gauge. But her? She was a mere ant beneath his foot, something he would've been able to crush with little effort, but the care behind those heterochromatic hues would've never been able to do. It made her smile all the more, small as it was.

His voice met her ears and her gaze was quick to lift to his, eyes widened ever so slightly. She should've been paying attention, and her ears flattened at the thought. How disrespectful he must think her. His words only seemed to flatten them further, molding them to the curve of her head while she stared bashfully and apologetically. “I didn't mean to overstep, I apologize. It's just that-” She swallowed what remaining cowardice was stuck in her throat, gaze turning downward and away from the male to focus on the blessings of purple squashed beneath her feet. “Not many people recognize beauty, not true beauty anyways.” She strung a strand of lander between her toes, bending its stem while a soft sigh lowered her shoulders. “You are strong. You are kind. Your scars? They are kisses. Of bravery, of strength, of drive, and of purpose. That is beauty.” Still, her gaze remained pinned to the flowers, the very words she'd spoken burning her tongue with their departure.

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As the fog swirled around them, enveloping them in its mystic embrace, Beck struggled with the emotions that churned within him. Kaida's words had cut through his icy exterior, melting away his defenses, and reached deep into his scarred heart. Her praise felt like a balm, soothing his wounded soul, and yet, it had been misplaced. If only she knew the truth behind the dreadful scars that raked across his face. Undoubtedly she would come to pity him. Soiled by the emotion that loitered behind them, those stunning features, the curve of her smile and the shimmering twinkle of stardust that glimmered in her eyes, one that he had already so come to treasure would have been sullied by it. They wouldn’t hold quite the same merit as they did now, the way they stoked a fire in his stomach and persuaded his paws to inch closer to her every chance he got. It was entirely something he was not willing to forfeit. He couldn’t bare the thought. Not today, but in truth he didn’t think he would ever feel ready. For now she would look upon him and see beauty, and that was something to be desired. He stiffened, averting his gaze from hers as if the thoughts of the deceit would render him transparent. With long ample fingers, she could pry apart his void of secrets if only she tried, flashing a light into his dark corridors and finding doors to which he had throw away the keys. She’d be taken with the fruits of war seared into his skin whilst the truth was so much farther from the expectation. What she so adored was a lie.

His gaze flicked down to the earth, romancing the grass that drifted with the wind and danced below the shroud of fog. A ballet for their eyes alone to behold. He crossed each blade, those mismatched gems taking their time in traveling back toward her. When he finally sought hers, they were absorbed in something else entirely. Her soft green pools were entranced upon a small purple flower. It was one in the same from the one he had stolen from this meadow when he first awoke in this world. Something twinged in him in seeing her fiddle with one. It was enough to bring back the smile to return to his lips.

He couldn’t quell it, couldn’t deny the desire that burned so warmly within him to touch her. As if in crossing that physical barrier, he might absorb some of the sadness, the fear, the guilt that his little dove had displayed and make it his own. A knight clanging his sword against shield, he sought to fight those demons until they unshackled her wings from their chains and allowed her to fly again. She was so close, a breath away. What would it have taken for him to reach for her? To press the soft warmth of his nose into the tender spot just behind her ears, to nudge those delicate folds into a forward position once more? Yet all the same, she was an eternity away, further than his paws could hope to journey. Doubt gnawed at him, crippling his movements. His grasp remained empty and his tongue turned dry.

He desperately wanted to banish the shame that clung to her delicate form and replace it with joy. But how could he do that without revealing the dark secrets that lurked beneath the surface of his scars? Stepping forward, his powerful yet gentle presence closed the gap between them. “I see it too. The beauty.” He closed his eyes a moment, allowing her a peek into his world. “The pattern of flower petals as they uncurl from their buds, the sun glinting off of dew kissed leaves that float in the stillness of a cool morning,” He acknowledged their surroundings, gesturing to the ivory veil draped around them. “Even this fog. It feels as though we are flying just as high as the birds, soaring through the clouds.” A soft chuckle rolled off his tongue, “It’s only my scars have never struck me as such.” Trying to lighten the atmosphere, he teased, “You have a way with words, little dove. How charming it is that you find my scars beautiful. But I assure you, they are nowhere near as captivating as your own eyes.” His attention returned to her, his gaze reaching out for hers. The fog swirled around them, wrapping them in a cocoon of privacy, hidden away from the rest of the world.

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u

He looked at her with wonder. She remembered. Moments before, when her fear hadn't flourished and his surprise was still evident, he looked at her with a gaze full of wonder and worry. Like she was a slick pane of glass, wavering in its steadiness with pitches and the way it was handled. Too rough and she'd break, too gentle and she'd eventually fall on her own accord. She was no woman preening underneath the heat of his gaze in hopes of insisting he stay by her side. She was no damsel in distress, not anymore. But the way he looked at her, the way his eyes lingered on the softest parts of her, she wanted to be. She wanted to fall at his feet, tear down the dam built around her heart, and let the flood of her secrets take shelter in the warmth of his chest.

There was so much he was unfamiliar with. Compared to her, she was sure he was a mere fawn, innocent and staggering through life as it sought out its mother. The terrors she'd seen, the horrors deemed as gifts that'd been bestowed on her by the men her mother threw at her, the offers she'd agreed to simply to appease and gain the approval of her family. It was all she was meant for. Her own goals, desires, and wants, were dreams outcasted to the furthest parts of her mind, shut behind doors chained and rusted. She was but a woman—the lowest of the low, and used for the worst. He didn't know how used she'd been, how forever tainted she'd be. Would he look at her the same? Would his eyes glimmer with adoration for her beauty if she told him what she'd been raised to do? What she'd willingly let happen to her? She'd stain him, tarnish the pedestal he put her on in the short moments he'd managed to ease out of her. There would be no recovery from that.

Her head lifted with the essence of a smile, but he almost seemed too preoccupied to notice. Beneath those diverse hues, he'd begun a battle, one she undoubtedly wished he'd toss to the side. Selfish as it was, she wanted his attention, the soft tilts of his lips, the whispers of laughter that'd echo from the hollow of his chest, or even just his gaze attached to hers. She wanted to fall within the depths of his mind, flourish like a bloom within his warmth and rays of the sun he'd grant her. The twitching of his paw drew her attention away for a moment. Did he intend to move closer? Would he? Did she want him to? A slick, white, and hot wave of fear washed down her spine, an unforgiving flood that was near to erasing all the progress they'd made. A sure-fire way of proving she wasn't ready for that.

It didn't matter. Not when he was already invading what space she had, erasing the cold and replacing it with a searing hot presence. Even in the darkness of the grove, his stature cast a shadow over her, a coo of encouragement wrapping around her like a blanket in winter. His words followed next, a baritone that scraped away the lurking fear and instead urged her focus elsewhere. Her ears lifted as he described things she'd become all too familiar with, but were never quite as beautiful as they were now—a whisper in her ear.

The mirth intertwined in his tone eased a single one of her eyes open, narrowed and side-eyeing him. Charming, he thought she was. She could've rolled her eyes at that, but instead, she opened the other and turned her head so it faced him. Kaida wanted to tell him then. When the words so careless and so light fell from his lips. She wanted to scream at him, sob, and tell him that her eyes were stolen of their beauty. Perhaps on the outside, they held an enchantment, but her eyes had seen so much, witnessed the worst, and had done nothing to stop it. There was no longer any beauty behind their glassy touch.

But she didn't. She didn't utter a word, and instead simply offered him the smallest of smiles. She feared, that if she spoke, if she said a single word to this man, everything else would fall behind. For a moment, she wanted to relish in the serenity of someone's presence, find herself rendered breathless for the first time since...She just wanted peace. She wondered if he'd press her for answers, if his curiosity would get the better of him and he'd find himself wanting of things she was unable to give? More than that, she wondered if she truly would be able to withhold anything from him. He was a stranger, that much was true, but in her weak moments, she wondered what that mattered. Her eyes clung to his, brows furrowing above dark shells of fur. What did he want from her?

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The meadow was growing increasingly darker. Long departed were the pale rays of the sun as it slipped down below the tree line. Shadows danced and stretched, a mockery of the figures that lurked beyond their reach. And in her eyes, he watched a storm brew. Clouds rolled and churned, darkening their luminescence, and he could feel the crackle of something unknown that bristled across his fur. In a way, he felt as though he was staring into the abyss itself, a window to the very depths of her soul. What horrors lurked beneath those valleys? What secrets did she so desperately fight to keep? He felt as though he could fall in and be lost within them forever, but he fought the urge, keeping his gaze locked with hers. He refused to back down from the challenge. It was almost as if she was daring him to peer deeper, to seek out the answers he so desperately wished for. But he knew better than to try. He could not risk the chance of breaking this connection, to lose the little progress he had made with her. This was a battle he would not win. Not yet. With a soft sigh, he averted his gaze, glancing off to the side. He was at a loss. Was it all for naught? Would she remain a mystery to him, shrouded in darkness? 

The thought was bitter upon his lips. He didn't wish to walk away from this, not now, not ever. Whatever this was. A part of him felt as if she needed him, that's what he would tell himself. She seemed so very afraid, so alone. If she was to disappear into the fog, he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to find her again. The thought alone was enough to send a chill down his spine. He couldn't lose her. He wouldn't. There was a familiarity about her that he couldn't ignore, one that drew him to her in an inexplainable way. His body stiffened as the reality of the situation began to settle in. The warmth that had begun to glow and radiate between them quickly dissipating like a doused flame. He saw the war commence, the cogs turning in her mind as she met him with no more than the gentleness of her pale emeralds beneath that soft furrowed brow. Then of course, there came a silence that cut through even the densest fog.

He hadn't expected her silence. Even when she was scared, practically terrified out of her wits, she had found voice enough to compliment him. Now he only succeeded in stealing the voice from her mouth and ravaging her with inner turmoil's unknown. He longed to hold her, to pull her close and whisper the words she needed to hear into her ear. That she was safe with him. That he would never hurt her. That he would protect her. But would she believe him? Did she know him well enough? He felt his stomach clench. He had never wanted to be closer to another, to lift the weight that they bore upon their shoulders. Not like this. It was a longing that was so strong, so powerful, that it left him feeling helpless. 

Instead, he did the one thing he felt he could. The last thing she needed was a man staring down at her, expectant for answers. Dropping his hindquarters, he lay down beside her. He was no longer looking at her, not directly, but his presence remained. He could feel the tension that rippled across her shoulders, her body rigid and tense. He wanted to soothe it, to ease the worries that plagued her mind. Yet, he knew it would not be that simple. He was not privy to the inner workings of her mind. She was still a mystery to him, and he to her. He longed to change that, to learn everything he could about this girl he had only just met. A part of him felt that they were connected in a way that transcended the physical realm, that they had met before. Somehow. But that was a discussion for another day. For now, he would be there, beside her. “Are you chilly?” He asked, his voice soft and low. He had begun to wrap his tail around his legs, his body heat rising in the cool of the oncoming night. “I realized I never introduced myself either, I'm Beck.” The expressions he wore were gentle, not fully expecting to receive a reply in return. Yet he would stay with her, if only for quiet company until she told him to go find himself elsewhere.

@Kaida
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Kaida wished with every part of her she could shield the emotions unknowingly displaying through every chance of her gaze meeting his. He was smart and observant, and she didn't know how well that'd bode for her the longer they stuck side by side. Sooner or later, she was sure he'd worm his way into her mind, come up with his own conclusions, and shove them in her face with the expectance of an answer—an explanation. She'd lie to him if he asked now, shower him with the whispers he'd want to hear so that it'd ease his curiosity.

The thought only seemed to worsen the furrow in her brow. Lying to him left something sour in her mouth, something burning at the back of her throat, and left scars worse than any other man could ever do. She wanted to speak up then, tell him something worthwhile but the moment she went to open her mouth, he'd already begun to speak.

Are you chilly? The question seemed to spread warmth across the woman's body, and paired with his gaze, she felt charged. He'd long since descended down next to her, an act she found that words couldn't explain the appreciation she felt for it. But all she could do was stare, stare at his large form surrounded by the daintiness of purple. In that moment, all she wanted to do was dive into the warmth of his side, take pleasure in the way he'd tend to her, and ease her fears with a simple touch. The temptation was grand, the desire nearly impossible to ignore, but he was still a stranger. That fact alone was enough to have her settling down beside him, a space left for her own sanity between them. “Not nearly chilly enough to take shelter within your furs.” She would've jested beneath the hush of a night's song, a smile pulling at her lips.

And just like that, the tension had eased, paving the way for her own attentiveness when it came to the male. “Beck...It's nice to meet you. My name is Kaida.” She'd extended her own name for his while her legs shifted, kicking out to the side just enough to supply her comfort when facing the other. “Pray tell,” Kaida would duck her head and lean closer, as if her question was a secret to be kept between the two. “How long have you been here?” It was a simple question, a general torch to light the path towards what she could only hope would become a flourished friendship. It wasn't too deep, not too hard to answer, and she would've been comfortable given he chose to ask her the same.

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Laughter erupted from his chest, laughter he had been entirely caught off guard by. She had been the first to speak up, to break the silence that had fallen between them, and for that he was grateful. He didn't think he could have lasted much longer, the fear of her slipping away from him, of disappearing into the fog was far too great. His body relaxed as they lay beside each other, her gaze upon him once more. She was so beautiful, her eyes glowing in the darkness of the oncoming night. He could feel the heat radiating from her body, so close and yet so far. She smelled of spring and of something sweet. The scent of flowers danced across his nostrils, a delicate bouquet of aromas that had his heart pounding within his chest. He longed to bury his nose within the crook of her neck, to inhale her scent, to wrap himself around her. Yet, he knew better than that. Instead, he simply allowed her the space she desired, taking comfort in knowing that she was near. His tail wagged gently against the grass, a smile tugging at his lips.

“You're welcome to if you'd like, but I was asking in case you wanted to find somewhere to sleep for the night.” A warm smile spread across his lips, one that reached his eyes and lit up his entire face. Never would he admit to as much, but the thought bore into his mind like a tunneling animal, taking up residence in the forefront of his thoughts. The petite frame of her body curled into his, the shared warmth between them as they breathed slow and peaceful, wrapped in slumber. A shared solace in a world unknown. The thought alone was enough to quicken his heart rate, his cheeks flushing slightly. He wondered if she would notice. They had only just met, why had he had such an unexplainable urge to share a closeness with her? He had been in this very same meadow with another and void of the sensation. Beck would side eye the fog, wondering if it had indeed been altering him somehow as she first suggested.

He rolled the word around on his tongue, tasting its flavor. “Kaida,” It suited her well, a soft name to match her delicate features. It rolled off his tongue, sweet and light. “that is a beautiful name.” His head turned to gaze upon her, awe seeping through the cracks. The change in her was pronounced, and whatever he had done to elicit it, he wasn't sure. He liked seeing her like this, the way the stresses seemed to melt away. Just like that she had returned to him, ducking her head in as if they passed hushed secrets to one another. Only barely could he feel the warm swells of her breath, the exhales that peppered his chest with her every word. He allowed his gaze to wander across her features, stealing glances here and there as he spoke. In the pale rays of the rising moon, she almost seemed to glow, the soft curve of her cheekbones, the gentle slope of her nose, her lips. It had transfixed him. 

Secrets were what would escape her mouth, his lenses widening slightly with surprise at her question. She had woken up here too. He sucked the inside of his cheek a moment, thoughtful as he tried to pin down the timeframe. “I'm not quite sure actually. I think I woke up here a few days ago, a week maybe. Everything is kind of a blur. I remember waking up in this grove, but before that, everything is somewhat foggy.” He smirked at his own unintended pun, but she probably wouldn't have appreciated it. He had been so lost, most of his memories a mystery to him. “It's all been rather... strange.” His eyes met hers again, his expression changed. “What about you?”

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u

“Oh.” The woman uttered with little regard to hide her embarrassment, eyes blinking as if that would erase her momentary lapse in judgment. Of course he hadn't meant that, but why was it the first thing she thought of when he'd asked the question? To feel warmth cocoon around her like a day's nap in a sun's ray, the thought made her yawn. For a moment, when her half-cast eyes turned to him and a chill of exhaustion wracked her frame, she considered his offer. Let herself relish in the company of another, a body larger than hers tending to the most mentally wounded parts of her simply with the beat of their heart. And for a moment, she thought about what it would be like for him, if she chose him.

Would he find comfort with her? Let himself get lost in the tendrils of brown fur and the whispers of a night's passing. Or would his doubts and secrets get the best of him like they did her? She would let herself lie there, listen to his breaths hit her ears, but it would no longer be the charming brute she'd met in the grove of purple. His sweet smile, the smell of rain, it'd disappear the moment she closed her eyes. The image of a beautiful river in her mind would turn murky, shadowed, and dirtied with a lack of care from the environment. And his smile? His smile would morph into a filthy smirk, volatile and destructive in its path as it sought out the most vulnerable parts of her. Even now, amidst her own lonesome company, she woke in terror, aghast with a plead teetering on her tongue. But despite all her fear and doubts, she still wanted to say yes to see his reaction, see his face light up, and have his smile quicken the beat of her heart.

It'd begun to matter in a way she didn't regret. So, when her attention turned back to Beck, she already knew her answer. She wanted to cling to this farce reality for as long as she could manage. It was too good to be true. “I quite like it here.” Kaida muttered with a small smile, lifting her chin and letting her gaze slip across the small enclosed valley. “But if you seem to be scared...” She side-eyed him and cast a shrug. “The night isn't for everyone.”

Her name on his tongue brought her head back towards him, ears flattening as the title left his lips in a deep drawl, almost as if it'd been marinating before he'd uttered the word. She felt herself difficult at that moment, because unlike others who simply would accept the compliment, she found herself wanting to change her name entirely. She wanted him to say a name that hadn't been tainted, used in ways that should be tossed and burned. She wanted him to be the first, the first person to utter a name that was new and clean, pure of any disdain, and rightfully his to say. Instead, she simply did what every other girl would do, smiling back at him and letting his words wash her in bashfulness like they were meant to. “Thank you, Beck. That means a lot.”

Head still inclined towards him, her ears flicked as his words met her ears, cheeks warming with his expels of breath as he spoke. It seemed a lot of the people here had woken in a blur, strangers to the world they'd been chosen to be a part of. He figured it strange, but her? It was the utmost blessing. Stealing her away from the clutches of her past, it was all she could do not to spend her days screaming with joy. “I woke a few weeks before last.” She'd answer, shifting underneath his gaze as she continued. “A little ways from here, I think. It was a beautiful place, a little cove lit with glowing mushrooms and algae. Someone had found me. Jarilo, I believe his name had been.” Her burrows furrowed as she tried recalling the beginnings of her arrival. “We parted not long after I'd woken.”

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Beck smiled at the way her expression lit up, the soft blush that warmed her cheeks and the way her ears twitched as he spoke. It was cute, and his eyes glittered with amusement. “I don't mind the dark. There is beauty even in its shadows. Also,” He cast her a sidelong glance, a handsome smirk stretching his face. “I'm counting on you to protect me if any monsters come and find us.” He teased, chuckling softly. He was grateful that she had returned, that she was no longer lost within the recesses of her mind. He wanted to focus on the present, on the now, and the warmth that was blossoming between them. He had a feeling that he would soon lose her to the past, that she would sink deep below the surface to whatever waged a war from within. It would be a battle worth fighting. Not tonight, but he would not give up. It felt good to joke around, a welcomed distraction from his own demons. He couldn't help the way his tail wagged against the ground. It was a natural response to her presence, a physical manifestation of his happiness. He was glad he'd met her, happy to have her by his side, and he was glad that the silence that had fallen between them hadn't driven her from him. 

He watched the way her features scrunched up in concentration, the way her eyes darted from one side to the next. It was like she was trying to find a memory buried beneath the sands of time, one that had been tucked away and forgotten. He wondered just how far back her memories went, how far she had fallen into the darkness, the very depths of her mind. What would he find if he dared to venture forth? He shook his head, his attention returning to the present, to the conversation. Her words pulled him from his thoughts, and his attention focused upon her once more. Jarilo. Had he caused this fear in her? Had he been the origins of the terror creeping across her face, painting her skin with blackened fears? Or was he only a passerby as he himself had been? Did she tremble away from him, horrified by the thought of an idle, friendly touch? The darker parts of his mind hoped that she did, that she withdrew from him in a way not unlike the way she did him. It was a thought that would act as a barrier, a band-aid to his own emotional wellbeing. He couldn't bare the thought that it was only he who had been seen as a scarred monster. That, and of course the thought of her touch was something he alone had wished to claim. It was a prize to be desired, one that would take effort. Time.

Head still inclined towards him, she remained closer now. It was as if she wanted to reach out, to curl into his side just in the way his fantasies had painted. But still, the distance between them persisted, and he didn't dare reach out to fill the gap. “It seems we are both lost here.” A soft smile tugged at his lips, his eyes searching hers. He wouldn't press her for more information, trepidations causing his tongue to waver, uncertainty written across his face. She was a puzzle, and should he try to fit an incorrect piece, he feared she'd clamp up again. It had been a delicate dance. How did he say enough to keep her engaged, but say something incorrect, allow an emotion that confused her to fit across his face, her jests would turn to reserved silence once more. “Though I suppose we have each other now, don't we?” He offered the words tentatively, a figurative hand that he would extend and hold out to her in reply. She hadn't told him to leave. In laying down beside him as he had done, she did quite the opposite, kicking out her legs as if the intent was to remain. He did not wish to share the same fate as the man Jarilo, to touch her life only briefly before she would depart him as well. Possessive were his feelings, a desire to be her sole protector, and yet, he knew better. There was a world beyond their meadow, a world they would have to face. The dawn would bring a new day, one in which she would surely want to venture forward.

“Have you seen anything else since then? When I first awoke I met a woman from one of the packs here. The princess apparently. I think...” Beck glanced around, as though he may be able to spot the icy mountain from where they lay, only to be met with fog laden darkness. “It's near here, anyway, but she told me that this place changes.” His tone was curious, his mind seeking a distraction, something to latch onto and steer them from the murky waters of uncertainty. “The land itself, it moves and changes as it sees fit.” The idea was foreign to him, strange and confusing, but he'd seen the truth in her words. His home was no longer his home. The mountain had shifted, moved further from where it had once stood, and he had been left alone. Lost. He had awoken in what would seem a million miles away, not a single familiar face anywhere to be found. Instead, he had been greeted by the pale woman, Vienne. A small smile crossed his face, a faint memory dancing at the corner of his mind.

@Kaida
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Kaida's head had turned downward, but her maw stretched into a grin at his next words. She was hardly fit to be a protector, but still- “Oh, a true honor, you shouldn't have.” She laughed, the methodical dance of her toes around a fluttering moth capturing her attention still. She was fascinated by it, enraptured by and envious of its freedom. She had that now, or she thought, but there was still a weighted cloak on her back, keeping her just shy of the dream right under cold fingertips. With Beck, the weight lightened, a dream-filled veil cast over her face, and she was in a momentary paradise.

As short-lived as it was, she cherished it, but it was ultimately his mention of a princess that drew her out of the bubble they'd been encased in. She'd touch on it later, but there were more things she needed to prove to him, things he had yet to open his eyes to. Lost was a word far from what they were. “Lost, Beck? Open your eyes.” Her paw shifted, a gentle touch of fur against fur when it met his own. “I think it a blessing. We should appreciate it instead of worrying about what to do with it.” For a moment's more her touch stayed, savoring the warmth that emitted from him until it retreated back to her own warmth, tucked away against her chest.

He did have her, by her ears it seemed. In the short time, he'd managed to soothe the aching fears otherwise clawing at the expanse of her throat, seeking out something to grab onto and change her for the worse. He'd made her laugh, and smile. He, a male, one tall and so familiar to those back home, had managed to pry open only a set of her walls. He still had quite the journey to go, their casings growing harder the more depth he overcame, but from what she learned, he had a keen interest in her. She didn't know why, cared little for the reason exactly, but it was enough to keep her around. It helped, too, that she found herself particularly in raptures over this man. Another smile, one that hid the lashing tongues of green behind their adoration.

“A princess? And this princess...” She shifted closer, interest brimming the woman's mind. “Did she offer you solace? I truly doubt someone of such high stature would leave you...abandoned on their grounds.” Kaida let her tongue hit the roof of her mouth while her jaw clenched, her displeasure heady in the soft lashing of her tail. But it was forgotten once she listened more, “That's impossible.” She'd mutter in disbelief, brows furrowed while confusion took over the majority of her mind. How could a land move? She knew it to change; that was nature, but to move entirely? That was a farce tale if she'd ever heard one.

Her gaze focused on Beck's once more. “Do you believe this woman?” It was a mere question, and she was sure she'd hold nothing against him regarding his answer. But it sounded like a fairy tale to her, something told to misbehaving pups on a night cold and dreary. With monsters lurking in the depths uncovered by the migration of land, it was a means of keeping them in check, fighting off the innate curiosity that got the better of them.

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Painting his face with an effortless smile, her voice and their shared jests soothed a deeper part of him. It was an exchange he hadn't known he needed. “I’m glad you recognize it for what it is,” He tipped his head toward her playfully. “I could sleep like a pup like this.” He couldn’t remember the last time he had allowed himself to drift off to slumber with another. Idly, he’d wonder if tonight would mark a new starting point in that timeline. A stolen glance and the magic of her smile lingered, producing something to twinge in his stomach.

When her paw brushed his, Beck’s attention was immediately lured to the physical connection. Shock had drowned out her words as her petite hand grazed his, the tendrils of their fur weaving together only for a moment. He dare not move nor shift, feeling even a blink too sudden a move to execute. Heat danced from her touch, and when she had removed it, it was gone too soon. He swallowed, trying to remember her tender words. There was something, something about being blessed he thought, but his mind was still swimming with the notions of her touch and what he had done to illicit such a gesture. A secret code, a mix of words and gestures that slowly, oh so painfully slowly were crumbling her walls of steel to nothing more than sand. His tongue pressed carefully to the back of his teeth, determination upon his mind. Was he capable of doing it again?

It would seem that his little dove had a fire in her, one he doubted the existence of upon their meeting. Below a raised brow, his eyes were locked on her tail and the agitation that wielded it. Long and silky to the touch, or so he’d imagine, as it thrashed gently beyond her rump. If only he hadn’t been so afraid of causing that fear to resurface in her, he would have had the audacity to play with the slender tassel. What had her so worked up was beyond him, existing on a planet far away and out of reach of his peaceful atmosphere. “Ma petite fleur, — My little flower, she was but a yearling. I think she hardly left her pack lands at all.” Beck shook his head to disagree, his accent blossoming under his french tongue, defending Vienne from his little flower’s wraith. “She was so small, impossibly small. Could you imagine her bringing a man like me home?” He laughed again, more to himself. He could only imagine the jaws that would be pressed to his throat the very moment her family caught sight of his massive scarred frame following their sweet innocent princess up the mountain.

He shrugged, his head lulling from side to side in a so-so gesture. “I’m not entirely sure.” He admitted, his tone soft. “I think I’d be a fool not to take the advice of a native when my own reality,… It doesn’t make sense. The last thing I remember before the meadow was being in a pine forest. There was a blizzard.” He hummed, the imagery coming in flashes in his mind. “It was cold, so incredibly cold. Next thing I knew she was staring at me in this meadow.” Another chuckle rumbled his chest, remembering the way Vienne stared at him for the longest time without even speaking. “Her explanation is the only one that makes sense right now, however impossible it sounds. I guess I’ll believe that until I have evidence not to.” Beck was an altogether good natured man. He was easy going and took others at their word unless of course they acted as though they could not be trusted. Little did his mind venture down the path that Vienne was nothing more than a skewed perspective, he believed she was good, honest. He trusted in that, for now.

Pressing against the flowers, the tens of small purple blooms bent beneath the swell of his weight as he turned and rolled. Shifting his hips, Beck angled himself more toward his company, albeit briefly, before outright tossing himself onto his back. There he was exposed. His chest and stomach laid bare to the heavens above— and to her. It had not been a position most would take and for good reason. Angling his head to look at her, now from below, he appreciated the difference in perspective. A loose smile hung off those lips as they moved from her to the direction of the sky, a blackened canvas still obscured by the fog. He dared not ask if she could remember a time before this. Before this world, before Jerilo. He knew she could, it was evident in every which way she moved. Ghosts indeed haunted those hallowed pathways behind such pretty jade lenses. Again his heart was struck heavy, the pain of a past magically escaped. No wonder she thought them blessed to escape what was, a past that now felt a lifetime ago.

@Kaida
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She had remained unaware of his reactions to her touch, oblivious to the inner workings of his mind and his outright gawking. It was a simple touch, one she'd done countless times before, she was sure. There were no means for her to question it, to spare him a second glance after the fact. But the touch was enough to compel her, charge the woman's mind into something utterly warm and delightful, and full of manly musk. She wanted to do it again, extend her paw to his cheek, and gauge whether or not he'd accept her touch, lean into it if she pressed enough. But the thoughts of duty commanded her, rules she had been molded to follow. Her touch was unwarranted in every situation, the mere chance of it then was simply a slip-up. She'd ensure it wouldn't happen again.

Kaida ignored the urges that lay within their close proximity going forth, mind alight instead with the details of his princess. “Boo. I would think you a reward if I were her.” A soft smile and a laugh to match. “If I brought you back to my home...Oh, the males would commend you, see your scars, and think you something great.” It was a jest, one she truthfully had no control over making the moment the first few words left her lips. However unfortunate her home was, the men there would have revered Beck. His stature, his scars—they marked him as strong, and the strong always prevailed.

The thought made her ponder, gaze lingering on the soft divets of muted pink on the male before her. Given they were under different circumstances, what would he have done if the males she grew up with got ahold of this one? Would he conform to protect himself? Or would he revolt to save the lives of the cows? The woman's brows furrowed ever so slightly, the very question slipping from the tip of her tongue before she'd swallowed it altogether. The doubt would be best forgotten, the questions left unanswered and thrown to the air.

But words remained on her tongue all the same, her smile blooming ever so slowly underneath the weight of his gaze. What had he called her? “Do say that again, Beck..” Her request would be simple, a mere whisper as the canvas darkened with strokes of night. She'd had a nickname once before, brown and black fur flashed before her eyes before it was gone just as fast—a memory meant for the stars.

Kaida had waited a beat and spent a moment where her gaze had tethered itself to Beck, watching his movements with a delicate curiosity. He was charming, she'd give him that. The way his lips curled into a boyish grin was enough to make any romantic woman swoon, but it was ultimately his next actions that earned her own widened smile. He'd turned onto his back, looking onto her with all the trust in the world while she was held back by her own chains of trepidation and cowardice. She wanted to join him, relinquish even a fraction of her doubts, and spend the night star-gazing. But that, that was a memory taken and cherished with another, held close to her heart even despite the way it fluttered in the presence of someone new.

So instead, she let her head rest atop her paws, half-lidded gaze focused on the side of the large man's face. “In your world...before this one, were you alone, Beck?” The question almost pained her to ask, furrowed brows staring at him with a soft mix of sadness and sympathy.

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His brow hitched, amusement of another kind enrapturing him. Little did he think of the males that would commend him. Instead his mind was on something else entirely, the thought that she may think of him a prize, something to boast. Someone she may want to bring home if only it had still existed. Lips pressed with questions that would fall wordless drew his gaze. There it would linger, following the soft contours of her mouth down her muzzle, and gliding down the curve of her neck. Whatever she was about to say was gone in it's entirely, his lenses focusing on her throat as she swallowed. Ensnared by her next words, his gaze darted back to her eyes and his idle thoughts crashed into nothingness. “Ma petite fleur? — My little flower,” He spoke the words slowly, breathy as they left his lips on masculine rumbles. “Tu aimes ça, ma chérie? — You like that, my sweet?” It hadn't occurred to him that she would have enjoyed his language, that she might have even preferred the calling he had offered her. Therefore he practically purred the words as he spoke, hoping to further stroke her intrigue.

It caught him off guard, her question stilling the saliva that hitched in his throat. Her words drew up inquires he lacked the full answers to. It was something that he had been at war with the last few days, questions that had plagued his mind, bitterly swirling unanswered. He couldn't remember, and he hated it. Had he a friend? A lover? A pack? Whatever or whoever he had left behind was lost to the void, an unknown. In a way, he thanked the stars for reaping his memories, only dosing him with flashes of images here and there. If he had had someone, someone whom he had devoted himself he would have been driven mad in attempts to return to them. Turned beast by his desires, he would wander day and night on calloused paws, muscles aching from exhaustion. Not even the veil of the underworld could stop him in his search to be reunited, to rejoice in the shared company once again. He would never relent. If the dead could die again, perhaps he would have died a second death in his frantic unyielding yearnings.

He turned to her, a myriad of emotions lingering in those dual-hued depths. A sheepish smile unfolded across his lips, nervous as he proceeded onto unsteady terrain. “I'm not sure.” He'd admit the words softly, as though they were a secret. He could remember the smell of the occasional woman, the taste of their skin upon his lips but their faces and voices obscured. Flashes of herbs drying in the sunlight, chasing butterflies as paw steps sounded behind him, laughter belted through tumbles down grassy hills... The cold of the mountain, and the way his body hitched despite his size and bulk. Every memory felt as if trying to grasp a thread of smoke-- Merely reaching out for it was enough to dissipate it into nothingness. The memories of his youth however were as vivid as ever. He could remember the cruelty in his mother's eyes, the sharp flash of her teeth in the pale light of the den. The erratic beats of his small heart as it pounded through him and the way it nearly stopped when he felt jaws around his neck. Though it didn't stop, and those jaws only provided tender licks of empathy.

Beating faster now, he worried Kaida might be able to hear the rapid pounding that thrummed inside his chest. He had reached into a pot that ought to have stayed sealed. Beck adjusted himself, pressing his spine further into the grass in attempts to physically push back down the memories. His mouth parted, words waiting upon his tongue though they would still. He traced the lines of her alluring face, the beauty of that light mark upon her forehead, her thin lips poised with-- sadness. Greater did he analyze her now, noting the sympathetic curve of her brow, the pity rimming her features. It was all that he had feared. She'd think him pathetic. His jaws opened again, a change of thought, yet the words still quieted upon his lips. He wanted to tell her, wanted to explain himself to someone, anyone who might care. Though the sadness that skirted her face was too great, stalling his tongue within his mouth as he looked at her wordless. 

“I wasn't always.” It slipped from his lips like a plea, a memory faded yet alive all the same.

@Kaida
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He was staring. She watched him as his eyes slid from her own, departing in their heated perusal down her face and onto the woman's curves. Her body shivered beneath it, muscles tensing with the lick of fear that careened around her neck. Her mind felt entirely different. It purred underneath the weight of his gaze, the glances he'd throw toward every part of her, and the struggle he faced with every clench of his jaw. She was eating it up bit by bit, relishing in his attention despite the lack of it she was capable of giving back.

Try as she might, all she could do was stare. She'd touched him before, felt the softness of his fur as tendrils slipped between her toes, the warmth emitted from his paw. She'd imagined what it would've been like for that warmth to envelop her, to fall asleep to the sweet caress of pine and the coldness of his nose pressed between her ears. Selfishly, she wanted more from him. She wanted to ogle him whenever she pleased, feel the strength hidden behind heavy fur, but remain untouched herself. It was utterly divine in her mind, but so, oh-so selfish.

But the way he spoke to her, a tongue so sweet and native to him, she found it hard to keep her selfish desires to herself. She didn't know what was being said, and couldn't care less if the words would've seared anyone else's tongue. No, he was singing her sweet songs, giving her pieces of himself without her request. His tone had changed, and she knew then his teasing would only continue given her interest never waned. If it was a game he wanted to play, she'd happily oblige.

The woman's smile grew, limbs outstretching behind her as she inclined towards the male, a drawl leaving her in a tongue too sacred to her to admit. “Ti comporti male spesso?” — Do you misbehave often? She blew a cloud of breath at the other before retreating entirely, lips pulled into a proudful grin as their conversation took a turn much more dreary.

Kaida would listen, open her mind and heart to the words—the tellings—he'd allow her. Wrapped up in his longings, it was as if he left her completely, falling victim to the whispers of his mind as they guided him through a vacant retelling of what he'd managed to lose. She knew. It'd happened to her too. She remembered more bad than good. She recalled her own soft breaths of a woman pleasured beneath a man's touch, the wielding of trust she'd held for one man and one alone. But the bad, as little as there was for her to remember, came in flashes strong enough to bring her to her knees. It was there every time she closed her eyes—the grate of hips like dull daggers being used to break skin, the scorch of breaths tainted with the smell of copper and rot, or even the dull screams of women falling victim to the shadows, to the salivating predators biding their time within the darkness. The amount of times Kaida had driven herself to sleep out of pure exhaustion was dreadful, but even in her most exhausted times..the dreams were there all the same—waiting just as they were.

She understood him and it was why nothing but sadness remained in her glassy gaze. She worried for him, feared that his memories might eat him alive and wrench him from her grip. She swore to herself her touch would never meet his, swore that she'd confine herself to her own nightmares and leave him free of them. But her heart ached to go to him, to curl around his large frame and soothe his woes with the gentle caress of her tongue. She wanted to make him forget what troubled him, replace his memories with the scent of lavender and pine as he buried himself in her presence. But everything in her hesitated, screeching to a halt as her toes flinched with the urge. She couldn't feel that warmth again. The very thought of it made her want to convulse with nausea or cry until the rains washed away her tears. Kaida's heart cracked under the realization, but she'd keep herself there still, offering as much solace as she could with her coos and whispers.

“And you aren't now, Beck.” She let the words leave her with as much conviction as she could manage, hoping he'd accept her otherwise wordless offer to remain by his side. “Getting rid of me is a hard feat to master, I must warn you.” She would've hummed, head jutting down between her shoulders to catch his gaze and earn his smile back.

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He had teased her with sweet nothings, ones he knew she wouldn’t understand, and thoroughly enjoyed the flame that had flickered and danced to life in those limpid jades in response. To his surprise, a language of her own would dust her lips, captivating his attention with only a few hummed words. It was all that was needed to lace his features with equal parts amusement and mischief. Although, that all felt far away now. A distant dream as Kaida’s features tilted downward, the storm clouds returning to her eyes.

And just like that, the battle he assumed had been, at least temporarily, laid to rest was back. Coming to life once again, the ghosts swam in her eyes. A visceral response summoned by his own choir of nightmares. Slipped free from their shackles, those demons came out to play and had beckoned hers to join in the process. Again. It was happening again. He cursed inwardly, the words never leaving his lips and yet his teeth sank into his tongue as though they had. It was a punishment, the look upon her face, the pain upon her brow. A growl threatened him, the vibrations hammering to the surface cut before they could produce a sound. She wore a mask of sympathy yet all he longed to do was console her. Screw himself, he had no need to be coddled like a child. His wounds were old, hardened, scarred. Breathing life back into ghosts, the memories that haunted him only caused more pain. Pain from a past that could not be escaped. It had already happened. It was done.

She caught his gaze, a whisper of hope encircling those beautiful gems. Slow to breach the corners of his lips, gradually the smile that had waned made its return. As soon as it had arrived however, it began to neutralize, her words stealing it from off his mouth. Cocking his body toward her, he shoved himself upward in one quick movement. Reaching tentatively closer, he brought himself nearer to her. Close enough to touch her, to envelop her. To feel that brush of her fur that would summon heat that blossomed upon his skin while little bolts of electricity danced beneath the surface. Her body was close, yet her mind remained so very far. It was a hurdle not even he could deny.

Once more, Beck dropped the tone of his voice and inclined his head so that his muzzle now angled against her ear. He wasn’t sure what had transpired, though something had changed— perhaps it was in him, but her words drew forth that feeling again that burned in the center of his being. Eyes darkening, he spoke the words slowly, each holding a peculiar amount of weight on the low baritone. “Getting rid of you is the last thing that I want, ma petite fleur.” Breathy and low, his voice rolled down her contours like liquid smoke. No matter how he’d try, Beck could not deny the pull of his curiosity.

He’d idle there a moment, the warmth of her body radiating beneath the curve of his neck before ultimately pulling away. Gradually he would recede, reclining against the earth once again as he had prior. “I get a question now,” A flame lit within those intense eyes, playful though full of challenge, an enigma all their own. “What is your dream, your ideal life?” Quiet anticipation folded over him like a sheet.

Attention darting back and forth between her eyes and lips, he awaited the words that would drift from off those silky pale swells. Never could he go back and reshape her past. To lock the monsters up before they would ever gather the audacity to slip out from beneath her bed. It was a fool’s plight. If only that were possible, he would, though the hard truth of the matter was that it simply was not. The past was written in stone, finite. What already occurred could not be swayed no matter how much it was begged or pleaded with. The future however, was not as fickle a thing. It could be shaped, molded, a sculpture awaiting the careful hand of the artist to guide where its form would take shape. He knew of her troubles, her hardships, her fears. They were written across her face in scars of her own. Never could he lift those woes but perhaps… perhaps he could help shape the future she had dreamed of.

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u

It'd happened in a moment's breath, the berating of her mother a cacophony of sounds in her head as she gave this man herself piece by piece. She would've approved of him, he would've been first in line, and yet...he was so different, so true as opposed to the dogs she'd been forced to feed with. Her family would've seen his kindness, his devoutness to a partner, and would've thrown him to the mud. There was no place for romance, for chivalry, or for the hopes of love. He would've been torn down, buried alive if he'd gone beyond simply seeking her out.

A breath expelled from her, one of utter relief as she let herself take him in. Nothing more than a temporary stranger, but he was alive and well, lying in front of her without a care. It alone was enough to make her smile, reveling in the fact that he'd been born from a different world, a different life. While it might have been as haunted as hers, it was at least safer and more careful for the man. It brought him here, didn't it? That was enough to ease her ill concepts of a false past, a reality as farce as it was spoken.

The woman moved slightly, almost as if the sorrowful memories were glued to the still strands of her fur and could only be remedied by an open display of discomfort. And it was. The thoughts left her as if they were never there, but perhaps it was not because of her moving, but instead due to the sudden warmth that swarmed around her front. He was there in a flash, too fast for her to oppose and her mind to react.

His words quickened a heart encased in chains, but it wasn't enough to keep the heat of fear from licking at her body, her mind. She wanted to ignore it, to push it down until it was squelched beneath the intimacy of such a moment. But just as she went to pull away, he'd already done it for her, returning to his spot and leaving her breathless. Drunken on both his presence and the fear still lingering at the base of her spine, she didn't know how to react, how to respond in as charming of a way as she had prior.

He'd left her incapable for a moment, still spinning from his closeness and the heat of his breath that crested her ear. It reminded her of things, but the essence of his scent drowned the fears that kindled beneath the heat. For that alone, she'd smile to him, grant him a small shift of her body closer, and listen again.

Dreams, he spoke of. The truth hung on her shoulders as she balanced, carrying the weight of it and her denial as she steered herself across a tightrope. She didn't know what side would give first, but she knew she'd never reach the end, at least not so soon. To meet the end would be to relinquish herself entirely, give all until there was nothing left for her to give. It was a gift too high a price, and one closed within a vault to which there was no key. But this, this small thing, she'd grant him. So she settled, head lifting to take in his rapt attention and it was enough to have her bashfully grinning at him.

“I dream of scars.” Kaida would let her gaze trickle from his own scars, lingering on them with as much intrigue as she'd let herself show. “I've told you before. Scars mean strength. They give story, show a different face beneath the skin—one harder, more intimidating.” The woman's words turned with the lilt of her accent, a passion taking solace in her words as she pried her gaze from him altogether. “To live without means innocence and beauty in a corrupt world. And that? That is craved. By men and women both, all they want is to take.” Her lips parted into a smile despite the sorrow in her gaze as she stared out into the grove. “They do not leave survivors.”

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His brows furrowed. It hadn’t been the answer he was expecting. Her dream, her ideal life… It was scars? Beck blinked, allowing her to elaborate but the answer still felt lost. It was a world away obscured by fog thicker than what even they were surrounded by. Executing the motion in a rather obvious fashion, he looked her up and down, angling his head to peek around her feminine contours. Not a single blemish. Not one the perusal of his curious lenses could acknowledge anyway. Perhaps her scars were deeper, not bared to her skin but to her soul. His attention returned to her, those handsome features morphed into a quizzical expression ripened with questions.

Speaking with her felt like navigating a frozen pond with a blindfold wrapped upon his eyes, obscuring his sight. Where he moved tentatively across its surface, hoping to find the areas where the ice had formed thickest. Where they were able to laugh and dance, joyful but not ignorant to the danger of the surface beneath their toes. Cautious they would abide by its laws. However should his dance get too carefree, should he forget the stage he swayed upon, his feet may just slip. They would tiptoe upon the frozen pane, the ice thinning below his feet without his recognition. Before he knew where he went, that he had indeed traveled to where the ice was thinnest and threatened to plunge him under, the loud cracks would thrum in his ears. An immediate response to his mistake. So instead, he would stay still, unmoving, choosing to remain where he knew the ice was thick, the fear of the plunge rendering his body immobile. Unwilling to pursue his natural curiosity, the innate tug that lead him into territories unknown.

How he desperately desired only just a peek within her mind. An unhindered glance at what was troubling her so, the dark parts of the pond where the ice was worn its thinnest. It was an unspoken wish, a want that would never come to be. Though how he wanted it so. To explore those regions with a tether binding him to the safety of the shore.

Parting to speak, his lips cracked but stalled. A cold, wet droplet plopped atop his head and silenced him. The droplet ran down his face and over his mouth. He swallowed against its brisk trail. He had forgotten what he was about to say, another droplet washing clean the slate. His head turned skywards, observing only the fog as the droplets began to multiply from its cloudy void. The rain was coming. He smiled, a chuckle rolling forth from his vibrating chest as the sky opened up upon them. His eyes sparked to life, amusement dancing like a fire within them. One sparked and leapt like a flame, a molten gold while the other churned with the rolling of the tides, an ocean so blue and deep. Both of them were trained on her. “Are you still comfortable here?” Mirth bowed his brows, the rain pulling the fur around his face down with its saturation.

@Kaida
the staff team luvs u