【 ❆ 𝕊𝔼ℝ𝔼𝕄𝔼𝕃𝔸。】ᵃᶰᶜᶤᵉᶰᵗᵇˡᵉᵈ

❝ — You know, it’s dangerous to wander the forest at night. Wolves roam these lands, so take heed. ❞

          SHARP DID HER gaze become as cold hues FOCUSED upon the other, one brow firmly quirked into a perfect arch. Her thoughts WHISPERED words of warning to her, AIDING her to be CAUTIOUS and alert. One could never be TOO careful, for the intentions of others was as clear as a field in winter’s DAWN. The world was full to the brim of LIARS and tricksters, with their tongues as SHARP as knives and the words as DEADLY as poison. Let alone cruel, HUMANITY had taken the liberty of hunting and slaying those born to SUBCATEGORIES of human such as her kind; the wolf.

          SOMETHING IN HER mind clicked at the features the other HELD, and that his scent was all too familiar. How was this stranger’s scent FAMILIAR to her, and why couldn’t she pin it to ANYONE she had met? The gift of the wolf was the most VISIBLE upon him, it hung over him like a curtain. Upon this BLOCK in her mind, a growl of frustration would LEAVE her as a hand moved to REST on her brow. While she PONDERED on her thoughts, her eyes would move to the forest floor, SHIFTING from either side as she searched for the time, or the PERSON, she could USE to recall this scent. She knew the answer lay WITHIN her memories, she just needed to take time in SEARCHING for an answer.

❝ — You seem familiar, have we met before? ❞

          SHE HAD TO say something, to ease the POUNDING in her mind and to appear less than some STRANGER. Often, her mind would turn to a blank state in the MIDDLE of a search, just like it has now, and it ACHES in her mind. As this HAPPENED, her arms would fold over her chest while her gaze RETURNED to focus on him. It was now that it hit her, the ANSWER. She had MET him, only for a short period of time, when the pair had been CHILDREN.

❝ — It’s you. ❞

@i-ced || sc.

█▐ ❆ ࿐ᐤ  THEY WERE ENCROACHING on his territory again. No one was supposed to encroach on his territory. Gray spat BLOOD at his feet &&. ignored the aching within his bones that dispersed like oceans within storms.    

      In a world where lycanthrope saunter amongst the mortal kind; wolf parried with wolf, but Gray NEVER had a pack to prowl with. Fanged grins, scarlet-choked sins— he chose solitude, &&. it was the LIFESTYLE that encumbered him. Human shied away from his kind, mythical entities shied away from his kind —- there was NO ONE who dared to breach his daunting vicinity.

              ( He was a lone wolf by preference &&. BY CHOICE, though not his own. )

      Gray enveloped a rugged hand over his rasped flesh &&. proceeded to saunter further into the foreboding forest, occasionally liberating himself from the meek grasp of scandent vines. Though it was still silent like the predawn always is, in that DARKNESS devoid of birdsong, there came a musky scent tinctured with rancid breath.

HE COULD FEEL HER —- gliding through the wood’s sullen ambiance. The earth called to him, telling him how she impeded the moon’s ethereal light from deflecting as she moved — as her footsteps OPPRESSED the air, black-mingled &&. waiting for a stanza to cut through open chasm. He can smell blood and dust, honey and rust…

Then there’s her. Starfire. Buttercups and violets, rue. Night shade and dew.

      ❝ — It’s you. ❞  He heard her said, voice much like silk.

      There is something WICKED in his chest, something that twisted &&. gripped at his stuttering heart— a sickness, a mindless rot that seeped into his very soul.

The woman stood before him evoked a memory of years passed, and suddenly Gray truly felt his age; decades of bloodshed &&. CARNAGE staining sickly pale fingers. Her stench – a stench too familiar, it boiled his blood, rattled his bones & filled his lungs, full. 

      ❝ Oh? ❞ he growled, low, and stalked CLOSER —- close enough until the tresses of her hair brushed against his nose. ❝ We met again. ❞ She’s still all white linen &&. luminescent skin. He let his jaw unhinged into a wolfish grin; her very stench still makes his stomach COILED.

             ❝ —-Are you here t’be my savior this time, Serey? ❞