Word Count → 361

Naked tree branches reached up, clawing into the somber grey sky as if to slash through to sunlight. Wind howled frigidly as it whipped across the foliage, skating across the heaps of snow and sending a cold shiver through the tawny female’s spine. It was as cold a day as any for early winter, and the clouds above whispered to her the news of future snowstorms. The freezing weather had not caused too much stress lately, as most of the packs were prepared for the annual chill, but she still somewhat uneasy at the thought of figuring out where prey would be plentiful on the peninsula. The small creatures would have fled underground, and anything much larger than a fawn would require some teamwork.

Sky-blue eyes sly, her expression transformed when she stepped through the bushes, careful not to rattle them with her tail or catch any fur on the slim twigs. There was a herd of deer in the area, turned grey-brown with winter coats and obviously feeling the effects of the weather. Nibbling at bark, browsing more than grazing now, the herbivores moved slowly through the snowy forest unaware of the predator trotting patiently in their wake.

Silently, Vesper loped forward then broke out into a ground-eating canter, checking her balance as she crossed one of the icy streams. Here, she paused, surveying the herd and attempting to pick out a deer weaker than the others. The closest was a young buck, sporting only one additional prong on his antlers which had yet to fall off. He was thin and fragile, with a wound on his shoulder that could only have been caused by overeager sparring with other stags.

She dropped into a crouch, memorized the space between her target and the others, then galloped forward with jaws snapping and mane erect. Her wolf-sized secui body drove like an arrow into the midst of the herd, her strong jaws aiming for the buck’s leg. She missed by a few inches but didn’t mind as her quarry fled; she simply loped after him, tongue lolling. She had endurance on the deer, and this hunt was, after all, a waiting game.

Word Count → 515 :: I seriously almost squealed when I saw you had replied. <333

The hybrid doggedly pursued the buck, hoping to lead him away from the rest of the herd, dodging around him to keep him cut off. If she could only chase him deeper into the forest, she might be able to shift into her original shape and use a smaller size to her advantage, waiting for him to have difficulty maneuvering around the scattered bare foliage. For now, however, the secui form was useful enough to keep her right on the beast’s heels—if only her maneuverability didn’t suffer. Spooked, the deer whirled then leaped over her, flashing the white underside of his tail as he bounded back into the middle of the others.

Vesper growled with frustration then drove straight into the herd again, taking a little more risk as she aimed to grasp whatever limbs she could in her jaws and crunch into them. She had smashed her shoulder into a panicking doe when a howl burst over the forested hills. The coywolf froze, tongue lolling and brow furrowed as she watched the herd scatter, deer racing into every direction, probably anticipating an entire pack to come down on their heels.

The woman swore colorfully then stepped back, turning quickly in search of the asshole that’d scared away the deer. There—a dark-colored luperci sitting on a hilltop, too far away for her to make out any details. The wind was blowing her scent toward it, making her unable to distinguish age or gender or any other clues about who the canine was.

She took in a deep breath through her nose, exhaling from her mouth, and found the center within her that prompted the change. Shifting was coming easier and easier to her the more that she did it, and while the sensation was still uncomfortable and the end result something she needed to get used to, she found advantages to the luperci virus clawed into her blood. For one thing, her height disadvantage wasn’t as obvious on two legs. She wished that they would take her more seriously in her four-legged form, but any enemies she made would soon learn how deadly she could be in any shape. This random howling stranger wasn’t friend or foe yet, so the tawny luperci didn’t care how she appeared to them.

Going up the hill would have been easier on four legs, Vesper reflected as she trudged toward the waiting figure. Her pale hands found her nonexistent hips as she came to a halt before the dark wolf, and with as much of an attitude as ever, she muttered, “So what the hell was that for? Are you—”

She blinked, wondering if she had seen what she’d thought she saw—clashing eye colors underneath that dark mass of hair. When she inhaled, the scent was unmistakably familiar, and her stomach began to clench and her heart began to race as recognition dawned on her scarred face. She took a heavy step backwards, ears lowering and arms wrapping defensively around her own scraggly, patchwork body, no longer as emaciated but twice as scarred.

Then: “B-Blind?”

Word Count → 306 :: <3

The sight of those heterochromatic eyes caused Vesper’s breath to catch in her throat, the tentative emotions that had built up at the familiar sight of the luperci washing over her in full force. It was unmistakable; no other wolf would have those brilliantly colored eyes. She didn’t know whether to be ecstatic to see her friend again or if this cold confusion was suiting for the situation; Blind had been, after all, non-luperci. Getting used to her own transformation and the way others saw her had been crazy enough, let alone that of someone else she knew.

She stared silently as Blind stood. The younger woman was better developed, well fed, free from the gashes that covered her own slender and angular body. These were details that she couldn’t help but notice as she looked over the other’s new shape, her brow still slightly furrowed and her ears flattened uncertainly against her head. It seemed that the girl’s happy confidence hadn’t abandoned her after her change, either, as she was almost mischievous as she looked at the shocked, tongue-tied hybrid.

The she-wolf spoke again, teasing her lightly about her appearance, and a characteristic crooked smirk slashed across Vesper’s mouth. “I’ll admit to it, sweetheart, if I can add that ‘scar’ should be plural.” She snorted softly then looked across at the ground, silent for a few seconds before she looked back at the friend she hadn’t seen in months.

Her face softened. “Now stop talking,” she ordered, and she crossed the distance between them in a manner of seconds, wrapping her arms around Blind and pulling her close, pressing her muzzle into her dark fur and breathing in her familiar but changed scent. Claws sheathed, her fingertips dug lightly into her shoulders, the grip of a woman who had been on the brink of death.

Word Count → 518

There was a brief tension in her friend before Blind returned the embrace, her muzzle resting against the hybrid’s head. It reminded Vesper of their last meeting, when the young wolf had been the one to hug her out of the blue—though this was a more proper hug, she saw now. Memories of their sparring and playing and the emotional aftermath of the terrifying bear attack overwhelmed her, and she realized she’d pushed aside Blind as soon as she was able to, hiding away the memory in fear that it would hurt her to think back on it and miss her friend so much. Almost like Juniper—though Vesper firmly halted the thought there, before her heartbeat could become any more erratic.

The dark black-brown she-wolf pulled away slightly, only for her two-toned eyes to meet the coywolf’s sky-blue gaze. There was something melancholy about that look, but before Vesper could open her mouth to ask her friend what was wrong, Blind murmured to her and she closed her jaw on the words.

“I’m here, Blind,” Vesper said instead, nuzzling her friend’s shoulder. She wasn’t used to being held like this; her way of thinking usually meant she was the one cradling the vulnerable, pulling close the ones she cared about. But right now, it didn’t matter, and it was just nice to be close.

Her ears lowered as Blind pulled away, but a smirk flickered across her mouth as she noticed the luperci battling her hair. She was having a worse time with her heavy locks than X’yrin, almost, and it caused a small chuckle to escape the coywolf as she pointedly ran a hand through her own fluffy, cropped hair. It wasn’t really for the ability to see that she’d torn most of it out, rather out of panic, but she didn’t regret her decision.

Blind grinned then, and that was all the warning Vesper got before the darker-pelted girl leaped forward, bringing both of them to the ground. A month ago, this would have been an extremely easy task in her clumsy optime shape, but as her shoulders hit the ground—even before—she was grabbing the other’s sides, flipping them around so that Blind was underneath her, pinned by somewhat skinny but surprisingly strong arms.

“I’m on top unless I grant you permission,” Vesper teased, lifting a brow then reaching out to tap the girl’s nose. She quickly rolled down into the grass beside her, propping her head on a bent arm, her posture careless and relaxed.

Her signature, crooked smirk faded as a thought occurred to her—one of the thousands of questions she knew she had for her friend she hadn’t seen in so long. With a bit of visible nervousness, she made a vague gesture to all of Blind’s new body and formed the word, “How?” Her ears lowered, and she prayed that her friend’s transformation, at least, had been of her own free will. Otherwise, she would just be digging up pain, and she didn’t want to hurt the sweet girl she’d already risked her own safety to protect.

Word Count → 406

Vesper chuckled at the expression of the girl trapped briefly underneath her, pretending like she hadn’t followed the course of her tongue with her eyes when the girl liked her lips. She smiled as Blind rolled over as well, her muzzle resting against her arm; lazily, the coywolf stroked her dark hair, not even really conscience of the motion. She didn’t mind the closeness, of course, and probably wouldn’t have minded had Blind decided to curl up fully against her. Then again, her body felt unnaturally warm even in spite of the cool winter air, and a little break from contact might allow her to cool off.

Her ears tilted forward as Blind gave her explanation. She was glad to know that it was a blood transfer and one that the girl had probably asked for. She personally wouldn’t have wanted to give up her natural shape if she had any say in the matter, but with all of the advantages being a luperci offered, it didn’t take a great imagination to know how Blind felt. She was sure she would want to fit in with a luperci-dominant pack, too.

Vesper was confused about one point, however, which she echoed: “Mother?” She had thought that the girl’s mother was out of the picture, and certainly not in Crimson Dreams. For a moment she wondered if mother was only metaphorical; she knew some packs considered their members family, and referred to each other with those titles even if they weren’t linked by blood.

The hand on her belly made her stomach do flips, which wasn’t eased by the question she had been prepared for but dreaded. Keeping composure, the coywolf reached down to place her hand over her friend’s, moving it slightly to one of her more recent scars. “Fight,” she said quietly. “As usual my pride was at odds with my survival.” Her tone was devoid of emotion other than a kind of resignation; there was no changing the past, and so there was no reason to be adamant or regretful about the actions she’d chosen that day.

“But I was found at the borders to a pack—Inferni. Their healer took me in and tended to my wounds. I actually respected the other coyotes in the clan, and… I stayed.” She shrugged lightly, remembering her other non-luperci friend reacting more strongly to Vesper being in a pack than becoming a luperci. “How is Crimson Dreams?”

Word Count → 480

Vesper couldn’t help but chuckle lightly as the woman tended to her scar. It looked much better than it had when she’d received it; for weeks afterward it had been a scabbed mess, along with a high percentage of the rest of her body. It didn’t seem like fur would grow over a lot of it, however. But Vesper didn’t mind—her scars were badges to her, showing what she had survived. The only wound she was concerned with was a death wound.

She smiled and nodded as Blind described the woman that had first taken her in. “The great-grandmother, right?” she asked warmly, remembering what the girl had said about the one who had made her feel so welcome in the pack. It was strange, the thought of being adopted by a different mother; Vesper wondered if her life would have turned out any different if someone else had raised her. But by the time Winter had died, she had been far too independent-minded to allow anyone to take care of her.

Her ears lowered as Blind spoke of being lonely in her home, and the coywolf almost considered asking if she felt like Crimson Dreams was even the place for her. However, she didn’t think that Blind would abandon her adoptive mother, even if it was for a different family, so she kept her mouth shut. She couldn’t imagine anyone not instantly being charmed by the girl, though.

“You’ll find more there,” she offered quietly. “It shouldn’t be hard for you to make friends. You’re so—” She stopped there, fumbling for a word. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing; all she could do was lower her eyes and hope Blind understood that she shouldn’t be alone like that, that a wolf like her would win the hearts of any other Dreamer she chose to talk to.

Vesper sighed lightly, but in a matter of seconds the dark she-wolf had come closer to her. She was about to smile at the girl until Blind started licking her scars, almost desperately, an urgency to her movements that startled the coywolf as she lay underneath her friend. To say that the action had been unexpected would be an understatement, and to say it didn’t affect her would be an outright lie. When Blind paused, mismatched eyes looking sadly down at her, Vesper was breathing somewhat more heavily than before, frozen and not daring to do anything.

The girl retreated shortly afterward, clearly ashamed of what she’d just done. Breathless and confused, Vesper rose onto her knees and scooted closer to her. “Blind?” she asked, searching the other’s face for any clues as to what had provoked her. “Blind, what’s wrong?” Her brow pinched, and she reached out with a gentle hand to touch the girl’s cheek, hoping to turn her face so that she would look at her.

Word Count → 274 :: No, it's fine! I like back-and-forth posting like this. I'll just be slower come tomorrow and the rest of the week because of class. ><

Blind smiled shyly and offered no explanation other than that she was “silly,” and while Vesper smirked faintly, her expression was no less concerned. She met the eyes that never failed to dizzy her and wondered what had prompted her actions. She had always been a touchy wolf, prone to physical contact rather than words to get her point across, but even what Blind had just done was strange—not unwelcome, but unexpected.

She let the subject change as Blind talked about her mother again, some of her happiness returning; there was no point in dwelling on something that the she-wolf obviously wanted to forget about, and the coywolf was a firm believer in letting others keep their thoughts private. Nodding lightly, Vesper murmured, “Luperci live for a long time. I’ve no doubt she’s as strong as she was in her prime.” She knew that non-luperci had shorter lifespans and sometimes wondered when she would fade away, but then again she doubted she would die peacefully.

The feeling of the girl leaned against her made Vesper smile, and she wrapped an arm around her to keep her close. When the dark hair covered those brilliant eyes, however, she started laughing. “It looks like your name is as valid as ever, Blind,” she teased, pushing her hair away from her face and grinning. “Are you going to cut that? I’d offer to help, but I ended up tearing most of mine out.” Even though that had been a traumatic moment for the tawny luperci, she spoke in good humor. Hair was overrated anyway—though it still looked good trailing down onto the she-wolf’s auburn-black shoulders.

Word Count → 243 :: Vesper, man, stop reading those cheesy teen romance novels. :|

The dark she-wolf was suddenly shy and fumbling for her words, and Vesper smirked faintly. This girl couldn’t be any cuter if she tried, she thought, another wave of affection coming over her as she looked at the trim woman lightly nestled against her. She found it all kind of strange; she had hoped she would see her again after the bear attack, but she hadn’t dared to dream of anything more than a quick reunion and an easy friendship. But no—after seeing the girl in her arms almost die, after frantically nuzzling her to make sure she would wake, she didn’t think their friendship could be trivial. And it wouldn’t do good to deny that the protectiveness and warmth she felt toward the young woman balanced precariously on the edge of friendly and something much more than that.

You’re a fool, Ves, the coywolf began to reprimand herself softly, but then Blind blurted out the word “beautiful” from nowhere then began to ramble on again. She was awkward and fumbling, flustered by everything coming out of her mouth, and for a moment, all Vesper did was look at her. Let me be a fool. Might as well make the most of it. Quietly, she snorted and lifted the hand not touching her hair, tilting her chin upwards with a crooked finger to force her to meet her gaze.

“Beautifully so,” Vesper agreed with a very different rendition of her signature smirk.

Word Count → 519

Soft arms encircled her neck, and Vesper wrapped her own around the other’s trim waist, closing her eyes and breathing in her scent. It had been too long since she’d had someone precious to her, truly precious. She had comforted a stranger at the beach and pointed out a way for a wandering soul to take—but neither had amounted to what Blind meant to her. She’d known Blind had meant far more to her than a simple acquaintance when the bear had struck her down. Fear and anger like that did not come to someone who cared only about herself.

The girl whispered close to her torn ear, and the coywolf smirked faintly at the nickname. She was about to make a wry comment about how she’d pummel any other person who’d say it, but the moment passed as Blind added that she missed her—a simple statement for friends who hadn’t seen each other in months, and yet it implied so much.

Vesper was silent, feeling the other pull away, and she let her answer show in her expression rather than state it aloud: that she’d missed Blind too, that seeing her alive and well on this hilltop had stirred within her a happiness she’d all but forgotten. Even among her own clan she had no one she considered a true friend, only comrades she protected out of respect and duty rather than affection. It was almost ironic that her real friends were all scattered outside Inferni, both in the north and the south and here in her arms.

Taking her hands, Blind spoke. She poured her heart out, and while the coywolf had started out listening with composure, the memory of the girl waking, fighting her sudden blindness and the clouds wrapped around her bruised head, made her brows pinch together. It made the scarred woman look vulnerable—for only just a moment, before downcast eyes and a deep, silent inhale hid her dangerous emotions away.

The girl covered her mouth suddenly, but for the moment, Vesper didn’t react—didn’t know how the hell to react. Blind had ripped her heart out of its steel cage and clamped her jaws around it like a chew toy, and words could not describe the new surge of affection she felt for the dear girl in that moment. While her tough exterior probably didn’t show it, Ves longed for the ability to bring others back from the brink, to instill strength in them, protect them, claim them as her own but set them free to run alongside her. It was all she could ask for.

Blind giggled then. It was an almost frantic sound, a baby bird fluttering its wings to keep aloft, signifying her frayed nerves. Her face softening once again, Vesper shook her head slowly then reached out to draw the girl close again.

“Ssshhh, sweetheart,” the tawny coywolf murmured. Pale fingers ran gently through her dark auburn hair. “What you just said means more to me than you’ll ever know, Blind,” she told her, voice muffled against her forehead before she placed a gentle kiss there.

Word Count → 274 :: Going to bed now since I have class early. I do not regret spending the entire day posting in this thread. xD Will just have to wait until tomorrow for more (though I'll probably be swamped with homework).

There was silence, then, but without the expectation of words, Vesper could let herself relax. She let her eyes close and sighed, continuing to rest her head lightly against the other woman’s, listening to the sounds of the forest below their point on the hill. A cardinal was singing somewhere, and the girl was breathing quietly, and it was all the tawny hybrid could do to let the sounds take her away and not think about anything else.

Her eyes opened when the dark female leaned close to her once more, speaking quietly before drawing back and smiling. She looked more relaxed than she had been, and Vesper was glad to see that she wasn’t nervous anymore; even an idiot, looking at the scarred woman’s abnormally gentle expression, could tell that there was nothing for Blind to be worried about. She squeezed the fingers wrapped tightly around her paw and swiveled her ears forward as the girl’s sweet, playful voice rang out and put the singing bird to shame.

The thought of play made the coywolf smile in agreement, though perhaps in the back of her mind she knew the play would be different—and different in more than just their changed forms. But she would tackle that problem when it reared its head, and for now she smirked as the woman pushed herself up onto her knees.

“I have to warn you, though,” Vesper said, “I learned a few new dirty tricks since the last time we played.” She paused for effect. “Like this.” And with a wicked grin, she grabbed the girl’s sides, dancing fingers tickling her up and down her ribcage.