Skoll grinned sheepishly under the stare of the black stallion, which no longer looked so majestic and powerful and dangerous with the flowers in his mane. His ears quickly swiveled toward the sound of Adelle’s voice as she explained that she had gotten him as a gift from someone named Isa.

“Who’s that?” he asked, even though he didn’t feel jealous; he had plenty of grownup friends in the Court, too, and he really wanted the girl to have friends for when he wasn’t around. He mused darkly about the distance separating Casa di Cavalieri from the Kingdom then decided it could always be worse. When she mentioned taking a friend on a little journey, he straightened and blinked. “Huh—oh.” Ginger ears did their best to disappear in his messy blonde mane. “Th-that sounds really fun. I mean, I traveled a little too, and fought a bear, but I didn’t visit the packs and stuff.” The words poured clumsily from his mouth, a direct attempt not to beg her to let him come.

A perhaps too-eager grin flashed across the other’s dark-masked face, but Skoll failed to recognize her movement for concentrating on that grin. He tried to jump back when she swung at him, but a black fist connected with his chest. He was just barely able to keep his balance, one hand jumping to the bruised spot as he panted, peering at her in surprise.

At last, a snort left him, and he crossed his arms. “Fine, I deserved that,” he said, trying to sound grouchy and failing. “Ask your question.” He wouldn’t be very gallant if he refused the lady her question, after all.

Skoll wondered if the girl’s friend Isa was like his friend Terra, who taught him plenty of skills—not always fighting per se, but occasionally dirty tricks that could turn a fight to his advantage if the opponent wasn’t interested in honor. For instance, the bear they’d fought didn’t give two sniffs about a pair of rascally luperci, and it might have carved them in half with its big claws if they hadn’t been sneaky. It wasn’t really the big, exciting brawl that Adelle thought it was (from wideness of her pale blue eyes), but he didn’t bother to amend his statement. She might like him more if she thought he was stronger than he was, after all.

The girl thought for a while before asking him to come on the trip. The blonde boy answered with a giant grin, blurting, “Yes, I would love to!” He failed to think about what he’d tell his parents this time in regard to such a trip, but that didn’t matter. He’d be able to spend more time with Adelle!

His tail wagged crazily behind him, but all the time he remembered their game, and his green eyes sized her up—and he managed to keep from staring at her face and hair and the pretty patterns of her coat this time. He ran toward her, swiping at her with sheathed claws, but it was just a lazy blow; the real point was so he could dance in a circle around her and wait for an opening.

As he’d anticipated, Adelle easily blocked his lethargic swat. He didn’t stop moving, however, his pale feet patting down the grass of the ring as he circled. His expression was more wolfish than it usually was, his dog blood melting away as the beginnings of a fighter came through. It was a rare sort of transformation for the normally haughty, childish prince, but it made him look serious and focused, his dark lips drawing back lightly to show the tip of a fang.

Her leg came out and knocked against his own, but as his balance was destroyed, the male fell toward her and clawed at her with both hands this time, determined to get his blow in.

Awkward Skoll is awkward. What's wrong witchu, boy?

350 words

Skoll did not have the training his friend did, even though she had shared plenty of what she knew with him. He didn’t have the advantage of growing up in a pack of warriors where training might even consist of watching other members out sparring. It surprised him that he was taking this path, simply going with the flow rather than making any rash attacks like he was used to, but it felt right. He’d waited for an opening, taken it, and then success!

And now they were on the ground. His claws raked through her fur, then stopped on the edge of her arm. His green eyes latched onto her icy ones, and he scooted back quickly, slightly embarrassed and definitely bashful, when she sat up. Had the pair been older, it might have been awkward for hormonal reasons, but Skoll was more freaking out about being in contact with this wonderful girl at all. It was kind of nice to be close.

“I do?” the prince asked, his mind still not quite registering what he’d done. Then: “Oh.” And: “That wasn’t my question!”

The boy sat on the ground with a huff, brushing his hair out of his face thoughtfully. It had to be a good question, because what if he couldn’t hit her again? But he was too shy to actually voice some of the things he was curious about. He didn’t want to ask a too personal question if it turned out to be a bad or private one, either. He scowled, nothing coming to mind, until he lowered his ears and spoke up in a very uncharacteristic meek voice.

“Do you think I’m weird?”

Skoll looked away with a scowl as he realized the question kind of sounded whiny and really stupid. If she didn’t think he was weird already, she definitely would now. But it was still a valid concern, especially because he didn’t know if she liked him—well, liked him liked him. And he’d been weird about the flowers, and his idea about this weird game, and just everything around her lately.

Joking about his allotted questions aside, Skoll held his breath for her answer. Although there were plenty of puppies in his pack, all of them were related to each other, and there was no precedent for what he was feeling. He’d never felt comfortable bringing his feelings up to an adult in the Court. He might have asked his brother, who’d had a crush of his own on Robin, but Liam had left the Kingdom.

Resentment bubbled up in him again, but the boy managed to jerk himself back to the present when the dark-haired girl answered in the negative. He smirked, and looked back down at the ground as she turned the question back onto him. He plucked some of the grass at his feet and shrugged.

“I dunno. I feel like I’m being weird now.” He answered truthfully, green eyes downcast for a while. “I mean, I think you’re awesome, and so… I…” He tried to figure out how to voice the feelings he himself couldn’t understand. “I feel dizzy? Not like fall down dizzy, but dizzy, so that’s weird.”

He coughed and turned, burying his nose in the yellow fur of his shoulder and avoiding her gaze.

We can maybe wrap this up soon? Since you've been gone, I figure it'd be easier to just go with a new thread anyway ... so they can angst with each other. xD

301 words

Green eyes had fallen down to the grass he fidgeted with, but the gesture of her hand grabbed their attention. Her dark hair might not have been carefully styled, but he liked how it was cropped and curled around her face. It made her look girlish, even if she wasn’t classically feminine, while his only made him look like the wild child he was.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her play with her necklace before that got awkward. Besides, she was nodding, and the boy felt some tension leave his body; at least he wasn’t completely insane about this. When she admitted to feeling strange around him as well, though, his heart skipped a beat and he had to hide his surprise.

“Y-yeah,” Skoll agreed, “floaty.” And he went back to plucking blades of grass; he had a nice little pile going. There were a few dozen rapid heartbeats of silence before he realized that this wasn’t going to get them anywhere, and so the next best thing was to blurt his theory.

“I guess that means I like you. And I mean, a lot, like like like. And, well, that’s kinda okay with me if it’s okay with you. I just don’t… I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it.”

That was the crux of the problem. He liked her just like Liam liked Robin, like Romeo liked Juliet (except waaay less icky, and all that lovey stuff made him barf anyway), but there wasn’t any way to channel that besides what they were used to—sparring, playing, talking. He guessed he just wanted to know everything about her, which was the point of the game, which would maybe make him like her even more until he knew what to do about it.

Go ahead and archive once you've read and we can start a new one. <3

000 words

Adelle didn’t seem to be too freaked out about the conversation, only fidgeting alongside him and adding to his little pile of grass. She didn’t seem to be freaked out about his awkward confession, either, instead giving him a big beautiful smile then making a quip that had him blushing profusely. He turned away dramatically, hiding his burning face as if his flushed skin could be seen under his pale fur, stammering, “Well maybe n-not that serious, I mean, n-not that I’d n-never—”

She cut him off with a tap to the shoulder, and Skoll stared at her, his green eyes huge as they met her lovely ice blue ones. Her simple declaration made him grin, though, and he nodded sharply, a mischievous grin overtaking his young features before she dashed off into the woods.

Laughing, the boy swept the grass pile away then chased after her, ignoring his horse’s admonishing whinny. He was just glad to be doing something, and spending time with the girl he liked, and tag was way more fun than any of that mushy stuff anyway!