WC: 357
Shady! Oh, that Jaden was shady. He had removed the weapon from Slade's neck, much to the young coyote's relief, turned, and said a few very simple statements: firstly, why wasn't Slade afraid of him, and second, that he had absolutely no help around and that he might as well succumb to acting like a complete puppy. The possible murderer sounded completely sensible. What reason was there for Slade not to give in? This was a life or death situation, after all.
And yet, after all of this resistance, was Slade really going to just drop and cower just because he had been asked to? This was one of those situations where he was letting his pride get in the way; as soon as Jaden spat out his first retort, Slade just knew that he wasn't going to like the man. It was for that simple reason and that reason only that he was acting this way; maybe if Jaden wasn't so self-conceited, Slade would make an effort to be a bit more friendly. And of course, things were not this way, and Slade found himself grappling for a good comment that wouldn't involve running away or getting on Jaden's nerves even more.
Threats would never help. Witty retorts didn't work. Acting cowardly was actually starting to seem like the best option. And then Slade struck what he considered to be the best idea of them all. He snapped his jaws shut and didn't say a word. Returning ignorance with ignorance was the best he could come up with. Every time Slade spoke, it was bound to tick Jaden off even more. Silence was the only option. What was the oh-so-special Luperci going to do about it? Jaden knew that Slade wasn't hiding anything. And there was no reason to issue a death threat to a coyote who wasn't saying anything bad.
So Slade went with it. He sat down, willing his tail to hold still, and did not say a word. And he was going to keep this silence up as long as he had to, even if it meant watching Jaden explode right before him.