ooc: Back-dated for Aug. 30th. Early Evening
He was laughing.
A scathing remark. She would have anticipated that instead of laughter, but then again the Lambda had not been acting like himself lately. Secluded rather than prying. Silent instead of letting the hard lash of his tongue grate the ears of his fellow Nomads. Undoubtedly this new understanding of his feelings had led him to this... but to such an extent as he would laugh in the face of his Shepard?
"X'ies please..." the woman's face had contorted into a desperate frown, ears lowered and eyes averted as she again subjected to this humiliation. Perhaps she had become masochistic since his admittance into the pack. Time and time again enduring his wounding treatment...granting him amusement. "You know why I am doing this. If any could see through my intentions it would be you, why else would I have come to you?" Though her pursuit had been noble in her eyes, a means to honor their bond as...something, if it was just a laugh to him, than she could do without it and look to her sacrifice as another means for him to stake his claim over her. The very least she could do was retain her dignity if not her pride.
She had had enough. Despite the protesting ache of her limbs, she pushed against the ground and forced herself to stand. Every second she wasted here was a second lost toward her readiness to breed. As she was given his back, she turned hers in retort taking the first step in descent of the mountain. With ears pulled back to received his words, but did not truly listen until she grasped the muffled sound, indicating there was something in my mouth. She turned then to look at him, humoring his last word as she always did. The tired look in her eyes gaze way to surprise that sparked a bit of life within their dulled hues for but a moment.
The garb was known to the Nomads. Well known to adorn the shoulders of the Shepards in all forms, the main body of it catering to the Family they led. And he had made one...to convey desire. But for what? His desire to lead? She studied the mantle, seeing the main body was that of a bear to represent the tenacity of the Exultare. Her gaze widened as the chill of realization coursed down her spine. His desire for her? "Truly?" Was all she could think to utter immediately, disbelieve apparent in her voice. Her paws led her to face him and draw her closer to the pelt until she felt the coarse hairs of the bear beneath her nose and could still gather the scent of the wild upon it. "This is why you have been absent? You were making this?" 'For me?'