He snorted, and he huffed, and the blue expected that next he would begin stomping his feet like a petulant child. Maybe she was being a little too hard on him, but she needed a punching bag and there he was, caught in a bush, waiting as though the gods had left him as a reward to stumble upon. But her lighthearted taunting was turning into something more vicious than she had originally expected. (What had she expected?) Her anger mutated into rage as a cruel laugh escaped him. She visibly recoiled, ears twisting back on their polls, nostrils flaring, her muscles tensing. Of the few things that rattled her, being laughed at was high on the list. "I said nothing funny," she snipped, tail lashing angrily behind her for a moment before she recomposed herself, and it coiled around a rear hoof yet again. "If you want to traipse around here with a branch stuck to you, be my guest. Just know you look ridiculous." A joke about the 'ugly tree' and hitting all the branches flashed through her mind, but it was a little much, so she allowed it to escape without saying it out loud.

The corporal let out her own snort, nearly as soft as the velvet that rimmed her nostrils, as silver eyes rolled dramatically. She didn't have time for this. This had gone from enjoyable to annoying, and she was over it. She began to move past him to continue her venture, feminine form swaying with each step, but before she made it more than four steps her eyes fell upon his shoulder. It was obvious, emblazoned on his deep pelt, the mark she had already left on him. It was a brutal fight, and in a distant memory she could still remember the smell of his blood through the seeping ooze that had swallowed her senses during that fateful time. But looking past the scar, his shoulders were broad, sturdy, the muscles carved deep beneath luscious browns. Each limb that held him upright, one dipped in vivid gold, carried him in a prideful manner, as if he believed the world should bow for him. Eyes traveled down the curve of his back, down the outline of his haunches, sweeping under and falling briefly where her sight didn't belong. She averted her eyes quickly, embarassed, eyes landing on his face. The star girl caught herself admiring his sharp jawline and sculpted head. Even his face was trimmed with gold filigree, as if his golden crown wasn't enough. He was handsome, and despite her disdain for him, she couldn't help but appreciate his striking aesthetics. If he wasn't such an ass, she would entertain the thought of being attracted to him.

The blue's distraction came to a grinding halt. Her jaw clenched as he asked if she were crazy. She had no sly response, no witty comeback to fuel the fire that they were tossing kindling into with each jab and insult. Was her behavior really that unwarranted? But perhaps it hadn't been his fault. When the black had claimed the lands, dark and dripping and suffocating, it had driven many mad. Even she had fallen victim to vicious hallucinations of her father. So despite fighting for her life against the dark buck, maybe he wasn't the one she had been fighting. Her mind was spinning with her current problems, and now her attempts at explaining his brutish behavior were adding to the crazed mix. Still, she couldn't release her hold on the distaste she held for him. She couldn't decide whether he still deserved her sharp tongue, or if he should be granted a little mercy.

"I apologize that I have no warm and fuzzy left in me to lend to you." I wasted it on someone else. "You attacked me. You still have a souvenir to prove it. Do you deserve what kindness I have left?" She wasn't making this situation any better. Her hostility ebbed, and she sighed. Her expression softened ever so slightly, though her brows remained furrowed as she locked her eyes on his. All the poison drained from her words, leaving behind nothing but honesty. "I am not daft, I am not vapid, I am not crazy. I would even go so far as to dispute your opinion that I am a bitch. But you don't know me, as I don't know you, past our initial encounter which, obviously, has tainted my opinion of you." She scowled. Was this where she was supposed to apologize? "Perhaps who I met previously was not who I stand before now, but my impression of you still stands. So this can either be a turning point, or we can continue to despise each other until our bones are dust and the gods have been forgotten."

She would not bend to his desires, and would not apologize first for the wrongs committed against her. And though something suggested the stag wasn't one for apologies, she calmed long enough to give him a chance to sway her malice. "After what you did, do you care to tell me why you deserve anything other than hostility from me? Or perhaps you care to provide an explanation on what pushed you come after me the way you did. I would love to hear it, I really would."

She leaned back, cocking a hip as she relaxed, and waited to (hopefully) be surprised.

words
OOC|| @Rikyn ~

Feed me to the wolves, let them have my flesh. I am something that skin cannot hold.