ÖDE

He watched her expectantly, and for a moment he could see the answer forming in the lines of her face, the folds of her tongue, the corners of her eyes... but then she looked away and something changed, or was hidden. The remnants of the truth were there in the gentle twitch of her lips, like a butterfly's wings opening and closing as it settled, but just like that it flew away and the lie that he knew was a lie came forth instead. He shouldn't have expected anything less from a sneak.

He wasn't made or hurt, just infinitely more curious. What secrets is she keeping? he wondered, his simple question now burying in deeper, especially because it involved Ashamin. My dear mentor, what has transpired between you and her?

The topic shifted, and with a flick of his tail those thoughts drifted into the back waters of his mind, settling like a boat in the moors, due to rub every so often against the dock of his conscious but otherwise tied up out of sight.
She resumes the easy kindness he knows he for, only now that he's had a peek at some other part of her, it's changed the whole of her. He wonders if this is all a charade, if, like his cousin, she is a fox and he, the dumb wolf, can't help but be who he is while the foxes all hide and dance in games he can't understand but is invited to all the same. He grieves the loss of the mare he'd previously known, because she had been beautiful to him - she was like Lena, something he wasn't aware of, something he didn't know he cherished in others, but that gentleness the healer had shown him in his earlier years had created an affection in him for such traits. It didn't mean Rexanna wasn't still gentle, wasn't honestly, gentle, but now he didn't trust it, not the way he could in Lena.

What was Rexanna now? A secret. He sighed inaudibly.

"Ooh, a prime spot," he crooned, a grin peeking through the fox mask he slipped on with a growing comfort. It was easier, he came to recognize, when there was at least a partial truth to the lie one spun. It was a prime spot, but his joy of it was the ruse now, his love for this mare tarnished before he'd even noticed its gleam. A pity, truly.

She came, unbidden, unwanted, her flesh lingering in the space just between them, her whiskers a twitch away from touch. He held his breath, his heavy gaze sliding down to watch, surprised. In a blink the moment was there and gone, as if imagined (was it?), and he was left to play catch up as she moved off. His head turned as she called out to him, already so far past she had to curl back to see him. Still, her grin was a warm invitation, and her tail like a quiet accent as it spun in motion against the curvature of her ass and the gap between her back thighs. Maybe love was ruined now, but the lust was still there, and dangerously close the beast breathed heat in his loins.

His features broke in a broad reply, a grin full of teeth and cheer. He struck out quickly, boldly, anxious to be near her again, to see if that small space between their skin still existed, or if the small gap would continue to shrink. Snow scattered around his hooves as he gave pursuit, due to gain on her given his greater urgency, but also just because he was faster. He stopped hard and sudden, attempting to spray snow at her like a mild, pale, winter wave. He laughed, Sashaying close, an attempt to touch as he took off again, inviting a game of chase where bodies were likely to intermingle and warmth was due to conjure.