Salut! Hellu! Top O' the Mornin!
A little later than I wanted to release it, but here is another well deserved update for all of you.
I am loving the reception so far to my rendition of Little Red. I can't wait to unveil the expansive world building I have planned for this. Now, I won't pretend everyone loves the story and my characters, but I've had so much pawsitivity aimed at Fen, Scarlett, and especially recently, Gram. I wanted her to be a feisty old woman who would stare down a bull and send him running after suffering a tongue lashing. If I haven't sent that vibe out, I sure hope to do so in the future.
Thank you all for the feedback. As I probably mentioned, this is an original story of my own making from the ground up, so I'm grateful that I seem to be doing something right so far.
Without further stalling, read, fav, follow, review, and enjoy! Now since my last content release was a Strange Snack, today we have Estranged Eats. Basically, I just name off something that seems edible... but is probably something you won't be able to eat, much less imagine without your stomach curdling. Hmmmm... let's say... dipping tortilla chips in a mixture of melted chocolate and cottage cheese.
Much to her guilt and his own sense of consideration, Fen ended up sleeping on the floor next to the hearth. Curled up like a wolf in a den, he easily seemed to enter a peaceful state and gave Scarlett freedom to sleep in the extra bedding near the fire.
Her grandmother slept in her own room, away from the warmth of the fire, but with her own tiny wood burning stove to heat the closed room. She wished she had one for her own room, as it was inconveniently on the opposing end of her tiny cottage. The wolf boy had done well to keep her warm though, on that one night. She wished for it again, but her mind kept finding reasons to avoid that end, regardless of comfort.
Though warm enough, the night felt achingly slow, the abnormal venue being more conflict than comfort for her. It made the following morning all that more difficult to endure, even with the distraction of being sent out by her Gram to gather alchemical supplies.
As an apprentice herself, Scarlett was apt enough to find generalized items for healing and soothing pain. That made her no expert however, as her grandmother appeared to be. That was the reason for her initial interest, but she merely brushed her off at the inquiry to begin tutelage under her, remarking, 'Any fool in town can teach you that. I'm too old to spare the patience of teaching."
So, there she was, venturing out in the forest around the elder woman's home and foraging for the means to replenish an alchemical supply that she had no knowledge of what it pertained to.
It was nice to focus on something herself for once. Not that Fen's presence was off putting, but she had to be so careful around him. He seemed the type to potentially see the wrong human and just bolt because he had no real reason to trust they will do much other than hunt him.
Her face contorted in mild distraught, her mind trying to put herself in his position.
She had to agree though. Humans were quite the species to mistrust and avert from. Even she had a tough time dealing with the vast majority of her kind. They were greedy, gluttonous, and always destroying parts of the world for ideals based upon a hierarchy that demanded the lessers to bow to them and their plots.
It was part of the reason she cared not for her would-be suitors. Most of them saw her as a commodity of the home, a waiting servant at their beck and call, or simply someone to agree with their heavily leaned wrongdoings and viewing them as right.
Though he didn't likely remember, to which she had to admit it was fleeting in her own mind as well, Glenn had actually tried to court her once before, though in a fairly lazy fashion. Best she gathered, he was marking down a list of 'pretty women' until one said yes. If his obsessions nowadays were any indication, no one said yes.
Gathering some fungi from the base of a rather mossy tree, Scarlett was justly surprised when a large blur dropped from above and landed deftly next to her.
The wolf boy squatted, face bright and smiling, as he held out paws full of nuts. The hooded girl raised a brow at him. Looking up, she realized from the swaying branches that he had to have leapt down from about two stories up, if not more.
"What's that for?" the young woman questioned, knowing it was one of the ingredients asked for, but not understanding why he needed to climb to get them.
"They're nuts," he relayed simply, appearing happy with his work. "Gram told me the ones higher up are dryer and better for turning to powder. She said it would be safer for me to grab them."
Scarlett was skeptical…
Not of Fen and his motives, as he was too naive to be deceitful in any malicious manner. She was skeptical of what her grandmother told him, though she had no evidence to refute the claim outright.
Whatever the case, she figured it would be nice to have him along.
Taking the nuts, she stowed them in her napsack, telling him, "Thank you, Fen. I appreciate it."
Reaching out by instinct, she scratched at the side of his face, right underneath his jawline. A sudden surge of anxious fear made her realize what the hooded girl just did, but his head leaning into the action made her bite her lip and silently resume.
He really was an animal, in the best of ways.
"This brings back memories," he cooed in a small whisper, enjoying the feeling.
"Your mother?" Scarlett guessed. He seemed to jolt a bit as his eyes averted and seemed far off.
"...yeah…" the wolf boy relented slowly, sounding unsure in her ears, as if this wasn't his first idea. "She did do that a lot."
"I'm sorry," the brunette voiced in a hushed tone, withdrawing and standing up. "I didn't mean to bring that up."
The way he looked at her seemed so innocent, as if he didn't realize her wrongdoing in his own mind. It did her well to know that, to which she gave him as comforting a smile as she could muster.
"It's fine," he rebuked her worries softly. "Do you have everything you need?"
"Just about. Wanna tag along?"
Fen nodded eagerly, stepping in close and striding next to her with a bounce in his steps.
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A goodly portion of the morning passed looking for everything the older woman wanted, with both trudging in, the young woman sighing in mild exhaustion. The wolf boy seemed brimming with energy though, raring to do more.
"Oh, good, good," her grandmother told them offhandedly. "Set everything on the table and take a seat. I almost got breakfast ready."
"Oh… alright," Scarlett mumbled, setting the basket full of ingredients on said table.
"And if you could, Fen, dear," Gram started, "grab some water from the well?"
He nodded, bolting out the door and making a noise as he grabbed a metal pail.
Once he was out of earshot, even for him, the hooded girl shot her elder a look and asked, "You don't need tree nuts from that high for any real reason… so why?"
"The poor boy looked like a sad pup to see you leave without him," she explained, as if prepared for the eventuality. "I gave him a task only he could do to feel like he helped you, since he wasn't quite that necessary to the task I asked of you."
"Ah… guess that makes sense," the brunette relented with a sigh.
"After breakfast, you should go with him for a walk, just the two of you. I'm sure he misses the company."
"We just had a walk sort of thing,... but… sure…" Scarlett agreed tepidly, feeling like her Gram had some ulterior motive, though too little supported her current suspicions.
Fen came in, holding a full pail of water, setting it on the same table with the ingredients and looking between the two, sensing he missed something important as neither held a gaze with the other.
"So, how do you know alchemy?" the young man asked, directing his attention to the old lady.
"I was one of many young apprentices under a grand alchemist," she vaguely detailed. "Unfortunately, I didn't make much of an impact in the way that was desired and had to say goodbye, but I still picked up quite a plethora of tricks."
"Like what?" Fen chirped. Gram shot him a raised eyebrow look, eyeing her granddaughter as well. "Sorry… I don't know much about it and you made me curious now."
"Well most of what I know is simply curative concoctions and means to keep certain animals from intruding on a campsite," she relayed with a dismissive wave. "That's all I had you gather for. And that's why the hunters know me well enough. I make these things to keep larger animals from coming into their camps and eating their food or quite possibly the men themselves, though with their behavior lately…. A few of them going missing would be a blessing."
Scarlett began to giggle ceaselessly, Fen joining in with a mild chuckle.
"Bon appetit," the elder spoke, setting down a couple plates of breakfast in front of the two. "Eat up now, because I'm going to have to kick you out after to do my work."
The young woman rolled her eyes, having been used to this treatment, whereas the wolf boy looked a bit stunned, unsure if this was normal or not.
Scarlett patted his hip from her seated position, mouth full of eggs, signing poorly to him that it was fine.
He smiled and began to eat.
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Full of food and stocked up for a short trip, Scarlett took her grandmother at her advice and decided to accompany Fen into the woods.
He lead the way, slowly treading the forest floor with steps as light as a feather. His tail and ears were once again covered, though with no lack of complaints to that end.
"So… where are we going?" the hooded girl piped up in question, trying to keep her tone as happy as his face looked.
"Um… you sure you wanna come along?" the wolf boy asked with a hand to his neck, scratching softly. "I'm going to see my family. And you didn't react well seeing me as a wolf."
That stunted the young woman's steps and made her halt for a moment, taking that in. His family? Wolf?
"Oh right…" she lamentably remembered. "You said you sleep in a den with wolves."
"Yep! But… we can just walk if you can't handle that?"
"No… You want to check on them right?" Scarlett inquired, seeing the boy nod in affirmation. "Then, let's go."
"Fair warning," Fen voiced with an outstretched hand, as if offering the last out. "It's a bit of a climb. If you want to turn around or have me carry you, let me know."
"I'm a big girl," she refuted with a playful smirk. "I can handle myself well enough."
"As you wish," he shrugged, continuing onwards.
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Nearly half an hour later of walking and treading the land, Scarlett felt like her pride and her confidence had taken a swift blow to the shins, toppling them both like a giant.
Fen wasn't making exaggerations when he remarked about the climb. She had assumed, wrongly, that it was merely a steep incline with plenty of footing.
Oh, how wrong she was.
This den appeared to be up a bluff and recessed into the side of a collapsed hill. The hill itself was easy to traverse, but climbing around the fringes of the hill to the bluff was something a human couldn't easily do. The taller male mentioned he would normally go into his wolf form and take a borrowed path, but she wouldn't fit well. Thus, they took the long way.
Now, here she was, clinging to his broad back and letting him carry her around a slim ledge on the dangerous side of the bluff. Much to her humiliation, Scarlett was squeaking and yelping with each jarring movement of the wolf boy, tightening her hold around his midsection more as he leaped from hold to hold, scaling the side of the bluff with strange precision.
It felt like many minutes but was probably only a single minute, as the two slipped into a wide opening overlooking the forested region below. If the hooded girl remembered correctly, Stone Glades was to their southwest, leaving this view to the north unhindered by civilization.
It was beautiful, with rolling hills and shades of green blanketing the landscape. The hills rose in height, turning into low lying mountains in the distance, foggy clouds hanging around the peaks.
The young woman couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face, forgetting the height to which she just braved.
A growl behind her made her blood curdle and ice over, thighs now trembling and eyes locking down onto the ground, as if the act of turning around would make the danger more so. A hand snapped to her arm, the age old scar tingling as fear creeped in.
"Woah woah!" came the faded voice of Fen in the background, laughing slightly. "She's a friend."
The growling seemed to stifle a bit, upon the wolf hearing the calming voice of Fen.
"Scarlett here is a friend come to visit," he further soothed. "No need to get defensive. I promise."
There was a snapping of a maw behind her and the stuttered whine of a wolf that seemed to be scaling down the aggression.
It didn't do much to diminish the feeling that now clutched at her heart and threatened to crush her mind. Her sight seemed hyper focused on a single spot in front of her, an imaginary bubble shrinking in on her psyche. Her chest felt starved of air, fingers digging into her chest, willing her body to breathe. Tears began to sting the corners of her eyes, making what vision she had left clouded beneath a watery haze.
As if from far away, out of her now water like enclosing world, the wolf boy called out to her with a faded, "Scarlett?"
Her eyes searched for him, eyes still having trouble looking at him with the shadowy enclosure around a very confined circle for her vision.
She grasped her head, gasping and wanting to retch. Her body wanted to do something… anything… to relieve this pressure pressing in on her body from all angles, physical or not.
A new pressure encircled her, to which she almost threw a fit to be free from…
...but it was warm… and safe… and anchoring her from her crushing descent.
"I'm here, Scar…" the low tone of Fen cooed in her ear, breath warming the lobe. "I'm here…"
She felt what had to be his arms grabbing her from behind, hugging her tight, but oddly enough, she felt it was far easier to take a breath now. Her chest became less tight, a long draw of air entering her after having felt like she was suffocating.
Slowly, feeling returned and the two were now on their knees on the floor of the den, his arms wrapped around her chest, his face nestled snugly into the crook of her neck, breath warm against her exposed flesh.
With her mind and body settling back into something more 'normal', Scarlett found herself blushing at the intimate contact. She wanted to give into the reflex reaction to throw him off, but her body was too weak and slack to even try, giving in rather to slumping into him more. Against her reactive instinct, the young woman reveled in the warmth he provided, breathing low and slow to recover from her ordeal.
A hand rested on her head, stroking through her hair and calming her further.
A small whine of tumultuously embarrassing approval left her lips, teeth biting into her lower lip. Legs tucked to her chest, her own arms clinging to his larger ones, the hooded girl stayed silent in his ministrations.
It was several minutes before either dared to speak, with Fen being the first to utter a question.
"Are you alright?"
"I think…" she agreed tepidly, standing to face him. "I'm at least better than before."
"That's good… but what happened?" the boy curiously and compassionately inquired. His eyes then widened in realization, adding, "Oh! I'm so sorry… the wolves."
"No!" Scarlett reacted, hands up, waving him down apologetically. "It's… I don't know…"
The wolf boy's eyes became contemplative, staring off to the side as he murmured, "Now or never…"
"What?..." she asked breathlessly, head tilting slightly, in mimicry of what she'd seen him do all too often.
Turning to her, blue/amber eyes full of purpose as they rested on her, he told the young woman, "I think I know why you're afraid of wolves…"
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Scarlett looked blankly upon his face, more confused than taking in that he might have answers.
"You… know?"
He nodded.
"But… I already know. It was a wolf that attacked me… and a boy… he was…" she began, raising a hand to wave around, bringing direction to her faded memories. Fen's hands clasping around her raised one as he shook his head in the negative.
"That's… not entirely accurate," the wolf boy told her, burning amber striking a memory in her mind like a chord in a song. "I… was the wolf…"
She gasped, free hand going to her mouth as she mumbled from behind it, "Then that means you… the boy?"
"...and I was the boy…" he finished, shocking her further.
"Wait… but…" she started, unsure how to correlate the new information into well ingrained memories.
"I… got over excited in my wolf form," Fen began to explain, holding her stare and resting on his knees with her, the wolves keeping their distance for but a moment. "Ended up playing with you until I bit you. Harder than I meant… but the damage was done. You were crying, screaming, and running. I shifted back to being… human… and tried to apologize… but you were scared. I don't remember what you said, being drowned out by your crying, though I was too ashamed of my own actions leading to you being hurt."
As he talked, some puzzle pieces began to fill in a few gaps in her memories, with her vaguely recalling playing with a very animalistic boy. She still didn't quite remember him shifting from one form to another, believing that that detail should be hard to forget.
"For a while," the wolf boy continued, stepping back and giving her some space, "I was afraid to come back, worried I might lose control of myself again. Terrible timing, honestly. My mother ended up very ill. So,... no more visits to your grandmother's cabin while she wasn't well."
"Oh Fen…" Scarlett cooed to him, regaining her voice.
"She passed and I was… in a conundrum," he kept going. "Some men came to my house, claiming that she owed them money and ready to take me as compensation. I didn't understand but I'm betting they were going to sell me as a child slave or something, in hindsight. Whatever the case, I got violent and lost control again. One of them lost an arm and I fled into the forest. Your grandmother found me hiding and offered to take me in."
"Then how did I never…" she began to ask.
"I begged her to never tell you," Fen murmured, eyes now averting and hazy with the threat of tears brewing. "She reluctantly agreed, feeding me, clothing me, teaching me."
"Why?" the hooded girl squeaked out, voice watery.
"I didn't want to hurt you," came his equally strangled voice, tears about to leak liberally from foggy eyes. "If I wasn't scared of what I could do before… I was when I ripped a man's arm off when he tried to force me from the home my mother raised me in. I… just couldn't be that threat to you."
"Did you know it was me? When we met again…?"
His head shook, hands shaking slightly.
"I didn't know until you showed me the scar on your arm from my bite…" he relented softly. "Your story was off so I didn't outright make it known. I should have known you would have a fear like this…"
Tears began to fall as Scarlett gradually realized something. Her reaction was not one of fear… but of guilt. She remembered her reaction, even if he didn't hear the words she spoke through her tearful stupor at the time.
She did remember playing with him now. He would shift from wolf form to human almost effortlessly, tackling her and licking her face like any dog. She did remember him getting over energetic and biting her pretty hard, to which she told him some very hurtful things to the effect of "Never come near me again" or "You're a monster". All stupid things kids would say without thinking about the consequences.
The young woman also remembered how guilty she felt that he seemed to take that to heart, leaving directly after and a pit growing in her heart from driving away her best friend as a child. Over time, she must have disassociated her guilt at driving him away with the repressed and slightly delusional ideal that he was killed by the 'wolf' that hurt her.
"Show me your wolf form," Scarlett demanded with a leveled tone, strained though cohesive in her tearful haze.
"W-what?" Fen stuttered in response, looking at her like she was asking him to jump from the bluff. "Are… are you sure?"
She held a stern and resolved gaze with him, making him sigh slowly and nod his head.
He stood up, starting to strip clothing off carefully, shocking the hooded girl into stepping back and belting out, "What are you doing?!"
"I don't want to ruin the clothes you gave me…" the wolf boy replied innocently, having not stopped removing articles of clothing and placing them carefully on a nested bed of grass. "My wolf form isn't the right size for this clothing and I would just rip it."
"O-oh… right," Scarlett caved in with a mild tone, unable to refute his argument.
Stripped down to an underlayer of his wraps, Fen seemed to concentrate and lean down, body morphing slowly. Skin that was bare grew dense, dark fur, his face becoming furry and elongating into a muzzle. Hands and feet turned into paws, claws extending as blue/amber eyes became more amber, ears getting longer and fuzzier as well.
In only seconds, Scarlett was staring at the very large and imposing wolf she woke up next to that first morning.
Now that she understood the rooted cause of her reaction, the girl felt no knee jerk reaction to him, instead remembering a final fragment to her cascading collection of mottled memories.
Reaching out, she threw her body at his exceptionally elegant form, wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling her face against his muzzle, tears streaking their way down her cheeks as she smiled.
"I've missed you… Fenrir."
There was a whine, along with a huff, as the wolf seemed to take that in and nuzzle her in return, tongue snaking out to lick the back of her neck from his angle. She giggled at that and nestled further against him, her hands stroking his thick and soft wolf fur.
Finally persuaded of her innocent intent, the she wolf and her pups sauntered in, with the latter tripping over their own paws. They weren't newborns… but the young woman knew they hadn't gained the grace and balance that came later in life.
When the large mother wolf closed in, pressing her nose to sniff at Scarlett's side, her initial reaction was to stiffen up and fight off a paralyzing anxiety from an only recently discovered resolution to her 'fear'.
She had to remind herself of the now present knowledge, that the boy and wolf were one and neither died. He was right here. She had no reason to fear wolves. In fact, her fingers were weaving through the fur of one she was clinging to for comfort.
Sensing her dissonance, Fen dipped his head low and laid down to rest his chin in her lap, eyes looking up expectantly.
Scarlett's lip quivered as she withheld a squeal of delight at his innocent display, hand lowering to rub the top of his head, his eyes fluttering closed.
It was calming… more so than she could have ever thought. A breath the hooded girl didn't know she was holding began to vent out slowly, her heart ceasing it's pounding and reducing itself to a murmur.
Behind her, the mother wolf leaned against her back, while the cubs seemed jealous of the doting affection the wolf boy was currently receiving. They nosed and nudged at her arms and free hand, to which she cooed in pleasure and began giving them turns with small head pets and strokes down the back.
Now surrounded by fur, along with curious noses and eyes, Fen walked away and shifted back, quickly clothing himself before Scarlett had a chance to be flustered by him again.
"You remember my name," he spoke softly, reaching out to rest a hand on her arm. Scarlett turned to him and saw his heart melting smile, laden with an underlying appreciation of something she didn't quite understand.
"I'm sorry I forgot it in the first place," she replied to him, reaching out to tussle his fluffy black hair, the wolf boy's smile becoming infectious and making her face break open in one as well.
"We were kids," Fen supplied as reason for her. "We didn't even know our parents' names, calling them simply mother or father."
"What about your father?" Scarlett asked reflexively, remembering he only mentioned his mother dying. She instantly regretted asking when his face fell.
"I… don't know who he is."
Ears dipping, face slack, the young man gave her a lackluster smile to try reassuring her it was fine.
"I'm sorry for asking…" she mumbled.
More genuinely this time, but breaking her heart no less, Fen gently grinned, offering her a pat to the leg and voicing, "I can't fault you for not knowing. And now you do. No harm done."
"I feel like you knowing me sometimes makes things the worst for you… and yet you are still so kind," Scarlett rattled off in a mild venting rush. "If I hadn't made you stay… hadn't…"
Fen's hand awkwardly covered her mouth, to which he giggled and shushed her.
"Silence."
She nodded, whereas he took his hand away, saying, "Knowing you is fantastic. You don't treat me like I'm less than you because I'm half of something else. As far as I know… I've never met another like me."
"There's tales of other werewolves…" Scarlett began, her voice fading as Fen's ears dipped and eyes lowered. "W-what?"
"Those tales… please… they don't help," the boy whispered abashedly.
"Oh… OH! I'm so sorry!" she belted out, making the pups jump as she leaned forward to encircle him in a hug. "I didn't mean it that way. I meant maybe there's more like you."
"I… uh… yeah?" he half-heartedly replied in question. "Most of those tales I just assumed were false, since I'm sorta labeled as one but I'm not a ravenous beast turned from human to wolf. I'm me…"
"Yes you are," Scarlett cooed to him, petting him once again. It was different to do so than his wolf form, but her mindset in the moment was blind to that, only seeing him as a lonely creature that was split between two worlds.
"Shouldn't we head back…?" Fen offered after a few minutes of near silence, parting from Scarlett's innocent affection and rising to his feet. "I only needed to come out here to check up on them."
"Aww… alright," the hooded girl relented, rising as well and dusting her legs off. This time around, she ditched the skirt for some sturdy dark pants, a grey coat keeping her warm beneath her long hooded cloak, both courtesy of her Gram. She normally would have gone more to showcasing the style that most in the village expected of a seamstress and a woman, but it was far more comfortable and practical to dress like this for walks in the woods and foraging for alchemy ingredients.
"Quick path or safe path?" Fen asked simply, offering her a hand.
"Uh… will the quick path be scary?" Scarlett tentatively inquired in kind, using a hand to rake back a stray lock of hair.
"Only if you're looking down… so… close your eyes?" came his answer, shrugging awkwardly.
She grasped his hand, meekly adding, "Alri-"
...to which she was yanked forcefully into his waiting arms as he used a free hand to grab a very large root and vault out the open cliffside of the den, looping upward and bracing his feet on a sturdy boulder embedded into the earth.
Stifling her urge to yelp and scream, the young woman braced against him, with Fen leaping high and grabbing another hand hold. Guessing he wasn't used to the climb, Scarlett heard him snarl in a low tone, his footing slipping before he dug in harder and jumped again.
Thankfully for her nerves, the second jump, though perilous and horrendous to experience, was enough to crest the bluff above and Fen landed firmly next to a large tree growing over the edge, gently setting Scarlett down. Her legs were jelly as she took deep breaths, with the wolf boy taking a page from her book and petting her head to calm her down.
"I see why you like doing this now," he spoke with a pure smile on his face. Any embarrassing defiance she may have wished to speak died in her throat at that smile, with Scarlett parting her mouth and sighing. Whatever nerves felt frayed and sensitive, were now dulled and silent in the wake of such calming attention, a pleasant tingle going up her spine and causing her to arch her back slightly.
In a fleeting moment, it was over and Fen was steadying the young woman, guiding her by the small of her back and beginning the trek down a very shallow incline.
Finding her voice once more, Scarlett spoke, "I'm glad you aren't human…"
As she expected, his ears perked curiously, with him donning his hat upon realizing he was in the open again, then training his eyes inquisitively on her, waiting for an explanation.
Smiling softly, she supplied, "You are so much more than any human could be. Humans are just horrible. Greedy, selfish, and too prideful to admit others are better than them, making plenty start wars over who's 'better'. You live purely and never seem to hold grudges, even when someone is trying to kill you… You give me every consideration and only want companionship that many are too stubborn to be honest about."
"You say humans as if you aren't one yourself," Fen relayed with a mild inflection, insinuating a questioning tone, head tilting and blue/amber eyes trained on her.
Her mossy green eyes locked with his own, mind coming up with the right phrasing for her more implicit thoughts on the matter.
She voiced her formulating thoughts slowly, "I… don't always fit in well with other humans. Guess I didn't think much about it until you came along and I rethought what being 'human' was."
"Your Gram has a wonderful saying concerning fitting in," the wolf boy stated with a mild chuckle at the end of his sentence. Giving the hooded girl a smirk, with her head nodding to coax him into continuing, he quoted, "She told me a few times when I was worried about why I was considered outside humanity, 'Fitting in is for two things and two things only. Your home and your clothes. Anything else matters little because anyone that matters will accept you for any shape of mind and heart.'"
A very wide and genuine smile spread across her features, with Scarlett fixated on the look in his eyes when he spoke to her. A blush tainted her cheeks as Fen's gaze turned hazy, his eyes shimmering with a far off look, lips slightly upturned in a lopsided grin.
"S-should we head b-back?" the young girl asked in a mild stutter, lifting her hood to cover her flushed face and embarrassing expression at seeing how cute Fen looked. She felt like a nervous bundle of knots now, fearing her face reflected that sentiment.
"Yep!" he replied all too cheerily.
Hiking down the incline from the bluff towards the more level terrain of the loamy forest below, Fen suddenly turned to her and dipped his head down, nose inches from Scarlett's own, her eyes crossing to look at it in a stunned state as he told her in a near whisper, "You are someone that matters."
Out of nowhere, and leaving her mortified with confusion, the wolf boy let out a happy whine and licked her nose, turning easily and sauntering away like did nothing at all.
With her mouth gaping open for several seconds, Scarlett went from insensate to indignant upon remembering how often he would tease her as a child like that. Years later and he was still the little devious sprite of a pup that purposefully incited her with conflicting emotions.
Before she could stop herself, the hooded girl began to sprint after him, yelling out a now familiar line from their childhood, "Get back here you mangy mutt!"
He cackled all too excitedly, bounding forward. The chase was on.
Nearby, behind a line of trees, a man with a crossbow lowered his weapon, sighing in frustration.
"Idiots…," he grumbled. "Gonna get themselves hurt with all the hunters out. This is the region Glenn keeps griping about that 'Beast'."
Raising a brow, the hunter looked towards the bluff the two descended from. With fingers reaching for his head, he scratched and wondered aloud, "Huh… what the heck were those two doing up there anyways?"
A few select and indecent thoughts entered his mind and he waved them off as if it were a smoky cloud above his head.
"Damn kids."
Yay! More stuff to read!
*Begins writing more*
It never ends! lol.
Can't wait for all the respectable and constructive reviews/comments to come in... and that one very negative insulting review that I can laugh at. Seriously, you ever get a review that's so negative and void of reason with its points that you mentally invalidate it as a viable opinion and just... smile? Or laugh?
Anywho!
REVIEWS!:
Dream Plane: I'm glad you think as much about everything you mentioned. And yes. Gram is relentless. XD I love writing her.
Neakco: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it.
DONE!
Alrighty then, now I shall go chase a squirrel up a tree that stole my wallet. I probably shouldn't have pictures of nuts in there... I mean my family... same deal right?
Until next time, It's been a hustle, Sweethearts!