[FIN-Sum] Strangers Passing (Abyss x Shade in Total Dark)

[FitzRoyal]

Shade in Total Darkness was lounging in, yes, darkness. The sun had slowly descended below the horizon, and the dusky blues of the evening had faded into blackness. The forest was still rustling with the sounds of life. Creatures were both settling for the night and waking for the night and Shade was neither here nor there. Not ready to sleep, but not feeling the enthusiasm to wander, the male was stretched out on the forest floor. Idly snapping at a fern fraund that kept rebounding into his vision, Shade was more than happy to laze about this mid-summer night.  

[FitzRoyal]

Gaze into the Abyss wasn't naturally one to hunt, or even wander once the sun had set, but sometimes one wasn't given the option to stop for the night. He had been walking for the last few hours looking for a decent place to den for the evening, but as of yet, no luck. The slight foliage of this area of the forest consisted of tall growing ferns and large descidous trees. Rocks, outcroppings and ridges, ideal places for Abyss, were surprisingly absent. It was all flat land with the odd fallen log. He huffed, unimpressed with the day. Luckily he had been able to catch a small deer earlier so his stomach wasn't growling, but a good place to rest wasn't seeming likely.
 

[FitzRoyal]

A soft sigh and the gentle cracking of branches warned Shade he wasn't alone. Not surprising really, as he'd been hearing such sounds for some time. But this one sounded close. His ears perked up, tracking the lurker. I could just lay here, maybe they'll pass me by. The thought was quickly dismissed. It wasn't in Shade's nature to not meet a stranger, or grab a quick bite if it stumbled upon him. In a smooth motion, the little wolf poked his head up, blue eyes rising just enough to see above the ferns. It was hard to identify the creature, as it seemed to be little more than a dark shape in the night. The motion looked vaguely wolfish, and after sending up a silent prayer that this was a wolf and not a coyote, Shade called out to it. "Hello!?"  

[FitzRoyal]

Abyss stiffened at the voice. Hackles raising, the male quickly scanned the ferns around him, golden eyes jumping from fern to fern. When they met, and held, the sky blue eyes before him, Abyss was hard pressed to not back away. To not slip away into the shadows and be on his way. Was he ready to meet another wolf? It had been some months since he'd talked with another, and that had been such a brief encounter that it barely even counted as a greeting. Was he ready for this? Nope. Ears sliding backwards, Abyss showed a bit of teeth to the stranger, before dragging his eyes away and continuing on. His attention was still on the other wolf, but he made his feet keep going away from the newcomer.
 

[FitzRoyal]

Well. That's not very nice. Shade sighed quietly under his breath as the golden eyed stranger turned away. They'd shown him their teeth, for what? For saying hello. Rude. He was tempted to go over and give them a piece of his mind. He might be small, but he could hold his own...maybe. Sighing again at his own cowardice, Shade stood up in the ferns. He was no taller than he'd been whilst sitting, his eyes barely clearing the ferns height. Now, what to do. There wasn't much to consider. He wasn't tired. He wasn't hungry. He was bored. As sneakily as he could manage, the little wolf ducked into the ferns, intent on following the stranger.  

[FitzRoyal]

Abyss' step slowed slightly as his ears picked up the sound of movement. Was it too much to ask to be left alone? Really? He knew the other wolf, the blue eyed, white splashed wolf, was tailing him. It wasn't really unexpected but it was definitely unwelcome. How was one to deter a follower, a stalker? Fight or flight... or trap...but there didn't seem to be much in the way of trap material. Fight, doable. It had been difficult to make out the other's features, but no matter, Abyss was used to terrible odds. He'd made it out of plenty of scraps before. He wasn't particularly in the mood to fight, but if there was no other way then that was that. Or he could flee. Just pick up the pace a little, no harm no foul... or. he. could. talk.

Confrontation, oh how he hated confrontation.

Resigning himself to the thought, he turned tail and glared into the ferns before he could change his mind.  

[FitzRoyal]

As soon as the stranger slowed, then turned to glare at him, Shade knew he was done for. He had thought he'd been pretty quiet since there had been no evidence that they'd even noticed he was there. Apparently not. The golden gaze bore into Shade with such animosity that he was hard pressed to just back up and slink away. Instead he eased closer, ducking out of the ferns and farther into the gaze of stranger who he'd now internally deemed "Golden Eye". From the closer vantage he could make out much more detail. Like most wolves they were larger than him, but not towering over him. Normal sized, although more on the lanky side than muscle. He bet they could maintain a trot for miles with a frame like that. Dark. He wasn't sure if their pelt was normally dark or perhaps a color that was easily muted at night. There were splashes of dye, especially on their face. Intricate lines that were as beautiful as they were bright. Shade wasn't sure what they represented, but they intrigued him none the less.

"Why'd you leave?"

Not one to mince words, he got right to the point.  

[FitzRoyal]

At the stranger's words, Abyss stiffened and his ears flicked back. "Why did you follow?"

Now that this strange wolf had moved out of the fern's cover, Abyss had a chance to look him over. It was a he, Abyss determined solely by his voice, too masculine to be a she-wolf. Though his size was definitely deceiving. He was perhaps the smallest wolf Abyss had ever come across, closer to a fox than a wolf. Was he still a pup? or maybe just stunted? Abyss wasn't sure what to make of that. The white splashes from the male's face also extended farther, down one leg and his tail too. It was kinda cute, though Abyss would not say that to the stranger of course. But he was definitely thinking it.

"You know I'm not interested in talking, so why bother following me? Do you have a death wish?" Abyss pulled back his lips into a snarl, but made no further move in aggression. He eyed the stranger, waiting to see how he responded.
 

[FitzRoyal]

"Death wish? No, not exactly....but I was on the verge of dying anyway." Shade tilted his head to the side, surveying the lip snarl with little more than a raised eyebrow, before adding, "Dying of boredom that is. And you happen to be the only one around. You're the only one doing anything at this time of night. I'm grateful really that you came along. Who knows what could've happened if I'd been left alone any longer." He's words were glib and his tone flippant, but his eyes burned with intensity. Although he didn't want to admit it, the little black and white wolf was lonely. He enjoyed company and it had been a while since he'd had any. "Since, I'm sure you're curious, my name is Shade in Total Darkness. Very appropriate for a night such as this, don'tcha think? You can call me Shade by the way, I'm not too fond of being called Darkness. Makes me sound a bit melodramatic don't you think?"  

[FitzRoyal]

Abyss blinked and his snarl disappeared as the torrent of words spewed from the little wolf's mouth. He wasn't used to so much speaking all at once and a blank mask slipped over his visage, masking his emotions as he processed what the other, Shade, was telling him. Although the other male was passing off his words with humor, Abyss was trying to digest the intent behind them. His life had been rife with strife, double meanings and hidden words. From what he could tell, this stranger had no ill-intent -- if anything, he seemed lonely. Perhaps because he was so socially awkward? His whole attitude baffled Abyss.

Finally there was a pause in Shade's words and Abyss realized that the male was waiting for an answer. "Ugggh yes?" He wasn't even sure if that was appropriate for the question he missed. After a brief silence, Abyss surmised that the other was waiting for him to speak. "Abyss, Gaze into the Abyss."
 

[FitzRoyal]

Whoops overwhelmed her, my bad! Shade thought amused. He could tell by the slightly glazed look in her eyes that she hadn't totally followed what he'd been saying, but that was fine with him as the she-wolf's earlier animosity seemed to have been drowned out by pure overload. Now that Shade had heard her voice while she had not been speaking aggressively, he could tell that she was a female. Which could explain her earlier hostility. Perhaps she'd been harassed by a stranger before? Shade wasn't sure, but now that she was no longer flashing teeth at him, he shifted a little closer. "Abyss? Nice name. I like your dye too, pretty dye for a pretty she-wolf."  

[FitzRoyal]

The teeth returned in full force, and Abyss growled out, " I am no she-wolf. Do NOT dare call me such a thing." He'd noticed how Shade shifted closer, and immediately his internal fight or flight instincts welled up. Instead of backing up as he wanted, the male stepped closer, his snarling face inches from the other male. Golden eyes glaring into the blue. "I am male."
 

[FitzRoyal]

It took all of Shade's will power not to flinch or withdraw from the abrupt angry face so close to his own. If he flinched now, he knew all would be lost, that this she-wolf wolf would no longer respect him, perhaps even see him for the coward he was. "Apologies, I surmised from your voice. I didn't know. I'm sorry, Male, yes male. Of course." He couldn't help the slight ducking of his head, or how his eyes skipped away, looking anywhere but at the golden gaze before him.

"Gaze into the Abyss, male. Fierce. Yup very fierce. Don't want to cross, nope nope." Shade couldn't stop the ambling narrative coming from his mouth. Nervousness translated to verbal gibberish when he was uneasy. And he was more than uneasy at the moment. His tail wasn't tucked, but it had definitely crept closer to the inside of the male's legs.  

[FitzRoyal]

Abyss' eyes narrowed as he took in the body language of Shade. The other male was a blubbering mess. It was definitely evident that he wouldn't be causing problems, since he seemed to be pretty cowed already. The avoidance of eye contact, the tucked tail and the nonsensical verbatim all indicated to Abyss that this little male was more submissive then him. Abyss doubted he'd ever truly been in a fight.

He held his snarl a moment more before replacing the blank mask and taking a step back. His eyes still tracked the other, but he made no move to address any of the words that had been said in the other male's panic. Abyss wasn't even sure whether Shade had understood them or if he had just said whatever to appease him.

Abyss waited a moment, glancing once more at the fox-wolf, before giving himself a shake to release the tension running through his body. That done, his eyes slid once more to the other individual. "Do you have any thing else to say, or are we done here? You go your way, I'll go mine. Understood, Shade in Total Darkness?"
 

[FitzRoyal]

"ugggghh, are we done here? No, no we aren't done here." Shade couldn't keep the affronted tone out of his voice. So he'd made one mis-step, how was he supposed to know that this she-wolf was actually a he-wolf? He'd never heard of such a thing as claiming to be the other gender. It was unnatural to say the least. What was next? A wolf claiming to be a crow? and for her him to get angry over it was also kinda ridiculous. Now that the canine's were no longer in his face, Shade had time to process what had happened. Unfortunately with adrenaline still high and pulse still up, a little bit of anger was making its way forward. A rare thing in the little wolf. "How dare you do that to me! I had no way of knowing that. That was unfair!" His voice had risen, and contained a shrill edge to it." I, I, ugggh, you are, what a frustrating wolf you are! I don't accept this!"