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 Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 1:46 am
His heart pounded, and he could nearly feel the blood coursing from his heart to his paws and back again -- could feel it almost as if his blood was thick and sluggish from the snow. His tongue lolled from his jaws and he stretched long legs, tail flowing behind him like a banner.
"So you are!" He called over his shoulder, and made the split-second decision to slow his pawsteps just a hint, to allow her to catch him. It was the gentlemanly thing to do, after all, to let the lady win. And suddenly he wanted very much to see her run, to marvel at her exquisite form.
So he slowed only slightly, shivering in anticipation of her touch.
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:46 pm
Adrenaline was such a sweet, sweet thing - that, and the illusion that she was indeed close on catching Adonai, hardly catching the hike in his steps as he checked his pace. All she felt was cold and adoration, pride and conquest, and all things related. With her white leggings ablaze and her tongue near to lolling out of her mouth over the widest wolf-grin possible, Tiyana leapt; “Ah-hah!’
Bounding alongside Adonai with her head held high and her toes kicking up sprays of snow, Tiyana stuck out her muzzle brazenly and felt it brush against silky white fur. From the nape of his neck to the arch of his shoulder, he smelled of wonderful things - a delicate yet solid musk that filled her senses and brought a skip to her step - but he also smelled of competition and confidence, and giving a playful sort of n**, Tiyana bounded out before him like a shameless youngling. “I’ve gotten you!” she cried joyously, prancing about with her tail winding wildly behind her. “Now it’s your turn to catch me~”
And again she was off, diving through the trees flaunting her own set of well-muscled haunches; never mind that she hardly knew where she was going, for now the journey truly was greater than the destination.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 3:30 am
"You better run!" He called after her, kicking up his heels like a spirited young deer. That's what he was -- a stag, running like the wind. Sure, she was at least half his age, but she was lovely, and she wasn't breathing down his neck...wasn't judging him...wasn't looking at him like an uncouth beast.
What harm could come from a bit of flirting?
Ahead, the river -- frozen over, but the current visible beneath the layer of ice -- loomed, cutting a glassy path between snowy banks. He ran, following her, hoping she'd have the sense to stop before she barreled out and broke through the ice.
...Might be best to put on the speed, just to be safe.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:59 pm
Adonai might have had Tiyana’s best interests in mind when he made the change to a greater pace, but instead of realizing her danger, she took it as a challenge. All she heard beyond the anxious beating of her own pulse were the words he spoke and the sound of his paws as he threatened to close the gap between them, and taking his warning to heart, she stretched herself even further; a shiver ran down her spine as she envisioned that he really and truly meant to catch her, and in the pseudo-fear of the chase she could hardly be counted on to respond any other way. She glanced over her shoulder just once, gauging the distance between them and sticking out her tongue in as playful a notion as she could muster - then, with a small yelp, she realized the ground beneath her paws was no longer quite so solid.
The moment her toes hit the slick surface of the river ice, Tiyana lost control. No amount of scrabbling for purchase could regain control of her own paws, which were at the complete mercy of the frozen river; a combination of momentum and fear left her somewhere near the middle of the river, shocked and frightened to see her life was balanced on splayed legs and thin ice. “A-Adonai?” she cried, hardly willing to remove her eyes from what lay below. “ADONAI!”
Thank the heavens above she wasn’t a very heavy wolf, but still, she could hear the groaning of unwilling ice below her - and she did not want to be there when it all gave way to a cold and angry river.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:24 pm
Oh, s**t.
He skidded to a halt before he too slid out onto the ice, not at all certain that the ice would hold both of them. "Tiyana," he said, his voice suddenly dropping to a calm, silky quiet -- a voice of authority that was not often heard in the generally aloof wolf. It was the voice of one that, in other circumstances, would have made an excellent leader. "Don't move. I'll get you."
His eyes darted around, searching for a solution to this predicament. He didn't know it, but this same character trait was a defining element of his only son. He'd be proud to learn that some day.
But for right now, the only thing he wanted was to rescue this damsel he had come across, and quickly. Going out on the ice was too risky, but he wasn't sure she could get her feet under her to get back....
"Here!" he said, grabbing hold of a fallen branch. It looked just long enough; he carried it over and carefully laid it out on the ice. "Grab hold of that and I'll pull you back to shore. Just let yourself slide over, shouldn't take a second."
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:37 pm
No, no, nononono - I don’t want to die, I don’t want to drown, I don’t - I don’t want to be here!
She didn’t want to panic, either, but was dangerously close to doing something reckless if only to relieve herself of ever-present death by drowning; she couldn’t run away from this situation, and very nearly sobbed with fright, tail tucked against her belly and ears laid down tight to her skull. If she had just stuck to her rock, she wouldn’t have found herself in this situation. Tag had been a bad idea, a very bad idea, and she should have known that! Of course she’d be the fool to not notice an entire river! She hardly knew how to contain herself as she shook, wondering where the hell Adonai was and why he hadn’t swept her out of danger when finally, finally, he took command.
Tiyana latched on to whatever assurances she could find in Adonai’s firm, tempered voice, turning to watch his every move with eyes widened to their very limit. “I’m not moving!” she replied, trying her darndest to avert her entire focus on keeping her legs straight and her body still. It was mostly futile, but at least it helped. “Please please just hurry!”
Just how was he supposed to save her, though? Could he do it? She wanted to believe he’d be the rescuing sort, and that she wouldn’t be responsible for herself as she had been several times before when left in bad situations by other admirers; how many times had she been left behind? Too many to count. None of those instances had been quite so dire, however, and knowing that she had to place trust in a wolf she hardly knew - especially when his brilliant idea involved a branch that looked non-too-sturdy…
Tiyana quailed, staring at the branch with distrust.
“O-oh, I don’t know, it’s -”
Crack!
Tiyana felt the cold rushing of the river as one of her back paws broke the ice, and suddenly very keen on having a strong hold on anything, even that flimsy little stick, Tiyana lunged; she caught as much of it between anxious fangs as she could, dropping to her belly and hoping against hope that Adonai wouldn’t let her down.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:16 pm
The ice cracked under her weight and Adonai winced. Oh...this wasn't good. He'd have to hurry or else he'd be jumping in after her, and there was a good chance they'd both be swept under the ice and killed. Not the way he wanted this little date to end.
But showing her any fear would cause her to fall apart. He could tell already. She was not the sort of wolf to come together in a crisis -- she was the kind to panic and very possibly start throwing blame around. He had no doubt whatsoever that right now she was cursing his name.
"Shteady now," he said, calmly, through gritted teeth as he held his end of the stick. He planted his paws and lowered himself to the ground, spreading his weight so he could most accurately pull her back without losing his foot.
Then, slowly, he took a step back, then another, slowly pulling her up as though he were playing tug-o-war.
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:03 am
Tiyana was absolutely petrified; but, in the end, that was probably for the best. All she could think of was land, solid land, her teeth grinding into the branch as slowly - steadily - much too gradually - Adonai reeled her in. Every inch she slid brought a groan from beneath her, her eyes shut much too tightly to notice the little fissures spiderwebbing between her toes… best to be oblivious, or else run the risk of making things worse.
Of course, that meant she had no idea how much longer until she reached safer grounds.
A small part of her was still surprised to feel Adonai’s weight on the other side of the branch, as though at any moment he would decide he’d played enough and would just let it go; though a more sensible part warned her that maybe he wouldn’t be strong enough, and he’d have no choice but to let her struggle on her own…
… No, that wasn’t the case. He was strong, and he was kind, and he was saving her no matter what evil she was thinking! He was taking a while, but that was for safety’s sake - he honestly cared whether she went through the ice or not, and for that he deserved her full cooperation; so she remained as still as possible, holding herself in check until her toes hit a different sort of cold consistency.
Then, she jumped.
Clearing the last few inches of ice and scrambling as far up the bank as she could manage, Tiyana shook the nerves out of her body and promptly searched out the warm neck of her hero; she wrapped herself around his silky, comforting figure, nuzzling his chin and whimpering, “You’ve saved me - you’ve really - oh, Adonai, I thought…!”
She had thought wrong - and she didn't mind being proven otherwise, just this once.
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:00 am
He fell back beneath her weight as she threw herself against him, and allowed them both to tumble down into the snow. He was shaking, with exertion and the after-effects of adrenaline. This...was the single most heroic moment of his life. Although to be fair there wasn't a lot of competition for that title -- it still felt amazing.
He pressed his nose into her fur and snuggled against her in relief. "Tell you what," he said, with a shaky laugh as he pulled away. "...No more tag for awhile, eh?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:25 am
It didn’t matter to Tiyana that there had been greater, more heroic acts throughout the history of wolfkind; as far as she was concerned, not even the greatest of warriors could outbid her affections for Adonai right now. She was done wandering, and only wanted him.
He was a very good reason not to run away.
“No, no more tag. No more tag and no more running,” Tiyana choked, doing her very best to wrestle down the emotions that nagged at the forefront of her mind. “Or else you may have to save me a few more times.”
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