Put Your Hands Into The Fire {Kire/Hostia}

She was sunk low to the ground, her limbs bent awkwardly to allow her to move on all fours but she paid it no mind. After years of moving like this it no longer strained her limbs. In fact, she had developed a style of movement while contorted like this so she could lope easily and rather quickly as she did now. The forest floor rustled gently beneath her feet and hands but it was a natural movement that blended with the forest's sound. Her eyes scanned the bushes around her, wary and watchful in case of hunters or prey.

I sniffed the air as I approached the flower field. My ears pricked up and listened carefully. I didn't near anything, but I did smell something and it made my lip curl. A person. I was upset that he - it smelled like a he - was here, in my place. My eyes narrowed and I moved forward slowly, each pawstep taken as the grass rustled. I was hiding the noise of my movements in the noise that was already occuring around me. He could never know I was coming - or so I hoped. My belly was low to the ground so I was almost crawling. I felt my lips draw back in a snarl as I got closer.

She approached the boy, neither of them really knowing what was going on. Everything she could sense told her that he was unaware, and he may have well been. Until she broke some stalks and the sound sounded like a gunshot in her sensitive ears. Startled, she surely caused a noise loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. Sure enough, she saw a figure stand suddenly from the grass and growled under her breath. She knew she may have to attack the boy if he didn't simply leave, but she also knew that he might run and tell someone. It may come to a point where she had to kill him. That would set them on her also, and so she realized that she could really only do one thing to make sure she was safe - she would have to make peace with the boy.

My tail was between my legs and my ears were laid back against my head to show my obedience. If I were to make sure the boy would not fear me then I couldn't show any sign of aggression. I approached slowly, my eyes on the ground until I was near right in front of him. I pressed my belly into the dirt and sat, waiting for him to react. I wagged my tail, slowly, as a final act of submission. Maybe the boy would understand, maybe I could keep from being hunted.

With her frame and eyes lowered it was impossible for her to see the boy's face. Instead, she took a breath and tried to scent what he may be feeling. Disappointed that the smell of the surrounding grasses was stronger than the scent of the boy - he must be downwind from her - she resorted to assessing his stance. When all she could see was his feet it was almost impossible to guess, but she supposed it was a necessity. Analyzing whether his muscles were tense or not she came to the conclusion that he wasn't about to leap at her, or even run away. That was good. She didn't want to have to take him down.

I stayed low to the ground, wary of showing an accidental sign of aggression. I flinched slightly as he spoke. I didn't understand what he said at first, it sounded weird to my ears but I hadn't been around humans in a while so I had forgotten what their language was like. Something stirred in my head though, a response. "Hello." His voice was quiet but I still wasn't sure if it was safe for me to sit up. The itch to respond started in my nose until I had to sit and wipe a paw across my face. From here I looked up at him, cocking my head sideways in a sign of nonaggression. I wanted to reply, but how.

She looked carefully at the boy, her hands pressed to the ground between her feet as she sat on her haunches. The palm of her hand ground into the dirt as she tried to figure out what to do. There was a tickle at the back of her throat like something was caught there and she coughed. Suddenly a sound came to her mind and moved to her tongue until she made it. It was like what the boy had said, only it sounded different because her mouth had trouble forming the syllables. "hulluh" The act of saying this word made her cough again but she didn't try any further speech. Instead she just sat, looking up at the boy occasionally during the moments she felt sure enough to look away from the ground at her feet.

The boy seemed to like her response, or perhaps not. She continued to try and look meek - it wasn't overly difficult while her two inner halves struggled with each other - and hopped he would be nice. Or maybe he could just leave. Either way, the moment he showed aggression she would have to react to it. He bent closer and she shrunk back slightly, watching his mouth move as words came from it. "Are you alright?" She coughed again, trying to think of how to reply. The boy seemed to notice this as he went on, "You seemed to have some trouble speaking. You can just nod if you need to."

I narrowed my eyes slightly, confused as to what exactly he meant until slowly a picture built in my head. If I agreed with something then I would lift and lower my snout a couple times; if I didn't agree then I would turn my head from side to side. I snorted softly, wondering how I knew that much about what he was asking. "I understand you might be having trouble. I'll try my best to understand what you want to tell me, okay?" I tried out this nodding thing, tipping my head up and down in a motion that felt almost familiar. It was like an itch beginning to spread through my body. I had to scratch it, and scratching meant responding to this boy.

Perhaps it wasn't just the need to reply that bothered her, but the tone of the boy's voice. He sounded like he was talking to something that didn't know as much as he did. Surely that couldn't be right, after all she knew the woods and the field and the streams better than anyone. Still, how would he know that. Exactly, he didn't know as much as she did so how could he talk to her as though he did. She was tempted to curl a lip at him, but only the thought of accidentally provoking him kept her from doing so. If he moved in any kind of threatening way - be it about to attack or about to flee and get help - she would have to take him down. The thought made her muscles tense and she hoped he wouldn't see.

I watched him, waiting to see if there was anything more he was going to do. I was beginning to regret coming out here and wondered if I could simply leave. Still, he was on my turf and so I couldn't let him drive me away even if it was from sheer annoyance. This time I couldn't stop my lip from curling up as I showed him the true definition of a wolf's grin. He wouldn't be tasty, but he didn't have to know that. My tense muscles shifted slightly. Perhaps I could drive him away with intimidation. I had to be careful, though.

She watched him shift and knew she had successfully unnerved him, if only slightly. The problem was that he seemed determined to stay. How was she meant to drive him away without drawing blood? Her curling lip dropped and she simply narrowed her eyes at him until they were slits. Her hackles rose, making her shoulders and back arch as she stood on all fours facing him. She was starting to get frustrated and this boy would have to learn that soon or pay the price.

I was readying myself to spring, my leg muscles taught. I may have to attack this boy, much as I would prefer not to, in order to get him away. Too long with him and I may be discovered. I don't want to be hunted. My ears pricked up as he started to speak, trying to register what was being said because somewhere in my head I knew what the sounds meant. "So, why are you here?" I had thought his questions might be simple, but this was not something I could answer with a flick of my muzzle.

The boy seemed to notice his mistake almost as soon as he had finished his first question because he corrected it. "Or, should I say, are you bothered by me being here?" She nodded with a sharp jerk of her head. Yes, he bothered her by being here. She had wanted to spend time in the field alone, possibly hunting mice or rabbits when they came out of their burrows. Perhaps she might come across her old friend, she missed him. "It seemed like you were rather bothered. Not that I'm leaving, though." She growled deep in her throat, annoyed. Moose would never show up with this oaf here.

I was so close to attacking him then; one movement would send me leaping at his throat and it would all be over in a moment. His refusing to leave was just about the point where I decided to launch myself at him, but the remembered sound of gunfire cracking past my head held me back. I would warn him one more time, and then I would act. He had to leave or I would attack. I was never good at being anything but alpha.

She bared her teeth at him, sinking low in an exaggerated manner to show that she was ready to spring. It was now or never for the boy to leave, or to do something to convince her to not sink her fangs into his neck. Leave now, the words formed in her head and for a second she surprised herself, but then continued, or die. The words came so naturally to her that she was almost scared by it. She couldn't show it to the boy, though, so she put more effort into her display of aggression. Surely this would get rid of him.