Vadim Armada

I tried to sell my soul last night. Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite.

The heavy snow over the last few days had prevented him from hunting as much as he'd like, but now that there seemed to be a break in between storms.. he took full advantage to follow fresh tracks left in the previously left untouched world of white.

He was, without a doubt, hunting as he crept along the narrow pinholes left in the snow by what he assumed to be a young doe. Vadim himself was heavy and brutish, his jaws being his most powerful asset- they were squared and heavily armed with thick muscle. His face wasn't far off from that of a bear with how it's heavier, meaty cheeks drooped into a constant frown. He was seemingly never pleased, not even on a day where luck seemed to be on his side.

Speckled droplets of red seemed to be left behind, scattered among this doe's tracks. She was already injured and dying, though whatever it was that had started the hunt seemed to flee once the broad white wolf made his presence known. Vadim didn't mind finishing what the other guy started, however.. and simply kept a leisurely pace as he followed the doe to her inevitable doom.

He didn't waste any valuable energy taking her down quicker, he simply played the waiting game and sat on his haunches a few feet away when she laid down. It only took her an hour, he counted, before she drew in her last breath. He made sure she had passed on before he came trotting over to her, inspecting the bleeding wound on her neck that he assumed to be what did her in. He carefully hovered over her corpse, his teeth sinking into the underside of her throat and base of her jaws. He would carry her back to the caves he'd been resting in, though it took all the self-control he could muster not to dig into his meal now and regain his strength. It would be too messy to carry after, so.. he kept himself composed and focused on his goal of bringing this dinner home in one piece.

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her heaven is only half alive i fell asleep in his, but he could not breathe in mine Not often was Jendayi compelled to hunt something larger than herself—most times, even larger than half her size. The limber woman had been content to use her agile legs to chase rabbits across the snowy moors. Eventually, however, the rabbits fled to their warm dens and the snow plows grew too large for her to trudge through without effort. She had found solace only in the caves now, her wintry and plush fur able to bare the cold away but not enough to make her a true northerner. Jendayi’s past in the green-and-gold summery forests unable to make her a truly hardened wolf, no matter how much she subjected herself to the brutal wintertide. She strode evenly on top of the ice, where the snow was compact enough to support her weight, her ears pricked forward and her eyes wide and attentive. She had left the safety of the caverns during a break in the storms in hopes of searching, but even the grayish fog did not allow her the surrender of seeing all these lands had to offer. It left her grandiose visions of leering mountaintops and endless tundra entirely obsolete—empty was her mind, staring nothing into the unyielding gray. It was unfortunate, and it weighed heavy as disappointment on Jendayi’s shoulders. Eventually, she gave up and moved on. The trace of her scent along the snowy tracks was slowly disappearing, the continual overlay of new and fresh snow often covering the path she had once carved. While it was advantageous in certain ways, Jendayi was not often running away from others, and found it far more useful to track where she had once walked other ways. Now, however, the dark silhouette of the lumbering mountainsides where her makeshift home now was allowed her to amble in its direction without the need to retrace her steps. There was something stark, however—a sudden shift in the wind, something unmistakable, the familiar scent of iron and copper. Blood. Jendayi’s golden gaze lurched downward where once it had followed the careful peaks of the graying mountains, and suddenly, thin droplets of red appeared on the fresh-laden snow. With it came scents; they seemed stale, but it was always so hard to tell on an ever-changing environment if they were truly far away or much, much closer. Jendayi, in all her disappointment and curiousness, decided (perhaps against her best interests) to follow. Eventually, the silhouette of a lumbering beast took form. At first, it was unrecognizable. It was easily thrice her size, and walked each powerful step as if it were carrying a mountain on its shoulders. Behind it the droplets of blood soon became long threads, crimson streaks staining against the powdery alabaster. Whatever it was—it was bleeding. Eventually, as Jendayi neared, the darkened silhouette soon took the form of a white wolf, and the prey he carried with him. What fluttering nervousness felt in Jendayi’s heart was soon quelled, if only just, and a quiet and incoherent noise marked her greeting (for, she figured, it was far too late now to escape his notice). Her appearance was unaggressive, her sudden reality reminding her that curiosity often killed the cat. She kept her distance, her golden gaze wide and wild upon him.

code & art by lynx

Vadim Armada

I tried to sell my soul last night. Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite.

His own molten gaze found the stranger's nearly immediately, though he did not stop his pace nor forfeit the doe held tightly in his jowls to greet her. He simply acknowledged her existence and continued forward, taking his own residence within the caves to shelter himself from the snow- despite the obvious outline of her scent littered here as well.

He never meant to intrude on her campsite, but he was far too determined to spend the night here now to offer to leave for the sake of politeness. Instead, he dropped the carcass a considerable distance into the cavern walls and peered backward to see if she were still trailing him. Whether she was or not, he still bellowed out loud enough for his surroundings to carry his voice to her. "I did not realize you were already here, but I do not plan on leaving. If you would like to share this meal and this place with me, you are.. welcome.." he said, almost hesitantly. "If not, good luck."

It had been so long since he willingly shared his company with anyone, he almost regretted extending the offer to her as soon as it'd left his lips.. but, it was only fair, right? After all, he was shoving her out of her little abode.. and the doe was more than the brute could eat alone- unless, he wanted to revisit his fat kid days.

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her heaven is only half alive i fell asleep in his, but he could not breathe in mine Besides his hulking and lumbering form, he did not seem far too different from her—both dressed in tresses of onyx and white, and with strikingly golden and orange eyes. The only thing that differed, perhaps, was the half-frozen withering flower still tucked in Jendayi’s right ear. He headed in the same direction as her, Jendayi soon realized. She had been content to leave him to his meal (knowing just how protective wolves often get of their catches) but soon found their paths remained converged. Jendayi followed the man until the entrance of the cavern (and further yet still, Jendayi would have been content to abandon her temporary home for another if it meant she did not have to fight for it), but his voice instead breaks the steadiness of her thoughts. She stands on the outskirts of the den, a blanket of snow and ice falling upon her feathery shoulders and resting atop her crown, but she did not move forward until she saw his form reemerge from the depths of the crypt once more. Inside, the air felt warm—but it now also smelled of him, and it was so very in the nature of Jendayi to seek escape from it. Spirits, she chided to herself, you must learn to meet others. Loneliness was safe. Loneliness was an escape. Shed your fears like a plume of feathers. “You are a man who’s made up his mind,” she observes quietly, the faintest of humor dancing on her lips—but they did not twist into a smile where they might have. She ambled forward cautiously, and remained hugged against the free side of the den. While her posture was neither aggressive nor fearful, it was within the small maiden’s nature to avoid where she could, to respect his space, and her own boundaries. Slowly she settled, and while the sight of the doe was tantalizing enough to send her stomach spiraling, it was not enough within her to gratefully accept his proposition. Perhaps it could be blamed on Jendayi’s own lack of self-sufficiency in uncomfortable situations, and her ability to bite her tongue and thank others where she would prefer to simply stare from afar. “Thank you, but I’ve already eaten,” she lies, and leaves it there. Slowly she settles, and lays contently across the soft of her belly, the warm stone underneath melting the ice upon her back.

code & art by lynx

Vadim Armada

I tried to sell my soul last night. Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite.

Perhaps he should have been a little more cautious himself, but he seemed rather carefree as she accepted his invitation and breached the entrance of the caverns. Among his childhood pack, he never seemed quite as large as he was now compared to the other children older than him. He was unaware of his size for the most part until the considerably dwarfed girl in his company made it so he had no choice but to be aware of it. It reminded him if Ama, somewhat.. though this woman seemed nowhere near as friendly.

He wasn't really all that friendly anymore, either.. was he? Had this been Amalia, after all.. might have been a different story. That was an interesting thought, and suddenly he became a bit more self-aware of his own loneliness just as she was (though this was unknown to him). When exactly had he become so distant and cold to others? Shortly after his father's decision to try and run people out of their home's, he recalled. Shortly after Ama's disappearance, and Ramsay's abandonment. His eyes flickered away from the woman as he successfully reminded himself of all the hardships that came with being social. Since he'd closed the world out, he had very little to suffer from and that, in itself, was a reason to celebrate.

Regaining some sort of sense of joy, he ignored her and merrily nipped at the hide of the doe's thighs until he was able to create a flap sturdy enough for him to pull apart the skin from his most treasured morsels of his meal. He nearly exposed the whole thing down to the hoof with one expertly tossed throw of his teeth. What had been uncovered only lay visible for a moment before disappearing down the titan's gullet, loose skin of his neck that had once been stretched far thinner than it was now seemed to roll together as he rooted through tendons and severed arteries to make each bite easier to be plucked.

How particular he seemed to be with his eating habits seemed almost eccentric, though he was quite obviously enjoying himself. He reluctantly lowered his weight down on to his belly as well, kicking his hindquarters to the side so that his back limbs could sprawl along the slate beneath him while his heavy forelimbs wrapped around his prized hock of doe. The rest of it dangled from his grasp as he carved and tore in delight, though the occasional glance in his company's direction broke him out of his blissful little world. "Are you sure you're not hungry?" Guttural sounds echoed off the walls as he lifted his bloodied lips and swallowed what had been left in the chasm of his mouth when he'd chosen to speak. Scraps of meat were loosened with his muscular tongue and gulped down in a hurry before he licked away the red from his large, white maw. He used the flat top of his snout to nose the doe in her direction, regardless of her answer.

They didn't have to talk. In fact, he preferred if they didn't; but he was determined to share his meal with her. He'd invaded her safe place, and until she participated in his proposed exchange.. he would not allow himself to relax and trust her intentions during his own company. How else would he know if she still held a vendetta? How could he sleep peacefully if she did not accept his trade? If she still said no, he was beginning to think of ideas on how he might be able to persuade her.

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her heaven is only half alive i fell asleep in his, but he could not breathe in mine Jendayi had always played the part of unfriendly because it made strangers less viable to follow, to ask, to question; but even Jendayi knew her heart ached now and then for the company she used to have. But here, their traditions and culture were different, and Jendayi knew no matter how hard she’d ever try, it would be next to impossible to fit in—not with her past creeping on her, unfurling claws dancing across her back, an ever-reminder of what she’d left behind. Thus she subjected herself to a surrendering silence, biting her tongue until a canine accidentally scored across the flesh, and caused her to hiss out at the sharp pain. She did not know Vadim’s pain. If she did, she would have felt compelled to help him. She would have felt compelled to drop her cautious walls and shed her stoic demeanor. Always was she a victim of kindness, and it had been the one thing instilled in her that she could never leave behind, as she’d done everything else. But fate was cruel and unhappy, and so long as they kept each other further than arm’s length, Jendayi would perhaps never know. The taste of iron and fire flooded her mouth, and she glanced toward the cool stone walls, as if it could do something to help. His voice breaks her unyielding silence. Are you sure you're not hungry? he asks, and Jendayi turned her head to seek his gaze once more. Golden eyes seek the deeper apricot of his. You are hungry, Jendayi, don’t be a liar. Her stomach rumbled even more at the sight of the meat; he inches it closer, and at first, Jendayi’s fur raises at the nape of her neck where it is thickest—not out of fear, or aggression, but instead out of an unknown instinct; like a cat who’s stepped far too close to another for the very first time. It was timid, almost maidenly; cautious, and wild. But eventually, she agreed. She was stubborn, but she was no fool. “Ah…maybe not…,” she admits, and slowly reaches forward, grasping the doe in her jaws and pulling it the rest of the way to her so he did not have to. It was far too tempting to scarf down the doe in a more wolfish manner, but there was an acute shyness about her that stirred as gentle bites, purposeful chewing. It would take her eons to finish the doe, but it provided a sense of elegance Jendayi did not know she possessed. It kept her, simply, from looking like an outrageous fool (one she’d already suspected she looked like). It went without a doubt that he was not going to leave, and that, perhaps, he was going to spend even through the night. Some tugging remnant inside of her almost compelled her to move closer, to settle next to him, to share words and thoughts as she may once have. These people aren’t so close, she reminded herself, having quickly learned the concept of personal space was much more catered to here than they were in her own homelands. The tempting thought was quickly pushed aside, and Jendayi remained against the frigid wall, attempting slowly to warm it with her own body heat. Eventually, she finished the meal, but even that did not seem enough. “Thank you,” she responded, tracing her tongue across her bloodied lips, “I’m…Jendayi.” She did not know if he expected, or even wanted, her name—but Jendayi figured it was a safe first step.

code & art by lynx

Vadim Armada

I tried to sell my soul last night. Funny, he wouldn't even take a bite.

With interest, he watched as she accepted his trade; she seemed so uncertain about it even while she was pulling the doe from him, he thought. As she tenderly took her bites, he nearly smirked as, to him, it appeared that she was attempting to uphold some level of class. He'd seen this behavior before, but not with rogues and she certainly smelled rogue. Royals. He wondered if she were a runaway princess or perhaps simply just an admirer of that sort of lifestyle- someone who seeks to be noble by their own means. It was a fun idea, but... then again, perhaps she was just not all that hungry. Another glance to her direction, and he couldn't help but think that she must be hungry... perhaps just shy?

Vadim was the last wolf to care about a keeping himself composed and decent in the presence of others. While it may come off as rude, his simple understanding of it was that if it is natural- why not? If he is famished, hungry.. and feels like scarfing down his meal as fast he can then his body must crave nutrients bad enough to bring him to that point, and why should anyone have to hide that?

While he wished he could transfer his understanding to this woman, he remained silent and tried his best not to continue to observe her after she finished his meal. If she was shy, he didn't want to give her any reason to be while in his company.

In fact, the barbarian turned his head away from her and lifted his skull. A bubbling sound shifted in his stomach and came rolling up his throat and out his mouth in one of the loudest burps he'd ever had the opportunity of sharing with someone. Immediately, he chuckled and rolled on to his side to relax while trying his best to show that he was indeed relaxed and that she could be, as well. He was fully aware that this might be too offensive, maybe just too gross for someone more cultured.. but hell, if she was one of those cultured folk, she needed this experience! "Just Jendayi? No surname or even a 'The Jendayi'?"

Molten gaze found her own again as his meaty lips tugged into a half grin, "I am Vadim Armada. While I don't mean to impose, I do need a place to rest for the night. Thank you for sharing your space, as if she had much of a choice, "I will do my best not to mess anything up, and I'll even catch breakfast in the morning." He didn't want to call her skinny, but she certainly looked like she could use someone catching breakfast for her. She looked like she could use someone to heat her up a bit, too... that wall didn't seem to be doing her any favors. His eyelids dropped just a bit as he canted his head, front canine protruding his square muzzle as he'd notion toward her. "I am also fairly good at cuddling, if you need a professional body warmer for the night."

He may not have been fat enough to be considered 'obese' anymore, but the evidence that he once was still held on to his form. His stomach was still covered in lose skin, but his thick fur made him plush despite however unattractive he might be. He never had a problem keeping warm, himself.. and though he was fully aware that she might turn him down simply because he was so forward- at least, he tried.

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her heaven is only half alive i fell asleep in his, but he could not breathe in mine There was a stiff and cold silence. Jendayi’s own movements grew softer, smoother, and quieter—she did not want to let him hear the soft wolfish purr in her throat at the feeling of warm food, nor did she wanted him to hear the near-embarrassing swallow of each desperate bite. Despite her slow and mannerly eating, she still bit back the ravenous appetite that threatened to seep through. With careful concentration, she focuses on the doe in front of her, and as she reaches forward for one more bite, the sudden reverberation of deep masculine vocals quickly snaps Jendayi from her near-reverie. She had not realized until the sound of his burp echoed like a violent drum that she had been so enthused with her careful eating she had all but forgotten he was there. She blinks, a startled deer in the headlights, her golden gaze turning toward him—before, after a few drawn moments, she lets out a small laugh. Her tone was a light contrast to the deep throaty of his, but was nowhere near as boisterous. Never before had she heard something so boorish from a stranger, but that is perhaps what made it even funnier. It relaxed her, if only just. This man is no stealthy murderer, she thinks, but guards her words carefully. It only made him seem more approachable. Just Jendayi? His voice catches her off guard once more, and a throaty little hm? accompanies Jendayi’s gaze locking into the deep of his own. No surname or even ‘The Jendayi’? A small grin curls onto her lips, but it does not reach her eyes—there is a certain sadness in them, but it lasts for only a second, before it dissipates until her well-practiced stoicism. “Just Jendayi,” she repeats fondly, her voice as honest as a liar could manage, “it’s all I’ve ever been called. Never met enough people or been in enough places to earn much more than that.” You never were strong enough to keep it—it was left behind, just like the rest. There had never been any reason to lie except for the sake of moving on, so Jendayi never thought it a bad thing. “This space is not mine, Vadim Armada,” she replies, putting emphasis on his own last name, attempting to divert any potentially-prying questions with the slightest bit of girlish humor, “it is as much yours—I have not placed a claim over it. You’re welcome to stay, as long as you aren’t a loud sleeper.” It would have been easier to say as long as you don’t hurt me, but Jendayi did not want to let her fear slip into the open. There were always many things to fear—nature was ferocious and respectable, but men were often savage and unkind. They were two vastly different things, and Jendayi feared them both in different ways. She caught his gaze as he continued to speak, and at his mention of cuddling, she could not will away the heat that rose to her cheeks; for so long had she been without the touch of another. Admittedly, Jendayi craved it; “It is…rather cold,” she admitted shyly, the once-warm humor suddenly turning into something more demure. An open invitation, and one that would not let her bare the front if he rejected it (though it were silly to think such, when he’d been the one to offer nearly out of the blue—or had he noticed her tentative shivering?). The dim light outside grew dark, and steadily, the evening began to turn into nightfall, and the cave began to shroud them in a careful darkness. Jendayi nosed the remainder of the doe in his direction, having eaten enough to satisfy her for the night.

code & art by lynx