like a no-tell motel painting

It wasn’t until moments before a voice cut through the wind that the brute began to have the feeling that he wasn’t alone anymore. He had little time to find out on his own before the abrasive sound of purposeful throat-clearing made him halt and reel his head around to the left. The possibilities were endless as to who it might’ve been – hell, it could have been someone with a gift, and he would give that chance his usual ugly scowl all the same. Even though the individual did not appear waving offerings of sweet meat and other exciting things of generally pleasing sorts, he was still briefly startled by her appearance. It knocked the scowl off his chiseled face for a good three seconds. Lirika?! His silver eyes widened for a split second, and then the unwelcome reality settled quickly on him. It wasn’t her.

He settled his brows back down and frowned again, disgruntled at the hope that he’d allowed free – allowed a stranger to witness. He licked his lips idly, furrowing his brow as he processed what she had said. He still didn’t really get it, or at least wasn’t paying the phrase enough mind or thinking in the right direction to catch the teasing in any other way than by her tone. ”What?” he grunted. He rolled his shoulders, and allowed his bulky frame to pivot slightly in her direction; he wasn’t granting her his full attention, but she had piqued his curiosity enough.

Narrowed steel eyes traced her figure with a burning of unexplained agitation and quick, scrutinizing motions. She was a giant female – bigger than he was, like his sister. She was white too, almost completely. The fuller analysis and realization caused him a sudden plucking feeling of pain, of loss. Of course that was why he had thought it was her... It hurt to see someone who looked so very much like her… The hurt was a feeling that bared its teeth futilely beneath layers and layers of smothering calluses though, incapable of touching the burning dead stare of his gray eyes or the silence that coiled in his throat like a viper.