like a no-tell motel painting

The fiend blinked a few times, his flesh prickling with guarded nerves. The other wolf shook her head and spoke of her perceptions. Svetovid was slightly taken aback; usually when someone noted his so-called grumpiness, it was with more accusation and distaste and usually involved the word “asshole” or some variant somewhere. He blinked again, and glanced around as if he might find something to justify his scowl (which had, in the past second, lost much of its hostility to a muddled surprise). ”Euh,” he could only manage a rather insufficient and graceless sound, in place of where there would usually be a witty or biting response. His brain twisted like distressed clockwork at defending the trivial notion. It wasn’t like he was going to walk around smiling for no reason! It wasn’t his fault that his face liked to rest in a position that looked to some, like an outward expression of loathing and aggression. At least, he told himself it wasn’t his fault.

He was pulled from his petty thoughts back to the present situation by the girl’s gentle voice. His gaze snapped to her dazzling amethyst eyes. ”What? No,” he replied quickly, bluntly as he furrowed his brow again and blinked in that way that people did when they wanted to convince another of the absurdity of an idea. It wasn’t a very convincing lie (Svetovid was an unfortunately poor actor, as the need arose very little), but the stubborn manner of its delivery effectively conveyed the only thing that mattered: he wasn’t going to talk about it. Up went the walls. A part of him deep behind them had the sudden inclination to pour all his burdens free to this stranger. It would have been so easy – her question the perfect escape for his dilemma. Yet habit and caution reigned supreme. Like hell he would let a stranger slip into the most vulnerable aspect of him, have a taste of his weakness.

A deep breath of the dry plains air was apprehended by the beast’s lungs, held a few seconds, and then exhaled with the likeness of a surly bull. He licked his lips again (maybe he was starting to get a bit dehydrated out here), took another glance at the young woman and then took a step to the right. ”What were you doing sneaking up on me?” his low voice rolled free, discarding all pleasantries. He glanced briefly over his shoulder at her again. While she was large, she still had all the feminine qualities desirable by a man – the kind of thing that made women a target. Svetovid pondered momentarily upon the strangeness of a lone female in such an ugly and uninviting place as this. Of course, his own solitary lurking through such a place could have been easily as curious, but in his mind he had every reason to be travelling through here, and anyone else had none.