if only later

There was a stoicism about her features as she weaved her way quietly through the orchard, a simplicity to her gaze as it trailed up the trunks of the barren trees then back down to the ground, where it might have caught a glimpse of the shriveled skin of a once plump apple. Kleio licked her lips absently, perhaps in response to an unconscious craving, and took a moment to scan her surroundings. So quiet, and yet the air reeked with such massive numbers. To the east, even a little to the south, she noticed, though she cared too little to turn and face it fully. Come out, come out, she thought idly. She needed entertainment if she was not to find her sisters.

With a shake of her pelt did she continue her stroll, though it was not long before her effortless prayer was answered with a remark that gave her pause yet again. The voice that struck her ears was a masculine one, as unfamiliar as Kleio had expected it to be but with a...raunchiness for which she was unprepared--and of which she found herself not terribly fond. She could have taunted him with a sway of her tail or whirled around in defense of her privacy, but there were risks inherent in both such gestures. Either she would be assuming his interests, or she would be setting those interests off, and that was not the sort of entertainment she sought.

"Indeed," she hummed, tossing a glance over her shoulder and cocking a brow as her eyes followed his, "but perhaps it'd be nicer if you actually took in some of the scenery?" There was no hostility to her tone--perhaps she was even amused by his transparency--but he would be smart to heed her words as a gentle warning.

301 words