your cryin eyes

Though Autumn had stripped the mangrove of most of its' life, Dominus still found the density of all the thick trees here suitable to his needs. While other predators often lurked in the shadows here, so did he- and he was usually the biggest out of all of them, so he had sort of made this forest and others like it to be his 'home'. His chosen hunting strategy for the day was to simply use the thick of the tree trunks here in the mangrove to hide the majority of his dire size. Once the titan could hear something rustling through the fallen leaves caught on the floor of the mangrove, he would set his ambushes and catch his snacks.

The teen was merely surviving, spending the day lounging beside a tree and conserving energy while he waited for something to walk by without noticing him. The cries that came from the girl certainly had not been expected as he listened to the forest sounds. A lost girl crying in the woods wasn't going to increase his hunting likeliness to succeed tonight and honestly sounded far more interesting to investigate than it was lazing beneath the trees. The titan teen stretched his stocky frame before he began to take off in a hasty trot toward the one calling out. Someone was lost, whether it was this girl or whether this girl was the searching party was unknown to him, but he wanted to help if he could. He had nothing better to do, and maybe this was some pack princess or something that had access to lots of food. Maybe he'd get a reward. Maybe he'd get his head cut off after being framed for kidnapping. Who knew?!

The teen's large Kingsnake remained coiled securely around his neck, the bulk of its body overlapping each other until most of its' tail could rest down the wolf's spine. It appeared to be a massive reptile, one absolutely visible and unable to be hidden even in the thick of the dire's fluff, at least not entirely. Dominus was certain that hauling the pet around in itself had increased the strength of his neck muscles, but it wasn't intentional. He just enjoyed the snake's company.

As he finally reached the girl that had been crying out for another, he slowed his trotting and kept his ears alert to what was around him. He knew he might not be the only one that had been lured in by the youth's calls, but so far everything seemed quiet.

"Are you alright?" His voice was hushed as he was hopeful of hunting still being a possibility after the helped her, despite how loudly she had been shouting. The dark-colored male knew he could often appear intimidating, though he seemed to hold himself lazily and immediately retired his weight to his haunches to make him seem like even less of a threat. Today he wasn't wanting to challenge or boast to anyone, he simply wanted to relax. Everything that had happened lately made it not even worth the effort to flaunt his pride and risk pissing off the more sensitive wolves.

Although he wanted to discover what her answer to that question was, he did not take the time to hear it out. The glint of a predator's stare coming from nearby shadows cast by the trees made him move past the girl and face the stare. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was low enough that he was not afraid... not for his life, at least. He hoped to avoid getting any serious injuries again, as pain and healing weren't exactly his idea of a good time either. He recognized the eyes as a cat, but the rest of it was still mostly hidden from his sight- it had been staring down the girl, though now that it sensed it had been caught in the act.. it's attention quickly shifted toward Dominus.

Dominus was over his curiosities by this point, his face contorting in just a short moment into a full-fledged snarl. The meat of his square muzzle wrinkled together while his eyes narrowed, he hated the idea of cat claws and did his best to set his defenses appropriately for dealing with them. Once he had done so, he launched himself into those shadows without making a sound in an effort to listen. He knew that cat would be quick, it would move maybe too fast for his eyes to keep track of in those shadows.. so he needed his ears to aid him as much as possible, and that meant no growling.

He grabbed onto the lynx's back left limb just as it nearly slipped away from him, much like he would do when trying to catch small deer or goats. He thought it would be a good idea, but did not calculate the flexibility of a cat. Almost mediately, the cat had curled into the teen's face and began piercing the flesh of his cheeks and around his eyes with its claws. He did not want to let go and risk the lynx attacking the smaller girl in his company, but those claws fucking stung. Reactively, the teen let go of the now mangled hind leg of the lynx, the warmth of his own blood spreading down his face as he did.