Predator or Prey

The whole entanglement seemed to break apart upon impact. Mikko nearly fell forward with the tiger but dislodged himself from its elbow just in time for the other male to jump back in. As he scrambled over the top of it in an attempt to pin it beneath his weight, the scarred brute stepped back, a bloodstained tongue lulling out of his maw as he half-circled the pair in search of another opening. His gaze was feral, his pulse audible to his own ears as his heart sent a familiar drug pumping through his veins. Adrenaline always did well to quiet his thoughts--or, at the very least, simplify them enough to make them halfway comprehensible to his racing mind.

As he prepared another attack, the stranger did something unexpected, something that nearly--nearly--made Mikko falter in his step. The dark male pulled on the tiger's nape, sending blood down its neck and shoulders as its bare white underside shined before the brute like a beacon. So swift was his moment of pause that the other could have very well missed it, but no sooner did Mikko question the gesture than he strode forward and opened the feline's throat with a forceful gnash of his teeth. He drenched himself in the process, his front turning a glistening red, but it was only once the last signs of struggle faded away that he finally released his grip and backed away again.

But the look in his eye wasn't quite ready to go away. He was a little calmer, now, his initial surge of emotion satisfied for the time being after having been redirected to the deranged tiger, but the fact remained that this male still smelled of his family...and he still lacked answers as to why. In the back of his mind were echoes of Shiba's voice telling him about Acciona's past on Boreas, but with Kyros' stench also faint upon his pelt, he was unable to fully trust any of the connections his mind strained to make. Mikko's attention shifted to him, now, and he studied him intensely for a time, just barely giving him the chance to drop the feline and recollect himself before questioning him lowly, through tight, reddened teeth:

"Who are you?"

""