deer in the headlights

There was obvious tension between them as the two of them paused. Rannoch felt himself stiffen and contort internally as he spoke to her instead of running from her. Rannoch had never seen a wolf offer such a demeanor to him, all he knew of them were their snapping jaws and bloodthirsty nature. This she wolf was nothing like that so he was made to pause. Her tail curled beneath her and her posture made her much smaller than she was, enough to make Rannoch trust he wasn’t in immediate danger.

Rannoch relaxed, but he was still on edge, this wasn’t that natural course. His shoulders relaxed and he lowered his lifted hoof, though cone-like ears continued to swivel in case she was the distraction before her friends arrived. She spoke again softly, telling him that she had never laid eyes on an elk quite like him, and why should she? He was a great elk… The last of his kind here in Boreas. Rannoch was quiet for another moment after she spoke, telling him there really was no ill will there. The young stag took a chance on her, and hesitantly stepped closer, emerald eyes taking every inch of her in.

"I am not an elk as you know them.” His impossibly distant cousins were nothing like his kind. "We are the Megaloceros, the Great Elk, the Irish Elk…” A look of defeat crossed his features and his gaze averted. "And I am the last of my kind.”

"Speech"