Let's Do This Right

Deimos continued to lurk quietly through the rock dotted landscape, prowling like the predator he was as he continued his hunt for his mate. He had always known that she was a clever woman and that fact was on full display right now. He attempted to shift his focus to her scent instead of trying to track her by sight, but she seemingly had accounted for that as well because every time he thought he had the trail he found another remnant of her sweet scent that led him in an entirely different path. He chuckled quietly to himself as he smirked and shifted his focus back to trying to catch glimpses of her past the rocks as she drifted by like a ghost. She was incredibly clever indeed. He wasn't sure how exactly she planned on besting him in this battle that she had been so set on having, but clearly she had a plan and he was eager to see what she had in store for him.

Eventually his tracking brought him to a more open area where the rocks were less frequent, a clearing obviously in the middle. It felt like the perfect place for an ambush so he skirted around the edges of the clearing for a bit as he attempted to get a visual on her. As much as he was willing to simply hand over the victory to her in order to have her as his soul mate, he knew that she wanted to do this right and he would give her the fight she desired to make sure she felt like she earned her victory. As he lingered in the shadows of the rocks and scanned the clearing for any signs of her, his aqua gaze snapped to the flash of pale fur and he saw her pass between a pair of rocks across the way from him, seemingly looking for him and not spotting him. A grin pulled across his lips. Perhaps he had managed to turn the tables on her after all.

As soon as she was out of sight again he started out across the clearing now that he knew where she was and he was sure that she wasn't lurking somewhere waiting to pounce. That turned out to be his mistake as he strode right across the net that was hidden among the grass and leaves, his eyes going wide as he suddenly felt the world disappear from beneath his paws as a force swept him up and pulled him into the air. "What the-!" he muttered before his words got cut off by the net wrapping around him, his struggling against the confines of the trap only causing him to sway in the air and not giving him any kind of leverage to get out. He pushed and clawed at the thickly wrapped ropes and he was sure with enough effort he could have chewed or cut through a portion of the net, but then he would have been sent plummeting to the ground and wouldn't have been in any shape to fight regardless. Her plan to get him to submit was suddenly very clear and once he gave up his struggling he couldn't help but grin and laugh.

With a sigh he twisted in the net so that he could look down at Ikigai below him, giving her an impressed smirk. He had never doubted that she would approach this challenge in a way that was unique to her, but this surprised even him. He turned his head to stick his nose under the flap of a small pouch that hung from his neck to pull out a delicate bangle that was studded with small, facetted amethysts and diamonds and polished pieces of onyx, all set in a piece of silver jewelry. It matched the thicker bangle that currently sat on his foreleg above his ankle, the wider cuff a darker metal but still inlayed with the same gemstones. Hooking her bangle on one of his bear-like toes, he slipped his paw through one of the holes in the net and stretched his foreleg down to reach toward her, presenting her with her prize. "I think you've earned this, my soul mate."

"Deimos & Ikigai"