exit wounds

a flash of white catches their attention, but they’re so distracted they dismiss it at first as a stray rabbit hiding amidst the thorny underbrush. they cast it a disparaging glance - they’ve no interest in hunting right now - but do a double take when they begin to register a pair of tall ears, and the curve of a distinctly canine snout. curious, they approach at a tentative pace - not all strangers are friendly, as they’re beginning to realise - when a twig crunches under their paw, eliciting a violent flinch. on edge as they are, the sound is enough to startle them, and it’s at that moment that they find themselves face-to-face with the with wolf they’d been approaching. yelping in surprise, Spider trips over a second twig and falls back on their ass, chest rising and falling sharply with a sudden onslaught of adrenaline. worked up as they are, it takes a few moments for them to recognise the face in front of them - and when they do it’s with a flush of embarrassment. “Astraios?!” had he witnessed all that?