She doesn't recoil, she doesn't flinch. She can't. There would be no weakness from Jael here, she knows better. Predators were all the same. A challenge-- if only he knew. There's something strange coursing just beneath the surface of the girl, and she watches him ever so carefully. A finely tuned machine, Jael does not waver. She does not falter. Carefully listening, watching, from the edge of control. Opalescent eyes glimmering, Jael takes the creature before her in.
As the stranger steps to her, Jael takes a forward step of her own. It's a creeping step, bold. Once more, a credit to her instincts. She remained clearheaded. Here he is, trying to stalk, trying to intimidate. "Are you always so entitled with your playmates?" The words slip past her lips, silken. It would explain why he didn't have friends of his own to play silly games with. Jael watches him carefully. She's gone more than a few rounds with men who don't take no for an answer-- on those grounds alone. It's all the same.
Jael doesn't shrink from the eye contact, instead meeting it with growing intensity. Her ears remain back against her head, teeth glimmering just barely from beneath her lips. "Do you really just sit out here to threaten passers by?" She quirked her head a few degrees to the side, something that would have been almost cute in most other contexts. You're mine-- the words come, and Jael feels tension in her chest. In her ribs. No, that's not a privilege of his. Why does her heart ache just a little when he crosses her mind like this? It's not the time or place. She swallows it back.
Azure takes a step back. Jael takes a step forward. Though he may not have the physique of a common bridge troll, he certainly had the temperament. She wasn't going to back down, she wasn't going to shy-- she can't. Bristling, still standing firm, Jael remains calm. As calm as she can, given the circumstance. "If you're bent on blood I'll fight you, that's fine." The girl's gaze is unblinking, unwavering. "But you know as well as I do that any relief it brings will be temporary. I'm not the one you're really mad at." She would conceal her fear, her nerves, in the face of the predator that stood more than twice her size. She's not dumb enough to be fearless here, but she's intelligent enough to sound like some dumb girl while she stares danger in the face. Shoulders hunched forward, weight distributed evenly, Jael's posture is decidedly defensive in the event that she needs to be.
Professor
