It was not his fault! he cried, repented in his head. This was not his wish. Seasons ago when he had come back to Alacritia and found Lirika, he had wanted to stay. He had wanted to stick to her side like a fly on a gazelle. She had not been immediately welcoming, as one might expect. The goliath had played it somewhat cool – tried not to seem too eager, tried to play the same game of distance that she initially had. In the end it was he who broke his callous act (rather quickly, to be sure), but only to mild avail. Lirika had needed time to decide if she forgave him, and that scared him. He didn’t want to rush her, in fear of upsetting her. Now though, he thought that giving her room had been the worst decision of his life, because he had lost her again. Where had she gone?! He had searched high and low in Alacritia, and then outside of it. Better judgment (hopefully) had led him back. He had decided that he would stay here. Maybe she was here again. And if she wasn’t, then maybe she would come back, and see that he had faithfully awaited her return.

He clenched his teeth as he thought, his brow creasing while he walked. He was going no place in particular – wandering in vague hopes of finding something interesting, someplace to install himself. The West of Alacritia suited him, drew him in. It was barren and harsh and uninviting. His current location was especially cracked and arid, and the wind came along in burly gusts that threw his fur up in all the wrong directions. He kind of liked it though. The beast expelled a heavy sigh from his nostrils and hunched his broad shoulders a bit, his head seeking refuge from the wind as it lowered level with his spine. The outline of his trekking figure on the horizon was a sullen sight, both scornful and scorned in a similar environment.

It was time to go exploring, to stretch her limbs a little bit. It wasn't that she didn't love her pack, she adored her lands. But she had never had the chance to explore before she joined up with Imperium. She had never been able to enjoy the lays of the lands around her, or even the other parts of Alacritia. So today she made her way to the West, purple eyes roaming the unfamiliar territory. This land was very different from the ones she was used to, it was desolate and empty. It made her step with more caution, slower than her more determined trot. But she didn't understand the lays of the lands here, didn't know what was around the next corner. Mercy was far from being meek though, her eyes still harsh as her muscles rippled under her pale white coat. Black marked head swung to and fro, ears erect on the top of her head. This was interesting indeed.

It wasn't until she was a few feet away from the male that she actually spotted him. She paused, a single paw still lifted as her head tilted to the side. He wasn't that much shorter than her, in fact he looked quite like herself. A pure white wolf with pale blue eyes, no markings to taint the solid colour. Admiring him from afar, taking in his grumpy posture, she couldn't help but smirk. Aww, was mister grumpy pants angry? Purple gaze narrowed slightly in her own humor, clearing her throat to make her presents known. "Someone pee on your moose this morning?" she asked with a rumbling chuckle. She stayed where she stood, fully alert as her attention was not pulled away.

"Speech"
'thoughts'

It wasn’t until moments before a voice cut through the wind that the brute began to have the feeling that he wasn’t alone anymore. He had little time to find out on his own before the abrasive sound of purposeful throat-clearing made him halt and reel his head around to the left. The possibilities were endless as to who it might’ve been – hell, it could have been someone with a gift, and he would give that chance his usual ugly scowl all the same. Even though the individual did not appear waving offerings of sweet meat and other exciting things of generally pleasing sorts, he was still briefly startled by her appearance. It knocked the scowl off his chiseled face for a good three seconds. Lirika?! His silver eyes widened for a split second, and then the unwelcome reality settled quickly on him. It wasn’t her.

He settled his brows back down and frowned again, disgruntled at the hope that he’d allowed free – allowed a stranger to witness. He licked his lips idly, furrowing his brow as he processed what she had said. He still didn’t really get it, or at least wasn’t paying the phrase enough mind or thinking in the right direction to catch the teasing in any other way than by her tone. ”What?” he grunted. He rolled his shoulders, and allowed his bulky frame to pivot slightly in her direction; he wasn’t granting her his full attention, but she had piqued his curiosity enough.

Narrowed steel eyes traced her figure with a burning of unexplained agitation and quick, scrutinizing motions. She was a giant female – bigger than he was, like his sister. She was white too, almost completely. The fuller analysis and realization caused him a sudden plucking feeling of pain, of loss. Of course that was why he had thought it was her... It hurt to see someone who looked so very much like her… The hurt was a feeling that bared its teeth futilely beneath layers and layers of smothering calluses though, incapable of touching the burning dead stare of his gray eyes or the silence that coiled in his throat like a viper.

He just stared at her for a moment, and her eyes flew open wide for a moment as his reaction to seeing here. So many emotions danced on his silver eyes that it was hard for her to wrap her mind around it all. Shock, to see her standing a few feet away from him. But it didn't last very long at all, after only a few heartbeats his face melted into the scowl that he had held before. Blinking her purple eyes at him she tried to calm herself, noticing that her fur had bristled somewhat at the male's surprise. There was something about this man that reminded her of someone that she knew. He was blank, devoid of all emotions on the exterior. Mercy had no doubt that on the inside he was a boiling pot of emotions and feelings, no one could truly be as empty as he appeared to be. It made her face soften somewhat, although she did not grow any less alert. He was still a stranger and could do something that she did not expect, and for that reason she didn't let her full guard down.

He seemed confused by her words, and she shook her head slowly. "I was only teasing you, you seem awfully grumpy although there is nothing around." She commented idly, letting her gaze slip from him for a moment to gaze around the desolate plain. No other scents crossed her nose, and she knew that there were no other wolves around here. So why was Mr. Grumpy pants over here so upset? Ears flickered slightly, maybe he had intended to find someone, but by the scents here there hadn't been another soul passed here in a few days. That would make her grumpy, trying to track someone down with no progress. But she was playing a guessing game, she really had no idea what this pale wolf was out here doing. Black marked face turned back to him, taking a few cautious steps in his direction. Curiosity brimmed in her bright eyes, elongated tail flickering between her legs. "Do I remind you of someone?" Mercy asked softly, vocals almost... tender, as if she were dealing with an injured dog. She was sure to move slowly, having a feeling that there was something amiss with him. Plus she couldn't help but ask, after all he had looked pretty surprised to see her after all. Head tilted slightly again, pausing after only three slow steps towards him. He had turned his body towards her own, although she could tell that he wasn't fully paying attention to her. This brute was very distracted, which made her feel somewhat more wary.

"Speech"
'thoughts'

The fiend blinked a few times, his flesh prickling with guarded nerves. The other wolf shook her head and spoke of her perceptions. Svetovid was slightly taken aback; usually when someone noted his so-called grumpiness, it was with more accusation and distaste and usually involved the word “asshole” or some variant somewhere. He blinked again, and glanced around as if he might find something to justify his scowl (which had, in the past second, lost much of its hostility to a muddled surprise). ”Euh,” he could only manage a rather insufficient and graceless sound, in place of where there would usually be a witty or biting response. His brain twisted like distressed clockwork at defending the trivial notion. It wasn’t like he was going to walk around smiling for no reason! It wasn’t his fault that his face liked to rest in a position that looked to some, like an outward expression of loathing and aggression. At least, he told himself it wasn’t his fault.

He was pulled from his petty thoughts back to the present situation by the girl’s gentle voice. His gaze snapped to her dazzling amethyst eyes. ”What? No,” he replied quickly, bluntly as he furrowed his brow again and blinked in that way that people did when they wanted to convince another of the absurdity of an idea. It wasn’t a very convincing lie (Svetovid was an unfortunately poor actor, as the need arose very little), but the stubborn manner of its delivery effectively conveyed the only thing that mattered: he wasn’t going to talk about it. Up went the walls. A part of him deep behind them had the sudden inclination to pour all his burdens free to this stranger. It would have been so easy – her question the perfect escape for his dilemma. Yet habit and caution reigned supreme. Like hell he would let a stranger slip into the most vulnerable aspect of him, have a taste of his weakness.

A deep breath of the dry plains air was apprehended by the beast’s lungs, held a few seconds, and then exhaled with the likeness of a surly bull. He licked his lips again (maybe he was starting to get a bit dehydrated out here), took another glance at the young woman and then took a step to the right. ”What were you doing sneaking up on me?” his low voice rolled free, discarding all pleasantries. He glanced briefly over his shoulder at her again. While she was large, she still had all the feminine qualities desirable by a man – the kind of thing that made women a target. Svetovid pondered momentarily upon the strangeness of a lone female in such an ugly and uninviting place as this. Of course, his own solitary lurking through such a place could have been easily as curious, but in his mind he had every reason to be travelling through here, and anyone else had none.

This man seemed to not be much of a talker, which had Mercy bite her bottom lip in slight irritation. She was bigger on talking, but he seemed rather content to stay silent, tossing sounds at her. She snorted in his direction, he seemed like a rather interesting wolf. Grumpy and... almost more primitive than strangers that she had run into in the passed. He was seemingly detached from all other emotions, acting more like a primal animal than an intelligent one. Smirking at her own thoughts, she turned her full attention to him once more. His actions made her slightly on edge.

Mercy couldn't help but laugh and roll her eyes at his very fast reply to her question. "Mmhm, sureee." she said, a brow raising as she looked at him better. It seemed that he was trying to cover himself up quite well here, but she wasn't going to let this one go. There was obviously something or someone that he thought of when he looked at her, and she wanted to get down to the bottom of it. "I know I am a very nice piece of eye meat, but its not often that I get looked at like that." She rumbled, elongated tail flicking behind her. Most remembered her name as well as her pretty face, and who was to say that she hadn't been around the block a few times... She would remember a strong brute like him though, and knew that she didn't know him at all. So what was it? Had to be someone important to spark that much of a reaction from the monotone man.

Her ears perked as he took a step to the side, accusing her of sneaking up on her. Her eyes flew wide for a second before she let out a very unlady like snort. "I would hardly call announcing myself as sneaking. You have met some pretty terrible stalkers if you think I was trying to sneak up on you." She chuckled, easing herself onto her rump as her head tilted, elongated tail curling about herself. "Darling if I didn't want you to see me, you wouldn't have. Even in this kind of barren place there are always ways to hide." Mercy commented slightly, easy up around him slightly.

"Speech"
'thoughts'

She figured through his patchwork guise, but it meant nothing in the face of stubborn denial. He continued to frown, his brows pressed down over his eyes as he watched her croon with some sly humor. He wished he could think of a witty retort, but he only had about a fifty percent success rate in that department. Instead, he just kept on scowling. It was pretty much all he knew how to do. ”What’s it to you?” he snorted. ”Wanna fish for compliments, love?” he asked, the stubborn tone to his gravelly voice starting to fray.

The female snorted, dismissing his accusation. She sat and cocked her head at him. Her persistence was annoying. ”I think that’s something a stalker would say,” he said straight-faced. The sentence, in essence, was somewhat humorous, though not necessarily intended to be and also stripped of any claim to comedy by the brute’s face and voice. She kept talking, seeming rather confident in herself. Really? A white wolf in a barren, brown plain? He knew that neither of them ought to be able to hide for shit anywhere around here.

At this point, anyone’s face would have started to ache from the effort of turning a few muscles down in the bothersome, ugly display that he had. He didn’t notice. Why was she still here? Why did she seem to care at all? She was pretty, and another man might have thanked the gods for a chance to talk to someone like this, but Svetovid was very, very bad at social interactions. Perhaps a bit of an introvert, stuck stowing away in a callused shell of isolation. Maybe it was possible to hide out here.

He sighed then, his expression loosening. He looked down then back up at her, his brow knit with a sort of yearning melancholy. He took a step forward. ”Honestly, you… you reminded me of someone,” he said, sounding genuine. ”You look a lot like the girl that ran away from my den last night. Wanna gimme a kiss? Charity for a broken soul?” the act dropped quick as a broad, fang-filled grin split across his face and he advanced towards her with no intention of stopping. To hell with anyone who said he had no sense of humor! Maybe she'd get grossed out and run away. Svetovid was quite bad with the ladies.

His words made her laugh, elongated tail swinging behind her in glee. "Oh no, I have never had to fish, dear stranger." she said with another chuckle, daring to take one step towards him. She was growing more and more bold, but was still on alert for an attack. Maybe that's what she wanted, to test this guys bite. His bark was something else, but not everyone could back that up. But he just kept talking, and the pale woman found a lot of humor in his words. "A stalker? Now, that's hardly a compliment." Mercy said with a tsk of her tongue. "I am merely... crafty. One has to be always on high alert, or you end up with some nasty scars." She said, her head tossing back over her shoulder, gesturing to the large V shaped scar that adorned her shoulders and part of her back. She had let down her guard once against a fight with a tiger, and he had left her with some pretty nasty wounds. Now, if only she could get herself some claws like that, it would make fighting so much more deadly.

Still the male did not smile, that rather grumpy look set hard on his face. Well now, that wasn't a very becoming look. Trying to match his features with a deep seeded frown, she let out a haruf as her shoulders sagged. "Don't you get tired of being grumpy all the time?" she asked, her smile returning to her face. It would certainly start to hurt after all of that! But, all of the sudden his face became less line covered and more... soft. If that was even the right word to describe it. Her ears perked, hopeful that she would find out something about him, but as soon as his later words came she frowned, although her ears pulled back slightly. "Well now! It would seem that you do have some humor mixed in with that grumpy old man act you have going on." She said, the tip of her salmon tongue poking out in a mocking gesture. She had to admit that his grin kind of gave her the creeps, but it was better than that ugly frown, right? Pretending to study his mouth, she brought up a paw to her mouth and showed her teeth, tapping against the middle ones. "You have something stuck there, you know." She teased, seeing if he would fall for it.

"Speech"
'thoughts'

She continued to brush off each of his jabs with ease, proceeding to instead flaunt a scar. He gave it a glance, grey eyes wandering along the – alright – impressive length of pink flesh. He only allowed himself to wonder briefly about it, his attention returning to her face, which he promptly frowned at. As much as he didn’t want to, her persistence was getting to him. Just what was he doing here? Who was she? And what funny business was she up to hanging around him??? It was actually starting to make him a bit suspicious…

She provided a somewhat cute mockery of him, which he arched an indignant brow at. Her smile and question caught him a bit off-guard though. ”Uh.” Well, when he thought about it, he guessed so. But only when he thought about it. Otherwise, it had become so twisted and ingrained in his personality – like poor posture warping a spine – that it simply fell to his natural disposition. He shrugged. ”It comes naturally…”

She seemed to call his bluff on the tongue-advance, and he stopped a few steps short of her, frowning once again to be accused of having humor. And grumpy old man? He was only three. ”Hmph,” he grunted. He blinked when she brought up a foot and tapped her teeth. His brows knit briefly with some fleeting hint of embarrassment, and he dipped his head down, rubbing his tongue against his teeth and the rubbing the back of his forepaw against the front of his muzzle. It didn’t register that it might have been some kind of joke until he stood straight again and felt infinitely more embarrassed. He stared straight on at the female, gaining a sort of dead look to his eyes as he felt his face heat, his expression empty. Most probably didn’t enjoy getting got, but for someone so sour, it was quite the blunder. And there wasn’t really anything he could do about it aside from try to not take it so hard. He clenched his jaw, his ears falling back on his head as his brow sank down again to crinkle his forehead and he turned away with a grunt.

He had nothing to quip back with as he stalked away a few steps, the tip of his tail quivering at his ankles like a cat’s. Then, he stopped. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, seeking to see if the female was still there. ”You coming? I’m getting out of this fuckin’ desert.”

There was nothing here for him anyways. And maybe… just maybe he wouldn’t mind the stubborn company.

It would seem that she was ever so slowly taking down his walls, and she was just as stubborn as he was. Never before at Mercy met a match just like him, and she had to admit that she was having a lot of fun. Mercy loved to get a rise out of wolves, and seemed to have a knack for making enemies. Friends, not so much. But there was something about his stone set grump face that really made her want to keep trying. Plus, it was fun to watch him get more and more flustered at her. That's right buddy, she wasn't backing down either!

The dame nearly lost it when he fell for her little trick, her teeth sinking into her lower lip to keep back the worst of it. With more delight in her eyes, her elongated tail worked quickly behind her. There! She had gotten through, at least a little bit. But the silver man was quick to move on, saying that he was leaving the desert. Feeling a tad bit crest-fallen, she was about to walk the other way when he turned and looked over his shoulder at her, asking if she was coming. Shock coated her black marked face as she nodded slowly, trotting up until she stood at her side. It would seem that she wasn't the only one with tricks up her metaphoric sleeve. "And just where are we goin'?" she asked, curiosity taking over her features as she followed the near stranger out of the desert.

-exit Mercy-

"Speech"
'thoughts'