Awake and Dreaming.......

[- s h a i t a n;;]

OOC // I was hoping so! I think they would be great together.

Shaitan chuckled softly, shrugging his muscled shoulders in response. As they walked, the forest began to thin. Trees were farther spead apart and long, dry grass which breached the snows clutches danced in the sweet breeze. The dark wolf tipped his large, black maw to the sky, his keen nares twitching. His eyes fluttered as he concentrated, a smile curling up his face. Sure enough, down wind in the distance was a herd of mule deer, breaking through refrozen slabs of snow to get to the grass underneath. Shaitain dropped to his belly, his slender legs coiled like springs, his thick ropes of muscle winding up.

"I'm hungry, are you?" It was barely more than a whisper.

[Wolfbane]

Dream nodded, and rolled in the snow, turning all but invisible. "I'll try to sneak up on them from the back." Dream, without saying anything more, stalked over the snow, trying not to walk on the frozen parts.

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The darker wolf lowered himself further into the snow, appearing to be nothing more than a black strip upon the pale surface, his thick mane twirling in the slight breeze. He crept forward with as much grace and stealth as he could muster, his heart galloping. His keen ears tipped forth as he noticed a few deer grow uneasy, but otherwise did not acknowledge either of the wolves in the silent ambush.

Shaitan had moved as close to the herd of deer as he possibly could. His throat burned with the desire for hot blood, and his sensitive ears relished the tune the moist, alive melody of many heartbeats, all strangely in sync. He surpressed a moan of longing and hunger, his stomach twisting into a knot as he lifted his bristly nose from the snow, his wide emerald eyes seeking out Dream. She was hard to see, but he would know when she struck. The tightly knit group of deer would scatter like a spilled back of marbles, racing chaotically in different directions before moving back into a herd like formation. It was in that critical sliver of time that he would need to significantly cripple one herd member before she rejoined the others and they would all make a clean break.

He'd been through this process so many times before, he knew it perhaps should feel like another tedious task to him. But it never did. Each time it whipped his excited heart into a frenzy, and lit his muscles alive with an instinctive electricity. It made his blood crusted lips drip and his pupils dilate wildly. There was nothing quite like the thrill of the hunt.

And in all but a few seconds, he was to experience it again. It was time to divide and conquer.

[Wolfbane]

Dream stalked from behind, sneaking up behind an old buck. Her paws slipped under the slightly crunchy snow, and she waited for a signal, or any other sign that she should strike. She had hunted alone so many times, now it is time to hunt together. She lowered her lithe body and prepared to pounce.

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It was an explosive reaction that erupted in less than a second. Shaitain bolted from the underbrush, his delicate ears pinned flat against his skull. His hungry maw twisted into a snarl, flashing a row of jagged, lethal fangs. He did not lunge straight at them, but rather he forced them to scatter amidst their chaos and shock. The herd did exactly what was expected of them; split apart before clumsily trying to regroup.

It was also no challenge deciding which specimen would make the easiest meal. Stumbling about the outskirts of the herd was a young female, her slender foreleg damaged from some kind of impact. Perhaps she was a strong doe never considered for prey before that accident ruined her. Unfortunately, the world was cruel. She was now nothing more than walking meat.

Shaitan lunged, snapping and growling as he slipped into the space between her and the herd. The young doe had two choices - to force her way past the nightmarish dark wolf, or the other way into the forest, where Dream had concealed herself among the brush. The choice was clear - head in the direction with no visible threat.

Shaitan roared, snapping his powerful jaws, prompting the deer to race in the other direction, exactly in line with where Dream was hidden.

[Wolfbane]

As the doe bounded towards her, Dream lunged forward and nearly ripped the doe's head off with a powerful bite to the neck. The doe fell and lay there, dead and bleeding. Dream stepped back to let Shaitan have his first bite. She smiled, showing her now bloody teeth. "Wasn't that hard, was it? Shaitan?" She mused as she looked at the limp deer.

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Shaitan grinned, flashing a coordinated row of saw like fangs as he trotted over to the kill. The appetizing scent of warm blood spilled against the woody loam teased his stomach as he halted beside Dream, examining the deep, lethal wounds carved into the doe's sleek neck.

"It was not hard at all. In fact, it was very efficient team work." He commented, feeling the heat rise up his throat as she allowed him to have the first bite. He leaned down and sunk his razor teeth into her haunches, feeling them slide effortlessly and lock into her flesh. He tore back, opening up the area of the most prime meat for Dream. He chewed hungrily, amazed at the enchanting taste of the young doe. Meat like this was rare to come across.

Shaitan stepped back, his tongue cruising over his bloodied lips, savouring every last drop of his bite. "You should have the haunches - after all, you did finish the kill with impressive grace." He offered, sitting gingerly by the doe's head and observing the blank, dead eyes and her lolling tongue. At least she had it quick.

[Wolfbane]

Dream smiled again and dipper her head forward, slicing the flesh with ease and ripping a hunk off. "This is the best meat I've had in a while." She commented, gulping down the bloody meat. "All I've had to eat so far are scrawny little rabbits." She laughed, a low, tingly laugh, remembering thier squeals as she ripped thier throats out. She ripped off part of the leg meat, removing one of the hooves in the process. The doe lay motinless, feeling no pain, as it was dead. A cold wing ruffled the still fur on the chest. Dream lifted her nose, sniffing the air. She shook her head, and finished her meat peice.

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"It is good, isn't it?" Shaitain commented, his tongue flickering across his bloodied maw. "It's not often that you run into a young doe that has been injured but managed to keep her muscle and fat on." Shaitan nosed the doe's slender chest, his jagged fangs raking her fur. Blood sprung from the tracks his teeth left, still warm and ever so sweet. He pulled off hot slabs of meat, chewing it slowly and letting the taste of a replenishing meal stroke his taste buds and eliminate his gnawing hunger. It really had been a long time, for he had been living off skinny hares for what seemed like a thousand moons.

In less than an hour, all that was left of the doe's neck and chest were snapped and bloody bones, cleared of any tissue. Shaitan's insides were pleasantly warm and full as he gnawed the doe's sternum, leaving hundreds of tiny divets where his teeth had mangled the bone. When he grew bored, he tipped back, lying casually on his side, the mutilated sternum and a few ribs cradled between his paws.

"That was delicious. Kudos to us for such a find." He caught Dream's gaze again, smiling coyly in her direction.

[Wolfbane]

Dream looked up from gnawing the doe's head. Dream flashed her teeth. "Very delicious. Rabbits are to tough and stringy in winter. I prefer them in summr, when they taste plump and juicy..." She was lost in thought. She remembers ending her first rabbit's life, shaking it back and forth roughly. She absent-mindedly broke trough the skull and began munching the brain. She sucked up an eye by mistake while eating.

[- s h a i t a n;;]

"They are. Everything seems more meager during the winter months." Shaitain muttered, arching to peer at his dark hide which was uncomfortably tight around his ribs. But he knew things would be better. Not only would winter soon pass, but life itself would become better. Spring brought a fresh opportunities and inspiration to create new life out of the death and despair left in winter's grey tracks.

But even now, locked deep within a wintry prison, his heart was at peace and his body was replenished. It was a combonation of feelings so rare, exotic and exciting that it was like a drug. Shaitan leaned back onto the soft turf, reveling in his pure and unmarred euphoria, his emerald eyes fluttering shut. He could feel rays of sunshine, spilling in between cracks in the pine canopy and warming his skin, bringing back memories of warm summer nights. The smell of the wood was calming and simple, reminding him that the forest, huge, eternal and wise, was something that would remain constant. Something unchangeable and reliable. Always there.

Nothing could defeat the simple fact that he really wasn't alone anymore. Although she was just an ivory maiden that he'd met only moments ago, Shaitan knew Dream's intuition and ability to read the hearts of others was something that one rarely crossed on a day to day basis.

Sitting up, Shatain blinked a few times, uncoiling his slender legs and glancing over to Dream. He had another question for her.

"So, how long have you been travelling alone like this?"

[Wolfbane]

Dream thought for a moment, then spoke, speaking carefully, "A few months, perhaps. I lost my family in the Fall.....why do you ask?" She doe's decapitated head fell from her mouth as she reach for another hunk of meat. She chomped, before swallowing and laying down.

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Shaitan rolled over, his husky forepaws resting on his round, sated belly. He writhed in the dirt, feeling the earth soothe his back. After a minute, climbed up, a huge tremor travelling right up his spine as he shook wildly. Clouds of dust leaped from his matted pelt, returning it to its usually jetty hue. He then stretched his weary spine, his vertebrae loosening pleasantly, as the rest of his body unfurled in a mighty stretch. It wasn't often that the dark wolf had time for such luxury and self indulgence. Shaitan knew the importance of treating the body with respect, but when the mind itself was in knots, it was hard to acknowledge the rest of himself.

He plodded over to Dream, his tangled tale swinging amiably as he sat beside her.

"I saw just curious. I find you fascinating." He murmured, his lips cheating his mind as they flashed a small, warm smile.

[Wolfbane]

Dream smiled. "Most would. It's not every day you see someone like me. Mother said I was basically unique." She llooked into the emeralds that were Shaitan's eyes, and she knew that he was already in love with her. Either that, or he felt some affection for her. She licked at a paw and at her chest fur. It was true was was very unusual, but she hoped that Shaitan did not have another wolf in his life. "Shaitan, have you ever had another wolf in your life?"