i'll find a spot that's just for me and see if i can cope without an ounce of pain

[Anastazja]

the likelihood just frightens me and it's easier to hide
but i can't ignore it endlessly, eventually things die

Somewhere between nowhere and where, beneath the strong-arms of this tree, lays a little tiger, stretched out in the sun, shine dappling its striped coat. Its eyes are closed, all is quiet except for the chatter of the birds. Bright birds, in the sun, winged and merry, bright, aloof, sharp-eyed. They have not seen the cat, or else they are simply not worried by it. Rightly so.

Anastazja has grown. She has changed. She is tired of growth and change. She just wants to lay in the half-shade. Her family have left, but there's no sadness. She's not sad. She's not anything. She's just a little tiger, under a tree, silent.

[Circinae]

oh, my love, don't forsake me. take what the water gave me ..

Little tiger, meet little wolf.

Circinae is slipping quietly by when she first spies the creature. Her mind takes in the image of the sunning beast, supplies her with its technical name, but cannot make a connection to any living shifter she knows. Perhaps it was Terra, the Alpha’s daughter, returned from a visit with Circy’s brother Wyrm and here to bask in her newly-mastered powers. Or it could be Reagan, the shunned magician, home again and under Ruan’s good graces once more. “Or it could be a stranger, much too comfortable in your home…” She thinks accusingly, slender body motionless as her brown head dips and her blue eyes peer out from the shadows.

Only one way to find out. She yips first, softly and solely with the intent to warn her unsuspecting companion of her arrival, before bouncing lightly from her cover and out into the open space. Predator to predator they now have the opportunity to assess each other, Circinae more than willing to let the confrontation end peacefully if the tigress wanted it. She’s alert, ears tense and tail curled above her hips with one paw raised, but all the same her fur remains unruffled over her spine. Assertive, not aggressive.

“Should you be here?”

Circinae