Throw it all in my face [{Merida}]

[Merida]

Merida

from the ashes, a fire shall be awoken

Within the silent forest, there is movement beneath the large roots of a tall and formidable oak. Its branches are nearly bare, its leaves scattered around the forest floor in a heap of soft, deep brown. Beneath them, there is a flutter of movement amidst the dying and brittle leaves, and the ice that has formed on each and every one. The frigid air coils tightly around her vulpine form as first her snout and then her entire head emerges from the warmth of her burrow, the air sinking into the thick layers of her blazing orange fur. The sun finds her blinking and bleary eyes, fiery and set alight by the cold morning rays. She stands, bits of broken debris falling from around her shoulders and neck, while the dark stain of dirt holds fast to strands of her fur. The fox snorts gently, lifting her snout into the air and sampling the wind around her - scents of morning dew, dripping ice, and dead branches. She shakes herself, freeing her orange and white fur from random twigs and pieces of crumpled leaves.

Though she is small, more petite (fragile, even), she does not once think about her own life in the way that Crevan does. She is cunning and resourceful, her instincts forcing her to find shelter beneath the warmth of dirt and tree roots, curled beneath the ground where the cold could not reach her. Her thoughts never allowed for her to think anything should happen to Crevan; his large bulk would protect him from all types of weather (and all types of foes).

Her breakfast had been slimy worms within the cold dirt, her nose snuffling through it expertly with quick-digging of her slender paws. Many had dived deeper into the earth, leaving Merida only a choice between near-frozen ones or ones that were already dead. Smacking her lips, she lifts her head and shakes herself once more, the sunlight now more forceful as it attempts to peer through the thickness of the canopy above her. The morning frost is already starting to thaw, melting beneath golden rays and glittering with a solemn radiance.

A sound alerts her, and her whimsical gaze into the sun is cut short by the spritely way she dances away from the open, diving into the dying brush to hide between the brambles. Without the wolf, she is more apt to be sought after as prey, save for when the equines appeared. Her snout twitches, sampling the air as well as reacting to the thought of the black stallion she had met yesterday, wondering if he had come searching for her once more.

The tightness in her chest is relinquished as the form only known as Crevan’s comes into her view. Merida’s head pops up from her hiding place, surprised (but pleasantly) by his presence. She does not wait for him to pass her by, but bounds gracefully into his eyesight with a gentle leap onto his path before him. The fox looks up at him, the frozen behemoth, but only for a moment before she reaches onto her hind legs for the briefest of seconds to lick gently at his mouth. When her forelegs fall back into the damp earth, the white of her tail sashays behind her playfully. She is relaxed now, with the wolf at her side once again.

“It’s too cold for a swim,” she states matter-of-factly, ears falling backward unpleasantly as the taste of frozen ice flickers on her tongue, and sparkles across his massive grey body. He knows better. His eyes are dark, as hers are red, and she can see that there had been something wavering uncertainly beneath his. She did not know that it had been worry for her, of course.

@[Crevan]