Forest eyes -- Etojo

[Etojo]

During the last few days and nights, he caught himself thinking more than once why his part of the forest had begun to buzz with a little too much equine activity for his liking. He was an unsociable beast, and whilst that had not always been the case, he’d grown fond of his lonely days and peaceful evenings without the judging or mocking eyes of others. He trudged along one of his well-trodden paths, no more than churned wet soil now. Great trees and wildness growing on either side, healthy and miraculously untouched. Somewhere close, and into that wild flowed a stream, where he would soak the mud off his legs and wash away the gooey remnants of his last meal which still clung to the sides of his mouth. A hint of starlight peeked through the canopy, the air a chilly crisp and the ambience of the forest whisper quiet. A perfect, lonely night. Until it wasn't... There was an unexpected motion, a flitter of something caught fleetingly out of the side of his eye, his ear twitching simultaneously to catch an impossibly light thud thud. In an instant his body was tense, his muzzle to the air as his nostrils flared to inhale the scent of whatever it was that was out there. He heard it come closer, he smelt it. And as quick as anything on land, all agile grace and power, Etojo spun himself around with a snarl. WHACK There was a crack of wood against wood, the sound of tiny branches snapping followed by a sudden burning sensation which sent tingles of pain down the entirety of his neck. AARGGH It was bloody agony. But before he had time to make any sense of it, out of the dark stillness she came at him… Ghostly pale and wraithlike, the dark gloom of night unable to swallow her. But oh boy right now Etojo wished it had. He sucked in a pained and ragged breath, the chill of the air a second punch to his lungs which made him either cough violently or curse. Probably both. Whatever the wheezy guttural sound was, it spoke more plainly than any sentence he could form right now. ‘hello’ she says, all blameless and friendly. He tried to blink the pain away from his eyes so he could peer down at her properly. His watery orange glare roaming over her. She was soft and delicate where he was hard and ragged. There was a lightness in the way she held herself, whereas he was just sour. But most significant to him, imbued on her fur was a scent he had smelt somewhere before, a scent he was certain he’d once liked. But what was it? For a moment he retreated into himself, forgetting the pain and her intrusion, the look on his angular face one of deep thought. It was the only reason she held him there. The only reason. And as such it wouldn’t come as a surprise to those who knew him to expect anything more from his unrefined mouth. “What do you want?”

@[Saedìs]