the boys who kiss and bite
they are the brilliant ones
who speak and write;
It was nice to be able to share. She hated when a food shortage forced her to be greedy. Food was a good icebreaker, and she loved making friends. He finally started moving in her direction and she felt the familiar thrill of being close to someone new. Sometimes there was an instant attraction - something like sparks - and she would pine for the company when they parted; but for all her loves, she had never found anyone she couldn’t live without. She was always able to walk away. She had always been a self-sufficient girl; she just had many attractive friends.
She was not disappointed in her newest acquaintance.
The morning sun paid favor to his pitch-black fur, casting shadows into the creases between his muscles. His long legs swung forward gently, his walk easy, but their strength was hard to hide. He wasn’t much taller than she was, but she found herself looking up at him through her eyelashes, smiling sweetly as she did so. It was a simple pleasure for her, watching an attractive male draw close, and she sometimes became quite lost in it. When he looked into her eyes again, she blinked and innocently glanced away, as if she hadn’t been admiring his powerful approach.
“Heart,” she said, watching the breeze play in the upper branches of the trees, “do you live in the forest? Or with a pack?” She pressed her paw onto the fish’s tail and bit into its head, gradually pulling it apart at the middle. She nudged the tail end toward him. “I like the forest, myself,” she volunteered. “You can easily take care of yourself here.” It was true: food was abundant, if one was fast or clever, and the lake was a constant source of water – during the heat of Moladion summers, that was critical.
She decided not to tell him that her life here was a temporary one. Even now, she longed for the gurgle of her mountain-fed creek, the loud chatter of her swamp frogs, and the cozy thicket tucked deep into the trees. She could be fast there. She could be invisible there. She was home there. This place was unfamiliar still; she hadn’t spent a lifetime here. But she didn’t tell Heart these things. He wouldn’t care to hear her quibbles about these trees versus those, this water versus that. She rarely shared anything about herself. Her joy was in flirting and vanishing; no one ever knew her, and no one ever followed.
they sing in clever tongues
oh, how my knees go weak
to be the one;
H U S H
five ** soul ** home ** |