The fact that he made no move to avoid the impact of her attack spoke volumes about their relationship, and she howled with laughter as they tumbled together. Gray legs mingled together, only their slightly different tones differentiating them from one another with the occasional flash of gray, black, and brown. Her bright laughter continued as they rolled to a stop with her slightly larger body covering his, though her breath caught momentarily as he ‘hugged’ her and pressed his cold nose into her cheek in their normal way of greeting. She turned her brilliant blue eyes to his, crinkled around the edges from her smile before she lowered her nose into the soft fur of his cheek, nuzzling slower and longer perhaps than was necessary. “Hi,” she whispered before nipping his ear in a flash and scurrying off of him breaking whatever heavy spell had fallen so suddenly.

Her face fell into a wide, relaxed smile as she watched him right himself, appreciating for the first time perhaps the way his lean body moved. His words caused a final huff of laughter to fall from her lips. “Practice makes perfect, you know!” There was more than a hint of pride in her voice, after six years of adventures she did consider herself rather well versed in the art of trickery mostly thanks to her partner in crime here. Excitement sparked in her eyes as she watched him dance around her with his voice ringing against the rock, her long tail beginning to carve wide arcs as she half lowered herself into a bow out of sheer exhilaration. “No, no, done all of those before.” She padded toward him slowly, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “Do you believe in… Monsters?”

She let her words sink in, watching his face for signs of disbelief or worse ridicule before she continued. “I’ve heard rumor that monstrously sized beasts have been seen in the free lands. Bears and pumas and who knows what else! I think we should investigate.” True it wasn’t their usual trickery, but adventure was adventure and with him by her side who knew what might happen.