The wolf grinned wide, his tail giving an excited swish at the teen’s obvious change in coloration.
This was fun.
He hadn’t come across much of anyone in a long while, and now he had come across not one but two visitors, for as he had implied, the teen hadn’t been the first person the wolf had encountered that day.
Why, just a few hours ago he had been searching for roots and small creatures to chase around when he heard someone else approach the fork in the trail. The wolf liked to lurk there, where he knew people would stop to collect themselves and decide on a path to go down. But lately, not a lot of people came through.
He had just assumed it was because of him. After all, who really wanted to associate themselves with a talking wolf?
***
Fuchsia was quite used to the smells of the forest. Which is why he was so surprised when this new smell melded into the air passing along on the breeze he was playing downwind of.
It was like mint and leather; still very much like the woods, but at the same time nothing like what he was used to. He carefully crept beneath the leaves and small branches of the underbrush in search of the curious scent. And when he found it, he was pleasantly surprised.
A lonely looking man, in a brown, leather jacket looked from one path to the other. He didn’t appear to be hurried or lost like all the others who came across the intersection. In fact, he seemed to be appreciating his surroundings—genuinely taking in the sights and smells around him—much like Fuchsia was doing too.
When the man ran his hand through his white hair, the strands fell back over the sharp features of his face. And when he twisted to look back the way he had come, Fuchsia prompted him to look back.
“See something you like?”
The man followed the voice that had spoken to find the pair of pale eyes looking up at him; much to the wolf’s surprise, a polite smile was cast in his direction.
“Hello there. My, what curious eyes you have.”
Fuchsia’s tail lightly wagged at the sound of the pure Nepenthean accent. He popped his head out of the tree line, his ears poking up from the crown of his head and his nose twitching as he confirmed the scent once more. He grinned.
“All the better to see you with my dear.” The man watched him intently but for the most part remain entirely unphased. Weird. Fuchsia’s grin fell away and he raised a brow at him. “A talking wolf doesn’t freak you out?”
“Frankly? I’ve seen things much more frightening than you.”
“Oh?”
The wolf leapt from the tree line, brandishing his clawed hands in a readied stance with a pointed tooth snarl. When that didn’t elicit a reaction, he tried for a half-hearted growl. The man didn’t so much as flinch.
He pouted. “Nothing?”
“Are you quite done?”
Even trying not to smile, the dimples formed against the curve of the man’s cheeks. The wolf sat back on his heels, his tail curling around him as he became unsure of what else to do. The man continued to watch him, still in no rush to go down either trail, but the consistency of the eye contact made Fuchsia frown.
“Well, aren’t you just a regular Prince Charming?” he flatly deduced.
***
His thoughts broke when he realized that he was frowning again. Having forgotten that he wasn't alone, he looked up to see that the teen continued to stare at him in horror. He scoffed.
“I was kidding, you know?”
He stood upright to sniff in the direction of the grey bookbag again, ignoring the girl’s sound of surprise, until she took a full step back and glared at him over her frustrated blush.
“That wasn’t funny.”
“Oh? I thought it was.”
He shrugged and crouched down again, scratching his ear as he looked away from her. He could tell that he was bothering her, but he couldn’t help himself. Something in the bag smelled nice and sweet, and if the bag was for who she said it was…
“Do I get to know what’s in the bag if I take you to him?”
“What?”
“You said he was in a cabin with a green roof. I know where that is,” he clarified. “Can I see what’s in the bag if I take you there?”
For the first time, her expression shifted away from being fear as his ears tucked themselves against his wavy brown hair and his pale eyes tilted up towards her in earnest. It was very amusing to see her squint at him suspiciously.
“Why do you want to know so bad?”
His tail wagged lightly.
“Curiosity.” That wasn’t a complete lie.
Though the teen contemplated his offer, he could see that she was still wary of his insistence and his fanged grin. So instead, he batted his lashes and let out a soft, cute whine. And while she began to waver, he continued to think about how interesting it was that the man from earlier hadn’t seemed the least bit phased by him at all.
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