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Excuse the total lack of italics which I totally whored out in this xDD;;;


Rain.

My eyes wouldn’t turn away from the planes of crisp, chilled leaves as they fluttered in their place above me. This cold was bizarre. I know I should have recognized it; there has been cold before. But not like this. Not so soon, the warm wasn’t done yet. The human must have realized this as well, it--he, I must remind myself--murmured softly to itself more often. Foreign notions that were once words bubble out. It was weird. Seeing him speaking to no one. It got to the point that I would nudge into him when it started. To this he would kick softly at me and bark out something along the lines of ‘talking’ and ‘breaking silence’.

Translating his words was becoming less painful, gestures becoming more familiar. I’m almost ashamed, am I becoming human? No. We’re still different. I’m nothing like that monster whom kills my brothers with airstings. Soft growls bubble in the back of my throat at the very thought. He offers me an unsettled glance before readjusting his grip on the loudstingdeath. It clinked ominously. My lips sealed themselves, fixating it with a hard look. Growl. Look. Badbad. No loudstingdeath. No airstings. Quiet. Look. Wait. Quiet.

His grip relaxed fractionally on the offending item, I jerked forwards. Pressing closer to the ground. Low is safe. High airstings can catch you easily. Low is safe. I stay low. A soft clicking of the humans’ mouth drew my attention upwards before pausing, realizing he wasn’t there. Tossing a glance over a clothed shoulder I found he had paused, focus behind us. I turned back to look as well. Nothing. Fodder rocking in the distance, languidly pacing themselves. Aimlessly. I growled, regaining his eyes before I pointedly looked forwards.

“Πάμε [Go]?” No response. The human just turned back to him, gesturing upwards a moment before stating almost coolly.

“Es wird Regen.” It will do something? Confusion swept about me, I cocked my head upwards as well. An overcast had settled in, almost ominous. Wind beckoned from behind us, tousling baggy clothes. Instinctively I found my hands drawing to the shelter, drawing it further across my face in an attempt to banish the cold. The human had the same sort of idea; drawing his own shelter, that had previously been lying flat, up. Tightening his grip on his pack he turned down to me once more, nodding to proceed. A moment I stared at him, hesitant. To this he puffed out in exasperation, continuing on himself.

Not to be outdone, of course, I scuttled into action. Wriggling to the front of our two-man pack. Snorting over my shoulder at him. A soft, amused, snort of his own met hypersensitive ears. Coiling my hands in on themselves I tensed my back legs, readying to jump. Eyes narrowed in disdain, ridicule.

“Ey, ey, ey! Tun Sie nicht, dass wir, brauchen um ein sicheres Haus vor dem Regen zu finden.” My dimmed conscious flounced about ‘sicheres Haus’; reddoor. ‘Nicht’; disapproval word. I knew enough to piece that he wanted a reddoor--and for me to stay. Barking, I allowed a response.

“Δεν ένα κατοικίδιο [Not a pet].” He must have noted the gruff tone in my voice because he waved a hand in an almost off manner. Spitting into the dirt.

“Gut, gehen. Bekommen Sie getränkt, wenn Sie Sie dumm ******** wollen.” ‘Fine, go? Go get’ something, something ‘dumb ********.’ I stopped trying to grasp his words after this, the gist is enough. Snarling in response I sprang off, I could feel his attention glued to my retreating figure until I was sure he was far out of sight. Only then did I allow myself to slow my pace. Food. Hunger. Growl. Runjumppounce. Instinctively my mouth dropped, inhaling through till the glands there tasted the air. It was moist. Foreboding. Water. Skywater. Snuffing I shook myself, refocusing. Food now. Shelter later.

The amount of time after I’d parted from my human was indeterminable. It was too short for another sun to rise, but it was more than enough time for the clouds to part. For the skywater to come. What began as a few glistening, chilly trinkets became sheets. A downpour. Not entirely uncommon, but far from welcome. I must have passed our last place together on the road at least four times. The scent had been dimmed by moisture--it was all but gone.

By the time I had caught a whiff of anything remotely human my shelter was soaked to the core. It was cold, hindering. I realize that tearing it off would have been a far better choice, yet, some baser instinct told me to be shameful. I kept the garments on till I found mud had soaked too far into them; it was almost to the point in which I could no longer runjumppounce. Panicked, unsteady fingers lacerated thick cloth soon after this revelation. As if the shelter had become dangerous, hazardous.

In a way it had. He needed to find his human. Where was his human? A soft whimper threatened to bubble forth before it donned, follow the road. So I did. Sepia hued irises flittering to the abruptly passing scenery. Draining it for any signs of life. Nothing. Nonono. Search. Growl. Runjumppounce. Smell. Prey? Search. Growl. It was as if scampering through hyper drive, skywater distorting my senses. Overworking them. It made my head throb. Shelter. Need out of wind. I know this, stuffing the human to the back of my mind I turn to the buildings lining the road; they were sparse. One, maybe two, every long walk. Hour? Words as such were shoved to the pits of his abysmally dismal conscious, not now. Don’t think. Shelter. Shuddering softly as a chill of wind brushed bare, soaked flesh I lurched forwards. Out of the cold. Out of the skywater. The human would have to wait.

It was foreign, little spears of dawn woke me--the first lights of the morning breaking through soft, filthy glass in the kitchen I’d holed myself in. Underneath the table in a nest of cloth to warm myself. In my raid of the building I found a new shelter, it was thicker than the last; and was brown. With little white lines. Pulling it together I shuffled to the door, shoving it open with a blunt plane of shoulder. Beams of sunlight pelted hypersensitive eyes, instinctively I groped behind me to pull up the shelter. Human. Human. Human.

Allowing my jaw to part slightly I inhaled once more. Mentally sifting through the smells in search for his. My prey. I pause to allow myself to wallow in ridicule, shocked at my own urge to go back to that beast. With his ever present loudstingdeath, and airstings..the looming coil in my gut knotted over once more. I wanted his company. Company. Wrinkling the bridge of my nose I snarled absently. No, it was just nice to have around.

Misery loves company.

Jostling myself to attention I dropped to all fours, hands sinking ever so slightly in the saturated dirt, before cocking back and jumping. Searching. Back to the road, back to the place they last were together, then forward. Fasterfasterfaster. Morning gave way to noon, and noon slipped into dusk. There was still not a whiff of my target. My λεία. It make my stomach knot over with some foreign notion.

And then it was there. That familiar musk, it leeched the smells from the very land. So undeniably human it made my mouth water. Senses, once so bleached by the skywater, thrown into overkill. I shoved them aside, prowling closer to the source--a roadside shed of sorts. It was opened fractionally. The innards dark; I blinked thrice before pupils dilated enough to see.

There he was, propped against the opposing wall. Arm draping the loudstingdeath. I eyed it, was it awake? Watching me? The deep, soft breathing that resonated throughout the storeroom spoke that it was at rest as well. I didn’t tear my gaze from it as I inched forwards, pausing only when I found myself but a hairsbreadth from the human. He didn’t stir. His shelter was dry, as if he’d escaped the skywater. Outside yet another drizzle had picked up, shivering softly I turned from the entrance back to the human.

It would be so easy to kill. The scent clouded my glands, it overwhelmed. Hunger panged from the dark, I know I don’t need food now but you eat when opportunity presents…and did opportunity present. Offering the loudstingdeath an offhand look, waiting for it to spark to life and release airstings at my muses alone I paused. Waiting.

Nothing came.

Glancing back upwards I found myself raising, arm but inches from his neck. A jolt forwards and the meal would hold him over for maybe a week. No scavenging small prey. No more bushtails, or ringtails, or bighorns. A brash swallow rasps forth before a few moments of tense silence settle in. It would be so easy. So hungry. So delicious.

And just like that my body jolts backwards, as if singed. A soft hiss bubbling out before I could with strain myself. Settling back I curled around, shuffling away from him. Staring. Why can’t I kill you..gingerly my brow knotted. My head throbbed from excess thought. I’ll think about it later, after rest. At such a thought I rocked forward once more, crawling close once more, nestling with my back to the warmth of his leg. It took little time before my breath slowed, drifting off into a light unconsciousness. The sound of rain dazzling the tin roof over head like a twisted lullaby.