Poking the Bear

ashe    Ashe did not sleep very often. She thought that perhaps she avoided sleep more than she avoided her family and friends - and that meant a considerable amount. She gave in only when her body demanded it of her, and it never ended with her feeling rested. She couldn't remember the last time she felt truly rested. Today.. today her body would not allow her to keep moving. She didn't go... home. She was still afraid of calling it that, of believing that it could be. She knew he was somewhere nearby, he always was when she got like this. He let her be, but his smell was never far - snowy pines and sea mist.    With that in her head, she had found herself a crook in the roots of a tree to curl up in, one that was vaguely familiar. Likely in her time of living out in the woodlands she had spent a night or two there already. She was dozing in a light sleep, curled tightly into a ball with her nose tucked under her tail, when heavy pawsteps invaded her sleep.    The wolf didn't move. Didn't stir but to softly let her tail fall away from her nose. Nostrils flared delicately as she pulled in the air, and her heart froze in her chest. That was the scent of her father that overtook everything else, smothering her senses with sudden ice. She had to tell herself not to tremble as she remained entirely still, and she couldn't decide if she wanted him to miss her somehow and keep moving... or if she wanted him to stop. To look at her, even if it was a look full of hate. Just look at her.    The bear bellowed, and the she wolf instinctively sprang into action with a snarling yelp. She lurched from her place in the roots and into the center of the small clearing as birds cawed and fled the treetops. Ashe's claws raked into the blanket of dead and rotted leaves on the forest floor as she set golden eyes upon the massive black bear. Her heart raced wildly as Devrum paused before her, began lumbering forward with dripping teeth and heaving breath. Run. Run, run, run, run! Every instinct was roaring at the wolf to flee the larger predator and survive.    But those were the mis-matched eyes of her father set upon her. And... if he was going to kill her, she told him she would let him. She had meant it. She wanted to whine, and her chest ached powerfully with her lungs full of the bear's scent - her father's scent. The wolf backed up a few steps from the bear with wide eyes, ears pinned back as she crouched low, belly near brushing the ground with her tail curling between her legs. She loved him, but he hated her, gods, and he was going to make good on his promise. She had run from Alistair one too many times, had hurt him, and Dev was going to kill her. She had hoped that staying away from everyone would be enough.. and she wondered for a moment if she should have just gone to him to seek out her end when Alistair first left. A low sound growled from her throat, the whites of her eyes showing as she looked up at the bear.