For a moment, fate herself holds her breath, though Cera is clueless as to why. He can't fathom the intensity of the wolf's stare, the intelligence that sharpens a gaze that sinks a hook into his gut and pulls. It's unnerving, but he can't look away. Like he is being forced to bear witness to the achingly human turmoil in the creature's eyes. He finds his own breath stuttering in his chest, feet planted to the earth as if magnetized by some powerful force. He should be leaving, slowly backing away even if it wasn't a wild wolf. Leave the creature to its free meal and circle back to his den to sleep away this strange encounter. But he can't.
Massive paws strike against the earth to the beat of his thundering heart, and Cera is almost relieved that it's going for the offered food. Except he's storming right past it, advancing upon Cera with the intensity of a creature possessed. Cera freezes, every muscle locking into place, but the posture of the wolf is...confusing. It's not aggressive, no growls or bristling nape, and it's so unbearably human that Cera's original assumption that he's simply a stuck Attuned comes back to the forefront of his mind.
Only to be immediately wiped away in a haze of senseless noise as a cool snout is pressed firmly against his hip, snuffling about in as proprietary a manner as a wolf can manage. Cera is struck through with trepidation and fear for half a moment, but the wolf goes no farther, circling around him almost angrily. But not? His shirt is grasped in sharp teeth, and a shock of laughter escapes as he's wrenched about by the hem, a human ragdoll for the beast to play with. Complacent and oddly trusting as the wolf wrests him about.
And then he drops limply to the earth, howling and squealing in the most horrendously human way, and Cera startles right out of his skin. Drops immediately to his knees and tentatively runs his hands over the wiry topcoat of the wolf, checking for any kind of injury that would prompt such a horrible gut-wrenching noise. When he finds none, he listens and can't help but stare in disbelief at the creature beneath his hands. What was it doing?! "It's okay! It's okay, I've got you, hush," he begs over the raucous noise. He certainly didn't think his name was that awful.
