Growing roses in the disarray

Maea

And I only needed one more touch
Another taste of devouring rush

Dare she even think it? This was kind of fun. In a teeth bared, tail swishing and blood thirsty kind of way. Hearing Remi's menacing roars echo in the night, Maea began to do the same - awkwardly at first, but with mounting confidence when nothing jumped out to scold her for making noise and taking up space. At some point she lost track of where she was going, whether she made the choices in the path she took or if the maze was deciding it for her; and somehow it didn't matter so much. There was just the simple pleasure in chasing the thrill, or the puh in this instance, until catching it became the only thing occupying her thoughts.

The center of the maze opened up before her rather abruptly. Bursting out of the narrow windings at breakneck speed, the tigress barely had time to register the pixiu appearing at the opposite end of the clearing before the boar, driven into a terrored frenzy, finally grew tired of running. With a ear splitting squeal it set its head down and came charging at Maea, who had a split second to choose between leaping aside or pouncing.

She chose to pounce. Which, in hindsight, may not have been the wisest option. She realized the mistake the moment the boar barreled into her ribcage and knocked her flat onto the ground.

But the room was so quiet
Whose side am I on?

Base by Skylark, Art by Midjourney