OOC

Häti & Narev —

---

Draugur found himself traveling with someone.

As the pair moved, Draugur would find himself glancing toward his shoulder, making sure Narev was still there. But his glances were distant — fleeting. Almost as if he didn't care that Narev was there, but was clearly very motivated to know that he was.

You like this heat? The complaint lifted easily from his lips, paws burning on the sand as the sun grew full in the sky above. It was vastly different from the clouded mountains he'd spent much of his life in. When you grew up in a pack of albinos and ermine pelts, the shadows were ... your home.

To be in the sun felt ... invasive.

Pointed.

Brutal.

Draugur's tongue would fall from the side of his mouth, mouth agape in a natural pant as he glared toward his travel companion. And the Revenant would run his tongue over his teeth, inadvertently growing hungry as he recalled the taste of Narev on his tongue. His smile would widen, reserved for Narev's eyes, his weakness on display for a few secret moments before he remembered his ire.

This desert sucked, didn't it?

He could feel the heat on his ears practically burning, and the sun had barely risen.

And the Revenant would remember his anger, snarling into the sunrise. We should find shade. It was less of a suggestion and more of a demand request.

---

Where his boy seemed to wilt in the sun like a dying, dehydrated flower, Narev was thriving. A wolf of the desert through and through, Narev wondered if perhaps he had some 'yote in his blood too. The warmer it got, the lighter his steps felt, and the sun was like an old friend, beckoning him to a place that wasn't quite home, but felt more familiar than anything else he'd seen in this world.

"Could stand to be a bit hotter," he told the other man, fiery eyes glinting with mischief and something else as he glanced Draugur's way.

Watchful eyes would not miss the ignition switch in the white wolf's mind, and Narev wondered if - or when - he might act on it. Was blood truly enough, or did he want something a bit more... intimate?

A tiny flicker of interest stirred in Narev's belly, and he stopped that line of thinking immediately.

"Yes, of course. Forgot how delicate you were," he teased lightly, steering the both of them toward a nearby copse of trees - a temporary safe haven from the intense sunlight. He paused by the shadow's edge, gesturing playfully for Draug to enter first.

"After you, princess."

OOC

Häti & Narev —

---

Draugur's agitation grew with the temperature.

A creature of the cold could not withstand this for long.

He would die here.

And he would haunt the desert.

He would haunt Narev.

"Yes, of course. Forgot how delicate you were," came the tease, and Draugur would pull his lips upward in a half-sneer. As much as Draugur would never admit it out loud, he would relinquish control to Narev in these obscure moments. Yes. Draugur was totally and completely out of his element.

He was uncomfortable.

"After you, princess."

And now he was embarrassed.

Don't fuck with me, the Revenant exhaled, but there was a touch of play in that growl ... in the way his brow moved as he pressed his body against Narev's in their synchronized movements. Fangs would reach, tugging at the tufts of Narev's red fur that were so very accustomed to the desert.

But the shade felt good.

Draugur would feel the relief instantly, stretching himself to expand his form and release the heat from his white pelt. But they would not be allowed their solitary reprieve for long ... for as the pair settled into the reprieve, another would appear. Someone would bloom from the dunes, a rusty colored female who would approach the pair with a flickering intensity.

An intensity meant for Narev.

There was recognition in the gaze of the unfamiliar coyote.

An intensity in her gaze. A shortness in her gait.

It was something powerful.

And Draugur felt himself recoil, tail twitching and ears flicking.

"You're here..." and finally, the creature spoke.

And Draugur would refrain from acting on the hot flash of emotion that spurred from within him, his mind remembering the sweetness of blood. Of ... coyote blood. Instead, all he could do was lift himself up from his stretch, demonstrating the extent of his physical power. He stood near Narev, loose strands of ember fur between his teeth.

A soft claim.

But he knew that was nothing compared to emotional baggage.

Draugur had already lost, hadn't he?

His stance, however, half-tilting over Narev, suggested otherwise.

---