5/13/2025, 6:16 PM
She had seen true evil - survived it more times than she cared to count. Panic crept at the edges of her consciousness with the stranger's encompassing weight over her, but Choumi knew it was only the leftovers of a much worse time in her life cropping up. Her lithe frame wriggled free of his grasp, and she bounced to her paws right before him, tail whipping through the disturbed snow surrounding them. The huntress shook her coat out, and that seemed to be that - she returned her gaze to the dark wolf's yellow one without a hint of grudge.
He spoke, then, filling the silence with woulda, coulda, shoulda's. Choumi had enough wishes to exhaust a thousand genies. She had yet to have any granted. The woman felt a little pity for the man - his desire for connection snuffed by her own limitations so quickly. As frustrated and upset about her mutism as she ever was, she didn't like showing her struggles with the issue to others. Chou shook her head gently, lowering her gaze to her dark, frosted paws.
His name came soon enough, and she visibly perked up at the information. Gekirin, and he had been recruited by the Empress. She offered a pleasant smile and nod to his point about Izumi.
She shook her head once more to his first question - it was winter, there was no way to answer that. If it had been another season, she might've been adorned with butterfly wings that she could indicate to lead him to the answer. But the second earned a flick of her paw toward the mainland, invisible behind the trees and horizon. That way, but really, another world entirely.
