Lionhearts ||Skephalo||

19

They both freeze, eyes scanning the fog for anything, any movement. Maybe one of them snapped a stick, Sapnap tries to logic, but then he hears another crack, and he sucks in a quiet breath.
The thing, whatever it is, is growling softly as it sniffs about, a snuffling sound accompanying it. Sapnap reaches to draw his sword, only to realize it would make a grating sound, surely, and attract the creature's attention.

Lose-lose-lose. If they stand here it's sure to find them, if they fight it, it will find them for sure, and if they run they risk turning their backs on it.

Just Sapnap's luck to end up in a foggy forest with some kind of beast. Tommy's grip on his hand is bruising, the blond's eyes wide and his breathing all but silent.
He's barely even moving at all. Fight, flight, freeze- freeze winning out.

The sound moves closer, and Sapnap slowly, slowly, bends down and tentatively wraps his hand around a rock, tossing it away into the fog as hard as he could.

It strikes a tree harshly, the crack of it hitting bark echoing in the still air. There's a thick, gravelly snarl before something launched itself in the direction of the sound. Sapnap tugs Tommy along, gesturing to the ground so he'll pick up on 'watch the ground, don't break any sticks.'

It's not as easy as it sounds, and Tommy finds himself stumbling multiple times as they back away from whatever was chasing the rock sound.

It was clearly violent, and at the very least, has decent hearing- and from the crashing of a tree behind them, it's strong too. Maybe, just hopefully, it didn't have good vision or smell. If it was depending on its ears, it was something Sapnap could get around, likely. He's worked with creatures that have keen senses of hearing once or twice for Overworld science; a bat and a cat.

Neither was violent and trying to possibly eat him though, and so he finds himself drawing blank after blank on how to handle this.

He's desperately hoping to get out of the woods before the element of distraction is lost, but no such luck. They're moving as stealthily as one can while also being quick, and in spite of this they hear panting and growling as the creature approaches them.
Now that it's in the light, and unfortunately in view, Sapnap can see the beast; a hulking, unnaturally huge wolf, its fur soot-colored and frosted with jet black near its bulky hindquarters. It bares vicious fangs at them, black gums showing as it curls its lip in a borderline sneer. A growl tears free of it, and it begins circling them, menace clear in its gait.

Sapnap goes back to back with Tommy now, drawing his sword. His eyes never leave the beast's bared fangs, and he feels like he's staring at a rabid animal, which for all he knows, he is.
Remembering what he knows of canines, he curses internally at not recalling that they take eye contact as a sign of aggression. He shouldn't have glared at it like he had.

It's already violent. It's already trying to figure out which way to attack from- surely it won't make anything better or worse if he looks at it.

He lifts his gaze slowly to look at its eyes, the feral glint in them unmistakable. This being will tear him to pieces without a second thought given a chance; and it's huge. At its highest, the beast comes up to his shoulder. If it reared up, it would surely be taller than both him and Tommy.
Its eyes. They bore into him with animalistic curiosity, sizing him up with their violet depths.

Their...

He can't help it. He gasps, and it snarls, lips pulling back further to reveal more teeth than he would've wanted to ever see from a wolf.

"Tommy," he whispers, "Tommy it might have the parasite. It looks to be the descendant of one of the infected animals my commander had mentioned or another that got infested. Don't let it bite you okay? That shit is hard to disinfect."