all this bad blood (fox|zecora)

The ebonite male licked the blood from his paws, reveling in the rich salty taste. Ares gazed blankly up ahead at the golden sun that made its steady ascent into the light azure sky. His deep amber eyes tracked the journey of several geese overhead, he couldn't help but envy them. Not that he disliked his life, no wasn't displeased with how things had turned out. In comparison to how his eventful life had started out, this was close to perfection. Ares had been very young when the fighting between his birth packs had begun, his mother and father had been traitors to their own packs; star crossed lovers from enemy packs. Of course, there was going to be problems and indeed both Emanti and Askaaki Packs discovered the truth of their children's betrayal and all hell broke lose. Battles ensued for days, weeks, months until most of the wolves were exhausted, dead or dying. That was what Eostra, his psychotic vengeful aunt had informed him. Ares lost all his family in one clean sweep, and when Eostra was killed by an aliens' trap he had been around ten months old. Vulnerable and weak he stumbled far from where he had been born and into Hell territory, there they raised him as their own.

He owed his life to Hell he supposed. Still, sometimes he dreamed of.. being young again; at five years old he wasn't exactly the spring chicken he used to be. Though he was in his prime all Ares could think about was the fact he was never going to get any younger, never going to be that youthful yearling. Time had gone so incredibly fast, looking back on his life made him foolish and nostalgic. Suddenly he snapped assertively out of his daydreams, shaking his muzzle as if to rid himself of these immature thoughts. what the bark is this, a mid-life crisis? It was then that real life dragged him sharply back, there standing a few feet away from him was a smaller dark female. Her scent told him that she belonged to his pack, he vaguely recognized her much to his surprise. Ares had grown up around the pack and knew practically everyone so it unsettled him that he only faintly managed to identify her and then he remembered her name, Zecora. And it clicked; she was the elusive spy whose name he'd heard been ushered from ear to ear, about how she was never around.

His eyebrows raised slightly, as if to question her presence on Hell territory, at the fact that she hadn't slunk off elsewhere. Her low, purring vocals reached his velveteen acoustics that were swiveled lazily in her direction. Still he lay before her, confident enough in himself that he felt no need to rise. She was his subordinate, lowly in comparison not that he expected this particular she-wolf to bow down and kiss his claws. Ares smirked softly at the thought, you're a pretty one aren't you She seemed amused, though the black beta was not concerned in the slightest as to why. For all he knew she was a raving lunatic, no doubt by the end of this meeting he'd find out. Yawning, he slowly lifted himself into a sitting position. "Proud of myself? Me? Never." He joked lightly, curling his lip to reveal sharpened blood-stained canines that glistened in the morning light. Some might take it as a grin, others a snarl. Ares liked observing others, what made them tick, how far could you push someone before they snapped, what made them smile, laugh, hate you.

When the female nosed his kill, Ares merely gazed down at her in a bored fashion. "We eat with our mouths, not our noses. Just thought i'd let you in on that." If she thought he was going to get upset about her going near his catch, she was completely and utterly wrong. She'd miscalculated him for despite himself, he was not completely selfish and he had a slow fuse. He'd caught the doe for the pack to share between themselves, someone had to do it and obviously Zecora counted as a member. His eyes gleamed with light unoffensive amusement, almost mocking her but not quite. Ares observed her in silence, licking his blood-stained jaws as she leaped over the body to face him closer. They weren't far apart now, only a metre or so between them. He narrowed his eyes provocatively, smoldering a deep burning amber locked with her sharp yellow pools. He stayed put, his thick tail curled neatly around his large paws but he leaned forward, his large dark jaws whispering into her ear.

"So, you've decided to step foot onto your territory again? How noble of you, and what can I help you with, oh beautiful one." He smiled softly at her, eyes bright. Ares awaited her answer eagerly, he decided that he would allow himself the chance to like this female. Whether she wanted him to or not.