Complacency (MxM)

Inevitable Encounter (2)

My name is Deimos Crow. I was born a Rogue. I never really knew my parents, having been running to stay alive my whole life. I'm currently around 28 years old. I've only met one of my five potential mates. But, I'm not too worried about that.

It took me years to find and carve out my own little piece of Earth. And, for the most part, no one bothers me.

Just how I like it.

I spent most of my Saturday setting traps to catch a decent meal. There were snares and bear traps as well as some tripwire traps to string up any of the smaller animals. Now that it's Sunday morning, it's time to see if I caught anything good.

Walking through the familiar trees, I made my way to each of the locations I had been to previously. So far, I've been able to collect two rabbits and a duck, not at all bad for a mornings work. One of my traps had been messed with, so either someone else is out here or I didn't set it properly and the animal got away. But that option was less likely, I'm good at what I do; there's no way that trap came loose. I'd have to keep an eye out.

There's a crow that took a liking to me a year or two ago after I saved her. She's always flying around in circles above me and leaving me shiny things she finds. I haven't named her yet, so I just call her Bird. She doesn't seem to mind that.

When she flew ahead of me, it was as if she knew to scout for other Wolves, giving me fair warning if there were danger.

I guess she didn't see the man in front of me as a threat. I stood behind him for a while, watching as he carefully placed his feet into the divots already created in the snow, following a path back to wherever he came from. It was interesting to watch him. His movements were fluent and careful, his body hunched into himself from the cold.

I don't think I've ever seen a man so small; you could easily mistake him for a boy. And he seemed so unaware, still not having noticed me behind him.

He must be freezing. The shirt he has on is so thin that it's practically transparent, the ends of his pant legs in shreds. At least his shoes seemed decent enough, but still not meant for the snow.

He had a sheet wrapped around him, as if that would protect him from the cold. His hair being as dark as Bird's feathers, just like mine. I couldn't see his face, but everything about him screamed to me that he was uncomfortable.

It's amazing to me, of course he would be uncomfortable. I'm wearing a proper winter outfit, long coat to boot, and the cold is still nipping at me. How could he possible be surviving out here? What a curious man. The more I watched him, the more I wanted to know about him. The more I wanted to keep watching him.

The trap I found undone, it had to of been him. He must have taken something. But why only the one trap? If he had kept going, he easily would've found more food, why only steal one thing?

I watched him walk for a little longer, following behind him silently. The thing about snow is, it adds a padding all over the place, muffling any noise. It's no wonder he can't tell I'm behind him. That, and growing up the way I did, I know how to keep my presence masked.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, that same feeling you get when you're a child who's done something wrong and is scared of getting caught. It was thrilling, just being behind him like this. The longer he took to notice me, the more my blood ran as cold as the ice around us, excitement buzzing in my finger tips.

Makes me thankful for my crow, who's always watching out for me. Maybe if he had a pet too, he'd be safer. Just then, Bird chose to call out, chirping loudly into the cool air and giving me away. I swore internally for giving her any praise, the rotten fucking bird. My heart stopped and I froze in place when the man finally looked my way.