+10 Practice hiding your scent (Double XP)
+10 Practice disguising your appearance (Double XP)
+10 Study the landscape of an area (Double XP)

With her heart beating frantically in her ears, the mud-adorned woman races through the Bog -- sprinting until the mud eases and the the terrain opens up into a throng of tree limbs and moss. Vibrant pink gaze assesses the new terrain in which she finds herself, all too aware that @Violarum would be hot on her heels after their brief wrestle in the mud.

The gnarled roots are thick and tight, providing numerous hiding locations. Fallon, now earthy-toned, noted that she would camouflage near perfectly in a location so overridden by nature.

Finally, Fallon settles on a small corner created by the convection of multiple trees, a small hidden spot amongst the Thicket in which she crams her lithe figure. She crouches low, aiming to become one with the turf, the adrenalin coursing ever so fiercely through her veins as she listens and watches for any sign of her hunter.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

Violarum could never contain himself when faced with a lion who enjoyed play as he did. The clay beast, burly and mature within his masculinity, could succumb so easily into the guise of an oversized cub; wild and carefree. Though some might assume such a vibrant personality trait well hidden beneath squarish muscle and testosterone, in truth it is always there - blatantly apparent within the simplicity of his face. Which, when not aloof or confused, was entirely innocent and boyish.

He loped with ungainly strides through mud, spatters of earthy brown leaving a trail in his wake. His mane, usually a point of pride, plastered against his thick nape in humorous style. @Fallon had vanished ahead of him somewhere, but it takes the male a good few moments of running to realize he had lost sight of her, soon easing his pace to snuff around for her scent.

Of course, the mud destroyed all hope of that, and Violarum is soon chuffing with an almost forlorn call for his new friend as he searched for her in the undergrowth.

_{art by aurora}

+10 Practice hiding your scent (Double XP)
+10 Practice disguising your appearance (Double XP)
+10 Study the landscape of an area (Double XP)

Bright pink eyes blink through the earthy tones of her disguise, carefully studying the landscape of the Thicket so that she may appraise her next steps -- any escape routes should she need them. There is no easy way out, thanks to the tightly gnarled trees that sprout recklessly from the mossy earth. If @Violarum were to discover her hiding spot, Fallon would have no choice but to attack.

With bated breath she waits for her newfound company to traipse nearby, anticipation building in the lithe figurine who is of two minds. In one sense, she does not wish to be found and in the next, she does wish to be found so that she may surprise the male. Slowly, disguised in the muck and crime of the Bog, the Salem woman sinks lower onto her muddied underbelly. It is then that that a thin branch snaps under her weight -- potentially alerting her seeker to her location.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

Ponderously he snuffles about like a searching blood hound, albeit one far less enthusiastic. Could Fallon see his face she would find a puzzling mixture of anticipation and pouty sadness, as if the male was as equally thrilled by the hunt as he was bothered by the possibility he would not find her.

Completely unprepared to lose his company, wholly for the pleasure she had brought him, it is a low rumble of discontent that resounds his throat as he becomes frustrated with her cover - knowing full well hunts of any kind were not a strength of his.

Snap. A tiny, nearby clue, a sound that caused his blocky skull to swivel eagerly in the direction and his ears to punch forwards hopefully. The growl shifted into a quiet purr of anticipation, his oversized paws rolling gleefully beneath him. He could not see her, so instead, winding up his rear end like a spring, Violarum pounces into the undergrowth. Hoping he might catch her, or find her at least.

@Fallon

_{art by aurora}

If Fallon had expected @Violarum to find her in silence, she was quite wrong. The more she listened, the more she could hear the male stomp about -- and was that whining? She would give him the benefit of the doubt and simply pass that sound as a figment of her imagination.

But almost as soon as the branch snaps beneath her weight, the energy that envelopes them shifts gears. Fallon can feel the blood in her body warm instantly in anticipation, a white haze settling over her eyes as she smells him near.

With no time to waste, the grey figurine launches herself forward though Violarum has had the same plan all along. They come together in a mass of limbs, mud and heavy force, the breath knocked from Fallon's lungs as she is tackled to land on her backside -- devilish cackle on her lips as she is discovered.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

There is a flash of grey and brown and the vivid blaze of pink eyes in motion, and a crash of bodies. The thud surely detectable to anyone, anything nearby; the deep thrum of meat on meat and the crackle of dry mud.

They tumble, Violarum with the air knocked out of him and completely unsuspecting of the collision. He is absorbed by the thrill, by the sudden quickening of his pulse and the bristling of his instincts. The closeness of her body wildly exhilarating as she falls upon her back and he tries to stay with her, attempting to wrestle the woman beneath him.

With a delighted growl upon her bona fide cackle the mud-laden man would attempt to entrap her beneath his weight, seeking to nestle his teeth anywhere into @Fallon 's neck in a mock take-down.

_{art by aurora}

Gasping for air as she is not only winded from their impact but also from the great fall onto her backside, Fallon contends with @Violarum who now pins her to the spot. And though oxygen struggles to seep into her lungs, the grey figurine would not let shortness of breath stop her from fighting back in their wrestle, delighted with the boyish energy that resonates from her newest companion.

He bites into her neck -- not at all with any intention to harm or injure -- but it spurs on Fallon to make her mark. Her forelimbs attempt to wrap about his large, blocky head -- drawing him nearer to her chest so that he may better hear the thrum of her heart beating ferociously against her ribs. Jowls open and aim to graze harmlessly against Violarum's cheek, hot breath against his skin as a primal and determined growl flows from her throat.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

Teeth upon tender neck-flesh, mud-dusted hair against tongue; Violarum's heart throbbed with the pleasure of it all. Beneath him the woman squirmed, sizeable and strong, far from any sort of push-over. Her teeth graze his cheek as she pulls him in closer, and Vio would be mad not to follow her tug, relishing the drowning of his breath against her throat.

He snarled dramatically, growls of playful contentedness resonating within his chest as he started to snuffle his nose about in the crook of her neck coltishly. Oh but the mud dust that had crept up his nasal passages in doing so, tickling the membranes of his nose. He didn't even try to hold it back at that point, and it's obvious he's winding up to hit her with a big old sneeze as his eyes close and he starts trying to draw his face out of her bosom.

Achoo!

@Fallon

_{art by aurora}

Fallon can see the big sneeze coming from a mile away, her pink eyes widening as @Violarum inhales sharply and his eyes begin to squeeze tightly shut. In a last ditch effort to protect herself, the grey figurine attempts to lift her two front paws and cover her muddied counterpart's nostrils and mouth, shielding her face from no doubt, the onslaught of mud and snot.

And though the spray certainly does miss the brunt of her face, Fallon now finds that her paws are covered in ungodly liquid, one that she is keen to be rid of. But having been covered in mud, there is little to nothing to cry about. "I believe this belongs to you," she states as she liberally wipes her paws on Violarum's mane, kneading her paws into his chest as she does so.

table by ferus, art by argenticide

As he withdraws from the warm crook of her neck, her paws smear themselves across his snout. Her contact is welcomed for more reasons than one, and he finds himself rather grateful she had blocked the downpour that radiated soon after. It wasn't something he had really considered to be... rude, until she was casually returning the spray to his chalky mane.

He is simply watching her for a few moments, enjoying the friendly proximity of this near-stranger who didn't feel strange at all. He knew nothing at all of @Fallon except that she was fun, and for the moment that was enough. Her toes began to knead beneath muddy chest hair, a deeply pleased purr rebuilding from his lungs.

"I'd like to see you without mud," it sort of just falls out, innocently enough, whilst he's staring at the vivacious bloom of her pink lanterns. Yeah, mud was great but naked was better.

_{art by aurora}