[PRP] Friend or Foe? [Pretty Teeth/Brusque]

[Ruriska]

She gnawed on the bone like she gnawed on her thoughts.

Sharp teeth scraping against the tough surface, leaving marks and slowly, slowly, breaking pieces of it away.

Her father begging in her mind, ‘no, no, no, please don’t go with him’ but his voice was but a soft echo compared to the rolling growl from her grandfather, that great brutish creature. Big Bad’s scent was old blood, it clogged the nostrils. She liked it, liked the promise it offered.

Part of the bone splintered, her teeth slipped and it lodged painfully in her gum. She yelped, pulled back with a hiss. Her mouth held open, she felt around with her tongue, trying to dislodge the splinter. Ow.  

[Maxx D]

He supposed the normal person would find a toothy doe with her mouth wide open like a caiman in the middle of a swamp rather terrifying, but Brusque was rather jaded to the world and was insistently unwilling to be surprised by anything. Confronted with the sight as he turned the corner, Brusque was ostensibly not at all perturbed. Like a curious owlcat, he wandered towards the source of strangeness instead.

"May I help," he queried, then mildly regretted it because if her mouth was open it would be hard for her to reply.  

[Ruriska]

Her mouth snapped closed - a motion that she instantly regretted, as it only managed to dig the piece of bone deeper - and growled her displeasure at helpfully handsome buck.

It was not a good time for her to be playing with bucks and she had half a mind to run him off but she was in a bit of a pickle. Pretty Teeth figured she might as well make use of his arrival.

"Yes," she accepted shortly, mouth going wide again, tongue coiled back, apparently waiting for him to approach and do... something.  

[Maxx D]

He waited stoically as she made her decision, and gave a prompt nod before focusing his solemn, glittering eye into the tender pinks of her mouth.

Ah, there it was. A splintered shard of bone rather painfully lodged within. He withdrew his head briefly, and said "pardon me," before his muzzle gently nosed its way within her jaws. Drawing his lips back, he fixed his teeth onto the bone, clamped, and yanked the offending bit out.

"Hm," he said, withdrawing, with the piece now visibly jammed between his teeth. At least it wasn't in his gum like the poor lady. It was just slightly humiliating.  

[Ruriska]

She wanted to bite him.

It was an instinctual thing, just from having someone that close to her face, sticking his nose right into her mouth. But she behaved herself and promised to save the biting for later.

When he yanked the splinter free, she tottered back a step, hissing with the sharp pain and jamming her tongue into the spot where it had been. She stared at the buck sullenly, her gaze only slowly drawn to the bone he’d transferred from her mouth to his.

She should probably return the favour.

Pretty Teeth didn’t move a muscle.  

[Maxx D]

He paused for a while, matching her stare unflinchingly, but resisted the urge to test the shard with his tongue when her eyes travelled down. His eyes, however, were a little duller than before. Instead, he recommended, as if nothing was happening, "you were bleeding. Saltwater should help with that. There's a lake," and his head swivelled to indicate, almost as if he were looking for any excuse to take the attention off the bone, but at the same time, not that he was confirming that, "we can go."  

[Ruriska]

There was definitely blood. She could taste it on her tongue where it was still pressing against the small wound. It meant her face was scrunched, her nose wrinkled and mouth partially open.

If he didn’t ask for her help, did that mean she didn’t have to bother? Even if he was continuing to attempt to assist. Not that she was sure why he was being so nice in the first place. What did he want from her? What was his angle? Was this some sort of trick?

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously but she nodded and awkwardly grunted past the obstruction that was her tongue, “you lead.” It came out as ‘ew led’.  

[Maxx D]

He tried to close his mouth proper to return the nod, but it unfortunately caught his lip in the position of which the shard was fixed. The nod did happen anyway, and with a quick, clean turn, started leading her the way he knew how. "Pardon my haste, it's best to be quickly resolved. Let me know if I'm walking too quickly."

He did stroll rather briskly, the gait of a buck who tended to lightly gallop wherever he went. In a while, there was the sloshing sound of the tide against grasping mangrove roots, and it was clear to see the muddy expanse give way to a lake. He knew his way at least, and that was just slightly less mortifying than getting lost as well as having an offending object in his mouth. That he removed from someone else's mouth.  

[Ruriska]

He definitely wasn't taking it slow and Pretty Teeth found herself with a dilemma. It was paramount that she remain behind him, just to make sure he didn't do anything sneaky or try walk her into a trap because she was still certain he had some sneaky ulterior motive.

But at the same time, being relegated to following, in a subordinate roll before he'd even proved himself in even the most basic tussle (pulling a bone from her mouth did not count), made her hackles rise.

So she alternated between staying just a step behind and then running ahead a few paces only to fall back again. It was actually quite exhausting and she was grateful to see they'd arrived at their destination. Oh! Wait a moment -

"You first."

Maxx D

 

[Maxx D]

"Me first," He queried - or rather, stated, eyes trailing from the wounded doe to the gentle ripple of the lake, and back. He didn't quite get the logic of it, but clearly the doe was not open to negotiation. But if that would make her feel more at-ease, so be it.

He lowered his head to the water, sipping a bit and sloshing it around the shard.
Not that it made a difference, but he tried.

He swallowed. Though it was a lake, it didn't seem appropriate to spit it back right in front of her.

"Appropriately salty." Brusque informed, and stepped to a side in a move to welcome her to the water.

'Ruriska"

stoic

 

[Ruriska]

Pretty Teeth watched him taste and swallow the water, eyes narrowed and body held rigid as she waited for... something. She honestly wasn’t sure what it was but nothing happened and only when her waiting had long since become awkwardly prolonged and he still hadn’t dropped dead from poison did she finally approach the lake.

She filled up her mouth, swished it around with her tongue, poking at the sore gum until it was stinging in a way she presumed meant it was healing. Then she turned her head and spat the water, complete with blood, right at the buck’s hooves.

It was a direct, unspoken challenge.

Maxx D

the more i write her the more unhinged she is...

 

[Maxx D]

Brusque was ever calm.
His eyes flickered down briefly, but his head did not move.

"Not to your taste?" The words airy, but his tone even. "Or did it hurt more than you'd like? It's an unpleasant compromise to be made."
The bone remained, hitching up his lip. He had considered trying to get it out with the help of a mangrove root besides, but it didn't seem like the right time.

Ruriska

eyebrow waggle

 

[Ruriska]

It was hard to challenge someone or get into the appropriate state of mind for a fight when all the other kin did was look at you calmly and speak with such a level tone.

She shuffled on the spot and ended up being the first to look aside in submission. Not that it wouldn't stop her from biting him later but she would need to wait for the right moment.

When she looked up again, her gaze landed on the bone piece. Oh, right. "Let me," she offered.

Maxx D

 

[Maxx D]

He paused in mild surprise that this rather unpredictable doe suddenly seemed rather keen to help, but after quite a while of pretending it didn't exist, he was almost grateful. "Yes." He agreed, then added, "please," unused he was to asking favours. But here he was.

"If it refuses to budge, it's fine," the first time he finally acknowledged its presence. "I'll find a tree to stick it in later. It might end up a bit comedic." If he thought it was funny, he didn't show it. He pulled back his lip, opened up and waited.  

[Ruriska]

She approached, little steps, until she was right up close, head tilted as she inspected the well-lodged shard. She'd never been one for delicate operations.

If she could smash it out...

"How much do you need your teeth?" She asked and then immediately answered her own question, "not at all it seems. They aren't even sharp." Her nose wrinkled and she scoffed, "how do you eat with these?"

Maxx D