[open] you're going home, you're rag and bone; any

[sochi]

there is a swelling storm and I'm caught up in the middle of it all
and it takes control of the person that I thought I was

She feels the charge in the air when the other animal gives chase.

She can hear the sound of padded paw joining her own, the rhythm of the wolf just close enough to feel her energy without truly feeling the danger of it. Her heart thuds in response, her pulse rising in her predator body as she increases her speed. Her rangy, muscular body stretches out, her head dropping as she sinks into the increased speed. She so rarely gets the chance to let herself completely loose like this. She so rarely gets to indulge in it, but she does so now, body collapsing onto itself and then stretching out, the tigress bounding forward, eating up the land before her as she weaves amongst the trees.

She would live here, if she could, in this moment where time suspends and she is nothing but the tiger with nothing but the dirt beneath her claws and the wintery sun dappling her back. She would live here in the freedom, in the suspension of reality and responsibility. Here, she did not need to be anything but what she was. She didn’t need to be anything but herself, anything but Sochi.

If only she could live here forever.

But she can’t, and she knows that, so eventually she slows, pace dropping, her breath coming in quick pants. She drops from a breakneck run to a gentle lope to a quick-paced walk and finally she stops.

They stand in a break of the trees, the forest opening up to a clearing where the sun barely reaches.

Sochi, interested in spite of herself, curves around, feline eyes watching the wolf as she draws near, her features stern and eyes bright. For a second, she says nothing, just watches the canine runner, a pink tongue escaping to lick her chops. When she does speak, her throaty voice rumbles, “Do you always give chase to strangers?” There is no malice in the question, but it doesn’t soften on her tongue. She considers following it up with another question, or an introduction, but she holds it back, choosing to watch instead.

sochi

it comes and goes in waves; it always does, it always does
we watch as our young hearts fade into the flood, into the flood

i'm glad you didn't! <33