Yeah, pull up to the bumper game

Set directly after https://canismajor-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=3464 @Kuhn

---

 As much as Valmúa had been interested in watching to see what the she-tiger would do, she had grown bored of the interaction and left the moment that her suitor decided to ask her to stay within the forest. Her plan had been to leave the forest entirely, at the very least for the day, without talking to him. She was not angry, and she was not upset, but there was some untangling to do of whatever emotions were sitting balled in her chest.
 Her tail flew high, waving about as she moved as though she owned the entirety of the woods. All around her, strange scents still abounded. She had not been able to smell Uriel or Rannoch since she had told them off, and this at the very least pleased her.
 It wasn't long before she noticed the sound of Kuhn's huge paws behind her. For a moment, she sped up and made a weird game out of it, increasing her loping trot to a relaxed run. When he grew closer, she slowed again and looked behind her with a toss of her head. “Done with her already are you?” She smirked, grinning in a strange, sideways expression.

the staff team luvs u

Looking at the woman, he knew something was up. Though his skill in analyzing the emotions of wolves was still sub par, he though this one was obvious. At one point he had to maintain a loping trot, to make up for the distance she put between them.

By the time she slowed to allow for him to speak he was actually a bit winded, still having to keep pace with his massive frame at her side.

For a moment he thought he knew how she could be feeling, that was until she turned to give him a twisted grin and an odd response that he didn't expect.

His stride slowed to a stop, "What is that supposed to mean?" ,he asked, slightly tucking his tail and keeping his ears pinned back.
the staff team luvs u

 She kept the smirk. She could tell her Lord was confused, but to be entirely honest, so was she. Jealousy wasn't like her, but there was something amiss. Valmúa could not name it.
 “That was a joke about you coming too quickly,” she sneered, licking her lips. He had stopped, so she did too, standing sideways to partially face him. Obviously, it wasn't a particularly funny joke. The prinsessa had already played in her head what they would look like together. She wondered, selfishly, what that would mean for her, if anything.
 She herself was not opposed to escapades. She had never assumed exclusivity and didn't want to talk about it. That seemed like an unnecessary page not worth turning.
 “Will you invite anything and everything in, then?” This was a more serious question. She did not understand his lack of full ownership over these woods. He seemed to happily allow everyone to just wander in and stay however long they liked. Such a concept was entirely foreign to her, and she found it weak.

the staff team luvs u

His question was broad on purpose, hoping to give her a chance to say what was on her mind. Though all she gave him was the very literal reply, in form of a joke. To Kuhn it wasn't at all funny at the moment, and his face curled in disgust. He didn't do 'that', in fact he chose to leave in favor of his princessa, rather than the woman he had just met.

The question of exclusively never even crossed the cat's mind. He couldn't remember having any other partner, nor did he even consider it much of a possibility in his solitary life. At least not until now.

Kuhn wasn't a dull cat, and she seemed to be diverting her frustrations back into the familiar topic of his relaxed stance on his territory. Unable to hide his frustration, his look of disgust morphed into that of a mild anger. With his ears pinned back and nose wrinkled the cat paced back and forth for a moment. "Don't give me that! It's not even your territory! Would you rather have me be some beast who would tear into whoever I met! Did you want me to have your guts when you came here? Think about what your saying wolf!" , he answered loosing his temper with her lack of forwardness. Though at the core of his powerful display his powerful voice was shaking.
the staff team luvs u

 Kuhn wasn't amused, and she didn't care. She snorted at the face he made, apparently taking a weird sort of pleasure out of his disgust. But when she brought up the sore spot that had been digging away at her, he changed.
 A more thoughtful wolf might have considered what he was saying and might have seen the way that emotion seemed to be colouring his words. A more timid wolf might have crumbled before his feet.
 Being neither of these things, Valmúa curled her lip, mirroring his expression as her own ears swung backward. Her tail curled a bit under her, perhaps instinctively. She clung to one of the phrases he used, as though ignoring the rest of it.
 “A wolf, then?” She rolled her eyes, scoffing and throwing her head. Her own voice had risen. She yelled at him. “Is that all I am to you? A wolf that does not even own your land? Just defends and sleeps on it?!” Even though she was yelling and had stepped forward toward him, there were tears welling in spite of herself.

the staff team luvs u

https://open.spotify.com/track/1x9jqnd7t...=copy-link

---

"Val...", His ears drooped and his aggressive grimace turned to what looked like a painful gritting of teeth. She wasn't just a wolf to him, she was his princessa. All at once, all the strength that was stored in the great cat seemed to break as his eyes pleaded in despair.

He had no more words. Even if he wanted to say something, he could not, his throat had been clutched by some unseen demon as his own eyes began to water. For a moment in a failing state of mind, his instinct or emotion thought he could shake some sense into her. That was when she took her step forward. As she did, he took one back, into the cold tundra ground.
the staff team luvs u

 “At least if you were tearing people apart I would know you gave a shit about something!” She snapped, even as he was drifting away into a different place. She took another step forward, apparently furious even as her eyes flashed with torment.
 Little of it was founded in reality, yet the words spilled out easily. It was as though her own fears had taken the reigns. Heat swept through her ears and her joints quaked as she kept increasing the crescendo even when he had buckled under its volume.
 Underneath of it, she was a poppy girl, dissolved from her volcanic self into a small and confused woman, obsessed and shaken. She hated him for it, hated that he had reached a piece of her that was not supposed to exist. A long pause found her anger diminished, and the moment her vision began to clear from the sick tunnel she'd fallen into, Valmúa saw her companion's spirit crumbled. She could see his pain. At once, she regretted her words but didn't know how to take it back. A step backward.
 “I...” She looked away. The heat that had risen in her washed back down. Replacing it was a terrible lump in her throat, which she tried in vain to swallow. Her tail tucked almost completely beneath her.
 She didn't know how to talk to him.

the staff team luvs u

There she stood in front of him barking, just like the day they met, carrying all the same malice for him. Is that what she had always seen him as, a beast only fit to root in gore. Hadn't he shown himself to her? Where his dark stripes a curse, a stain from some otherworldly sin? Her words made no sense to him, why would he have to tear something apart to show he cared? Was that what was happening now?

Kuhn tried to speak but he could not.

Odd that a creature with such a powerful roar could not manage a single word.

If only the heavens would have granted the beast a vision of that small quivering woman.
If only he could see through to that vunerable girl.
If only he had seen it, his gaze could have pierced into the heart of that fearless firey woman he saw before him.

His pained eyes, sheened over by the gloss of tears, could only see another scared and angry wolf.
the staff team luvs u

 A large part of her wanted to leave him there and storm off. That wasn't something she could bring herself to do, regardless of her selfish nature. Kuhn had wormed his way into her life, and somehow she had placed him right at the top of her priority list. If anyone else had hurt him the way she had just hurt him, she would have wanted them dead.
 Valmúa wobbled as her legs shook, almost as though she had spontaneously gained fifty extra pounds and was struggling to stay upright. He didn't say anything. She wanted him to shout at her. It was easier when he was shouting at her.
 Her ears bowed in a new kind of sorrow she was unfamiliar with. Her heart raced, and she had to force herself to remember how to breathe. Taking in a shaky inhale, she dropped her head and slowly stepped toward him. “Oh Kuhn,” she whispered, like she had just stumbled on him and he'd injured himself.
 She hazarded to move closer to him. She wanted to comfort him, even though she was the one who had harmed. “Damn it,” she hissed under her breath, saying it more to herself than to him.

the staff team luvs u

He would have understood, the striped demon knew what he did. Even if the gods didn't see fit to bless him with visions now, they could have blessed the both of them with earnest words.

Stepping back once more, his paw pressed into that frozen ground. Before he felt as if he had run dry of words, but now his spirit seemed to go dry as well. Internally the great beast, retreated within himself and his eyes seemed to sink and grow distant. He could only feel numb now.

The woman's change in tone, only made him feel sick. At present, his internal retreat would render her tenderness as a threat. Staggering backwards as if possessed by what was left of himself, the cat would not make eye contact with the woman.

Even his tail ceased it's dance as his dead eyes looked out into the undergrowth of the Everfrost.
the staff team luvs u

 Somehow, Kuhn had shut down entirely, blocking out whatever attempt at comfort she was trying to offer him. She didn't know what to do. She had never been this invested in anyone before and didn't know how to interact when things went sour.
 As he staggered backward, she stopped trying to push into his space. He was not behaving like himself at all. Please just scream at me, she begged internally, hoping almost desperately that whatever this cornered animal was would leave him. The poppy refused to leave him like this. She couldn't. Especially not to be scooped up by that she-cat.
 So, she lay down, lowering herself and doing something she had never done before. “Kuhn, ástin mín — my love,” she whispered. “Please,” she begged, perhaps asking for him to return back to her, perhaps for something else.
 Valmúa lay silently after that, because for whatever reason, one threatening tear spilled over down her cheek and into the snow.

the staff team luvs u

Wanting to retreat, wanting to run, the cat found that he didn't even have the energy for that.  The thought of walking right now made him sick, he felt as if the world had tilted, and he would stumble from it.  Who was this woman that could reduce the Tzar of the tundra to a worthless wreck.
 

He could hear her beg, almost in a surreal way, almost if she wasn't speaking at all.  It was like he wasn't hearing it with his own ears, but as if she was reaching into the void after him. Only for a moment his eyes dared to glance at her, as if he might turn to stone.  What he found in that moment was her tear, it seemed to fill his vision entirely.  Though he had only seen it for a fraction of a moment, the image was burned in his mind even as he turned away.  The vision was intensely laced with everything he had felt for this delicate little wolf. 

Pulling the last of his energy from him, the cat's legs gave and he dropped to his chest. Supporting the weight of his head with the cold ground below, Kuhn's exhausted grey eyes cracked open, to finally look into Valmua's.

the staff team luvs u

 It was only time that he gave to her. It was time that her mind churned. Once, she had been a woman to plot great things and find pleasure in dissolving the manhood of others, but this was not so here. Nothing that had happened made any sense since she had come to the Everfrost in the first place. He took up so much space in her mind that there was barely enough room for her own thoughts, and she couldn't even see it happening. Everything was Kuhn. All that mattered was Kuhn.
 He was lost in some world she could not seem to bring him back from. She didn't know why. What she had said was mean, but it wasn't that mean, was it? In silence she pained, watching him and unable to move from the ground before she saw him back to safety.
 At last, his eyes seemed to clear. He opened them again to look at her. Words had gotten her nowhere today. Perhaps it was best if she stayed silent. But maybe he needed her to say something. She couldn't know.
 A moment passed where their gazes were entangled. Valmúa read the eyes of a cat, fierce and knowing, brave and cunning, beautiful and wild. He seemed everything that she was not, everything that she wished to be, wise beyond his years and reminding her of something very deeply ingrained within herself: ancient knowledge pried at the surface of an unkempt crypt.
 Words would ruin it. So she used words she knew he could not understand, words no one else would hear. “Ástin mín — My love,” repeated his prinsessa, her voice no more than a whisper after they had spent the morning shouting.

the staff team luvs u

Numbness. The cold ground. The whisper of the wind in the trees.  He didn't think much, he didn't feel much.  It was often true that one who reached out to tame fire would be burnt. After one was burnt, there was often numbness.  Though, was it not worth the time of the soul to tame something as beautiful and dangerous as fire.  Something as forbidden as fire.  

Before him was a wolf, and like that great smoldering energy, it had burnt him, but was none the less beautiful.  Now, the fire that had burned him, seemed to give warmth in contrast to the cold ground, like smoldering coals after a torrent of flame.  It was fitting her coat was as fire, it was fitting that she was a forbidden as fire.  

The great cat did not break from her eyes, he too could not express all of what he had seen in her with words. Gripping the cold earth, Kuhn pulled himself forward towards his princessa. As if to reach out to the warmth of that very fire, the tiger placed the bridge of his nose to rest on the snout of his princessea. 
 

the staff team luvs u

 There had always been a wildness about him that Valmúa had appreciated. Though she appeared to have lost her initial fear of him entirely, there was always a knowledge of danger when near him. Every growl, every chuff, and every roar vibrated the very bones in her body. It was exciting, if not frightening.
 But here, in this quiet moment after the short storm, she was shocked by his beautiful fragility. It had been too easy to shut him down — it made her realize that she had some kind of power over him in a way that was very different from what he held over her. She, of course, knew that it was possible to get him to do all sorts of things she liked that he would not otherwise. Prior to now, there had been a disconnect in her mental image of what that power level really was.
 When at last he pulled himself toward her, she almost whined, like a pup that needed care. As he resumed something quite tender, as though catching her as she fell with his affection, Valmúa could not help but inhale his scent like cologne.
 The smell of the she-cat was present, and while a small fire sparked in her stomach, doused it just as quickly. She pushed herself toward him and met his gesture with a run of her muzzle across the bridge of his nose and around his cheeks. She even went so far as to press her forehead against his, a moment of depth accented by something she had quickly picked up from him.
 The poppy did not know where he had gone in his mind. She only knew that he had returned to her.
the staff team luvs u

In that tender moment, the cat's whiskers reached out in all directions, probing at her form, revealing her body to Kuhn even with closed eyes. Her closeness was now a comfort to him, as if his whiskers where reaching out to those familiar warm smoldering embers.

He took a long moment to hold his head to hers, emitting a barely audible rumble. Any desire to keep his distance melted away as she whined triggering something within him. Instantly the tiger grasped out with both paws, clutching her quickly, almost in a predatory fashion, then softly pulling her deep into his chest.

Pressing his muzzle down into the scruff of her neck, he inhaled, as if it could have been the last time he would get to take her in. "My princessa, what am I to you?"
the staff team luvs u

 She could feel his whiskers on her. Each brush over her fur made her shiver or quake, and some moments she simply exhaled into the oblivion he had brought her to. His touch had always been exotic, and she never grew tired of it. Her senses were heightened as adrenaline rushed to her — whatever she had been angry with him for was gone, replaced instead by something pure and beautiful. Their pairing had never been meant to last. She had never meant to see his goodness and find solace in his home. This had always been temporary.
 Overwhelmed. That was the only word one could give for the strangeness that had come to her. Valmúa had always been conniving and cruel, yet in him she could see a part of herself that was wise and loving. He seemed a doom to her former self, and she seemed capable of molding him to be the weapon of her current self. They were tied to each other. It was done.
 Kuhn could see, could feel, exactly what she needed. He brought her to him. She let him and found something warm and wonderful in his embrace. She could feel his heartbeat and the breath in his chest. She could feel the rumble of his throat as he breathed. Everything else had stopped, and she hated herself for what she could feel. It did not make any sense to her.
 He was a tiger. She was wolf, and a shitty one at that. Yet somehow, it had happened. He had stolen her away from herself and everything seemed only to matter when she was with him.
 What am I to you?
 The fire woman knew what he was asking. She did not know how to answer. She did not know how to name him. For a while, she had been calling him "Lord," as though he owned her. That had been a cover for what she was really feeling. Her mind spun. She offered something temporary, and true.
 “Perfect.” It was a statement meant to entrance, even though it could not be true.
 In truth, she did not know what to do with him. She did not know what to say. She waited for a long moment, thinking, breathing, feeling him around her, waiting.
 “I do not know how to answer,” she said. “You are not like other men. I...” Valmúa tried to capture her thoughts. As she did so, she pushed her head and snout underneath of his neck and chin passionately. “I want to stay with you. We are powerful, you and I. We can be great.”
 The words hung in the air as he held her. She wanted to be part of his everything. She wanted to build his everything.
the staff team luvs u

Kuhn could count how truly blessed he was to have this. What did the solitary lord of dirt and gore do to earn such a gift like this. Though his kind was typically doomed to walk alone and revel in the scorn of others, the universe, or the gods had seen fit to bless him with this beautiful poppy woman.

The striped beast cluched tightly to his treasure, to his gift, only cursing the fact that she could not be any closer to him. Holding her to his chest, he for a moment wished their form could overlap, he could pull her inside and never let go. In that moment, with eyes closed, the tiger took a mouthful of her loose hide in his maw, and held it gently, smelling her, tasting her, taking in her everything. Perfect... Rumbling happily, he seemed to agree, happy to be entranced by her statement, and would gladly say the same of her.

Listening to her further explanation through a haze of bliss, he half listened to her by the vibrations of her chest into his. He could feel her wet snout move to his neck. So, the cat slowly released the mouthful of her hide and tilted his head towards the sky, enthralled by her gesture. For all his power, they where equal here, that same delecate blood ran the length of his neck as did in hers. He trusted her with that closeness.

Setting his chin back on top of her head, he considered what she said. He had never wanted to be powerful. Up until now he was only content to hunt his land and keep to himself. But for her, he would be what he needed to be, he could be her prince and her monster. "I will be with you then, until the end."

A moment after, the tiger's large muzzle made it's way to the maw of the wolf. Gently, Kuhn licked at her lip, hoping to steal a kiss from the one that meant everything to him.
the staff team luvs u

 It was truly ridiculous how easy it was to just... not be mad at him anymore. He was too easy to be around. He knew her too well already. He had this way of playing off her every moment and helping Valmúa, an animal born and bred for flame, to find cool and silent solace. Everything about him felt perfect against her, which was frightening and beautiful all at once. She was mesmerized. The slight scent of the she-cat was absent in her moments with him as he devoured her with touch and scent.
 The poppy felt teeth gently on her skin, digging through the fur to reach her tenderly. She felt his breath and the warmth of him, even pressed against it at several points. She would never have enough of him. She was insatiable for his feline affections, now entirely addicted to the way his tongue raked through fur, and the way he could hold her so easily, and the way his muzzle felt against her body.
 As he raised his head for her, she tasted at his neck, licking in light, tiny touches from his throat, all the way up to his chin and the side of his mouth.
 Kuhn's answer sealed everything. Any question she had held in her heart was extinguished. Returning to Hrafnsvaktin would be necessary, and soon, but she could no longer deny the inevitable.
 Valmúa would build a pyre. Upon it she would add the bones of Kuhn's felled prey, the sorrows of her enemies, and her own old ideas of conquest. In place of such items she would fuel it stronger with far greater things. It remained to be seen what, exactly, was in mind.
 The woman of the north had always been a fire starter. Somehow, she had acquired a flamethrower.
 “You better be,” she teased softly, feeling his tongue on her lip and nuzzling him deeply, pushing her nose along his face and cheek before nibbling at the base of his ear.
the staff team luvs u

Cracking a toothy grin, the tiger mused at how sappy he had been.  Never in a hundred years did he think he would say anything like that, how had she reduced him to a mere kitten.  Though, he couldn't think of anything more true that he could have said. The entire time Kuhn, kept himself open to her allowing her to do as she pleased under his chin, only softly rumbling in response.  It was forbidden, it was a place that not many would willingly allow a wolf to wander. Yet, instead of being primordial enemies they had forged something else, something completely their own. 

With his eyes closed he turned his head as she nibbled at the base of his ear, holding a contented look on his face. He thought he would only want to sleep after an exhausting day like this, but now he knew he could not, he had to be conscious now, there was no dream better than this.  In one motion, the massive cat rolled to his back, taking his poppy wolf with him onto his chest.  Looking up at her, then closing his eyes, Kuhn began to groom at the center of her chest, running his tongue expertly through her coat. He held her there in that embrace, completely vulnerable, completely exposed. In every way this woman had won him over, and for now there was nothing else but her.
the staff team luvs u

 It was true that, to an extent, Valmúa had always been an affectionate woman. It had only ever been with her siblings, and largely because most of them, like Solpallur and Rokkvi, seemed to hate it. Only Stjörnuáti had ever placated her attention-seeking style, but even he had his limits.
 Yet even with this truth, somehow Kuhn had pulled silk and furs from a wasp's nest. Indeed, they had invented their own strange rules to build a world that each of them fit into as yin and yang. Valmúa had never seemed to fit anywhere. Her fires were too fierce, and her visions of what should be too threatening for others to wish her near them. Even her brothers had never fully understood her, though she seemed to think she knew everything about them.
 As he rolled, she let out a surprised gasp before smiling girlishly as the great cat held her to him. There was something pure and happy in him, something flawless and wonderful. Unable to resist his affections, her body relaxed into him until each curve of her body seemed to rest in perfect harmony with his. His tongue, so fascinatingly different from her own, groomed her in a way she never grew tired of. It was as though Kuhn, a solitary and fearsome predator, had been designed specifically to entice, pleasure, and please her.
 As he groomed her, she finally found a break in her own melting bliss to mention something. Her voice, before booming and threatening, had been reduced to a quiet whisper, like the petal of a poppy. “I must return to Morðfjall soon,” she said, and quickly inserted, “but I will be back shortly.”

the staff team luvs u

For a solitary creature like himself, there was no respite from the cold, generally his pelt had to bare it alone. His only respite had been that burning sun, that so rarely graced the land here. Though in this woman, he had found a fire all his own. Life in the tundra was a constant struggle, where one had to tear life from something else. But, curiously, it was as if he had found a source of life that was sweeter and gentler, and all his own.

Her warmpth and weight on his chest was blissful, causing a warmpth and a static that only lovers could know. Within his typical rhythm, the cat continued to groom and taste all that he could reach.

He heard what she said, life goes on in the tundra. Taking a moment to build up the corrage, Kuhn nipped at her neck then rested the back of his head on the ground. He looked back up to her, forcing a half malicious smile. "Only if I let you leave in one piece..." He growled richly, snapping his front teeth together.

Of course, he wouldn't actually try and stop her, and his little act was betrayed by the childish swishing of his tail, and a hard to hide warm glimmer to his eye.
the staff team luvs u

 When he nipped at her, Kuhn, a tiger, she grinned. She enjoyed him. She loved it when he used his power over her, but in this position, the tables had turned. She eyed him dangerously. Her mind was still spinning. She didn't know what was supposed to happen now. She would leave to her brothers, but she couldn't possibly stay there and leave him here.
 Kuhn seemed to not understand what he could have. He allowed in whoever and whatever without a second thought from what she'd seen, and asked nothing in return. He should have been asking a great deal. Valmúa thought of various models that could work with this place, considering how to get him the most bang for his buck so to speak.
 She also expected that, soon, Reiko's idiot would come seeking them for flouting their poor excuse for borders.
 As she poised herself atop his chest, she continued smiling. “Must I best you in battle, again?” She teased, showing her teeth and snapping her own teeth, mimicking him and locking gazes.
 She had of course, never won and would never win a spar with a tiger.

the staff team luvs u

Secretly, the striped cat, delighted that he could distract her from her worldly affairs for another moment. As he laid there on his back, he had an air of mischief about him, tossing his tail to and fro. He knew they would have to part for a time, but didn't want her to go.

In response to her barring of teeth, he only closed his eyes again, returning to gently grooming at her chest and neck, but this time growling mischievously. He took only a moments rest opening his eyes, pressing his muzzle into her neck. "You do know what happens if you loose? Wolf..." As he pulled his head away, slowly passing his tongue across her chest, he maintained eye contact all the while. His glance was challenging, and his expression playfully mocking, complete with that old touch of preditory desire.

Perhaps it wasn't advantageous to start here, with his neck, belly and delicate parts exposed. Though, he figured he could still take her. It would make it more interesting.
the staff team luvs u

 When he pushed his face into her neck and the words slid like bourbon through her, she felt warm and dangerous. It was a familiar, wonderful burning sensation that lulled her and excited her from the tips of her toes through her very blood. While he played his tune to her, he must have also known how much she loved to hear this song, how much she played it on repeat, how much she had rehearsed her responses to him.
 As Kuhn pulled away, she let out her own strange growling, grinning and keeping his eye contact, daring to look her predatory superior in the eye.
 Swiftly, Valmúa rushed toward the side of his neck, sensually pausing to lick where his jaw met. She raked the small incisors of her bottom teeth through his fur downward, then pulled up to whisper into his ear.
 “And you know what happens if I win, suncat,” she hissed, making no effort to perform this theoretical overcoming of his strength. Her power had always been of a different sort with him.

the staff team luvs u