Melody and Tristen

"I can't complain about the dress," Tristen laughed and continued, "But I don't think people in the next town are going to appreciate me walking around half-naked." He eyed Melody appreciatively as she crawled around, showing him the elf way of catching an animal. 'Well, she's showing me a lot more than that,' Tristen chuckled to himself as he looked her over.

He stopped laughing as the elf brought a rabbit towards him. Tristen had never been this close to another animal in the wild without, well, attacking it. Even in his human form, he could feel the urge to kill it with his bare hands and eat it raw. Resisting the temptation was making him dizzy, so he took a hesitant step backwards, trying to contain himself. "I'm not, er, fond of animals," He explained, staring at the rabbit intently.

"Really?" Melody whispered, amazed. She was not used to people not loving animals, mostly because she has been around other elves her whole life, and has a passion for them herself. Situating the bunny so that she could gently hold it with her injured arm, she took her good hand and scratched it behind it's ears. "But they're so sweet...I think I might need you to kill it, I don't think I will be able to." She told him, frowning at the thought of killing an innocent create.
'It's just part of the circle of life, Melody. You need food to survive, small animals were created to be prey..' she tried to reassure herself silently, still scratching the bunny behind the ears.

Tristen nodded. "I can do that," He said, a spark of excitement reaching his eyes. "How about you work on the fire while I go do it elsewhere...so you don't have to see," Tristen shrugged, trying to make it seem like he was doing this for Melody's benefit and not his own.

Without waiting for her response, he gently lifted the rabbit out of her hands and held it tightly as it tried to run away. Tristen walked off the path, going far enough into the forest that Melody would be out of earshot. Letting his instincts take over, he quickly snapped the rabbit's neck, almost grinning at the thought of eating it. Tristen unsheathed his sword and began to butcher the poor animal, enjoying the feeling of blood dripping between his fingers.

Once he had finished, Tristen looked the part of a serial killer. Blood was smeared on his hands and chest, and he had a disturbed grin on his face. Knowing he had to get back to Melody, Tristen restrained himself enough so that he could wash off all of the blood, and then he picked up the meat and walked back to where he had left the elf.

Melody had cleared some leaves and branches to create a small clearing in which they could camp out for the night, it already being the late afternoon. By the time Tristen had gotten back, she had gathered a bunch of small twigs and made a fire pit out of some stones, attempting to create the fire.
"It won't light.." She told him when he came back, taking her eyes up from the fire pit to look at him.
She couldn't help but notice that the bunny was cut into pieces, it's head and limbs all disfigured. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath, trying to remind herself that survival comes first, caring about animals comes next. Besides, caring so much about animals is what almost got her killed last night, anyway. "Could you try to get the fire going? I'll drag some branches and logs from the forest and set them up against a tree so that we could have a small shelter for when night comes." Mel said, standing up.

"Oh, okay," Tristen said, not knowing how to respond to the shelter comment. 'Shit, what am I going to do?' He thought, 'She's not going to understand that I can't be here during the night.'

Deciding he would figure it out later, Tristen concentrated on the task at hand. After laying the cuts of meat onto the grass, Tristen began to search for something to start a fire with. Locating two pieces of quartz near a pile of rocks, he struck them together over the fire pit until they emitted a spark. Blowing gently on the embers, Tristen soon had created a small fire. He added twigs and small logs on it until the fire was large enough to use for cooking. "Done," He grinned, looking at Melody.

Melody looked over at Tristen, dragging a thin log across the ground with her good hand. "Impressive." She remarked, smiling. "I'm kind of excited to cuddle a bit tonight, it's been a while since I've slept with a man...Literally, slept." She laughed, picking up a branch with some leaves on it and putting it up on the tree, so that it would be covering their heads to prevent some rain drops from falling on them.
Walking over to Tristen, she sat down next to him, leaning in and kissing him softly. "And maybe we can do a little more than just sleep together, if you want." she whispered seductively, enjoying the warmth of the fire.

Tristen was speechless. He was so tempted by Melody, but what excuse could he come up with for them not spending the night together? Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.

He held Melody's hands in his own, tracing circles on them with his thumbs as he spoke. "I think we should take this slow," Tristen blushed; never in his life had he spoken to a girl like this. "I really like you, and I don't want to mess that up by rushing through everything. So maybe we should wait a few more nights until, you know," He winked at the elf and kissed her slowly, enjoying the feeling of their lips touching. 'The new moon is in two days...I can't wait,' Tristen thought, not wanting to stop.

Melody was taken aback by Tristen's words. She had completely figured that he was the type that would be all for it. Pulling her lips away from his, she leaned to her side to reach for a stick that was thick enough and long enough to hold the weight of the meat, and not burn herself. Taking out her dagger, she began to carve the tip of it, making it sharper so that it could slide into the flesh of the bunny easier.
"We probably only have one more night of sleeping in the forest before the town, you know." She spoke as she peeled bark off of the edge of the stick. "And then I am on my own."

Tristen winced at Melody's words, knowing he couldn't stay the night no matter how much he wanted to. "Why do you have to be on your own? Don't you have the rest of your life to discover yourself?" He asked, trying to convince her to stay and travel with him. "And what makes you think you can't find yourself while I'm here? Am I really that distracting?" Tristen laughed and leaned in to Melody so that their foreheads touched. "What can I say, I am pretty sexy," He joked, using the words from when they first met.

Melody laughed as he leaned in, pushing him away by the shoulder with her good arm playfully. "Yes, you are extremely sexy." She responded, a smile on her full lips. "Yes, I have the rest of my life. So I can always find you again, or you can find me, if we really are meant to be companions." Noticing the sun was dropping in the horizon, she stuck the flesh of the bunny through her stick, and held it into the fire, letting it cook.
"I don't want to define my life around a man, I want to be able to know that I can survive without one." She added, her eyes going from the meat to Tristen.

Tristen sighed dejectedly as his eyes flickered to the sinking sun and back to the woman that had captured his interest. He knew he was out of time, and she seemed too stubborn to change her mind about being with him. Moving a few inches closer, Tristen gave her a light kiss and stood up, taking a few steps away from the camp.

"I'll scout out the area and make sure there isn't anything dangerous out there," He called over his shoulder before continuing into the woods. Once Tristen was out of earshot he began to sprint, trying to get as far away from Melody as possible. He couldn't help but hope that she would fall asleep early and still be there in the morning.

"Mkay." Melody answered as Tristen stood up to scout the area. After about ten minutes she decided that the rabbit was cooked well enough, and took her dagger, carving the meat out from the skin and fur. Cutting the cooked flesh, she began to eat. It was surprisingly delicious, and she tried to focus on that instead of how cute it was when she was petting it.
It was pretty much dark by the time she was finished, the last of the sun disappearing and the bright moon slowly rising. Standing up, Melody walked over to where she made a makeshift shelter, shivering slightly and hoping that Tristen would come back soon so that she could have a little more warmth. Sitting down, she yawned, her body finally realizing how tired it was after a full day of walking, and no good sleep the previous night. After shifting around a bit, she finally got somewhat comfortable, and fell asleep rather fast.

Tristen's night went as it usually did. It was full of hunting, eating, and scaring the hell out of any living souls nearby with many loud, terrifying howls. He ate his fill of another wolf he had hunted, and over all the night went without any major incident.

When the sun rose in the morning, though, Tristen quickly dressed and ran back to camp, hoping that Melody was still there sleeping. A wave of relief washed over him as he found her figure huddled under the shelter, sound asleep.

'She must have been tired,' He thought as he stripped down to his boxers and lied down, wrapping his arms around Melody for comfort and warmth. Tristen's eyes soon grew heavy and he drifted off to sleep with a faint smile on his face.

Melody slept like a rock considering the conditions in which she was in, it was nice. She woke up not long after Tristen had laid down, smiling when she noticed that she was laying in his arms. "Good morning." She mumbled, still half asleep. Sitting up, she stretched her arms up in the air, wincing as pain shot through her injured one. "Owch." She exclaimed as she looked over at him, "Did you sleep well?"
Figuring he had gotten back from scouting the area not long after Melody had fallen asleep, she was ready and eager to get going and head to the next town.

Tristen yawned as he sat up, awoken by Melody's voice. "How early is it?" He asked, rubbing his eyes to try and wake himself up. It couldn't have been more than a few hours since Tristen fell asleep, and he was still tired.

Begrudgingly he stood up and looked at Melody, smiling at the way her hair had messed up while she slept. Tristen wrapped his arms around her and kissed the elf slowly, taking his time to enjoy the moment. Once he pulled away, though, his thoughts centered around her injury. Tristen grew worried as he looked it over, and hoped that their would be a medic in the next town.

Melody moved her lips with hers tenderly, pulling away to speak. "It's late morning, early afternoon." she told him, running her fingers of her good hand through her hair to get some of the tangles and branches out. Looking down at her wound, she noticed that the fabric of Tristen's shirt was soaked red with blood.
"I had no idea animal bites could hurt this much, and continue bleeding this much. I mean, shouldn't it have stopped bleeding by now?" Melody asked, her eyebrows scrunching up in pain as she tried to stand up with one arm. "I really hope I can get this looked at by someone who knows what they're talking about, this doesn't feel like a normal bite."

"Here, let me help you," Tristen said as he offered his hand out to the elf and pulled her up. He eyed her injury sadly, thinking over her previous words. "It looked pretty deep; maybe the animal just bit you really hard?" Tristen suggested, brushing his hand through his hair nervously.

"We should probably get going to the next town, that way we can get your arm checked out," He concluded, not wanting to linger. "Do you have everything?" Tristen asked, throwing Melody a warm smile.

Once she was standing and out from underneath their makeshift shelter, she used her good hand to brush some twigs and dirt off of her legs. "He did, that's for sure. It felt like the animal was gonna eat me or something." Melody responded, tightening her belt slightly and making sure she had her pouch of gold coins, as well as her dagger.
"Yeah I have everything." Melody told Tristen, returning the smile and taking a step towards him, putting her good arm on his shoulder and kissing him softly. "Let's get going." she whispered, pulling away after letting her lips linger on his for a bit longer, and walking towards the dirt road.

Tristen sighed as Melody walked off, staring at the ground in frustration. 'Not only did I bite her when I was in my werewolf form, but I missed an entire night with her because of it, too', He thought as he clenched his fists. After a few moments went by Tristen shook it off, deciding to make the most of today.

Quickening his pace so he could catch up, he caught Melody by the waist and spun her around so that she faced him. "I'll show you a real kiss," Tristen smirked, leaning in close before he kissed her. The kiss started off gentle and slow, his hands gently cupping her cheeks, but it soon became rough and filled with passion.

Melody was caught by surprise, her muscles tensing as she was turned not really knowing what to expect. When she felt Tristen's lips against her own, she let out a small sigh of satisfaction, her body relaxing as his arms held her in. She took her hand to the back of his head as the kiss intensified, her fingers curling in his hair as she kept him close. Soon, her breath came a bit faster, her heart was fluttering in her chest.
"I think...We should get going..." Melody said in between hot kisses, trying to get herself to pull away, but her body didn't want to stop. Instead, she got closer, pressing herself against him.

Tristen groaned as she pushed her body closer to him, feeling all of her delicate curves so close to his skin. He pulled away from the kiss to take a quick breath, and then he began to trail kisses down her jaw and to her neck. "I think...we have a few...minutes to spare," Tristen spoke, out of breath from the make-out session.

He made his way back to her lips, giving her a rough kiss before nibbling on her bottom lip. Tristen's hands fingered the bottom of her shirt before making their way under it and to her stomach, silently asking permission.

Melody backed away once Tristen's hand went into her (dress), not liking that her mind was so fuzzy. She felt vulnerable, mostly because she wanted it so bad. "Not right now..not here at least." She whispered to him, taking her good hand to lead his hand out of her dress and back to his side.
Her eyes looked up at him while she tried to slow her breath and heart rate down, "We really should get going."

Tristen nodded in agreement, trying to calm himself down. "I didn't mean for it to get so...out of hand," He chuckled, taking the elf's hand into his own. "You're right, let's start walking," He pulled lightly on her good arm, giving Melody an innocent smile. "We wouldn't want to waste the day here in the forest, right?"

The sun had already risen to the middle of the sky, showing that it was noon. They must have spent a lot longer in the forest than Tristen thought, as the day was already halfway over.

"Right, and I want to get my arm looked at as soon as possible." Melody answered Tristen as he led the way deeper into the forest, hoping that the town will come soon. She kept pushing back the pain, pretending like it wasn't as big of a deal as it felt, but it was beginning to throb, and she couldn't help but let a squeak of pain escape from her throat.
"Hopefully the medic can say what kind of wolf did this, too." She added, squinting her eyes as she looked ahead to see if she can see a town in the horizon.

"Do you want me to re-bandage it?" Tristen asked, biting his lip nervously as he looked at Melody's arm. "I'm not sure if there's anything I can do about the pain...and I'm sure it was just a regular wolf in a bad mood," He added, hoping the Melody wouldn't pursue the wolf questions.

Suddenly, the town came into view. It was a small town, but it seemed busy as people were pouring in and out of the gates. "Look, we're almost there. The first thing we should do is find a medic; I don't want your arm getting infected or anything."