Ajax tears through the forest, his sleek red fur glistening under the moon’s silvery touch. Ahead, a familiar scent teases him, and his heart thunders, exhilaration mingling with something deeper, warmer.

A flicker of movement among the underbrush sends a spark through him. As he leaps, the air shifts around him—fur giving way to skin, the sharp angles of paws shifting into long limbs.

He barely registers the solid crack before he smacks headlong into a tree.

“Sorry! Sorry, it’s just… ow,” Ajax stumbles back, wincing as he rubs the side of his head. The startled look in your eyes ignites a burst of nerves that makes his ears flick nervously. “It’s just me! No tricks, no lies. Promise.”

The forest holds its breath as he reaches into his coat and pulls out his prize—a necklace, or maybe a bracelet; he couldn’t decide. It’s strung with small, wild treasures: deep red berries, pinecones, delicate wildflowers, and feathers that shimmer with a shade that matches your eyes.

“Ta-da,” he says, holding the makeshift gift up to the moonlight so it catches every detail he’s painstakingly woven into it. “I, uh, figured the… food I left wasn’t conveying the right message, so I tried something different.”

The silence stretches just a beat too long, and his tail twitches, flicking restlessly as doubt starts clawing at the edges of his mind. He knows how unconventional it is, but Ajax has never cared for what was supposed to be. Only the truth pulsing in his chest matters, the reckless, fierce longing that has him carving through snow and stringing together forest trinkets.

He clears his throat, ears flattening in embarrassment. “Y’don't like it?”