Post by Pavane on Aug 5, 2010 0:55:07 GMT -5
Setting:
Sweeping Steppe - Late Summer (RL day 12)
Characters:
Niyt - Female Juvenile Wolf
Melia - Female Red Fox
--------------------------------------
A quiet afternoon, in the brush-studded expanse of the steppe, with a small figure moving through it. Niyt doesn't know where she's going, anymore; there was something calling her, leading her out here... but it's gone now, and has been for days, and the young wolf is looking pretty worn. She wants to go home... but she doesn't know where that is, from here. None of the scents or sights are familiar, even when - as now - she clambers up onto a small ridge to look around and try to make sense of this place.
A quiet afternoon means extra quiet sneaking for the small fox Melia as she tries to hunt down a meal for the day. She pauses to perk her ears to the sound of movement. Rabbit? Mouse? Maybe a rat or two? She stealthily moves forwards until she catches sent and sight of...a little wolf? She thinks that's a wolf anyway. She sniffs at the air but she can't smell a pack, what on earth would a wolf pup be doing all on it's own? She watches for a minute, growing curious.
Wolves run in packs, it's true. But... not this one, apparently. She seems quite alone - and young. Young enough that she's not terribly much larger than a fox, yet. Definitely wolfish, though, in shape and color. She looks around, though she doesn't seem to notice Melia through the fox's stealth, and then tilts her head back to let out a mournful little howl - though she doesn't yet have the lung capacity for it to travel very far.
Melia sinks back into the undergrowth at the little howl but she doesn't think that sounds right at all and once a minute has gone by without any returning howls she figures it's failed to attract attention. So the only question remains is what to do about the wolf...Well she couldn't just leave her on her own and she's just young enough to still throw caution to the wind. A split second later and Melia silently slips over to one side of the ridge and peeks up at the wolf pup "...Hello?"
Niyt lowers her head with a sigh. No howls in reply - she'd hoped, maybe, that she was getting close enough that some of her pack could hear, could reply and come find her, but... she doesn't even know if she's going in the right direction. For all she knows, she's just getting further and further away from home. She stares at the dirt in front of her - and then lifts her head at the sound of a voice. A strange one, but - any voice is better than none, and she looks hopeful as she locates the peering fox. "Hello..."
Friendly, always a good start when meeting a stranger. Melia smiles in what she hopes is a reassuring way "Are you alright, all on your own?" she ventures another couple steps forwards, unsure what to do now she's actually talking to the pup, she just hopes it'll come to her.
Is she alright? Niyt's not entirely sure of the answer to that one herself! She's kind of hungry, and rather lonely, and quite lost - but on the other hand, she's not hurt, and she has been finding enough scraps of food to keep her on her feet... "I... I got lost," she finally says, settling on the simplest of possible answers.
Melia pauses to glance back. Lost should mean someone's probably looking for her but on the other hand they don't seem to have found her yet. She tilts her head back at the little wolf "I thought that might be it. Do you know where you come from?"
Niyt nods. Of course she knows where she comes from! It's where all her family is, and there are howls at night, and all sorts of interesting smells, and... and none of this is really going to help explain it to the fox, is it? She goes looking for other sorts of descriptions. "From... near where there's these big rocks sticking up. They're the biggest thing around!" She's used to seeing them from everywhere, and now she hasn't seen them in days.
Melia sifts through her memory, if only she'd actually been anywhere near the rocks she might know anything about them "I don't think I know where that is, sorry...Um, are you hungry? I can find food?" she could do that at least.
Niyt droops a little as Melia admits ignorance. She'd been hoping... at the mention of food, though, her belly certainly comes to attention, making an audible gurgle. "Oh! Yes, please... I found a few scraps from a rabbit, yesterday, but..." Scraps, a day ago? At her age? Hungry is probably quite the understatement.
Melia perks up. She can be useful! Maybe one day she can claim she saved a wolf. First she's got to find food though "Oh! I buried a mouse this morning, I was going to catch something else and save it for later, you can have that!" she's positively energetic again now, going to bounce back down off the ridge and sweep round it, just pausing to look back and make sure Niyt follows "Come on!"
Niyt smiles - enthusiasm is pretty infectious, after all. She scrambles down off the ridge with a little landslide of dirt and pebbles, and heads after Melia at something between a puppyish bound and a more mature lope. "Thank you!"
Now Melia just as to remember where she buried the thing, something she looks totally confident about on the outside while inwardly she's mentally questioning every tree. She makes quick swift little movements, pausing to sniff at the odd spot "This way, this way" or was it that way? No no, this way, somewhere, where maybe? She freezes. Was that a rabbit she smelt? She back tracks to sniff around a bush. She always finds the best stuff when she's looking for something else.
Niyt trails along after Melia, looking around as the fox sniffs at various spots and then trotting forward to catch up. When Melia freezes, she takes another step or two before noticing, and then she goes still as well - is there something here? She lifts up her nose, sniffing at the air. What is it? Is... oh! She recognizes that, from prey brought home and well-loved chewtoys - certainly seems like rabbit to her. She glances to Melia, almost like she would to a grown wolf - it's time for a hunt, and for a puppy, that means following the lead of someone who knows what they're doing!
New or old? New, Melia decides and after a quick glance and grin as she sees Niyt seems all ready to hunting too. Moving swiftly she silently dashes off following the trail, freezing again every few seconds until finally she catches sight of something small, fluffy and rabbit shaped.
Swiftly? Sure, Niyt can do that! Silently? Well, sort of. Both at once? There's where it gets hard! She varies between going too slow (but being very stealthy) and catching up (while making noise). She tries to echo the fox's technique, of little dashes followed by going still, but it's not quite natural for a wolf, especially one who hasn't even learned lupine techniques yet. She's bounding forward when the rabbit comes into sight... and judging from the way it twitches and goes alert, she came into its sight, too, before she froze. Oops.
Melia notices the pup's odd sounds but she's hoping the rabbit won't. No such luck though. The rabbit's on the alert so she only has seconds before it bolts. No time for sneaking but she'll remember that if there's a next time. She dashes forwards to quickly pounce the rabbit but it scrambles out again, running in it's panic vaguely towards Niyt.
The rabbit's leaping forward, running for cover and away from Melia. Niyt didn't mean to start it off prematurely - but now that she has, she's onto a part of the hunt she's rather more comfortable with: Chasing! She jumps forward, bounding towards the rabbit as it flees - and, fortunately for her, it was paying rather more attention to the fox than the wolf, and it doesn't notice Niyt until she's nearly upon it, rabbity eyes going wide as the wolf prepares to leap!
Melia is already bounding after the rabbit in case it gets away again but she pauses as the wolf seems to have it. The rabbit freezes before scrabbing, trying to change direction again but then it's flattened by a wolf!
Niyt is nearly as surprised as the rabbit is as she pounces it, her paws tangling up with its. Her jaws go into its neckfur, trying to bite - she knows that's what she's supposed to do, but instincts are remarkably vague about exactly where, and she fumbles around at it, trying to manage a proper bite to make it stop flailing and kicking her with its hindlegs!
Melia tilts her head, clearly the pup's still new at this but she supposes she should have known that. Well this will never do, much longer and the rabbit will break free "Nononono, like this" she lunges forwards and after a moment trying to get past all the flailing paws she stops the rabbit with a single bite.
Niyt pants as the rabbit squeaks shrilly and then goes still, hindlegs giving a few more weak kicks before going limp. Catching, it seems, is only the first trick. "Thanks..." she says, and then peers down to see just where the right spot to bite is, recording it to her memory. Oh, it's -there-, above that fluffy bit she kept getting mouthfuls of...
Melia watches the rabbit for a moment, yep, dead as dead can be, good. She grins back at Niyt as she flops down to sit "Much better than mouse, fill up a belly nicely"
Niyt grins, and nods. Education handled, it's time to eat, and she starts tearing in eagerly, little bits of rabbitfluff dotting her muzzle as she gets past the fur to the tasty meat inside.
Melia considers that a good job well done and even allows herself a little wag of the tail. She lets Niyt chow down while she keeps an eye on the area "Got a name small wolf?" she finally asks after a few minutes.
Niyt eats quickly, at first, filling up her belly from starved. Then she starts to slow down and eat more neatly. When Melia asks her a question, she lifts up her muzzle, licking it more-or-less clean. She did rather skip that part, didn't she? She always forgets about exchanging names. "I'm Niyt... of Cerulean pack." Maybe she can make up for it by giving a proper introduction now.
Melia forgets it a bit herself, she needs to make more friends, it might remind her of all the social pleasantries she's forgotten. Still, introductions are underway "Never heard of a Cerulean, don't know any packs really. I'm Melia, no pack of course"
Niyt laughs softly, and nods. Figures that her properly-detailed introduction would be all the wrong sorts of details for a fox. She smiles, though. "It's nice to meet you... are you hungry? There's still some rabbit left..." Even a hungry pup can't fully demolish one of those on her own. Quite.
Melia could know a few packs if she happened to meet wolves but that's something that just hasn't happened. She eyes the rabbit "Well, if you're full already" she drags it closer to herself to chew on it "Where are those big rock things then?"
Niyt sits down. She's not quite as full as she could be, but she's full enough to be content - and polite. She gives her muzzle a few licks, trying to get the bits of fuzz off it as Melia starts gnawing. "It's... I dunno what direction, from here. But..." she goes silent a moment. There really aren't that many other landmarks around there... maybe that's a landmark itself, of sorts. "It's emptier, than it is here. Not so many plants... the wind's always blowing and catching things along, too."
Melia pauses eating to tilt her head at the wolf, that doesn't sound like anywhere she's been before "Not so many plants? No trees? I don't know what's outside the woods, I've never been"
Niyt shakes her head slowly. "No... no trees." She looks over to one of the ones near here. "I... hadn't even seen any, until I got lost here. I'd heard about them, but... never seen one."
Melia looks surprised "Never?" it doesn't seem possible to her for anyone to never have seen a tree "Well clearly there are more introductions to be made" she leaves the last of the rabbit for now and bounces over to stand about and gesture with her nose as she boings between each item "That's a bush, they rustle and some of them are pointy. That's a tree, squirrels and birds hide in them, can't climb them, no sense in trying. There's a flower just there and that's a rock, I assume you know rocks"
Niyt nods in assent. All the older wolves are always talking about the forest, and trees, and all that - and they had to go and leave right before her and her siblings were born! How unfair is that? She giggles, and follows after Melia as the fox makes her introductions. "Hello, bush, and hello, tree... oh, yes, rock, I know rock quite well!"
Melia bounces up on top of a little rock, giving it a little sniff "Yeah, they get everywhere, they must be popular" leaping back off again she returns to the rabbit, completing the circle to continue eating again.
Niyt laughs, and nods, leaning in to touch the rock with her nose. "Like wind. Rock is waiting everywhere, but wind is always going everywhere..." she says, after a moment's thought, and then pads back to the carcass as well, tugging off a bit of meat and chewing on it slowly.
Melia pauses when food is taken but it only takes her a second to hush instinct and eat alongside Niyt "So long as the wind doesn't bring rain I'm happy. Still have to fix up a den for the winter"
Niyt chews at the rabbit contentedly, then swallows it down and licks her lips from it. She tilts her head to the side - sure, she's seen rain... a few times. It's not the sort of thing the desert-born pup thinks about much. "Does winter have more rain?"
Melia automatically replies between mouthfuls "It has snow, that's like cold rain that stays around on the ground. Winter's cold and wet, need a nice den"
Niyt huhs, thinking about that. "Stays around... like when rain gets caught in the rocks, only everywhere? But why doesn't it soak into the ground?"
Melia considers all the possible reasons for it "I don't know, I think it's cause it's cold. It's not really rain anymore, it's more solid...plus the ground goes hard in winter"
Niyt thinks on that. "It sounds strange..." she finally concludes, and shrugs a little. Well, she'll find out for herself when it happens... hopefully, having found her pack again so her family can explain it to her, too!
Melia seems to have had her fill of rabbit for now as she starts to lick her paws clean again between talking "The world's strange but if it were normal it wouldn't be any fun"
Niyt laughs. It's much easier to appreciate the strange on a full belly and with someone to talk about it with, that's for sure. Right now, things seem a lot less scary than they did before. "There's so many things... so many different directions. I dunno if I could figure it all out if I had years and years to try!"
Friendly foxes and a bit of rabbit helps everything. Melia grins once more "I know, I wanted to see them all, so far I guess I haven't got so far. Still, you'll have to work out your directions soon so you can get home"
Niyt sighs, and nods. "Yeah... I... I hope the shadows aren't still there..." she replies softly, gazing out into the distance. "I hope it's safe." But didn't dad tell her it was the forest that wasn't safe? It seems nice enough here, but... is the danger worse? She just doesn't know.
Melia tilts her head "Shadows?" scary things in the night she assumes "Well, you can stick with me, I'm safe. We can hunt for those rock things tomorrow" she's enjoying the company really.
Scary things in the night... yeah, that's them. They're a bit realer than the normal puppy bad dreams and things glimpsed out of the corner of the eye... at least, to those who know about spirits. Niyt sighs, and then a smile comes back at the offer of continued company. "That would be nice!" she says, wagging her tail.
Melia looks just as thrilled and wags a little too as she springs back up onto her paws and starts to lead the way at a leisurely trot "This way then! I've got a nice quiet bush I hide in, there's trees and everything, there may even be a rock" and maybe she'll find that mouse on the way.
Niyt nods, and gets up to trot after the fox, her tail wagging. She's full and has a new friend... things are looking up, even if she is still lost. "If there's a rock, and the wind can find us... it'll be almost like home!" she says, smiling. Everything will work out okay... she hopes.
Sweeping Steppe - Late Summer (RL day 12)
Characters:
Niyt - Female Juvenile Wolf
Melia - Female Red Fox
--------------------------------------
A quiet afternoon, in the brush-studded expanse of the steppe, with a small figure moving through it. Niyt doesn't know where she's going, anymore; there was something calling her, leading her out here... but it's gone now, and has been for days, and the young wolf is looking pretty worn. She wants to go home... but she doesn't know where that is, from here. None of the scents or sights are familiar, even when - as now - she clambers up onto a small ridge to look around and try to make sense of this place.
A quiet afternoon means extra quiet sneaking for the small fox Melia as she tries to hunt down a meal for the day. She pauses to perk her ears to the sound of movement. Rabbit? Mouse? Maybe a rat or two? She stealthily moves forwards until she catches sent and sight of...a little wolf? She thinks that's a wolf anyway. She sniffs at the air but she can't smell a pack, what on earth would a wolf pup be doing all on it's own? She watches for a minute, growing curious.
Wolves run in packs, it's true. But... not this one, apparently. She seems quite alone - and young. Young enough that she's not terribly much larger than a fox, yet. Definitely wolfish, though, in shape and color. She looks around, though she doesn't seem to notice Melia through the fox's stealth, and then tilts her head back to let out a mournful little howl - though she doesn't yet have the lung capacity for it to travel very far.
Melia sinks back into the undergrowth at the little howl but she doesn't think that sounds right at all and once a minute has gone by without any returning howls she figures it's failed to attract attention. So the only question remains is what to do about the wolf...Well she couldn't just leave her on her own and she's just young enough to still throw caution to the wind. A split second later and Melia silently slips over to one side of the ridge and peeks up at the wolf pup "...Hello?"
Niyt lowers her head with a sigh. No howls in reply - she'd hoped, maybe, that she was getting close enough that some of her pack could hear, could reply and come find her, but... she doesn't even know if she's going in the right direction. For all she knows, she's just getting further and further away from home. She stares at the dirt in front of her - and then lifts her head at the sound of a voice. A strange one, but - any voice is better than none, and she looks hopeful as she locates the peering fox. "Hello..."
Friendly, always a good start when meeting a stranger. Melia smiles in what she hopes is a reassuring way "Are you alright, all on your own?" she ventures another couple steps forwards, unsure what to do now she's actually talking to the pup, she just hopes it'll come to her.
Is she alright? Niyt's not entirely sure of the answer to that one herself! She's kind of hungry, and rather lonely, and quite lost - but on the other hand, she's not hurt, and she has been finding enough scraps of food to keep her on her feet... "I... I got lost," she finally says, settling on the simplest of possible answers.
Melia pauses to glance back. Lost should mean someone's probably looking for her but on the other hand they don't seem to have found her yet. She tilts her head back at the little wolf "I thought that might be it. Do you know where you come from?"
Niyt nods. Of course she knows where she comes from! It's where all her family is, and there are howls at night, and all sorts of interesting smells, and... and none of this is really going to help explain it to the fox, is it? She goes looking for other sorts of descriptions. "From... near where there's these big rocks sticking up. They're the biggest thing around!" She's used to seeing them from everywhere, and now she hasn't seen them in days.
Melia sifts through her memory, if only she'd actually been anywhere near the rocks she might know anything about them "I don't think I know where that is, sorry...Um, are you hungry? I can find food?" she could do that at least.
Niyt droops a little as Melia admits ignorance. She'd been hoping... at the mention of food, though, her belly certainly comes to attention, making an audible gurgle. "Oh! Yes, please... I found a few scraps from a rabbit, yesterday, but..." Scraps, a day ago? At her age? Hungry is probably quite the understatement.
Melia perks up. She can be useful! Maybe one day she can claim she saved a wolf. First she's got to find food though "Oh! I buried a mouse this morning, I was going to catch something else and save it for later, you can have that!" she's positively energetic again now, going to bounce back down off the ridge and sweep round it, just pausing to look back and make sure Niyt follows "Come on!"
Niyt smiles - enthusiasm is pretty infectious, after all. She scrambles down off the ridge with a little landslide of dirt and pebbles, and heads after Melia at something between a puppyish bound and a more mature lope. "Thank you!"
Now Melia just as to remember where she buried the thing, something she looks totally confident about on the outside while inwardly she's mentally questioning every tree. She makes quick swift little movements, pausing to sniff at the odd spot "This way, this way" or was it that way? No no, this way, somewhere, where maybe? She freezes. Was that a rabbit she smelt? She back tracks to sniff around a bush. She always finds the best stuff when she's looking for something else.
Niyt trails along after Melia, looking around as the fox sniffs at various spots and then trotting forward to catch up. When Melia freezes, she takes another step or two before noticing, and then she goes still as well - is there something here? She lifts up her nose, sniffing at the air. What is it? Is... oh! She recognizes that, from prey brought home and well-loved chewtoys - certainly seems like rabbit to her. She glances to Melia, almost like she would to a grown wolf - it's time for a hunt, and for a puppy, that means following the lead of someone who knows what they're doing!
New or old? New, Melia decides and after a quick glance and grin as she sees Niyt seems all ready to hunting too. Moving swiftly she silently dashes off following the trail, freezing again every few seconds until finally she catches sight of something small, fluffy and rabbit shaped.
Swiftly? Sure, Niyt can do that! Silently? Well, sort of. Both at once? There's where it gets hard! She varies between going too slow (but being very stealthy) and catching up (while making noise). She tries to echo the fox's technique, of little dashes followed by going still, but it's not quite natural for a wolf, especially one who hasn't even learned lupine techniques yet. She's bounding forward when the rabbit comes into sight... and judging from the way it twitches and goes alert, she came into its sight, too, before she froze. Oops.
Melia notices the pup's odd sounds but she's hoping the rabbit won't. No such luck though. The rabbit's on the alert so she only has seconds before it bolts. No time for sneaking but she'll remember that if there's a next time. She dashes forwards to quickly pounce the rabbit but it scrambles out again, running in it's panic vaguely towards Niyt.
The rabbit's leaping forward, running for cover and away from Melia. Niyt didn't mean to start it off prematurely - but now that she has, she's onto a part of the hunt she's rather more comfortable with: Chasing! She jumps forward, bounding towards the rabbit as it flees - and, fortunately for her, it was paying rather more attention to the fox than the wolf, and it doesn't notice Niyt until she's nearly upon it, rabbity eyes going wide as the wolf prepares to leap!
Melia is already bounding after the rabbit in case it gets away again but she pauses as the wolf seems to have it. The rabbit freezes before scrabbing, trying to change direction again but then it's flattened by a wolf!
Niyt is nearly as surprised as the rabbit is as she pounces it, her paws tangling up with its. Her jaws go into its neckfur, trying to bite - she knows that's what she's supposed to do, but instincts are remarkably vague about exactly where, and she fumbles around at it, trying to manage a proper bite to make it stop flailing and kicking her with its hindlegs!
Melia tilts her head, clearly the pup's still new at this but she supposes she should have known that. Well this will never do, much longer and the rabbit will break free "Nononono, like this" she lunges forwards and after a moment trying to get past all the flailing paws she stops the rabbit with a single bite.
Niyt pants as the rabbit squeaks shrilly and then goes still, hindlegs giving a few more weak kicks before going limp. Catching, it seems, is only the first trick. "Thanks..." she says, and then peers down to see just where the right spot to bite is, recording it to her memory. Oh, it's -there-, above that fluffy bit she kept getting mouthfuls of...
Melia watches the rabbit for a moment, yep, dead as dead can be, good. She grins back at Niyt as she flops down to sit "Much better than mouse, fill up a belly nicely"
Niyt grins, and nods. Education handled, it's time to eat, and she starts tearing in eagerly, little bits of rabbitfluff dotting her muzzle as she gets past the fur to the tasty meat inside.
Melia considers that a good job well done and even allows herself a little wag of the tail. She lets Niyt chow down while she keeps an eye on the area "Got a name small wolf?" she finally asks after a few minutes.
Niyt eats quickly, at first, filling up her belly from starved. Then she starts to slow down and eat more neatly. When Melia asks her a question, she lifts up her muzzle, licking it more-or-less clean. She did rather skip that part, didn't she? She always forgets about exchanging names. "I'm Niyt... of Cerulean pack." Maybe she can make up for it by giving a proper introduction now.
Melia forgets it a bit herself, she needs to make more friends, it might remind her of all the social pleasantries she's forgotten. Still, introductions are underway "Never heard of a Cerulean, don't know any packs really. I'm Melia, no pack of course"
Niyt laughs softly, and nods. Figures that her properly-detailed introduction would be all the wrong sorts of details for a fox. She smiles, though. "It's nice to meet you... are you hungry? There's still some rabbit left..." Even a hungry pup can't fully demolish one of those on her own. Quite.
Melia could know a few packs if she happened to meet wolves but that's something that just hasn't happened. She eyes the rabbit "Well, if you're full already" she drags it closer to herself to chew on it "Where are those big rock things then?"
Niyt sits down. She's not quite as full as she could be, but she's full enough to be content - and polite. She gives her muzzle a few licks, trying to get the bits of fuzz off it as Melia starts gnawing. "It's... I dunno what direction, from here. But..." she goes silent a moment. There really aren't that many other landmarks around there... maybe that's a landmark itself, of sorts. "It's emptier, than it is here. Not so many plants... the wind's always blowing and catching things along, too."
Melia pauses eating to tilt her head at the wolf, that doesn't sound like anywhere she's been before "Not so many plants? No trees? I don't know what's outside the woods, I've never been"
Niyt shakes her head slowly. "No... no trees." She looks over to one of the ones near here. "I... hadn't even seen any, until I got lost here. I'd heard about them, but... never seen one."
Melia looks surprised "Never?" it doesn't seem possible to her for anyone to never have seen a tree "Well clearly there are more introductions to be made" she leaves the last of the rabbit for now and bounces over to stand about and gesture with her nose as she boings between each item "That's a bush, they rustle and some of them are pointy. That's a tree, squirrels and birds hide in them, can't climb them, no sense in trying. There's a flower just there and that's a rock, I assume you know rocks"
Niyt nods in assent. All the older wolves are always talking about the forest, and trees, and all that - and they had to go and leave right before her and her siblings were born! How unfair is that? She giggles, and follows after Melia as the fox makes her introductions. "Hello, bush, and hello, tree... oh, yes, rock, I know rock quite well!"
Melia bounces up on top of a little rock, giving it a little sniff "Yeah, they get everywhere, they must be popular" leaping back off again she returns to the rabbit, completing the circle to continue eating again.
Niyt laughs, and nods, leaning in to touch the rock with her nose. "Like wind. Rock is waiting everywhere, but wind is always going everywhere..." she says, after a moment's thought, and then pads back to the carcass as well, tugging off a bit of meat and chewing on it slowly.
Melia pauses when food is taken but it only takes her a second to hush instinct and eat alongside Niyt "So long as the wind doesn't bring rain I'm happy. Still have to fix up a den for the winter"
Niyt chews at the rabbit contentedly, then swallows it down and licks her lips from it. She tilts her head to the side - sure, she's seen rain... a few times. It's not the sort of thing the desert-born pup thinks about much. "Does winter have more rain?"
Melia automatically replies between mouthfuls "It has snow, that's like cold rain that stays around on the ground. Winter's cold and wet, need a nice den"
Niyt huhs, thinking about that. "Stays around... like when rain gets caught in the rocks, only everywhere? But why doesn't it soak into the ground?"
Melia considers all the possible reasons for it "I don't know, I think it's cause it's cold. It's not really rain anymore, it's more solid...plus the ground goes hard in winter"
Niyt thinks on that. "It sounds strange..." she finally concludes, and shrugs a little. Well, she'll find out for herself when it happens... hopefully, having found her pack again so her family can explain it to her, too!
Melia seems to have had her fill of rabbit for now as she starts to lick her paws clean again between talking "The world's strange but if it were normal it wouldn't be any fun"
Niyt laughs. It's much easier to appreciate the strange on a full belly and with someone to talk about it with, that's for sure. Right now, things seem a lot less scary than they did before. "There's so many things... so many different directions. I dunno if I could figure it all out if I had years and years to try!"
Friendly foxes and a bit of rabbit helps everything. Melia grins once more "I know, I wanted to see them all, so far I guess I haven't got so far. Still, you'll have to work out your directions soon so you can get home"
Niyt sighs, and nods. "Yeah... I... I hope the shadows aren't still there..." she replies softly, gazing out into the distance. "I hope it's safe." But didn't dad tell her it was the forest that wasn't safe? It seems nice enough here, but... is the danger worse? She just doesn't know.
Melia tilts her head "Shadows?" scary things in the night she assumes "Well, you can stick with me, I'm safe. We can hunt for those rock things tomorrow" she's enjoying the company really.
Scary things in the night... yeah, that's them. They're a bit realer than the normal puppy bad dreams and things glimpsed out of the corner of the eye... at least, to those who know about spirits. Niyt sighs, and then a smile comes back at the offer of continued company. "That would be nice!" she says, wagging her tail.
Melia looks just as thrilled and wags a little too as she springs back up onto her paws and starts to lead the way at a leisurely trot "This way then! I've got a nice quiet bush I hide in, there's trees and everything, there may even be a rock" and maybe she'll find that mouse on the way.
Niyt nods, and gets up to trot after the fox, her tail wagging. She's full and has a new friend... things are looking up, even if she is still lost. "If there's a rock, and the wind can find us... it'll be almost like home!" she says, smiling. Everything will work out okay... she hopes.