Hot Springs brave shine

OOC: Sorry for the delay! 

His expression softened again when the girl declared them to be friends as well, but quickly brightened with amusement at her enthusiasm. For the first time in their little conversation a chuckle fluttered from Cernan's throat. He couldn't say that her logic was anything but reasonable, and so the boy agreed. "I guess so," he replied, his voice rising happily in tone on the last word. How many friends did he really have anyway? And how many weren't in his pack? Did he really have any at all? Well, now he did. 

Then, she moved closer, her voice humming smoothly as she began to introduce herself. His golden eyes flicked between her face and her movements, unsure as to which more warranted his attention. The Oak Tree girl was unpredictable, but then again he had very limited experience dealing with strangers anyway. Most of them hadn't acted quite like this. He was reminded distantly of Ember; that pup also had a fondness for getting into other's personal space, but this 'Halie' hadn't yet managed to annoy him. Her antics were actually proving to be pretty charming, if he could ever admit it. Cernan's small progress toward relaxation ceased immediately when she suggested he come up with a nickname for her though, and his eyes went wide again. 

Thankfully, she didn't seem intent on pressing the matter any further, and before he could trip all over himself again she was moving; calling the tubby boy to join her in the water. His big paws hesitated; padding slowly forward as the girl egged him on. She was already standing in it, and visibly delighted with the feeling. Another smirk pulled one side of his maw up gingerly, as if the boy was afraid to really smile. Maybe on some level he was; it came with his shyness after all. His feet had already eased into the water; ankles now submerged in the steaming pool when the fact that he hadn't told her his name resurfaced. Cernan glanced over toward her face, waiting for her pale eyes to so easily root him to the spot once more. For a moment the Prince considered just letting it go and pretending he hadn't remembered, but it would just be weird later, wouldn't it? "Oh, I'm Cernan," he added, watching cautiously for her reaction.      

(This post was last modified: Mar 19, 2016, 02:09 PM by Cernan.)

The expression on the boy's face reminded her of the moon: waning an waxing, waning and waxing. Surely, his face was round enough. The transitions were much quicker than those of the night sky, though, and she was not perceptive enough to catch all the rapid flickering. As far as she could tell, he was warming up. His sunny eyes were bulging again now, but at least he wasn't stuttering or standing so rigidly. And, after all, he was following her to the pool and he didn't even look one bit like a criminal sentenced to death. All good signs.

The eyes were boring holes into again. She had never known a stare so intent as this one's. He was like to set someone on fire, the way he seemed to be fixing his mind to concentrate. Right before the girl could prompt him to spit out whatever was on his mind, the boy managed it of his own accord: his name. Turning her face to blink at him, she considered just how much work this boy really needed. Drift, the uncivilized mud puddle, could even say his name. A different wolf might have been exhausted at the thought of carrying on a conversation even a moment longer with this wet-pawed pup, but Sahalie's eyes sparkled with renewed vigor. A challenge.  Anyway, wasn't this boy more interesting than some of the more well-adjusted adults she knew?

Wiggling her toes under the water, she considered wading in a little deeper. "So then, if you don't like going far into the pool, what do you like to do?" Her paw lifted out of the water and slid forward, testing the water and finding it still acceptably warm. "For fun, I mean." On the mountains it was probably different, the sort of things a pup could do. Sven in the Willows liked to play tag, but it didn't seem so feasible up here. 

OOC: Inexcusably late, but here ya go xP 

His gaze shifted to land on her paws as they moved under the warm water. What did he do for fun? The pup lifted his head once more, ears cocked to attention while she dabbed at the meeting of liquid and air.  His classic opener came forth again. "Uh," the youth's eyes found something else to stare at for the moment. "I wrestle with my brother and sister, and we play chase a lot." It wasn't the easiest thing with such rocky terrain, but they had all grown up here, and the game itself came naturally. Cernan's face brightened a little all of a sudden. "And I've been hunting a little too." Was that impressive? He wanted it to be. It sounded grown-up. 

He wasn't sure if he wanted to bring up the thing he did with the numerous pine cones in the area, just in case maybe she would think it was silly. The lake child's attention then drifted to the great boulders and ledges around them, and found another little activity worth mentioning. "Some of the rocks are pretty good for climbing on," he added, holding his gaze off in the direction of a few as an indicator. @Neha was quite a bit better at it; with her smaller frame and more nimble paws. That, and he always got a little nervous. Balance was key and Cernan seemed to lack it. Something his dear sister was well aware of. "What about you?" the Vuesain prince countered then, genuine curiosity evident in his tone. He assumed the more diminutive girl probably lived somewhere down in that deep dark woods, where everything was flat-ish. Ma and Pa had said that her pack was down there...somewhere. She probably didn't have many rocks to climb on. Did they even have a lake at Oak Tree Bend? 

(This post was last modified: Jun 06, 2016, 08:23 PM by Cernan.)

@Cernan omg this is so crap i apologize

Wrestling. That seemed like a normal enough activity, something she had done with her brother when they were little, but her eyes bulged to hear that the children played chase up here. It struck the girl as an accident waiting to happen, something that should have frightened the dickens out of the boy who did not wish to wade to deeply into the hot spring. She let out a little, "Huh," to express her interest and surprise, but otherwise remained silent while he continued. She wondered if the hunts he had gone on had been one of those "big hunts," the ones that she had been more or less left out of, save for that fishing trip a long time ago. The adults had encouraged her to hunt her own small game, but this was not quite the same. It was also mind numbingly boring for the girl that required nearly constant simulation of some form. And rock climbing, well, she had done a little of that in order to get all the way up here, but assumed he was probably much better at the whole climbing business than she.

"Uhhh," she had to think. What did she do for fun? Sahalie felt like she was having fun all the time. Did she do things for special fun, in the way that others did? "Well I talk to the adults and bug them. That can be kinda fun since they're usually not very talkative. It's kinda like a game to get them to respond to you." Her smile became a little shy. This was not as "game-like" as tag was. Sahalie was not quite as active as normal puppies her age. "And a little while ago I got some friends to join my pack, so we go exploring and stuff like that. They're really great, you should come down and meet them sometimes."

"Oh" a light bulb went off, "And I slip on the ice. Like to move and stuff. That's a lot of fun."

OOC: One more each?

Well he wasn't sure if she was really impressed by anything he was saying, she was at least interested. Good enough. For once it seemed the little dark-furred girl actually had to sit and think about what he'd asked. It didn't take that long though. The second the tawny pup had glanced back at the water, she was speaking. He chuffed softly at the idea of 'bugging the adults.' That was more of his sister's thing, he had to admit, but it still made him smile a little. Halie's grins were becoming almost infectious. He understood having a harder time talking to grown-ups, but in this case it sounded like they were the ones struggling to find the words; this girl always seemed to have something on her tongue.   

He sort of avoided them, though not because he didn't like them. He was the awkward one here. Her next sentence had him tipping his head a little. She got friends to join? He briefly recalled the silver girl with the blue eye, who'd been chased into the Cove by a flock of evil birds, and all the kids from the pines. It would have been pretty awesome to hang out with them all the time; well, most of them anyway. "That's cool," he replied, thinking it over. His shy smile returned at the idea of meeting them. Introductions were a lil' scary sometimes.

Thankfully the other pup offered up something else to respond to; something easy. His ears pricked up. Maybe they did have a lake at the bend after all! "Oh, our lake gets really icy, still is." Things got warmer so much slower on the mountain; according to the adults. His gaze shifted off in its direction momentarily, and the Prince suddenly found himself suggesting something. "We could go over if ya want," he offered, voice high and very unsure as to what her response would be. He at least found playing with the ice fun, if he didn't go out very far. Ma and Pa weren't so keen on that. 

you can fade out/archive it when you make your next post

Cernan seemed to appreciate the concept of living among friends, though his hesitant smile seemed to indicate that he was not entirely keen on meeting Kyna or Alastor. But if Sahalie was with them she was sure Cernan would have nothing to fear. After all, Sahalie and Kyna had done well enough with that girl named Nalda who was awkward and easily put-down, though not quite as uncomfortable as Cernan was at the gentlest of breezes. "Yeah," she barked, "Come over any time you want. Just howl for me and I'll come right over and we can play!"

But her eyes bulged at what they heard next: a lake?  All the way up here? It was almost impossible for there to be enough horizontal space for a body of water any larger than the hot spring they were currently in, but somehow there was enough space for a whole lake. Where on earth did this boy live, exactly, she wondered. Fallen Tree Cove didn't seem to indicate any sort lake by virtue of the name, but then again the girl did not know the meaning of the word "cove" and had more or less overlooked this fact. "Can we go now?" Her vibrating body sloshed water around as she jumped from the water. "I wanna see how big a mountain lake can be!"

@Sahalie - Done!

His words had more effect than he thought they would. At first she looked a little confused, then amazed, and then the little dark pup was practically bouncing with excitement. It was hard not to smile, just a little. He snorted once and shook his head to expel the water flung aside by Halie's exuberant retreat from the hot spring. Their feet were gonna get pretty cold for a little while, but that wasn't too terrible he supposed. The chubby boy turned to face her, and plodded himself out as well.  "Sure," he replied happily, relieved that his suggestion had gone over so very well. 

Cernan stepped up onto the rocky shore, this time being a bit more careful not to face-plant with every stride. He bobbed his head in the direction of home with a gentle grin. "It's over here, not too far." He thought it was pretty big of course, but who knew how big a lowland lake could get? Maybe not this big and maybe she'd be impressed and think his home was super cool. That'd be great. The Pines kids seemed really interested when they told 'em about it so, maybe Halie would be too. The water dripped from his legs as he trotted back into the snow. The sock in temperature sucked, and he drew a single sharp breath at the contact. Hopefully this was the only time they would be getting wet today.

-Fade-

(This post was last modified: Oct 09, 2016, 07:38 PM by Cernan.)