Iridescent Lagoon into the ocean

It was hard to be adventurous when you'd already explored most every inch of your living space. Cedarwood forest, once so large and frightening to the girl, was merely a wooded place now, of which she knew almost every inch. Except for when it rained. She'd get terribly confused after a storm, when branches would be down and rocks were tipped over. She'd have to retrace her steps and relearn, but that didn't take very long usually.

So today, she went south. Oddly enough, she never really bothered to look beyond her zone of comfort and besides, she mostly assumed that it was all more trees anyway. Cedarwood Forest was big, and she'd explored it all! But she soon found, as she wandered away from her home, that there was quite a bit more that she'd never seen before, and it wasn't all trees! She wandered through a large wet open space, and then there were more trees. And then she found this...The biggest pool of water she'd ever seen! Still away from its shores, she stood, orange eyes wide, mixed with fear and utter glee, a very strange concoction of emotion.

"It's a pool of water." Pangur rolled his eyes, suddenly decided to grace the girl with his voice again. Aisling couldn't help but start a bit upon hearing the ghostly cat speak. She could always hear him breathing, but she'd been able to hear that mostly her whole life, so it was almost silence to her. In fact, it was almost like she forgot that he existed. The cat snarled, honing in on that thought. "You can't just dump me, sweetie. I'm your best friend, remember?" His harsh snarl was only accented by the strange sickly sweetness of his words. Aisling nodded, <b style="color:#388d10">"Why would I want to dump you? We're best friends!" The girl blinked in confusion and the words left her lips almost robotically. A moment later, she recovered, and the cat purred.

<b style="color:#388d10">"Isn't it amazing, Pangur? Look at all that water!" Her eyes fell upon the water's surface as she leaped towards it, and then pulled her eyes up to try and see to the other side. A brown lump came into view as she began to look around the edges rather than just gazing into the early morning mist. <b style="color:#388d10">"Oh, look! A bear!" Aisling squeaked, crouching suddenly, curiosity and fear lacing her voice. "If you don't bring attention to yourself, it won't eat you." Pangur hissed, though she could tell that he thought that all of this was quite funny. <b style="color:#388d10">"speech."

<blockquote><ul><span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>this is after pray for you, i know that much... but can we say this is after the puppies are born?</li></ul></span>
Honestly, he worried about her sometimes. No, most of the time. See, Aisling was such a happy creature, so keen and eager to believe in things like "silver linings" and "the good side" of heathens. Kiche had yet to find it in him to believe in these things. If Pangur had asked him to, that would be another thing, except he thought he could remember Aisling saying that Pangur didn't really like anyone. Thus, he didn't have to be as nearly as accepting and happy as Aisling was. Instead, he took it upon himself to watch her, to try an take care of her, because <i>God</i> forbid she get herself mauled by one of these strange heathens. Kiche, after all, had nearly had his tail torn off.

And this was why he followed her out of the cult's forest.

He should have called out, probably, and walked with her. But something stopped him. Perhaps she was going to meet someone, or something like that. He was suspicious and paranoid, even more so since he had been attacked. Therefor, he follow her at a distance, trying to be as quiet as possible. That did not stop him, of course, from cracking the occasional twig or tripping over the roots that had gone awry. But she hadn't seemed to notice him. The angel just kept walking, floating blithely through the forest and sticky, nasty waters that sucked as his legs. Thus far, she had met up with no one.

Or had she? Eventually, the stumbled upon a glorified puddle, and Kiche could vaguely make out her exclamations. Her excitement warmed his heart. It was so like her, to get excited about silly little things like this big puddle. But just then, as Kiche stood there, concealed in the forest, he noticed a massive brown shape coming towards her. Was this what she had come to see? Angrily, he decided he better put a stop to this. "<b>Aisling,</b>" he called, trotting out of the forest, "<b>What are you doing?</b>" His tone was accusatory as he shot a look at the grumbling hulk that loomed ever closer.
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that's fine. c:

A light giggle rose out of her throat as she went on watching the bear as it continued to lumber towards her. It probably hadn't actually noticed her yet, and was merely making some sort of round. Aisling's eyes shifted to the side, and it seemed that Pangur had suddenly just materialized there. "...you know bears are bad, right?" Aisling shook her head, <b style="color:#388d10">"Only if you bother them. Right?" The girl looked concerned, and lifted her head a bit again. How the massive brown creature hadn't yet noticed the pale wolf yet, as she was hiding behind absolutely nothing and was merely just crouched in the grass, was beyond the gray cat.

Aisling squeaked, as the familiar voice rang in her ears, rather than her mind like Pangur's seemed to do. <b style="color:#388d10">"Kiche!" She smiled, wiggling around in the grass to face him while still crouching. <b style="color:#388d10">"There's a bear over there. I'm watching it!" Slowly, she nodded, then wiggled back around, facing the water again, orange eyes watching the bear with a mixture of fear and intense curiosity. <b style="color:#388d10">"speech."

<blockquote><ul><span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>i lol'd so much while writing this</li></ul></span>The manner in which she greeted him was innocent and sincere enough, but Kiche could not be so sure. What if she decided she didn't want to kiss Kiche anymore? That she's rather kiss this gigantic brown mass because it was bigger and stronger and more capable of protecting her? Did she have that in her? Kiche couldn't say. He had the damnest time trusting anything in this strange, profane world. But he would rather assume the worst, of course, because he had been born a pessimist. He nudged roughly at her shoulder as if he hadn't even heard her, whispering, "<b>Aisling, why are you doing this? Do you not like kissing me?</b>" His orange eyes sparkled coldly as he stared at her, waiting for her to turn around and face him and come to her senses.

"<b>Quit staring at the damn thing and look at me!</b>" his voice rose dangerously, he was impatient. "<b>We need to talk!</b>" About a lot of things. Not just this... new fellow she had taken a liking to, but about the wolves back at the cult. She needed to know about the attack, and about what had happened at the puppy den. And about what Borden had promised him. Because of course Pangur would need to be there for the puppies, too. He would have to be introduced to them soon. After all, he was <i>God.</i>
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She chewed on her lip as she stared at the bear, who had finally stopped and was drinking from the lake now. Oh, this was so exciting. It was so close, and it didn't even see her! Like some kind of magic! Well, not really. She was just doing her best to be quiet. But now Kiche was here, and she wanted to talk so badly! She turned her head to look at him as he nudged her, and a frown crossed her face as he spoke. <b style="color:#388d10">"What are you talking about? Of course I do!" The girl whined, and leaned forward, poking the tip of her muzzle against his own like he had that first time on the mountain.

She flinched back as he rose his voice, attention finally ripped from the bear. Why was he angry with her? Pangur growled in the back of her mind. <b style="color:#388d10">"Talk about what? Maybe we can talk about it quietly so the bear doesn't eat us. Pangur told me that if we attract its attention, it'll get angry." The girl's voice wobbled, as if she was on the verge of tears. Aisling didn't understand what she'd done to make Kiche so angry, and she wanted to fix it! <b style="color:#388d10">"speech."

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Now that the young mountain had come closer to take a drink, Kiche could get a better look at him. Honestly, he was terrifying. It looked as if it were mostly muscle, partly fur, and all rage and badassery. That was disheartening, since Kiche couldn't figure out how he was supposed to compete with that. Sure, he was very devout and very <i>very</i> good, and he always tried his best... but... What if Aisling liked her men rough and rugged? He sagged visibly under the weight of this thought. <i>Do I just give up?</i>

But suddenly a great big black bulb was wavering before his face, bumping the tip of his nose, and he told himself he needed to relax. She really was saying all the right things. Why was he doubting her? <i>Of course she likes me.</i> He exhaled suddenly, unaware that he had been holding his breath at any point, and let his fur lay flat once more. Things were going to be okay. As long as Aisling liked him and he had the puppies, everything would be okay. He needed to have both, otherwise... well. He had no idea, but he really didn't even want to consider the possibilities.

His angel was talking again, and his attention jumped back to the present, to reality. When she mentioned <i>bear</i> and <i>angry</i> simultaneously, the gravity of the situation suddenly dawned on him. Or, well, the "angry" part, yes. The "bear" part? Well, that raised a red flag in his mind, and it sounded vaguely familiar. Perhaps Aisling would know? "<b>Bear?</b>" he gulped, turning to look at the earthen boulder.
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Aisling has stupid logic. xD

Her hardly-subtle display of affection seemed to calm him, although Aisling was still a bit shaken from his earlier words. But hopefully this had fixed all of it. She didn't want him to be angry at her and she'd certainly do all in her power to make him happy again. Her eyes shifted towards the bear for a moment, and Pangur lingered near the water's edge, obviously aware that the bear would have no chance of seeing him. Aisling was afraid despite that, rarely remembering that no one else but her could actually see him. "Maybe I'll take a swim," He said absently, yet teasing. Aisling shivered, the fur along her hackles rising as she looked at the bear, simply getting closer and closer again.

<b style="color:#388d10">"Uh-huh," Aisling whispered, her head nodding slowly. That seemed to activate some memory, and she gasped, looking quickly up at Kiche, <b style="color:#388d10">"You can fight it!" She said, grinning suddenly. It was bound to notice them eventually, since it only got closer ever moment, and so Aisling leaped from her spot of hiding, and barked at the bear, <b style="color:#388d10">"Hey! Bear! Go away!" It wasn't her attention to use those words to rile it, just so Kiche could fight it, but to hopefully avoid a fight at all and maybe spare everyone's life! <b style="color:#388d10">"speech."

<blockquote><ul><span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>s'okay if i play the bear a little bit, yeah? :P oh man this was amusing to write</li></ul></span>
Thirst apparently sated, the bear took up it's ambling walk once more. Slouching closer, ambling nearer. It was not that it was headed directly at the two morons, but anything within a mile radius was simply much too close. His anger abandoned in the face of a dun, hairy Armageddon, he only felt the icy-finger grip of terror running down his spine. He looked over at his little white angel as she spoke to him. "<i>Uh-huh. You can fight it!</i>" What? He didn't like the way she was looking at him suddenly. <i>Fight it?</i> Was she insane? How could he possibly fight a <i>BEAR</i>? Where had she gotten such a crazy notion? Except then he remembered. It was a snippet of conversation from months back that played in his head, repeating over and over, an eerily happy broken record.
<i>
Angel: Fatman, have you ever fought a bear?
Idiot: Oh yes! I have, Angel. Tore it's head clean off!
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Tore it's head clean off. At the time, he had thought she meant those stuffed animal things that his masters had given him. Looking up at the bear now, he could not see an ounce of likeness. There was no stitched on smile or button eyes. Only barely concealed yellow fangs and beady black-holes, pin pricks of darkness. This was not what he had meant. "<b>But Aisling,</b>" he replied feverishly, desperate to put an end to this silly idea of hers, "<b>I ca— </b>" But that was only a moment before Aisling jumped out in front of the bear.

"<i>"Hey! Bear! Go away!"</i> Too late. Much too late to do anything.

If it hadn't seen them before, it had seen them now. It's monstrous head veered slowly, catching sight of the little white wolf that had appeared before it. Everything was very still for a moment. The bear did not move, almost as if it hadn't actually seen her. Then it gave a ground-shuddering roar that tore the air. Kiche's whimper was completely drowned out, and his bladder exploded in sheer horror. For a moment, he just stood there paralyzed as he had often done in the face of rage and violence. Except he knew he had to do something. Aisling <i>expected</i> him to fight the bear off, and even if he knew he <i>couldn't</i> fight <i>any</i> sort of bear, he also knew he couldn't disappointed her. He also couldn't just let her get annihilated her.

So he threw himself at the bear, hoping to land on it's face or something ridiculous like that.
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it's cool. i always feel awkward being the bear alone, anyway. 8D we can both be the bear. like one of those horse costumes.

She hadn't expected such a reaction from Kiche or the bear. After calling for it, it merely turned and looked at her. It was kinda cute, in a little prey sort of way. Those little black eyes. She wondered if that's what Jayse's pups looked like. No. That'd be silly. They wouldn't look like bears! But mere seconds passed before the bear lost every cute quality about it. The horrific sound that came out of its mouth cause Aisling to crouch down again, a high-pitched squeal sliding straight from her throat, completely bypassing her mouth. It wasn't meant to be a word, or a phrase, merely an expression of absolute terror. Clearly she hadn't through this through.

"Obviously."

Pangur was beside her again, gray tail lashing. "Do you really think that sniveling ball of orange fur is really going to save you from the bear?" The cat was clearly furious with her. Aisling looked over her shoulder to see Kiche. She'd missed his outburst after the bear roared, and was only about to see him throw himself at the bear that was now lumbering towards them, but Aisling hadn't noticed that part yet. <b style="color:#388d10">"Oh, Kiche!" Aisling squeaked, regretting her actions immensely. She still didn't doubt his ability to defeat the bear, but still wished for him to remain intact after such a fight, and wondered if there'd be a chance to convince him to run. But before the pale girl could speak, he'd already thrown himself at the massive brown...Mass, and Aisling was in shock. <b style="color:#388d10">"speech."

<blockquote><ul><span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>badbabdabdjsdfaksd</span></li></ul>Midair, he heard his name, an exclamation. Obviously, the voice belonged to Aisling, but he couldn't catch what she had said. Was she egging him on? Did she want him to stop? But it didn't matter now, did it? He collided with the hairy boulder at full speed, ramming into a shoulder. But the bear did not buckle and falter as he would have assumed, in fact, it did not move it all. It was immobile, resolute, unyielding. Oh, and very, <i>very</i> angry. It's displeasure and rage was announced with an earthquake, a roar. The saint's resolve crumbled. "<b>AISLING!</b>" He squealed, suddenly ducking his head to avoid a furry tree-trunk arm that swung at his head, "<b>AISILING RUN!</b>"But there was no way he could fight this, so of course he ran too, bolting from under the bear, racing past the white girl back into the safety of the trees.
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