Kettle Pot Pond walk the moon

For @Cyril! I'm so hype

Fog
53 ° F, 12 ° C

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Ris was well aware that this was a risky trip, but gosh darn it, she was plenty old enough to wander around! It had been a long trek, from midday the day before until the same time today, but she'd managed to reach a cool place after a brief struggle. And on the way, she'd discovered awesome stuff like the fact that the forest had an end and there was an endless expanse of beautiful grass and open area. Except for, apparently, a big blemish that Risaela had somehow managed to stumble across. Purely by chance, of course, because, unbeknownst to the child, the Lowlands were massive.

It was a bunch of water, not unlike the lake near Hearthwood River, but this one was smaller and didn't seem to have islands in the middle of it. A couple of greenish hoppers (frogs) were resting on the shores, and there were some birds flittering around, in spite of the fog that settled about the ground and over the water. The silver-tawny pup found that she didn't mind the mist, herself - she kind of blended in, actually, and it made her feel like a sneaky ghostie thing.

The pup knew she probably should head home by that point, but the River wolves would probably not miss her too much. Especially considering sometimes she didn't actually see any of her packmates for a day or two at a time, anyway. She just didn't hang around the communal den much, and she didn't often cut time from her adventuring schedule for socializing. Which probably had at least a miniscule impact on her verbal communication.

With all that in mind, the pale girl turned her silver eyes forward and moved north-ish to traverse the fog along the shoreline.

(This post was last modified: Jul 25, 2017, 03:59 AM by Risaela.)

Now that he was getting bigger the little Kael was travelling further, his dark body streaking across the tundra as he attempted to see as much as possible before he had to return home. Sometimes he would accompany his parents, joining them on their patrols and asking them all sorts of annoying questions. Other times he would only be joined by his shadow. The boy was fortunate to live on the monadnock—the large rock made it impossible to get lost. All he had to do was find the rock in the distance and head home.

Unfortunately the monadnock was not always as close as he thought it was. The lowlands stretched far across the north; the points of interest he had studied from the top of Whitestone were not as close as he originally believed.

Cyril did not mind. Adventures were not meant to be short. The boy would receive a few scoldings if he was gone too long, but he knew it was because his parents worried about him. Their words did not hinder his adventures; instead they fuelled them, driving him to see more.

Which brought him to the pool of water. The fog had made it difficult to navigate through the tundra but he knew, once it lifted, he would be able to find his way back to Whitestone. It was strange to think that the white mist that swirled around his ankles was a type of cloud. Weren't they supposed to stay in the sky, a soft blemish amongst a sea of blue? He frowned as he approached the tumbling water, his nose wrinkled softly. He spotted movement on the other side of the water but remained where he was, his expression hardening as he struggled to locate the pale figure through the sea of grey.

He remained quiet, unsure of whether he wanted to engage with the stranger. Being the only cub on the monadnock made him slightly anti-social. 

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

Ris hadn't expected company on this venture. It was supposed to be a kind of secret outing that only she would know about, and then she would return home and her packmates would be none the wiser. But then she saw a black figure - small, like herself - on the other side of the water, and her heart dropped into her stomach. What was Oksana doing out there? Had the younger girl managed to follow her this whole way without her knowledge?

Inna was probably going to kill her.

Not thinking to use any other method of calling out to the dark pup, Risaela instead raced her way around the remainder of the pond, losing sight of the shadow in the fog for a few moments. Which, of course, only fueled on the panic that Ris felt because of the fact that her friend was out here alone because of her, and she needed to fix that immediately.

The shadow popped back up from the fog as Ris raced down the shore, and she had to plant her paws down firmly in order to keep from barreling right into it. "S-Sana!" she called, silver eyes wide and fur standing on end. "W-wha-at're y-you do-ing heeere?" But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she caught sight of yellow eyes and the scent of a stranger wafted to her nose.

"N-not San-Sana," she stuttered, tilting her pale head to the side with a smile - she was one of the more friendly Hearthwood puppies after all, and she was relieved that Oksana hadn't followed her so far from their home. "Wh-wha's your na-ame?" The impediment in her speech was only accentuated by the fact that she had her tongue lolling from her mouth, and she was trying to catch her breath from the sprint down the shoreline. She hoped the stranger didn't mind too badly.

While Cyril was keen on avoiding the stranger it appeared the figure in the fog had other ideas.

It disappeared for a moment, causing the Whitestone prince to sigh in relief as his shoulders sagged, a soft smile tugging at his lips. The moment of joy was short-lived, however, as the tawny figure came barreling toward him. A shrill voice accompanied the silver-eyed cub, a strange name tumbling off her tongue. Sana? He blinked, perplexed by the name as he took several steps back, distancing himself from the girl as she questioned him, not yet realizing he was not who she thought he was.

Fortunately for the Kael it did not take long for the girl to realize he was definitely not whoever this Sana was. Gravity tugged at the corners of his mouth as a frown stretched across his maw, his soft triangles pinned forward. The girl seemed overly friendly, especially for meeting a stranger. Clearly her parents had not given her the stranger danger lesson. He snorted to show his disinterest, dismissing her question with a sharp flick of his tail. “Non’ya bizness,” he snapped back with a raised brow, his yellowed gaze hardening. The girl carried a strange woody scent—one that the boy was not familiar with. She smelt of other wolves, which meant that she was most likely part of a pack. But was that pack friend or foe? Were there others lurking about, using the stuttering cub as a decoy before they launched their attack…? 

Stranger danger had never been - and would never be - a part of Risaela's vocabulary. For starters, everyone she met was no longer a stranger. Friends were made quickly and easily, unless they were just mean worms or something. And even then, she would give them a second chance. Just like she planned on giving this new friend of hers as many chances as he needed.

"Non'ya bizness.'

The pale-furred child tipped her head to one side as she regarded him, silver eyes scanning him over. He smelled different than her, but she'd met wolves outside of her pack before, so that was no big surprise. But he was stepping away from her, and he looked kind of stiff. Had she scared him?

"I'm Ri-Rissy," she greeted instead, a smile on her maw. If he wasn't going to introduce himself, she might as well do it. "No-not scaryyy!" To accentuate her point, she rolled over onto her back and stretched her paws up in the air. She wondered briefly if she should tell him about her pack, but decided against it. That wasn't super important right now.

The silver-eyed girl did not seem phased by his outburst. Instead of returning to wherever it was she called home the girl introduced herself, a smile perched effortlessly across her pale features. His grimace deepened as he snorted once more, his yellowed eyes rolling in his skull. Rissy. The name sounded as though it was cut short; incomplete. His toes curled into the dirt. Cyril did not like calling others by their nicknames unless they were his friend, and this girl certainly was not his friend. Everly was his friend, which was why he called her Evy, whether she liked it or not.

Not scary! He chuffed at her words, his upper lip curling. “Not a’sc’red,” he quipped through narrowed brows, his hackles raising slightly. Rissy quickly flopped onto her back, her legs suspended above her small body. Was she not worried that he could have had packmates lurking nearby, waiting to snatch her up and take her back to the monadnock? She certainly was bold, but in Cyril’s youthful opinion it was reckless. He had been cautious of his surroundings as he ventured south, often throwing his chin over his shoulder to ensure that the monadnock was still behind him. Where was home for the silver-eyed girl? His nostrils flared. Truthfully he did not care to know, but he was sure she would tell her eventually. Words seemed to tumble off her tongue with ease.

“Ah’m sc’ry,” he added as he took a bold step toward her, his needle-like teeth poking from beneath his dark lips. A low growl rumbled within his chest as his gaze hardened in an attempt to seem both bigger and scarier than he actually was.

In all honesty, Cyril's belief that she was both bold and reckless were entirely true. In this very moment, Ris feared absolutely nothing. The concept was not foreign to her - she understood that other wolves got scared, but she wasn't sure exactly why that happened. She'd never encountered anything that she would consider scary at all, so she couldn't relate to the feeling. Although she had no idea that the very next day, her entire opinion on the subject would change.

But for now, pretty much nothing frightened her. Not when the black-furred boy raised his hackles and claimed that he, too, was completely unafraid. Though he spoke with a slightly different speech pattern and tempo, with different words and missing vowels, the young pup only had slight trouble deciphering what he had to say.

Her tail began to wag and she rolled onto her stomach - it was good that she hadn't scared him. She'd been quite worried about that. But then the other pup stated that he was the scary one, and bared his teeth at her. He growled and took a step toward her, and Ris raised one eyebrow at him, slightly confused as to just why he didn't want to be happy with her. Or, more like very confused. Who wouldn't just want to be happy?

The dark-colored pup was bigger than her, but that had absolutely never deterred Risaela Tainn before. Instead, her tail whipped back and forth, and in response to his one bold step, she got to her feet to pad right up to him, not at all afraid of his temper or his threat. She stopped, regarding the yellow-eyed boy carefully.

"Mmmmhmm, so-so sca-aaary," she stated in her usual stuttering way, intending to kind of placate his puppy rage. "W-anna beee f-fuhriends?" The inquiry was asked with a hopeful smile, because they didn't need to fight. Fighting was super dumb in the first place, so it was just way better to be friends.

That was a fact of life.

(This post was last modified: Jul 27, 2017, 06:19 AM by Risaela.)

The smudge regarded the tawny girl with a raised brow, his frown continuing to deepen. Once more she did not appear phased by his approach or the low growl that rumbled inside his chest. Instead it seemed to intrigue her; igniting her furious curiosity. Adopting a disinterested expression the boy tipped his maw away from her, his yellowed gaze focusing on the fog that surrounded them. Her boldness was admirable, but Cyril had been taught to be cautious around those he did not know, regardless of their age. He did not know the pack that she belonged to or their intentions.

What if they were not friendly with the Whitestone wolves?

What if she belonged to a group of rouges intent on pup-napping any younglings they came across?

At first he ignored the words that were expelled from her small body, his toes tapping the ground impatiently as he waited for the girl to grow bored of their conversation. His ears twitched at her question, causing his focus to return to her small frame, his brows pinched together. “No,” he grumbled quickly in response, his tail lashing out behind him, “I don’ wan’ be f’iends.’ Cyrl had enough friends, even if they were a few years older than him… he did not need more.

Not yet, anyway.

The boy's behavior was beginning to bumfuzzle the girl, and she tilted her head to the side as he spoke. She was not nearly as concerned with packs or more important - or, to her, trivial - aspects of life. In her mind, they were both just kids, and so why wouldn't they be friends? It just didn't make any sense whatsoever.

But, for some strange reason, he just did not want to be friends with her, and that wouldn't do. It truly did not occur to her that he might have an aggressive pack intent on pup-napping her or whatever, or that he thought that about her and her pack. It was clear that his parents did a far better job teaching him caution than Kisla did with Ris, though Theo was much more careful about his actions. Perhaps it was just a Ris thing.

And as for having plenty of friends back in her own territory, she did. But honestly, there was no such thing as too many friends, so she wasn't going to stop trying with this one. Her head tilted to the side, one ear crumpling while the other angled toward him, completely mystified and confused by his behavior.

"W-why not?" The question was much clearer than her others before. She offered him another, approaching smile, hoping that maybe if she seemed friendlier, maybe that would help change his mind.