Fool's Gold Chasm Aweho, The Science Boy

Life was becoming much less confusing lately. The caw of a bird stopped being so alarming, a nightly thunderstorm would not shake him from his sleep. He did feel a lot more hungry lately, which was fine for him, but probably not so wonderful for his mother since he was no longer a potato of a creature, but a smaller wolf with teeth. And though he had not noticed this, his puppy blue eyes were lightening into a silvery color, almost blending with the pale fur above them.

The weather on this day was nice and cloudy. Perfect for exploring and looking for new things to add to his pile. Really he wanted to know more about things. Why was this rock so pretty? Why did this plant taste funny? But he hadn't really had the courage to ask anyone, or even really where to start.

A small pile of rocks and flowers had started to grow near the base of a tree. Throughout the day he'd probably move the pile closer to the den and closer until it joined his very large pile amassing behind it. But for now this was where it was. A hump of boring gray rocks and pretty white rocks, flat stones that had been in a creek sometime probably long ago. Pink and white and purple flowers with bitter stems but fragrant blossoms. Sometimes they made his stomach hurt, even though he never ate them.

At this moment he carried a large rock between his teeth, putting it down every few feet to adjust his grip and give his teeth a moment of respite.

Enera had big plans today. It was only a half-formed plan - okay, maybe only twelve percent of a plan - but it was a plan and it was big. She was going to try to sneak out. Maybe. She really wanted to. But she would get in so much trouble, and it might be scary.

She heard a shuffle, and Enera looked over to see Way carrying... a rock? He kept setting it down and picking it back up to carry it, and she watched with a cocked head for a moment before padding over to him. "Way!" she greeted. "Whatcha doin?" She couldn't understand what was so cool about a pebble; he couldn't eat it, and he couldn't play with it... unless he could? Maybe he had some sort of new game! Her tail wagged at the prospect. She liked games!

The whole drowning incident was so far gone. His little puppy brain hardly remembered it and besides, he really hadn't been that cross with her when all was said and done. Enera was basically his best friend now, other than his sister. It was always good to see her.

"Collectin'." He answered as he bent to pick the rock up again. Aweho bumbled past her before he dropped the rock again and his tongue lolled out in a funny pant. "I like pretty rocks." Because that was a fact. "Do you like pretty rocks?" He wasn't entirely sure what Enera liked and he'd need to know in case he found one and could give it to her as a present.

Enera watched in fascination as Aweho carried his rock the rest of the way to a small pile she hadn't noticed was growing near a tree. She trotted over and sniffed it, looking at the pile of stones. "I don't know," she said truthfully. Her eyes were usually skyward, watching the birds and leaves and funny little animals that chittered and hopped between the branches.

She poked at the pile. "Where'd ya find 'em?" she was curious now; what did Aweho like about them? They did look cool, she supposed, but there were lots of rocks around their home. "I can help you carry them." it wasn't a game, but she was sure she could find a way to make it a game.

This would be the perfect opportunity to see if she liked rocks or not. Because he had a lot of pretty rocks he could show her and she could decide if she liked them and then he could share! He looked at the rock at his paws and picked it back up, hopping quickly to his middle pile to leave it before answering her questions. "I find them everywhere. And sometimes you gotta dig to find the extra pretty ones. Flowers, too. Well, no digging for flowers. They get bendy and gray when you pull them out of the ground."

Running past her, Aweho gave a little yip to encourage her to follow. "I can show you my pile!" And he would lead her to small pile of stones. The original pile so she could help him move them to the pile he'd dropped the last rock at. There truly was a nice variety of rocks and blooms that hadn't wilted quite yet for Nera to pick from.

Enera looked keenly at the rock currently at her friend's feet, until he picked it up, bounced over to his pile to deposit it, and then came back to jubilantly explain the intricacies of pebble-finding. She listened intently, ears pricked in interest. The bit about the flowers was interesting; she hadn't known that. It made her wonder what else went all funny when dug up.

Aweho's encouraging yip had the young up and bounding after him, his excitement contagious. She liked that he was so happy; it was good to see her friends enjoying themselves. She wanted to enjoy what he enjoyed too.

"You have another pile?" she asked as they went. She'd thought that was his pile. He must really like rocks. Maybe she could surprise him with one when he was sad. It might cheer him up. She wondered if the same thing might work for Marrah; Marrah seemed sad more than Aweho did.

And Aweho really liked that Enera was happy, because she'd seemed kind of confused a minute ago. But rocks made everyone happy. At least that's the sense he got when he gifted them to the adults (not understanding that they likely left the rock right where he'd given it to them and by now he'd unknowingly picked it up again). It was nice to get some help, too, moving his many rocks. To a puppy, his piles were quite large. To an adult, it wasn't much more than a pile of pebbles. But when you had to wobble back and forth it was a daunting task.

"Yeah! I got lotsa lil piles that I move to my biggun!" His tail whoosed at his back as he led them to the main denning area and towards his family's home. And then around behind it. A puppy-sized pile of stones and flowers and bits of grass. It was quite impressive, though was more of a sploot of rocks than a pile. The variety of sizes didn't do well to accumulate a heap, so the rocks rolled off of each other. Aweho leaned down and plucked a sour-tasting wilted flower from the pile. He offered it to her.

"Frr!" He attempted to say.

Enera bounced after Aweho, his excitement infectious. Even if she was confused about his love of rocks, she was ready to see his pile. She wanted to see all his little piles of stones too, to see just what kinds of rocks he collected and where. This pile was indeed bigger than the other, and there were plants with it too. The pile was wider than it was tall, but it was still rather impressive to Enera.

"You carried all these here?" Enera asked in awe. "How long did that take?"

Then Aweho presented her with a droopy flower from the pile and presented her with it, mumbling around the stem. Enera giggled. "Flower," she agreed, and then, not sure if that's what he was intending, she gently took it. It was bitter on her tongue and her nose wrinkled a bit, but she still smiled and gave a muffled, "Thay-oo."

After she took the flower he hopped back to the pile and laid down next to it. The stones were soothingly cold and he watched her intently, nodding at the thanks. The rocks though. Right.

"A lot of days. Gotta be real careful cause rocks are hard. I wanna get the pretty shiny rocks in the walls, but they don't come out." His ears folded in sad defeat. "Maybe when I'm bigger I can get them!" And then they were up again, not sad. Because it was hard to keep any puppy sad for that long.

I already have a thread going that takes place after this where she's established she hasn't been in the main cavern yet, so let's steer away from going there in this thread if we cane?

Enera liked the flower, but it was bitter on her tongue so she gently laid it aside and sat before the pile, watched Way make himself comfortable on it. She listened and nodded, trying to imaging carrying a hard little pebble from across the territory. It seemed so much bigger to her little legs.

Her ears pricked at the mention of the shiny rocks in the walls. She hadn't yet seen the shiny rocks. "What shiny rocks?" she asked. Sometimes when rocks were wet they were shiny, but all Aweho would have to do to get these ones shiny was bring a mouthful of water and spit on them. If he could carry hard rocks from all over, he could hold water in his mouth, right?