Fool's Gold Chasm midnight creeps so slowly

Random Event: Leviticus, while walking you suddenly set your paw where a much larger creature had once stepped.
All welcome!

It was hard to be inside of the glittering cavern and not think of River. With that being the case, he spent as little time in the pack's main den area as he could, to the point that he possessed his own, separate sleeping quarters. He'd never liked curling up alone to slumber, but the search for his childhood friend had gotten him used to such necessities of solitude, and with the other young man gone it... hurt to touch other wolves.

His heart was building a wall and he didn't know that he wanted to stop it.

He crawled from his private quarters now, having just woken minutes before. The sky was darkening and it was time for him to pitch in to the pack he owed his allegiance to. He sniffled and sneezed upon meeting the cold air before adjusting to the wintry winds and setting off.

Enera didn't like the cold, of that she was growing more and more certain, and she spent her nights curled up with Mama or Marrah. She was just heading back toward the den when she spotted another pack member in the darkening night. It was that guy she'd met when the caches had been robbed. Her ears pricked and she wandered towards him. "Hello!" she called, all sleepiness gone from her mind. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Why are you out here by yourself? Isn't it warmer with someone else? You can sleep with the pack, or you can come curl up with Mama and me," she offered.

She hadn't yet realized that asking a ton of questions might be considered rude or invasive. Mama always answered her questions with patience.

A white splotch separated itself from the amorphous surroundings somewhere ahead of him, and Levi squinted to make out a familiar, young face. Oh, the only-child pup. Levi forced a smile, but couldn't make it big and expressive like the ones he used to pull out so readily.

"Hi," he answered, tail tip curling as his tail gave a few friendly wags behind his hind legs. His jaws parted again after the question that followed, but it wasn't just the one. She innocently called him out on his self-isolation, and he had no idea how to tell a seven-month-old child that she just didn't feel like family. Not like River did.

He tried to a force a smile, and skate past the queries about his sleeping situation. Hopefully she would let him get away with it.

"That, um... that, would be nice. Thanks. How um... how is your mom?"

Rhaegara had seemed pretty stressed about the robbery.

(This post was last modified: Jan 06, 2022, 06:31 AM by Leviticus.)

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

For a moment Enera worried that the man wouldn't answer her, but finally he agreed and asked about her mama. A smile split her face and her tail began wagging at his acquiescence. She pranced around him. "We sleep over here!" she said, indicating the direction she'd initially been headed. "Follow me!" She danced off, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he was following. "Mama's good," she said. "She tells me bedtime stories. Sometimes I go sleep with Marrah and Caelyn and Aweho, so I don't get a story then, but I like sleeping with Mama on our own too. I like her stories. Do you like bedtime stories?" she babbled, pleased to have an adult audience. She glanced back again. "Mama tells the best stories. And then I tell them to Marrah. Marrah's my best friend."

Marrah was also her sister in her mind, but that was a complicated relationship Enera hadn't quite fully understood yet. They were born around the same time and they spent a lot of time together and they were family. That's all that was important to the Rayvne pup.

"Oh," Levi reacted, blinking. Right now? He hadn't thought that one through... The maroon-back wolf grimaced and hesitated, but ultimately followed after the spirited young girl. He was in it now.

Mamas good, she told him and he would have answered with 'that's good' but she kept talking, launching another barrage, this time with more sharing than asking. He tried to piece the names to the faces he'd seen around, but barely had gotten to know the adults much less their children.

"I do like stories," he answered, tail swaying at his hocks. He would have told her that River had been his best friend, if he knew it wouldn't hurt to say.

"What else do you do for fun?"

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Enera's babbling stopped long enough for her to await a reply from the man she was leading back to the den. She gave a little wiggling hop of joy when he said he liked stories; she thought stories were the best! Especially mama's stories. Maybe mama could tell them a story tonight, too.

Then a question was posed to her in turn and the girl was off again. "I like exploring! she said leaping forward a couple times as if to demonstrate her enthusiasm. "I like playing with Marrah and collecting rocks for Aweho, and I like making the sand in the pond swirl around my paws!" She paused and made a face. "Not right now, though. It's too cold." she shuddered. "I guess sliding on the ice is fun, when you don't fall."

Her chin still hurt from that incident.

Exploring, that was a good one, and yet also rather... perilous. Levi watched mildly as she went on, animating her list with every exuberant movement. They all sounded like wonderful things, and he was genuinely happy for her. He wished dearly that he could be that young again, though it really wasn't even that far off - she wasn't long from the age he and River had been when the latter had been chased from their pack.

He squinted his eyes in absent thought. How old was he, now... ?

"We didn't have ice and snow back home," he commented after her final bullet point.

"Caused me a lot of trouble last year, but... I guess it's not so bad this time," his green gaze had wandered, around at the silver-gilded world and ice-enveloped canopy above, before settling back onto the girl's young dial, "with a pack."

Levi smiled. He hadn't realized it before, but it was true. At least he hadn't almost fallen through the ice or starved or froze to death like the previous Winter...

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Enera paused and looked back at Levi as he mused on the lack of snow and ice where he was from. She cocked her head and wrinkled her nose. "Lucky. I don't like the snow." She glared at the white stuff to punctuate her distaste.

His next words drew her attention back to him. Her brow furrowed in confusion. "What happened last year?" she asked, and then, "You weren't with a pack?" She knew from stories her mama told her that sometimes wolves travelled on their own, but she couldn't imagine whey they would want to. That's why packs became families, after all. Why would Levi have spent the winter alone when he could have found someone to stay with? It was much warmer when you had a mama to snuggle up with at night.

I don't like the snow, she made clear, and he smiled more genuinely.

"Me either," he told her with a conspiratorial wink. It was nice to simple admit the simple fact without feeling as though he were whining. Of course, it couldn't stay so uncomplicated for long. In typical childlike fashion, Enera innocently asked the exact questions that he found most difficult to properly answer.

"Um," his voice was quiet still, green gaze falling to the snowy path ahead of them, "you remember River? I uh, I was following him last Winter."

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Enera grinned up at her new friend's agreement about snow. Snow was awful. But with her next questions Levi seemed to wilt a little. Enera paused and tilted her head, looking up at the man with a frown. He was not looking at her.

He asked about River, to which Enera crinkled her nose in thought. Had she known a River? She slowly shook her head. "No, sorry," she said before brightening a moment. "I know a Riven! He was my friend. He'd play with me in the pond and and stuff." she looked down and scuffled her foot on the ground. "He left though. I miss him." Riven had been nice, and he knew fun games.