Heartleaf Creek I'm sure there was heartbreak

AW! Khalon is witnessing his first snow.
Very late at night after midnight, Snow, 28F/-2C

from charming to alarming in seconds

The tawny boy was taking full advantage of the fact that the adults had loosened the rules and let the children out of the territory. They couldn’t go too far, but anything outside of the borders was still brand new and full of excitement. Khalon had inherited the nocturnal gene that seemed to plague the Valles and he found himself exploring the area around the creek almost every night.

Tonight was cold enough that the pup could see his breath billowing out before him which gave him images of some mythical beast. He spent a while blowing the steam dramatically, snorting and trying to make rings and all kinds of other things before he grew bored of this game. He had been watching his last failed attempt at a ring when he noticed something strange in the air.

Floating down towards him looked like a dandelion fluff, but those had long disappeared as summer turned to fall. It drifted in the air before landing directly on his nose and Khalon was shocked about how cold it was and then it was just gone leaving a bead of water in its place. Eyebrows furrowed for a moment and then his mouth popped open in surprise as he realized there was more of them falling down and beginning to gather on the ground. It reminded him of the ash that had covered the grass at times, but this didn’t have a bad smell.

Khalon carefully pressed his foot down into the snow and was elated to see when he lifted it an outline of his paw remained. Whatever this stuff was, it was cool!

Tuwile had been following his brother from a distance, wide awake even though it was far past their bedtime, and curious as to where Khalon had been going all those nights. He paused momentarily at the pack border, looking around for a moment before stepping over it, shaking out his fur with a long exhale and then continuing forward once again.

When Khalon stopped Tuwile followed suite, standing silently and merely watching as his brother blew frosted breath into the air. He wasn't sure how long they were there, but eventually rain started to fall.

But it wasn't rain. It was much slower, and... white? His orange gaze lifted up to the sky, mesmerised as multiple of the strange white things floated down to the ground, and then staying on the ground like a strange type of grass. Up ahead he watched as Khalon made a show of stepping onto the ground and lifting his paw into the air, proceeding to copy the motion with his own paw.

An indent of his paw was left in the now white ground, and he exhaled excitedly through his nose. What fun!

from charming to alarming in seconds

The tawny child had been wrapped up in his own games for the evening and had not been aware that Tuwile had been following him. It wasn’t until he heard the excited snort that he looked up from his pawprint to see his brother staring at a similar paw print. Khalon liked Tuwile the best of all his siblings, mostly because he didn’t bite him or try to tell him what to do all the time. So instead of the usual huffy stance and sarcastic comments he might have greeted his sisters with, the white child was met with a smile and a wagging tail.

Walking over to look at the print that Tuwile had made, and admiring his trail of them he created in the process he complimented, ”Nice!” Then he did something that only a child would do, he reached down and took a big lick of the white powder. He had no idea if it was going to be any good or not, but there was only one way to find out. It almost immediately turned to water in his mouth - but freezing! Flinching a little at the temperature, but overall pleased with his experience he mused, ”Why is weird shit always falling from the sky?” The tawny boy had recently discovered cussing and was taking every opportunity to practice his bad words. His mother must be mortified.

Tuwile waggled his ears and tail happily at the positive comment from his brother. He was much nicer than Tori, and his poor toes and tail didn't suffer any mistreatment when hanging out with him. Watching with intrigue as Khalon reached down, he snorted in amusement as the other boy licked the white stuff covering the ground. Surely it had to taste bad right?

Ever the follower he mimicked the action, though more bit at the stuff than licked it, finding the coldness and briefly crunchy texture to be unlike anything he had ever experienced. When he lifted his head there were a few flakes on the tip of his nose, but they swiftly melted before his very eyes.

He made a low 'ooo' sound deep in his throat, grinning at Khalon as his brother spoke again, using words that he knew their parents would diapprove of. However, Tuwile shrugged his shoulders in response to the question. At least this stuff was more exciting than the ash. Filled with a burst of energy he pranced around gleefully, pushing down into the ground with each landing to leave paw prints strewn about the area.

from charming to alarming in seconds

Khalon liked hanging out with his younger brother, if only because he didn’t tell him what to do all the time. Plus he didn’t bite or shove like some of their other siblings, and the tawny boy had grown protective over him. He would step in if he saw Tuwile being picked on or pushed around, though Khalon would admit he did bully him a little bit from time to time. One of those nobody picks on him but me kind of situation.

He watched as Tuwile scooped up multiple mouthfuls of his own and made a happy sound. The Valle child beamed at his brother for the vocal acknowledgement, which was rare and always made him feel special when it happened. Looking back at the snow and the way that their pawprints were still visible against the freshly white background he had an idea. ”wait, let me try something!” Laying down carefully, Khalon made sure to press all of his body and head down against the snow, before rolling over dramatically and copying the action on the other side. When he stood he laughed at the strange shape he had created, as if two wolves were laying on their sides and pressed back to back.

Looking to Tuwile he encouraged, ”Go on, you make a shape now.” As long as it wasn’t cooler than his creation, Khalon would be happy to have someone to compete against.