A Home...for now {Open}

[Kitsune]

The sun seemed to die as it hit Kyran's back but when it hit his legs it reflected off seemingly making them glow. In turn the glow was reflecting into the stream for a rather impressive but annoying sight. Well at least it had become annoying after the first few minutes at first he had been rather enchanted by it. Then again his awe of the world was slowly fading to a normal level now that he had been out of his pod for awhile. He didn't know why he was following the stream, or why he had left the Orchard in the first place but he had so he was going with it. He was finding out though that he didn't have a whole lot of stamina yet. He was getting tired and his tail which had been up when the small journey had started was now drooping and his speed was slowly getting slower and slower.

Slowly he began to feel his exhaustion, so he looked around to see if there was a good place to stay. Looked around his interest was piqued by large trees beginning at the edge of a meadow. There really was no other option to go over there so he began going over. He noticed the ground was beginning to change, it was becoming more padded by all of the leaves and bark of the trees that had fallen. Hearing an odd sounds his head jerked up and he searched the treetops. There flying above him were these animals going from tree. He was curious and wanted to catch one, maybe after his nap he could attempt to.

"This place is kind of nice," he murmured to himself. He frequently did this as hew wasn't used to talking versus thinking quite yet. he was getting much better about it though. With a sudden clarity he realized that whatever had driven him to leave the Orchard and follow the stream was gone. Maybe this is where I should be, he thought wondering if there was such a thing as a place meant for you to live at. Lifting his head he scented the air deeply, but he didn't find anything that smelled like the felines or canines he had seen in the Orchard.

Since his eyes were closed he didn't see the leaf floating down so when it smacked his face he was rather unprepared. Letting loose a loud, shrill yip he tumbled backwards trying to get away from whatever it was that had hit him. This triggered the natural instincts of the young canine so he had barely been on the ground but a second before he was twisting around and back to standing. His ears were laid back, flat against his head, while his back and tail fur bristled. With his teeth bared, a low snarl reverberating from his chest and his red eyes gleaming he seemed rather fearsome. Well actually if you had seem what he was freaking out about he would have seemed rather silly and foolish.

Looking around he seemed puzzled as he found nothing so his ears went up trying to catch a sound while he twirled around, perhaps thinking the threat was hiding behind him. He became very confused and disgruntled as he came to the conclusion that nothing was there. Once the silly canine realized this his ears went down and his tail tucked itself between his legs in embarrassment. "Thankfully no one saw that," he said surprising himself at the new tone in his voice. He hadn't had a reason to talk like that before so it was a new experience for him.

Then looking around now that the excited was over he noticed what looked to be a very decent napping place. It was a large majestic tree, obviously quite old, so old in fact it had roots weaving in and out of the ground. Some of these roots had formed together along with dirt to make a cozy little den. The den looking very soft with leaves layering the bottom, and he longed to take a nap in it. getting closer he noted that there wasn't any new scents which meant it that is wasn't somebody else's bed. The tired canine eagerly walked into the den and immediately began circling around. He had to make sure there wasn't anything that was going to jab him in his side as he slept. Once he was satisfied with the conditions of the bed he lay down. With a deep and heavy sigh Kyran wrapped into a cozy ball and let sleep carry him away.


\

[yoko]

Mike's adventure had finally taken him across the river. Even now, his pale fur was damp with the cool droplets of water. He didn't mind it much though. He didn't pause to dry his uneven fur with his tongue. There was far too much to see in this new part of the world. The plants here seemed to dwarf him. And while the Blue Plains and the River Garden had appealed to his vision, they didn't quite compare to the warmly-colored shimmering leaves overhead. In fact, he was so taken in by them that he was walking with his face turned upwards for the most part. He wanted to go up there and touch one, to make them rustle and whisper as the wind did. 

Fortunately, the wandering feline didn't have to climb to reach the leaves. As if answering his wish, the wind blew past with several of the lovely leaves riding its back. With swift paws, Mike gave chase, having every intention of pouncing on one and claiming it as his own. As he chased the fleeing leaves, he encountered one of the massive gnarled roots of the trees and was forced to leap and scrabble over it. Halfway-over, beached as a fish on land, he saw a strange new creature ahead, one larger than himself but smaller than his new friend Ebony. He was slumped over the ground, and Mike wondered if he might be in some sort of pain. 

His leaves were long gone, carried off to rest somewhere he couldn't see, but another leaf fell from the tree. Mike struggled to conquer the root so he could get it, but it landed on the creature's face first and suddenly, what had looked like a docile Mike-like creature turned into a loud and seemingly hostile thing. He had never encountered such behavior before, but his instincts told him to stay clear of a creature acting like that. So he calmly dropped back behind the root and hoped the larger one hadn't seen. Soon the snarling died down, and then....he spoke. Mike's ears perked. This new thing could speak! Well, it couldn't be all that bad then. No creature that knew how to speak had caused him harm yet! He could meet someone new now! Someone who could teach him more things about life! As he stretched to see over the root though...he noticed that the creature was gone.  He looked left and right. Nope. Still gone. Bunching his leg muscles underneath him, he sprung onto the root again and this time hopped down on the other side. He padded over to the spot that the larger one had just left and gave it a sniff, another lesson from the older feline. It smelled different then other places on the grass, so he decided to go with that, following the scent. 

When he found the other creature, nestled among the roots and leaves, he tilted his head. What was he doing? Why were his eyes closed like that so he couldn't see Mike approaching? The pale creature slunk closer cautiously and cleared his throat softly. "Hello? Excuse me...are you alright?"

[Kitsune]

Kyran who had been blissfully caught up in sleep for all of ten seconds bolted awake. Unfortunately for him the roots weren't that high and he smacked his head rather hard against the unforgiving wood. He whimpered at pain from the unfamiliar pain. Sure he had gotten slightly hurt already, but that really hurt! Shaking his head he looked around before his eyes caught on the white creature in front of him. He took in a deep sniff and nearly sneezed, as he got a little dust in his nose. He recognized the smell as being feline and it seemed non-threatening. In fact Kyran thought he had asked if he was aright.

Kyran had to admit he was extremely curious about the new animal. He hadn't met a feline really, he had only seen them. The white feline was slightly smaller than him so he layed down to appear less hostile. Kyran knew his red eyes and the fact that his shorter front legs made him appear mean, and he really didn't want to frighten the thing away. he had to admit to being lonely. "I, I am alright?" Kyran echoed, he wasn't thinking completely clearly yet and his mouth was speaking before he meant for it too.


"Oh, yes, yes I am alright! Although my head hurts a little now." With that Kyran shot a pouting look up at the roots above him, "Oh and my name is Kyran! How are you?" the canine added suddenly. That was unfortunately a habit he had right now until he got used to talking to people, talking to them and then tacking on things before they could answer what he had first said. With time he would get better but for now it was how it was going to be. Thankfully he wanted to hear the feline talk again, so he merely tilted his head to the side while his tail softly thumped up and down on the ground. His friendly nature was coming out full swing as his loneliness demanded he try to make friends with this fellow animal.

[yoko]

Mike winced harshly as the other creature knocked his head against a root. He'd seen such an incident before, and although he hadn't experienced it himself, it was clear to them that hitting one's head caused pain. At first, he wasn't sure why the other had felt the need to rise so suddenly.Then he remembered the feeling he'd had when he first turned and saw Ebony approaching. It was slightly different because the other was much larger than himself when he'd turned expecting to see another like him, but he supposed his sudden appearance had something to do with it as well. Realizing that the other creature's pain was because of his folly, Mike apologized. "I'm sorry I startled you."

He waited patiently while the other worked through his sentences. He sounded very confused, but it couldn't have been that he didn't know how to speak. Mike had heard him speak clearly earlier. Must have something to do with the pain, Mike guessed, and was careful not to interrupt. While the other was speaking, Mike took in their differences. From his reflection in the water, he knew what his own face looked like and it was very different from this one's face. The color of their eyes seemed opposite each other. And although the other's underside seemed pale as his own, if not paler, his top seemed impossibly black. He'd never seen fur so dark before. It looked very nice actually...

"Nice to meet you Kyran," Mike replied with a smile, not minding all the extra words added before he could reply. He had a name for this one at last. "My name is Mike and I'm doing pretty well. I hatched not too long ago from one of those pod-things, and I hope its not rude to ask....but did you hatch from one of those too?" he asked. The only other creature he'd seen hatch had looked like him. There were some bigger pods at the tree, but he thought maybe they were just bigger versions of the same.

[Kitsune]

"Mike," Kyran repeated feeling how the name rolled out, it was a rather nice name, although he could be biased as it was only the third one he had ever heard. It was good that Mike was doing alright, but Kyran couldn't help but be amused when the feline asked him if he had hatched from a pod. Even though Kyran wasn't very old he had a suspicion he was slightly older than Mike, even if by only a few days or something like that. "Yes, I did hatch out of a pod as well. In fact it wasn't that long ago, and as far as I know so does everybody else." Kyran finished speaking and shot a doggy grin at Mike while it tail continued to thump up and down.

He was actually getting quite excited and since he was young he had a bit of trouble trying to keep calm. All he wanted to do was run around and play, and hopefully Mike would play with him too. For now though he would talk with him. After all he wanted to make sure he didn't scare him away. What would scare Mike away? Actually what would scare anybody away? He knew that prey animals scared away easily but thinking about it, he didn't know what scared the not-prey. Mike had scared him when the feline had just appeared suddenly so maybe that was one thing. Apparently exactly scared other things was something he was going to have to investigate more.

Hmm, maybe Mike would know. Maybe, Kyran would ask Mike if he knew, but if he was going to ask he could do it later. Right now he just wanted to go play. Those leaves floating down were looking awfully tempting to go and catch. Unconsciously he shifted slightly forward as his playful mood continued to expand.

[yoko]

"Everyone? Mike pondered aloud. Maybe he had left the orchard too soon. If he'd stayed and waited for more to hatch, then maybe he'd have seen all the kinds of creatures in this world. He might also have made more friends. But no....even if he'd stayed, there wasn't much more he could learn from other new hatchlings other than what they looked like. Kyran seemed to know more. Maybe he'd hatched before Mike. "Even the little rodents that can't speak?" He'd encountered those on the Blue Plains, and then there was Ebony's nameless companion. Surely such small things couldn't have hatched from their trees? If  they did, then why couldn't they speak?

It was then that he noticed that Kyran's seemed to be excited. At least that's what he assumed his tail flopping around meant. Mike had experienced that feeling before. In fact, he had felt it only moments before when he was chasing the leaves. The leaves!  He glanced down and noticed a number of them scattered beneath Kyan. And carefully, he reached out and touched the one nearest to him. It was still very pretty, bright and colorful. But his excitement at catching it was lost because it was already on the ground. He realized that the fun was not in actually possessing the leaf, but in chasing it. 

As if on cue, another leaf began to float down from the massive tree above them, and a small breeze carried it to Mike's left. He stood, ready to chase it, but he didn't want to be rude. "Hey, do you want to chase leaves with me? The ones in the air a lot more fun than the ones on the ground."

[Kitsune]

"Actually I'm not sure about prey things, I just meant the not-prey. The things that you wouldn't eat." Kyran's ears pressed against and his snout crinkled up as he thought ore about the pods. He really didn't know about the prey animals. Yet another thing he needed to figure out. Kyran's eyes tracked the movement of Mike's paw and he wondered what exactly he was doing to the leaf. Maybe there was something special about it?

Wait, Kyran realized he had completely ignored Mike's question. The other one really wanted to play with him? He stood up eagerly making sure not to hit his head this time. Meanwhile his tail went into overdrive wagging in excitement, making it a white and black blur. His tolled lolled out of his mouth as a eager ad silly puppy grin crossed his face. He was pretty sure he looked ridiculous but honestly he didn't care because Mike wanted to play with him!

"Yes, I would very much like to chase leaves with you!" Kyran exclaimed loudly making sure to let Mike know he did want to play with him and wasn't just being weird. Carefully he stepped forward and completely out of the den. He was in awe of all those leaves falling and he realized that catching them was probably going to be difficult but he didn't care. he jumped up slightly and tried to catch a leaf in his mouth as it floated by, but he missed. That didn't dampen his enthusiasm at all though.

[yoko]

Prey? Mike thought, curiosity evident on his muzzle. Then Kyran mentioned eating and Mike understood. Ebony had mentioned that rodents could be hunted, eaten. It made sense that there were things to eat and not to eat. For one thing, a lot of things didn't taste good. For another, it was unthinkable to him to eat a creature capable of speech. Even if he were big enough to, and he'd have to be very big, he wouldn't eat Kyran. So now he had something other than 'rodents' to call the small things that don't talk.

Mike smiled, mesmerized by the black and white blur that was Kyran's tail. Why did it do that? He was pretty sure his tail didn't do that when he was excited. In fact, just thinking about moving his tail around that much was exhausting to him. His new friend had accepted the invitation and couldn't help but laugh at his just barely missing a leaf. "You were close," he said, looking up for his own target. A pretty copper leaf fluttering down caught his eye and he crouched close to the ground. When he thought it was near enough, he leaped dramatically and attempted to pin it down with his forepaws. He lost sight of it before he landed and checked under each paw but it wasn't there. Silently the leaf fluttered to the ground behind him. 

[Kitsune]

Kyran barked out a laugh when Mike missed his leaf. Then he let himself go and just more or less starting wildly spinning and jumping. He wasn't very good at it, although he was fairly fast, his jaws snapping shut right next to leaves but not quite getting him. That didn't bother him in the least though, he was just happy to play. Although he hadn't actually gotten a nap he found he had plenty of energy to spare even though he had been terribly tired earlier.

Suddenly there was a brighter flash and he followed his instincts letting his jaws grab whatever it was. He practically feel over in surprise when he realized he had actually caught a leaf. In fact he was just kind of standing there completely still with his tail sticking straight up in the air. Then he let of an excited noise which was kind of muffled because his jaws were clamped tightly around the leaf. He turned back to look at Mike wherever he was to show off that he could actually catch leaves!

[yoko]

Mike kept an eye on Kyran between leaps. While the canine was snapping his jaws, Mike was batting at the leaves with his claws. Sometimes he'd leap like he had wings into the air, and other times he waited until they were closer and twirled about on his hindlegs with his foreclaws waving wildly. He wasn't catching much either, though he did manage to hook one of the golden ones with two of his claws. Hastily, he pinned it to the ground and admired it, despite the large hole he'd left. He turned to see if Kyran had seen, but his new friend was still in a frenzy and a moment later had managed to catch one of his own. 

"Nice catch!" Mike purred, plucking his own leaf from his claw  and stuffing it in a small crevice of the roots so it wouldn't blow away. It didn't matter much if it did though. 

A soft breeze blew some of the other ground leaves into the air, low to the ground, and even though they were a little too far, Mike gave chase to them anyway, surprising himself with his speed. With a clumsy pounce he landed on one that was only an inch from the ground anyway. Grinning, he carried it back to where they started. 

"I wonder why they're falling?" Mike mused aloud, noting that maybe thousands of leaves stayed up where they were out of their reach.

[Kitsune]

Kyran's eyes tracked Mike's movement as he tucked his leaf away. Maybe that wasn't a bad idea? Then he could play and whenever he caught one he could put it in his den. Wait his den? When had it become his? Still he followed his thoughts and ran over putting the leaf in the bed. He felt an unusual sense of satisfaction as he realized the den smelled like him. Must be another of his weird instincts.

Turning back to Mike he watched as the feline started racing towards some leaves that were breezing across the ground. Mike's speed as he ran towards then was very impressive indeed. The jump to catch a leaf was even more impressive. Kyran wagged his tail happily at being able to see his friend catch the leaf. He moved farther away from the den while Mike was coming back over. He did notice the way the feline ran and caught things, and even the way he walked was rather different from himself. So there was probably more differences between them than their looks and size. Did Mike even eat the same kind of food he did? If he did then they could go hunting together! That was something Kyran like even more than playing. The thrill of the hunt was a feeling he never got tired of.

"I have no idea why the leaves are falling," Kyran replied to Mike when he asked his question. It was certainly a good question, and he craned his head to follow Mike's gaze to the treetops. "Maybe it's kind of like how we fell from our pods? They are done being part of the tree so they fall?" Kyran was felling rather proud of himself until he realized something else, ''The only problem is they aren't alive, or I don't think they are so I'm not sure."

[yoko]

Mike noticed Kyran placing his leaf in the place he'd been laying down earlier. It reminded him of what had started all of this in the first place. He'd thought Kyan might be hurt or injured laying down like that, as Hera did after she got hurt. How else could anyone lay down while there was light in the sky, games to play, places to go, creatures to meet, and things to learn? But they looked very different from each other and maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe his kind of hatchling needed more sleep? (Little did Mike know that he himself wouldn't always have such boundless energy)

He looked down at the leaf he'd caught, pondering Kyran's response. "They can't be alive," he murmured, looking around at all the ones on the ground that were on the ground. "Living things move and grow." Well, maybe they were growing, but he couldn't see any that were much bigger than the others. He certainly hadn't seen any move without the wind. But if they weren't living, then what were they? "I guess it doesn't matter much," he said at last. "We can't possibly hurt them if they aren't alive, and the tree must not need them anymore if they're falling off."

And with a flick of his tail, he was back at leaping the sparsely falling ones. A flash of bright orange caught his eye though, brighter than a leaf and moving against the wind. As he squinted, it seemed to be many leaves all stuck together and moving. "Kyran!" he hissed. "Look! It's a leaf that's alive!"

[Kitsune]

Kyran listened to Mike's reply and he found himself agreeing with him. It did make a lot of sense. However he was kind of bored with the game so he just watched while Mike went back to playing. His stomach rumbled very lightly he realized he was getting hungry. As soon as Mike was done playing maybe they could go hunting together? Providing of course that Make at the same stuff. He wasn't sure what all was in these woods, other than those odd glider things he had spotted earlier. If it was too different from the orchard he was going to have to probably come up with new techniques. Actually he was going to have to anyway so Mike could join in if he wanted.

He jolted forwards though when Mike said a leaf was alive. That was crazy! After all they had just decided that they weren't living! Things could just be so confusing sometimes. He got down low and got down so he was next to Mike, "Do you want to try to catch it?" he whispered into Mike's ear. He was following the living leaves with his eyes and it did indeed appear to be just that. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction though for him to try to smell it. Thankfully it also meant the leaves, if they could smell, wouldn't be able to smell them either.

[yoko]

Mike's fur bristled briefly and his eyes were stretched wide as they followed the moving pile of bright orange leaves. Kyran's whisper drew him out of his surprise and he grinned excitedly, fur falling unevenly against his shoulders again. After all, if the flying leaves had been so much fun to chase then surely the walking leaves would be too! "Yes, let's catch it!" he whispered, watching the orange pile vanish behind a tree. "What if, I take this side," he said, flicking his tail to the left of the tree. "And you take the other? That way if it runs around the tree, it won't be like I'm chasing my tail." All of this was posed as a question, as it wasn't yet in Mike's nature to bark orders about. Being so young, the only living thing he'd ever caught before was one of his own (accidentally tackled him) and a fish from the River Garden.

[Kitsune]

"Sure sounds good to me," Kyran replied. Mike sounded as if he knew what he was doing and t was as good a plan as any. Actually it was kind of nice not having to make a plan so he was happy that Mike had made one. Especially since his didn't always work out too well. Staying low he slowly began creeping towards the tree where the living leaves had vanished to. He was very careful not to make any sudden moves and he controlled his excitement completely. It wouldn't be good if he suddenly started panting or aging his tail. That was one problem he had was when he got too excited, otherwise he was generally a good hunter. There had been a few time in which other animals had disrupted his hunts but that was completely different. Once he reached the edge of the tree he paused, to make sure Mike was ready for whatever was up. A leaf blew past him tickling his nose and he barely manage to maintain a sneeze. Then he very nearly let out a sigh of relief and he scolded himself mentally for getting distracted and careless.