A Home...for now {Open}

[yoko]

Mike nodded. Although he didn't know anything about hunting things that didn't swim, and barely did he even know that, he relied on what his body was telling him to do. He crouched down as he had when he was about to pounce on a leaf, but instead of springing up right away, he began to claw his way forward in long quiet strides. Parting his jaws slightly, he could smell the new thing and it smelled funny, not like the crisp leaves at all. But it must be a leaf! Or a bunch of leaves! Maybe growing had changed their smell. Tiptoing around twigs and the giant roots, here peered around the "corner" to spot the mass of bright orange. The leaves looked different now, elongated and softer, but this did not stop him from creeping closer to the waddling creature, and when he was certain he could make the jump, he sprang, Maybe it had seen his shadow. Maybe it had felt the air quiver with anticipation. Maybe it had even smelled him! Whatever the reason, the plump thing took off running, leaving Mike to land on bare ground rather harshly. "Kyran!" he called, as the mass of orange rounded the tree out of his sight.

[Kitsune]

Kyran startled slightly when Mike called his name right after he heard a rather large thump. Immediately he lunged forward and nearly smacked straight into a very odd creature. Seeing him it made an odd squawking noise and headed straight back for Mike. Kyran realized it was the odd leaf creature...only it wasn't a leaf creature. Now that he had gotten the scent of the animal he realized it smelled similar to some birds he had caught. Not the same but very similar, so it must just be a different type. "All yours Mike!" he called out as he started forward again. He had a feeling that Mike would have better luck catching it than he would. After all Mike's jumping he had seen earlier seemed to suggest he would be an excellent hunter. He didn't know if this animal could fly, and it hadn't tried to so far, but if it did he was sure Mike could rise to the challenge.

[yoko]

No sooner had Kyran called back to Mike than the leafy creature raced across his path. It was making an odd sound and shaking its many leaves up and down. Mike whipped around quickly and chased it. He bundled his legs together, ready to leap, but it changed directions again. Rather than sigh with annoyance, the hatchling laughed, for to him this was all part of the game. What a tricky creature it was! The pale feline took off after it again. This time it wasn't circling the tree but heading to yet another one! Without Kyran on the other side, Mike might very well be chasing these leaves until dark, but all of a sudden, the leaves did something new. They lifted from the ground as if by a strong wind! Oh no you don't! Mike thought, switching to a determined sprint. Without a single thought, he bundled his legs together mid-run and leapt after it. As he sailed into the air, his claws sank into the creatures side, and, just as they'd poked holes in the leaves and dragged them down, they dug into the creature and carried it down, down, down. His forepaws landed right on top of it with a sickening crunch. For a moment, Mike felt a deep satisfaction at succeeding but something was very wrong. The leaf creature was making awful soft sounds and then it went very still. Removing his claws, and realizing they were quite sticky, Mike leaned forward and nudged its side. Seeing no change, he was overtaken by a new feeling, a very unpleasant one that made his eyes sting. He prodded the creature pitifully with his paw.

[Kitsune]

Kyran raced around the tree, and he was momentarily confused when he didn't see anything. He couldn't see Mike or the bird. Then he caught the sounds of paws racing across the leaf and he turn to look. There was Mike chasing after the bird, and he was doing very good. When the bird started flying Kyran leaned forward in anticipation to see what exactly Mike would do. To say he was please when Mike caught the bird would be an understand. He was ecstatic that the feline had caught the bird. He raced forward once it was clear that the bird was dead. His tail wagging madly he gave Mike a soft nudge with his muzzle. "Good catch! I have never seen anything like that in my hunting. You are quite the impressive hunter, have you done that before?" Kyran was curious as to if that was usually how Mike or felines in general hunted, it did seem to be rather effective. "It is a nice sized bird we could probably share it if that's alright with you? You are the one who took it down after all." Kyran was so excited he didn't really notice that Mie didn't seem all that enthused.

[yoko]

Mike was vaguely aware of the good-natured nudge on his shoulder. He offered a weak smile in return, but his eyes inevitably drifted back to the fallen creature and dampened his mood more. He hadn't thought it would be like this at all. The leaves he poked holes in earlier did not cry. They were not moving without the wind and suddenly going very still. With tears in his eyes he gently touched the creature again with his sticky paws. The orange leaves all over it were really soft and warm. He barely caught anything that Kyran was saying. Confused, he lifted his head and blinked at his new friend. "Share it?" he asked, tilting his head. "What would we do with it?" He was already thinking that maybe they could take some of the leaves off. They were pretty and soft after all....He really wanted to keep them to remember the little creature by. He didn't know how, but he was fairly certain it would not be waking up.

[Kitsune]

Kyran was confused by the tone and sadness in Mike's voice. Taking a second to calm down he realized Mike was reeking of sadness and...something else. He realized then that Mike was a bit younger than him, and he really wasn't used to hunting or anything. "Mike," Kyran began softly wanting to soothe him, "That was a prey animal, a bird. When you are hungry you hunt them and then eat them." He paused momentarily to collect his thoughts. "When you are hunting your instincts usually help guide you to making a successful kill. Killing something means it isn't alive any more. That's why you have to be careful when playing with something smaller than you, because you can accidentally hurt them if you are too rough." he really wasn't too sure what else to say. He didn't really understand why Mike would be so sad, so he didn't know how or what exactly he needed to do to comfort him. If it had been a not-prey animal he would have understood the feeling, of that he was sure. Maybe Mike didn't know what animals were prey and what weren't? Kyran didn't know all of them but there were usually difference in their scents.

[yoko]

Taking all that Kyran said in, Mike sat down and stared at the prey. Then he gave a solemn, understanding nod and sniffed back his tears. "So it's like fish?" he asked. For fish had seemed like very different creatures than himself and everything else he'd encountered. Naive thing that he was, he thought those were the only things okay to eat. They swam and flopped and went still too, but they hadn't made those awful sounds and he hadn't had so much fun with them. To him, this new creature had been like a playmate and now it would never play with him again. Now that Kyran had explained, Mike vowed to be extra careful with his non-speaking playmates. Though, if what the other said was true, he would at times need to eat their kind when he was hungry. And actually, now that they'd called attention to it. Mike was a little hungry.

"Okay," he said, a lot calmer and a little brighter now. "We can share. But only after we take some of these off." Prey or not, its leaves were beautiful and maybe they wouldn't crinkle and rip as the feathers did. Gingerly, he took a few feathers between his teeth and pulled. The prey started to move with him, so he held it down with one paw and pulled again, pulling several free. They tickled his nose and the inside of his mouth and he ended up sneezing them onto the forest floor. Sniffling again, he chuckled softly. "Your turn."

[Kitsune]

"What is fish?" Kyran replied confused. He hadn't ever heard of fish before, and it was a rather odd word. Where did you find a fish at? Maybe they flew like birds? That for some reason seemed off though, he just had a feeling they weren't flying animals. Anyway he was glad that Mike wasn't really sad now. A sad Mike met and unhappy Kyran and Kyran didn't like being unhappy, it was most certainly not a pleasant experience. He wasn't quite sure why Mike wanted the feathers but it was quite alright with him. Maybe he could put them in the den! they were very soft. There was room in the den for both of them! Kyran suddenly realized excitedly and he was good at digging if it needed to be a little bit bigger. He snorted when Mike sneezed the feather out, but when he went to grab a mouthful he found they were very ticklish! Immediately he sneezed as well. Only he had one go up his nose so he kept on sneezing.

"You...can...have...first pick of the meat." Kyran gasped out as the sneezing fit continued. he really didn't like sneezing. It was a rather annoying sensation but he just couldn't stop! he started rubbing his face against the ground to help relieve it. Amazing it did help, and he felt the urge to sneeze go away. His eyes were kind of wet though now. Quickly rubbed his face against his leg to dry them off.

[yoko]

"Haven't you been to the river?" he asked, wondering how he got here if he didn't swim across the river. "There are these moving slippery things that live in the water. They don't come up above the water much. And when they're on land all they do is flop around because they don't have legs as we do. But they do have lots of tails. They're very strange things, but they taste alright." He explained as best he could, though he knew it'd be hard to believe such things could exist. It looked so different from everything else.

He chuckled slightly as Kyran began to sneeze too, but after a little while it seemed that he couldn't stop and he was doing odd things like rubbing his face on the ground. He was reminded of the time his nose went in the water and how unpleasant that had been, so he could sympathize. "Sorry, Kyran," he said, nudging his shoulder with his muzzle. He padded over to the bird and tried to decide which part looked good. He liked the feathers but if they would make him sneeze, he should take a leg instead. And so he did his best to neatly tear one off...it was not easy and quite messy, but he managed and got his first taste in the process. He purred slightly. "This is better than fish..." he said, feeling even less bad.

[Kitsune]

"Oh, yeah I have been there! I just didn't that, fish is what those things are called," Kyran replied once he was finally done sneezing. He had kind of given up with the creatures after being unable to catch them and although he was a decent swimmer those fish were very fast. He had ended up just thinking of them as annoying shadow things in the water. Still maybe Mike could show him how to catch them and he could try them to see if he like them. In return Kyran could teach Mike about land hunting. He had a sneaking suspicion that Mike had been eating just fish. Although if bird was better than fish maybe he didn't want to try any. He was really glad that Mike was enjoying the bird. If he enjoyed it he wouldn't be sad so Kyran wouldn't be unhappy, because being unhappy was no fun at all.

Since Mike had grabbed some Kyran figure it was good for him to get some of the bird now as well. Unceremoniously he grabbed a junk and backed a couple steps away before he began eating. The one problem with birds was if he didn't chew the bones up well they could get stuck in his throat. He wondered in Mike had a home, if he didn't maybe he could stay with Kyran at the den he had found? He was good at digging so if needed he could make it bigger, or they could even just travel together if they didn't want to stay here. Kyran had heard two canines talking about these things called caves which sounded fantastic. "Mike, do you have a home?" Kyran started hesitantly then picking up his courage he spit the rest out, "because if you don't you can stay with me, or we could travel together" Once that was said he looked down and nervously kept on eating the bird.

[yoko]

"Yes, well that's what someone else called them," Mike replied cheerfully. After that, he settled down and continued to eat the prey. It really was that good and the more he ate, the more he realized he'd been hungrier earlier. He was going to need to pay more attention to that. When he reached the bone, he noticed it was thicker and less spiky then fish bones. He was actually enjoying gnawing at it. He had to think about Kyran's question a moment. A home? He was so new to the world, but it didn't make much sense to him to sleep in a place more than once. He wanted to see more new things....learn more. But then, Ebony had been talking about his home with the Blue Plain tribe. The older creature really seemed like he wanted him to stay, and if Mike would go back, he was certain that Ebony would be willing to teach him more. "I haven't decided on one yet," Mike replied honestly. "I don't even know where I'll sleep tonight."

[Kitsune]

"Well then you could sleep her tonight, and then tomorrow you could figure more things out." Kyran responded enthusiastically. Then he went back to his meal his head swimming with new ideas. It was true that Mike was new to this. But then, so was he! Why had he already seemingly settled on a place to live? No, it would be better if he traveled more, and if he didn't find any other places that felt right he could always come back here. "If you want, I would travel with you," Kyran murmured softly. He was perhaps overwhelming Mike a little bit, after all they had just met and although he was lonely it was no excuse to try to be pushy or anything like that. met. He did want a friend though and if Mike was willing, and he didn't scare him off then they could be friends. perhaps Mike would want to find others of his own kind though, and learn from them. Well, it wouldn't do any good to worry about all this stuff. Everything would happen as it happened.

[yoko]

Mike's eyes lit up at the offer, but he kept his voice calm. "Okay, I'd like that," he replied. "Thanks Kyran." He was right. He could figure things out in the morning. Besides, the light was dying from the sky. Ebony had taught him that water could be very dangerous. It might not be safe to try and swim across the river at night. He'd just learned how to and Ebony would not be there to catch him if he started to drift with its pull or if he sank too far. At the other's question, his ears perked. He'd already considered meeting another in the Orchard and maybe travelling with them. But then he'd met Hera and she'd taken off before he could even ask so he'd sort of dropped the idea. And the Blue Plain Tribe sounded very nice because he wouldn't be alone, but then it sounded as if they stayed in one place mostly. The Blue Plain was beautiful, and he knew he hadn't seen every inch of it, but he didn't think he'd want to stay there forever. Mike smiled wide, "That would be great. We could keep each other company, and look out for each other. Our own little tribe...but...I don't know if I'm leaving right away now. There's some things I think a friend of mine can teach me...I'll let you know though! I won't leave without telling you, and if you decide not to go, it's okay. I won't leave without saying goodbye." He didn't think he'd spoken so much in his whole short life. Maybe he was nervous about what Kyran would say too. He nibbled on what was left of the leg and he was a little embarrassed to ask for more, but he managed to "Do you mind if I have the other leg too?"

[Kitsune]

Kyran wagged his tail in excitement. He was really glad he would be able to have a companion. Who knew how hard in would be for him to find somebody else who he actually liked. Mike's company he enjoyed and he really didn't want to be alone. Although he didn't like the idea of being in a large group a companion or maybe even just a couple of friends sounded perfect to him. Kyran's tail wagged even harder when Mike said tribe and he was glad the other obviously was thinking along the same lines as him. They were still young and might eventually drift apart but for now they could be friends and very easily travel together learning things neither of them knew. "I would never leave without saying goodbye to you either," Kyran said feeling the need to make almost an agreement or pact with the feline. "Go ahead and eat the rest, you seem as if you've barely ever had anything to eat," Kyran replied shaking his head in amusement, then a thought struck him. "Say I don't know if it's a difference between Felines and Canine or not, but I've noticed you don't really wag your tail." Kyran seemed scandalized by the thing he had finally noticed.

[yoko]

Mike was glad that he'd agreed to do the same. Even though his mentioning it made him realize that he'd really been afraid he'd vanish too. He was discovering he had a vivid little imagination and it would be an awful feeling to come back here and find Kyran gone. Maybe even a worse feeling than when he first killed the bird. But Kyran promised not to do that, so he trusted him. "Thanks," Mike said again as he tore free the other leg and proceeded to devour it. At the mention of his tail wagging, Mike smiled with a mouthful of food,. Then, realizing he couldn't speak like this, he swallowed with some difficulty before replying. "Well, no. Not usually. But it does wag, see," he replied, waving it slowly back and forth. Not with the speed or force that he'd seen Kyran use, but he could do it at will. "How come you wag yours so often?"