.. emerging

[alehue]

arya[/i][/size]


it was a stifling warmth that covered the young body – a warmth that was soon to be pushed away with small limbs, limbs that were weak and feeble, but strong enough to break the now-frail shell that held her. she extended her limbs, and the pod that once held her cracked like an egg shell, and the frail body stepped out from the remains of the pod, stretching her limbs and shaking out her fur. it was not long before everything around her became clear once again – she had an excellence sense of scent, which had not been helpful in her cocoon-like swathe, but now that she was out, and her nose finally cleared of the semi-sweet juices that had been accompanying her, their scent still lingering somewhere within her short memory.

revelations poured through the canine’s head as she raised her nose into the air, taking in the new scents of this world, the world she had just been introduced to. Words popped into her head, words she should not know. the first word she thought of was ‘tree’. she pivoted, the canine clumsiness she possessed nearly bringing her to the floor, but she regained her footing just before she would have smashed face-first into the slightly damp soil. wondering why the ground beneath her was wet, the pup looked up into the sky, another word coming to her. rain. a cold drop of the liquid hit her nose, and the pup recoiled, falling back onto her rump.

scurrying under the shelter of her tree’s branches (for this was, and always would be, ‘her’ tree), the canine began to ponder. who was she? as soon as she asked the question in her head, a sufficient answer came forth. she was arya – she was a canine, and she always would be. she was a chocolate tone, with a white underbelly and chest, and a luxurious paint-dipped tail. she was arya – arya the great.

[poppy]

f e n n e l . . .

Fennel yawned lazily and blinked a few times; his head rested on his paws. He realized, on some subconscious level, that he was in a different place than he had been the night before. Or was it the day before? Where had he been before he went here? The concept of time made no sense to him, but it was not in his nature to question his being. He just was.

His surroundings were different. Before, he only saw in shades of dark grey, but this new environment was filled with color, textures, and sounds. There was grass at his feet. Fennel didn't know what it was, but it felt delightfully cool on his paws. He glanced up briefly and noticed a tall ... a tall something looming over him, swaying slightly in the breeze. Tree, he thought. This is home.

Before long, the pup was up and running after some butterflies. They were so small, and yet so hard to catch. When he became too tired to run any longer, he flopped back down on the grass.

It took him quite a while to notice that he wasn't alone. There was another canine not too far from where he lay. It looked like him, but there was something distinctly ... different. Female, Fennel thought. He looked at her pretty chocolate and white coat and immediately felt self-conscious of his own husky-esque fur.

Fennel stared. Something inside him told him to stop staring, but he couldn't help his own bad manners. He just didn't know any better.

[Meesh]

Silva happily waled through the clearings of the orchard she was born in with her pack. Fondly, she gazed at her own tree, the first she remembered seeing, the one she had grown on. The canine had short black fur that was so dark it almost seemed to fade into the shadows, and bright yellow eyes. Her pink tongue lolled lazily from her mouth as she walked along the orchard, enjoying the fresh summer air.

she paused, scenting someone. Newborns? Her tail began to wag, remembering her own newborn day, the best of her life. Perhaps she would go to meet these little ones. First, she scented a female, a canine, with a chocolate tone, with a white underbelly and chest, and a paint-dipped tail. she also scented a male, and saw him as well, a newly hatched pup with husky markings. Lifting her tail, she barked in greeting to the two.

[Deleted]

((Massive edit cause I am fail.))

No matter how far she traveled, she always seemed to keep coming back to this area. She supposed it was natural. The birthplace was almost sacred. Her earliest memories took place here, and her oldest friends were creatures she had met here.

She had her fill of exploring and was about to leave the orchard when she caught Silva's scent. Wagging her tail, she made her way to the other canine. "Hi there! I didn't think I'd see you here!" Her gaze then drifted to the two newborns. "Ooh! Hey there! It's nice to meet you!"

[poppy]

f e n n e l . . .

Fennel swiveled his ears as he heard paws padding softly toward him. When he turned around, he saw two other female canines had joined. One had short, black fur, and the other a generic brown-grey coat. He decided that they were friendly, and grew in confidence and boldness immensely.

The black-furred one barked in greeting, and the other one spoke distinctly. He wasn't sure how he could understand, but he could. "Hi!" he said, wagging his tail furiously. "I'm Fennel. Who are you?"

[Meesh]

Silva grinned at Nerah, glad to see her almost-sister in the orchard. When the little one spoke, the male, she turned to him, smiling kindly. "I'm Silva, and this here is my best friend and pack mate, Nerah" she wagged her tail, happy to see another sproutling in the orchards. "Did you just hatch?" she asked, noticing the remnants of pod-nectar clinging to his fur

[poppy]

f e n n e l . . .

"Silva," the pup repeated, the older canine's name playing on his tongue. "Silva and Nerah. Those are pretty names." Fennel wagged his tail again and panted a little.

He turned his head awkwardly, trying to look at his own fur. He licked a little of the pod-nectar off his coat, but couldn't reach the majority of it. "Hatched ... I don't understand. What does it mean to be hatched?"

Fennel tried again and again to get the rest of the sticky nectar out of his fur, but his efforts were in vain.

[Meesh]

Silva grinned, looking at the pup. She had never seen such an odd coloration of fur. Black on top, going down to brown, and then white. it was different, but pretty. "Thanks!" she said, wagging her tail in return. "Actually, the two of us are pretty much newborns too, we just hatched the other day, so we're a day older than you"

At his question, she blinked, remembering not knowing what it was either. "It's....when you became aware" she tried to explain "Before you were aware, you were in a little fruit pod. Then you opened the pod and became aware. Hatching" she thought a moment "I guess it happens to all of us"

Seeing Fennel try to clean himself of the nectar, she padded forward, trying to be helpful. "Here, hold still a second, I'll see if I can help" she leaned forward and began trying to lick the nectar off his fur. It was pretty sticky

[poppy]

f e n n e l . . .

"So I guess I did just become ... aware. That makes sense." Truth be told, being as simpleminded as he was, Fennel still didn't understand, but he didn't want to make more trouble for Silva, who was obviously making an effort to help him when she didn't need to.

"Thanks," he said as she licked the nectar off his fur. He felt a faint rumbling in his stomach. There was a slight pang of hunger, but he didn't know it at the time. "Silva, did you hear that rumbling?" he asked, concerned.

[Meesh]

Silva blinked, twitching an ear. Suddenly, her eyes brightened when she realized what he meant. "You made that sound. It means you're hungry. Hungry is when..." she struggled to explain, trying to recall exactly how she learned herself yesterday "Your stomach hurts and you need to eat stuff- put it in your mouth, but only certain stuff, which makes your stomach not empty, and it's not hungry anymore and it stop growling at you" she thought a moment "Try eating the remains of your pod, it's really good for you" she motioned with her tail "It's right there. Anyhoo, you're pretty clean now" she gave a grin

[poppy]

f e n n e l . . .

Fennel rotated his head to the side quizzically. "So I just put certain things in my mouth, and the pain goes away? I guess I'll try that." As usual, the canine was more concerned with the what than the why. He trotted to the leftover pod and closed his jaws around part of it.

It was hard to chew, being tough and fibrous. It definitely wasn't meat, which was what his sharp incisors were made for eating. But, if Silva said he should, then he should. Fennel instinctively swallowed, then finished the rest of the pod, bite by bite.

"So ... how do we get more of this stuff that makes you less hungry?" he asked.

[Meesh]

Silva smiled "It's called food. and really, anything you eat works, butt he tastiest is called prey, but some people call it meat. It moves around. You have to sneak up on it, and bite it. Once it realizes its food and not supposed to move, it will lie still while you eat it. It's really tasty, even though it leaks red stuff like sap..." She considered, ears moving back and forth "There's a lot of miniature versions of food around here. Mice and Rabbits, they're called. Try catching one, maybe. Or I could catch one for you. Have you figured out how to use your paws yet?" Silva remembered how long it took for her to master the process of walking yesterday.

[poppy]

f e n n e l . . .

"I think," Fennel replied, "that I can use my paws." He picked each paw up, one by one, then set it back down on the ground. "I chased after some colorful small things earlier. They flew." The corners of his mouth turned up at the memory.

The idea of hunting scared him a little. It sounded complicated. "I guess I'll have to try catching that prey." He tried to wrap his brain around the idea. "It'll stop moving after it realizes that it's food. And then it will leak red sap. Got it." He nodded. "Would you mind showing me first?"

[Meesh]

Silva nodded. She pointed her ear to a mouse nearby "That tiny thing's a mouse. Not much food, but enough to satisfy you until the next catch" crouching down so she was low to the ground with her ears and tail flattened, silva began to creep up towards the mouse. when she was close enough, she tensed, leapiing onto the mouth and cupping both paws over it. Lifting a paw, she picked up the now-still mouse by the tail and walked over to Fennel, dropping it at his paws. "Here" she said "Eat this, then you try~"

[poppy]

f e n n e l . . .

"Wow, that was impressive!" Fennel took the mouse by the tail, flung it into the air, then caught it with his mouth. He chewed, feeling the delicate bones crunch under his teeth. It was a highly satisfying feeling.

The canine spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. The animal was slightly larger than the mouse he had just eaten -- brick red, and with a bushy tail, too. He slunk closer to it, remaining close to the ground. But he wasn't quiet enough.

The animal spooked and scampered up the nearest tree. Fennel barked furiously while running after it. He tried to run up the tree after the squirrel, but to no avail. His paws were not made for climbing, so while the squirrel climbed to higher and higher branches, Fennel could only bark.

OOC: The poor darling will probably never be able to hunt. XD I think he'll have to be dependent on others for food for the most part.