Welcome to Gaia! ::

As the crickets grew quiet, the fire flies doused their flames, and the first ray of sunlight struck out across a deep blue sky. It was followed by another... and then another.... beams of bright light reaching out from behind the mountain peaks, shedding the night of its dark hood and bringing a slow dawn to this very new day.

In the same slow-to-rise fashion, a single bird broke out in song followed by the flutter of many wings... then, a lone howl pierced through the spotty silence, bringing the waking world of Kells to life.

This morning, very few adults seemed to be awake. New parents worn down by their litters took the opportunities where they could to rest... deeply. And the River Run, the social grounds for most creatures, was devoid of their activity.

But the clever youngsters amongst them, if quiet enough, could easily slip away from their den sites and into the shallow waters that serpentined throughout the glades...

And who knows what sort of mischief the new generation of wolves in Kells might find?

Stepping through a large bush, cleared by another beast at another time, she let fall the bundle from her tiny mouth in a clattering of earthly noise. Critical eyes swept over the bounty in its entirety, a gleam of excitement flashing over the gaze, before work would resume in the quiet of a breaking dawn.

Deft paws moved twigs indiscriminately to make a second pile, sorting as quickly as she could without creating too much noise. She then managed to break several in half, too much gusto and not enough deftness, before accidentally swatting at the remaining few. They slid under a spiny portion of plant growth, completely out of sight and likely gone forever....

...Which was not a part of the plan. The focus Yucca had alighted upon this task turned to follow the sticks, silently watching until they disappeared. The breath that normally filled her chest retained itself just behind her snout, stifling a whine, a whimper, a grunt... and a frown would have found her if it could, but the expression that replaced determination with frustration would do a close enough job of it. What felt like hours of collecting disrupted in a matter of seconds.

Looking back to what remained, seven sticks scattered across the ground and Yucca, taking a beat to find her breath again, nosed at them idly. It took a few minutes, but with a forced huff pressing past her lips she reactively fell into a full-body shake down and the thoughts of lack subsided. The work was hard... but someone had to do it! And the young, puppy mind that she wielded would not allow for her to stay in too dark a space for long... Turning tail, the pup marched back the way she had entered, filled with a stronger sense of determination than before!



The ground seemed like a suitable option for the home, mostly because that was where she lived, and with that logic she had dug out a paw-sized hole to accommodate her new friend. It was back in the bush, tucked someways out of sight but not completely hidden by the foliage. And the moth in question was set out beside the hole, flattened out on the ground all large and dusty. Remarkably still for having been so active only a few hours ago.

Yucca couldn't figure out how to get it to wake up from its nap, and that was a little annoy since she was working so hard on making it a place to stay. A beautiful little home, nestled near the water so it could drink. Hidden, so that it might stay safe while she was not around to protect it...

Lost to thought, she looked up at the last moment to meet with the eyes of a stranger and gasped. For a SPLIT second she hoped it was one of her siblings, clever enough to sneak away from their mother in the same fashion she had... to help her...

only it wasn't.

And instinct told her to be afraid.

"H-hello?"

Sky Eye was used to moving around before dawn, used to watching the sun rise red, red, red over the horizon. It was easier to do what he needed to do before other wolves were awake and moving. And Sky was hungry. His hunting couldn't really be considered successful over the last few days. All he'd managed was some lizards, caught while they were sunning themselves close to where Sky had chosen to set himself down for the day.

He had to get faster, quickly, though. He wanted to catch things. Rabbits or quail. He knew he couldn't take down anything bigger, not alone, not now. He wasn't going to stop trying, of course. Sky needed to eat, and if he was alone, then he needed to be able to hunt something bigger than lizards.

Critters here were always up early, trying to beat out the predators for water and fresh things to eat. Sky Eye was going to try and take advantage of that.
Sky always tried to stay away from the other wolves, knowing he was left behind, but not knowing why. Would the wolves try to drive him off? Try to take him away? He didn't know. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.
But before he could find something to try and hunt, he caught scent of others. A tang of fear in the air, a small sound. Other puppies?

Sky sank down into shadows, another dark spot among the rest, and settled in to watch a bit. He didn't know how to act around other puppies.

Sky Eye watched the other pup with two different color eyes, like he himself had, curiously. Sky hadn't met many other wolves. Well, he hadn't seen many other wolves. The act of meeting others was not something he was really into. But those were adults. These were other puppies. It might be safe for him to interact with them. They wouldn't have the strength to try and take him away. And Sky would be willing to bet that he was faster than all the others. Making an escape would be easy.

Sky slunk out of the shadows, shaking some leaves from his fur and regarded the white pup with the bi-color eyes from a few feet away, safe enough distance in case something happened. After a moment, Sky shifted on his feet a little, ears flicking back in confusion. He was supposed to say something, right? What had the pup said?

"Hey?" Sky Eye offered after another moment, not sure if that was the right way to talk to someone else.

"...oh..." Yeah, my siblings are probably doing the same and...!

The approach of yet another puppy was not exactly a surprise, and yet it startled Yucca all the same. Stimulated by several emotions she couldn't quite pin, her small form bristled and instinct pulled her a step back; away from the gathering. Her original task escaped her and left only the present moment, with all the excitement and fear it held, to tend to.

And the first thing to work it's way up was a bit of annoyance. She knew he was there all along... she wasn't scared.

Golden eyes darted from one wolf to another and then back again... only stopping on the newcomer because Ghost seemed interested in him.

"Yeah," She breathed hard from her nose, something akin to an awkward laugh. "...crazy..." Shrugging up her shoulders. They... were pretty flipping crazy, actually, and it didn't take long for Yucca to fall into a stare.