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 Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:47 pm
 It was quite unlike the little one to wander out so far by himself without his mommy or daddy, and already, he was beginning to regret it. The trees up all around him, strange things rustling here and there in their thick leaves, and he could only imagine the scary things that must be up there, watching him. He'd been fortunate enough to find some bushes to hide him, hunkered down on his belly with his little orange-tipped paws thrust out in front of him, big eyes fearfully glancing about at the noises that seemed to come from every direction. That was when the bird that had been settling quietly just above his head had decided to fly off in a sudden, loud flapping of wings.
With a squeak of terror, the caterpillar kit shot from his hiding place, wildly scampering through the forest while his little heart beat furiously in his chest. Only when he grew tired did he stop, panting a little, to glance around him. And that was when he realized he didn't exactly know where he was anymore. And he was by himself. He wasn't supposed to be by himself! Little shoulders hunching themselves up to his ears, Chrysalis slunk nervously through the forest, letting out an occasional meep of distress. What if there were things that wanted to eat him in here?! He'd have to hide as soon as he could!
Wriggling desperately over to a particularly large tree, burrowing close to its trunk, the kit curled himself into a ball, as though thinking he'd be able to hide. Of course, his bright colors had him stand out against the harsh brown of the scraggly bark, though he hardly knew it. He trembled slightly at the strange sounds that continued to drift throughout the ancient forest, rolling up into an even tighter ball for protection. This was bad bad bad--this was scary and dark and he didn't like it one bit!
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:33 pm
 Chocolate locks flopped once again into hazel green eyes, and a mottled brown paw flicked them good naturedly back out of the way. The paw belonged to an adult female kitsu, one rather on the small and dainty looking side, clad in a red belt. And while Atae looked dainty, and was certainly a very graceful little thing, she was no stranger to roughing it out in the woods. In fact that's what she'd been doing for the last three days.
The trees in this particular area were rather large, and certainly old. It inspired a quiet sense of awe in the girl, and gave her just a bit of a sense of the creeps; she wouldn't have dared set foot in here on her own when she was little. She'd grown bolder as she got older... no. More confident was probably a better term. She was still rather shy around people she didn't know, except maybe for kits. Somehow kits just couldn't make themselves seem threatening to her, even when they tried.
The physical and combat training she'd been recieving from Zell didn't hurt any, but that alone wasn't the whole of the change that had occured in her. In all honesty she wasn't sure exactly what or why had changed in her life to allow her the confindence to wander around in the wilds on her own and converse with people without feeling the need to flee... but she was grateful for it.
A splash of bright color caught her eye where none was expected to be seen and her gaze focused downward rather than inbetween the ground and the lower boughs of the trees. There was a scent of kit leading toward the bright little green spot she'd seen, and she noticed some bright orange and yellow markings in its midst. The little thing looked terrified...
She padded closer, but stayed just a few feet away so the kit would have room to get away if it... he? felt threatened. That had always been her problem when she was little... people getting too close before she had time to acclimatize to their presense. Either that or they'd stay too far away for her to feel comfortable, either...
Softly, almost tentatively, she called to him. "Hey... wee bit?... Are you all right?" A loud voice was definitely not going to help him. It looked like he'd been trying to burrow under the tree to hide from everything as it was. "Can I help you?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 10:10 pm
Hide hide hide, where was his mommy? Chrysaslis was missing her desperately at this point, resisting the urge to plantatively squeak in an attempt to locate her. Though, his distress did wonders to keep him from noticing the tawny female, all until he realized that one of the brown things he'd thought to be a tree was moving. Straight towards him of course. He shook like a leaf, his ears pressed flat against his skull as the kit wished furiously that maybe, just maybe the monster-tree hadn't seen him and would go away! He wasn't big enough to eat, was he?
A soft voice suddenly stroked his senes, and the kit hopefully raised his head, a brief, childish moment of hope spurting into his system. Was it his mommy? Had she finally come to save him? Instead, those eyes found themselves fixed on the one he thought to be a tree--and Chrys realized that, in fact, it wasn't a tree, but a biiig big big kitsu. Bigger than him. The tremors started again as the little caterpillar boy clumsily scrambled to his feet, quite unaccustomed to this generous amount of space he had been given to observe her.
Almost shyly, those little eyes flickered across her body, noting that she didn't have any scary claws or teeth or horns or anything. A funny red thing around her middle, but it didn't look too scary...Unless it was a snake. With a big golden head. Those ears rapidly flickered back and forth, back and forth, and he was torn with indecision, finally whispering back at her. "I'm lost."
It was a pitiful little sound, and it was quite clear that, while the kit was no longer quite scared to death, he wouldn't hesitate to run headlong into the forest again if he thought she was gonna eat him. But at the same time, she...she didn't seem as scary as some other big kitsu he'd seen before.
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 10:25 pm
Even though her empathy was docily remaining dormant at the moment she could readily see he was distressed. She smiled and tilted her head to the side just slightly in a friendly fashion, suddenly feeling for all the world like a big sister. She was so distinctly reminded of herself when she was little at the moment it was almost funny.
"Well... being lost certainly isn't any fun. Want me to help you find a way out of here? Out of here and then maybe we can find your mom and dad." She shifted to lay down with her head between her paws so she wouldn't be looming over him and whispered conspiratorially, "You're braver than me when I was little, out here on your own. I wouldn't even leave our home without someone with me when I was as little as you are." If she could just get him comfortable enough with her presense to help him get out of these deep woods it would probably be simple to help him find his parents or whoever was taking care of him. The trick was gaining that much trust from him first. She wouldn't hurt him and he'd have to realize that on his own.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:01 pm
Suddenly, the biggy-big kitsu wasn't so...big anymore. Chrys shifted uncertainly, peeking at her from behind his paws as he flopped back down as well. Well, she wasn't so scary down here..."Okay." He whispered back, his little tails fluffing themselves out with some hesitation. "...I didn't mean too." Chrysalis admitted shly, his ears perking a little. She thought he was brave...? Well, he wouldn't mind being brave. "...I was gonna go get some flowers for Mommy...but I got scared when I got all the way up here..." He hadn't moved, but already he looked less tense, liking this kind-speaking stranger.
"...Did...Did you really used to be little?" Chrys whispered, something akin to awe starting to spark in those eyes, his tails twitching feebly in what might have been a wag. "Like me...?" She looked so big and confident...He couldn't quite believe that she was saying he'd been braver than she'd been...A bird cried out somewhere, and the kit flinched, little limbs shooting themselves underneath his body as his ears went flat. What had that been?!
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:37 pm
"Oh... flowers for your mom? That sounds like a good idea. Maybe we can go find them before you go home so you can still suprise her?" She smiled brightly, though more for his benefit than anything else. She'd never gotten flowers for her mom... maybe she should?
His question almost made her giggle, but she only grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I was a little-little kit once." She sat up slightly when he reacted to the bird's call and veeeery gently poked him, whispering, "And I'd jump at everything, and I always hid behind my friend Endless when I met new people because I was scared of people I didn't know. And the sounds out here, too... but they don't scare me so much anymore because I know what they are. Most of them aren't scary things." She smiled again. "Want me to help you figure out what the sounds are, too? We can do it while we're finding you a way back home."
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:36 am
They could still get flowers? Chrysalis' ears perked up a little at that, orange-banded tails giving a hopeful little wiggle or two. Yes, yes, Mommy liked flowers! Then again, she probably would have liked most anything that the boy brought her, though he didn't know that. "...Okay." The kit nodded his head a little, peering up at the sky with traces of lingering hesitation. Then she poked him and he practically fell over, squeaking his alarm until he realized who it was.
Uneasily shuffling, Chrys peered a little more closely at the brunette, unable to really believe it. "I do that too." He whispered, little eyes widening with awe at this realization. So she really was like him! A little bit...She was big and brave and pretty and he was very small. "I hide behind Mommy when I meet new people...or trees." He confided in her, blinking a little at her suggestion. "Well..." Chrys hesitated for a moment more, then slowly nodded. "...But aren't they gonna eat me?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:33 pm
Atae smiled at him after he got over the poke. "You'll get bigger someday... and maybe you'll learn there's not as many things to be afraid of like I did. It took me a while, though... so you don't have to try and do it all at once."
She stood up slowly and motioned in the direction she'd initially been traveling. "We'll go that way... just stick close. Most of the sounds you don't have to worry about... and there's less you'll have to worry about when you get bigger. Though most of the stuff you might need to worry about lives a long way away from here." She smiled a little more brightly. "You ready to go?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:45 pm
Would he really? The kit hung onto her every word for a moment, eyes wide with awe at the thought that yes, he would really get to be bigger! And he could take his time with it, too? Maybe things wouldn't be so scary if he was big--she was right. As Atae rose to her feet, Chrys found himself blinking up at her size while his ears pinned back a little. Oh...oh, so very, very big....but she wouldn't eat him! "Okay..." He hesitated though, wondering just what she meant by the last part, quickly skirting underneath her to better peer out at the world from between her front legs. "Are there...monsters that live far away?" The kit questioned meekly, nodding his head quickly at her statement. Yes yes, he was ready!
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 10:47 pm
Atae grinned just a little to herself as she started walking, going slowly enough for the kit to keep up and careful to keep her front paws far enough apart that she wouldn't trip over him. It felt so incredibly good to know how much she'd improved since she was a kit, and to get to help out someone like her!
"There are." She nodded solemly when he asked about the monsters. "BUT... they live far away. I've never seen any anywhere near here, and I like to walk around here now that I'm used to it." There was a racious cry overhead from a blackbird and Atae paused, giving Chrys some time to recover before she pointed up at the branch where it sat. "See? That was that bird, there. They eat bugs, and left over food people throw out. Or your lunch if you're having a picnic and you're not watching the food. But even you could chase off two or three of them if they tried that. See? Not as scary as he sounds."
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Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:09 pm
Ohh, oh, that wasn't good to hear at all! He didn't want to know there were monsters hanging around! With a shiver and a mewl, Chrys was somewhat comforted by the thought that there weren't any nearby. That meant he had plenty of time to find a good hiding place if they ever--what the heck was that??!! The caterpillar baby face-planted and attemped to burrow into the dirt, his entire body seized with the shakes. The harsh sound soon faded from his ears, and slowly, the kit was able to peek his head up, fearfully following Atae's paw to where he saw...
"A b-b-bird?" The baby squeaked, pressing himself against her other paw for comfort. And it ate bugs? Bugs were scary too...and...and it was sort of pretty..."I like birds..." He said a little uncertainly, nodding a few times as though to confirm it. No, no, she was right! He wasn't that scary. "...Just a bird." Chrys nodded again and got to his feet once more, glancing up at Atae while his tails wagged a little shyly. "He's not that scary at all...I wonder if most things aren't...that scary then..."
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:35 am
Atae grinned a little bit at the kit. "Most things are less scary, at least, when you know what to expect from them. Some things are just plain creepy though..." She kneeled down and whispered conspiratorially, "Bugs freak me out..." Then she was thoughtful for a moment. "Well, except for butterflies and catterpillars and moths. They're pretty, and they only eat plants. And they tickle when they land on your nose. Oh! And fireflies. They only come out when it's dark out though, but they glow, it's really neat."
She straightened up and looked around. "Hmm... I think I know where there's some flowers near here. Wanna see if we can find some nice ones for your mom?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:01 pm
"Spiders..." The kit shuddered in agreement, stamping a little paw on the ground. That's what you had to do to spiders to make them go away! At least near them anyway--he'd never thought to actually try and squish one. Ears perked a little, tags wagging unconsciously at the mention of nice sorts of bugs. "Mommy and Daddy are butterflies!" He nodded happily. "I...I might get to fly too one day, if I get bigger..." That also sounded scary, but it might be fun too! "Fire...fly? I've never seen a firefly..." They glowed...? Like little nightlights!
"Okay." Chrys beamed a little shyly at her, secretly thinking he might get some flowers for Atae, too. She was like...like Mommy when his real Mommy wasn't here! She made sure the birds and spiders and whatever other monsters were out here didn't get to eat him.
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:39 pm
Atae also shuddered a little at the mention of spider and grinned when Chrys stomped on the ground. Her ears flicked forward curiously when he said his parents were butterflies. Well... there were lots of other sorts of kitsu, why not? "Well... that must be why you look like a caterpillar!" She wagged her tails at him. "Hmm... Well, you're not old enough to stay up too late yet. Maybe you can stay up later when you're older and try to see some."
That shy little smile of his was just so adorable she had to smile back. "Then we'll go get flowers for your mom and then get you home so you can suprise her." She resumed her walk, still keeping space between her paws for the caterpillar kit to walk, and led him to a little meadow tucked in the trees. They were pretty close to an actual path now... closest one she could think of to where she found Chrys, so odds were that he'd come from some where the path led. Hopefully she could get him home soon "See? Lots of flowers here. So go pick some out for your mom, ok?" She beamed down at him.
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