[PRP] Spring Blossoms (Dauer, Tume)

[Talencia]

Dauer was full of quiet joy. It was her clan's turn, their season for fun. She adored the celebrations of spring. It was much about life, beauty, and family, all the things she held dear in her heart. This moon it was the Flower Festival, and though she was to perform for the actual event, everyone pitched in to help get ready for each party. Dauer, despite her eyesight, didn't allow herself to be exempted from duties as well, and to her delight her clanmates respected this.

Thus it was that she had gone far out into the roguelands, seeking the blossoms that would make for the most beautiful or most fragrant of offerings. She was humming a lilting song as she moved lightly through the tall, waving grass. She drifted from one brightly colored patch to another, letting her nose and eyes lead her, her paws steady and sure from constant practice at dealing with not always seeing what was beneath her paws.

Just now she was standing in a patch of deep blue-purple flowers with a heady scent. She hadn't yet picked any of them to put in the sack she had tied around her shoulders, but was merely standing there, inhaling deeply, letting the spring wind ruffle her fur, just living in the moment. Life was very good just now, and she chose to savor it rather than hurry through her task.  

[dovelybird]

His explorations have taken him far and wide, haven't they? After living his entire life in a desert, his only interactions with greenery being when his pack tripped over an oasis, suddenly coming across a wide area of tall grass splattered with color was enough to make him come to a sudden stop. How to even describe the way Tume's heart pounded as he stares over the flowers stretching far into the distance? His entire pack would have collective heart failure if they saw such a thing, so much did they adore and obsess over the rare flowers that they found.

He's so distracted as he makes his way through the area, stopping to sniff every new flower kind that he sees, that he barely realizes he's come close to another dog. His heart leaps into his throat for a moment, but...no, not a dog that he's familiar with. No one he knows and loves like every member of his pack, of his siblings. Tume swallows hard, but thinks he might as well give it a shot, approaching her carefully, making sure his paws make significant noise through the grass so he's not sneaking up on her. "Excuse me," he says softly, "this is going to sound like...the silliest question, I'm sure-" They're in the roguelands, after all. "-but I'm looking for some dogs. Members of a pack of mine. Has anyone stopped by you looking for the same?" It's hard to focus on her when he's too busy looking at every flower around them, thrilling silently at the brush of the petals against his legs and also quietly shaming himself for being so taken up by it.  

[Talencia]

She turned her ears first, then her head, towards the footfalls and voice of the stranger. She sniffed the air, ears twitching minutely as she listened with all her being for several seconds. She liked to think she could, blind as she was, sense evil intent in a person. There was no scent of blood, no faint shift of tone in a half-truth, no uneasy twitch of a tail. Calm and serene, even as she examined him in her own way, she offered a smile, her eyes finding his warm brown form.

"Greetings," she replied with a friendly tilt of her head and angling of her ears. "I don't think looking for your pack members could possibly be considered silly." She favored him with a warming smile. "Unfortunately I have not seen or heard anyone today. I might have scented them, but many pass through here." She shrugged her dark shoulders apologetically. "Someone in my pride might have seen them, especially if you can describe them. We get many visitors in Sikukuu." She stood up straight and a note of pride entered her voice at the name of her home, her safe place.

"Has something happened that we might be able to help with?" she added suddenly, ears canting suddenly forward. Many scenarios passed through her mind as she imagined what might send this male out into the roguelands seeking pack members. Or.. was he himself lost, perhaps?

dovelybird

 

[dovelybird]

Perhaps if he was watching her closer and not the flowers he might see the minute signs of her eyes not being as strong as his - relying on her ears and nose far more than other dogs, how she doesn't quite look him in the eye but moreso just gazes steadily at him - but it can't be helped. The flowers are incredible and he's never been surrounded by so many at once. Tume likes to think himself above his urges, but there's still a part of him that wants to drop down and simply roll in the flowers, sacrificing a few just to feel them release their sweet perfume, hope that maybe it'll cling to him for a few hours as he goes onward. But that seems like something a pup would do, so he restrains himself, decides he'll simply pick one himself when he moves on.

"Silly might've been the wrong word," he says neutrally. "Only that the roguelands are so vast that the chance that others might've seen my pack is next to impossible. It's an absurd request, but...I had to try." He hasn't heard of this pride, Sikukuu, but that's more of a good thing than a bad. News of violence and bloodthirst travels faster than kindness. When the dog asks what happened he sighs and closes his eyes for a moment, just a brief second of weakness, before going on. "My pack lived in the desert, and there was a...storm, I suppose. Dust and sand flew everywhere. I couldn't see even a paw's length in front of me. We were separated, all of us, even my siblings, and I've been looking for them for days." He pauses. "Could I describe them to you? Maybe you tell me if you've seen them?"

Talencia