Shiny... (SH)

[Wolf]

If it was up to Wolf, she would be looking alone. More people only complicated things, what with one of them getting lost or hurt, or calling the rest away from a particularly interesting place. Of course, Rasheer didn't quite count as a person, or even as someone else now that she thought of it. He was always there, so that made him almost a part of her.

The liger volpe was excited. He knew that Wolf really wanted to find the little creatures hidden in the valley, and he would help her as much as possible. Rasheer's joy came from the joy of Wolf, if she was happy, he was.

"I'll look over here, alright?" He asked, pointing with his tail to the base of some large hills. "It looks like an interesting place." He had heard that there were eggs here too, and perhaps the creatures that laid them wanted a sheltered place like the hills for them.

"Ok." Wolf said, blinking in surprise that Rasheer was being cooperative today. Usually he was trying to get her to do things that she didn't want to. "I'll take this little forest then, meet you here in an hour?"

That was fine by Rasheer, and he bounded off quickly, heading for the hills. Wolf watched him go, then turned and walked to the forest, trying to be quiet and not make much noise. While Rasheer wouldn't make the eggs run away by running around, an animal could certainly be startled by her.

(1)

[Wolf]

The volpe reached the hills quickly, and began looking around. He was careful to examine each ridge and tiny cave for something before moving on. He just hoped that there were still any eggs left because he and Wolf had been away when the rest of the population started to look for them.

There were so many places to look in, and so little time to do it, but he carefully entered all the caves that were big enough, and began a slow journey around the hills.

Meanwhile Wolf was deep in the forest, using more than just her eyes to look for any little creatures that might be there. She listened hard as she moved quietly, and even tried to smell the air, although all she could identify was the overall smell of a forest. She was sure there must be something in these trees though, and so kept on looking.

It occurred to her that she was only looking at the ground. Perhaps the animals she was meant to find were birds? She had no idea, as she had rushed off at the mention of eggs and animals, not staying around to find out exactly what kind of eggs and animals.

She began looking at the trees as well, scanning each branch and even looking on the side of the trunks in case the creatures could climb. She honestly had no idea what she was looking for, but hoped that she could find it.

(2)

[Wolf]

Rasheer was having no luck. Perhaps all the eggs really had been picked up by now. But he was determined to continue on, for Wolf's sake. He slowed down his searching even more, targeting a small cave large enough to get his whole body into. Surly there was something here? It looked like a prime place to lay eggs, with plenty of cover and protection from the elements and predators alike. It was more of a tunnel than a cave, he suddenly realized, the entrance to the tunnel blocked by a rock from the outside. Perhaps another volpe hadn't ventured in here and he would find something for Wolf.

Wolf's luck was no better than her companion's. Not knowing what to look for made it very hard. Should she be checking under rocks for bug sized cats perhaps, or climbing to the tops of the trees to look for giant birds? All she knew was that she couldn't see any animals, not a single one, let alone anything that might be what she was looking for.

Having nothing else to do, she continued on, checking in increasingly smaller and more unlikely places, until she was looking at a single leaf for five minutes, trying to see if there was a camouflaged creature on it.

(3)

[Wolf]

Rasheer padded slowly down the tunnel. It was getting increasingly harder to see the further down he went, but that wasn't going to stop him. He was determined to bring something back for Wolf, even if he had to walk over every inch of these hills to do it.

The tunnel suddenly sloped down, and Rasheer lost his footing, having not been able to see the drop in ground level. He skidded for a few feet before lashing his tail around a rock to stop him. It hurt his tail, but allowed him to get up. He also noticed that there was a side tunnel by the rock. "Well, why not?" He said quietly to himself, and walked down it.

Wolf realized that she was likely being silly, but really, how else do you look for an animal of unknown size? She alternated between staring up at the sky and tripping over roots, to staring at the trees (and walking into them) to looking straight ahead and walking for a few minutes, all yielding nothing.

She sat down on a fallen tree to think for a few minutes, trying to remember exactly what she knew. She knew that the eggs out here were the same as the ones in the Sanctuary, except for different colours, but what could the animals possibly be?

Pets, of course, so that likely ruled out both huge and tiny animals. But what kinds of pets? Volpes? If it was volpes, it likely would have been said, so it couldn't be them. Volpe pets? That was more likely. She couldn't see anything as big or bigger than a volpe choosing to make this small forest their home, or the wide fields of the valley either.

Well, that helped a bit. She could stop looking under rocks at any rate, and that was certainly progress.

(4)

[Wolf]

The volpe continued down the tunnel cautiously, his eyes open as far as they would go. He swept the ground with his tail too, stopping and investigating whenever it hit something, although it always just turned out to be a rock. He kept a mental map of where he had gone in the tunnel, both so he could find his way back out again, and not walk over ground already examined and waste time.

Even with his percautions, he still stubbed a toe when the tunnel began to rise abrubtly. Perhaps he was approching another cave in this underground maze? He picked up the pace to a steady trot, which meant he was going just that much faster and fell just that much harder when the tunnel slopped down again, and steeply this time.

He managed to get all four feet under him like a cat would, and landed with a thud that vibrated through all his bones. He couldn't see anything but the difference between the walls and his shadow now, and so went even slower.

After about twenty minutes of small falls and slopes that appeared out of nowhere, a dim light began to grow and he found himself in another cave, far underground, but with a tiny hole in the roof letting in just a hint of sunlight. He stopped to let his eyes ajust, he wanted to explore a bit here.

Wolf felt better after her rest on the dead tree. She hadn't realized how tired and frustrated she had been getting. She walked a bit quicker through the trees now, knowing by her watch that she only had about fifteen minutes before she had to meet Rasheer. She hoped that his luck had been better than hers.

Approching a part of the forest a bit denser than that she had been walking through, she looked at it for a few seconds, making sure that the plants she would have to push her way through weren't poisonous. Finding that they weren't, she left the sun dappled part she had been in and pushed her way in, silently applogising to the many plants that she stepped on.

Maybe it hadn't just been that she was looking in the wrong places, but that she had been looking in the wrong part of the forest altogether. Perhaps the creatures she was supposed to find didn't like too much sunlight. It was cooler and more sheltered in the deeper part of the forest after all. She continued on, looking down at her watch every few minutes as the time for Rasheer and her to meet again drew closer and closer.

(5)