Blacktail Deer Plateau lemme hear you say way ho!

@Grayday meet your little friend to-be guide!

Tallulah had just stuffed her mouth with seeds, and was busy chewing them as she scampered through the leaves. Swallowing the food she chirped with delight and shook her pelt scampering up a tree trunk a few inches before leaping off and landing with a gentle thud in a pile of leaves. Energetic wasn't the word to describe her, she was quite literally nuts. She ran for hours on end all over the place until she collapsed with exhaustion, usually under a log or inside a pile of leaves but sometimes the silly girl just passed out in the open. She knew that she was in an area where the big fanged squirrels as she called wolves lived, but she hadn't ever crossed paths with one so she didn't see the need to fear them. Besides....she was small and quick and could easily avoid those big lumbering things.

She dug through the leaves until she found a plump worm and she grabbed the squiggling creature in her tiny paws, lifting it to her mouth and chomping down on it. She had to eat as much as possible before the winter ended to gain weight, and she had to store even more for when she woke up so she could snack,go to the bathroom and then snooze again. Running off once more she shot up yet another tree trunk and onto a branch, though a shrill shriek of fear left her maw as a rather large bird dropped onto the branch. The bird eyed her and cawed and Lu backed away but this seemed to make the bird even more mad, and before Lu could figure out that she was intruding upon  the bird's nest the winged creature pecked at Lu. Unable to control her fear she urinated and leapt off the branch, forgetting how high up she was. She smacked into several more branches on the way down and then lay in the grass breathing rapidly and making various levels of distress calls.

Grayday had learned to drown out the chatter of chipmunks; they were too quick for him to catch and too small to make a good meal, so why bother paying attention to them? Even when they were causing a racket overhead, he'd never really taken an interest in why they were making so much noise, and probably never would have, if one had not nearly dropped straight onto his head.

"Hey!" he said sharply, taking a step back. When the tiny thing didn't immediately run off, as expected, he paused a moment to examine it. The heaving of its sides told him it was still alive despite how far it'd fallen. Funny, Grayday had never seen a chipmunk fall before... he'd never seen one lie on the ground like that before, either.

Curious about the strange phenomenon, the male padded forward and lowered his head to sniff at the tiny creature.

assuming there's some like....main language between all animals

Lulah lay still and silently tried to identify what hurt. Sharp stabs of pain in her ribs and her front foreleg was twisted badly and she couldn't move it. Moving her head slowly she noticed something that had been missed during the fear and adrenaline of the fall, in front of her stood a big fanged squirrel. She chittered with fear and tried to roll away but the movement caused her great pain so she simply lay still again, her pupils bowl wide with fear.


As the big squirrel bent to sniff at her she squealed "Off! Lemme die in peace!" she cried out her tiny voice trembling with fear. She wouldn't make much of a meal for this animal if that's what he wanted, she would barely even be much of a snack. What if he had children?  the thought crept from the depths of her mind stirring more fear within her. Since she was still alive she would make for an okay session of hunting practice for a small child, and the amount of fat on her body would satisfy the kid. She didn't wanna die though, so she stretched out her good paw and swatted helplessly at his nose. "Don't give me to your kids! I don't want to be a snack for a baby! I'm too chewy and fatty!" she pleaded,blubbering like an idiot.

It turned out he could understand chipmunks, only, their voices were very high, and this one, at the very least, had a strange accent that made her voice even more difficult to understand. Her tone, though, was easy to interpret, and the male's ears swivelled uncertainly.

"Aw, don't beg," he sighed, mightily discomforted by the sight of the desperate little animal. "C'mon. Have a little dignity," he insisted. There was no reason to face death like that - like it would come for her another day, if she wheedled her way out of it today. Still, he could never stand to see a girl cry. Even a chipmunk girl, it turned out. "I won't eat ya, just - just stop."

Tallulah's little nose twitched as she stared up at him as he told her not to beg. The dignity comment is what set off the little nuerotic creature though "Dignity?! Dignity?! Why don't you try laying below a bloodthirsty predator fifteen times your size and have some bloody dignity!" she squeaked her tail twitching about her hindquarters rapidly as she gave him what she thought was a fierce glare but it probably just looked.....tiny and adorable.

She groaned as she pushed herself up her ribs screaming in protest "I won't be able to make it through the winter like this. I can't move around quick enough now to store food, so if you're going to kill me do it quick." she said firmly though her behavior said the opposite as she hunched down and scooted backward away from him a bit. No way in hell did she want to die quite yet, but it was the truth that she would be unable to sruvive the winter like this. It would be difficult even if it weren't fall and she could easily find nuts and seeds and bugs, due to her leg being in such bad shape.

Aghast, the wolf looked down at the tiny creature, not quite sure what he was meant to do. "I can't eat something after it talks to me," he protested, and a moment later, thought better of it. "Don't you go spreading that around. I do have kids to feed, you know."

He sat down and stared at the dramatic little chipmunk, finding himself quite unable to bring violence down upon it, even in an act of mercy. He'd never spoken to a chipmunk before, and it was a strange and somewhat jarring experience. "What happened to you, anyway? I've never seen a chipmunk fall before."

He still just stood there above her talking to her and she tucked her injured leg close to her chest, sniffing at him. The scent was somewhat familiar to her, it smelled like those animals she saw being walked around central park except muskier and more feral. That was when it dawned on her that these things weren't squirrels, they were wolves. It wasn't exactly comforting to her but at least she knew now that this was what a wolf looked like. "I won't say a word." she said earnestly. Curiosity got the better of her and she hobbled forward until she stood next to his paw. 

"Bloody hell, you're paw is almost as big as I am!" she exlaimed and using her good paw began to touch his fur. She gave a small hum of thought before moving away and giving him some space. In response to his question of what happened to her she gave a sharp chitter toward the tree, glaring up into the branches. "Apparently a particularly nasty bird thought I was going to intrude. Pecked me, and I got so scared I forgot where I was and leapt off the branch" she said and shook her head. "got myself a broken foreleg and maybe a few cracked ribs. The ribs will heal on their own if i'm careful but the foreleg....it'll probably always be twisted and useless" she said and began to make small squeaking noises, the equivelant of a wolf's whimpering.

Her accent grew more difficult to understand in her distress, and the male hardly understood half of what she said. But the gist of it was not lost on him, and he looked down on the tiny food creature with unaccountable pity in his eyes. He had no business feeling sorry for strange chipmunks, but then again, he'd never been very good at leaving well enough alone.

"I'll protect you until you heal," he offered, thinking of his daughter, who had recently healed from similar injuries. "Here - climb aboard. No one will hurt you if you hang out with me. Once you're better, you'll just have to learn to live with a twisted leg. It's better than no legs, isn't it?"

She peered at him with awe as he said he would protect her until she was better. Not one to pass up a miracle she stood back up and hobbled over to him. With much difficulty she climbed up his leg and grabbed onto the fur of his shoulder, hefting herself up. She settled down onto the wide expanse of back, just below where his neck ended. "Aye if I had no legs I would have offered myself up as a snack willingly" she joked in his ear her voice slowly coming down to a more tolerable and understandable decible though it was still high pitched all the same.

She used her tiny paw to grab a small handful of his fur and gripped it the best she could. "Thank you mister. I am Tallulah, but I am also called Lu or Lulah" she introduced herself once she had found a more stable spot.

Immediately, the chipmunk's mood seemed to turn completely around. Grayday lowered himself so that she could climb up a bit more easily, but the movement still seemed to pain her. He felt bad for the tiny creature, and hoped she'd make a full recovery.

"Grayday," he responded, setting a slow, stiff pace toward a thorny patch of blackberries, which were just exiting their season. There wouldn't be berries for the chipmunk to eat there for much longer, but the male couldn't think of what else he might do for her. "But you can call me Day."

It was a strange feeling to have a chipmunk clinging to him. He had to resist the urge to shake his pelt off. "Don't you have a pack or something to take care of you?" he asked, wondering if he'd made a mistake by offering his help. How would he keep the kids from killing her? He'd have to keep her with him 24/7...

Wow! He even stopped at a berry bush for her to eat, this was great! Lulah reached out the bush and grabbed a berry, shoving it into her mouth and repeating a few times before actually chewing and swallowing. This process was repeated until she sighed happily and snuggled back down into his fur "Thank you Day...I appreciate it" she said. When he asked her about a pack she had to think about what he meant for a good few minutes before answering. "Chipmunks don't really live in groups. We grow up with our mom and dad, go off on our own, settle down with a mate and have kids. That's about it....I don't have a mate so im by myself" she explained in the same chipper voice. It wasn't sad to her that she hadn't found anyone to love and start a family with, it was the way of life.

This seemed like an ungodly existience to Grayday, who'd been raised in a large family to eventually have his own large family. Wolves were meant to be together, and though he knew in his head that these urgings did not exist for all creatures, it was more than his tender heart could comprehend.

"Well, you can stay with us, now," he said, feeling that familiar well of protective/possessive emotion flowing over. This chipmunk was his, now, and the creature that tried to harm her would be a sorry one indeed.

She gave a squeak of surprise when he said that she could stay with him. Her tail twitched frantically around her back with excitement and delight and gratitude before she nipped at his ear to show her gratitude (An odd way to do it but whatever). "That sounds delightful because honestly...us smaller beings don't really do well with these injuries. One broken limb and we're done for life but with protection and help I'm sure I can survive. I'll find a way to repay you too" she said with a smile, cleaning the remainder of berry juice from her paws and mouth before grooming herself.

Should we close this up?

Grayday's ears flickered at this information. It was something he supposed he must have known, but having met Tallulah, it seemed such a strange and cold reality. Why didn't they just band together? What was stopping them?

A moment later, though, such thoughts had passed. He was a simple creature, his mind not made to question nature in this capacity. Perhaps this was the problem of the chipmunks as well.

The wolf walked on, determined, at least, to protect this creature from harm.