Cedar Sweep If she can do it, why can't I?

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Sneaking away from @Eljay's watchful gaze had been a task that would make even James Bond sweat. With Weejay making trouble of leaving without a notice, it felt like poor dad was doubling his efforts on watching Elfie's every step. And no amount of quiet and loud grumbling about the unfairness of the situation and, how life sucked, in general, seemed to weaken the single parent's resolve to keep his kid as safe as possible.

Elfie would be a shame to his proud family heritage and genes, if he did not try to find a way around the fence. Either digging underneath it or jump over it, or simply slip through the door, when Eljay was not watching. One of the three had worked today (to describe Elfie's effort in figurative terms - he had jumped out of the window from the second floor and had a semi-soft landing in the rose-bushes underneath) and off the boy went. Beyond borders and further, further, further away, until he was sure he was alone and not a single sound or smell indicated of his pack nearby. 

Once out in the open, Elfie sat down to gloat over his success for a moment and then he was off to exploring the nowhere he had arrived at.

drenched in mud up to her back, the smell of swamp mixed with the brine in her pelt to create a heady auroma that cling fast to the girl. she was very, very close to tears, and would by crying already if she hadn't already spent them all. Clementine was anything but brave, least of all now, but settled for a tight, worried expression and glassed-over gaze as she trod onward, driven by a sort of panic. 

the panic originated from the simple sound that she couldn't hear the gentle sound of the sea - whenever she stood in the sound, she could hear the gentle inhale, exhale, no matter how faint. but the background hum was gone, and there was only a silent void where even more panic gathered. 

the other pup seemed to appear out of nowhere. a stranger, and better off avoided. she wavered for a long moment, her desire for comfort warring with her fear of strangers. the former, helped by her even greater fear of remaining alone in the unknown, won out, and she lurched towards the pup as quickly as her stilt-like limbs would carry her, which was to say, not very quickly.

Grown up life brings you grown-up problems and responsibilities. While Elfie was happily digging away at a mole-hill, pausing here and there to either sneeze the sand out of his nostrils, or sniff at the unearthed tunnel, he did not realize that about a minute later, his rock-solid belief that he knew everything all there was to know in life would be shaken. 

The combined stench of mud, wet dog and stale water made him alert. He looked up to see a wolfoid form loping his way. Faced with a person his own size (alright, slightly smaller, but Elfie was startled and fear tends to inflate things and creatures) and having no idea of their intentions, made him freeze. He looked over his shoulder as per habit of always having adults around, remembered that he was all alone, cursed to himself and then did the only thing that came to his mind.

He screamed at the creature: "YEEEEEEK!"

she did not expect the screaming. it stopped her dead in her tracks, face aghast, hackles pricked while simultaneously attempting to appear as small as possible. for a moment, in the face of the sound, she was silent, until she emitted a wavering "NO!" it came out louder than she intended, shocking even herself, and this seemed to be the last straw. 

bursting into fresh tears, she backpedaled, pivoting ungracefully and beelining away just as fast as she'd approached. sobbing took too much energy, and so she was silent as her face screwed up and she used up the last of her tear reserve.

The yell worked before Elfie managed to get embarrassed by the very un-cool way he had reacted to danger. Up on close he saw a glimpse of a kid just like him (grimier and not as handsome, of course) and when it backpedalled and began to run away, the boy sprang to his feet and went after it. It's fair to say that this was more out of predatory instincts than sympathy, but hearing the other one sobbing struck a string in his heart (which despite his personality flaws was quite good and kind). It could be someone else's Weejay after all. 

"HEY!" he called out. "Stop! Who are you?"

she came to a stop only a few moment later, panting. once again, she whirled, facing him this time and completely overwhelmed. "no one!" she called, voice an octave higher than it ought to have been. "go away please." normal tone this time, but the words blurred together and fell over one another in the rush to leave her mouth.

"Yeah, but you look like a dirty rag," Elfie argued, though he knew immediately that this was the most ill-suited argument of them all. As if the state of one's clothes had ever detained anyone from romping around. Half of Firebirds' hatchlings were covered from head to toe in mud, dirt and substances that either do not have name or should not be named after a long and adventurous day and no one could stop them from going out again. 

"And you are a kid and you can't be alone," Elfie told her with an aura of adult, though he was probably not that much older than her. "Where are your parents?" he pressed on and walked around the girl so that an exit route for her was not available.

When he failed to squeeze out any coherent answer from the girl, Elfie stopped trying and went home.