Neverwinter Forest My heart lives inside others

Neverwinter Forest. It was a lovely place and she hadn't realised how badly she had missed the mainland. Trees...forests...mountains..so much more prey to choose from without having to roam so far from home. It was...comforting despite feeling out of place amongst Yuelong as of late. She hadn't told anyone of Orochi or what he had done, she'd lied to @Takara and blamed that wretch of a girl who in her mind was to blame for the missing limb on the dragon. For all she knew the songbird could know anyway but they'd not spoken on it...neither one of them seemed to want a conversation on the wild boy. Her health had soared back to peak thanka to her wife's relentless care but it seemed to have taken a toll on her in return...so Minori took over the mother duties and sought out @Miwa and @Naoyuki who seemed fond of roaming but she'd never let get too far away...she wouldn't let another one of her children escape her grasp. Calling out to them in a sing song voice as Takara tended to when inviting a game she said "Where are you hiding little Matsuyos? I will find you" and then to make it clear what she was intending she began to count slowly from one as she sniffed out all the scents amongst the dirt and trees and foilage to track them down. 

for the children but tagging for reference!

naoyuki hadn’t gone too far from the den. he’d found his way to a thorny bush, which he was in the middle of investigating when minori’s voice caught his attention. i’ll find you, she said, but he didn’t quite understand.

then she began counting, and his instinct was to respond. three, four, fi’, six! yuki stumbled away from the bush, catching one of his legs on a thorn, to seek out his mother.

Having his scent down she'd spotted the thorny bush but hadn't yet spotted her son inspecting it before he shouted the numbers for her and popped out. It wasn't exactly the way the game went but he was a baby and he was an adorable one....that smelled like he had a cut somewhere. Lowering her muzzle incase he started to cry she began to wonder for what was the fiftieth if not more time if Yuki could see at all or if the world was dark for him. Finding the cut she gently lapped the blood away with her tongue and made sure the thorn had not lodged itself into his skin before pulling back. "How is your exploring going? Do you like Neverwinter Forest?" she asked hoping he wasn't too unhappy with the move.

their game of hide-and-seek didn’t last very long, but yuki wouldn’t complain. t’ank, mama, he said, leaning into minori’s touch as she knelt down to address his small wound.

she asked a question, which yuki thought he could understand. he spent a moment orienting himself, then faced her general direction with some confidence to reply, like it.

The sound of his voice was enough to set a permanent smile on her face. The sweetest children...gentle Naoyuki and his more spirited sister Miwa. She was lucky....incredibly so. The feeling of gratitude grew even more when he faced her the best he could and stated with enough confidence that she knew he meant it that Neverwinter was enjoyable. There was a wave of relief accompanied by a startling sensation of joy. Why was she so happy that he liked it here? The island was special...with their sea glass decorated den and the sparkling ocean surrounding them....peaceful and easily guarded...sanctuary. Yet...she missed trees and grass and streams...having packs close by and tons of wolves around to happen upon. Life just hadn't been as active and exctiting on the island even though she enjoyed it's safety. "Me too" she said and after ensuring his wound had stopped dripping blood nudged him to join her for a slow walk "lots more to explore right?" oooh...Minori what are you doing? she couldn't believe herself but....the idea of staying with their allies if they'd take them in permanently was forming inside her mind. 

minori turned away but continued to speak, allowing naoyuki to follow her voice. their conversation about neverwinter continued, which he tried understanding to the best of his ability.

yes, mama, yuki agreed. there were new wolves here that he hadn’t met before — granted, he hadn’t known much of anyone before leaving the island either. beyond that, the terrain was different, as was the flora and fauna, definitely giving him a broader scope through which he could examine and learn about the world around them.

how could he best explain? bigums, an’, uh.. ew. to translate: i hate mud, but everything else is cool.

Lips twitching with hidden laughter (of the warm, not mean kind) at his attempts to follow conversation, she made note that he was actually doing a good job for his age. While it was somewhat hard for her to figure out what he meant and wanted sometimes this time it was easy to grasp he agreed the territory was bigger....but he didn't like something. She was curious about that but instead casually tossed out "Better than the island?" while she wasn't sure she wanted him to say yes she couldn't get the sudden urge to stay off the island out of her mind. Up ahead a twig broke and she paused using a foreleg to halt his steps and crouched low watching a moving bush way ahead of them. A long bodied small sized creature popped out it's movements short and hoppy, it seemed to be bristling at something. A second one flew out of the bush and they began to fight, the shrieks that filled the air startling her for a moment. "Weasels. food. Breath in so you know their scent" it would be the first she'd teach him, that his nose would be his saving grace as well as his ears if his sight didn't get better. 

naoyuki couldn’t choose — both options had their benefits, neither moreso than the other. minori’s question went unanswered as they continued walking.

he could sense movement, could hear the battle cries of something nearby, but couldn’t figure out where exactly they were. yuki inhaled deeply like minori said, and began walking slowly to find them.

Ignoring the fact that he hadn't responded about the island Minori instead watched him become focused on the fighting weasels. The long bodied beasts had teeth like daggers which was a fact that would have caused some mothers to prevent their child from approaching but not Minori. The General walked by his side letting him find his way to them before placing herself in front of him so the fighting prey wouldn't catch wind. "Never walk right up to any prey. You have to hide. They can't know you are coming" she explained in a hushed voice and looked around nudging him toward the left so they could circle past a patch of thick bushes and he would be able to smell them and hear them up close. 

naoyuki wouldn’t have stopped without minori’s intervention. she seemed to be scolding him, which yuki didn’t understand because if he’d been walking directly toward them, then that meant he was tracking their scent, right? and that was a good thing?

apparently not. yuki didn’t argue, but clenched his jaw tight as minori gently directed him to the side. the screeching became clearer, louder, as did the weasels’ scent. was he doing right?

She had heard her mother call but she was trying to drag a pretty branch of bright green leaves, it was for there home. A bit of color to make it seem more like a place ahe wanted to be, a frustrated growl vibrates in her chest as the stubborn twig refuses to move after all her hard work. The little dark girl stamped her paws on the ground before she attacked the wood again, her teeth digging into the rather small twig covered in leaves. Her tail waving when it inched to the place she wanted to go until she came to her brother and night colored mother, a triumphant look on her face as she hoped around before facing them.

"Deco-aye-sion!" she tried to say the word decoration but that was a bit word, maybe what she said was close enough!

He didn't complain and followed her lead while she guided him toward their hiding spot. Once in place she crouched and kept her eyes trained on the fighting creatures saliva pooling in her maw. "Now they can't smell or see us. Good job" the breeze blew against her face, giving her about a second to jump up before Miwa burst forth with a leafy branch weilded proudly between her jaws. In another few seconds chaos erupted as her innocent intention scared the shit out their potential prey, one running while the other lunged for poor little Miwa. Minori was quick to jump over daughter snatching the weasel up with her jaws and sending it flying through the air before she gently pushed Miwa back and ran after it pouncing on it when it hit the ground and ripping it's throat out. Tail flagging high she turned to Miwa angry but she managed to suck in a breath composing herself "That's beautiful. Your momma will love it" she spoke through grit teeth and then sighed softly dragging the prey to Naoyuki so he could inspect it still focused on the exuberant Miwa  "Miwa didn't you hear them fighting?" she asked concerned and exasperated.

sudden shouts and boughts movement caused naoyuki some stress, for obvious reasons. he knew that miwa was there, but couldn’t figure out where exactly, and when he went to ask minori, she’d disappeared.

he could track her scent to somewhere nearby, somewhere with much louder noises and stronger, more profane smells. yuki began to pout, frustrated and overwhelmed by the situation — especially as the thing was placed down in front of him.