Neverwinter Forest stuck in orbit

short starter
attn: @Haoming

huojin said goodbye to his mother, then set out to explore. his goal was to remain concealed, but that was difficult given his loud colors; eventually, he gave up and started following a more well-paved path.

there were a lot of wolves in this forest, he thought. why hadn’t any found him yet?

This place sucked. Haoming thought it would probably suck all the time, but it was worse because of how... rainy things were. But there was no ocean here, no tide pools and no beaches. Plus the babies. There were just as many here as there were on the island, and they were significantly worse than her littermates and the other pups from the beach. Not that she'd met that many. 

She stomped through the trees, feeling a bit claustrophobic, as she searched for a familiar face. Anyone would do, really, except for that one bigger boy from the beach. Maybe she could fight him, if she did meet him. 

But there would be no fighting today. A small, red form came into view, and Haoming huffed out a greeting, padding over to the boy's side. Huojin was probably the best one she could meet out here, or at least one of them. Maybe he also shared her displeasure with this whole situation.

yeah, he didn’t. if anything, huojin actually preferred the forest to their homeland, and couldn’t find much of anything to complain about.. aside from the strangers.

his tail began a subtle sway as haoming closed in beside him, brushing their shoulders as a show of camaraderie. hi, haoming. how you to - day? huojin attempted. his common was getting better, right?

He was growing. Not as big as she was yet, but growing, still. Haoming wasn't sure if she liked that or not, but... well, Haoming probably wasn't gonna be all that big anyway, if her mother was anything to go by. All the more reason for her to be stronger and braver than everybody else. 

"Good," she responded, finding that if she stuck with one-word replies most of the time, her stutter was greatly improved. The girl bumped her shoulder against his in return and offered a half smile. "You ex-explorin'?" she questioned, gesturing to the trees.

huojin nodded his head. there must have been something hiding in this forest that he could get into, especially with his partner-in-crime now present.

you want come? he asked, find some fun, maybe. huo nodded for haoming to follow, then veered away from the path, unknowingly headed in the direction of a warren.

It only took a second or two of mulling it over for Haoming to come up with her conclusion. Obviously she wanted to explore. This place might suck, and she might hate it here, but maybe she could hate it a little bit less with her companion.

"I'll g-go," she confirmed, padding after the red boy. "Wh-what kind of fun?" she asked, visibly interested.

their conversation had barely progressed, and huojin was already exhausted from trying to speak the common language. why did it have to be so difficult? he didn’t know that learning multiple languages at once could prohibit him from ever reaching full fluency in any of them, and he really didn’t care; he just wanted it to feel easier.

haoming was willing to come along, which meant that he would be struggling with a friend, rather than a stranger. that was probably better. i don’t know, he admitted with a shrug. maybe we—

huojin leapt backward with a yelp, his gaze shooting to the left in the direction of the rogue rabbit. it’d dashed right in front of their path, circled around a nearby flower patch, and crash-landed into the branches of a bush. the lionet couldn’t help his amazement; he didn’t know land things could move that fast!

haoming, he called, 你看见了吗? she must have, right?

The creature cut Huojin off quickly, darting into the bush in front of them, and Haoming gaped in surprise. She didn't know tiny things could run so quickly! But that could also be so fun to chase, and what if they actually caught it? That would be so awesome, and mom would be proud!

"Yeah!" she burst out, tail wagging back and forth as she leaned over to the red boy conspiratorially. "Gan sh-shàng," she whispered, nudging his shoulder and dropping into a crouch. Perhaps if they were quiet, if they snuck around, they could try and corner it?

trying to make this his last post.

well, no. huojin didn’t really want to chase that thing, especially with it being able to move so fast. that didn’t mean he wouldn’t support haoming’s efforts.. it just meant that he definitely wouldn’t be involved.

so when she brought up the idea of a mini hunt, huojin was firm in his refusal. he gave an adamant shake of his head, but pointed along the rabbit’s trail, telling her, 我将成为您的后援. 你追它.

It didn't really occur to Haoming that they wouldn't be able to catch the rabbit. She figured they'd be able to do just about anything they put their minds to, as long as they worked together on it. So, regardless of the fact Huojin wouldn't join her in the actual chasing bit, Haoming was satisfied with his agreement to follow her. 

Trusting him to follow, she sprinted ahead. 

fade <3