Cricket Creek Bog just swish your hips and do the dip

nearly twenty days since the bear had first carved him from rusalka

a year or more since it had splintered ironsea

two years and several months since it had swung its fierce muzzle towards his biological mother and her dam, and crushed the faction that was grimnismal

all of this a history lesson valravn did not know as he huddled under a bare patch of winter-bitten ferns. it was cold -- colder than he had ever known in this life -- and he shivered with teeth chattering.

somewhere above grouses chittered. once or twice valravn tried to join them in song and they went quiet. unappreciative, perhaps, of their non-avian audience. he fell to silence, thinking of his mothers. of his proud sister, of his quiet one -- of the seemingly grown solare. and finally of @Alyx, wishing just one last time he was in the safety of his home, showing his new friend his favorite spot among the hidden trees.

She was gonna be in a lot of trouble.

Well, what did they expect?! Alyx couldn't just let that hare run away over the borders and stop chasing it because she was gRoUnDeD, could she? She figured her parents would be even more upset that she let good prey get away, so with only a moment’s faltering, she sped over the borders in pursuit.

Thankfully, the bog was starting to freeze up and the ground was pretty firm this time of year. There was no way in hell she would’ve gone in there otherwise. Panting, she chased the rabbit until it disappeared completely and then she skidded to a stop and loudly cursed. No one was here who could correct her.

No one except Valravn, who huddled in the ferns just behind her, invisible to her eye, but with an excellent view of her rear end.

val stood at attention. the forest had suddenly gotten quiet, the way it did when prey wised up to a predator lurking in the area. his ears flipped forward and he craned his neck out of the ferns, straining unnecessarily as suddenly, the forest exploded into life.

a crash, the patter of galloping footsteps -- valravn receded back into the bush like a startled turtle, his breath in quivers. watching from the bush, valravn expected the giantess from before -- only to realize hey, he recognized that butt!!

"ALYX!!" val practically bellowed as he jumped excitedly from the bush, tail beating so fast he might go airborne. all the worry that had clouded his expression seemed lifted in that moment as his heart and feet pitter-pattered in overjoyed excitement.

She scooped her ears and listened hard to the forest, awaiting some indication that there was still prey to be had here, but the atmosphere was heavy. Almost oppressive. If there was any prey still to be had here, it was very, very good at concealing itself. That, or Alyx just wasn't a very good hunter yet.

She whipped around fearfully when the bushes behind her erupted with sound, heart leaping into her throat, only to be met with... Val?! Pinched fright melted into disbelief and then jubilant glee when her eyes found his green ones, and suddenly it didn't matter at all if she found any prey or not. Without something to bring home, she had no excuse for disobeying her grounding, but none of that was important.

Val! she shrieked back, dancing in place without realizing she was doing it. What're you doing here?! Not that she wasn't glad to see him. Anyone with eyeballs could see Alyx was absolutely overjoyed that he was here, but he was a little far from Rusalka's grounds. Not to mention he'd been hiding in a bush, but she was too busy whining excitedly to ask about that.

wc: 196

any guilt val had for temporarily terrifying his friend was eclipsed by jubilation to see a familiar face again. not just any face either; alyx's -- as neat and as pretty as he remembered.

while alyx danced in place val did the opposite, streaking towards her like a dark meteor overjoyed by his finding - if she stayed still for much longer, he'd be dousing her in affectionate puppy-licks by way of traditional greeting. "alyx! alyx!" the boy chanted, estatic to be in her company again when so much had gone wrong.

prompted to think seriously by her question, val's expression (ears, eyes, tail) fell. "i'm lost."

She couldn't contain herself from at least reaching out to bump her muzzle against the side of his, only to pull back and cease her prancing when he announced that he was lost. It felt super weird to reverse roles with him like this, but his family had taken good care of her while she was missing. As both his friend and a wolf who felt she owed something to him, there was no way she'd let him stay here on his own.

Besides, if she couldn't go to Rusalka because her mom was a raging bitch, then the next best thing was hosting Valravn in Redhawk Caldera. By the time they could return him home, maybe Niamh would soften up and be a little more reasonable about her daughter's request. Thinking this was all just too good to be true, Alyx chirped, you're not lost anymore! I found you!

You can come back home with me and rest up and then we can get you home, she said, not realizing that at that very moment, her parents were devising a plan to move to Redhawk Caldera that likely would not be halted by Valravn's presence. Plus, she was forgetting that she was supposed to be grounded and would probably be double grounded now.

an electric thrill hummed from his snout to his belly when alyx touched him again, confirming she was real and he was finally safe.

if he had the balls, he would have kissed her! he was so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so happy to see a familiar face -- her beautiful familiar face!

"you found me!" valravn chirped back. he was going to say something else when an idea came to him. shyly, he dropped to his front legs and repeated what he had first said to her all that time ago: "tag, you're it!" while he didn't mean it, he held his tail and frame in play, waiting for her response and to be lead to the safety of the firebirds.

What Alyx didn't realize was that Valravn wasn't safe, tailed by a colossal bear that would surely find the Firebirds at their home in Sun Mote Copse by following the boy's trail—nor how serendipitous it was that the leaders were making preparations to move, which would save them from that fate.

A huge grin unfurled on her lips when he declared that she was It. She knew she couldn't stay out here with him for very long without her parents being angry that she wasn't obeying the terms of her grounding, but what better way to lead him to the Firebirds than with a game of chase akin to the one they'd played when she arrived at Rusalka's grounds?

She slapped the ground with her forepaws and darted toward him, poking him with her toes in passing and hollering, no, YOU'RE it! Then she was off like a shot, employing long strides as she tore away from him in the direction of the Firebirds. Whether he tagged her again or not, they would eventually arrive there and she would plead his case (and hers, for she wasn't supposed to be here) before her parents.

tacking on a fade since you mentioned it in that thread! <3

a case could be argued about valravn, and it went something like this.

the boy was endearingly, blissfully simple.

he watched alyx apprehensively as he waited for her to react; blinking doelike and breathless as she approached and then elicited a game of tag that had his heart soaring and a smile waxing to life like a brilliant crescent moon across his face.

"hey!" the boy roared in good cheer, scampering after her. alyx had a formidable headstart and valravn was a clumsy boy -- after tripping over several small logs, he was off like an unstable rocket after alyx's retreating form.

they would play in this manner all the way back to firebirds, and for the first time since he'd been displaced, valravn felt a stirring of songs return to his heart.