Otter Creek songbird

The midday sun poured through the trees in fractured beams, painting the world in soft gold and green. Maeve lay stretched out along the smooth, sun-warmed stones near the creek’s edge, her coat catching the light in subtle glimmers. Her sides rose and fell in a steady rhythm, a picture of serenity.

The burble of the water filled the air, its song mingling with the rustle of leaves in a gentle breeze. A flick of her tail disturbed a lazy fly, and her ears twitched at the occasional crack of a distant branch, but she remained otherwise still.

For now, there was peace—a temporary thing she didn’t intend to waste.

Emilio's wanderings had no particular logic to them. Some mornings, he simply picked a direction and walked a way until he found something interesting - or got bored. And that wasn't a difficult feat to achieve.

Today had him skirting a rather creepy looking forest until an icy creek led him to the foothills of the mountains. They were different from the heights back home, but what was home now anyway? Whatever sentimental feelings may have arisen were lost on the boy.

He would have thought the stranger dead had it not been for the gentle rise and fall of her flank - well, now this was something interesting. Steps tentative with uncharacteristic reserve, he called out from across the river. "¿Hola?" 

maeve’s ear twitched toward the sound before the rest of her stirred. It wasn’t the water or the breeze that called her this time, but something foreign, something… alive. fern-green eyes flickered open lazily, narrowing to slits as they sought the source of the voice. 

across the creek stood a stranger, all wiry energy and curious eyes, his voice faintly accented but clear enough to catch. She tilted her head, the sunlight catching on the soft contours of her fur as she regarded him with quiet intrigue. A child, by the looks of it—still undergoing the last stretch before becoming a yearling.

“Hola,” she echoed, her voice unhurried, as if savoring the word. with a slow stretch that rippled through her lean frame, maeve rose to her paws. she was hardly threatening—only deliberate. "You lost, kid?"

He felt his whole body tense as she stirred, though his hesitation did not stem from fear and more from the assumption that nothing was ever as it seemed. But once the woman drew herself to her full height, Emilio was pleased to see she was nothing special to look at. 

And she was alone, by the looks of it. 

"No," his voice was tinged with youth, and the boy winced inwardly at the sound. "Not lost. You?" Her use of his tongue caught his attention and he followed up with a confident wag of his tail. "¿Hablas español?"

maeve watched the boy, her gaze sharp but not unkind as it lingered on his tense posture. young. impulsive, maybe, but not reckless enough to let his guard down entirely. she huffed a soft breath, amused by the subtle shift in his confidence once she stood.

“not lost,” she replied, her voice smooth, the edge of a smile tugging at her lips. “just sunbathing.” she tilted her head slightly, eyes gleaming with interest—“Sí, hablo un poquito. enough.”

her tail swayed lazily behind her, a stark contrast to the boy’s more eager movements. she stepped closer to the water’s edge, the cold creek licking at her toes. “not from here?” she observed, both a statement and a question, switching easily between tongues. “¿estás solo?”

His brow quirked at her answer. She seemed entirely sure of herself, enough so to relax out here in the open,

"Vale," a grin split his face in two. "Me gusta eso." If there was one thing he missed about La Muerte, it was the sheer lack of work he could get away with. Not now, though. Time alone had him realise that food didn't turn up on your plate without a little effort.

And while it was not difficult to understand when she spoke in either tongue, Emilio found he preferred to speak only in one. She could speak a little, she could comprehend him enough, he decided. "Sí, ya no soy de aquí. Nadie más vino conmigo." A tilt of his head asked the same question back at her.