Lost Creek Hollow You carved a boat to sell my shadow

There was so much to discover in their new home, and so Pheiros always found plenty to do. Today, he wandered in the shade of the trees, following along the edge of a creek. The water here was different than where he lived before. It tasted way better and was not nearly as cold, so he often swam in the shallower areas. He had no plans to swim today, though; after exploring the edge of the creek for a short time, his attention had been completely drawn to a strange animal swimming in the water. 

He followed the animal as it it swam, noticing that it always remained just out of his reach. Sometimes it would disappear under the water, and he would have to closely watch the ripples on the surface to keep track of where it was. Other times, he thought he had lost the unknown animal, but then it would poke its tiny green head above the water, and he would continue his pursuit once again.

The creek bank eventually grew wider and began to ascend away from the water, forcing him to watch from atop a sort of perch. This was, of course, the time the animal chose to finally come out of the water, and he studied its strange circular body and tiny legs with much interest. Pheiros watched closely as it went about its business, all the while trying to come up with a way to sneak down there without scaring it back into the water but coming up with nothing. So, instead, he intently stared down at the water creature, wondering what it would taste like.

The rest of the family wasn't too far away and doing something.  Spook, however, had gone to get a drink, and had followed a well-worn path towards the nearest fork of the creek that allowed his steps to be quiet and swift.  It was almost like he'd been learning some things, gasp.

What he hadn't been expecting was to find someone he didn't recognize here.  Okay, he knew there were new people, but he'd already forgotten names and what relation they were to anyone else.  Maybe he would have asked.. If the gold boy hadn't been staring quite intently at something.  That was far too intriguing.  What was it?!

After waiting a moment, he started creeping forward, trying to see what it was.  A few steps, some trying to see it, a few more steps.  That whole kind of thing. Like kids sometimes do, Spook hadn't thought to say something.  He was just gonna show on up and see what the big deal was -- regardless of whether that ended up startling the older pup.  He just wanted to see what was goin' on.

Movement in the corner of his eye made him jump a little, but once he realized it was another puppy, his tail began to wag, and he turned towards his new packmate. Hey, He whispered excitedly. Then, he glanced back down at the creature below, settling his eyes back on the other pup a few seconds later. Do you know what that is? Pheiros asked quietly, not wanting to scare the animal back in the water after he had spent so much time following it. Maybe the other puppy knew more about this place? He thought he had been here longer, but he seemed younger, so maybe he was just as clueless as Pheiros.

Oh.  This other kid did seem to be pretty friendly.  That was good.  Spook's tail wagged as well, but he was far more distracted by trying to see what had been watched so intently.  He was still far enough back that he mostly just saw it was a smallish green thing -- which pretty much eliminated all mammals, so that shortened the list significantly as far as he knew.

Despite the whispered questions, Spook wasn't any quieter than he normally was, but at least he wasn't particularly loud to start, Uhmm.  Is it a frog?  That was all he could think of, and he hadn't had the chance to be taught the difference between a frog and a toad.  He scuttled forward again for a better look.

His mouth twisted in thought, and he stared at the creature as moved slowly along the shore below. Shrugging, he replied: Sure. I've never seen a frog before, but let's call it a frog. He sat up and and looked at his new friend. I want to catch it, but I'm not sure how, Pheiros started. Any ideas? Two brains were always better than one, and since he probably knew the area far better than Pheiros, he thought the other pup might know a better way down to the water that wouldn't scare the frog away. He'd worry about what to do with the creature once they caught it.

Another thought suddenly came to him, OH!  And there's toads too.  They're like.. Similar.  But you don't wanna eat them, Mom said that!  Pause.  Then much more meekly.  But I dunno what the difference is.  It had been far easier to just make sure that small greenish creatures didn't get chomped in general than trying to express the difference between the two.  Sometimes she wasn't very good at expressing certain fine details.  You ever see a toad?  Maybe they could figure it out together, then catch it.  It seemed like the little thing wasn't moving too quickly along anyway.

He went around to the water side, tipping his head.  Um, can see from...  He went back along the bank and tiptoed his way down a rock and root laden spot which was less of a sharp edge.  He was the most cautious of the trio, so he kept a look out for that kind of thing.

His face scrunched up in thought as he went through the list of creatures he knew. Hmmm, I don't think I know what a toad is either, he answered. Why don't you want to eat them? Pheiros asked. Did they not taste very good or something? 

He followed the other boy as he made his way down the embankment made of mud, tree roots, and the occasional protruding rock. He quietly found a spot next to him and turned to ask: What— but one of his rear paws slipped out from under him, causing him to lose his balance and tumble down to the bank below, efficiently scaring the creature into the water where it quickly disappeared from sight. After a few moments of disorientation, he stood and shook some of the mud from his golden fur. He looked up at his new friend rather sheepishly. Oops...I'm sorry. Pheiros glanced back at the water, but the creature was long gone by now.

He paused, giving him an utterly blank look as he dredged his memory.  All things considered, his memory wasn't particularly long, it wasn't like he was particularly old. Uhhh.  I dunno. She just said not to.  I can ask her later!  He probably wasn't entirely paying attention -- there was kind of this issue with two very loud siblings being utterly distracting.

Then suddenly the bright colored boy slipped on the edge of his vision, and Spook also yiped loudly -- not that he was hit or anything, just startled because he was just of that sort of temperament.  He didn't poof up like a cat or anything, but it took him a second to go back to normal.  He looked to where the critter was and took a couple of steps forward, Oh.  Yeah, it's gone, but I'm sure there's gonna be more around.  And there's fish and stuff in there too -- small ones and big ones and stuffs. Have you seen those?  Maybe they weren't as interesting...

want to fade this? They can have something more recent

Luckily, Pheiros was fairly laid back, and the fall and loss of his potential toy didn't discourage him for very long, especially since the other boy mentioned fish. Oh yeah, I love fish, he replied with a smile and a wag of his tail. Come down here, and we can search the water for some to eat, he suggested. That would be fun. He had never actually caught one on his own before, and there was a very high chance that he would be unsuccessful, but that didn't diminish his excitement any. He grinned at his new friend, and then turned and bounded down the bank of the creek. He hoped the other pup would join him but if not, he would be perfectly content fishing on his own.

Sounds good to me!  I got a couple of AWs up with him if you just wanna nab one! They're pretty flexible timewise.

 Oh good!  They could go look for the fish!  Sure, he wasn't Ashlar, but he was nice.  Spook supposed he could get used to this guy being around probably!  But honestly that was a quick half second thought before he too was distracted by the idea of trying to catch some fish.  Not that he was particularly good at it at this point.  [q]Yeah! Let's go![/ooc]  He galumphed on after.  Even if he didn't actually manage to catch anything, it still would be fun.  A good way to have the day go, and even his mom might be happy with him practicing his skills this way!