Hooded figures in the night

@Autumn

The small fox's coat blended in quite nicely with the snow, save for the dark grey patches. Ears perked forward, he listened carefully to tiny scratchings and squeaks under the snow, eyes scanning over the cold white. He took a tiny step forward, hesitated, then leaped high in the air. He angles his body down, and fell face first into the snow.

His back feet scrabbled madly as the sought to get him out, straining backward. When he finally did emerge from his awkward position, it was with two plump mice in his jaws. A lucky catch. The squeaks and scratches rapidly declined in volume as the remaining critters scrambled to safety, but the young fox was proud of his catch.

A smile on his face, he started toward the den entrance where he thought Autumn was still sleeping.

Autumn awoke with a wide yawn as she heard pawsteps entering the den. At first she thought someone was invading, but figured Kesik had left and she'd still been sleeping. She stood, stretching her legs and arching her back in a cat-like manner. She squeezed out the tunnel into the smaller and colder chamber where Kesik stood looking rather proud. Her eyes fell to his mouth, which held two mice. She wasn't sure if he wanted to share but Autumn was hungry for breakfast and decided to asked. Kesik? Is that for both of us? I'm really hungry right now. She said with a lick of her lips as her orange eyes scanned over the fortunate catch.

Kesik heard a small yawn, smiled. "Good morning!" In response to her question, he dropped a mouse at her feet, satisfied that it's plumpness would make a filling breakfast. He tucked into his, staining his muzzle red. "If your still hungry, I could always catch another"" he said worriedly, He didn't want her hungry. That would be a terrible way to treat a friend.

Autumn smiled as he replied by dropping the plump mouse in front of her face. Good Morning to you too! I think this'll be enough. Autumn said with a smile and a gentle wag of her tail. She bit into her meal and giggled with her mouth full at Kesik stained by mouse blood. Autumn didn't look too much different in stains since she was already reddish in color. This is good. You're a great friend, Kesik. Thanks for breakfast. She said after swallowing one of the final two bites.

"My pleasure" He retorted, smiling. "What do you wish to do today?" He himself planned to explore a bit farther from the meadow, he wanted to learn the lay of the land. However, whatever she wanted to do couldn't be boring either, so her eagerly awaited her answer, cleaning his muzzle as he did.

Though one was somewhat quiet and the other was crazy talkative, Kesik and Autumn thought alike. Exploring their new home would give her a small sense of adventure that she loved. Let's check out the meadow! See if there's anything cool or spots to chill. She said with a wide grin as her flaming banner waved excitedly. She swallowed the final bite of mouse, wiped blood off her lips with a jet-black paw, and stood. She turned towards the entrance, but glanced back to see if Kesik would follow or even agree with her idea.

"I'm all in" he told her excitedly. He leaped to his feet and stood beside her. "Lead the way, Autumn" His speckled tail waved as well, sometimes hitting hers. He tapped his foot eagerly, wanting to burst outside and rejoice in the new, warm weather. He had a sort of energy pent up, and couldn't wait to let it go.

When his tail touched hers, under her fur she blushed and was immediately reminded that she thought Kesik was cute and a real gentleman. She felt the want to twine tails, but stopped the urge. He was just a friend, and he wasn't really attracted to her anyway. She frowned a little at the thought that he probably didn't feel the same. He'd called her beautiful, but she was generally pretty, and he wasn't necessarily attracted. She realized she'd been standing there a few moments without moving after he'd said to lead the way, and she quickly darted out the chamber. She began forward, her jet black paws and pink paw pads comforted by the gentle grass and soon-to-bloom flowers. Where do you wanna look first? Autumn asked her friend without glancing back. Instead her amber-speckled eyes scanned the meadow while she wondered where to check out first.

"How about..." he began, mind only half on the task. He was thinking about her again, and even though she was right in front of him he felt far apart from him. He felt something more for the girl, but didn't want to admit it in case she rejected him. He was still sorting through the feelings in his heart, and for a moment looked at her longingly. He was quick to snap back into reality, and tore his gaze away. "A good place to get warm? Maybe a sunning rock, or a log or something?" he blurted out, not wanting her to get that he had been thinking about something other then exploring. But he never was good at hiding his feelings.

Autumn, though full of a variety of emotions herself, couldn't pick up that he wasn't just thinking about exploration. Instead she was glad he hadn't pointed out her earlier hesitation, her small frown, and sideways glances awkwardly pulled away. It sounded to her like he was really set on exploring. Sure! A place to lay and sunbathe would be nice. Let's go! She said with a wide grin as she began forward, forcing herself to extreme enthusiasm to block her feelings for him. She bound through the meadow, trusting him to follow, as her head turned and her dull orange eyes flecked with honey scanned the ground for any nice stones or logs to rest upon.

Kesik bound after her, staring at her when he knew she couldn't see him. So it was in his moment of one mindedness that he crashed into the perfect sunning rock. It was smooth, flat, and a dark grey, already slightly warm. He scampered onto it, tucked his tail over his paws and called to Autumn to join him. "Over here! It's already a little warm."

Autumn's head turned as he called her over. Her orange eyes widened and her banner wagged as she realized he'd found just what they were looking for. She grinned as she bounded over, hopping on top of its smooth grey surface and lying down next to him. It's perfect! Should we name this spot? Autumn asked, though obviously since she was asking she did want to give the new little landmark a name. She just didn't know what to call it.

"Yes, we should. We should name this whole meadow!" he yipped excitedly, spinning on the spot. He screwed up his eyes in concentration, looking around him. "What about...Sundown Valley, because that's when we found it and it looks so pretty then?" He lay down on the rock, looking up to Autumn for her input.

She grinned as he said they should name the whole entire valley. Autumn knew what the wolves called it, but would rather enjoy their own chance to name it what they liked. The foxes never got to name anything themselves. That's great! And a pretty name, too. She said with a smile. They wouldn't be there forever, only till it was warmer- but Autumn would enjoy her time in Sundown Valley with Kesik.

Kesik pranced to the top of the rock and cried out "I hereby name this meadow Sundown Valley!" He cried, his voice echoing through the valley, as if it were agreeing with the name. He reared up on his back paws to gain height, but after a few second begun to wobble. Next thing he knew, he was face down in the snow again.

Autumn giggled as he fell, after proclaiming the land Sundown Valley. She wasn't laughing in a mean way, of course- she just found people falling on their face humorous. That wasn't mean, right..? Watch out, there's an extreme level of awesomeness radiating from Sundown Valley!! She cried out from the top of the rock, inching towards the very edge.

[size=xx-large]Kesik grinned under the snow, plotting

the perfect revenge as Autumn's words

met his ears. He tugged himself out of the snow,

and with a paw, struck the snow in such a way to that a


ball of it was launched up toward Autumn.[/size]