Sunbeam Lair A secret lost pet city on the moon

As he lifted himself free of the grass and raised himself in to a sitting pose, bits of greenery and yellowed, sun-baked strands of that once was leaf-litter cascaded off of him; he was like an ent, or a long-sleeping rip van winkle; a cryptid summoned by the presence of a curious child. Mou stayed where he was planted but he did stretch out his forelegs, arch his back - which crackled a satisfying series of pops - before he shook off the rest of his sleep and finally took notice of Dragomir. A vivid pink tongue slathered across his nose and lips, then slurped back inside of his head as that one good eye focused on the boy — ears twitching at the child's question.

It didn't appear to bother him (or in any way surprise him) that this boy was here. The question brought to mind the strange adornment upon Mou's neck and with a small shuffle, he freed one of his stilted hind limbs and made to kick at the collar, scratching at the fur and skin beneath it as any trained dog might; the itch was only vaguely satisfied. As he finished, he rose to his paws and took one seemingly-lazy stride from where he'd been hidden, standing a few heads taller than the boy with his sharp, thin figure. He drifted away from the boy a few steps and then settled back to a passive sprawl beneath a shaft of sunlight where it was much warmer.

Mou then opened his mouth, miming, < I don't know, > as best he could. He shrugged, then shook the fur of his shoulders and neck - the collar shifting only slightly, and the weighted box attached to it barely budged from along the back of his neck. He ducked his head to be at the child's level and chuffed to him - or tried to anyway - but the only sound that came from his mouth was the clipping of teeth together and the breath that was expelled.