Emberwood The kids aren't all right.

Ah. Silence came from the girl, but by now, Tuathal had learned to expect that drawn out pause before an answer. He stayed quiet himself, and focused on their bright surroundings. Hoarfrost clung to the trees, sharp white against a dull grey sky. Yet the girl had called this Emberwood. He could only imagine what this place must look like in summer.

His ears twitched forward when her voice finally came, her solution, so simple, he wondered how long until the shock would wear out of him. "Someone...?" Tuathal murmured, and let her rest until she spoke again. A word he thought was gibberish, through the fog of her mind and the muffler of his fur, but realized, then, that it had been a name.

Tuathal fell quiet for a moment - because he hadn't completely caught all the syllables, or... maybe he'd caught too many. Ah... well, perhaps she would muster her strength, and flood the air with that strange name again. But the girl just stayed quiet, and Tuathal... well, he couldn't bring himself to ask the kid to repeat the name again. She had hardly managed to give him anything the first time.

This would not turn out well, but he tipped his head anyway, parted his mouth, straightened up to get all the air he could muster for the shout of that name, and summoned... "Kukukuklanakan?" ... a demon, probably. With his breath on the air, and whatever he'd beckoned probably on its frothing way, he allowed himself to collapse once more into his usual slack and slouching posture. "Whoever this friend is, they've gotta get themselves a nickname." And the faintest smile somehow tugged at his lips. The irony, that these words would be his.