Sun Mote Copse A cross between a zombie apocalypse and big Bobby "The Brain" Heenan

Apparently, Niamh was still peacefully locked away in La La Land, leaving a cold and dirty Alyx seemingly alone with her discomfort. It was a crucial lesson from the school of hard knocks: sometimes you just had to grin and bear it, even if everything sucked absolute ass. Crying wasn't getting her what she needed and soon enough, she stopped. Lucky for Towhee that Alyx wasn't aware of her; if the babe knew someone was nearby who could help, she'd have gone on making a racket (or portraying a racket in her facial expressions, at least) for days.

Instead, she crammed her soggy paw back in her mouth and began sucking furiously on it, curling in on herself like some kind of pill bug. She had to kick her survival instincts into gear and somehow knew that this was an okay way to conserve body heat. There was more than enough ambient warmth in the den that she was in no danger, although she certainly felt like she was. Cold? Wet? These were not the states a princess ought to be in!

Around her paw, she whimpered.