Redtail Rise Like no one ever was,

The pile of skin and bones, or sticks and mud (he still wasn't sure) lifted a too-large head and shouted at him. Requiem's tail went up like a startled cat's might, puffing out, and his legs went outwards as if in a play-bow, his shoulders then together, and his head suddenly dropping; all signs of surprise and defensive posturing which he had no control over. As he lifted his head up again from its place protecting his neck, he blinked and stared.

Who you? The stranger squawked at him. By now he'd realized it was a girl around his own age - probably another of the children he had smelled on his adventures yet not had the priviledge to meet yet. She looked terribly scrawny - her voice was probably the strongest thing about her.

R-rrr-eki! He blurts. It isn't his full name, but its been a while since he'd heard anyone speak it; his family wasn't here to tell him what it was in full, and the others of the rise did not often speak at all. He remembered at least part of it.

With a little more confidence now, he reiterates: Reki. Hhuh, who ah you?