Blacktail Deer Plateau hey man,

It was hard to judge the age of the dog by their size and comportment. It was hard, too, to pinpoint whether they were male or female by scent. They smelled like nothing he'd ever encountered before, and they acted like — well. Kindle remembered his own puphood.

"Well," he interjected, hastily, "No offense, but just don't go noising it around. I don't have a problem with dogs, but not everyone's the same way."

Kindle reeled back just a fraction while the dog bounced at him, not offended or worried, but surprised a little by the forwardness of the play. He mirrored Cosmo after that moment of hesitation, however, albeit with some amount of dubious concern. After all — what could a dog be doing out here? And what were they talking about? In front? Behind? It was beginning to sound like some of the talk his older cousins had got up to, which he hadn't understood at the time. Cosmo seemed a little too young for that sort of things as well.

"Sure enough," said Kindle, still dubious when Cosmo declared themself a Samoyed. He thought it a name, and returned: "I'm a Morningside. Kindle Morningside. Pleased to meet you, Cosmo."

Slowly, he was catching the spirit that Cosmo was putting out into the world. From his mirrored crouch, he made a sudden little lunge for the other animal — just a playful nip! He wanted to examine the strange shape of that tail up close, but he rather thought the dog might need to be pinned before it was anything more than a white blur.

"You must be a long way from home," he said, crowding closer to try and initiate a wrestling match.