Moonspear right in front of my salad?

It was very early when Galaxy suddenly opened her eyes, blinking blearily at the dewy grass as she tried to figure out what had woken her. Her stomach didn't just growl, it snarled. With a grunt, she rolled from her side to her belly, then pushed to her feet. Her belly gurgled so loudly in the morning stillness that her ears pressed to her head and she slunk away from where her family slept, afraid they would rouse and force her to eat.

She didn't want to eat. As a matter of fact, her stomach hurt. Perhaps that's why it was making such angry noises. The slim puppy flopped down in a patch of grass and absently began chewing on some of the nearer green shoots, instinctively understanding that they might settle her upset stomach. But even as she chewed cud like a cow and finally prepared to swallow, she thought to herself, Will this make me fat?

After roving the mountainside all through the nighttime hours, she came ghosting back to the rendezvous early, early in the morning while presumably, the rest of the family slept still. Her steps were mindfully quiet--she didn't want to disturb, and she hoped she might be able to steal a few hours dozing with them before they awoke and set out for the morn themselves... But in threading her way down the pathway, she spied white fur, and soon made it out to be Galaxy.

Drifting closer over the damp grasses, her ears were pressed forward intently as she attempted to discern what the girl was up to with her head down to the greenery. With a low murmur, she spoke up. "Feeling okay?" she asked, not yet fully certain, but beginning to suspect she was eating the grass. While not necessarily overly concerning by itself, Amekaze still wanted to peer deeper into this; it didn't quite feel like the whole picture.

She began to scrape her tongue against her teeth in an effort to spit out the chewed grass, though much of it clung to the roof of her mouth. Galaxy's stomach rolled a bit as she kept trying, though her mother's quiet arrival distracted her. The pup gazed at her mother with a bit of a bug-eyed look, then finally gagged out a gunky green ball which dropped between her forelegs.

"My tummy hurts," she reported to her dam. As if to complement her words, her belly gave an audible gurgle, which tapered off into an angry-sounding rumble.

She squinted down at the grassy green wad Galaxy let fall from her jaws, then let her expression scrunch a bit as the questions began to take on a far more refined shape. "Something you eat not agree with you?" she queried, going right to her first bet when stomachs were feeling bad--but the very noisy response from said hurting-belly did make her rethink what she had just asked almost immediately. While bellies fussed for a multitude of reasons, from a bad snack to just bouts of burning-feelings, there was one simple answer that usually trumped the rest when it made that much noise. "Or is it a hungry hurt?" she tilted her head, asking lightly.

The child nodded idly at her mother's question, not really paying much attention to what had been asked. Then Amekaze made a second guess and Galaxy froze, then began shaking her head. "No," she replied, quietly but with emphasis, "I'm not hungry." That was a lie, according to her stomach, which betrayed her with another loud growl. Her face scrunched.

Suddenly, a genuinely appealing thought struck her. "I need a drink of water," she said to her mother, glancing at the Alpha female's face as she gathered herself to her paws and began looking around for the nearest source.

She couldn't help but quirk a brow. The subtle dash of emphasis Galaxy placed upon it did not got unnoticed. "No? Well your belly certainly sounds the part," she replied gently alongside a small shake of her head, since her guess seemed plenty reasonable after hearing that. Perhaps Galaxy was right, but suspicions certainly remained intact, although she would let them go unspoken for now even as the girl's stomach growled once more. Amekaze felt the edge of a frown looking to take shape, but that too, she kept mindfully hidden.

"Hm, well now that you mention it," she licked at her lips, deciding she could go for a fresh drink too. It certainly wouldn't hurt. "How about to the little creek?" she asked, and had already begun to pivot that way--towards the small, nearby stretch of it that she often took Jarilo to when she wanted to wear him out without having to do that much herself, and did frequent for her own needs as well. Hopefully some cool mountain stream water would help Galaxy out. She lengthened her stride, and started to cover her ground to there. While the destination was familiar, she kept half an ear trained on the pale daughter.. feeling a vague uncertainty still loitering, and looking for a way to remedy what ailed her somehow.

"Yeah," she agreed simply, heaving onto all fours and moving to fall into step as the Alpha female led the way. The sights, smells and sounds of the rendezvous site were still new enough to intrigue the youngster, though she could hardly focus beyond the pangs in her belly. She supposed she was hungry, though that didn't change the fact that she didn't want to eat.

When they reached the stream, there was a white morning mist hovering over the water. Galaxy stared at it a moment, then stepped forward and began lapping greedily. It did seem to blunt the sharp edge of her hunger pains, and her stomach certainly felt more settled for it. She licked her chops and then sank into a sit, watching the haze swirl over the creek.

"What is that? A cloud?" she queried, glancing to her mother.

Galaxy's continued refusal to eat perplexed her.. even now, with it increasingly evident that this just wasn't a bout of sour stomach destined to pass in a few days. She'd never quite known anything like it and did not understand. She sounded hungry. Did she not feel the hunger that roared so loudly? This brought about a slew of hows and whys.. plus a lowly lurking wonder if this had been spurred by the bear, in some manner. Despite the girl's reply, a simple yeah, Amekaze remained unconvinced.

She took a few quick sips of the creek before Galaxy's question brought her head up, then smoothing the motion to a nod. "Sort of," she replied, pleased with the connection she made already. "It is called mist. A lot like clouds, it is made of water hanging on the air.. basically." A concept delving into many different aspects, such as what she believed clouds were to how mist happened to form in nature--all complex to explain. She hoped to put it gently enough with a soft sway of her tail. 

Her mother explained what the cloud—the mist, rather—was and what it was doing here. Galaxy continued to peer at it a moment, intrigued by the idea of water hovering in the air. But it was difficult to focus on anything for too long. Especially with all that cold water sitting in her stomach like a stone, the pup suddenly wanted to lay down in the grass and go to sleep.

"My tummy feels better," she murmured to Amekaze, to allay any further concern, "but now I'm sleepy. Could you tell me a story, mommy?"

She just had to take what she said and believe it, since forcing the girl to admit to what could only honestly suspect wasn't anything she wanted to do here. Maybe the water was enough and maybe the.. ache was not as bad as it could seem sometimes, although Amekaze struggled to bite back the worry as she said she was sleepy. They'd not traveled all too far, not exerted much energy, and yet, Galaxy was worn from that alone? She might understand such sleepiness if that had been a big, gut-packing meal, not a little drink from the creek. Again, suspicion swirled with a tiny hint of frustration.

Letting that drop, she went on. "Hm, what kind of story?" she pressed. She was less skilled at weaving pup-friendly fiction than their father was. With her, it was more informative, or hugely subjective, than anything else. At best, it was usually her piecing back together various folklore she'd learned about here and there and everywhere else in-between. "There are a couple myths I know of that involve mist, but most of them kind of have a menacing overtone.." she mentioned gently as a disclaimer.

"Um..." the pup pondered aloud, making a series of quiet, thoughtful noises before deciding, "A scary story's okay." The swirling mist gave their surroundings a bit of an eldritch ambiance, so a menacing tale might just suit the mood, even if it would likely result in nightmares.

Sorry for the short post! Would you like to fade this? I'm trying to wrap her threads. :)

sure thang!

"If you are sure.." she smirked, giving her a last chance for an out should she reconsider before she eased into a quick sit. Pending no further objections, from there, she could detail tales of a prized princesses disappearing, lured by some foul intent of the worst kind to the darkest of fogs that swirled unlike the other, then on towards more where the mists were where spirits loitered, as the shrouded, moist air was thought to be gateway to the realms of spirits...

She would humor the questions, should there be any, and conclude her stories with a disclaimer that it was not all bad and dour like that--that her, and her father and sisters, would help keep the mountain safe as far as they were able to, but, they could not control everything always of course. If anyone knew that well, it would be Galaxy. These were just myths, old stories meant to spook puppies; Ame mentioned it, and when the time was right, they moved on back towards the rest of the family..