Overture Downs Leave it to the land, this is what it knows

@Sarah
note to self: before this

This place seemed like a giant snooze fest. Had it been any other time of year she might have enjoyed the open space. As it stood now though, it was a snowy wasteland. To anyone else this place probably wouldn't have been so shabby. Rolling hills, the occasional tree, fresh air. She wasn't just anyone else though. She was Sully, a creature who needed more mental stimulation than a toddler with four cups of coffee in their system.

So she took off bounding in order to fulfill her stimulation needs. It had seemed like a great idea at first. Until she took a tumble and rolled over one too many times. She would have attempted to stand once more had she not felt so dizzy.

For now, she would stay very still on the ground and watch her paws until the world stilled beneath her.

Eventually Sarah's outings away from the hollow became further and longer - being away was easier than facing people and forming connections. Frankly speaking, she did not wish to do so. Her family was gone and no one, not even Terance could replace them, fill the dark void, where her heart had been beating with happiness and love for her dearest.

But she did not want to admit it and therefore told herself that her travels were driven by the scarcity of food. That she wanted to be useful and not empty the caches. Therefore she found herself in the Overture downs, when the light-pelted wolf tumbled and fell to the ground. And just for a moment Sarah thought that she saw Cassandra's light grey pelt and fervent spark of hope broke through the darkness, as she ran to the wolf, who was lying on the ground.

Only at a closer look Sarah realized her mistake and her disappointment was so great that she almost let herself go in tears. Why did the gods torture her so? For what reasons? And as much as she wished to turn on her heels and go away to cry in solitude, she pulled herself together and approached the wolf dutifully, asking: "Are you alright?"

Oh!

Shoot. Someone had obviously seen her less than graceful tumble. Big brown eyes blinked with bewilderment as her eyes fell upon the greyscale female. She was cute, in a rough kind of way. I'm okay. Took a tumble and got dizzy, you know how it goes. Sully admitted with songbird-like laughter following her words.

I didn't frighten you, did I? There was a touch of alarm in her voice as she shuffled to stand back up on all fours. Granted that resulted in her quickly slumping back down into a sitting position. Standing up fast had done nothing to help the dizziness.

The stranger's cheerfulness was a bit too much for Sarah to handle - she took a step back and for a moment looked, as if the other wolf had slapped her across the face. It was such a familiar demeanor - friendly banter, laughs, mutual teasing, inside jokes with double meanings, metaphors, clever associations - her whole family had been like that, save for her. Her take on life had always been realistic and very serious, often she did not understand the punchlines of jokes and word-plays, but they had still been important to her. And she had realized it only, when she had been left on her own. 

And now it was yet another painful reminder of, what had perished all those months ago. "No," she shook her head and with this she should could have ended the conversation and walked away, but she did not. As much as it hurt, she had seen a glint of sunlight and wanted to keep an eye for it just a little longer. "Are you on your own?"  

She attempted to keep the conversation going for a bit longer, but when it turned to be too much of a struggle, she bid a "goodbye" to the stranger and left him.