Hushed Willows gamma;meeting;lighting;signal;island;

for @Nynka, backdated to like the 31st if that works <3

there was a strange smell around this part of the forest. something he hadn't quite scented before. not bad necessarily. . .but different. it was at the edge of the willows, not by the swamp but by the big tall rocks instead, where everything got suddenly very high and dark. 

cam wondered what was up there. did the rocks reach the sky? from here, it sure looked like it. 

he was far from equipped to handle that kind of elevation, so he settled for sniffing around down here instead. there were interesting things to be found on solid ground, too. water was the best for treasures, but the forest floor. . .was not without merit. just slightly more boring than fish and stream pebbles. 

feeling suddenly, inexplicably tired, he flopped over on one side, staring sideways across the dirt and fallen branches and leaves. there was a small red and black bug a tail-length away. cam stretched out his paw—

drat! his legs weren't long enough to reach it, and he pouted for a silent moment or two at his misfortune.

That works just fine; Nynka should have a pretty flexible timeline so stick it whenever works best for you!  ;)  Thanks for starting, too.  ^^

She'd been reluctant to poke her nose too casually or deeply into this big crevasse among the rocks that simply reeked of wolf, but the fluffball baby pikas hopping and piping among the tumble of rocks along the edge were too tempting to resist. It was like a demented game of whack-a-mole: pounce after one, only for another three to poke their heads curiously up from among the rocks, and if you went after one of those the same would happen again. Nynka wasn't too terribly hungry, though, and was having enough fun chasing after the little poufs and the occasional big pouf of a more seriously-alarmed parent that snatched up or herded its offspring underground that the weasel was okay with waiting awhile yet on lunch. ...She skittered and scampered and repeatedly leapt, dancing her way across the craggy rocks with her eyes agleam. It was treacherous ground, particularly for larger creatures, but even as one largish flat rock went tilting and sliding away beneath her, taking a few of its brethren along, Nynka was quick and small and agile enough to go hurtling away before it could carry her with it for more than an inch or two. What made her pause, finally, was the sight of another, somewhat larger patch of fur that was sprawled out well off of the rockslide and caught her eye as it futilely reached out with a slow, clumsy paw. Nynka hesistated, then scampered up onto a conveniently ledge-like rock just ahead, a better perch for spying.

It didn't take long for the lazily stirring air to bring her the distinct scent of canine. Nynka wrinkled her nose, and then angled it to look down upon the outsprawled creature even more superciliously. It was fairly small for a wolf, and alone... and flailing ineptly at bugs? Nynka cocked her head judgmentally at the sight, and spoke up with a slight curling of her lip, revealing one small and very pointy white fang against her brown jaw. There are plenty of fat little rodents over here, you know. Are you really that desperate, that you'd go hunting after bugs? What, do your legs no longer work right or something? Nynka's eyes remained on the small furry blob of canine, but her ears twitched to and fro for a moment as her nose did likewise. Yes, there was plenty of wolfscent about, but none of it seemed too fresh except for the stench that belonged to this little brat in particular. That seemed odd to Nynka, but in her first hinted spark of approval it occurred to her that perhaps this youngster was showing better judgement than his brethren, and voluntarily choosing to eschew their smelly company in order to go it alone. Though he was doing a piss-poor job of it thus far if he couldn't even handle catching some bitty little beetle, good grief.

he jumped a little at the stranger's approach, bristling as his eyes turned toward the creature. it began to. . .speak! he didn't expect that whatsoever. other things he had seen that looked like it didn't speak at all; they just chattered without words, strange sounds that he couldn't understand. but now, he understood every word.

and some of the words weren't very nice at all.

i'm not hunting bugs, cam said crossly. he was old enough now to know what that meant. it meant killing and eating, and while he liked eating, killing really wasn't his thing. not since he'd accidentally squashed the butterfly. i'm trying to play. and my legs do work! he insisted, tail lashing behind him. he lurched to his big paws, growing much faster than the rest of him. see?

cam's head tilted almost comically as he stared at the. . .thing. . .wondering what it was going on about. what'sa rodent? he asked, latching onto the one concept he didn't understand.