Emberwood my cat has a bald spot :(

Maybe someone she hasn't met yet? Also set before she finds out about Sunny and Dawn, because I meant to put this up a while ago and I'm dumb.

If there was one thing she loved about this pack whose name she could not pronounce, it was the scenery. It was exciting to be able to get to know her mother, of course, and the rest of the pack seemed terribly kind -- but those were things she was still learning to trust and rely on. The landscape, on the other hand, would take something like the fires that'd swept through the plains to destroy. She could enjoy it to her heart's content without ever worrying it would go away.

She laid on her back in a pile of dead leaves, looking up at the stars through the bare bones of the tree branches above her. This place was even more beautiful in the warmer months, and she wondered if (hoped) she would still be around to see that. It was so difficult to put down roots; Easy was trying harder to understand why that was, but some things were more difficult to confront than others.

When this line of thinking proved to be too heavy for the coolness of the night, she resorted to soft singing instead, hoping that somewhere out there, Sunny and Dawn were still able to look up at the same sky.

Grezig had had trouble sleeping for probably over a year now and had taken to wandering long into the night, sleeping only when exhaustion overtook her. Since joining UG, this seemed to be happening a little less, and she was sleeping a little easier, but she still sometimes found it difficult to get comfortable at night. So, this night, she was wandering the barren woods, her breath coming out in small clouds of moisture from the cold.

Grezig heard soft singing somewhere ahead of her in the trees and stopped. Her ears swiveled towards the sound, and she continued to stand without moving, unsure if she should intrude on something that seemed personal. She knew if she were caught singing (something she would literally never do in her life) she’d die of embarrassment. Which is possibly why she never did it. Also, she didn’t know any songs. Her parents had never done anything like sing lullabies when she had her siblings had been pups. And she didn’t think she’d ever heard anyone else singing before. It was a strange, almost spooky sound to hear at night in winter.

Eventually, she moved forward, treading lightly, but cleared her throat loudly enough for whoever was there to become prepared for her presence.

The song — a hunting ballad not from her home, but from the lands of her father's birth — cut off abruptly when Easy heard someone clear their throat. She was not startled, as she'd heard footfall in the distance and knew that not everyone was sleeping, but took this sound as a sign that someone wanted to join her, but probably not in song. The mottled woman gave a soft yip to acknowledge the other wolf, and rolled to her side to prop herself up on her forelegs and peer intently into the darkenss.

She did not recognize the shewolf who approached. Her first thought was that she looked to be a rather unpleasant sort of woman, if her somber features were anything to go by — and then she was immediately embarrassed by such thoughts, and made an effort to appear friendly rather than wary.

"One of those restless nights, huh?" asked Easy, hoping that the woman had not come her way to ask her to quiet down. Again, she berated herself for thinking the worst for no reason. She splayed her ears and gave a tentative wag of her tail to try and make up for her thought crimes, watching and waiting for clues on what sort of wolf she was dealing with.

This post is weird. Sorry. It's like I've forgotten how to play Grezig properly or something idk.

Grezig heard the yip as she moved through the trees and found the mottled grey-and-white-and-black female sitting up in a pile of leaves. Her first thought was that lying down in leaves was a terrible idea because snakes liked to hide in them, but then she remembered that it was winter, and most snakes were either dead or hiding out underground somewhere, waiting for warmer weather. Her second thought was that she had never seen a coat like that on a wolf before. It was a strange pattern, though pleasing. 

Grezig nodded in agreement to the girl’s words. “Yes. Restless,” she said. She noted the girl’s wagging tail, the splayed ears. Was the girl nervous? Or being friendly? It was hard to tell. She wagged her own tail easily from side to side and then sat down, glancing away from her in case she was nervous. “I am Grezig,” she said after a moment, glancing back at the girl. She didn’t ask for her name in return, but went quiet in invitation to do so.

No worries! I didn't see anything weird.

While Grezig made herself comfortable, Easy picked herself up from her awkward sprawl and worked to make her leaf pile suitable for two. "My name's Easy," she replied, relaxing into the woman's presence now that she hadn't been attacked or berated. A few kicks and scratches later, her bed had expanded enough to make room for Grezig.

"I've been feeling restless, too," she admitted, flopping back down and stretching her nose toward the other woman to keep her within sight. "No matter how long I lie around, it's impossible to fall asleep until I'm practically falling over on my paws. But I'm trying to get to a good winter weight, so overworking is off the menu."

Grezig noticed that the girl seemed to making room for her in the leaf pile. “Oh,” she said awkwardly. “No, I’m—I’m fine here.” She didn’t know this girl well enough to feel comfortable sprawling about next to her in a bed of leaves. It felt too intimate, and she’d never been good with that, not even with her own children. “Thank you, though.” She vowed silently not to be distant if she ever had children again. She had tried with Illidan but the boy had refused her closeness time and again.

The girl’s name was Easy. A strange… name. Though probably not the strangest she had come across. “I’ve found walking helps me,” Grezig said, in reply to Easy’s restlessness. “Though I also must walk until I am exhausted.” She looked up at the stars through the leafless trees. “It is getting easier since I’ve come here, though. I was without a pack for some time. I think feeling the safety of being in one has made me feel better.”

"Oh?" said Easy, ears swivelling toward the top of her head as she processed this. She'd always been comfortable cozying up to other wolves, and had often found her way into the beds of strangers with a song or a good story or even the offer of some mutual grooming. It was odd to her that Grezig did not take her comfort from the same sort of things, but she did not protest it.

Instead, feeling that lying down would now be too informal for the other shewolf, she picked herself up and remained on her haunches. "It's sort of the opposite for me," she shared, although she could see the merit in Grezig's thought process. "I'm so used to roaming that I start to feel sort of caged up when I'm around a lot of others. I get itchy paws — like it's time to get going already. But that's seasonal sometimes, too — wintertime does strange things to wolves, just like it does to the herds. I suppose everyone's feeling at least a little jumpy, seeing as how the earth tried to up and swallow the mountains not too long ago."

Sorry for the wait. Classes started for me so I’ve been busy.

Grezig felt bad for making Easy feel like she had to sit up. Awkwardly, she said, “I care not whether you lay down,” and gestured back towards the pile of leaves. She hadn’t even meant to come over and talk to the girl in the first place. It was only that she’d heard her singing and been curious. 

Grezig listened while Easy explained her own ideas about insomnia and walking, feeling restless in winter. Grezig nodded along in understanding. “Yes, the winter does make me feel a little stir-crazy,” she said. “Without prey to hunt or anywhere to wander, the winter time can be a little… boring.” Of course, Grezig was a homebody and didn’t usually go outside pack territory, anyways, but usually that option was at least open to her. But in the winter, when being away from your pack could mean death, it could make one feel trapped within the pack. 

’I suppose everyone's feeling at least a little jumpy, seeing as how the earth tried to up and swallow the mountains not too long ago.’

Grezig glanced at Easy when she said this, remembering that Kavik had mentioned something about it when he’d accepted her into Uaine Gorsedd. “Yes, I… heard about that,” she said slowly. “I was not here when it happened. Are you…” She looked up at Easy again. “Are you all right? Did… did you lose anyone in the disaster?” She shook her head afterwards. “You do not have to tell me. I only wish to offer sympathy.”

Boring was one word for it. Substitute being in a pack for wintertime and that was just about what Easy was feeling. Sort of. It wasn't exactly boring, but stifling for sure. Ever since she'd left Morningside and returned to find her father had passed, nothing had been quite the same. She longed to feel that same sort of love for her pack again, but she could not make herself adore Ibis or Grezig or even her own mother the way she had adored her family.

"I lost my brother and sister, and our friend and my niece," she replied, and althought saying this aloud caused her features to pinch a fraction, it was nothing that hadn't already been on her mind. "I've been looking for them and putting out scent markers when I have the time, but there's been no sign thus far. And you? I know you weren't here, but did you lose track of anyone?"