Firefly Glen too small to see the road

@Hydra had gone back out towards the glen, this time with Altair in tow. Though his mother was more keen to search for @Mira (and truth be told, Altair was too, in his own way), the prospect of seeing his brother @Osiris had spin a little excitement into his bones. Of course, he wouldn’t have passed up a chance to see @Atlas either… and finding Mira would have been a bonus too. It would have at least quelled the on edge nature of his mother, and it would have definitely slowed her pace as they made their way out to the far reaches of Moonspear where it unfolded towards the glen.

With his tongue lolling as they reached the borders, their steps came to a natural point of rest. Hydra had educated him on the finer points of what one was supposed to do when they paid a visit to another pack, and what better an opportunity to enforce this than the foundation that Osiris had been working on with their siblings and other kin. So when her steely-blue gaze turned to him, he composed himself, and called for his elder brother as she had explained.

Knowing that Hydra would see herself out as soon as someone turned up to continue her search, Altair reclined to his haunches, and waited. It wouldn’t be too long, hopefully—he was eager to visit the glen again. It would at least take his own thoughts off of Mira’s disappearance, even if it were no more than a few minutes before the thoughts intruded again.

tags are for reference here, this is open to any MSP or FG wolf. kit let me powerplay the hell out of hydra for this so ty ty kit.

She already felt more at home in the glen than she ever had at Moonspear. This baffled Meerkat and made her feel a little guilty as well, though she supposed it made sense. Not only was the terrain much more to her liking, she was also part of the pack's very foundation. She had enjoyed living on Moonspear—and would forever treasure the months spent there—but there was certainly something to be said about being a part of something from its very genesis.

She still hadn't gone back to Moonspear, though Meerkat coaxed herself to head there now, so she could retrieve their few belongings from the den. She and @Bronco hadn't found a new one in the glen just yet, though she knew a few places she could stash their stuff until they got around to it. She decided she would seek him out after she fetched their things, see if he was up for that brand of adventure today.

As she neared the place where the lines blurred between Firefly Glen and Moonspear, a howl went up for Osiris. Meerkat's ears pricked with interest, trying to pinpoint the voice, when she spotted their guests in her path. Grinning at the sight of her aunt and cousin, Meerkat bounded toward them with a wagging tail. She hadn't spent much time with this particular young relative, not that it tempered the warmth of her greeting whatsoever.

"Hey, Aunt Hydra! Hi, Altair!" she chirped before a thought hit her and, eyes sparkling, she couldn't help but wonder, "Are you joining too?" Meerkat thought nothing of it—beyond excitement at the prospect—seeing as she'd left home at the tender age of five months to the day.

It was only a short while later when someone approached, and Altair got his hopes up that it was Osiris. His ears perked and he found himself leaning forward ever so slightly to try and see who was coming, only to discover that it wasn’t his brother, but Meerkat instead. For a moment, disappointment threatened to flash across his expression, but it was offset immediately by the enthusiasm that Meerkat greeted them with.

His tail wagged, and Hydra had nudged him forward then. An easy command—go. She had simple instructions for Meerkat with a fond nip—watch him.

He greeted Meerkat none too dissimilar to how he did his siblings; a wide wave of his tail, a bump to her snout, and of course the all too familiar grasp at her whiskers. An enticement to play, almost, though there was still her question to be answered. He looked to see if his mother would have anything to say, but she had already set off.

“Uh,” he called after her to no avail, turning then to Meerkat, “no, we’re not. She’s going to look for Mira some more… I wanted to come see Osiris and look for her too but you’re here now so…” The words trailed off and he suddenly found himself uncertain of how to continue, not that it would deter him for long.

It was a short pause.

“You wanna help look? I bet you know where all the cool hiding spots are now. Maybe we can find Osiris too.”

@Osiris feel free to jump in whenever chan!

He wasn't there to join, just visit. He mentioned Mira shortly after Hydra departed again, causing Meerkat's ears to splay a little bit. That was his litter mate. She didn't have any of those, technically, though she considered Alyx, Q and Prim to be very nearly the same thing. She couldn't imagine what it must be like, losing one of them. She was glad she hadn't found out about Alyx's brief disappearance until after she'd already been found.

After a pause, Altair asked if they could help look at the various hiding spots around Firefly Glen, search for both his sister and older brother. "'Course," she replied simply, smiling at him. "Come on." She waved a foreleg, then turned and began walking back into the glen proper as she said, "My sister got lost earlier this year and they found her, safe and sound. I'm sure the same thing will happen with Mira."

Ahead of them lay the foothills which would one day bear his family's name. As Meerkat strode toward them, Altair flanking her, she said, "It's super fun to run across that hilltop," and pointed at the most prominent of the slopes. "Wanna race?"

There was comfort to be found in her words—he wanted to believe that Mira would be found safe and sound too. He had confidence in it, unaware of just how grave and steep the number of things that could befall her actually were. Naivety would save him from the darkest of thoughts for now; he moved on in step with Meerkat easily, eagerness in the wave of his tail to explore.

He had been to the glen once before, but now it seemed different. Maybe it was the concept that it was theirs that lent to him his composure, but more than likely it was the fact that he could freely range it within reason, and with the right company. A brief silence fell between them as he was taken by the scenery, which altogether none too different from Moonspear, still deserved the same attention. He wanted to memorize it, feeling a pull towards his elder siblings to join them all the same even if Hydra would not let him go just yet.

As they reached the foothills, Meerkat spoke up again, and Altair took them in.

“Okay,” he said at first, “Mira and I used to race a lot. They look cool, maybe better than the hills we run on.” And he bet he could get some serious speed on the downward slope too, but could he outrun Meerkat? She was older, she already had the advantage of experience on him, but they were of similar shapes and sizes… his eyes narrowed at her slyly, but he did not take off. He’d cheat on Mira, but his cousin of sorts was another story.

“Countdown?” A smile broke his features easily, and he shook out his coat. He was ready.

He was game, even mentioning that he and Mira used to race a lot. "Well, we'll keep you in good shape so you two can have a rematch when she's back," Meerkat rejoined cheerily. "Oh, it's gonna be a blast! I bet you'll kick my tush, since you grew up running up and down a mountain." She was quick but not nimble. Their course would be a relatively straight shot, though any change in direction or elevation would slow her significantly. Perhaps that would even the playing field, considering Altair's age.

He requested a countdown and she threw him her gamest grin and got into position, coiled like a spring. "Okay! Ready? Three... two... one...!" And just because she was sportsmanlike that way, she did not jump into action right away, giving her slightly smaller cousin a head start.

She may not have jumped into action right away, but he did, unknowing that she was giving him the head start. He tore across the open expanse towards the first of the foothills in their predetermined path as streamlined as he could be; his ears slicked back against the dark hood of his head, long, gangly legs reaching as far as they could to cover ground, and of course the traditionally unhinged look of any canine in a full speed run hellbent on going somewhere in a hurry.

He didn’t dare look behind him to see where Meerkat was, not confident enough with the terrain under his feet to chance looking and tripping over something that would cost him dearly. He forgot about Mira in that moment where focus took control, loping up along the incline to try and reach the hilltop ahead of her. Once he got up there, he thought he could really take off on her… maybe reach that incline and fly down the side of it.

Recklessly, of course, as boys were wont to do.

He bolted and Meerkat laughed before leaping after him. She didn't go full steam right away, adapting a steady clip and maintaining the distance between the two of them. Even from behind, she could see Altair's enjoyment and her mouth opened, tongue lolling and slapping against her cheek in a wolfish grin as she dug her heels in and sped up a bit.

Right as they began to crest the slope, Meerkat aimed to playfully snatch at his tail. But Altair must've waved it or maybe she simply miscalculated the distance, because abruptly she pitched forward and began rolling down the opposite hillside. A strange noise left her, a combination of a laugh and a shout, as she somersaulted ass over teakettle.

Somewhere in the corner of his vision, he saw her go tumbling past in time with her surprised cry. It set him off to laughing at first before he realized that the slope was just right, and he too threw himself haphazardly off the uneven footpath to roll right on along with her. It looked fun, so why not?

Only it was a disorienting, dizzying experience. Definitely fun, but only a few somersault rolls into it he felt his vision fail to keep up with the ever-revolving world, and his stomach rolled with it. A laugh left him, short and breathless as it cut off and left them to nothing more than the sounds of their tumbling through the growth.

Meerkat was winning on the hill rolling by a landslide, though, and there was nothing he could do to catch up. He rolled to a stop somewhere a few feet behind her, surprisingly upright even as the world swam violently in front of him. He groaned—this wasn’t quite as fun, but the discomfort had to pass eventually.

He just needed to get his breath back first.

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Tumbling down the hill was a little like being tickled: it was fun and unpleasant, all at once. By the time she rolled to a stop and plopped on her back—one hind leg crooked in the air and her body twisted so her forelegs stretched out in front of her—all she could do was gasp and titter. She had bitten her tongue at some point, which smarted quite a bit, though Meerkat decided she'd live.

It took a few moments before the dizziness settled and she found the energy to rearrange her limbs and sit upright. She chuckled as she glanced over at Altair nearby. He'd made a much more impressive landing. "You alright?" she queried, just to be sure, before quipping, "You having fun yet?"

He shut his eyes tightly against the lurching feeling that followed his grasp on a less spinning world, only opening them when he heard Meerkat’s voice. Things were definitely less about being a tilt-a-whirl at a country fair and more about being firmly planted in reality, and even though the unsettled feeling in his stomach hadn’t quite gone away he found himself putting on a brave face all the same.

“Yeah,” he breathed out, “I’m good. That was… wild. But it was fun.” Maybe not something he wanted to repeat right away, but he totally would in the future. For all they knew, maybe as soon as they climbed up the next hill they’d go tumbling right on down it too—chances were, if Meerkat did, he would too to avoid missing out on the action.

Slumping over in the grass to rub his face against solid earth, another sigh left him. This time much more content than the surprise of stopping, and it got his body back into motion. Tumbling down hills like that would definitely take getting used to.

“I think you won,” he went on, lifting his head. “Was that your plan all along?”

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"It really was," Meerkat agreed with a laugh that still sounded slightly out of breath. "And I think you won, just for the spectacu...lacular landing." As if on cue, he slumped in the grass and she chortled again. "I didn't plan that but I do like to make sure my company's having a good time all the time," she told him with a wink.

For a few moments, she was happy to sit still and rest, though she did eventually offer, "Whenever you're ready, there's so much more to show you. Plenty of stuff to do, if you're up for it." Her tail thumped the ground a few times before she rose onto all fours to give her pale body a good shake, bits of dirt and grass puffing from her coat.

A huff of amusement left him as she butchered through the word spectacular. He didn’t think his landing was anything graceful or amazing, let alone spectacular; it felt more embarrassing now given his reaction and the fact that she had seen him less than gracefully come to a stop. But he didn’t have the energy to expend right then and there to contest it; if she wanted to concede her win to him, he wouldn’t argue that either.

As she rose to her feet and offered to show him other things, he pulled himself up from the ground and mirrored the shake of her coat, even going as far as to shake out his tail with renewed energy. It didn’t take much to get him up and going again, at least when it came to exploring the glen. There was simply too much to see and not enough time to get it all in.

“All right, what else ya got?”

She gave his question a moment's consideration before her expression suddenly transformed, a light bulb practically appearing over her head. "Let's play I Spy!" Meerkat exclaimed. In case he wasn't familiar with that game, she said, "We'll walk around the glen and you'll pick out a landmark or other object, then describe it without naming it to see if I can guess what it is. Then I'll take a turn. Does that sound like fun?"

Meerkat looked around at all the many things they could choose for the game. And that only included the immediate area. She planned to show him around the whole glen, so there would be plenty more to keep them occupied, probably for hours. Her brown eyes soon returned to Altair's face, hoping he liked the sound of this plan.

“Sounds interesting,” he said as she wrapped up the rules of the game. Didn’t seem like it would be too terribly difficult of a game either, though he kept to himself that he thought she would have the advantage on him. He’d just have to pick something to give him a leg up.

Setting off with a bump to her shoulder, his eyes scanned the horizon for something worthy. There were the sprawling forests and hills… and then he saw it. His gaze shifted past it immediately; Altair had no doubts that his cousin was astute enough to try and follow where he looked. This went on for only a few more beats before he turned his attention to Meerkat.

“I spy… a runner’s worst enemy.”

She'd take "interesting." With a good-natured smirk, Meerkat trotted after him, watching closely as he scanned the horizon. It was probably cheating to follow Altair's gaze, though she did, at least at first. There were many things he could pick. To make it more fun for both of them, though, she let out a little whistle and pointedly gazed off in the other direction.

Only when Altair spoke, saying the magic words, did Meerkat whip around to face him again. She pondered the first clue, which was honestly a lot more abstract—and thus delightfully challenging—than she'd anticipated. Her brow furrowed in thought as she scanned their surroundings, complete with a 360° revolution so she didn't miss anything.

"I think," she said after a moment, "I'm gonna need a second clue! You're really good at this." Her eyes danced, enjoying the challenge, the two of them continuing a casual saunter through the glen, whiling away the hours as they continued the game.

12/16: I'm trying to trim the Christmas tree her thread log as we head into the holiday break, so I'm gonna edit a conclusion for this one. If you ever want to revive and continue, I'm totally game—just hit me up! :)