Blackfeather Woods Blip

Anyone welcome. Maybe @Puffin, @Celara, or @Minnow since he hasn't met them yet?

The hunt, at last, had gone well. Dozens of tries. A hundred failures. Each day Taikon ventured out to try again and again to prove to himself that he had regained the strength to be useful. Yet, each day he found himself digging out prey from the frozen caches that the pack had left for him, many of which were filled by Takiyok. He needed to get to a point where he could help her and others. They needed him, and he needed to be something other than a leper in his existence if he was going to be able to provide... his children.
The idea scared him. He remembered Cella, and remembered what losing her and the babes had felt like. It did not matter how much time passed. Losses like that were permanent, marking the soul in a terrible stain of a colour that never washed out, no matter what you tried to hide it with.
The hunt that succeeded felt like any other hunt. His strength was slowly returning, and the only difference felt like luck. Somehow, everything had clicked into place and his teeth had snapped directly onto a cottontail, which squealed and flailed in his grasp. It seemed to take a long time for the animal to go limp, but it did eventually. He carried it forward proudly, wishing only to present it to one of his pack mates. If no one else, then of course to @Takiyok, who would be pleased at the success.
But a flash distracted him. A blip of white light shone over head, and he looked to it, confused. It was so fast, he assumed it must have been his imagination. The earth shaking that occurred after felt strange, but mild enough that he was sure he was imagining things.
Weird.. he said to himself, voice muffled through the fur of the rabbit he carried.

It was the squeal that caught he attention. 

She awoke that morning from a nightmare, and an uneasy feeling had stuck with her for most of the day.  Every noise seemed to put her on edge, every branch that cracked in the woods around her caused the hair on the back of her neck to prickle, sending chills down her spine.  She couldn’t place it.  There was something about this place that felt creepy to her, but there was nothing to justify it with. Everyone she had met so far had been kind, and even though Ivory Rose was a little ... different, she didn’t think anyone here was evil. 

Maybe, she thought to herself, There has been evil here before.  But she had no proof, and without that she’d never voice her unease to her packmates in fear of looking crazy. 

She had busied herself with looking for rocks.  There were some pretty ones here, different from the ones she was familiar with at home. She wondered if she’d be able to find something to carry them home in, for whenever it was she went back. 

And then the scream. 

She tore from where she was at and darted in a random direction — somehow the fear drove her to a packmate, one she had never met, and the source of the noise. As soon as she broke through the clearing she saw the light and turned completely still.

 An omen? . . . Maybe I am crazy.

In her frozen disbelief all she could do was stare.

The woman who appeared was frantic, and startled Taikon enough that he dropped the rabbit. It fell limply to the earth. For a moment, they were both staring at the spot in the sky, but the moment had already passed. Taikon blinked dimly, not understanding if his mind was playing tricks on him again.
He shook his head and looked at her. D...Did you see that? He asked, mostly to make sure he wasn't going insane. The light was gone, the earth shaking had been almost unnoticeable, but there was something about the silence that followed that caused an instinctive drop in his gut. It was as though someone had placed a weight at the pit of his stomach, and it was so heavy he could scarcely breathe.
His ears fell and he stepped forward like he was going to protect her, though he didn't even know her name.

Every noise reverberated through the space, causing the woods around them to feel claustrophobic and sharp.  The rabbit hit the carpet of snow with a cracking thud, and reactively she took a quick leap backwards as the man blinked dumbly at her.  Her legs trembled beneath her as her face remained pointed towards the sky, the girl transfixed by what had just happened.

The pale man stepped in front of Puffin and her chest squeezed as an image of her father flashed through her mind.  She was so far away from home now that if she died, she wasn't sure anyone would ever be able to tell her family.  She couldn't let that happen.  And she was sure that this stranger wouldn't let it happen either.

She finally looked him in the eye and swallowed past her fear.  Um ... she trailed off, cleared her throat.  Yeah, I did.  A breeze began to pick up from the direction of the light and the hair on the back of her neck raised.  What do you think it was?

He blinked softly as their eyes met. They were orange, like Taki's. He broke eye contact quickly, ears low. The weight in his stomach held him hostage, chaining him to the moment uncomfortably. When she asked what it was, all Taikon could do was shake his head slowly, opening his mouth briefly and then failing to create words. What was left was a barely audible wetting of his lips as they parted — it sounded far louder than it was in the eerie silence that clung to the light.
At last, he managed words. I've never seen anything like that, he answered, stepping back now that he didn't feel like she was in danger, somehow. My friend Luna lives over that way. The statement likely meant nothing to the stranger, but he was more thinking aloud so he might check on her later. He hadn't seen her since before his illness; there was much news to update her with.
You all right? Taikon suddenly looked at her and tilted his head. She'd seemed completely frantic before the flash. He wondered if she had somehow known what was going to happen.

The moment passed, as the danger seemed to.  Though they were both shaken, they were safe, and that was what mattered.

My friend Luna lives over that way, he says.  The gears in Puffin's brain began to turn, and she looked over his expression intently to gauge his concern.
We should go then, she says with newfound determination.  Whatever had transpired would be over by the time they arrived, and if they came quickly they might be able to offer assistance if the situation was critical.

With her legs sturdied and a task now at hand, Puffin nodded curtly.  I'm fine.  After a beat, she remembered her manners.  Thank you for asking.  Are you?

I'll head over with Takiyok later, he answered. Whatever the flash was, it didn't seem like something urgent. He had no indication that there was something particularly dangerous about it, although the weight he was feeling suggested checking in was a good idea. Taki would not like him leaving without her, and he knew it. She'd been extremely protective of him since he'd gotten sick.
Taikon stepped forward, moving to pick up the rabbit. Yup, he answered simply, and plucked up the prize. He moved forward rather absently in the direction of the den in the wood that he shared with Takiyok. A buzzing in his mind had started up again as soon as the silence had dissipated. Ahm Taikon, he half-mumbled through the fur of the rabbit. Gott-drop f'is off, he tried explaining.

All of the determination that had welled up and solidified in her chest popped like a sad balloon under a pin with his words.  He seemed to think this was less urgent than she did, and the evening hid the cloud of rising smoke (at least from Puffin).  Oh! — um, okay.  The words escaped from her quietly; she didn't know who Takiyok was, and Puffin was insulted by the perceived insinuation that she wasn't up to task.  Heat rose to her cheeks as she swallowed her shame.  She should have thought more before she just jumped into action.  Nightmares didn't mean anything.

The trembling in her legs began again as he stepped forward to grab the rabbit.  Embarrassed, she squeaked out, Puffin, before she quickly turned tail and took off into the darkness of the woods.

Reference tag

When he turned around, rabbit still held in his jaws, she had gone. Puffin. All right.
Taikon looked down, thinking of Spook, and wondering if he had somehow frightened her beyond her ability to comprehend his good intentions. In this case, it mattered to him. She was a packmate, and it bothered him for hours whether or not she liked him or didn't like him, or felt safe around him. He mentioned it in passing to @Takiyok, and he quickly decided he needed to visit Luna and her pack in the Glen as soon as possible. The flash was unnerving, and he knew it.