Moonspear so watery, and yet there's a smack of ham to it.

"Baaahgaababaahabaabaa!!"

Yami shrieked over her shoulder to anyone who was there to listen back in the deeper depths of the den. She couldn't see past the rapidly wagging tail on her rump to see who was there, but she knew it was someone, and that someone desperately needed to know what she had found. Her little head whipped back to peer at the ground, a broad smile plastered across her lips. She lifted a paw to prod at it again, immediately bouncing back and crouching low into a playbow. Her face contorted into the most ferocious snarl she could muster as she awaited its reaction - something that never came. Because it couldn't.

The little filly dropped her bum onto the ground and crept forward on her belly, reaching out another paw to slap at the ground where the thin beam of light was shining in and painting a bright stripe on the dirt near the mouth of the den - a stripe that Yami had determined was a playmate. Once again, it didn't move. Yami frowned, growled a bit, then decided it just didn't understand what it was she wanted.

"Agghabababbaaababaaaa," she explained, canting her head back and forth at the light. It flickered in response as the wind outside shifted the surrounding foliage, and her face burst into a wide grin again. With a happy yip, she crawled forward even further on her belly until the beam was beneath/on top of her, at which point she began to roll around on it to show it just how pleased she was with its obedience.

With rest, Gannet recovered from his dip in the river fairly quickly. He luckily hadn't been injured, though the brush did have some of an effect. The first morning he'd woken up gasping, his nightmare being that he was still trapped beneath the ice. It affected his sleep only some, though, and he was sure if he just kept going the fear would fade.

Today he was skirting what he knew to be Amekaze and Charon's densite on his way to his favorite meadow. He knew he was not likely to be welcome to come close, but he heard noises, and stopped to listen with some interest. Pups had never been much of a source of intriguement for Gannet; he had never been in much of a position to be welcome near them, regardless, as he so often had hopped from pack to pack. This noise was interesting, though. He paused a moment, considering, wondering if he should. Then he let out a soft howl, awooo, and his ears pricked to see what happened as a result.

Yami rolled about for a solid minute and a half before she heard the call. Startled, she flailed wildly with a jolt to bring herself back onto her belly where she spread out all fours and clutched the earth with her little toes. Her eyes were wide as she snapped her head back and forth, sweeping across the den's mouth with interest. After a moment, her fright subsided into curiousity, and then slowly, eager excitement - all visible through the stirrings of her tail as it went from tremblings, to slow beats, and back to propeller at take off. The massive smile on her face pretty much gave it away too.

The pup crept forward on her belly a few inches until the now entirely forgotten beam of light shone right down her muzzle and up between her eyes. She lifted her nose to sniffle eagerly at the air, but could sense nothing more than the usual smell of den and siblings and parents. Tilting her chin, she returned the call tentatively. "Haaabaaaaaaaaaaaaaa??" she yowled, canting her head back and forth as she awaited an answer from the unknown.

He kept his ears trained, listening... and there!!! A call came back, mimicking (a little off, but close!) the call, and all of Gannet's previous negative holdover was gone in an instant. He was smitten with this thing he couldn't see, because idk why I thought Gannet wouldn't like puppies, of course he would dote on them. It's Gannet.

He beamed, and gave a small wiggle of excitement for no one's benefit but his own, before responding. This time, he howled softly again, but a greeting. Hello came the soft call, the tone varying a little more than the previous one. Would they try it?

An answer! Yami squirmed happily as whoever it was out there responded. This was easily one of the most exciting moments of her life. Granted, her life had not yet been very long, and it was definitely going to get knocked from first place the moment she actually got to step outside the den for the first time, but still. This was fricken awesome.

"Haaaaaaaaaaa! Ahhhh! Haaaaaaaa! Baaagaaaaaa!" Yami yammered out at her packmate, tossing her head back and forth as she did.

Nope. Not even close.

The awkward wailing attempt caused his grin to widen, and he laughed a bit to himself. Whoever it was obviously had a ways to go before communication was a thing.

But what about the game in reverse? Gannet has the thought and immediately was smitten with it. A fun game!

"Haaaaa. Aaahhhh. Haaaa Bagaaa", he called, a little softer, back. It was an attempt to repeat back the pup's call, though his was obviously a little deeper in tone. There was something irresistibly fun about babbling nonsense... words were generally dumb anyway.

When the voice responded, Yami was shocked into stillness by the fact that it repeated exactly what she had said. Her eyes widened and her little mouth dropped open in an "o". How did it know...? Her head tilted, now more intrigued than ever. She crept forward on her belly again, suddenly wanting so desperately to see what it was that she was communicating with.

But he was beyond the threshold, and Yami knew very well that she was not allowed to go there, so she crept forward only a few inches before she stopped and huffed in frustration at her limits. After a moment, she lifted her muzzle again and let out a tentative, "Haaawooooooooo?" to the stranger. Maybe he could explain. Maybe he had a solution. Maybe he could come here since she couldn't go out there... OMG MAYBE HE COULD COME HERE.

"Haaaawoooo! Ha haa!! HAAAAAAAAA!!" she shrieked, the excitement back in a big way.

He had never wanted quite so badly to just see and play with pups as he did at that moment. He'd had so little interest in his siblings when that time had come.... as a yearling he had way more important things to do than hang around with blobs, surely! But he was older now, and they held a new sort of charm.

But he knew getting closer would give Charon and Amekaze very excuse to tear into him, and he didn't want to jeopardize things by pushing his luck. They seemed to like him ok now, but neither had held much patience towards him in the past, and he still got the feeling he had one or two strikes on his docket before he was out on his rear.

So he gave a soft "Haaaoooooo" of apology, maybe later. And then he turned and departed, anticipation building for when the pack would get to meet these new additions.

Yami waited eagerly for her strange new friend to come inside, her thoughts nothing more than an excited whirl about what she was about to experience. When the sad howl of apologetic farewell came, Yami scrunched up her face in a curious frown that fell away after only a few seconds of contorted her face. She didn't understand the message that had been shared and so, being abundantly optimistic/naive as she was, the little girl settled down to wait.

Every so often, Yami called out another string of babbling nonsense to which came no answer. Undeterred, she continued to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. She waited until at long last, her mother came to drag her back to her siblings, which she snuggled sadly against. All the while, she stared back towards the mouth of the den, still holding onto the hope that he might appear, even as her eyelids fell and she slipped off to sleep.