Dragoncrest Cliffs party down with vigor and candor

@Haunt if you have the time?

val had not been in the cliffs long before he was exploring it. to the rest of his family, the novelty of new home may have worn off -- but val was very much fascinated by the daunting rises of cliff, the tunnels and their ancient halls, and the sundry hidden enclaves that dragoncrest boasted.

he had found one such discovery -- the widening mouth of a conical tunnel which bore straight through the cliff's side. somewhere deep in the tunnel, val could hear the sea breathing. perhaps this was another outlet to a secret beach, or one of the many intricate tunnels which made dragoncrest and ankyra's backbone.

he would explore its end later. for now, val was fascinated by the way his voice carried down the gradually descending cavern, bouncing back at him like an ethereal ghost. "ooooooo!" val sang into the depths, ears pricked with delight as a rebounding ooOOoo! came back to him.

after several series of yips, barks, and howls (all of which were "returned to sender" at max distortion), val parked at the mouth, puffed up his chest, and in his deepest voice yodeled "RABBIT GUTS!" at the top of his lungs.

She alternated between feeding and resting, gathering her strength. By the nth day of this, she had a bad case of cabin fever, yet Haunt didn't want to venture out into the snowy conditions until she knew she could handle it. She wouldn't do anyone any good—and wouldn't be able to repay her debt—if she died. Besides, she didn't want to follow in her father's footsteps in any way, particularly into a grave.

Finally, she felt ready to brave the snowstorm. Her stomach was full but she decided to see if hunting was a totally lost cause. It was time she started contributing to the pack's caches, to give back a little after they'd kept her fed these past few weeks. She hadn't so much as tracked prey in what felt like ages, so she was eager to hit the trails, despite the inclement weather.

Somehow, she found herself at the base of the sea cliffs, the ground underfoot rocky. She spotted the tunnel's black mouth but didn't notice the dark figure standing in it until he shouted. Haunt started a little, freezing as she discerned the young wolf silhouetted against the subterranean shadows. Eyes squinted, she ventured closer, announcing her own presence with a low woof.

val was so preoccupied with his operatic singing, he didn't even know he had haunt's company until she woofed behind him.

the boy jumped, turning around in surprise that quickly faded away to a warm smile. "oh, hi." val chirped, turning his attention back to the stone-ribbed walls, which still housed in their divots the fading echoes of his voice.

val didn't actually know haunt beyond a passing glance, so he was suddenly very preoccupied with his appearance in front of her. he thought of how alyx made him feel - it wasn't quite the same, but he was possessed with this boyish determination to impress haunt all the same. "watch this." val instructed, before he bounded forward and threw his voice down the hall like a spear: "BUNGAAABUNGABUNGABUNGGGAAABGGRRLGBLRBRRRRRLLLL."

what came back was a series of distorted gargles and shrieks, all of which val received with a wide grin brightening his dark muzzle.

He whirled toward her, a look of surprise on his face, though he recovered quickly. "Hi," Haunt replied automatically, though she didn't get any farther before he told her, "Watch this," spun back to face the tunnel and promptly shouted so loudly that her ears flattened.

They pricked again as someone or something answered from back there in the dark. Haunt drew in a sharp breath, then looked to her fellow pup and asked, "What is that? Who's in there?"

"it's me!" val giggled, liking the way haunt's ears had gone from forward, to flat, to forward again -- all the while tracing the way the voices rebounded endlessly down the tunnel.

he didn't know how he knew it -- maybe it was his intuition, or the fact that he'd never heard anyone besides himself yell rabbit guts ... but he knew the voice, however distorted, that came back to him was uniquely his own.

"i think.. anyway." hmm. maybe there was someone down there, a troll maybe, playing copycat. val started to consider this seriously with a frown. "you think there's someone down there?"

She met his giggled explanation with a blink. How was that possible? Haunt peered warily into the tunnel. She knew nothing of acoustics, so she struggled to grasp it. Her yellow eyes only swung back when he expressed sudden doubt and asked her if she thought anyone was down there.

"I don't know," Haunt answered. She'd seen caves before—she'd been staying in a small one ever since coming here—but this was unlike anything she'd ever seen. This place was significantly more cavernous, the ceilings and walls so high and wide that perhaps a dozen wolves could walk in at once, abreast or stacked.

That mental image made her snort. Although there was something spooky about the black, yawning grotto, she caught her companion's eye and said, "Guess we could try and find out? I'm Haunt, by the way."

hmm. the more val thought about haunt's question the more he was convinced he was wrong. what kind of spectre was hanging down that dark hole? his eyes widened as his imagination took play.

it could be one of those monsters from the sea, some sort of baba yaga come to lure unsuspecting children to their deaths.. an involuntary shiver sent down his spine.

as haunt snorted, val peered back down the tunnel. "val." he offered absently, a frown beginning to worry his features. "want to... check it out?"

Rather than give her a straight answer, he bounced the question back at her. Haunt gave him a bit of a look before saying, more deliberately, "Yes, I think we should look into it." Her voice came out steadier than she actually felt. She was intimidated by the black mouth yawning from the bowels of the earth. But she was also intrigued.

Slowly, she stepped beneath the overhanging ceiling, pausing to gaze upward and marvel at the topography of it. She then glanced back at Val before facing forward and creeping ahead. Her instincts told her to tread carefully and quietly, so she did both, slinking like a ghost into the darkness.

When she'd gone perhaps fifty yards, she looked backward and noted the way the mouth looked so bright from inside. Haunt squinted, then whipped her head around when she heard a noise somewhere in the darkness. Had it come from the left? The right? Straight ahead? Haunt couldn't tell.

val entirely missed the pointed look, his attention already sliding down the throat of the tunnel. dark. scary.

he'd be totally okay with haunt going first. totally okay with it.

he played it cool, following wordlessly as haunt began to slink down the cave. he watched her shoulderblades which rose in edged succession as her body lowered to the ground, skulking.

she froze, which made valravn freeze. he hadn't heard the noise she had, and so alarm encircled his belly, leaden and cold -- what was it?

rather than lose face, val did what any adolescent boy did. "BOO!!" he burst, leaping back in the same moment in case haunt turned towards him and ripped him a deserved new-one.

She remained very still, listening. She could hear Val's breathing behind her, the scrape of his paw on the cold shale underfoot. The mysterious noise did not repeat, though there was a beat of absolute silence as her companion presumably stilled too.

When he yelled, Haunt jumped. She possibly peed herself a little too. She whirled, lip curled, ready to rebuke Val as her heart raced in her chest. But then she froze again at the echoes: "BOO! ... Boo! ... Boo! ..."

val's fear was temporarily forgotten as his jumpscare tactic worked. he giggled, unaware of any spillage he might have been the genesis of. already his voice was rebounding back to them, getting more and more distorted the further it went.

when at last he couldn't hear it anymore, val puffed his chest and looked at haunt proudly. "see? it's not scary." he informed her with only half-authentic confidence. "last one to the bottom is a SKUNK!" val bolted down the tunnel, exhilarated by the surge of adrenaline which came under him like a pair of soaring wings.

She made no move to follow as Val launched himself further down the tunnel, his black figure quickly disappearing into the shadows. Giving a huff, she eventually began trailing him, albeit slowly. As the distance grew from the cavern's mouth, the dimmer the air became, forcing Haunt to squint to make out any details of the interior.

Haunt paused, ears quivering as she listened to Val scurrying somewhere in the darkness ahead. But there was something else making a noise, much closer at hand. Her entire body went very still, save for her ears, which continued to silently flick hither and thither in an effort to pinpoint the sound and its origin.

Without warning, she leaped, both white paws clapping on the cold, rocky floor. Something small and warm wriggled beneath her right paw. Haunt applied more pressure, pinning it even as she felt something—tiny claws or maybe teeny teeth?—digging into the leathery flesh on the underside of her paw. Her prey squeaked shrilly but she bent down quickly and silenced it with a blind snap of her teeth.

val bombed down the tunnel, leaving haunt behind.

he was breathless by the time he turned around, about to tease haunt for being so slow -- only to realize she wasn't anywhere to be found.

well, sheeeeet.

val's eyes peered up the incline, where he couldn't make out anything save for the glare of distant daylight.

he jumped when he heard the snap of bones -- startlingly close. unaware it was haunt that had dispatched a creature, val's mind began to jump to conclusions --

MONSTER

YELLOW EYED MONSTER

val's heart began to hammer. he looked up and down the tunnel, sucking in a breath -- he would not be scared, he would not be scared --

and then something brushed unseen against his heel; val screamed and bolted up the tunnel, passing haunt in a whirl of fur and fear.

Her other senses felt heightened for the lack of sight. Haunt licked the metallic tang of warm blood from her lips after releasing her hold, then used her snout to feel out her dead prey. Rat, she deduced when she felt the scaly tail. The stench corroborated it.

No sooner had she plucked it off the ground than Val screamed and went sweeping past her, startling her again. Haunt blinked, letting her spiked heart rate recover a little before she loped after him, squinting as the light grew brighter again.

Dropping the (definitely a) rat a little unceremoniously, Haunt demanded to know:

stupidity was the why for the way he were; genetics, maybe being dropped once or twice -- all valravn knew was he was getting out of that cave and fast.

he didn't turn around until he made it to the surface. ah, blessed warm sun! light, amazing light!! he felt the warmth of the sand between his toes and the fanning of the sun on his cheeks: why had he ever decided to go down in that godforsaken hole anyway?

haunt reappeared moments after, a rat tumbling from her jaws. val's cheeks blushed in shame as he answered. "i got scared. something was down there."

that or, his imagination got the better of him -- but haunt needn't know that.

Haunt had to shut her eyes completely against the glare of the winter sun on all the snow. When they finally adjusted, she squinted at her young cohort. "Yeah," she replied, pointing to the dead rodent flopped at her feet, "rats."

She could've offered to share with him, yet the meal was so meager. And he'd startled her not once but twice. Sorry, pal, she thought. Haunt still didn't feel hungry, though she really wanted to put it in a cache. If Val happened to find it there and eat it, then, well, she'd still achieved her goal.

"I'm gonna go stash this, then head back to my spot," she said, then plucked up her small kill. "See you."

val had totally just lost face in front of a lady, but you'd never have known it -- not by the way he grinned freely and guiltlessly when haunt mentioned whatever was down there was of the rodent variety.

he peered at the meager corpse, considering eating it -- but the very pointed lack of an offer was perfectly understood by the boy. he exhaled through his nose. "alright."

not to be put off by haunt's self-excusal (and completely oblivious to it) val padded off after haunt. he'd behave until they got to the cache and she deposited her tiny meal -- but after that, all bets were off.