The very power of this place trembled in the soil below his paws. Small tremors rumbled like a growl below him, making the boy walk with very cautious steps. Even just by looking around, it was very easy to see that this land was not one that was safe. It was eerily silent, not even a bird sang over head. Cath's ears felt like they were ringing from the pressure of silence, and he instead tried to focus on the earth. Huge cracks split open the ground like a gaping maw, trees that had been knocked away from their very root system lay toppled over. It looked like a storm had raged through these parts again and again, but the growling made him think otherwise. With a mighty groan the lands shifted a tiny bit, causing the monotone male to stop and brace himself. Only a small earthquake shook these parts, but its very power left the yearling trembling against its might. He had seen the earth below his paws move, and it made him feel uncertain about walking onward. There were many signs that this was not a safe place to be, but he simply could not curb his curiosity. Cathaoir's stunning green eyes landed on the stripped bark of a fallen pine, and very carefully he picked his way over to it. Climbing on top, his dull claws gripped at the bare surface as he pulled himself upwards until he was standing on the very large trunk. He was already a tall wolf, he didn't really need the assistance of a tree to make him feel bigger. But it wasn't for that reason that he had climbed up, he wanted a better vantage point to look out on these barren hills. There was no life here at all it seemed, only a gentle summer breeze rattled through the empty terrain. It ruffled his gray coat, and he lifted his ribbon marked leg to bat at a leaf that drifted passed his face. Nearly losing his grip on the slippery surface, he quickly slammed it back down, tail flying outward to try and keep his balance. It was too late though, without the bark there wasn't much for his dull claws to bite into. They were nothing like cat claws, he could not get a proper grip as he tumbled from the top of the log. Landing on the earth with a thud, his head spun slightly as his darker tipped ear rested on the dusty earth. He could hear the anger of the shifting land much better now, and for a moment he didn't bother to pick himself up and clean himself. Instead he strained to listen closer, seeing if the groaning of the plates had anything else to say. They hardly ever grew quiet, their constant rumbling almost sounding like a purr now. It slowly started to fade, confusing the boy, until a loud boom left him nearly deaf. Scrambling back up to a standing position, almost teetering over the other way from the shock of the sound. The boy heard a loud ringing in his ears, and shook his head to try and scatter the painful sound. It didn't leave, and the ground started to quiver once again. Looking up in alarm, Cath saw one of the hills slowly start to expand upwards, cracking and booming sounding loud enough to be heard over the ringing. Fear pulsed in his pale eyes as he scattered away from the tree, right before a large cut of land split open before him. His front paws scrambled as he reared upwards, pushing himself backwards so that he landed hard on his back. The wind was sucked right out of him, all the air whistling out of his lungs at the impact. Gasping for air he fought to pick himself up again, fear pulsing through his massive form. The crack did not seem to be growing, but he was still so shocked from the entire incident that he didn't have the effort left to block out his bipolar tenancies. So the strong emotion was taken and run with, leaving very little room for the boy to have a single rational thought. He was in instinct mood, which is when he was the most dangerous. Finally able to take a deep breath, Cath fled the scene. He ran until he was gasping for breath once more, his sides heaving painfully. Fear made his eyes wide, whites showing clearly. He was struggling to get a deep breath, and finally it was enough for his young body. With all the excitement and panic, the giant beast fell once more to the barren ground. This time he heard no ringing as his mind blocking out everything else. Darkness slipped around him like a warm blanket, covering him in its dark embrace. Cathaoir was deaf to the landscape around him, his eyes closing and he let himself be swallowed hole by the sweet comfort of sleep. "Talk" "You" Think

This place felt...dangerous. She was on edge, her fur standing on end as she walked slowly, treading cautiously for once. She could feel the ground groaning and moaning beneath her, the rumblings of the earth the only sound she could hear besides the pounding of her own heart. Something told her she shouldn't be here, but it was her drive to explore the unexplored that kept her where she was instead of turning tail and running somewhere safer. The foreign girl walked on, not knowing what she would get into today. She wouldn't realize that she was practically holding her own breath as silence surrounded her. It was eerie to say the least. She could hear no birds, no scraping of the ground from little rodents or otherwise. Did all forms of life avoid this place? She heard a crack somewhere in the distance, her body freezing as her head whipped around to her left. Nothing. Just my imagination... continuing on her path, her pristinely white paws were starting to accumulate dirt from this unholy place, so she would decide to stop and groom herself some before moving onward. Though there was nobody around to impress, she hated the feeling of dirt sticking to her pelt. She sat down, diving into her task of perfecting her dirtied coat back to its clean state. As she groomed her forelegs, another crack sounded...closer this time. She half stood then, the ground beneath her paws groaning as if in pain. She cocked her ears to listen, but the earth would tell her nothing more of its struggle. With uncertainty and a sense of foreboding, she decided it was time to go. This was not a place to be alone...should something happen to her, she was sure there would be no help for miles around. Quickening her pace, the girl started feeling a little jumpy. Her instincts screaming at her to get out of here, and that was precisely what she aimed to do...until the ground violently shifted under her feet, sending her sprawling to the ground. When she hit the ground on her side, the air was knocked from her lungs. Gasping for breath, she saw a fountain of dirt and debris spout up into the air. Silver eyed watched it for a moment before she ducked her head and felt the sting of falling rocks as it pelted her. But it wasn't over yet. Another violent shift, another angry cry from the earth, and the ground would begin to crack beneath her very body. Without another moments hesitation, she immediately scrambled on unsteady paws and ran for her life. She would not die today. Not here. Not by the grounds hungry teeth. With her heart racing as fast as her feet, she made to outrun the angry snarling and sudden outbursts of the earth. Was mother nature angry at them? Perhaps still held a grudge for the living because of what humans once did? She didn't know. All she knew was that she wanted to get out of here. She ran for what seemed like miles, her body growing tired and her paw pads hurting from stepping on sharp stones no doubt. But she wouldn't stop until she felt safe. Or until something tripped her. With a surprised gasp, Kasai would fly forward. Her attention had been so focused on not being swallowed by the ground, she'd fail to notice the figure she had been approaching. But it was too late, and she was now sprawled out on the ground, the air rushing from her lungs once more. Eyes squeezed shut, she writhed slowly as she tried to see what she had tripped over. Silver eyes would come to find a large figure, sleeping? Who would take a nap out here!? She had woken him no doubt. "What the?" Talk like this

Darkness had always been his friend. It welcomed him with no hesitation or questions about who he was. It did not judge or wonder how his day had been. It asked no questions as it blessed him with an emptiness for once. Every waking moment Cath was on full alert, both from his training as a fighter and to make sure that his emotions were all in check. He did not like letting his inner demons run his life, meaning that he had to watch ever word, every crack he needed to inspect to make sure it would not set him off. It was a world of uncertain things around him at every moment, but when he slept, he was not haunted by any of this. He was never given dreams, which he saw more as a gift than a bad omen. He was plagued by enough by his waking thoughts, he did not need them to haunt his sleeping moments as well. So as he laid passed out on the dusty earth, he did not fight the blackness that held him in its grip. The boy welcomed it, taking it in with open arms. After the amount of panic and struggling that he had to deal with, a break was nice. That was until his body was jarred by something, a thud sounding beside him. It took a few moments, but it was enough to cause his gray body to stir. Ever so slowly his mint green eyes blinked open, shuttered several times as his fuzzy mind tried to focus on the world around him. Everything spun in his vision, nothing becoming clear. A mix of browns and reds, flashes of white and black all danced across his eyes, making the young boy groan with the pain of trying to focus. Then at last, the world started to piece itself together ever so slowly. Clear blue sky was seen over head, only a few clouds marring the great blank expansion. Pale brown dirt was caked into his face and pushed in his nose, and he was able to see the dry lines that formed on the earth. Small patches of grass came next, few and far between. Patchy and brown, most likely rough to the touch. And then her. White and red bodice was sprawled out in front of him, rather close and a sharp contrast to the gentle earth around him. Silver eyes were gazing at him in confusion, and he realized with haste that she was close to him. Quickly his body shot up, his tall gray limbs pushing him to a standing position as he took several steps back. Dirt and dust clung to his monotone coat, hiding most of his true colours. Shaking the worst of it out, his gaze fell on her own fallen form. No words left his maw for several moments, he was not skilled in getting what he was thinking across. It ended up leaving him frustrated, often causing an outburst of emotions. Because of all of that, his speech was jolted and broken, sometimes coming out in the wrong order. But Cathaoir did not take the time to try and correct himself, it just was not worth it. "The ground. You're on it..." He said softly, his husky voice sounding awkward and broken to even his own dark tipped ears. Folding them back slightly, he shuffled his weight around. Trying to ease a bit of his woes he shook himself out once more, scattering more earth from himself. "It fell, broke open. To you?" He asked, tilting his head to point his black nose towards the ground. Did it split open and try to swallow her like it had to him? He wanted to know, because if so than perhaps it wasn't best if they lingered here. Plus he wasn't very good with keeping the conversation flowing, even though he tried his best. Rolling his muscular shoulders he cleared his throat, mint green eyes leaving her contrasting form as he looked at the landscape. It seemed it be calm for now, even the purring of the earth's core seemed to be settling. Had it worked out its anger? Maybe the very earth herself was bipolar, and just had a minor episode. For now, all seemed at ease, although still utterly silent. Perhaps it was a calm before the storm, or maybe it was all taking a break. "Talk" "You" Think

She hadn't meant to meld his face with the earth. But it had happened, and she wouldn't realize it until later. Silver eyes kept on him, watching to see just how long this...weirdo, would continue to nap in such a dangerous place. Seriously, who napped in a place like this? She was about to poke him awake, maybe warn him that this place wasn't the safest to be sleeping, but just as she was about to extend her paw, she caught him looking at her. Freezing in place, they seemed to stare at one another until he suddenly jumped to his feet. Dirt and mud was caked on his pelt, which reminded her that she too would have the filth clinging to her fur as well. She remained where she was, blinking at him like the pair were facing off in a wild western duel to see who would draw first. It seemed all they did was stare at each other for a moment, silver eyes looking over the strange male. As she thought about speaking, he would speak first. Both brows furrowed, what...did he say? It took her a second to process it. "Aah...yes. I am...thanks for the reminder." She picked herself up off the ground, a lot slower then he had but her limbs were a bit sore from tripping over him and sprawling on her face. The girl would shake out her coat, sighing as small clumps of dirt refused to leave her bodice. Oh well, she would have to take a bath later... More words. Broken and confusing. Her head tilted a little, processing his words as he indicated what he meant. Man, what was up with this guy? "Yeah, yeah that's what it did. It uh...almost got me but..." She trailed off. Her English wasn't perfect, but she knew a good chunk of the language. Her Japanese accent wasn't hard to miss when she dove into it, but often times she tried to hide it. "And you? Why are you napping in the middle of an earthquake?" "Speech"

He just kept staring, his grey ears flat against his skull as he shuffled his weight across all four of his legs. He really sucked at this whole conversation thing, and this woman's piercing silver eyes seemed to look into his very soul. It made him uncomfortable, and he was very tempted to just turn around and walk off. He had already made quite a fool of himself, so was there any point in him sticking around? But she went on to speak, he was unsure of how to process it. Was she mad that he had reminded her that she was on the ground, covered in dirt? Was it sarcasm? He felt terribly lost, so he just nodded his head. Yes, she seemed... well confused. Dazed, just like he had been. She had fallen onto the ground after all, and she shook herself with a sigh. Did he make her unhappy? Oh gosh, he really was the worst at this. Clearing his throat he took a small step back, giving the pretty lady a bit more room to breath. Her coat was a very nice shade of red, and it wasn't often that he saw someone of her coat colour. He wanted to comment on it, his head tilting to the side, but he stopped himself. Was it rude to remark on another wolf's coat colour? Cathaoir wanted to slap his paw to his face, he was such a dork. Gosh. She went on to say that the broken ground had almost got her as well, and it was probably why she had been running before. He didn't miss her accent, it was far thicker than his though. His was only a touch different from others, while hers spoke of a whole different world. But when she asked why he was napping, he snorted, surprised at his own show of emotion. "No napping. I erm... passed out." he admitted, ashamed in doing so. "I was running. Tripped. And... blackness." Cath shuttered, his head shaking back and forth. "Talk" "You" Think