Somehow, the lanky youth had become an equally gangly yearling. He'd survived childhood, despite the dissolution of the pack he'd been born into and the subsequent move of his entire family to some strange new group. There were other kids there that were also related to him, but he didn't know if he felt the same kind of love for them that he did for his littermates. Regardless, he offered them the same kind of friendliness. Which was.. weird gifts. Trinkets and scraps of his meal, and offhanded comments that probably didn't register as compliments right away. It was alright, but he was still kind of bored. Maybe it was time to see what all was out there. There was a great big world, and he wasn't exactly tethered to his family. His dad was never the kind to force anything on him, equally free spirited and chaotic. Going for a walk was the best way to clear his head, and the boy's sightless eyes were trained on the ground as his head drooped in deep thought. As the sudden drop beneath one paw shifted his weight dramatically off kilter, he dropped his haunches to the dirt to stop himself from toppling headlong down an unknown slope. Luxe bleated nervously, the young ram butting against the narrow shoulder of his canine companion to knock him sideways and back onto the path. Neither of the boy's companions were particularly affectionate or gentle with him, which suited him just fine. Rolling back to his paws, he revisited the drop-off. Long whiskers and narrow paws carefully skipped over the uneven terrain. There were plenty of roots at this point to use as footholds, and the scent far below was an intoxicating loamy mixture, with a sharp tang of plant life that showed promise. A lilting, off-key tune bubbled up from his chest as he made his way carefully down the incline with that odd, high stepping gait and swing to his hips. He liked to hum and sing to himself, ever since he started mimicking the barn swallows as a tiny pup. It mingled well with the oddly singsong tone of his voice, and kept his brain occupied most of the time when he was simply wandering from place to place. By the time he reached the bottom, the hard packed dirt that his paws landed on was warmed by the sun and devoid of any moisture from the trickling stream that he could hear somewhere close by. As he ambled further within the strange cavern, the swift change in heat upon his dark spine told him he'd left the sun behind and was in the dark of the underground. Not that he cared. Can't see anyways. He followed the sound of the stream until his toes landed in cool, burbling water. A grunt escaped him that sounded more like a chirp, and he splashed his forepaws in the water a few times before turning to follow its path through the subterranean cavern. Mosses and lichens brushed against his paws, and he could hear the susurrating of plants close by. The young wraith drank it all in while his plans for the future rolled over and over in the back of his mind like a vacant shell tumbling in the surf. He'd figure that out eventually. ""

He'd gotten his first taste of life outside of the beach. For a moment, he thought maybe his parents cared enough to bring him back home. Everything he'd been told up until this point was all about how the world was large and scary. The growing pup had experienced it first hand when another Alpha came to their beach and decided to rip into everyone out of anger. Still not quite understanding what that ordeal had been about, Scald snuck off. After visiting the swamplands off toward the east, he made his way northwest this time. Not too far, but far enough that it would take him a while to get back home. Being careful to watch where he stepped, the lanky limbed pup struck a curious nerve when a ravine opened up nearby. From what he could sense, it hadn't been occupied by anyone for some time. There was a faint, lingering scent of a wolf but he didn't pay it any mind. Letting pebbles roll out from under his paws as he awkwardly made his way down toward the bottom, he enjoyed the time he was spending alone. No brother or sisters to pester him, no dad to keep him in line, and no other adults to chastise him for getting into trouble. Feeling the warmth of the sun slip away and the cool dampness of the underground send shivers down his spine, Scald lowered his muzzle to sniff around. Moss and other dark-loving plants grew in abundance near the hidden river. Its quiet burbling hid the scuffle of someone else as the stranger drew closer to his location. Immersed in the fascination of something such as a river being underground, Scald didn't notice the older boy until they were mere feet away. Lifting his head suddenly with wide eyes, his ears pressed forward as he waited to see if the stranger would notice him. "Uh, hello?" Scald said, probably a tad rude, but nonetheless how a pup would sound. There was something off about the dude's eyes that made Scald's own narrow. Speech

Light steps approached, and while the dark furred boy did flick an ear backwards, he was inclined to dismiss the sounds of movement as an animal wandering past. Whole lot of weird creatures underground, after all. The piebald ram butted his head against the wolf's haunch, demanding his attention. Once the milk-sweet scent of the youngster wafted into his nostrils, the lanky yearling swung his delicate crown about with a jerky motion to better turn his senses upon the child. Young enough to still smell like mother's milk and a warm den, but old enough to be wandering about unsupervised? What was this, another one of his dad's kids? Then the youthful voice piped up with a hesitant hello. Wispy banner waved lightly behind him, and he tipped his chin up so he could try and match the pitch of the boy's voice. "Uh, hello?" he repeated, wearing a cheeky grin as he dropped his chin again and snickered to himself. "What's a little kid doing underground? Explorin'?" he quipped in the lilting, singsong croon that had become a feature of his already bizarre demeanour. ""

Scald wasn't sure what to make of the duo standing in front of him. The animal standing beside the slightly older wolf he had never seen before. What made him all the more curious was when the other boy imitated his words. Flicking his ears back as his gaze narrowed, he watched. Maybe this one was just different, but there was still something offputting. The pup couldn't put his nose to it, even as the stranger asked him what he was doing in an odd-sounding voice. Letting out an indignant snort, Scald nodded. Puffing out his chest and raising his nose to the air, he felt that he needed to assert that he was more than capable of being out here alone. Not that he actually was, but if you tell yourself enough of a lie, you'll soon believe it. "What else would I be doin' out here?" Scald quipped back, poorly imitating the boy's accented singsong tune. Not that Scald was as much of a bully as his other siblings, but he sure wasn't going to let anyone push him around either. "Needed some space and thought this place was cool," the pup added on as he continued to stare rather rudely at the other boy. Why did there feel to be something so off about this stranger? Something about the eyes, but what? "Are you doin' the same or do you live here?" Scald asked, slightly curious that possibly someone would want to live in this dark, musky, dingy, kind of gross cave thing. Speech

The accusatory tone of the youngster in response to his question rolled right off the yearling's back, slipping past his nearly vacant expression with little more response than a flick of a tall ear and a subtle twitch of his dark lips into a little smirk. Narrow, bony shoulders lifted and dropped in a heavy, careless shrug. The muffled thudding of cloven hooves across the moss coated stone allowed him to track Luxe as the ram wandered away from the conversation to search for grazing fodder. The boy added that he wanted some space, which was understandable. A light, affirmative bobbing of that dainty skull as he hummed understandingly. "I'm doin' the same," he told the boy, wispy banner waving lightly behind him. "Never worried about moving around in the caves, can't see anyways so the dark ain't a problem." he chuckled, and then simply wandered off to continue following the little stream. "You can come with me if ya want, I bet there's something neat down here." he drawled, keeping his pace slow. The boy moved with very gentle steps, each paw lifted rather high from the ground with each stride and placed on the ground with a soft sweeping motion as he felt for any obstructions in his path. The air was growing cooler as he moved along, so he must be getting deeper underground. Was that strange smell growing stronger? It was a peaty, rich smell that he knew from somewhere, but he couldn't place it. It would come to him eventually. "What's your name, kid?" he asked, raising his voice just a little to ensure he could be heard if the kid was still catching up (or straight up ignoring him). ""

He would've focused on the boy's reactions more if the statement about not being able to see hadn't caught him off guard. Head tilting to the other side, ears flicking back and then forward as Scald's young mind tried to understand. "What do ya mean ya can't see?" His voice is confused and maybe slightly harsh. But he had never met anyone who couldn't see before - at least not totally. Before Scald even got an answer, the other boy had begun moving off deeper into the cavern. A quiet huff of frustration left him as he skipped forward to keep up. Nearly bumping into the older boy in his attempt to keep up with him, Scald stopped to stare. If the guy couldn't see, it wouldn't be rude to stare, right? Not like his parents ever told him what was rude or polite anyway. While he was most interested in exploring the cavern, he wanted to know more about the boy who couldn't see. Even the dripping of water from the ceiling couldn't distract him. Not the peaty smell, the chill breeze wafting from the depths, the mysterious stones that would glint occasionally when a beam of light hit it just right. When Scald opened his lips to ask another question, he was stopped when the boy asked for his name. "Scald. What's yours?" He answered quickly as he scrambled his too-big paws in a wide circle around the boy. The stone was slippery here, but he managed to stay on his paws. Taking a step closer, he never let his gaze leave the stranger's eyes, trying to see something different than everyone else's eyes. Speech

The soft press of dainty paws on sodden mosses and chilly dirt kept him grounded as he moved deeper and deeper into the caverns, until the air was noticeably cool against his nose. It was always fascinating how quickly the temperature could shift while underground. One ear flicked backwards to track the approaching pawsteps of the curious youth that was joining him for his exploration, and thus he caught every iota of confusion and borderline indignation in his question. A musical laugh escaped him, and he paused to wait for him to catch up. The narrow miss of unsteady paws carrying the child dangerously close to one of his back legs didn't go unnoticed, though it was merely a sweeping of fur and cool air over the sensitive skin of his heels. "Whaddaya mean, what do I mean? My eyeballs are just decoration, is what I mean!" he announced with a wry grin, and kept on meandering into the depths. That musty, earthy smell was far stronger now. There had to be something going on up ahead, if not all around them by now. The boy had a simple, succinct name. Scald. Burning hot. He nodded approvingly. "Raven." he said simply in response, and the stopped in his tracks to lift his head all the way up. Keen ears flickered in search of whatever sounds he could drink in down here, aided by the odd tipping and tilting of his head in different directions to try and catch the way the sounds changed or bounced around. "I know what I can hear, but what can you see down here? Is there anything cool?" he questioned in a hushed whisper, nostrils flaring to pull in more of that peaty aroma with its underlying sweetness. It was not totally unlike the smell of rot, but still.. not quite. Better to wait and find out what there was to see down here, he supposed. ""

His ears flew back as the boy retorted back at him. A loud huff left his lips as he rolled his own bi-colored eyes at the response. Really, he was more confused than anything. If the boy couldn't see, why have eyeballs at all?! Wrinkling his expression into frustration, Scald brushed it off when the boy finally introduced himself back. Maybe keeping Raven company wasn't so bad after all. Even if his expressions were a little odd, maybe that was because he couldn't see... Continuing to slowly follow Raven at the blind boy's pace, he tried to use more of his sense of hearing to understand what Raven heard. All he could really hear was the pad of their paws on the soft moss and the drip of water droplets from the ceiling above them. When Raven asked what he could see, he paused his steps and really tried to look around. Even with the shift of the shadows and the moving sun way over their heads, it was easier to pick out the different things he could see. "Moss all around under our paws. Water flows from the walls. It is rather dark down here but plants still are alive all over," he looks left and then right, trying to think of better words to use to describe where they were. "The path we're on doesn't seem to stop going down. Not sure where it goes though," Scald mentions as his eyes flicker over to the darker crevices farther away. "Can you hear anything in particular?" The boy is curious now as he steps closer to Raven, his voice a hushed whisper. Speech