His wanderings had taken him outside the safety of the packlands. While aware that crossing the border was a big deal (the scentmakers made that pretty clear) Jupiter was unaware that it might also be a bad thing. In his mind he was invincible. He knew he wasn't big or strong compared to grown ups, but naivety made him bulletproof. There were no real monsters, no villains lurking. His enemies and the things that were dangerous were other animals, the shadows that his imagination twisted into fearsome beasts and the unknown. Never were they wolves as the only wolves he knew loved him deeply and would never harm him. Jupiter paused several yards away from the border to look back. He relished the distance between himself and his den. No doubt he was farther out than any of his siblings had ever been. Instead of being scared of the distance, the boy reveled in it. It was exciting. With each step he took the world got bigger and he was desperate to know more about what lay beyond. His last adventure was never good enough. There was always more to see, always something new just around the bend. With an impatient sniff the boy turned away from Dauntless and set his sights on the distance. He had so much to see and so little time.

((Sorry for meh phone post still away for the holidays. They can be as far away as you want, Darya just gets scared of strangers.))

"Говорить"

Divo was always wandering away from the den so so was Darya! She toddled on slowly steader tiny paws, her brilliant hellfire gaze staring wide eyed at the world around her as she went. The skull marked girl had no real goals in mind simply to find anything new that intrigued her. As she approached the palm marked coast she was waddling without really looking where she was going, as she rounded a circular trunk the image of another pup sprung up before her. Darya jumped back a startled bark escaping her lips. She stood stiff limbed and eyes wide as she watched the brilliant blue boy.

Art by Risketch

The boy had just finished turning around when a bark startled him. The girl's approach had been quick and quiet. It seemed to him in one instant he had been alone and in the next, he wasn't. Both her sudden appearance and her bark caught him by surprise. He couldn't help it; a startled gasp left his lips. Immediately he was ashamed of the noise he'd made. It was just a little girl. She was about his size and appeared to be more freaked out by him than he was of her. Nothing to be afraid of. Mentally he smoothed his ruffled feathers. To save face, he said, "Whew, I thought you were a monster come to eat me."

"Говорить"

It seemed the boy was just as startled as she was, even if only for a moment while a sort of uncomfortable fluttering persisted in Darya's own chest. He recovered much better than the young girl was, instead she was still stiff, her eyes still wide and she felt a very strong urge to hide behind the tree, which she sort of did, she angled her tiny body so that was pressed against the trunk and peering around it's rounded form at the boy.

He spoke and it was in the words that her Da and the big ones were teaching her. She didn't understand everything he said but she managed to suss out the gist. For a brief moment the idea of him thinking she was a monster managed to pull a small amused smile onto the girl's uneasy mask. Then she wondered if she had misunderstood him, maybe he still thought she was a monster and she frowned. Darya didn't think she looked like a monster, she looked like Da and Da was a big teddy bear of a wolf! But then she also kind of looked like the big fat one who was always being mean to them, so maybe that's what the other boy meant.

Softly and hesitantly she spoke: "Not monster..." Her words were awkward and while she would never have the heavy Russian accent of her mother there were traces of it clinging to her broken English. "Just Darya."

Art by Risketch

Jupiter watched, his expression quizzical, as the girl seemed to shrink behind the tree. He wasn't sure what to make of that until it struck him that maybe she was hiding because he was scary. The thought filled him with pride. That's right, he was big and scary! He was as big and scary as he was brave. And he was very, very brave. His words seemed to reassure her though since she smiled, and that was okay too. He didn't want her to stay scared of him (if she was scared she probably wouldn't play with him). The acknowledgement in the beginning that he was scary was nice though. Just as quickly as it came, the girl's smile disappeared. "Not monster," she said meekly. "Just Darya." He studied her for a moment before deciding that he didn't like to see her frown. Her smile was much prettier and her frown was kind of a bummer. "Well, Just Darya," he said, trying to be funny and maybe make her smile again, "My name's Jupiter and I'm a monster hunter." Okay, so maybe he'd just right that very second made that title up, but he was gonna own it now. Yep. Monster Hunter.

"Говорить"

Darya watched him with open wariness, still as he spoke again she couldn't help a smile as he referred to him using her exact words, a small giggle escaping her lips. He spoke again and she shuffled uneasily, if he thought she had been a monster then did that mean he was going to hunt her? "Not hunt Darya," She began uneasily, "do hunt not Darya monsters!" That seemed reasonable to her. She slowly eased herself away from the tree, not towards Jupiter. No she wasn't comfortable enough to actually approach but he had managed to ease her just enough to not need to feel like she had to hide completely.

"Jupiter hunt many monsters?" She was curious about the strange blue boy, he had a strong smell to him that she was too naive to understand as that of a pack, he simply was different from the wolves she had met. His coloration didn't really confuse her much though, after all she was blue too, less than him of course but her nose and paw pads were hard to miss and made her stand out even among her siblings.

Art by Risketch

For a moment it looked as if his attempt at humor had worked, but then Darya's expression shifted and she looked kinda queasy, almost like he'd said he ate boogers or something. Not hunt Darya monsters? OH! "Nah, I don't hunt the cute monsters. Just the scary ones." He dropped his rump to the ground, kicked his hind legs out in front of him and then grinned cheekily up at the girl. He liked being called cute, so maybe she would too and she'd stop being such a scaredy cat. They couldn't play if she kept hiding! She asked if he'd hunted many monsters and without thinking he immediately nodded. "Lots! I hunt all day." Okay, so maybe they were all imaginary, but still, it wasn't a lie. They didn't have to be real to be hunted. Alright, it was time to see if his efforts to calm her down had been successful. "Wanna hunt one with me?" "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

"Говорить"

He called her cute and Jupiter had once more managed to pull a giggle from the shy girl's lips. She wasn't sure if she'd every been called cute before. Personally she'd always thought the skull on her face made her look cool. Like Da, Da was cool and he had the skull too. Certainly the big ones didn't call her that, they had other name for her. "Short stack, small fry, the grey one." But never cute. Maybe Mama had once but then Darya was sure she had to call her cute because Darya was her daughter. It was the law or something!

The girl nodded resolutely at the boy's statement about only hunting scary monsters. That made sense after all the scary monsters were well... Scary. Darya was very glad Jupiter had taken on the essential job of hunting them.

Slowly the girl took a hesitant step forwards, nodding slowly as he invited her to help him. That sounded like play and Darya loved to play. Well... Not the way Divo played but still. "Darya help! Jupiter and Darya protect from monsters!" She was gonna get to tell Mama about how brave she was and in that moment with this otherwise unknown pup at her side Darya was sure she could handle even the scariest of monsters.

Art by Risketch

Success! The girl was going to play with him. Well, not play, he reminded himself. Monster hunting was serious business. It was life and death stuff that just so happened to also be a lot of fun. "Yeah!" he said enthusiastically. "We'll fight off all the monsters! Beat 'em up so bad they run home crying!" Well, this was shaping up to be the best day ever! He'd explored lots of new places and he'd made a monster hunting friend! Could it get any better? Probably not...unless they got to fight a monster together! Oh, that would be the very best! With a spring in his step Jupiter trotted passed Darya towards the beach. He heard water somewhere nearby and where there was water, there was water monsters. He'd fought lots of water monsters back home. They were the second most common monster besides snow monsters. And maybe tree monsters. So maybe third most common but eh, details. "Come on, this way!" "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

"Говорить"

Darya watched as the boy moved past her, stating that their prey today was going to be water monsters. Darya nodded absently. She'd never seen a water monster before... She wondered if they were as scary as they sounded. Jupiter called back for her and she smiled. Chasing after the boy.

The pair approached the shore and for a moment Darya paused. The tide had come in, bringing the water high onto the beach and as she watched the rolling of the waves her imagination took over. What had once been gently crashing waves along the shoreline were now grasping claws eager to drag a heaving roiling mass further up the coast.

"Don't allow to get higher!" She said as she raced towards the breaking waves. With a grunt she reached up and slammed her paws down onto the water. The splash in her mind became the growling of a monster, angry that she had dared to interrupt it's slow approach.

Art by Risketch

"Don't allow to get higher!" Dutifully he nodded, but if he were being honest (which he had no intention of being) he wasn't quite sure what she wanted him to do. Which was okay; he knew just how to fix that. He'd hang back just long enough to see what she was doing and then copy her. Easy peasy! "I won't," he said firmly. Darya dove for the breaking waves and slammed her paws down on the roiling, foamy water. Well, that was easy enough. Jupiter stomped on the waves a couple of times. As the water began to retreat he noticed something odd. The sand seemed to melt under his paws and if he stood still too long he would start to sink into the ground. Startled by this and with an imagination running wild, he gasped. "Be careful, if you stay still it'll eat your paws!" "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

"Говорить"

As the girl splashed in the shallows a clear high giggle pulled from her lips. Jupiter mirrored her and she grinned at him. Okay so maybe he wasn't so bad, she'd been silly to be afraid of him. Clearly the two of them were going to be the bestest monster hunter team ever! Jupiter suddenly called out a warning and she frowned, unsure exactly what-

Then the water rolled out and suddenly wet sand was sucking up her paws. With a shriek she jumped back till she was once more on solid land. She looked at Jupiter wide eyed and gaping. For a moment she stood panting, her tiny chest heaving. Then her face split into a grin again! This monster was clever, but not clever enough! Together the two of them were going to out smart it!

Darya dove once more towards the clawing tide, splashing in the water, barking and giggling.

Art by Risketch