The sweet scents of ripe fruit lured her into the orchard, the beckoning sway of laden trees basking in the sunlight promoting a hypnotic effect on the white wolf. Fruit was rare, often stunted in size, and always difficult to obtain. Bush growing berries were far more common, but generally not worth the time to gather, other than for healing potions or salves. She knew little about plants or healing, but maintained a healthy curiosity despite stifling constraints that prohibited her from further investigating the subject. After all, there was nothing harmful by just having a look around.

Walking between the groves of trees, Muses was surprised by how overwhelming the sweet smell had become; no longer pleasant, she struggled to comprehend her sense of revulsion. It was too much for her sensitive nose, but it attracted insects from all over, and they worked together to break down the over-ripe fruit that had fallen to the ground. Watching a stream of ants, tongue lolling as she panted to breathe less from her nose and more from her mouth, she considered how important these smells were to them.

Then, she raised a paw, slamming it down, crushing a section of the stream. There was short lived panic around her limb, but gradually the stream reconnected, and the ants continued one by one around her paw which remained unmoved.

Summer was proving to be a difficult one for the pack, the banks of the water within Lirim had broken a few times, the heavy rain pelting his home on a nearly daily basis flooding the normally still and calm waters. Anoixi almost felt like he'd nearly picked the valley clean but the ground had grown more sodden within the packlands, which seemed almost directly at odds with the desert that rimmed the pack, so he was forced to venture further afield to try and find anything new. There wasn't much option for the boy to expand his understanding of herbs, his mother was absent and he knew the pack was lacking in anyone properly trained who could help the pack let along teach him. The sweet scent of ripening fruit drew the boy towards the orchard, his eyes wide as he observed the trees, the sickly sweet of sugar rather strong. Strong enough at least that the scent of another wolf was masked to him, especially as a rotting smell started to hit him. That was until Anoixi rounded a tree and the girl appeared before him, much closer than he'd have thought for a wolf he'd been unable to detect right away. The boy stopped short, not frozen but suddenly unsure how to proceed. "Speech" Think

Art by Marcella-Youko

Ignorant to any strange happenings in the area, she remained unconcerned, and unguarded. One who was not raised with the need to take caution could not be expected to practice it regularly, without prompt. Her form remained at ease, and did not change when another entered the orchard, standing within earshot. Eyes growing wide, she appeared to take a moment to gather her thoughts, before her maw split into a toothy grin, tail delicately curling upward. "Look at all this fruit!" There certainly was a lot of it, though it was no longer as bountiful a grove as it had been in ancient times, when humans tended to their care and growth. Nonetheless, it was an abundance like Muses had never seen before. "There are so many ants," she continued on, "that they keep on moving forward, even when you stop the flow." To prove her point, Muses brought her paw down again, carefully this time, firmly breaking the line of dutiful ants. Once again, they scurried around her hefty paw, trying to reorganize their efforts as quickly as possible.

The scene was idyllic - two creatures experimenting with an interaction, young wolves among the shade-providing fruit trees - despite being unknown to one another. As if the realization had suddenly dawned upon her, she took a step back, eyes widening as her gaze roved over the stranger. He was not particularly unusual, by the standards of most, but raised in isolation, her understanding of the rest of the world, and how things truly worked, was nearly non-existent.

Her life had been so safe and secure, up until the strangers arrived to invade her father's territory; the only time she had ever known fear. Everyone else in her life had been her family, by some means or another. A sibling, usually, or a niece or nephew. Quite often the lines were blurred, so it never really mattered. With the shock of the ordeal fresh in her mind, she decided that she would simply offer behaviour that was expected of her. If she followed the status quo, everything would be fine. So she would simply ignore the boy's dark fur colour, the fact that everything was so different, and just exist, happily.

Okay so she noticed him, which really on served to make Anoixi feel like he was being a bit of a creep, just standing there watching. She invited him over and the boy moved towards her, gaze turning down to her paws as she directed. His tail began to weakly wag, a slight smile pulling at his lips. His completely innocent first thought was that this strange girl being so amused by something so simple was cute. The girl stepped back suddenly and Anoixi's gaze turned quizzical as he lifted it to look at the girl. He wondered if maybe he'd simply gotten to close and the boy took a calm step back. He sought a method to put the girl at ease, feeling very much like he'd crossed some sort of line. Maybe introducing himself would help to make him seem friendly? "I'm uh- Anoixi Wreckage." He said, allowing his smile to grow slightly and pretending he hadn't stumbled trying to say his own name. "Speech" Think

Art by Marcella-Youko

To her benefit, if the yearling had noticed her strange reaction, he did not make it obvious. Shyly, she allowed herself to sneak little looks here and there, fascinated and bewildered by what she saw. It was matched by a friendly voice, vibrant, and undulating gently towards her. "Hello, Uh-Anioxi Wreckage." Muses beamed, testing out the name for herself, obviously not understanding that he had misspoken. It was a strange place, where individuals had strange fur and strange names. Perhaps she had somehow traveled to an entirely new world.

It occurred to her, then, that she could have died, and for running away, the gods had punished her and sent her to hell. A chill briefly ran down her spine as she considered the implications of being cast down to Hades. Yet she knew that it must not be true, for her father had always described the underworld as a place of pain and torture. If anything, she found Uh-Anoixi to be rather charming in his simple demeanor. "I'm Muses." She thought to offer her given name, but fumbled, and ultimately withheld it, shyly looking away for a second. "Would you like to help me look for some fruit to eat?" She recovered by following up with a proposal, turning back to the lad with a dazzling grin.