It had come to her again, the big chestnut kite with his white head and chest. He had perched in a branch overhead and woken the slumbering youth with a sharp shriek before taking to the skies. It may have been true that she was supposed to be trying to find someone to teach her fighting skills and maybe she had grown bored and figured a nap wouldn’t hurt… but that didn’t give him the right to shriek at her!

She rose with a huff, her quills clattering as she shook. He hadn’t gone far, merely perching on the next tree over to watch her with a shining golden eye. She rolled her shoulders. Maybe she didn’t need someone to teach her how to fight. Maybe she just needed to make sure she was fit? Lifting her chin defiantly, the bird ruffled his feathers in response and dove towards the beach, daring the girl to give chase. And she did.

Across the land bridge from the shrine to Nephilim, then Inu and across to the Plains. The bird taunted and the girl chased, only finally calling it quits when the air burned in her lungs and she realised she wasn’t on Ashen land anymore. She looked around with some interest. Of course she had heard they were allies with the Armada but this was her first time coming here. She wondered if anyone else was around?

"speech".

heard you’re new in town

Visitors from Ashen weren't all that common, as far as Ophie could tell. There was nothing wrong with the packs relations, it was probably just a matter of everyone keeping to themselves as winter approached, sometimes she couldn't help but wonder if things would ever grow sour between the two packs. Their borders were pressed so close together, with their scents intermingled it was sometimes hard to differentiate one from the other; it was hard to imagine a reality in which they weren't allies. But what if? What would they do then? Ophie struggled to imagine such a bleak future and truly hoped it would never come to pass.

As if following that line of thought, Ophie noticed a strange figure weaving through the long grass. Her pelt was dappled with purples and pinks, a twilight blend which had her standing out as bright and clear amongst the sea of browns and greens. She pressed herself deeper into her mucky puddle, looking more like a tubby-tortoise than a wolf as she continued to watch the girl roam. It seemed as though the Ashen girl had not spotted her, it would've been easy to just remain still and hide. Like she didn't even exist, but Ophie was a lonely girl at heart. Some attention was better than none, right?

She clambered to her paws, strands of grass poking out from the tangles of her fur as she plodded over, leaving wide set paw prints in her wake. What was she even supposed to say? Hi didn't feel like it would cut it, for some reason. And now she was overthinking it, getting all nervous as her tail began to twitch.

" Um...Hello? Are you from Ashen?" The words spilled from her lips, inelegant and a little garbled.

To Modesty, who had spent most of the first year of her life sheltered at the Shrine, Obi grooming each of her litter mates dutifully daily and fingering scented oils through their fur as required, it was inconceivable that perhaps, not everyone had the same high standards of hygiene. She was utterly delighted when the shorter wolf stood, adorably round with muddy water streaming down her sides and grass laced through her tangled coat like some sort of strange regalia, made her presence known. Her tail waved in wide archs behind her and her eyes squinted with the width of her smile.

There was a small bounce in her step as she moved in closer, her lips twitched once or twice before she spoke, she was unaccustomed to using her voice outside of prayer, and hadn’t had much practice at social interactions before now. "I AM!" she accidentally shouted, cringing visibly as she did so. Try again… She’d need to be able to talk to people if she was going to save them. "Sorry, I-uh, don’t get out much? I’m Modesty.". She spoke softer now, her whole back end waving with the force of her wagging tail. "What were you doing? Can I try it too?!" It sure looked like a lotta fun.

heard you’re new in town

Ophie flinched, startled by the fervour of the stranger's response. She could kind of relate though, it wasn't like she got out a lot either and sometimes it was easy to forget how as a princes she ought to behave. She blinked the confusion away, a smile settling on her lips as she took in the Ashen wolf's name. Despite her habit of rolling around in the mud Ophie still appreciated pretty things in her own way, Modesty was a nice name and though she wasn't sure why she felt like it suited her a lot. Like she truly was good and modest.

"It's nice to meet you Modesty, I'm Ophie." She introduced herself, being a little more polite than usual since you know, their packs were allies. The last thing she wanted to do was offend someone high up, she'd messed up a lot in her life but inter-pack relations were well above her pay grade.

Ophie tipped her head to the side in a curious slant, she wanted to join in...being messy? It wasn't something any of her siblings seemed to care for, or anyone else for that matter besides from Kaija, but she wasn't going to turn her down. The thought didn't even cross her mind.

"Oh yeah! I was just...hanging out in the mud. It's real good for your skin...or something." Not that Ophie even cared about that, just wanted to scramble for an excuse to make it sound as though there was a rhyme or reason to her actions. Not just a sad habit that stuck to her like a bad smell. She folded herself down onto the floor, biting back the urge to flop and roll like she'd usually do, and instead rested her chin on her stretched out front legs. "I think you're the...third Ashen wolf I've met.Saw the Shogun once and um...Malachai? "

Modesty’s grin grew wider as her new friend gave her name in turn. When she mentioned that she had just been hanging out in the mud, the vibrant girl moved closer. She didn’t really have much of a measure to judge the statement against so she assumed, just like her cousins didn’t live in the shrine, or attend their daily prayers with her siblings, that maybe this was just something that other wolves did with their time. The added benefit of it being good for her skin?! Well, it wasn’t like her mother would yell at her for looking after herself would she?

She managed a small giggle when Ophelia spoke of the Ashen wolves she had met, although it wasn’t really a laughing matter she supposed, "Then you’ve met more of my pack than I have! I mean, other than my brother and sisters…" Actually, now that she had said it out loud, her head tilted and a frown creased her brow. It was weird… but then again, it was a two way street. Since her naming ceremony, she hadn’t seen any of her so called family outside their immediate unit. But now was not the time for sulking. She dragged a smile back to her face, flopping into the mud and laughing as it splashed around her. “Am I doing it right?” She asked Ophie, moving over to make space next to her and slapping a paw playfully in the puddle beside her, indicating there was still heaps of room. “Ooo, should I roll to get my back too?”

heard you’re new in town

It was strange to hear that, but maybe it was simply an Ashen thing? Beyond the friendliness between borders they kept to themselves, only paying a visit when there was something that needed saying. It sort of sounded a little lonely though and Ophie found herself scratching at the mud with a hind leg, stirring the mud into softness. All the better to wallow in. "Oh yeah! There isn't a wrong way to do it! Do whatever feels best for you!" Which was to say Ophie hadn't worked out the art of rolling in mud perfectly just yet. It was simply an action she went through without much thought, a way to move her body and limbs when her thoughts made her just want to lay still and never get up again. "Um, sure!?" Eager to give it a try as well, Ophie flopped onto her back like a beached whale. With her head titled back all the way, she stared up at the sky and noted how many clouds were smeared across its blue-ish expanse. Sometimes it was easy to forget how massive the world was, that there was more than the Fatalis way of life on offer. She titled to the side a little, eying Modesty as she seemed to be embracing being a mucky pup. "It's nicer on warm days." Ophie was quick to say, excusing away any faults that might be found in mud baths. And no doubt there were plenty, the smell alone was enough to get her in trouble sometimes. With threats of forced baths biting at her heels. "Is it okay? Your coat is so pretty it might-" What, ruin it? Wasn't that the point of this all? Smothering their true selves with mud and muck till it was hard to say where one began and the other ended.

When her new friend flopped beside her, Modesty rolled to lay alongside her new friend, staring up at the same clouds. This was really, really nice. There wasn’t an expectation to be perfect, nobody even knew she was here and she wouldn’t have to be back for her evening prayers before the sun was low in the sky. When Ophie mentioned it was nicer on warmer days, Modesty hummed her agreement. She could imagine how soothing the coolness would be on a hot summer day with the sun scorching her dark coat.

When her companion said her coat was pretty, she warmed beneath her fur, “Na-ah, your’s is pretty!” She shot back, poking out her tongue for good measure, and to reinforce the sentiment she gave her new friend an appreciative sidelong glance. “It might be cloudy, but I’ve got the best view around.”

“Speech”

We are the jack-o-lanterns in July setting fire to the sky