He could see the water hitting the end of the pool of water. Two different colored eyes moving from one point to another, unable to focus on one point. The voices were telling him a story today, someone had drowned in this lake. Irrelevant to his life as always, but their annoying screeches something he had grown used to. In a world with no sound, they were his only friends. At least he thought so, was that right? He twisted his paws crossing each other and laughed out loud grinning to show off his needle like teeth. Tally the art sitting on the top of his head tried to stroke his ears a little to calm him down, but knowing Nia he was having a mood swing like he usually did. His tail wiggled like a snake as he opened his eyes wade, watching a fish in the water he struck out and grabbed it. Pulling it out it died almost instantly, and finally since forever he had a meal. Viciously digging into it, leaving a little for tally the white and tan rat climbing down only to eat before returning to her perch on his head.

The small boy would look around, look up to the sky. Smiling he laughed again, hopping closer to the water before looking at his reflection. He could feel the vibrations of his laughter, and it only made him want to laugh more. Tilting his head for a moment as tally sighed, this was just how he was. The poor mentally impaired boy had nothing else to do after all.

Laughing so damn hard, and no one knew why

The curious sound of laughter met her audits while she walked, simply out on the mainland looking for her family. She wasn't really up to much else, after she'd found Aksel on the island all those days ago. Now, she just had to drag her sisters back to Frost Island, and most likely her uncles would find them once there were enough of them to draw attention. Humming a quiet tune to herself, she wandered along the base of the mountain. However, the laughter seemed to draw her. She wanted to know what was so funny! Picking up her tea cupped paws, she trotted up the steep incline without a second thought. The girl was intrigued, and now she was determined to see what was making someone laugh. Mismatched audits stood tall atop her cranium, forever to be ever so slightly too big. Acidic pools sought the form of another, and hopefully, whatever was so funny hadn't left yet.
When she reached the top of the slope, a pallid frame became known to her. No other colour came to grace the small body, simply alabaster hues. She stepped closer, looking around curiously. Nothing looked funny from where she was standing. Maybe it was something under the water? Tiara would come to peer over the shoulder of the male standing by the waters edge, seeking the funny thing. She needed to know, she wanted to laugh about it too! When nothing became immediately apparent, toxic pools would meet the reflected gaze of the stranger in the water before them. "What's so funny?" She asked the strange male, raising an eyebrow in question. It was curious, but maybe there was a joke she'd missed as she walked up here?




"Speech"

But the rest is forgotten

There were obvious signs all around him that lead to different levels of discomfort in the world. Everyone around him was a conniving beast, ready to sink their flesh into his skin. Tally was his one and only connection to the real world, because when reality had betrayed him so many times, trauma on the boy had left him deeply and subconsciously afraid of everything. His mental impariment was not geared to one thing, he was bi-polar, heard voices in his head when he was deaf, sometimes even felt like he had multiple others inside of him. And it was just one cluster of an empty shell of a boy. Unable to have an attention span on one thing one day, but then another able to focus on it for hours. He was a small broken down toy of the world, abused down to the bone and yet remained seemingly perfect yet flawed.
His disability would prevent him from hearing her, he could not see her maw well within the water. For a moment his mind thought she was sneaking up on him, letting a sudden growl leave his throat in a warning out of his sudden distrust. Though it soon settled and his tail was wagging back and forth turning towards her, he laughed again. His vocals straining as he didn't know how loud or how quiet he was. His ears that no longer worked pinned back as Tally moved upwards standing on her hind paws to look at the girl.
"He finds everything funny it seems, sometimes it's a twig, another day it's his own reflection." the rat mentioned. Seeing as she was Nia's guide, but if he attacked this girl which he could out of no where with his disability, it would spell disaster. It may have been the way he was, but it placed him in danger as well as herself and others. Nia's mouth opened, his tongue rolling out as he hopped a little. "Pretty little, pretty little black and red, what a weird mix of colors I have seen." Nia would spout out of his mouth, he wouldn't be able to hear the words himself but he tried his best to feel the vibrations in his throat to make sure he was not yelling at her. Meeting his voice level half way.

The first reaction she earned from the strange wolf was a growl, a warning that made her take a quick step back. She wasn't trying to scare him, though that could have been fun too, she was just curious as to what was making him laugh. She really couldn't see what was so humorous. However, he settled almost immediately, and his alabaster banner started to wave back and forth. She herself offered a small, lopsided grin and a wag of her own double dipped banner. He let another bark of laughter, and she wondered if maybe he was thinking about something that was funny. Or, much worse, there was something on her face that he was laughing at now. Shock of all shocks, the male's ears pinned back against his skull and allowed a rat to scrabble up to stand on his head. Mismatched audits lowered, and her head jerked back in surprise as she rat reared back on her hind paws. What. Now, tiara would tilt to one side quizzically. Uh, okay? Rats could be friends, she guessed. However, when the rat began to speak, her acidic pools widened. She didn't know rats could talk, this was news to her. Good news, though. That meant more creatures could be friends, right? The real news, should have been that the ivory man was slightly crazy. However, she was completely okay with sort of crazy. Didn't matter to her, as long as she didn't get hurt or something. "Well that's okay, sometimes I think my reflection is funny too, when I have stuff on my face or I make weird faces in the water." She replied coolly, shrugging her narrow shoulders nonchalantly. She could be crazy too, for all she knew. She'd made friends with a ghost once, so really, it wasn't up to her to judge. The male let his maw fall open, pausing for a moment to hop up and down excitedly for a moment. He announced that she was a very strange collection of colours, and she giggled, nodding in agreement. She was well aware of this, had been since birth. "I get that a lot, and it's not exactly a lie." She chuckled, triple hued banner waggling at her hocks. "I'm Acadia, but everyone just calls me Ace." She added, lifting her rust toned paw in a small wave. It was always polite to introduce yourself to others, whether they were sane or otherwise. "What are your guys' names?" Came her next query, one brow lifting again as she regarded the curious pair with toxic green eyes. "Speech"

He would pay more attention to her this time, watching her lips move so he knew what she was saying. Today, he didn't feel so sad about his disability, in fact he felt like sharing it with her if anything at all. She asked their names and he smiled a little, and suddenly the voices were sucked into a hole and became quiet. Allowing him to concentrate. "Nia, that's my name, I'm deaf." perhaps if she knew, she would not hurt him. Yet Nia was a ticking time bomb of aggression, he could have fits. He could freak out and cower, and sometimes even want to tear things to shreds until there was nothing left. Tally kept him away from these most of the time, but there had been a few accidents here and there.
Tally watched Nia for a moment, sitting on his head she smiled a little. She would never let her guard down, but Nia could not take care of himself that was a little obvious. "Hello Ace, I'm Tally." the rat stated curling her tail around her hind legs. Nia pawed at Ace for a moment, being playful for a moment as he stood up straight. Watching her green eyes.

At her query, the male smiled lightly. He introduced himself as Nia, which sounded like a strange name, but she thought it had a nice, simple ring to it. When he announced that he was deaf, her head cocked further to the side, and she regarded him curiously. How strange. Weren't deaf people also supposed to be mute? Or speak in signs or something? However, she wasn't about to start bugging him about it, that would be rude. The odd, talking rat regarded her companion for a moment longer, before her beady gaze fell upon the features of the slender patchwork girl. She introduced herself as Tally, which was also a weird name to the ebony pelted babe. However, she didn't exactly have a normal name either. "Well, it's good to meet you guys." The girl announced, smiling a big, happy smile. The pallid male pawed playfully at her, and for a brief moment Acadia's memories flashed backward, taking her back through her life to a moment when she was much smaller, and an itty bitty wolflet with an alabaster coat and ebony head did much the same. Her odd, rust stocking'd paw had been the object of the curious assault. The male straightened back up, and regarded her with quizzical, mismatched eyes. Her brother had eyes like that. "I don't want be rude, but how can you talk all normal like, and understand what I'm saying, if you can't hear anything?" She inquired, haunches falling to the rock strewn terra with a complete lack of grace. There was a muffled thump as the connected, and her double dipped plume laid itself out at her side. "I'm not trying to offend you, sorry, but I'm curious." She added, because there was no such thing as apologizing too much. "Speech"

The boy would wag his tail back and forth, watching the other youth curiously. His head tilted to watch her speech. Ears flicking as if they were trying to pick up sound though they no longer could. A grin spread across Nia's face as he wiggled a little. Exciting, exciting. As he opened his maw, he completely forgot to concentrate on his volume with the feeling of his tongue. "NIA WASN'T ALWAYS DEAF. A VOLCANO EXPLODED AND TOOK HIS HEARING AWAY, NIA LEARNED TO READ LIPS." he yelled out loud. Making Tally cover her ears with her tiny paws for a moment and sigh, she had got him all excited. Nia suddenly bounded forward, gently placing his front paws up on Ace's cheek's.
The boy smiled at her, his two different eye colors staring at her with a sense of absence in them. As if there wasn't even another wolf there. He squished softly careful not to hurt her before leaning forward and licking her on the tip of her little black nose as far as he could reach. He hopped away a little before spinning and looking at her while Tally tried to grab onto his hairs to make sure she didn't fall off. "Pretty Pretty lady." Nia said before sitting again, tilting his head.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ the man's reply was sudden, unexpected, and very, very loud. While the patchwork girl jumped somewhat at the sudden shock of his yelling, she was more than happy to yell along with him. Her reply was at exactly the same volume, if not louder, and her jaws splayed a little wider than usual as she shouted, exaggerating her words only slightly in the excitement. "WOW THAT MUST HAVE BEEN REALLY CRAPPY BUT READING LIPS SOUNDS REALLY COOL CAN YOU TEACH ME?!" She exclaimed, her voice echoing from the stone all around them. Acidic optics noted Tally clapping her wee claws over her ears, but she was too worked up now to actually notice it. All of the sudden, her newfound friend bounded toward her, all smiles and glee, and placed his forepaws on either side of her face. At first, she was startled, taken aback by the odd behaviour. However, it was also kind of funny. The ebony girl let out a small giggle, double dipped banner now wagging beside her, thumping rhythmically upon the stony terrain. Nia was grinning, happily staring into her eyes with mismatched optics that were almost void of life. It was odd, but the child didn't really care. Small, ivory paws pressed further into the dark fur of her cheeks, and she giggled more, the warped sound of her vocals coming through her squished lips making her laugh even more. When he gingerly licked her nose, the only response that came to her was to snort. The male bounded away, and whirled around a few times before coming to a stop. A sneeze erupted from the girl's nostrils. she regarded the curious man and his companion for a moment, still wearing a smile. Nia was funny. He announced that she was very pretty, and the girl giggled again. No one called her pretty, they called her odd or unique, but never pretty. The girl blushed a little, but otherwise there wasn't much for her to think of the comment. "Thank you! You're pretty too." She replied, chuckling a little bit. She was having fun with Nia, she rather liked him. He and Tally were interesting, and so far there hadn't been a single dull moment. "Speech" Fenben made me this here arts, thank you Fenben!

Nia's eyes would look past her for a moment, but then focus again when she was speaking. His attention span was lost, like with most things. As he lowered his ears and gave a snuff, he was not pretty. If she knew half the things he had gone through she would take of running. In that hint of sanity, he snapped back and wiggled his hinds quarters tail running back and forth. He would stretch back, his paws on the ground in a play bow. "If you come visit sometimes sure, Nia can teach. Just call if you need me, Tally will know it's you." he let his tongue roll out.
He would curl his tail and sneeze a little, as Tally climbed up on the top of his head. The rat was a little afraid, Ace would get herself hurt. "Be careful Ace....Nia isn't a wholly safe boy." The rat would warn in slight concern for both of them. Jumping off of Nia as he started to chase his own tail, lost in his own little world as per usual. Ignoring them before his attention focused on them again.

Laughing so damn hard, and no one knew why

His eyes slid past her, looking at something over her shoulder. She'd lost his attention, but that wasn't really worrying to her. Sometimes her attention drifted too, and so it wasn't a bad thing. So far, she really liked Nia. He was funny, and she thought he would make a very good friend. Even Tally would be a good friend, and the ebony babe wanted to befriend the white and tan rat. When she spoke, his attention returned to her. Alabaster audits fell back, and a snort of disagreement trumpeted from his nostrils. Clearly their opinions were different, but that was okay. Not everyone agreed on everything, otherwise everything would be super boring. He started to wiggle his rump back and forth, ivory banner sweeping over the rubble strewn terrain again and again. Then he fell forward, hind quarters rising into the air as he stooped into a playful form. She giggled, mimicking him. A joyful grin spread across her obsidian features. He told her he would gladly teach her how to read lips, whenever she called he would answer. A question entered her young mind. Does this mean Nia is my friend now? The small voice asked incredulously, and the internal smile was obvious. "Okay!" She chirped, tail giving a jovial little wag. Making friends was the best thing ever.

The pallid man seated himself again, curling his tail about his paws and sneezing quietly. She let out a quiet sigh, their momentary game forgotten instantly. Without another thought, her own rump fell onto the ground again, far from graceful or quiet in any way. Tally clambered up onto the space between Nia's ears, expression pensive as she regarded the younger lass. The tight expression worried Ace. Had she done something wrong? Mismatched audits fell backward in worry, she hadn't meant to do something bad! However, when Tally spoke, Ace was filled with confusion. Nothing was really wrong with Nia, he was just in a different place in his head than the rest of them. Ullr was like, her older cousin. He was always raving about Greckles, and the Rath. However, she didn't judge him, and followed his lead when she ran into him. Crown would fall to one side, brow knotting. "If everyone were safe, life wouldn't be an adventure." She murmured, watching as the rodent leaped from her new friend's head. Nia lost himself in a game of chase with his own tail. There were times, brief moments throughout the days and the weeks where she was wandering, meeting new people, when Acadia's ancient soul showed through her visage of youth. This seemed to be one of those times.

Finally, Nia looked back to where his companion stood beside the dark lass. She smiled, a tiny giggle bursting forth from her lips. Nia was a funny wolf, and she liked that very much. There was a dim call, heard by the young she wolf at the top of this mountain. It was time for her to go home, it seemed. "I have to go now, Nia." She sighed, frowning visibly. She didn't want to leave her new friend, she really liked him. It was so interesting to see him doing his own thing. Easing herself to her small paws, the wee slip of a girl let her toxic gaze flick between the two. "But I'll come back, maybe tomorrow? You can teach me how to read lips!" She yipped cheerily, double dipped plume wagging briefly. "I'll see you guys soon!" She announced, grinning from ear to ear as she lifted a paw in a small wave before bounding down the slope. She had to get home, and check in with her dad.

.:Exit Acadia:.




"Speech"

But the rest is forgotten