This whole area had a feeling that the boy didn't like. He skirted around the sandy edges, vibrant yellow eyes scanning the lands. Why did this place feel so... icky? The feather decorated man stuck out his tongue, not sure why he even came this way. He just wanted to find a new place to explore, and the sand had been so... bright! Timidly Lebrah stretched out a single paw and dabbed it towards the surface, but the ground was different. It felt squishy under his pads, like it was going to give out under his weight. Blinking, he slapped his paw down even harder. It felt like it was going to suck his paw down with it, making him yelp and jump backwards. It was like there was a wolf down there trying to pull him into the sand. That was scary! He didn't like that one bit....

Lebrah stood at his full height -- not that it was anything impressive -- and looked around him again. What was this place? The sand was trying to eat him! To steal him away! Tail tucked between his legs as his red ears pulled back against his head. What if the ground around him was going to start to try and eat him? No where was safe, no where! Oh great... he got himself stuck again. First in a tree, and now in this strange place that wanted to eat him. Why did he even bother on going on adventures now without Anais? Picking up that same leg, his paw dangled in the air as he fought with what to do. Should he try to run, or just stand here and wait to be rescued?

With the steady increasing warmth of spring, Áki had begun to feel even more restless. A wanderer by nature, he found himself even more in need of new lands to venture through and new sights to see as the season slowly morphed into something significantly more bearable. Though the nights were still cool, the days were growing pleasantly warm. Still the east would be his territory of choice for now, wandering through the tall trees until he found his way to a vast area of sand and muck.

Perhaps it wasn't the most pleasant of places, but his curiosity had been picqued -- and there was no leaving until it was fully sated. With wary pays he would make his way across the flat terrain, testing the strength of the ground underfoot. Nostrils would flare as he tasted the air. Besides the expected scents, there was another one here too, that of a male. Crimson gaze would squint as he gaze it upon the horizon, searching for the source. Why would someone -- other than him -- be lurking in such a squalid place?

It took a long while for him to spot him, a white-furred thing with vibrant markings, clinging to the ground.. as though it was swallowing him whole. A bit of curiosity would fill his chest as he stepped closer, eying him from a good distance. "This is no place for wolves," his husky voice would shout across the large expanse of land before them. His voice was deep, thick with a northern accent that was not generally heard in Alacritia. A single step forward told him the land was dangerously soft and he didn't dare find himself sinking into the earth as this stranger was. "Why did you come here?"

Panic was starting to set in on the man, his chest heaving in and out in quick breaths. There were times when he remembered being embarrassed and wishing that the ground swallowed him up, but it wasn't like he had really wanted it to! He let out a high-pitched whine, paws shuffling on the soft ground and wondering how the hell he was going to get out of this place. It was then that a stranger called out to him, and he turned his pale head to look at the creature. There was quite the distance between the two, but Lebrah could tell that he was a big, big wolf. Well... at least he thought he was a wolf. His head tilted to the side as the stranger said that this was no place for a wolf. "But, then what are you?" he called back. He thought he saw a gleam of white under his bottom jaw, like teeth or something. He squinted, trying to get a better look at them. Were those... tusks? Perhaps he really wasn't a wolf! A boar-wolf maybe? His voice sounded strange, like he wasn't from around here. Lebrah wasn't either, but his accent was much more slight. The stranger then asked what he was doing, and he shrugged his shoulders. Lebrah realized that he probably didn't see it, but it was a reflex move. "I just wanted an adventure! But now I'm stuck..."

The man was afraid to move, to really put his weight anywhere but where he was currently standing. The ground was pretty hungry it seemed, cause it really wanted to eat him up. "So uh... do you wanna be a really nice boar-wolf thing and help me?" Lebrah still didn't know what the stranger was, since this was no place for wolves. Maybe he was a very nice strange creature thing, and would help him out. Anais didn't seem to think that strangers were very nice, but he seemed like it! Plus, what kind of mean person would ask what he was doing here?

table by argent/neffs

Áki watched the man silently. Though he appeared to be older than himself, his antics were childlike, consumed by a frantic sort of panic. If only he knew that he could likely escape the earth's grasp if he only calmed himself instead of flailing about wildly.

And yet his presence brought an air of surprise to the stranger. An exasperated sigh left his lips at the man's question. "Why the hell do I keep getting asked that?" he spat quickly, and loudly, his deep voice booming over the vast land that separated the two of them. Brows would furrow indignantly and he found his nose scrunching slightly.

A huff escaped from his wide chest. No matter what this wolf said to him, he needed help; and while he was not the most selfless of creatures, it would do him no good to watch someone struggle to their death. He would grumble something under his breath as he moved forward precariously, feeling the sand beneath his paws give slightly. "I am just a wolf," he would huff, hardly loud enough for Lebrah to hear. "And nothing more!"

The land was dangerously soft below his paws, but he would carefully navigate the terrain, directing himself toward the rapidly sinking man. His movements were extremely precise, a sense of calm washing over him as he brought himself closer. "Stop panicking," he told him sternly. "Try to grab hold of me somehow." Slowly he would direct his massive form closer to his, unsure if it would be best to try to get the man to climb onto his back -- the weight might be too great and send them quickly plummeting into the quicksand...