I wish I had a job to quit
Somehow, the lanky youth had become an equally gangly yearling. He'd survived childhood, despite the dissolution of the pack he'd been born into and the subsequent move of his entire family to some strange new group. There were other kids there that were also related to him, but he didn't know if he felt the same kind of love for them that he did for his littermates. Regardless, he offered them the same kind of friendliness. Which was.. weird gifts. Trinkets and scraps of his meal, and offhanded comments that probably didn't register as compliments right away. It was alright, but he was still kind of bored. Maybe it was time to see what all was out there. There was a great big world, and he wasn't exactly tethered to his family. His dad was never the kind to force anything on him, equally free spirited and chaotic. Going for a walk was the best way to clear his head, and the boy's sightless eyes were trained on the ground as his head drooped in deep thought. As the sudden drop beneath one paw shifted his weight dramatically off kilter, he dropped his haunches to the dirt to stop himself from toppling headlong down an unknown slope. Luxe bleated nervously, the young ram butting against the narrow shoulder of his canine companion to knock him sideways and back onto the path. Neither of the boy's companions were particularly affectionate or gentle with him, which suited him just fine. Rolling back to his paws, he revisited the drop-off. Long whiskers and narrow paws carefully skipped over the uneven terrain. There were plenty of roots at this point to use as footholds, and the scent far below was an intoxicating loamy mixture, with a sharp tang of plant life that showed promise. A lilting, off-key tune bubbled up from his chest as he made his way carefully down the incline with that odd, high stepping gait and swing to his hips. He liked to hum and sing to himself, ever since he started mimicking the barn swallows as a tiny pup. It mingled well with the oddly singsong tone of his voice, and kept his brain occupied most of the time when he was simply wandering from place to place. By the time he reached the bottom, the hard packed dirt that his paws landed on was warmed by the sun and devoid of any moisture from the trickling stream that he could hear somewhere close by. As he ambled further within the strange cavern, the swift change in heat upon his dark spine told him he'd left the sun behind and was in the dark of the underground. Not that he cared. Can't see anyways. He followed the sound of the stream until his toes landed in cool, burbling water. A grunt escaped him that sounded more like a chirp, and he splashed his forepaws in the water a few times before turning to follow its path through the subterranean cavern. Mosses and lichens brushed against his paws, and he could hear the susurrating of plants close by. The young wraith drank it all in while his plans for the future rolled over and over in the back of his mind like a vacant shell tumbling in the surf. He'd figure that out eventually. "" |