Navigation Points: The Ancient Oaks The young girl skipped along through the southern continent, just enjoying freedom while she could. Sure she liked to be on her own and not listen to anyone's rules and whatnot, but she also craved the bond between pack mates and the purpose of protecting one another. She loved to help others and would do anything to make someone happy, her hyper attitude was enough to lift up their spirits. She trotted through the weak vines of ivy under her feet, tripping due to her toe catching on them every now and then, but she wouldn't slow down. She admired the different trunks, some broken and beaten but others still standing tall. She would find herself climbing up the side of one, peaking her head inside to find it hollow and grassy on the bottom. She thought these trees would have been long gone, seeing how old and crumbling they were, but somehow the downed ones remained rotting on the floor of the forest. Her tail wagged slightly, she always enjoyed exploring new places, it was a learning experience every time she stepped foot in a new area. Walk "Talk" Think

The boy was enjoying his new found freedom from his family which probably would have made some feel guilty, but not this yearling. He often found himself feeling rather neutral about most things, but so far he hadn't been told anything was odd about him. He'd gone through most of his life finding his own actions and feelings, or lack thereof really, relatively normal. He didn't talk much, didn't associate in play with his siblings, and spent most of his time observing the wildlife wherever his family traveled. He was that kid who liked to track prey just because he liked learning the patterns and trails of where they liked to go. It was how he'd learned that the deer liked heading towards sources of water early morning. He'd also learned their grazing patterns, when the does gave birth to fawns, and he'd even gotten to observe bucks in rutting season.

Prey wasn't the only things he liked to watch. The strange little child found him fascinated by bugs as well and had taken to watching hive creatures. Bees, ants, anything that ended up in a group with one another. Today was no different as he padded underneath the shade of the giant oak trees. It wasn't until he found an ant mound that he stopped to sit a little ways away. He'd learned quickly not to disturb their mounds. As a young child he'd accidentally stepped on a small mound and crushed it underneath his foot. Almost instantaneously fire ants began pouring out in drove and began biting him. Needless to say it was a mistake he was unwilling to make ever again if he could help it.

He sat quietly and watched the mound intently as ants crawled all around it. At least when he'd stepped on the mound as a pup he'd discovered that there were tiny tunnels underneath that the ants lived in. When he'd returned to that same mound a few days later he'd discovered that it had already been rebuilt and thus he learned that ants works very well together as a unit. It drove him to watch them more often as they carried on with their day to day tasks. What did they do in those tiny little tunnels of theirs? They moved without a care in the world and didn't even notice that he was there unless he was to crush their mound with his foot. What strange little insects they were and yet he couldn't stop watching them.

"SPEAK"

Eyes searched around the inside of the hollow trunk for sometime, but it wouldn't be long before the girl lifted her gaze to look at the rest of her surroundings again. In the distance she would notice a dark boy, crouched and interested in something. So she would jump down from her trunk and walk quickly over to him, ears perked and smile on her face. She would step just in front of him, one of her paws crashing down onto the ant hill he happened to be examining. As of right now they were not fire ants, for now, at least not that she was aware of. But she was completely oblivious to where his interests lied, "What ar'you lookin at?" She blurted, wondering why someone would just be laying around out here starting at the dirt. She looked down on him with a wave of her tail, the sun shining behind her as she towered over his crouched body. Walk "Talk" Think

It was easy for the young male to get lost in his thoughts as he watched the ant mound. Losing track of his surroundings wasn't exactly ideal, but the male had never run into any danger while in these woods so he'd grown relaxed. So much that he didn't notice the approach of the other yearling until a foot came down and smashed the anthill he'd been studying. The only reaction was his eyes widening slightly as he realized the ants would, once again, have to rebuild their home. They just weren't having any luck, were they?

Crimson gaze traveled upwards to stare at the body attached to the foot. It was a female and his age too. That didn't happen very often at all. He wasted no time in assessing her before he decided to speak. "You're going to have hundreds of ants trying to attack you in a few seconds if you decide to stand in their mound any longer." He warned in a rather monotone voice. Of course it wouldn't bother him in the slightest if she ignored him and decided to stay where she was standing. It was her fault that she hadn't been watching where she was going. He was at least nice enough to tell her about it though. If he'd been malicious enough he could have just said nothing at all.



"SPEAK"

Narrowing her brows, she looked down at her paw and lifted it, turning it over to examine. She wasn't interested in these bugs... Only the condition of her paw which seemed pretty okay. So she would look back at the boy and step around the crushed pile to be beside him, going down in the crouched position he was in, maybe a little too close for comfort, at least for him. She looked intently at the hole-less pile of dirt now and tilted her chin in confusion, "I don't get it... What's so interesting?" If she stepped on an ant pile, why did she not see any ants? Was he lying to her? Aranea usually didn't notice these little things in life, she may have thought she saw the beauty and nature of everything but she was always sidetracked. Usually by a boy or a potential friend. She didn't really have any other interests besides boys and herbs... But at least she didn't think bugs were disgusting for his sake. That was something, right? Walk "Talk" Think