Mæva pushed herself closer to her father's warm belly. She didn't like the weird stone walls of their new den, they were cold! She liked being with her dad though. It was nice and quiet here without a bazillion older cousins chattering and yelling and breaking stuff and squishing her. She wrinkled her nose. She really hated the squishing! Aureus was the worst. She kind of liked her sisters though. Felicity was so brave and Amaris so smart. She couldn't wait to be like them when she grew up. But boys were stinky!

A rustling caught her attention as she turned her bright, honey-gold eyes to the source. A small lizard scurried across the floor and her ears immediately flicked up at attention. Glancing quickly she saw her dad was still asleep. He'd been patrolling all night and she knew he woke sometimes to bad dreams. Quietly, so as not to wake him, she dislodged herself from her father and quietly began to stalk towards the lizard.

Aaliyah had always been an early riser, waking up before the sun did on most days. During this time, she would stroll around the new territory, familiarizing herself with it and learning each nook and cranny as she had with the other homes she lived in. This place was special, however, and fortified. While it was crumbling stone stacked on top of crumbling stone, the building had stood for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years. Aaliyah had never seen its like, and the more she explored the hallways and vaulted, cavernous banquet halls, the more she fell in love with the place. This morning found her moving along the borders when a flash of white catches her ruby eyes. The smoky Abraxas woman moved with silence, hoping not to give herself away with her following. Though, what she found both amused and confused her. There was a pup with a broad white back and fire with smoke sides. The girl was absolutely beautiful, and while she had the obvious look of an Abraxas, Aaliyah wondered if she carried the scent as well. Watching from behind a large grey-tan boulder, Aaliyah sees the cub tracing something small through the grass. Interested to see where this would go, the smoke and shadow woman simply spectated for now. Wondering what the girl would do with the lizard once she caught up to it. OOC: Bleh, sorry it sucks! "Speech" Walk. "You." 'Think.'

ooc: Sorry for shortness!

Mæva approached the lizard quietly, her little butt in the air and her tail wagging gently. She couldn't wait to catch the lizard and bring it to her dad but she knew she had to be quiet or it would hear her and get away. She was so excited she had no idea that she was being watched by her older cousin and when she was just a bit closer she sprang. "Yarrgh!" Her front paws landed on the lizard's tail and the girl was sure she obtained victory only to see the lizard scramble off and disappear into a hole in the wall short its tail. Mæva squinted at the twitching, wriggling tail underneath her paws. "Ewwwww!"

Aaliyah watched as her younger cousin pounced and caught the lizard by the tail, smiling as she watched the clever reptile slip its tail and dart away into a burrow. The youngster's reaction to the squirming remnant the lizard had left her had Aaliyah rolling with laughter, though it was the kind of laughter that said she had been in similar situations. "They do that to birds too. Though, the birds don't seem to mind as much as we do. It's a clever survival strategy." As she moved forward she waved her tail and smiled at her little cousin. "I'm Aaliyah. What can I call you?" She asked, not wanting to continue the conversation repeatedly calling her cousin. If she remembered correctly, the girl belonged to Ashiel, though she could be mistaken. It was doubtful though.

Mæva batted at the lizard tail, wrinkling her nose in both disgust and fascination as she watched the detached limb flail about.  When another voice spoke Mæva whipped around, fur on end, only to turn to fast and fall forward. She swiftly picked herself up and stared at the older girl, head tilting to the side as she examined her. She had very pretty eyes. The girls ears perked up at the mention of birds losing their tails to.  "Really?" she gasped, "What kind of birds? Is it just their tails?"

The woman introduced herself as Aaliyah. "I'm Mæva!" the girl chirped.  She eyed the hole and bounded over to it.  Deftly she stuck a paw in but didn't feel anything. She frowned and turned back to Aaliyah. "Are you a hunter? Do you know how to get it out of there?" She supposed she'd probably just have to wait but she wasn't sure she could sit still that long.

The girl seemed to misunderstand her, but that was alright, Aaliyah had never really been good at explanations. The scent of Abraxas was all over the girl, so she figured this one was related, even if she didn't know her origins. "No, no...The birds try to eat the lizards, so the lizard loses his tail. The bird just gets a tasty treat, but not the whole lizard. And yes, it is only the lizard's tail that does this." She giggled, "Don't worry though, the tail grows back." Smiling as she listened to the girl introduce herself and ask more questions. 

Were all children this way? No wonder her mother and father left, how were there so many questions about the world? "I'm not a hunter, but I am pretty sure the lizard is gone. Unless you would rather wait, but I think they know when we wait on them, because they stay forever in there." Aaliyah remembered doing something similar as a pup, and she grinned again. "Wanna go chase some rabbits through the courtyard? They would be more fun." Her tail waved as she delivered the offer to the younger Abraxas, hoping the girl wouldn't want to wait out the lizard.

"What?! Really?" Mæva was shocked that the tail would actually grow back. She turned to look at her own tail, watching it wave tantalizingly in the air and she frowned and wrinkled her nose. "My tail won't fall off if someone pulls on it right?" That would be super gross and she couldn't imagine what it was like to have your tail disconnected from you and then to watch it slowly grow back.

The other girl wasn't a hunter but she seemed to think the lizard was gone and Mæva frowned. Darn it! She kind of wanted to wait but then if the lizard already knew she'd be standing guard well… she didn't want to do that all day. It would be sooooooo boring. At the mention of rabbits though she perked up. "Sure! Can you teach me to hunt rabbits?" Just because the older girl wasn't a hunter didn't mean she didn't know how to hunt.

A glimmer of movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and to her delight the lizard had slipped out of its hole and was moving swiftly along the edge of the wall. Mæva tensed and then leapt toward it. Her initial pounce missed but as the lizard tried to double back she pinned it with her paws and swiftly downed the slippery creature, crunching happily on it she turned toward Aaliyah with a big grin on her face. A grin smeared with lizard guts.

A Wild Santa Paws Appears!

What's that? Is it Lil Ardy dressed up as Santa? No, silly, it's Santa Paws!

Already in the Christmas spirit, Lil Ardy - err, Santa Paws, can be seen dragging a large bag of gifts behind her. As she approaches Mæva, she rummages through her things and tosses a bundle of gemstones at her.

100 Gemstones have been added to your credits!