The little Firefox wanted to learn how everything worked. Every ticking piece of the Ashen Empire was a mystery she wanted to unravel. Starting with patrols, how often did they run, what spots did they cover? What did they protect the wolves from?

Today, the little firesprite was going to find herself a patrolman and stalk them and question them until their hearts gave out from frustration. She faced her problem logically, she made her way first to the border. She was careful, she knew how much trouble she would get in if she crossed over that scent boundary. Instead, she sniffed near the line, and then paced herself back into Ashen territory by a few feet. There, careful, precise.

Raising her tiny head high, with its little amber stumps between her ears and eyes as bright as the ocean glowing, she began to make her way around the pack. What she learned from doing so, was that the island was big and occasionally there were rocks or driftwood that she had to scamper over. Climbing them, was, to the tiniest pp of the litter, like climbing a mountain. She had just conquered one such rock now, and stood at its peeking, huffing and puffing. She paused on her vantage point, and looked about a patrol-wolf.


"Speech"

The scaly boy followed after his flaming sister quietly, his dark frame and glowing body sticking out amongst the deep white snow they trudged through. Kit was possibly the most independent of their litter, and if not definitely the most independent of his sisters. Whereas he worried that Ike might hurt herself with her clumsiness, he worried Kit might hurt herself with her abrasiveness. It was like she was fearless, something both admirable and vaguely frustrating. He let her explore ‘alone’ for a while, watching her closely tiptoe the line of their borders before dancing back and continuing on, a sigh of relief escaping his lips when she didn’t cross over their set boundary. It wouldn’t be long before she did though, he knew. It was only a matter of time before his wayward sibling’s curiosity got the better of her.

Take continued behind her, watching as her smaller frame scampered up a large rock with a bit of struggle. He watched from afar, making sure she made it safely before venturing forward himself. The boy let out a chuff of greeting and a good-natured wag of his tail as he, too, scampered up the rock. He stood next to her, glowing red gaze settling on his sibling with a tilted head, his expression asking her “What are you up to?”

"Thoughts/expression intention"

Ah! If it wasn’t her little dragon shadow. She grinned at Takē impishly and wiggled her ears at him. She was itching to drag her dragon brother out on her adventures with her. She would have today, but she had gone off on a tangent and gotten distracted all on her own. No matter! He was here now.

She watched in dismay as he scampered up the rock with ease. She let out a soft snort, he had gotten all the luck with height. Once he had settled, she brazenly leaned against his larger form, careful of the little curved nubs heading towards his ears as she did so.

Now, she couldn’t see the question in his eyes, but she could feel it all the same. “I’m learning the pattern of the patrols, and who does them.” She said breezly, as though it was no matter. As though she didn’t think it would come in handy one day to know exactly where to slip through, and who might be less attentive then the others when she did so.

"Speech"

Take raised a brow at his sister’s snort as he made his way up the rock, though he could take a guess as to why she’d reacted like that. Kit was much more petite than most of her other siblings, save for Ike, which left her looking a bit like a mouse in a den of house cats. Still, she used her size to her advantage, leaving her to literally run circles around them with her zippity quick speed. Their mother called her her little fire fox and he honestly could see why.

The girl leaned into his larger frame, settling her full weight against him which honestly felt like nothing. Take had grown used to his siblings using him as a cuddly teddy bear, having woken up since birth every morning or evening to at least one of them curled up against or over his body. Something about his glowing scales feeling cozy and peaceful, though they apparently stopped their glowing while he dreamt and fired right back up again as soon as he awoke. He was truly an oddity.

Lucky for him, his siblings also seemed to know what he meant to say without his need for words. This definitely came in handy when he couldn’t verbally communicate for himself and they were mostly accurate with his intentions, though Oki had a habit of running away with his eccentricities. She told him that she was learning about the patrols and who did them and this immediately made him give her a suspicious look, his glowing blood red gaze narrowing ever so slightly. Her quickness wasn’t the only thing that made her like a fox, she was also a cunning little girl that had a plan or intention behind everything. “What are you planning this time?” his eyes asked.

"Thoughts/expression intention"

Perhaps it was just a byproduct of spending almost every minute of every day with siblings from birth, but she rarely had a problem understanding Take. Perhaps she understood him through osmosis, certainly she was often close enough to absorb his thoughts. Draped over him, or fully lying on his back with her little body at sleep times. It wasn’t always Take she snuggled, she liked to move around and squeeze her beloved siblings and parents as often as she could. But she always came back to him.

She glanced across at him, stretching out her neck and nose so she could peer at him after her brazen words. There it was, the narrowed eyes and squint accusation. He didn’t buy her trivial tone. Continued to lean over him to get a good look at his face - the best way of ‘listening’ to him, she grinned. Bopping him gently on the nose in a ‘never you mind’ sort of fashion. “What? I’m curious” she said with mock defensiveness. The more you knew, the better prepared you were

"Speech"