Basilisk knew the entire world could be at his fingertips, if he just took a plunge and grasped them. He trailed along near the ocean, feeling the sand beneath his oversized paw pads. They were heavy, clumsy, things to cart around. He often found himself tripping over them, and cursing their awkwardness. His siblings seemed better proportioned, and balanced. Why couldn’t he? Perhaps it had something to do with how it seemed almost every day he woke, he had grown a little taller. He already towered over his siblings.

Shaking his head, he turned from the ocean, and raced up the bank. Tripping through the grasses until he found a stream. His parents were too ill and erratic to have fully explained things like boundaries to him yet, and he was well intend on his exploring. He found the tree that had fallen across the stream, and scrambled onto it. With a great deal of luck, and the occasional claw stuck in wood, he managed his way across without mishap. Then he was on the other side, and the strange scent of sulfur touched his nose. He raised his head to the wind, sniffing intently. Wiggling his nose, and marvelling at how the scent almost seemed to burn on its way through.


"Speech"

Ichor was absolutely going to never quite measure up to his siblings, at least physically though he certainly wasn't about to let his own diminutive stature hold him back. After all, he was one of Recluse's children and so as far as he was aware he was among the most powerful wolves in the whole dang world! He'd been told he wasn't allowed to leave the pack, the scent markers were strong and easy enough to notice even for someone as young as him.

But Ichor didn't exactly understand why he needed to follow this rule. Naive for sure, and more than a little unaware of just how unsafe the world was for a pup as young and tiny as he was. The smell of sulfur wasn't quite as unusual to him as it might a wolf who didn't live in the looming shadow of the volcano, though it was significantly stronger here, something he didn't know was a good thing, but that did make him curious. Tiny paws beat against the ground as Ichor approached the closest pool of hot water. Not that he knew that's what it was, small as he was he hardly even reached the mid point of the stone outcropping, frowning the tiny boy jumped, grunts of exertion leaving his lungs as he tried, again and again, to jump high enough to get a glimpse over the lip.

Walking through the hot springs for the first time, the boy looked about himself curiously. His nose was flooded with the strange scents around him. His nose was so completely overwhelmed, that normally reliable sense was blinded. He sneezed, and scrubbed at his nose, disliking the sensation.

Moving further in, he saw the strange pools, with their high sides, and the water that lay still and steaming within. Was that the source of the smell? Movement caught his eye, and he turned quickly, focusing on it. He couldn’t scent the other pup, but his eyes still worked just fine. He grinned as the tiny creature jumped up and down a few times, as through trying to reach the edge of one of the pools. “Did yah want a leg up?” he wondered.

"Speech"