He wasn't quite ready to return home. Something about this eerie landscape made him afraid to return. What if he brought the disease back to the bamboo? His father would never forgive him. Would his father even notice him gone? Feelings rising in him that he had no idea how to deal with. Frustrated, Jiro kicks out at a wall with a forceful backward motion. His face scrunches as pain radiates up his leg. Cursing under his breath, he attempts to place weight upon the paw and instantly brings it back up to his stomach. Nope, it was sprained.

Glancing about the gloomy cavern with dust swirling down from the ceiling, he searches for something to use as a brace. He hoped he wouldn't need to try and pull a piece off of the wall. A collapse in the tunnel would not be ideal. Hobbling further into the mines, Jiro peeks around a corner and spies a small room off the main tunnel that is piled with old supplies that appear promising.

Settling himself down with his injured rear paw sticking outward, he begins sifting through the piles until a decently straight and not rotted piece of wood catches his attention. Picking it up with his teeth, he sets it to the side and continues to look. If he could find some okay pieces of cloth to use, he'd be able to make a splint in no time.

Where was her damn sister slipping off to?? Seri had become an expert shadow even better than Xina had become. Losing Xina every time she tried to track her. Xina's curiosity was furiously frustrated at trying to parse out her sibling's actions. She had to understand what her sister was up to. It annoyed her to no end.

Frustrated at being foiled again she stormed through the caverns, her paws hammered against the earth. Stones and debris skittered all around her, she didn't care if she made noise while on her rampage. She leaped against the side of the cavern just because she could!

She stopped as a new scent drifted over her nose. A stranger! Who might this be? Xina assumed they were probably alerted to her presence, she lowered her head and stalked forward. The shadows were deep and at first, she didn't see much as she peered around the corner of the small room.

"Who's there?" She growled, she didn't like being snuck up on, but her nose was telling her someone was in there and she couldn't make out the different shadows and tiny gleams of the weird old tools and supplies.

"speech"

coded by NachoMumma

Jiro can see just enough through the shadows thanks to the small shafts of light that carry from the tunnel entrance. What the shadows also provide is ample enough cover for his dire-sized body. His starry night coat blends perfectly with that of his surroundings. Even his hazy gray gaze appears as a mere refraction of the light or simply a trick on one's mind. Was he truly there or just a figment of one's imagination attempting to scare them in the dark?

He focuses on his task. Soon, he is able to find a large tattered cloth that has not yet been eaten by moths. Sitting back, he begins to shred the cloth into wide strips that are long enough to fit around his thick leg. Unlike most of his siblings, Jiro had always been bulkier than the rest. Not quite built for stealth or agility, but more for power and brute force. Setting the strips of cloth out on the ground so he can begin to set up his splint-brace-type thing, a sound of tromping paws over packed dirt alerts his attention. His ears perk, fur bristles instinctually, and his breath catches in his throat as he awaits the threat to approach. There's hardly a breeze in the mine to help bring the scent to him, but from the sounds of it, it's a canine.

When the sharp voice breaks the silence he's shrouded in, Jiro almost chuckles. "Jiro, and who's over there?" He calls out, his voice was still a bit between teenage and adulthood, unsure if it wants to be deep or pitched.