The silence of the caverns is deafening. The darkness is comforting to the young boy and he finds himself slipping away from the familiar presence of his parents and into the unknown. Steel had grown accustomed to the salty air of the ocean and the constant song of sea-birds overhead, and these caves are something entirely different. The air is dank here, thick with the stench of mildew and.. emptiness. There is no life in these caves, which only further piques his curiosity. With a fair bit of wariness he begins his descent into the cavern. His paw-steps are careful and deliberate; he knows his parents would not survive without him, and he dares not risk putting them into danger by being stupid. Though far from timid, he is certainly not brash enough to step into danger so willingly.
The boy is quiet as he makes his way downward, the strange smell of the cavern growing stronger with each step, though he continues on. What he might find here, he doesn't know; but he still maintains a childlike wonder at things he does not know, and he can't help but continue into the darkness, straining to see in front of him as his eyes begin to adjust to the caves. His tail raises behind him, offering a bit of balance as he pads along the slick stone that makes up the cavern.
The girl had felt it, it was like she could hear her soul crying up to the heavens. She was too late to see Tahlia one last time, she tried so hard to be there. But it wasn't enough. She lurked around those parts for a long while, but now that she was gone, what was she going to do next? She could see if Talon would let her stay with him and Kangi... Or try and settle somewhere in a pack? She could just stay hidden away like she had been...
For now she was making her way south, even if she wanted the stay on the mainland, she could still visit him. She had found herself into the entrance of some unusual caverns, a light shining down at the other end, or what she thought was the end. She would just look inside for a long moment... Not too sure if she wanted to go inside, but something inside was drawing her in...
By the time she made it to the other side, there was no other side. She looked down another tunnel that led to more light at the end. Maybe she was dead? She would start to walk towards the next skylight until she noticed someone else's scent. She then came to a halt and witched her ears to see if she could hear them. But if they hadn't noticed she was here, she let out a quiet whine that echoed around her, making her jump. If she barked, she might have sounded threatening. SHe didn't want someone coming after her thinking she was a monster of some sort...
Though initially these caverns had felt comforting, he found his mind wandering as he ventured deeper into the darkness. The future was not something he thought about often, for it made him deeply uncomfortable to try to imagine where he might be in a week -- let alone in a few months, or even a year from now. This had become his life and he didn't want it to change. This quiet, solitary existence was growing comfortable for him. Caring for his parents, making sure they were fed and comfortable, gave him purpose and reason to continue on.
Without them, he felt like he might cease to exist entirely.
The child's morbid thoughts were interrupted by the scent of another, following by a feminine whimper echoing through the deep cave system. The fur along his back bristled, feeling immediately defensive. He was to keep safe and stay out of danger; without him, his parents would surely die much sooner. Crimson eyes narrowed, straining to see through the darkness, looking for whoever it was that lurked in these caverns with him. "What do you want?" his empty voice would call out. His voice was still of a child, but slowly deepening as he grew older.
A voice, she could tell that it was one of a growing boy, and it had called back to her. Though it wasn't much of a warm, welcoming type. He would ask what she wanted, and only interested in the boys safety, she would start to proceed on. She felt completely blind in the tunnels, her only light was that of the continuous sky lights that happened to be spread around.
"Just came by to check things out." It was so weird that she was only speaking in her normal volumes but her voice could travel so far throughout the caverns. "What is it you want?"
Surely the boy wasn't staying here, Misty wouldn't have wanted to stay here when she was young. Maybe he was lost? Or hurt? Or maybe just found the caverns to play? She would come to the next sky light and look around the next tunnels. If she couldn't see this boy, maybe he could see her under the light. If not, she would have to continue on.
Without much warning she began to approach further, the gentle pattering of her pawsteps bouncing off the cavern walls. His stern gaze would narrow, curious as to what her intentions were, only silently fearing for the worst. Though her voice was not cruel, it was not entirely kind either, and he found himself wondering what kind of individual she might be.
What did he want? "I wanted to be alone." He spoke matter-of-factly, his voice not necessarily cold but certainly not all that welcoming. "I like the darkness." And yet he found himself expectantly peering into the distance, searching for the source of the voice amidst the slight light that found its way down into the caverns.
When he finally caught a glimpse of her, he was dumbfounded. Her pelt was a strange array of colors. To his defense, most of the wolves back in Sawtooth -- before it had been taken and changed to Ludicael -- had been plain looking. Most of the pack had consisted of Destructions, as well as his own family, and they looked nothing like this girl.
She was beautiful, and he found himself admiring her for a long moment from the distance. Still he lurked in the shadows, unseen by her, assessing the situation silently. It didn't seem all that dangerous, though she was quite a bit older than him, and slowly he found himself slinking into a faint sliver of light that came from the ceiling above. "What did you expect to find here?"
Completely unaware that she had been spotted herself, she would keep looking around to see if she could spot them first. "It can't be too fun in the dark." She spoke softly, trying to make her self seem even less threatening, though the boy hadn't seen her as such.
But just as she went to pick up her paw the continue to the next skylight, the boy would be spotted in a thin light from above. He was very dark, black and grey and had very evil looking red eyes. But his eyes didn't hold that kind of emotion, they were well hardened but from the little light after spotting his figure, she could tell he didn't mean any harm.
Her eyes looking directly in his should have been enough to know he was spotted. She much easier to see even if there wasn't light on top of her. She was mostly white, and brown was easier to spot than grey. "A memory." She would reply to his question. She didn't need a wolf to be here to make a memory. She didn't know that the cave let off hallucinations, but that would be enough of a memory for her... She traveled all over Alacritia for a memory or two. Here would be no different.
Briefly, he was entranced by her -- taken by her strange markings and green eyes, by her soft and mysterious voice, swaying slightly on the pads of his paws. ""I never said it was fun," Steel correctly her quickly, eyes narrowing as he watched her still. "I just said I liked it." His childhood had been strange; he'd never been one known to be interested in playing and since their departure from Ludicael, much of his time had been spent either caring for his parents or in quiet solitude.
Carefully he crept a bit closer to her, just a few steps, aiming to close the distance between them. Finally she saw him through the darkness and instinctively he would dip his head, certainly not wanting to seem threatening to her, though she was older and he figured she'd likely not submit to him, a mere boy less than a year old. He felt his head spinning, unknowingly affected by the gasses let off deep beneath the earth. "What sort of memory?" came his next inquiry, a bit more bold than before, another few daring steps taken as he wanted to examine her a bit better. "Are you looking for someone?" Voice had a sort of childlike curiosity to it as he spoke to her, wondering who on earth would be in these caves.. or what she was looking for at all. "My name is Steel, by the way..."
