Mom had taken her out today, but it wasn't very far. She said that the nearby willows were full of frogs and fish and that she should start learning how to hunt. But there was a bit of a problem with that. Rue wasn't interested in hunting. She would learn, of course. She'd know how to catch her own meals eventually, but her main interests didn't lie in hunting like her mom's. But even so, shortly after they got there, Medusa had shown her how to slap a few fish from the water before taking off after telling her she'd be back after Rue caught some. Rue's crimson gaze watched her disappear into the reeds, unsure where Medusa was going but used to being left alone. Which was fine, Rue liked her own company sometimes and Medusa leaving the kids to their own devices was pretty normal. But Rue wasn't about to start fishing, nope! She wasn't even hungry right now! Instead, she set about exploring the area, and almost right away she spotted some big round green plants or something on the other side of the pond. She skittered over to them, inspecting them, knocking on them, and even licking them. Hmm...they weren't very tasty...but they were round. No wait...oval? Oblong? She looked around as she noticed there were more! A whole patch of them, green things with dark green stripes...they looked like giant eggs! She walked over to a pretty big, round one. Rue tapped on it and heard a dull thunk. What were they!? Could she eat them? What was inside? She sat down and wondered while she stared at it, almost expecting it to hatch open at any moment. WC: 283/2,500 "Speak"

She had been taking a nice stroll through the willow trees, appreciating the landscape one last time before the snows would arrive and cover all the beauty. Not that snow wasn't beautiful, but it was plain and all the same no matter where she looked. A dull thunk had Inoki turning her head, ears rotating towards the unusual sound. The slight breeze in the air offered her no answer, but curiosity piqued well enough she changed her course. At first she came upon a rather large patch of watermelons of all shapes and sizes. She tapped one lightly with a front paw, lips peeling back in a grin at the soft taps that sounded quite like what she had just heard. So that's what the thud had been. Her gaze lifted then, wondering if whoever, or whatever, had made the noise was still around. It took her a few moments, but she finally spotted the creature. And what an interesting creature they were. Covered in browns, with a skeletal-looking marking of cream a bright contrast. A child, but a younger one. She quickly glanced around, nose twitching as she tried to find the parent of the child. But it seemed they were alone. Well, perhaps she could babysit for a bit, and maybe crack open a few of the watermelons for a tasty treat. "You ever tried watermelon before, kid?" She called out with a wide grin, tail wagging lazily by her hind legs, a front paw still gently resting on the large watermelon in front of her. Word count: 544/2,500

She continued to tap on the big round green thing. Wondering if, at some point, it would crack open or something. But the outside felt thick, and she was curious to know what the hell was inside! Since she didn't have sharp claws or even sharp claw covers like her mom, she opened her mouth and was about to try and take a bite to see if she could puncture it when someone spoke up. "You ever tried watermelon before, kid?" Her head shot up, peering past the big thing, and spotted a dark...someone. "What's a watermelon!?" She exclaimed with confusion. She looked at the green-striped...things that were around her. "You mean they're not giant eggs!? Can Rue eat them?" Eat them, cut 'em open, roll 'em around...she swore she could do just about anything with them. Though she was skeptical about the eating part. She dropped to the ground suddenly and snipped one off of the vine thing that it was attached to, and almost as soon as she did it began to roll away. "No wait, come back! Rue wants to know what you are!" She shouted as she bounded after the runaway watermelon. It headed toward the water, and Rue yelled at it as she raced to stop it from going in. She made it, but not without tumbling with it first. She practically rolled with the watermelon as she had tried to catch it with her paws. Her world went spinning for a few heartbeats before she came to a stop near the water's edge. She was on her back, and without skipping a beat, she popped her head up to try and peek over the watermelon at the stranger, the watermelon grasped firmly in her arms and held to her chest. "Rue caught it!" She exclaimed before carefully pushing it off of her so she could sit upright. Now because the watermelon had tried to run away, this one was going to be her victim! She couldn't wait to carve it open to see what was inside! "What now?" She questioned the shadow wolf, crimson gaze expectant. She was eager to see what was inside! Maybe spill its guts if it had any, though the more she considered it, she wondered if she could make something neat from it to show her mother. Oh! Or how about a watermalone helmet!? That would be cool, too! WC: 944/2,500 "Speak"

The child peered at her over the watermelon, seemingly incredulous that the round objects were not... eggs? Inoki could forgive ignorance due to limited real world experience, but at the fact the child thought the watermelons were eggs she let out a series of barks of laughter. Now that was definitely a first for her. But before she could control her laughter and give an answer, watermelon went rolling towards the lake edge and the child swiftly followed in pursuit. Inoki simply stood and watched, at least until the child tripped and fell, yet somehow still managed to save the watermelon from rolling into the lake. She bounded after the child, not exactly worried, but wanting to close the distance just in case something bad happened. The child appeared fine, gleeful, even, and excitedly asked her what they were going to do next. She hadn't expected to actually interact with the child, but why not, she had time to spare. And perhaps the parent would appreciate their child being under the watchful gaze of an adult. "Well done," Inoki said, giving the child some praise for not losing the watermelon. "If you'd like we can take out the yummy stuff from inside the rind to eat." She'd harvested watermelons before and found them to be a very tasty treat, especially in summer. "I'll help you roll it back over to the others, that way we can each work on our own watermelon?" The child would have a more fun time harvesting her own watermelon rather than sharing, but it would be easier to direct her if they were closer together. Word count: 1,216/2,500

The strange congratulated her on a job well done, and Rue's tail went to wagging a mile a minute when she mentioned something about taking out the yummy stuff to eat! "Rue likes yummy stuff!" She exclaimed, her face practically scrunching up with a wide-toothed grin of glee! "Let's do it!" She hopped up to her feet and with the help of the stranger, began to roll it back towards the others. Once there, she sat and waited patiently for the instructions from the other wolf, since clearly, she had no idea how to pry it open and get the goodies out! Maybe her mom would know, but her mom was...probably still hiding from her (whoops!) But right now, this was far more interesting to Rue, especially now that she knew she could get yummy stuff out of it. Turning to the stranger, she nearly danced in place as she circled the watermelon, nose touching every possible part of its surface almost as if she was expecting to push some magical button that would just pop it open. "Can you open it now? Show Rue how to open it, please? Rue wants the yummy stuff!" She was impatient, yes. Was she annoying? Probably. Maybe it was just how she was. Or maybe others would just see it as her being the young pup she was. Whatever the case, she looked expectantly at the other before she realized she needed a name to put to her face! "Oh! My name is Rougarou! But everyone calls me Rue! What's your name? You're pretty! Are you from here? Are you an Insomniac? You don't smell like my mom's pack! Your eyes are bright blue and pretty! Like the sky! Can we open this now???" WC: 1,507/2,500 "Speak"

The child was receptive to her idea with that youthful innocence and excitement Inoki wished she still possessed. She helped roll the watermelon back to the rest of the patch, taking care to not squish any paws on the way there. It would be a shame to make the child cry, and Inoki didn't feel like dealing with an emotional child and and angry parent. Once the fruit was settled near the others she moved to inspect the others, looking for one that was large enough to maybe even use as some sort of bowl for herbs, but small enough that her dexterous-fingered friend would still be able to carry it around. The child chattered excitedly, or rather over-excitedly, but it didn't bother Inoki all that much. She simply tuned out the unnecessary parts of what the child, who she now knew went by Rue, was saying. A soft giggled escaped her at Rue's babbling, a thought in the back of her mind thinking that perhaps the parent had intentionally dropped the child off so they could get some peace and quiet. "It's nice to meet you Rue, I'm Inoki. And no, I'm not part of your pack." The compliment was nice, especially from a child, she knew they had no filter and usually said what first came to mind, but she figured breezing past it was the better option since Rue was so excited to start opening the watermelon. "Watch me closely," Inoki said to Rue, settling herself next to her chosen watermelon so the child could easily see what she was doing. With a well-placed paw Inoki pushed down on the rounder edge of her somewhat oval-shaped watermelon, and it made a very satisfying crack as a small line appeared in the rind. She carefully dug a blunt claw into one end of the crack, and very slowly pried it open until the crack spanned the length of the rounder edge. "You want to be careful to not crack the rind all along the length of the watermelon, unless you plan on having two open halves," she explained as she worked. She then set one forepaw upon the non-cracked side of the watermelon, while the other very quickly tugged at the crack to snap off one part of the rounded edge, leaving her with an opening that she could scoop out the insides and then have a hollowed-out watermelon to carry something in. Or for her friend to carry since she didn't have opposable thumbs. Inoki then looked at Rue, setting the small chunk of watermelon and rind beside her. "Now you try. If you are struggling I'll help you, this takes a bit of delicate work to do correctly, depending on what you want to achieve." Word count: 1,970/2,500

With the stranger's help, they rolled the watermelon back to the rest of the patch. And while the stranger named Inoki looked for a watermelon of her own, Rue quietly clambered halfway onto hers and used her hind paws to slowly, and gently, roll the watermelon back and forth while her small body rested on it. She watched as Inoki picked one out, "Watch me closely," Rue watched her with intensity, crimson gaze never leaving the woman and what she was doing as she began to get to work. She watched as Inoki pressed down on the watermelon, and she heard a satisfying crack come from the fruit. Then she watched as she gently pried open part of it with her claw, listening to the woman's explanation about being careful not to crack the full length of it unless she wanted two halves. Hmm...well, Rue was pretty small. The watermelon she swore weighed more than she did, but still, thought up some things in her head while she watched Inoki work. When she was done, she looked at Rue, urging her to try it for herself. Rue gleefully nodded and slid off her watermelon, walking a couple of circles around it as she tried to figure out how she was supposed to use her weight (or lack thereof) to make a crack as Inoki had. "Rue is small though, how can I-" Her gaze drifted towards the edge of the lake, and she spotted a sharp, pointed rock. "Aha!" She briefly abandoned her watermelon and ran over to pick it up. Grabbing it in her teeth, she ran back to the watermelon before it could roll away again and before anyone could say anything else, she whomped the top side of her watermelon with the pointed end of the rock and she heard a combination of crack-squish! And suddenly some red stuff splattered out! She dropped her rock and shook her head, eyes wide as she saw the juicy red stuff inside. "Watermelon!?" Despite her careless whomping, she had somehow managed not to destroy the fruit and its entirety, and (due to her lack of strength at this age), had managed to make a good-sized hole at the top, albeit a messy one that had caved in the top of the rind, but hey, at least there was an opening now! "I opened it!" She exclaimed, before licking her lips and...realized that watermelon tasted sweet!? She had never tasted anything like this! Without anyone needing to urge her, she set to scooping out the insides of the watermelon, carefully setting some of it to the side on some broad leaves, while also eating some in between stashing it. It was juicy and sweet, and before long, she had a half-empty watermelon with a good crack on the top. She couldn't get further in without breaking it more, so instead, she used her teeth to gently pull off bits and pieces of the rind as Inoki had said. She did this all around the top until the hole was wide enough that she could reach in and scoop out more, and it wasn't long before most of the insides were scooped out and she had an almost hollow watermelon shell. She giggled as she sat back and looked at it, noticing she had accidentally clawed out a lopsided semi-circle sort of thing near the bottom while she was scooping out the watermelon. "It almost looks like it has a mouth?" Was the watermelon smiling at her now? She giggled again as an idea struck her, and she grabbed the pointed rock again and this time she (sort of gently) began to poke and pierce and scrape the side of the watermelon until she had made two rough ovally circles. Spitting the rock out, she then grabbed a couple of leaves and stuck them into the cracks on the top on either side of the hole she had made before sitting back and admiring her handiwork. "Look Inoki! It's a wolf-er-melon!" WC: 2,640/2,500 "Speak"