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ITEM (Nothing To Use!)

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ACT (No Enemy Present!)

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RUN (Following Politely!)

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Eyelids peeled open so suddenly when she produced the fish from what looked like clear empty water, he blinded himself again. Reeling back and blinking harshly, Southeast’s tail wagged and he lifted on four paws to hop gleefully on the grass. A fish! A real fish! Look at it, wiggling and writhing! Wow, wow, wow! He was completely in awe. This was the first animal he had ever seen outside. Aside from the wolf in front of him, but he meant the stupid animals.

Daiyu dropped it and it started to hop up on the ground in some kind of war dance. Immediately shocked by this development, he paused entirely. Southeast found these movements to be hypnotic. Was it pleading for its life through interpretive dance? It was a wonder he knew what THAT was, but he rid himself of the thoughts with a thorough shake. She had entrusted him to put it down, and that he would!

Oh. It seemed to actually already be dead. Just kicking. How was it doing that? Snuffling around the collar of the scaled creature, it flipflopped again. Quickly pulling away, he whacked it very hard on the head with his paw. That must have done it, because it clenched to one side and then froze there. Once he was satisfied with the lack of movement, he lunged forward with big, dramatic bites. Crunching down the scales too, actually… What on earth… 'Fank oo! The boy barked through mouthfuls of fish. He still had manners.

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ITEM (Nothing To Use!)

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ACT (No Enemy Present!)

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RUN (Nowhere to Go!)

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After a prolonged silence interrupted only by the sounds of snapping, twiggy fish bones and quiet ptuhing of fish scales, Southeast lifted his tan head to gulp down what was left of the final bite. He seemed significantly more relaxed now. At least, he did not look one bitter word away from tears. Resting his small chin on equally small paws, the boy looked towards the water. Can we see the oh-sheen now? He had never heard of the tale of waiting twenty minutes after you eat before getting in the water, but he would not have cared even if he did.

Already starting forwards with a determined look, his head was kept low and ears pinned back with each cautious stop towards the glistening tide pools he took. It really was beautiful. Paws slipped on rocks dashed with sea spray and salt and sand, nostrils taking in the new scents. It all smelled like Miss Daiyu. Or maybe she smelled like it all. He thought it more believable to say the latter.

He touched down just at the bottom of a rocky wall, hindlegs still sat atop as best he could to back away in case the situation complicated itself. Hypnotized by the blue waves, Southeast leaned forward for a large, refreshing gulp of salty water. Sip, Sip, Siip—

BLEGH! Shaking his head, his eyes pressed closed abruptly and he scrambled back. Ew, EW! The puppy spat back at the pool, snout wrinkled.

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ITEM (Nothing To Use!)

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ACT (No Enemy Present!)

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RUN (Nowhere to Go!)

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Tongue still sticking out from his bottom lip, his brow furrowed in confusion. Anger! How dare the water lie and trick him like that. He spat a little more before wiping his tongue with his paw. Looking back to see the laughing, giggling ocean-eyed woman, Southeast huffed. He supposed, if it were somewolf else, he would have laughed too. It was kind of funny, if you knew what would happen. The smile was quick to return, taking the embarrassing moment with pride. Well now I know. A drawn out waaaiiilll, dramatic paws lifted into the air and a droop of his hindquarters. He rolled onto his back, legs slightly drooping off the edge of the rocky wall.

Head lifted and he scrambled back onto sure-footing, the boy settled once more. Beside Daiyu, he felt a childlike arrogance he had not had in some time. Though he did not know this land quite yet, he was okay with getting to know it. It was bright. Loud. Smelly and weird. But if it was full of wolves like this, maybe his journey would not be so bad. This was no daemon. He loved it, loved it! Kicking up and off of the grass and sand with a new burst of energy, he hopped gleefully toward the water, kicking, splashing. He was not allowed to do this in the caves because it dirtied it far too much, but there was a lot of water out here!

Bits of grime and dust shook themselves from his legs as he skipped along, eyes closed as he let the world tell him where to go. Miss Daiyu! He barked, slimmed eyes looking at her as his neck bent over his shoulder. I love the oh-sheen! This was not home, but he would not mind finding a new one here. Splish, splash!

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ITEM (Nothing To Use!)

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ACT (No Enemy Present!)

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RUN (Nowhere to Go!)

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Play. Though he had never had any littermates to hop around with, no friends to pass time with, play came very easy to a child. Especially one like Southeast. He spun about in the shallow waters, kicking sand out of his path as he darted along. Water rose at his sides, thrown upward away from his path. He couldn’t run very quickly, not waterlogged like this, but his scamper was not dampened by this reality.

A simple game of chase-and-splash. That was how he understood it, at least. No teeth required, just aim. He would follow after Daiyu, splashing to his heart’s content. The sun overhead was little more than an unpleasant fly in his ears while he hopped about the tide pool, keeping his eyes narrow to stop them from burning. Whipping his head in one direction to flick water her way, the boy ran along to evade her own “attacks”. A whole life he had lived in the caves. Not once had anywolf shown him a kindness such as this.

He would miss her, he was sure, when it was time to move on. But he would not forget about the day he played chase-and-splash in the oh-sheen. It was halfway through the day, and he’d already learned so much. It was incredible how different it all was out here! He wondered what flowers looked like?