Argh no muse EDIT: yet I wrote that much? :| *didn't realise*
Word Count: 648
A sharp breeze swept over the bank of the river, making Yumiko shiver. Maybe she should have saved exploring for weather more to her liking; nonetheless, she was here now and even had company. Might as well continue on her way. Rio said, in probably the cutest way possible, that she was sweet. Yumiko blinked and both her ears trained on the female. She'd never thought of herself that way before, but unknown to her many others would agree. She just saw herself in a completely different way than the rest of the world, imagining herself to be unnoticable and timid. While it was true she was both things, she also released an aura of 'needing to be protected, loved'. Rio clearly picked up on this aura and connected it to a friend, or maybe even a mother. "Thank you." She said, eyes wide. It would appear that she'd already made a friend, admittedly a very young one.
As Rio pronounced AniWaya correctly at last, Yumiko grinned and nodded enthusiastically. "Perfect!" She praised loudly, her tail copying that of the other in a happy beat. She jumped a little, almost anxious to get going. She was glad she was in her favoured form, rather than the obnoxious Optime form that allowed little in the way of speed, or the inbetween form that was too large and bulky to fit through much of the wood. She'd have to be careful not leave the little one behind, lost and alone just because she was eager. After all, even being short her legs were far longer than a pup not even 6 months old.
Rio bounded to join her at last, and Yumiko was feeling a mix of emotions; relieved, overjoyed, and worried. Anything could happen. Shaking her head slightly to clear her mind, she made sure to keep her pace at one easily matched by Rio. It was only a little slower than her usual and she found it easy to keep up. As her companion looked up at the rugged pine, towering above all the other trees, her eyes widened in something close to awe. The older wolf looked up at the tree sadly, almost feeling its sorrow. To her surprise even Rio seemed to notice something sad about the tree, and asked her why it was looked so lonely. Lost for words, Yumiko gazed around her for something that would please the little one without frightening her or anything; she could make up some story but was never very good at that sort of thing.
"Well... the tree is all alone, see?" She pointed her nose towards the empty space in the sky around the ancient being, the other trees feet below it. As she spoke her feet made a path with only a little difficulty, as the snow coated everything and hid shadows to decieve her eyes into believing that the ground was smooth. Other than that the path they chose was relatively clear, with few fallen branches and rocks. "He must be sad he has no family anymore, and all his children are far away." It was almost the truth, too. After all, a tree's pollen spread for miles, and his children were probably not even within sight.
Despite the canopy of empty branches and needles above them, the tree was still obvious to see. It's roots were thick and spread out all the way to the river and all the natural paths formed weaving through the undergrowth seemed to point it's way. She glanced down at Rio, looking closely for a reaction. Maybe she should have said 'of course the tree's not sad, it's just cold' or some silly nonsense like that, meant to appease children. However she couldn't bring herself to lie so blatently to such a pure heart, and what she said was as close to the truth as she could think of.
Also, maybe she isa psychopath >
