Table by Sie <3

The door was open.

Whether Geneva had forgotten to close it or the doorknob had somehow slipped, the door was just barely ajar. The young wolfdog stared at it from her position at the other end of the clean room, unsure of what to do. The door, smooth and brown, was nothing special. But the small, dark crack separating it from the frame was oddly alluring. Mysterious. As she stared at it with dark red eyes, Bindu felt a sense of longing that she'd only felt for food before. Her room was nice, and she enjoyed it. It was small and cozy, like a cave. But she wanted to get out of it. Just one little peek, the teen thought to herself in a whisper, as if her thoughts would disturb the early-morning quiet.

She had made progress in volumes since Geneva had taken her under a maternal wing. Once matted and dirty fur was now cut short and moderately clean. Her ribs still showed, but not as dangerously as they had before. Bindu seemed to be in better mental condition as well. Her thoughts came more easily now, and she found that she could remember simple things. But the young hybrid rarely spoke, and when she did, her voice was a little confused and slow. She sat, curled up, in the corner of the room, on the floor and remained motionless until something called to her -like the door that was slightly ajar.

Bindu stood and stretched out her legs. Little aches were still there, but they were less hurt-y now. Her paws walked in a very unexciting way towards the door, and with a little push with her speckled nose, the crack was wide enough for her to slip through. She peeked out of it curiously, and saw the normal; the hallway, and, further on, the front door. It was all very ordinary, but something about being here without supervision was exciting. The teen wiggled fully out into the hallway and stood there, at a loss. Now what? It didn't occur to her to go outdoors, when it was clean and warm inside. So she sat down and enjoyed the morning quiet from the outside of her little room.

Sorry for my absence- I'm ready to RP now (:

After a few minutes of sitting, Bindu realized how nice it was -everything. Geneva's tree-box (house, Bindu, house) was not like the wilderness. It was contained. There were no little animals, or pebbles or wind, and the only sunshine came, streaming, from square holes in the wall. Yes, the young wolfdog liked all of these natural things, but she knew how hurtful the wilderness could be. For a while, at least, being away from the outdoors was a good thing.

Bindu was immersing herself in pretty, kind thoughts when a tiny noise came from outside of the hall; she twitched. Soundsoundsounds made her want to run, but this one was probably nothing. Maybe something outside of the walls had just gotten too close. Ears perking up, head turning, she allowed herself a lazy glance at the end of the hall and was surprised at what she saw. Was that a paw -a nose- peeking around the corner? Eyes? Bindu leaned forward and squinted through the morning shadows that were painted across the walls, curiosity nipping at the edges of her brain.

Before she could investigate more in-depth, a fast, gray blur shot out from behind the wall -her mouth opened in silent alarm. What? What was this thing? The smudge halted abruptly only a few feet away. Bindu's dark eyes adjusted, and found the gray blur to be a wolf. Her mind, so used to seeing wolves as monsters, took a few seconds to rise out of its sea of panic. This was a puppy -a puppy, like the ones in the desert, not a monster, a puppy, puppy that is soft and not dangerous or even very wolf-like. The hybrid's maw clicked shut, her eyes clearing up, tail wagging hesitantly. "I’m Pripyat. Who are you?" the kid peeped innocently.

The young wolfess, surprisingly, did not hesitate in her reply. "Bindu," she said loudly, taking note of how unpleasant her voice was -how it ruined the quiet- and not liking it. (Quiet, Bindu, be quiet and don't yell or be a bad girl.) She stared at the puppy with her wide dark eyes and saw that his own eyes were a vivid blue, like ocean shallows. They made her uncomfortable, so she glanced away. She added in a mumble, "I'm a dog an' a ... wolf, too." The dog part of the girl's blood was her identity, so she thought, and was as good an answer to 'who are you' as 'Bindu' was. But if she mentioned her dog blood, Bindu needed to mention her wolf blood, too, as a reminder to herself and who she was.

It occurred to Bindu that this puppy, this Pripyat, might be Geneva's son. The gentle wolfess had spoken a few times about being a mother, having a son -the details were sketchy, but the hybrid was sure that she remembered those words right. If he was related to Geneva, then he couldn't be too bad, because Geneva was very nice and she helped.

Her eyes softened when the boy, Pripyat, started to wag his tail. Bindu knew that it meant that he wasn't mad or scary, but that he was happy (nice). The teen's own trimmed plume began to wave slowly on the floor. Even though it was probably collecting dust, she didn't mind because she thought that she felt happy, too- or, at least, less nervous.

"It’s nice to meet you Bindu." the kid said, and his voice was kind like Geneva's, so the girl decided that Pripyat was, in fact, said wolfess's son. Her head tilted a little at his words. Nice. To. Meet you. The teen knew all of those words, so she didn't have much trouble in stringing them together. Needless to say, she was flattered. Pripyat continued to explain that he was just a wolf (oh no) and that his parents were leaders. The wolfdog wasn't sure if Geneva was a leader or not, but she didn't know how to ask Pripyat if she was his mom ... she wasn't sure if they were related anymore, nice voice or not. Was Geneva really a leader? Her dark eyes blinked in mild puzzlement, but she said nothing. She didn't think it was important to know who Pripyat's parents were.

Bindu wanted to answer with who her own parents were, but she found that, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember. A few pictures came; a stern face, wavy fur, red eyes- but that was it. It bothered her ... but if she didn't think that she had to know who Pripyat's parents were, then wasn't it okay if she didn't know who her own were? Something about that logic didn't seem right, but Bindu didn't want to think about it. For some reason, the thoughts made her feel sad and angry.

Her dark red eyes flicked back to Pripyat; they had wandered in thought. "Are you feeling much better? Mother said you weren’t very well before." he asked in concern. The hybrid took a few seconds to let herself understand. She answered slowly, paws shifting uncomfortably in their bandages, "Feelin' not-tired. Head ain't so cloudy no more." The words didn't come easily, each one choking out of the hybrid's throat. It sounded better in her head- she wasn't feeling exhausted, and her thoughts were clearer. Simple facts made complicated by her pesky voice.

"Are you live in this place?" Bindu asked hesitantly, curious to know why Pripyat was here. It didn't occur to her that he lived with Geneva or Jefferson, as she still wasn't sure if they were related or not.

Sorry for the delay

The girl stared stupidly as her new companion spoke, but her tail wagged when the words processed in her mind. It felt ... good; someone was as glad as Geneva about Bindu's speedy recovery. Besides, of course, Bindu herself. She liked to feel her paws and muscles working, and have her stomach fill up the sagging skin on her belly. To see straight and to think more clearly, eating and sleeping at her own leisure as opposed to out of necessity ... it was breathtaking, and in a good way.

Dark eyes watched Pripyat's beautiful, healthy body and ears listened to his quiet response. "Yes I live here. I use to live in a lighthouse though." The hybrid thought about this for a few seconds. Lighthouse? She had learned what a house was; this wooden den. Wolves slept in houses. But how could a wolf -how could any creature, wolf or dog- sleep in a house of light? Puzzled, Bindu allowed her mind to go blank for a second to listen to Pripyat's innocent inquiry. "Are you going to live here too?"

Bindu didn't get it. "Live?" she echoed blankly, brain turning. Didn't she already live here? The image of her clean, small room came to mind. Maybe she only slept here. How was living in a place different from sleeping in a place? Abruptly, the cozy wooden room was replaced by a picture of a sandy, dark hole, like a cave. Live. The wolfdog's obsidian eyes clouded over for a second or two, and then she regained composure.

"What's a ... a light-house?" Bindu asked, returning to her earlier thoughts. Sleeping in light- how silly! Her face slack and calm, the teen waited for a response, genuinely curious to know how a lighthouse worked.

The teen listened silently as Pripyat asked her again about living. But this time he said it in a way that she could understand. Regardless, his naiive inquiry brought about a whole new wave of thought through Bindu's brain. Her immature face twisted into a knot, and her dark eyes revealed the struggle going on behind them. No one had questioned her stay in Geneva's house before. She squirmed.

She didn't want to leave, but she also couldn't picture herself all better. Memories of the long trip along the ocean surfaced, and the wolfdog outwardly shuddered. She didn't want to go back to the ocean, or walk so much. She wanted to eat and rest and get fat on rabbits. Why would anyone leave this place, this place with lots of warmth and shelter? The boy's question echoed in Bindu's brain, and she told herself that it was silly. But it kept echoing and echoing, and the teen grew unsure of her reasoning.

"That room's safe," Bindu said hesitantly. Her head twitched towards the door behind her. She wanted to let Pripyat know that she liked it here- it helped her. And that things out there, outside the walls, were not safe. It was scary and cold. She added, in more of a whisper, "an' outside it ain't." Bindu did not know what she was going to do or what else she could add, so she left the subject hanging.

The teen's face brightened as Pripyat started to talk about his lighthouse, even though he said that it was on the shore (shore is by ocean, Bindu). Seeing a lighthouse sounded like fun. The girl could only imagine what living in one would be like. Her mind's eye saw a great, tall tree with a beam of light coming from the top of it, out into the water, the dark shapes of fish illuminated by its golden light.

"Where do you come from?" the boy asked politely. The wolfdog's paws trembled on the ground as she made herself think. She remembered sand, cacti, lizards; "Desert," barked the young hybrid, her dark eyes churning. Memories came back every day, a little at a time. And not all of them were nice ones. There were enough good memories to piece together for Pripyat, thankfully.

Thoughtful, she added, "An' there was all dogs live there. No two-legs." The image of a red wolf appeared, and Bindu peeped with an edge of fear to her voice, "Red-an' brown wolfs, too." For some reason, she didn't like the red wolves that appeared in her memories. They were bad.

Bindu pushed the bad memories away, locked them in a box that was in her head. The corners of her mouth twitched upward in an awkward smile. The teen was not very good at holding a conversation.

The young wolfdog nodded gravely as Pripyat piped up about his father, and her dark eyes watched his little gray tail thump on the ground. She guessed that, if Pripyat really liked his father a lot, and if she herself liked Pripyat, then his father couldn't be so bad, even if his pelt had brown on it (is Jefferson his father Jefferson's not so bad anyway). Regardless, the thought of a wolf with a creamy red-brown coat made her shudder outwardly. Bindu looked down at her own fur and saw the brown and red on it. She was made uncomfortable by this realization, but remained calm in the presence of the boy.

When the teen noticed that it was quiet, she inferred that she should say something back to Pripyat as a response. "Yeah, me too. 'Cause I come from desert." Every creature that Bindu had known back at home was either russet, brown, or a mixture of both. So, naturally, she thought that all similarly colored wolves came from the deserts.

Maybe Pripyat's father came from them, too. Did the boy know what the desert was? The hybrid felt a little pride in her homeland. She wanted to show Pripyat how the desert looked, because she knew how his home looked and wanted him to see the difference. As Bindu stared at her younger companion steadily, a thought came to her head.

"Can able to see far from light-house?" she asked innocently. Maybe if they climbed to the top of it, they could see across the ocean to the glittering sands of her childhood. Bindu didn't know that going to Pripyat's lighthouse was unrealistic, or that she would not be able to go there any time soon. Her childlike desires did not pay heed to restriction.

NP! (:

The young wolfdog felt her stomach squirm in excitement. You could see for forever? The desert was a lot closer than forever ... it would be easy to see the golden sands! Bindu thought about what it would be like to look upon her home again. Even one little strip on the horizon -one band of glittering yellow resting atop the blue ocean- and she would be satisfied. Her dark eyes blinked rapidly, carrying a new life. In trying to remember what her den and favorite haunts looked like, the teen forgot about showing Pripyat the desert. She longed for it more herself.

The boy asked, "Do you want to go see?" Bindu nodded vigorously in reply. The red bandana tied around her neck wrinkled as she did so. Beneath it, she could feel the leather cord was tied snugly. The teen almost remembered how she got them ... something about her mother.

Bindu's journey had not lasted long, only a few weeks. She'd been living in the desert for far longer than not. And yet that short trek had nearly ruined her. It could take weeks and weeks to shed all of the newfound fears, doubts, monsters lurking in her mind. Memories had faded, replaced by nightmares.

She wanted the memories back. Behind her pleasant expression stirred some hope. One look at the desert, maybe it would only take one look- and all of the wolfdog's childhood might return.

I know! x3 we can end it soon if you'd like, as the girl is a bit of a chicken anyways.

Pripyat walked across the room and Bindu followed with a little smile on her face. It was strange to be up and moving when she'd been sitting in her room for so long, but the teen enjoyed stretching her legs. The excitement she felt and the strength she'd built up mixed in her stomach to create something she'd been missing; confidence.

But when the boy paused at a door in the wall, the girl's assurance started to fail her. Her dark eyes saw the sky and a few trees. She heard birds and wind, colors like the green of the grass jumped out. Bindu was used to the white of the walls surrounding her and the quiet of her room. She panicked a little bit, even though Pripyat's smiling face was like a ray of sunshine in her uncertainty.

"Are you ready? It’s a long walk." the boy asked, his great blue eyes shining. The words 'long walk' triggered something in Bindu's head, and the last of her confidence melted away. Why did she want to go see the lighthouse again? "Maybe I should stay," the wolfdog said hesitantly, taking a step backwards. She felt bad because Pripyat looked so happy and she was not, but the outside world was terrifying.