Open to all :3 time is around morning.

The wolfdog completed her shift and stood, a toothpick among the tall pines that were constantly pressing in. Far above, some sort of bird called out; there was no answer but silence. She shivered with delight, enjoying the serene quiet that the trees provided. Everything outside of these woods was loud and sharp and quick, but inside it was as if time had stopped, the animals moving slowly and for forever. Bindu loved it, though she'd only been here for a day or so. The watchful forest enveloped her and made her feel cozy and safe.

Normally, she was too uncomfortable to shift into optime form, but the forest made shifting okay. Her emotional distress was gathered up and put in a box, and there it was easily forgotten in a dusty corner of her mind. The teen took a few steps and was, for once, glad that she had shifted. Her head could be turned up to the sky more easily, for her dark red eyes to observe the deep emerald canopy spread out above. The only real discomfort that Bindu felt now was that it was cold, and that her fur didn't retain much warmth in this form. She ignored it and started to walk.

A few minutes into her leisurely stroll, the young woman came upon a tiny shack, which rose from the ground naturally, as if it had grown up with the trees. The roof of the shack was coated with snow, but was protected by the trees around it so that there was only an inch at the most. She stared at it for a minute, dark eyes burning. Eventually curiosity beat out caution, and the teen walked towards the house, intending to go inside.

Her small, white fingers pushed at the door gently and it swung inwards painfully, the hinges screeching and pouring down rust. The girl stuck her head into the doorway and inhaled deeply; by the smell of it, no wolf had been in here for months and months. She took another breath to calm her nerves and took a step inside.

There was barely enough light to see by, as there were no windows. Bindu stepped back outside, looked around, and grabbed a big, fist-sized rock, which she used to prop open the door. With a little more light in the shack, it was easier to see- not that there was much to see. A few broken fishing poles sat propped in a corner, along with a rusty axe that looked as if it might break apart at the slightest touch. There was a modest dresser along the far wall, next to a wooden bed frame that hugged the ground, no mattress to be seen. The floor was also made of wood, and Bindu's claws sunk into it as she walked around the room.

Very quietly, she opened one of the drawers of the dresser and peered inside. There was a pile of cloth within it, the colors dulled by time and neglect. She picked up some of the fragile cloth and found it to be clothes, like some Luperci wore. She was holding up a ... what was it called? A sharp ... shart. Sharrrt? Shirrt- shirt. There were tubes for arms and a big opening for a head, as well as smaller holes where the fabric had worn out. The young woman puzzled over the clothes, a little smile on her face and a low hum in her throat. This was kind of fun.

Hi there

Even though the hut was dimly lit, the patterns stitched into the shirt were visible enough so that Bindu's dark eyes could make them out. She traced the lines absently with a claw, but her mind was elsewhere. Even though it could not compare, the shack reminded her of the ranch house, the place with smooth floors and quiet white walls. The place of memories ... of Geneva, Jefferson, Pripyat, and Grace. She'd walked away from there, promising to herself that she'd return. Bindu let herself return to reality, where she placed the cloth back in its drawer and slid it shut.

Through the smell of damp wood and coldness, the teen smelled something different. Alive. Her body turned to face the door, but then she was a statue. A few moments ... nothing. Could she have been imagining things-

"Hello!" A face appeared out of nowhere, its corresponding body filling the doorway; the wolfdog cringed. Light fell in shafts around the stranger's body and blurred a few features, but Bindu gathered that it was a female Luperci. She tried to keep calm, although her nerves were tugging insistently in the company of another. "Hello," the teen echoed, glancing around for a second exit. The stranger seemed friendly, but it was better to have options than to be trapped.

There was no backdoor.

It was best to be careful, then. An anxious smile tugged at the girl's lips as she spoke quietly, "I'm sorry, is this your house? I didn't mean to intrude ..." She was suddenly very conscious of her optime body, and how small and thin she was. Ugly. Weak. In solitude, shifting was okay, but with another wolf watching it was unbearable.

Bindu pushed through her discomfort and continued, "-but I couldn't help myself. Human things are frightening, yet strangely fascinating." She felt proud at having spoken so much, and imagined shy little butterflies flitting out of her stomach as she waited patiently for a response.

(:

The pressure inside her stomach drained away; the stranger had moved aside, allowing a clear passage out of the tiny, air-deprived, choking hut. Bindu was grateful, although she made a mental note not to be so obvious in her discomfort next time; she must have seemed rude and awfully silly, looking around like a trapped deer stuck between two wolves. This time there was a genuine smile on her face when her eyes met the stranger's. She slipped out of the shack on two quiet feet.

Breathing cold air cleared the teen's mind, made her calmer and more friendly. She took another look at the stranger in the strong light; she was a female, and had a striking, black-and-white pelt. The woman was also a lot bigger and had a fuller figure than Bindu did, as well as two large fangs that protruded slightly from her closed mouth. Dark eyes met the stranger's- one icy gray and the other a fiery magenta. All of these factors would have frightened the girl at another time, but she was relaxed enough to see the kindness in the older lady's eyes, and so she wasn't afraid.

Bindu felt the effects of her suddenly open mind. Her paws weren't fidget-fidget-fidgeting and she stood taller, like a sapling that had just grown tall enough to catch a ray of sunlight on one of its branches. If she worked at it, maybe she could be like this all the time ... Happy.

"My name is Bindu."

Oh my gosh I am so sorry D: fixed.

She nodded in acknowledgment while repeating the name inside of her head. Axelle, Axelle, Axelle. Names were beautiful bits of moving jaws and flowing syllables, but with a girl who had a very simple mind, they were a pain to remember. Axelle. Although Bindu wasn't sure what it meant, it sounded like excel- to go beyond, to be the best, to exceed, outshine, eclipse. She tilted her head to the side and smiled.

"Where do you reside, Bindu?" Her bony shoulders shrugged, the grin slipping away. Bindu didn't like to admit to anyone -herself, others- that she had no home, no family, nothing. But it was a subject that she thought about often. The desert, where she'd grown up, no longer struck her as home, merely as a hot and dry place where the tempers ran high. The ranch house in Phoenix Valley wasn't a home, either; it was already taken. As the days slipped by and her perspective widened, the teen doubted that she could ever find a place to call home. Dark eyes refused to meet Axelle's and instead took to tracing the lines in the rotting wood of the shack.

"Um ... nowhere, really," she said quietly. "But I'm looking." Bindu looked up, at the dark green trees and the gray sky peeking through their branches. The corners of her mouth turned up a little. "And you? I've heard of a pack called Cercatori d'Arte around here ... are you a member?" Skye, a sweet wolfess from d'Arte, left a lasting impression on the young hybrid's heart, and she would be glad to meet another d'Arte member.

Sorry for the wait

The young lady thought that Axelle's fondness of the lone life was strange. Loners didn't have the protection and love of a pack, a social group that was like a family. Warmth, affection, stability- as opposed to loneliness, melancholy, and the cold. For Bindu, it was an easy choice of what she would rather have, but she respected her new friend's ideas. Maybe something had happened in her past that discouraged her from joining a pack, or perhaps she simply liked the solitude. The teen herself liked quiet environments ... but not empty ones. She wanted to share her silence with someone else, to show them how beautiful it could be.

Bindu had to think for a few seconds about Axelle's question, confused with herself. It would be smart to join d'Arte, since she already liked Skye and the flower fields. Certainly she would live in comfort. But in a pack full of dancers, musicians, painters and chefs, the wolfdog knew that she wouldn't belong. "I have nothing to offer them," she explained, her hands facing Axelle, palms up and fingers pointing down in another shrug. "But I met a wolfess who was a member, and she was very kind."

A cold wind blew through the trees, dense as they were, causing the hybrid to shiver. She folded her arms across her chest and shot Axelle a guilty glance. "Do you, by chance, know how to start a fire?" the girl asked. She felt bad for asking something of her friend so soon, but fire-making was an important skill that she hoped to develop, especially since it was winter. If Axelle didn't know how to create flames, however, Bindu wouldn't be angry- she'd dealt with more bitter cold than this.

The teen almost erupted in giggles- she cast the lady a wry, dark-lashed look instead. "No, I'm not very artistic at all," she confessed, and a smile still lingered despite the hopeless words. A while ago, Bindu had been upset by her own lack of talent, but since then she'd learned to laugh at herself. And there was a lot to laugh at. Musical instruments were too confusing, cooking was useless without a fire, acting and dancing required too much emotional and physical coordination. Her voice wasn't terribly out of tune, but it was small and simple, not by any means beautiful. In addition, the girl could neither read nor write well, and although words intrigued her she was too stupid to learn how to decipher them.

Bindu came to the conclusion that she was too stupid to learn anything. Everything that had happened in the past lead her to this plain fact; her pain, suffering, hunger, misfortune. She gazed at Axelle quietly, a grin on her young face. "I'm not worth teaching." Black eyes flickered away, fingers rubbing the red bandana looped so carelessly around her neck. Though she tried to be lighthearted, the bad thoughts were discouraging. Shameful. "Not very smart, I guess."

Axelle provided a useful distraction, displaying a curious little box. With a whirl of her fingers, it sprouted a small flame. The teen made a quiet sound of awe -a squeak, more like it-, eyes as wide as pools. She reluctantly tore herself away from the lighter to fulfill Axelle's task, burning with curiosity. Where did one find a little box like that- one that grew fire like bean plants?

She walked around the shack to where the walls had blocked some snow from falling, thinking that there must be some dry twigs there. Bindu was not disappointed; there was a crackling carpet of sticks and leaves piled high. Rummaging around, she also found a few bigger logs, perhaps cut by a passing wolf who'd forgotten them. Everything was gathered up in the hybrid's thin arms, so that she left a trail of flaky plant matter behind her when she walked. Beaming, she carefully placed the kindling and the logs at Axelle's feet, eager to see what would become of them.

Axelle's words hit home; Bindu shriveled inwards like a burning leaf.

Maybe at one point the teen had been genuinely interested in learning some sort of art, but she'd long since given up on herself. Besides, during the course of her few months of life, she'd learned enough; that other wolves were often so much smarter, and that all she was able to do well was follow directions. The girl's mind was, in many ways, like a block of wood; lacking in personality, but able to be whittled into something useful by skilled hands. She could not even fathom the idea of shaping herself to become something more than just useful- beautiful.

Bindu watched the chiaroscuro-pelted female arrange the wood carefully, fiddling with the flame-box somewhere within the pile's depths. Perhaps for other, intelligent individuals, the thought and learning process was efficient, but in the girl's case it was only frustrating. How long had it taken her to adjust to the Valley- three months? Four months? And still, she was barely taking adequate care of her fragile body, struggling to merely survive- that alone was proof of her incompetence.

There was still a spark in her, however, a curiosity that craved kindling. Yes, the wolfdog wanted to learn, but now the yearnings were more fanciful than serious. And she felt very guilty about it, as Axelle's words echoed in her flooding head; Bindu didn't want the lady to think of her as lazy. No, it wasn't her own choice that prevented the growth of education, but the block of wood that was her mind, just sitting still and waiting to be whittled for a new use.

Within a few moments, a fire blossomed from the wood. Bindu's nerves were soothed, but a seed of discomfort was still rooted deeply in her skull; she gave Axelle an uncertain smile and took a seat near her, though edged a little closer to the flames for warmth. "Ah, um, yes- well, no, I guess not?" she offered bashfully. Talking about herself for so long was making her extremely anxious- was she making the right impression?

"I learn too slow," peeped Bindu, pretending as if that had somehow answered Axelle's inquiries. Then she was quiet, huddled before the orange-red flames with her deep black eyes, waiting.

Short one, sorry for the wait!

Instead of staring at the burning wood before her, the teen's doe eyes took to watching Axelle flick her fire-box open and closed, flame springing up and then falling back down again like a fountain. Gradually she let the worry drain away, so that as she curled up next to the fire a sense of peace washed over her nervous self. Her fur, usually so cold and stiff, was warming deliciously, and the girl felt better than she had in days.

Bindu made up her mind; she'd have to find on of those fire-boxes.

Other than that one passing thought, desert daughter's mind was pleasantly blank. This was her peace. When warm and safe, it was easy to escape from everything. Her big black eyes stared at the lighter, which quietly slipped out of focus, and her fingers unfurled from their tight fist to hook around her knees. It was like dreaming, but not quite so- for while dreams are filled with delirious content, Bindu's trance contained nothing.

When the sable-and-ivory colored female asked a question, the wolfdog jumped from her reverie. She was caught at a loss for a moment. Then, as her simple brain caught up to her ears, she understood what had been asked and gave an innocently honest answer. "I've been in these woods for a few days, but I haven't found any one place to stay in particular." The girl paused. "Have you been here long?"

(:

The hybrid's dark red eyes took a lazy glance towards the rotting shack as Axelle spoke, contemplating the suggestion. Everything about her situation -the abrupt takeoff, the wandering- it was all last minute. But she understood what the white-and-sable pelted female meant. The shack had four walls and looked big enough; more than any tree could do, anyway. Bindu nodded thoughtfully. Maybe she would stay here for the night, although something about the place made her petite backbone tingle.

The teen wasn't surprised by Axelle's casual confession; she didn't look like the type to linger for long in any given place. A thought passed briefly through the young wolfdog's head. Did she herself look like a wanderer? Or was there something about her -maybe the sickly thinness, or the ragged pelt- that represented her need of a pack? Else, maybe it was the attitude, the confidence that a loner carried when riding solo. She had little confidence. What was that defining characteristic?

Unconsciously her large black eyes had drifted back to the little flame rising and falling from the box held loosely in Axelle's fingers. You like it, the lady asked, do you like it? You like it? Bindu's head tilted sideways by a small degree, and she nodded absently. The flame was very soothing, even though big fire was sometimes scary. "Where did you find it?" she questioned quietly, gaze flickering back towards the shed. Maybe there were still a few bits of scavenge that she hadn't found yet- maybe there was a fire box in there somewhere.

Replied to! :0 and also, I'd be fine with ending the thread here- or you can reply one more time? Up to you :3

The name didn't strike any particular memory, but the girl offered a shallow nod as if she knew where this 'Hallifax' was. It sparked a flame of curiosity. What did Hallifax look like? Had she herself passed through it on her travels, ignorant of its proper name? And where else had Axelle been? Distracted with the notion of places to see, Bindu's attention slipped away from her new friend until a cool surface found her dove-white fingers.

Dark eyes glanced down on an impulse, widening slightly. The yellow flame-box was cupped in her hands, and its smooth face glinting in the small bit of light that filtered through the trees. Bindu looked at Axelle in wonder. The fire box ... she could hold it? Maybe even ... keep it? Her attention quickly flicked back to the lighter. Its color was bright like flowers, but instead of soft petals, the box grew dancing light. The wolfdog used her fingers to click the box to life, copying Axelle; a soft orange flame grew from within the box's depths.

Would you want to travel with me for a while? The doe's eyes shot up, but Axelle was looking away. The proposition caught her by surprise, made the ground more uneven. Despite the shock, Bindu found herself considering the offer.

Perhaps Axelle didn't look like the type of wolf to settle down, but she was strong and independent- two attributes that the young hybrid didn't have. If left on her own, Bindu knew that she would continue living like she was presently; drifting, a cotton seed in the wind, wasting away into nothingness. Maybe companionship was what she needed. And, although a party of two could hardly be considered a pack ... maybe it was what she wanted as well.

Her eyes, though dark, glowed with the reflection of the light clasped in her small hand. Bindu swallowed. "Yes. Yes, I would."