She’d always been intrigued by animals. Ever since she’d been able to move around, she had adventured, and gone outside to see the world; and the creatures in it. She had an especial fondness for the larger animals, the game that was hunted by her kind. Four legged game that ran away from you by natural instinct if you took a step near them. They usually didn’t spot Aoi, though. When she had lived with her mother, she’d crept up upon many a deer herd, and once they realised she was but a pup who meant no harm, they grew relaxed with her just watching them. That aura seemed to be rubbing off on others animals, too. They were not afraid of her; she was their shepherd, not their hunter.

And so today, perched upon a bale of hay, Aoi was watching some animals. Not deer this time, but close enough; horses. In the large stable like structure in the caves, that was their quarters. Aoi watched them with ease. Aren’t they just… she said to her pet crow, although she couldn’t think of a word magnificent enough to describe them. She waited for a response, from the ever talkative bird, but there was none. Confused, she glanced left and right, and then realised he was gone. Saigai? she whispered anxiously. She was sure he’d rode her shoulder here. But he was gone.

Or not so gone, as a flutter of black and white wings found their way fluttering towards her. Aoi grinned as the crow swooped low, coming back from wherever he had been. And then he dropped something on her. Ow! Aoi protested, sheets of white and a long, thin thing falling onto her head. Pape..pay-paper. Draw. said Saigai in broken high speech. Aoi looked confused, gathering up the sketchbook and pencil onto her lap, wondering what they were. In low speech, Saigai explained to Aoi what they were for; because he was a wise crow that had been around for longer than she had. He watched things. And so that was how Aoi ended up starting to fill the first page of the sketchbook with a picture of one of the colts in front of her. It was her first time drawing, so it wasn’t perfect, but it had a sort of creative style to it, and it was considerably beautiful.

She carried on drawing, shading in areas where light and darkness contrasted, smoothing lines, darkening and bolding others. She found that she'd made quite a few mistakes she'd like to correct, but she didn't know how to remove them. Of course, she didn't have an eraser, and did not know of such thing, either, but it would have been nice if she had one. Stil, she made do with what she had, and found she really loved what she was doing. She'd always had an interest for old hobbies of human beings before the virus; drawing, writing, reading. Though she could not write, or read. Yet.

There was suddenly a soft bark from behind her, breaking the silence and her concentration. She was quite startled, and so her pencil fell to the floor with a clatter. Aoi turned around to see who it was, her expression blank, and then realised it was Severus. She'd met him once before, when she'd first joined, and he'd showed her around the pack, although they hadn't really spoken much. And of course, she'd seen him at the meeting.

Aoi froze as he came over to look at her drawing, before throwing a small greeting at her. She told herself to relax, and stop being so stupid and silly around people. After all, Severus was Octavius's brother, and they were sort of friends now. Why would this situation be any different? Blushing a little from embarrassment, Aoi knelt to the ground to pick up her pencil, before sitting back on the hay once more. Hello, Severus. she said. Her eyes fled to the horses, and she watched them carefully, speaking once more. The horses wont be here for much longer. Soon, this'll be turned into a workshop. she commented lightly, for no particular reason. She had a far away look in her eyes. She'd miss coming here, and it would be a pain walking all the way out of the caves to go and see the horses in the future. However, she had a rank now; she was a shepherd, so perhaps she could see about living above ground? The girl was only young, she didn't expect her father would let her move out just yet, but it was an idea at least. For the future.

Although she felt a little nervous having someone peer over her shoulder - especially as she had developed a fear over time of people being behind her - Aoi found herself actually enjoying someone interested in her work. She’d never thought of Severus as a type to be interested in something as quiet and time-consuming as drawing, but it seemed he did, although she doubted he’d want to have a go himself. Still, she was content to let him stand and watch, while she roughed over the sketch and added more detail here and there.

She was grateful, smiling as he had tried to pick up her pencil for her despite her getting to it first. She realised he might have been upset at her, perhaps blaming himself, for her considerably shy nature, and wanted to tell him not to take it personally. But of course, the timid girl didn’t dare question his feelings. The truth was she was, or rather, had been scared of everyone and everything for a very long time indeed. As a newborn, before her mother died, she had been quiet, and quite timid, and the death of her mother had made things ten times as worse. Not to mention the trip to Anathema. She’d experienced a lot on her way to her father, not all of the experiences pleasant.

Yeah. the girl replied, holding back a smile. Yeah, I guess I do. she enjoyed them being a walks away from the den she shared with the remainder of her family, and she enjoyed them being inside. But perhaps that was a selfish thought. The livestock, the horses especially, deserved to stretch their legs, and being out in the fields would do them much good. In fact, being down in the caves was probably bad for them. Having no sunlight could turn one crazy, mad, sick. She knew as much from her studies of the low-speakers.

It took the girl aback slightly to have Severus nudge his nose against her shoulder. She blinked, moving away a little, but subtly, so it didn’t look like she was exactly disgusted by his touch, and nodded meekly. Uhuh she whispered. Had he only just realised? She guessed she wasn’t someone you would have stuck in your mind often, anyway. Considering how little she spoke. I uh.. she trailed off, thinking of something to say, eyes darting to her lap. And then she realised the drawing. Oh! she exclaimed, ripping off a piece. She handed a clean sheet to him with a friendly smile, and then turned towards a large bag by her side. The bag was old, and supple leather. From it she pulled a book, but then all the other books in the bag simultaneously starting pouring out at the same time too. Aoi blushed and smiled sheepishly, packing the extra books away. So many books…I cant even read. I like the pictures. she admitted, finally packing them all away to hand him the one she wanted to pull out in the first place. Do you want to try? she questioned. You can lean the paper on the book. And… the girl broke her own pencil in half, and pulled a knife from her bag, handing both the pencil half and the knife to him. Sharpen this half of the pencil.