The small she-wolf collapsed on her back, sprawled out in her unused Optime form 30 feet from Adiago Creek. The meandering river was calming on her ears, and her pants soon slowed and became deep, calm breaths. She had spent the past 2 hours creating a home, of sorts, out of one of the caves that surrounded the creek. She had chosen one free of unneccessary rocks, and possibly the farthest from the river so it was clear of water with little chance of flooding. She had accomplished little, but what she had done she was very proud of.

Yumiko closed her eyes within her cave, listening to the river and the drips in the nearby caves. She had managed to clear the floor of small stones and had brushed it clean with a pine branch. The snow threatened to enroach upon her new home, so she had built a small ring of heavy logs around the entrance to hold it at bay. She had also constructed a small shelf out of grooves in the wall, by deepening them with her claws and a stone. She sat up, sufficiently rested, and opened her eyes. The 10ft x 10ft cave was cozy and warm, with a small entrance but high ceiling. She had much work to do, and planned on continuing on throughout the day.

Yumiko brushed off her tail and back, and got to her feet. She walked outside to where she had left a small bucket hanging from a tree, found abandoned in the forest. It held fresh water gathered from the river earlier and she sipped greedily at it. "I still have to find something for the ground, and some kind of decoration. A sign wouldn't hurt either." She said to herself. She had grown up in a cave near water, and naturally gravitated to a similar place. She'd need some sort of help to finish the project but didn't know who to turn to. After all, she was still new to her tribe and didn't even have a rank worth mentioning. Who would she turn to?

Returning the bucket to it's tree, she turned into the forest and strode through the snow she hated so deeply. Yumiko shivered; her fur wasn't thick enough for this weater. Good thing her den was warm. Maybe someone would wander by and assist her. She snorted. Yeah, like that'll happen.

The pup wouldn’t offer much assistance in cave building but work went faster when there was another to talk to, didn’t it? And it wasn’t that he wasn’t willing to help but simply that he wasn’t skilled. He hadn’t even conquered the basics of shifting yet, though he would bug his Mommy to help him with that. At least when she wasn’t busy with her leaderly duties and he wasn’t out exploring on his own. No doubt he would find himself in heaps of trouble. He just couldn’t control his paws. He was curious and in a new place. That just meant that he had to get out and explore. But with that came forgetting to let his Mommy know that he was going out, such as now. He hadn’t seen her at time of departure and so he hadn’t worried with it. For all he knew she could have been sleeping or already out, either way he hadn’t bothered to find out before taking off. Instead he just ran off, leaving his home behind to go and explore this new place he was in. When he had gotten here it had been too late to explore which meant it had to be set aside until today. And so he had set out just as soon as he had awaken.

And really, the rank aspect shouldn’t be worried about too much. Lotus didn’t really have a rank. Well, nothing besides that set aside for the pups. Nothing at all impressive about that. And as for what he wanted to be when he got older? Well that was far from his mind still. It wasn’t like he had the ability to express an interest in anything yet. He didn’t have any skills to speak of. But that wasn’t so bothersome either. He had time to figure it out. All he knew was that he wanted to make his Mommy proud. So he would do whatever he could in order to ensure that. His Mommy was important to everyone in the tribe so that meant that there was no way that he could possibly let her down. Even though the rank wasn’t his own he still felt like he had to live up to it or it would look bad for his Mommy.

The pup had no idea where he was going until he heard the voice. That was the only thing that directed his steps. “Snow is on the ground. And dirt too!” He called out the words though he really had no idea what was actually being talked about. Still it didn’t stop him from speaking up. Actually he was quite proud of himself for sounding so smart, at least in his own mind he did, and his tail wagged to show how pleased he was. So what if his answer didn’t really go along with her ponderings. At least he named off things on the ground. The only things that he really had experience with in his short life. He was too young to have seen the spring grass or the flowers it brought with it. All he knew was snow and beneath snow was dirt.

Don't worry about it Also isn't wittle Lotus so smart XD Aria said she's busy, so she can feel free to enter at anytime (I doubt much'll happen, anyway... I just really want to post *cough*)

Word Count: 392

Yumiko began to crouch down in order to gather some things, when a young voiced called out across the forest. She paused in her awkward half-crouch, her ears twitching for further sounds, and stood up again. What did that even mean, anyway? Duh, snow was on the ground. She called out to the little one, mildly cautious but mostly in case their parents were near and protective. "Snow? Yeah, it's pretty cold out, isn't it?" She said, a quizzical note to her voice. She strode with difficulty through the high drifts towards the voice, and found a small pup that blended in with the surroundings, with the exception of a beautiful black dorsal stripe. He looked barely 3 months old, and she couldn't tell if he was Luperci or not. It struck her with practically an audible sound as it clicked into place; the child had been replying to her!

She grinned down at the little one, and bent down to be closer to his eye level. "Thank you for the help, but I'm not looking for snow or dirt. I need something softer, to sleep on." She said, as the 'something' she'd mentioned earlier had been intended for a bed-like area in the back of her new den. She laughed lightly in the crisp air. Wait... shouldn't someone be watching this little one? Why was she talking to someone's child, anyway. She didn't even know him. "Um... are your parents around?" She asked him, despite knowing they couldn't be too close or she'd be able to smell them now that she was looking. She inhaled deeply, to be sure, and found only a few squirrels in their nests, her own familiar scent, and that of the young male in front of her.

Unsure what to do, she absently picked some dirt from her thigh and swept her tail behind her across the snow. She wanted to continue gathering some items for her den, but the new pup came first. She couldn't let him come to harm, so even if that involved going about her business with a little one following her for a few hours, until his parents appeared, she would make sure to watch over him. Waiting for a reply about his parents, she smiled at him in rather motherly way and told him her name was Yumiko.

Lotus didn’t know of anything warmer than the winter. So to him this weather was normal. No doubt he would be lost as it moved into spring and then summer. What would he do without the snow that he was accustomed to? He would just have to find new ways in which to entertain himself. Find other things to do and enjoy. He was young after all. The world was his playground. And with each passing month he grew older. And as he grew older the farther out he could start to explore. Right now he stuck around the tribe lands. He also didn’t see any reason to worry about his wanderings. What could possibly happen to him on the tribe’s lands? Certainly no harm should come his way. Why would the wolves on this land want to harm each other? Why would any wolf want to harm another? It simply made no sense at all to him.

“I think it is really pretty. And look I can sneak around.” With that being said he ducked down into the snow and took a few steps forwards. He then popped back up with a shout. “Boo!” The boy giggled, little body shaking along with the sound. “I scared you, didn’t I?” Clearly Lotus was the sort to be easily amused. The sort to be able to make a game out of most anything. But wasn’t that the way that most young actually were. They were able to find ways to amuse themselves without needing much in the way of encouragement or possessions. But that also seemed to make him a handful for his imagination took him off on adventures of fancy. Just like now.

The boy tilted his head to the side as he tried to think of something that was soft. “But the snow is soft.” Not that it occurred to him that another requisite, though unspoken, was that the soft something had to be warm as well. So as he thought more head tilted in the other direction. “Fur is soft too.” Again, not much help but it was the best that he could come up with. He only had limited knowledge of the world after all. That meant that he could only give the answer of things known to him already. He was still learning after all.

“Mommy and Daddy are busy doing leader things.” That’s right, his guardian was one of the leaders. So by default, in the pup’s mind at least, the other leader was his Daddy. To his young mind that was just the way things worked. Genetics didn’t even play a part in the matter. If they did then he would realize that he looked like neither of the beings that he claimed as his parents. He had no idea that he was adopted. Why should it matter if they weren’t related by blood, just so long as he was loved and cared for properly. Though with the way that he was always taking off on his own without a word to anyone most would begin to think the latter half of the previous statement wasn’t true. But Ember did care for him. She simply had a lot on her plate to deal with. She had her duties on top of trying to keep tabs on him.

“I’m Lotus.” He gave his name before a noise stole his attention. Ears twitched at the sound of the bark and head swiveled in the direction that it came from in order to see what was going on. It wasn’t his Mommy so he wasn’t being made to go home so far. He really didn’t want his fun to end early. And clearly it wasn’t. His tail wagged as he was talked to. He didn’t exactly understand what she was talking about but it didn’t stop him from responding anyway. “I made it a long way and I’m not even tired yet!” He had no idea who the other female was but it didn’t matter to his at all. It was all a child’s exuberance of being noticed and talked to. He really was a chipper and naive little thing. But could he really be blamed for that?

The mention of a he had Lotus glancing around to see who was being talked about. His little body even turned in a complete circle to see if he could spot the said he. What was little know to everyone but his Mommy was that Lotus saw himself as a girl. Maybe not entirely feminine since he didn’t mind getting dirty but he still thought of himself as a girl nonetheless. “I don’t see him. Where is he? Is he hiding?” Lotus moved towards a nearby tree in order to glance behind it to see if anyone was hiding there but his search came up empty.

As soon as snow was mentioned, the pup seemed to brighten as if it was the best thing in the world. Then again, judging by his age, he couldn't have seen much else. He seemed to have been born in winter, so the whole idea of leaves and grass and non-frozen water must be as foreign to him as the idea of not knowing them was to Yumiko. As he ducked down to hide, she grinned. He was adorable, and she loved all sorts of pups. Well, except for those brats that are little snobs from birth. But they don't count. She could see the black stripe along his spine clearly despite the light dusting of snow upon it, but other than that he blended right into the ground. She decided to play along, just for the heck of it.

Looking around blindly, she called out, "Hey! Where'd you go? I can't see you anywhere!" An honest grin was on her face and her tail wagged slightly behind her as the little one popped out of the ground with a laugh. She clutched her chest and took a step back in mock surprise. "Woah, I couldn't find you anywhere!" The grin on her face proved that she wasn't mad or upset with the stranger, and as he laughed she joined along while the crisp air invaded her lungs. She coughed a little, bothered by the cold, but turned back to the white pup who seemed to be born for this sort of weather.

Snow and fur. He reaaaally liked snow, it seemed. Fur... that was actually rather helpful. "Fur, eh? I should find some fur, thank you." It would take more effort than he probably realised, but it was still actually a good idea. She'd been meaning to do it eventually but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Why not start collecting furs now?

At the mention of 'leader things,' Yumiko blinked, surprised. Was his father Dawali? She had no memory of seeing the two together. But then again, stranger things had happened. Maybe the kid was adopted, or he was always with his mother, or... or who knows. But if Dawali was his father, then she knew he wouldn't mind her being around his child as long as she didn't hurt or scare him or anything. He was a wise man after all. She had yet to meet Ember, and even if she had her mind always thought of a pack as having only one leader unless they were mated. She wasn't against a female being the Alpha or anything, but she had never come across it in her life and the idea was just... strange to her. So the idea never even crossed Yumiko's mind.

Lotus. Sounded like the name of a pond flower her mother had shown her once, when she was being taught plants and their medicinal uses. They were beautiful in spring. "I'm Yumiko," she said with a soft smile upon her lips, when she, too, was distracted by a noise in the bushes. A grey-ish wolf appeared and headed their way, much to the blonde female's surprise. What were the odds of meeting so many new people all at once? The new female seemed to know Lotus. Yet another coincidence? Yumiko decided not to comment on the woman's first comment, but simply raised a hand in greeting with a sheepish expression upon her face. She didn't know why she was embaressed, but she felt rather like she had been caught in some sort of terrible act just for talking to the boy in front of her. She got to her feet and stretched, muscles sore after crouching at Lotus' level for so long.

She couldn't sense any particular dominance in the female, so she knew they were close enough in rank. That was all she could discern, and since the newcomer must have overheard her name being mentioned she left her greeting at the raised hand and smile. "You're not inturrupting, really. I'm surprised I didn't smell you before," Yumiko stated honestly. She had always had a strong sense of smell, so it was uncommon for her not to notice a stranger nearby. Then again, she had been distracted by the other newcomer in her midst.

"He's been here maybe fifteen minutes. Not long. He just kind of... appeared." A shrug of one slim shoulder accentuated her point. Yet, as they talked, the person in question spun around in circles sputtering nonsense about a 'he'. Only one of the three wolves there was male; who else could they be talking about?

As Lotus searched in vain behind a tree, Yumiko glanced at the other female, restraining a giggle, for she mererly thought the boy was either unsure of his speech because of his young age, or if he honestly thought there was another little man around. "He? We're talking about you, silly!" she called in clarification.