A long, slinky creature tread carefully over the icy path that was Tunnel H, his ears twitching and nose sniffing the whole way. His paws seemed natural on the ice, although he did slip quite a lot along the way. Now, having come into being in the buzzy, foggy room, being anywhere that there wasn't mist made the young Fisher rather uncomfortable. He was happy to get away from the humming and the mist for a while, his tail wagging behind him with each step, doing its best to keep him balanced.
Tunnel H was very confusing. It was narrow in quite a few places, but he could see with his large pupils that the path kept branching. He didn't know where to go, but the ice under his paws was tinted blue, lit up by something that reflected down the corridor. Being quite the explorer, he was to find the end of it one way or another.
His pawpads felt frozen by the end of it, but eventually he saw a wonderful blue light come down one branch and set off for it, a new-found vigor in his chest. He almost wanted to push his heart faster, to give himself more energy-- more blood through his muscles-- but it was a weird feeling of controlling his heart and he didn't want to do it unless his emotions were getting the better of him. He decided he could run at a quite regular pace and that would be fine enough.
The blue light wasn't quite as bright as he thought it was. In fact, the room was quite dark, but he had got very used to the pitch black and not being able to see so well. Without the fog blocking his night vision, not that Fishers were particularly the sharpest eyes, he could make out the edges of things fairly well at least. His ears twitched as he heard a soft, small noise.
It sounded, plainly, like a bark. It was the first noise skinny Fisher had heard besides his own slippery pawsteps, since he had left the Hum of the Cetus room, and his ears picked it up sharply. He wanted to "bark" back, because it was a noise he was sure he could imitate and humming at the hum seemed to work when he was in his birth room... Yet, he hesitated. He heard the clopping, sharp notes of a noise that repeated in a fashion he knew must be footsteps, but they were too noisy. At least his paws were muffled, aside from his claws when he had them out.
A small voice carried on the empty air as he crept forward, whiskers twitching on his triangular face. As he got closer, the shadows parted to show a very tall looking brown creature with feet that ended in noisy claws and a smaller but still bigger than Fisher black and brown animal. Fisher decided that, because the smaller one was the same color almost as him, that they must have been a friend. They didn't know about the taller, pointy feet one, but he wasn't about to let that stop him any.
Gathering his courage-- of which he had a lot, thank you!-- he bolted over in a way that only animals related to weasels could do, sort of zigzaggy and hyper.
"Bark!" Decidedly, he barked back at the dog, a smaller, squeaker noise but still definitely a bark. That would show that they were friends, right? Not that he needed a friend, but the deer was very intimidating to a tiny Fisher.
Nyx Dawnwalker Follow your dreams.
It wasn't easy for Nyx to deal with a strange creature that looked stronger than her - which could also bark loudly, a noise the fawn didn't find that comforting - in a cave larger than what Nyx would've liked. It did not help that a very energetic creature suddenly joined them, this one also barking. The fawn turned towards the smaller bark-creature, watching as it zig-zagged through the cave, towards her and the larger bark-creature. For now, she'd call them Large Bark & Small Bark - because those seemed to be the only noises they could make.
Large Bark immediately went to destroy Nyx theory when he mimicked her call, proving that he was capable of producing less unpleasant noises. His grin looked a little threatening to Nyx because of his teeth, but she disregarded this thought because of his wagging tail, knowing she did this only to express joy.
The good image of Large Bark that had been forming in Nyx mind was destroyed when he barked at Small Bark, the doe's eyes flattening against her head due to the loud noise.
"No bark." She said strictly, looking at Large Bark first, then at Small Bark. Eventually, the fawn smiled at them, her own tail wagging as she thought that they may listen to her. She liked the silence much better than their loud barking.
"Me Nyx." She said, looking at both creatures, before asking:
"You?" And looking at them.
table by lisa
Fisher felt so relieved when the big furry pawed creature barked again after replying to the claw-footed, taller one. It could only mean that their was a good understanding between them now, so feeling reassured the short, fluffy creature scooted a bit closer and started to wag his tail... Well, because the others were. If there was one thing Fisher knew well, it was that you had to copy everything around you to be accepted. It had worked with the Humming, after all.
His joy was short lived as Nyx told them with such firmness: No Bark. Now, if there was another thing that Fisher knew, it was that absolutely no one told him what to do. He had been alive for a short time, but he had already learned that about himself. He did what he wanted and that was that.
"Bark if we wanna!" He retorted in a grunt, raising himself up on his hindlegs, tucking his paws into his chest. "Right?" He cast a glance at the wobbly legged dog beside him-- the comment was more for newborns sake than his own. If he had met a creature with sharp, dangerous paws that was so much bigger than him, he would have probably scampered right up his tree and never come down. Of course, he was much braver now. If he had to, he could even calm the doggie down if he got scared, using his heart relaxing powers. Err, maybe. Well, he hadn't tried it on someone else yet, but he had successfully done it to himself so that was that, right? He could do it. Probably.
Lifted up to his "full" height, he was still shorter than the lanky legged baby deer, but he could meet her eyes just fine. Now that he had done that, he saw something quite familiar. A flat, wide nose, floppy and wiggly ears, and eyes set wide apart on the side of her head, much different from the canine beside him.
Fisher realized he had meet another one of these claw-footed things before. He wasn't sure what to do with that knowledge, but indeed, the first creature he had ever met was also a deer. He hadn't known at the time, to his relief, that such a creature had such dangerous looking paws. The one he had met before was in the muddy forest, where such hooves would have sunk deep and been covered in muck-- indeed, his first encounter was full of filthy mud covered critters. Maybe the hooves weren't so scary, anyway.
"I's Fisher!" He announced sharply, chittering now. He knew just what to say to this bossy Nyx-- however someone got their mouth around such a weird word. He wagged his tail harder, and put on a bigger grin in copy of their floppy, furry pawed companion as if to out-do Nyx's attempt at looking nice and friendly. "Bark is good."
[[ooc;; this reply was s o good before i lost it SOBS]]
 The pup looked at the two creatures, but it was the fawn that seemed displeased to hear the two boys barking at one another. Zigzag was trying to wag his own tail, and it only caused the larger one with paws to wag his tail faster. He did not proceed to bark again, and that decision was made before the other gembound involved told the two to stop barking. He looked at the fawn with a frown. "No bark?" he repeated; his speech somewhat garbled. He sounded disappointed that he wasn't permitted to speak his species's language now.
The smaller creature seemed to be against following the command. It took him a moment to realize he was being talked to, and he nodded silently; unable to think of the right words to say. His legs were still weird to use, but he attempted to try and settle his shaky body. It wasn't easy trying to reach his full height either, and when the other barker rose on his hind legs, he begun to wonder if that was what dogs were supposed to do too. He gradually rose on his hind legs as his entire frame wobbled and his front legs flailed before all four of his paws hit the ground with a thump! His dark claws scraped the surface as he tried to grip the ground before his body stopped shaking and he regained control of his balance. "Riiight." he finally said.
The two of them were already referring themselves to strange words, but some part of his mind reminded him he had his own to spare. His creator did not leave its child nameless, but it was a matter of racking his brain for it. He took a moment to accurately place the name to the two of his audience. Nyx, and Fisher. His eyes focused on the fawn as she said "you" to him once more. "Yuuu." he said before moments passed, and he realized what she was referring to. "Isaac?" he was starting to get the hang of this speech business. "Yuuu Nyx. Yuu Fisher?"
He grinned at Fisher who continued to wag his tail too. "Bark good!" he agreed. A light woof escaped his lips in the process, but he held no guilt over it.
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Nyx Dawnwalker Follow your dreams.
Poor Nyx. These two barking gembounds just didn't understand her! Maybe Large Bark would've listened if Small Bark hadn't been there. The beige-pelted fawn sighed at Small Bark's rebellion. Her ears turned towards her back, flattening against her head in an attempt to shield them from the large barks of her new
friends.
The doe was honestly unimpressed when Small Bark stood on his hindlegs. Even though he'd only been standing for a moment, Large Bark's size was a little more impressive. But he couldn't hold his balance that way and Nyx was back to being the tallest among them.
Apparently, Small Bark's
real name was Fisher. Nyx preferred
Small Bark though.
"Bark is okay, loud bark hurts Nyx." Her high-pitched voice hardly echoed through the cave, unlike the barks of the male gembounds.
Large Bark's name was Isaac. The way he tried to mimic her speech was adorable and Nyx smiled at him.
"Isaac." She said and leaned into him, wanting to nuzzle her nose into the fur of his neck to memorize his scent.
"Isaac friend?"
Despite being a bit confused as to whether Fisher would let her, Nyx attempted to do the same with him.
"Fisher friend?" The fawn asked, hoping he wouldn't bark
too loudly.
table by lisa
The bigger furball tried to copy his stance and just ended up flailing and falling down again. The movement was enough to make the fisher scamper backwards, ears upright and fur puffed out in surprise. The dark brown mustelid relaxed, tail wagging, as the larger creature repeated, Riiiiight.
Isaac must have been the dogs name, which suited Fisher just fine. The 'ack' at the end was perfectly easy to chitter, and while he didn't repeat the name outloud he mouthed it, finding it full of easy shapes and it rolled nearly off his tongue. Fisher nodded as Isaac repeated back his name with those long, drawn out Yuuuuu's that sounded so funny. He'd get the paw of it soon, anyway.
Fisher was quite pleased with himself. Bark was good and everyone here knew it! His smug expression flickered to Nyx's long, smooth face as she began to speak again. He sniffed as she did, getting an itch just behind his ear. He wiggled down against the ground and curled up so his hindfoot could reach the itch, and scratched away. The big hoofed creature wasn't scary at all! He should've known from his previous encounter that deer were harmless but this solidified his understanding. Hurt by Barks? He scratched as his ear as he thought it over. Well, he didn't have to bark loudly. Coming to a comprimise, he lifted his head when the deer asked if Fisher was a Friend.
Fisher didn't know if he wanted friends, but he knew that it would be good to have other animals be nice to him. He grinned enthusastically and nodded. "Friends," he replied in a soft, low chitter. "No loud barks for big ears. Easy." The weasel-like animal felt a grumble build up in his stomach and sighed.
He was always so hungry! He doubted the puppy or the sensitive claw-foot had any idea where good grub was... Though, neither did he. He kept that to himself thought-- he didn't want to look foolish in front of the big fluffball who he liked quite a bit or the deer who was sensitive but mostly alright.
Isaac was amused to see Fisher attempt the whole two-legged business, but they both were not very successful in maintaining their balance. His head followed the fisher's movement as he scampered backwards and he expressed surprise. The tail wagged again while the dog's own tail continued to wag too.
Nyx did not seem particularly fawn of the loud barking emitted from the two creatures that were with her. He was still rather disappointed that he couldn't bark loudly to express himself, but that was when the strange words that each animal said and mouthed came into play. The sounds were weird as he tried to figure out how it all wove together, but it was exciting nonetheless. Now if he could only learn to use it to sound more intelligent than he was already capable of, he would praise the good Isaac for a good job.
Then there was a question about being a friend; a term that Isaac had to use his brain for to figure out. It would never hurt to see if it meant anything positive for a frown would break his little heart from embarrassment. There was a smile from the deer, and he grinned a toothy grin back, revealing his canines without any intentions to appear intimidating. "Friend mean good?" he asked as he flicked his bushy tail around before he decided to answer his own question. "Friend must be good. Nyx friend. Fisher friend." Fisher already made a compromise with the whole barking, and he nodded at that; small barks instead. He could do that! Well, he could try. His tongue poked through his teeth as he lowered his lips to hide his baby teeth. Friends did not need to see his teeth, and his smelly breath.
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