Romeo's smile faded. "Ah. That," He rolled his eyes slightly. Of course they'd heard it. Of course! He breathed out deeply, ashamed, and with a shudder running along his spine as the memory once more rang throughout him. "Yes, that was produced by this, but... ah, well, I assume my claw simply struck it wrong." Romeo elaborated by running his claws, gentler this time, over each of the strings in turn.

They made that pleasing sound of each string vibrating in turn. And then when it got to the last one, it sounded... off. Well, similar to before but quieter. Not quite so ear-piercing this time.

As Fate pondered his gem, Romeo gently toyed with the string, trying to work out what the problem was. "Hmmm..." he hummed quietly, appearing troubled as he looked up at Fate briefly, as if to make sure she hadn't noticed what was going on. "...Well, I'm still learning all the ins and outs," he muttered an excuse. "I mean, that's the first time I've done more than just run my claws across..." That, at least, was the truth.

@Fate

"Well," She started to feel bad for being so blunt, "it started good!" Fate tried to sound supportive, especially as it was Romeo's first time playing his instrument, she wasn't sure if it was effective though. In truth, she wasn't entirely sure how to be kind or even mildly supportive but she hoped that she had done well anyway.

It was then that Fate realised that she didn't really have an attachment to anything. It was clear to see that Romeo loved his noise maker, whereas Fate had nothing. Perhaps a treasure hunt was in order. On her way to Romeo, she had noticed a number of strange objects laying on the floor but she paid them little attention as back then, Romeo's music caught her curiosity more.

Perhaps a treasure hunt was in order...
... The thought excited her intensely!

@Romeo

Romeo shrugged airily. Even he himself had found the memory soured by the final note he'd played. His small tail twitched from side to side as he listened and watched patiently. "Aha, you flatter me," he said a little dryly, although he didn't mean it to sound rude. Truth be told, he was just trying to seem as relaxed, cool, and suave as he could muster. And listening closely to his own voice, he felt he'd almost pulled it off!

If he'd have been the stranger he felt he'd have swooned but then again it was apparent that voices seemed less... appealing, at times, to others in the cave.

It was a shame, voices could do some amazing things. They simply fascinated him. Romeo was always out to improve his own voice and break the ever-impending silence that seemed to often consume the caves. That was part of the reason he carried the noise-maker with him. Romeo hated silence.

Losing his voice would be the worst thing in the world.

On that note, Romeo cleared his throat, shattering the impending silence. "Perhaps an encore is in order?" he asked idly, preventing the silence from returning by humming seep in the back of his throat. He mimicked the series of sounds he'd made with the noise-maker before in its varying tones, only without the sour notes.

Ah, it worked~! His voice was truly every bit as amazing as he made it out to be.

@Fate

"Perhaps it is," Fate teased. She knew he did want to play another song but she entertained him anyway. Romeo hummed a little song, similar to the now past song. Fate enjoyed it and it filled with her with a sense of purpose.

She knew that she had something to do and wanted to do it as soon as she could. Her purpose was to find something that she could call her own. To find something she could carry. Something she could care for.

She wanted to stay for the encore but she childishly felt that if she waited any more, she'd explode. Sporadically she said: "I'm going for a treasure hunt! Bye!"

She began to canter off in a random undetermined direction without much thought, hoping that he'd follow.

@Romeo

The humming in the back of his throat seeming to please her, as did the idea of an encore, and Romeo wondered if he could take things up a notch. Still, he wouldn't touch his noise-maker... not until he knew why it was making those disastrous sounds. Before he was pressured into anything though, suddenly the larger creature took off and left Romeo stood a little dumbfounded.

"But... why?!" he called back. This was new, she'd never spoke of a treasure hunt before now.

And then it struck him. She was jealous of his noisemaker! A childish sense of pride rose in his chest at the knowledge that he had something someone else wanted. But it wouldn't last long; Romeo didn't want to be left sitting in silence. The raccoon dog hoisted the noise-maker onto his back and plodded after the wolf, breathing out a large sigh through his nose.

@Fate

"To find treasure of course, you silly! You coming?" Fate said before scampering onward. She hadn't any clue what treasure she wanted to find but she had a determination to find something. She began humming as well though she did so in rather a mischievous manner, as if she had done something naughty which, of course, she had not.

She sniffed the ground and dug at occasional intervals. This lead to her snout and paws becoming very dirty with the dust but she wasn't bothered by it. She never cared about the way she appeared to others. Besides what would a bit of dirt do to change her.

Her sniffing prowess, or at least her perceived sniffing prowess, had brought her to the side of a derelict building. She payed the building no mind and kept traveling past it, nor had she payed attention to her new friend either and failed to look to see if they were still following.

=Exit Fate=

"Alright, alright!" Romeo called hastily, not without a trifle confusion in his voice. Obviously she wanted to find something. The raccoon dog again began to assume that she was jealous of his noise-maker. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she could make some noise too, right? The louder the cave, the better. That was just how Romeo's mind worked.

He feared silence more than anything else.

As much as he struggled after her, Romeo still found himself falling away behind. The combined weight on his back with the speed and larger size of the other made her pull away ahead and finally disappear around a corner. And that was the end of it; Romeo looked, but he was all on his own.

-exit Romeo-