He had his tongue between his toes to try to dislodge a troublesome clod of mud, tail curled lazily over his haunch, when the yip fluttered across the meadow. Trygve recognized it immediately as not-Akira, which considering his extremely small social circle, was the only differentiation that mattered in the split-second moments of processing. However, the bark wasn't dissimilar to Akira's - melodic and delicate, not the booming boof of an incoming ambush of some sort. He managed not to startle, but did haul himself to his paws almost without thought.
The woman was waifish and clad in mist, with a pair of striking ruby eyes. He paid little attention to what she looked like, beyond her build - not much of a threat, except for the way everything was a bit of a threat - and her tail swung loose and friendly behind her. That finally made Trygve lower his own hackles, tilting his head at her with a querying and rather suspicious squint. What do you want, he might've gotten around to asking, not meaning to come across rude but finding it to be his default even after observing Akira's much gentler demeanor countless times by now.
Instead, the young woman pointed to herself and enunciated confidently a series of wholly foreign syllables. The stranger did not press for Trygve to respond immediately, nor did she intrude upon his space, so he took a breath or two to process everything. She seemed to be alone, and he was most certainly still alone - aside from the stranger, who seemed to be introducing herself.
The boy's expression smoothed, a glimmer of sharp-eyed curiosity in his eye.
Nuvts’eyaȟa.He repeated.
I'm Trygve.He brought his own paw to his chest, then glanced down to see a feather sticking out from it. His ears flattened sheepishly, and he made an effort to brush the feather away, glancing up at the woman.
You live around here?
![[Image: trygve-chirpeax.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/vBkzDQZV/trygve-chirpeax.png)
