11/19/2025, 3:28 AM
Skill:
![[Image: dccl3rf-fe99107c-9ee8-48c2-99b3-c3fb6528...jZ3v-rBgC8]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/57b946d3-87b5-4dc3-9af4-7b8c23022bbc/dccl3rf-fe99107c-9ee8-48c2-99b3-c3fb65284f0c.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzU3Yjk0NmQzLTg3YjUtNGRjMy05YWY0LTdiOGMyMzAyMmJiY1wvZGNjbDNyZi1mZTk5MTA3Yy05ZWU4LTQ4YzItOTliMy1jM2ZiNjUyODRmMGMuZ2lmIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.04j-zGe3NSnIgtKBVulEhHM-sC3zZyA6mjZ3v-rBgC8)
The boy's nose was busy, the exhale of his breathing sending small whirls of snow up around the edges of his face. The cold stung his eyes, but there was something freeing about it. In a way, he felt he was like a snowflake, so gently tossed through life and landing in his new home with a spiral outside of his control.
After a few moments, his slender frame slowed, his pace stopping entirely as he allowed himself the grace to inhale... exhale ... inhale ...
And he would watch the snow flutter,
and glitter,
and dance.
And then he heard a wuff, and his frame instinctively and visibly stiffened. A shock was sent through his system, reverberating against his neurons as all the fur along his flanks lifted, his sympathetic system stimulated. A pair of eyes, dilated, would lift from their childish activity as the boy scanned the horizon, akin to the way a deer would. Like prey.
That was when he saw the vaguely familiar shape of the Dawnbreak leader — wasn't this the man who had offered them solace here? Maybe, just maybe, the larger male was out for a stroll. And Hawthorn would relax, if only slightly, offering a sheepish smile to the leader. The boy's tail would dip, wagging low between his ankles as he submissively flattened his ears in greeting.
Oh, um, hello,he would chirp, uncertain of how else to interact.
He wasn't very good at this.