Skill: Ranger [1/5]

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Things changed. Again, and again, and again—Da's been gone for ages. He and Mammy were still beasts. Albeit now, his legs had grown. He was tall again, his snout longer, his ears longer. He wasn't a small, round pup. He was shaping into a full-blown wolf.

Things didn't feel so fast-paced at home. Yet, the memory of 'home' faded fast. He was a wee boy when they were still in Avon. His mind couldn't even comprehend the changes—yet, now, he'd started to question it all. Where truly was this? "Mythris" wasn't enough of an answer anymore. How did they end up here? And why wasn't Da with them? He wanted to ask—but he didn't want to trouble Mammy. He was sure she was going through quite enough without Da.

Lugh wasn't used to standing on lanky limbs. A simple trot was just as fast as his gallop from when he first arrived—where had the time gone? The ginger boy loped out from the rest of the pack's haven, out onto the crimson meadows beyond.

A dark nose, blushed with pink, pointed at the ground. His tail swept slowly by his hocks as he wandered forwards, eyes transfixed on the ground.

It was getting dark—he should be back with Ma. Yet, something was alluring him forward, the presence still unknown—

Until a light flashed before his face. And another, by his side. Another, this time beside his feet.

Lugh's ears perked up, and the young boy began to prance forward, following the flickering lights—their presence fleeting, yet beautiful nonetheless. An exuberant giggle left his lips, and he continued to leap over the grass in pursuit of the light show that sparkled around him.

The world seemed to get bigger with each passing day, stumbling upon new discoveries and making new friends.. or at least trying to. She was.. bigger now maybe? A lot farther from the ground is how she pictured it. Her sisters had grew as well, she wondered if they were bigger than her, or perhaps they were the same size?? She figured the latter, they were about eye to eye with each other, so they had to be the same size right? Maybe she’d measure herself up with them later..

She’d notice the sun took a much longer time to fall asleep these recent days, though she wasn’t complaining! The very opposite actually, she loved having more time in the day, it gave her more sunlight for her daily search for new secret spot for her prettiest of pretty collection! Recently she tried collecting new bloomed flowers she found to be pretty as the rest of her pile, and because it was so pretty, she gently tucked it away. Though when she made her usual rounds in checking on them, it had wilted! It was very sad, and she mourned the loss of the vibrant petals, however even as the dried, and crinkled up like her nose did when something stinky passed through, she kept it. It wasn’t as bright as before, but it was still pretty, and that was enough for her! Despite that, she refused to pick another, regardless of prettiness, imagining those too would have the same shriveled fate.

By now the day was already over, the sun was down and the sky was giving its final burst of color before turning its usual dark navy blue. She figured by now everyone was making their way to the den if they weren’t already there, which meant she should probably be heading there too; What if they were telling stories without her? Or eating yummy snacks?? She absolutely would not be missing out on snacks and stories!

Her lanky legs would start up in a hasty trot, making a complete b line towards the den until.. well until she wasn’t. Something caught her eye, a familiar glint of a fiery orange that never failed to remind her of the peepings of a waning sun, it was Lugh! It was peculiar to see him by himself, away from Nanna that is. He was always on her heals and when he wasn’t she had no clue where he was and because of that she knew little of the boy that was supposedly their uncle. Illi soon became a brown blur, now excitedly bounding towards the pup, she had so many questions to ask, and he had no heels to hide behind, a perfect opportunity if you asked her.

"LUUGGHHH!" Her voice traveled much faster than her body did, however instead of colliding with the boy, she had a friendly greeting with the dirt, grass and flowers at their feet. It was harder to see at night, how was she supposed to see the rock there?? Illithya was still working on her punctual stops, and seeing as she didn’t run into anybody this time, she was clearly getting better! "Hi Lugh!!" She greeted with passing giggles. It didn’t take her long to find her footing again, shaking at least most of the debris from her fur.

"Whatcha doin? Chasing the star bugs?? You shouldn’t eat them, they’re yucky!" She was quick to answer her own question with a premade conclusion, and give well needed advice from a not so great experience; it had only happened once, and by mistake at that! "I don’t bite, see!" A similar statement she’d use during their first meeting; She was determined to show her harmlessness, so that maybe, hopefully, they could go on adventures with each other and.. and play!

Skill: Ranger [2/5]

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The young boy pranced along the fields happily, still not used to the sudden speed he'd gotten from his long limbs. But then—

'LUUGGHHH!' The young boy immediately skidded to a halt, his fur bristling in shock. He could recognize the voice as one of his nieces—but god, which one?! There were too many to keep up with, and he had no chance of recognizing any of their voices.

And then, down came Illithya, landing gracelessly upon the ground. The fireflies dissipated, and so did Lugh's excitement, replaced instead with nerves. Illithya?! His ears fell back. Err, are ye alrigh'? The question was answered not by a confirmation but, rather, a blabber of words that he, at first, had quite the difficulty understanding.

Lugh shook his head and sighed. I'm not trynna eat 'em! I was just lookin'. He turned back towards the darkening fields—the fireflies remained flickering, albeit further away. Illithya, lookit! Ye scared 'em away! He huffed with a displeased scowl, lips downturned in dismay. An' they're fireflies, not star bugs. The young boy spoke with a know-it-all tone.

Here, c'mon. Ye can watch 'em with me, but ye gotta be quiet. His voice was insistent, still carrying the near-condescending lilt that it had before. He trotted over the blush-hued grass back towards where the 'star bugs', as she called them, were chased off to.

Illithya smiled gleefully, her tail gently rocking the back half of her body. She was completely fine! Besides a few specks of dirt, twigs and the occasional grass and tiny flower mix that never quite left the tufts of her fur. Stumbling into things, albeit family and friends or the ground, was a very common occurrence most had gotten used to by now.

The girl happily acknowledged that her uncle indeed would take her advice and not eat them, her mind gently passing over the fact that he made it clear eating them were never his intentions. 'Illithya lookit! Ye scared ‘em away!' What?? She did not! "Lugh if they were scared.. they would’ve went out completely!" She defended her case with a protesting huff, turning her attention to where they had migrated, in which wasn’t far enough if they were really ‘scared’.

"Seeeee.. they just moved to better grass is all" She chimed, her held tilting once more to his correction towards her chosen name for the beetle. "They’re not on fire! And they’re more like other bugs than flies, AND they twinkle more like stars to me! So why call them that weird name instead?" She questioned, curious and confused, by her logic, her name was completely in the right for the twinkly bugs.

Regardless of the debate she would follow closely beside the boy in a matching trot, her head tilting, finding another one of his sentences to be rather silly. "Why do I have to be quiet, Lugh? I’m pretty sure they can’t even hear us!" This statement, unlike most, wasn’t warranted by assumptions! Well mostly at least.

After plenty of night of playing with the bunch, although recently due to the coming spring, she’d noticed they weren’t too fazed by her loud demeanor, only her movements; And when she talked to them, like most things she found herself conversing with, they didn’t respond, and even worse, they didn’t even pretend to notice her talking!! Quite rude if you asked her.. however between her spurts of concentration on the little beetles, she couldn’t help but noticed when one blinked at the other, it would blink back like a response.

Such a mild discovery made her question if that’s how stars talked too! She hadn’t yet asked her mother about it, but a theory like that immediately sparked the want to maybe learn the strange language.. unfortunately for her, it would be pretty hard without a blinking light on her tail..

Skill: Ranger [3/5]

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'Why should I be quiet Lugh?' The question met no answers. Instead, the boy's paw rose and smooshed against the other's lips. Shhhhhh!! He snapped. Quiet! His voice was a low hiss as he scowled at his niece.

The redhead trotted a few strides towards where the fireflies now gathered, his stance dropping low. His tail was subtly wagging. You are scarin' em away. If they weren't afraid, they'd still be around here. He retorted with a whisper-yell. Besides, fireflies can't just... turn off—then, how'll they find each other? Lugh pointed out as he slinked forwards, once again back towards the swarm of lightning bugs.

His ears pricked upwards, and suddenly, he pounced onto the ground. Cupped beneath his paws was a single firefly, flickering with a soft luster. Illi, look! I got one! He whispered. The yellow glow shone against his face. The insect remained within his gentle hold.

He leaned closer and let his ears fall back, canting his head in observation. Why d'ye think they glow like this...? he murmured. He always assumed it was to find one another—yet, he could always find his ma, and she didn't glow, nor did he.

She gave muffled giggles towards the sudden smoosh of her muzzle, finding the change of attitude rather interesting; what a funny uncle he was! When they first met he was all behind Nanna like some kind of little critter, now he was shushing her for scarring off bugs that didn’t even scare easily! "You’re silly Lugh!" She chuckled, her gaze traveling from the boy and to the star bugs that had moved to a different patch of grass and flowers.

"I really don’t think I’m scarring them though! Look at ‘em, they’re still here aren’t they?? They didn’t move that much either!" She defended once more, however she was sure to keep her tone at a slightly lower octave to please her red uncle. "Uhm, but they do turn off..? Don’t they turn off in the morning?? I’ve never seen a starbug when the sun was out! But maybe they’re just sleepin?" She now had a new wondering thought; Did starbugs glow in their sleep and they just couldn’t see it, orrrr did they stop glowing all together? It was a curious thought, something she’d be sure to ask her mother when seeing her next.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted with the calling of her name, and without hesitation she padded forward, her head lightly bumping against the others whilst looking at the glowing beetle between his paws. "You did it, Lugh!!" She chimed loudly, her ears perked and her eyes wide. 'Why d’ye think they glow like this…?' A question she’d thought about in spurts before, though during such times she had come up with the answer. "I think this is how they talk! I thinkkkk when they blink it’s like ‘How are you?’ Or or, ‘I’m sad..’ or even ‘Let’s go here’ yknow? Everything has to have a way of talking to each other right?" She explained lightly, her ears twitching with the breeze and her tail happily wagging from side to side. "It’d be pretty lonely if they couldn’t tell each other how their day was!"

She could only imagine not being able to talk to anyone, how would her family know she was thinking about them? Or what if she had something important to say and no one could hear it?? The absolute horror of not being able to even ask her questions freely would probably eat her alive..

Skill: Ranger [4/5]

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Lugh narrowed his two-toned eyes with a small hum. I guess... I guess that makes sense. He conceded. Not that he entirely wanted to admit that something Illithya said actually made any sense at all. His paws remained carefully cupped around the small insect before he eventually pulled back, letting the small thing flutter back towards its glowing comrades.

The pup let out a soft sigh, keeping his eyes on the glowing bugs and their fleeting lights. The field was growing darker and darker. He should be worried about being astray during the night.

Yet... for once, he wasn't concerned for his safety—over the months that he resided in Mythris, he'd grown. Grown shockingly quickly; he was tall, taller than Ma. Not only did his limbs grow, but his withers grew broad with muscle. His eyes were sharp with fading childlike innocence, all instead replaced by maturity, a sense of understanding that he never knew existed. It was all so weird.

He snapped out of his own thoughts and turned to Illithya with his ears perked up. Uh... it's... gettin' dark, he commented, we should head home, right? It was obvious, yet he still questioned it—for deep down, the last thing he wanted was to go home. He wanted to stay out. See the world with his own eyes, now from this strange perspective of being so grown, so quickly.

And... a part of him knew that Da was out there. He could feel it. And if he wasn't going to come to him and Ma, Lugh would go and find him himself.