[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Suzuki Taru Ōorigami Asahi

The creature paused for a moment when Taru spoke to it, but only for a moment before it continued to make its slow trek towards them. It was curious, or hungry, or something worse. There was no way to tell, but Taru had bought Asahi some time, only a brief moment of time, a genuine split second of it. When the light shone through with the discharge the creature screeched mournfully, not much caring for the sudden bright fire that was glowing in the area. As fast as the two young teenagers could blink, it was gone from the world. Not a sign that they had seen it or that it had been there.

Then, silence filled the air once more. Trees were perfectly if not eerily still and the air was stifling from a nearby bog. What to do next? There was no indication of the old man that had been their escort and no indication that they were any closer to finding the fox. Would they move forward or settle down for the time being to wait?

It was definitely a hard thing to tell, but they had almost only two options to go with. To move, to walk, or to stay still and wait in a brief moment of safety.

OWL

[Suzuki Taru]

Taru did not have a cautious nature, but she also wasn't stupid. As much as she would love to continue exploring the forest, and as much as she was certain they probably could make it through themselves, she also understood when a situation wasn't ideal. They'd been split from their escort and he was meant to keep an eye on them and take care of them. He already wouldn't be pleased that the two of them had been separated from him, and would be even madder if they kept wandering around and managed to get themselves lost or into trouble.

No, it wasn't time to wander around, it was time to settle down and wait. That was often the wisdom given to people who were lost in the wilderness. Moving around make you harder to find and make it easier to get lost. One should make camp and wait, and that was exactly what Taru planned to do here. If it was just herself, maybe she would've taken more risks, but she didn't want Asahi in harm's way!

"We'll want to try to keep a fire burning to keep animals away and to try to help our escort find us," Taru stated. "I know I said we shouldn't stay still earlier, but the animals have already found us, so the important part now is keeping visibility, so we don't get even more separated. Let's try to gather up some twigs and rocks and use that torch to light a proper campfire," she said.

If Asahi agreed to that idea and wouldn't rather continue exploring, she would begin to gather the materials to hunker down here for the time-being.

[Ōorigami Asahi]

I AM A QUIVERING THING LOOKING UP AT A DARK AND CLOUDY SKY

I AM FREE. I AM CHAINED. I AM A DOCTOR. I AM A CHILD.

With the moment he had, the plan worked, and a torch was created from the discharge jutsu. After a shriek, the creature was...gone? Asahi waved the torch in his hand around to assure that the creature hadn't simply gone around them, and to reassure himself. But the silence of the stillness of the night returned. He turned to see Toru in the torchlight as she proposed what to do next. She proposed they set up a fire here and wait, since an animal of the forrest had already spotted them.

"I'm cool with sticking around here for a bit. Maybe the fire will even let our guide know where exactly we are...but you used the term animal. That couldn't have been...an animal could it? What was that?" Asahi questioned, and ended with a question more so to himself, as he stabbed the torch into the ground.

Then, like Taru he went to collect some kindling they would need for the proposed fire. His brain raced the whole time. Was that an animal? Were there any other creatures still around them? What if a creature decided it wasn't afraid of the fire, or as afraid of it as they had thought. And he couldn't get that shrieking, before the creature approaching them disappeared, out of his head.

If all went well, and with both their efforts, their torch would turn into a fire, but Asahi kept the torch going too, if he could, just in case they needed to be mobile again.

	oOC/NOTES	--- words
	Tag: Suzuki Taru , Kaguya Toru

pyxis ★

[Kaguya Toru]

I would know him in death At the end of the world Suzuki Taru Ōorigami Asahi

They decided to settle down, for how long, it was up to the two teens. But as they sat there, nothing seemed to happy. That silence permeated everything without regard for their own sanity. There was still no sign of the old man, the old guide who might have helped them if he was not suddenly not around. If they stayed still, for an hour, and remained without deciding to move ahead a new life would be breathed into the area around them as if the memory of the creature from before was being stamped out. The mournful cry ridden and washed away.

A crackle of leaves beneath foot, and now a yelping in the distance. Something high-pitched...

Then fireflies just in Asahi's line of vision. They were like the strange lights from before, but they popped in and out, and were yellow. Creating a strange path into an unknown direction that was deeply covered in woods and bramble. It looked more difficult to move through, but perhaps there was a way through all the dry weed that littered the bottom of this path. Or perhaps they wanted to try and explore the area all around for the high-pitched sound that echoed all around.

OWL

[Suzuki Taru]

As the two gathered the materials for their fire, Asahi questioned if what they saw was really an animal. It had certainly been a strange one, cast in disturbing angles by the darkness of the forest. Still, if something lived in the forest, it must be an animal, right?

"Most living things are animals," Taru informed Asahi, somewhat childishly, though she said it sagely. "Even if it's something different from what you're used to seeing, who decides if something is an animal or not? It thought like an animal and acted like an animal, so that's good enough for me. I'm not exactly sure what kind of animal it was, though. We didn't see it very well! Not a kitsune, that's for sure."

The time around the campfire stretched. Their guide didn't come to join them. They could camp out here all night, but it would bring them no closer to their goal and if they needed to sleep they might end up in trouble. Sure, they could take it in shifts, and Taru was confident in her ability to adapt, but it still seemed unwise. She stared into the embers trying to decide what to do, steadily growing board and restless.

Soon enough a high-pitched yelping began to echo through the night. That was a sound Taru recognized! That was a fox call!

She shifted, not quite rising from where she sat beside the fire but still moving up onto her haunches, staring out into the night like a particularly curious cat.

"I heard a fox...," she informed Asahi. Would he point out the firefly lights to her?