1. ☾ Video | Unlocked | After the Feast

[nottame]

[Incoming video!

Of nothing but up a wall and a ceiling in Caer Glaem's interior, sadly. Toboe's not quite got it around his head through practice yet that opening a video connection doesn't mean necessarily getting video back. He's sitting nearby; any human who'd be close enough to see him would see a kid lying along a wall with his arms crossed under his neck, craning his head forward to squint at the locket's display. Beaming brightly and speaking with breezy enthusiasm.]

Uhh... hi!

We can all talk to each other like this, right? Everyone who got one of these lockets from those little ones with the wings.

-- My name's Toboe!

[Riding a happy to-himself sigh.] Wow, they're being so great here. At that feast -- I don't remember if I've ever eaten like that. [Bounces up in a laugh.]

Say, I, uh...

I've got a friend who got lost once. While he was alone, and dying, he said he, uh. [This - isn't going to sound quite to everyone else as he means it.] Dreamed that he was in Paradise.

But this is all real, huh?

I mean -- I know it's not perfect! The courts want us for a war, right? But -- are they gonna make us fight?

No matter what - [He picks a wee bit of the cheer back up.] man, it's great being around so many people like this.

[A flourish of a hopeful laugh.] So-o-o... I wanted to say hi!

Oh, uh -- hang on! [Speaking of people!] If anyone knows if you have any wolves here in the Drabwurld -- I mean, I guess someone would be pretty sure they know that, since we live here and all -- I guess I'd like to hear a little about that, too! [Still a smile in his voice.] -- I could explain! If, you know, I should or anything. I could try just getting closer to the locket, but I dunno if I would show up right - and I think that the people with wings saw me, but they didn't seem too bugged...

[Warms back up, laughs again.] Anyway! ...I sure did end up talking a lot, huh. It's, uh -- really nice meeting you guys.

Comments

[nottame]

[It took a hand to begin with, alas. His mouth opens a tad - in something that looks like an amicable smile on what is, indeed, a muzzle.]

Well, ahh - I lived with humans! [But that's beside the point. A "heh!" sound. Voice is a bit sheepishly-gratefully soft.] Would you?

[noirant]

Of course. [ He nods, solemnly, wondering whether he looks half so bewildered as he feels. ] You're better with it than some humans I could name, truly. Do let me know if you find any as well, will you please?

[nottame]

[A huff short of another little laugh and an edging-up-to-his-eyes tug at the sides of his mouth for that look of a smile a dog can manage.

Releases a little, and he angles his head further in.]

Why do you want to know about wolves?

['Tis neither probing nor a far switch from upbeatness, though there is a thought of learned in-case suspiciousness behind it. Just sniffing things out, as it were.]

[noirant]

Frankly?

[ Felix shrugs. He's terrible on the spot like this, and the truth isn't so dire, so best to be out with it. ]

You're the first I've met. Only coyotes and dogs, where I'm from -- and certainly, none with your vocabulary.

[nottame]

Uh -- [Chances a "heh" from the chest...] -- Or maybe no one recognized them. Where I come from -- most of the humans thought that we'd all died out. Most of them didn't recognize us when they saw us...

[But prattling hypothetically as a sort of joke or not, there'd be no reason for that surely unless it was the same situation - ]

Doesn't mean that there aren't any wolves where you're from, uhh -- does it?

[noirant]

[ It’s a curious idea — one that fits more with legends of skin-changing heroes from the hinterlands than what little Felix understands of animal behavior. Still, why not? There’s safety to be found in a disguise; he knows that well. ]

I’ve heard stories of wolves in the mountains, and upon one occasion I saw — [ A pelt, he doesn’t finish. Bad taste. ] — Illustrations in a book.

Marathat is mostly marsh and grassland, and I doubt whether there’d be prey enough for many. [ Save children. ] But I admit, I think I might prefer to think there were a few that walked among us. How did you learn to?