Little Creature

The sun had begun to dip deceptively low by the time Evelyn looked away, and she was thankful now for the foresight of her brother. It had gotten a little cold which was strange for this time of year, but she brushed it aside with the rest of her worries and huddled up to the amber glow. Michael settled next to her and a peaceful but tense quiet smoothed over the atmosphere.

"Do you believe it now?" Evelyn asked, eyes flicking to her brother. He glanced away.

"Ev don't be silly. There's a logical explanation for everything, including this." He rubbed his hands together to create a bit of friction. "We probably ended up out the back end of the excavation site. After the earthquakes it likely displaced the cavern, we were in and there could have been a second entrance we didn't know about that got opened up." Evelyn shook her head with a sigh and scooted a bit closer to him.

"You might be right." There was still skepticism in her voice as Michael listened, so to lighten the mood he gave her a soft nudge and started to fish through his cargo pants. His sister looked on in amusement.

"You know I nicked a few things from the cafeteria before we started work," he clicked his tongue as his fingers ran over a medium sized object wrapped in stark white tissue paper, "Takao saw me and gave me that look, you know the one..."

"Oooh, you mean the one full of disapproval for common etiquette?" She laughed at his affronted look.

"I'd have traded disapproval for his 'don't you eat enough already?' look." Both snorted and chuckled at the imagery.

"Yeah, that's the look mum would give you when she caught you sneaking a bag of crisps upstairs after dinner."

"Not to mention the rolls of bread stuffed in my pants."

"She'd find you later with a crisp butty stuffed halfway in your mouth and your greasy mitts on your keyboard mid-game." Michael attempted to look sheepish as they recounted their youth, but it only ended up making him look more guilty instead. He pulled out his stash of food with a flourish and chucked it at Evelyn, who failed to catch it in time.

"Takao snuck some too, ya know. He's terrible at being inconspicuous." His sister smiled, her worries for the time being cast aside, and unwrapped the little bundle of delicious smelling food. The sweet smell of sugared bread filled her nose and she almost squealed in delight at the sight. Inside the tissue covered package was a medium to large melonpan and a nori wrapped onigiri. How he managed to fit both his and her food in his pants, she will never know.

"You're amazing, Michael...thank you." Said brown haired male just smirked in response and with a wink, he delved back in to snag his contraband food as well.

"Old habits never die, Evie."

Among all their chatter, neither brother nor sister had noticed a pair of molten gold orbs following their every movement. They were too occupied with satisfying their suddenly groaning stomachs, that when Michael tore into the wrapper covering his food the sound of delicate snuffling and a shifting of underbrush nearby did not even remotely register with either of them. It was only when the bushes began to move more animatedly that Michael noticed, only just, from the corner of his vision. He held a hand out to his sister to get her to stop and pointed in the direction he saw such movement. Evelyn's heart began to race at an increasing rate, which caused a slight tremor in her fingers as she lowered the bread she had just bitten into. Michael dropped his food as he got into a low crouch, ready to defend them both if necessary. What they weren't counting for was an orange blur darting straight towards them, though more importantly it wasn't who it went for, but what. Michael watched in disbelief as the animal nibbled on his discarded food. Both had jumped and scrambled back, and it wasn't until the creature had sat down to enjoy it's plunder, that Evelyn recognised what it was.

"Oh my gosh it's a fox!" Said creature flicked its eyes and ears in her direction as if it understood, the golden orbs of its eyes twinkling beautifully in contrast with it's soft, fluffy looking fur. Michael wasn't as thrilled as his sister, however, and all he could mumble was a pathetic little 'my curry bread...'

All she could remember was running and pain. The trees had passed by so fast, she was sure she wouldn't be able to recognise where she was. Her little heart felt heavy with the weight of her pack, broken and bleeding, as she recalled just [what] she was running from. Large teeth, sharp and dripping with saliva filled her vision and she whimpered, tripping over tiny paws in her haste to put as much distance between them and her as possible. She remembered the protective nudge her mother had given her as her father and brothers fought those monsters. They had appeared as if by thin air and the sound they made, deep growling that seemed to come from hell itself, she knew she wouldn't forget anytime soon. Her mother had been insistent that they left, but those things had noticed and split into two groups to trap them. There had been a sharp yip behind her and the next thing she knew, there was emptiness. She kept running, small droplets forming at the corner of hers, and never looked back.

She was hungry now, the pain from the run combined with a lack of food was draining her energy, and fast. So, she stopped, crawled under a bush and collapsed with a pant. The wind was calm, and she could see the fading light of the sun between the break of leaves. Beyond he little hide-away she could see two strange creatures crouched over a fire flower and communicating with each other. One of them laughed and she shrank away at the sound, eyes focused intently on their movements. Would they hurt her like those horrible aberrations before? She was too frightened to find out, but the pains in her belly were getting worse and all she wanted was her pack. A quick movement from one of those things caught her gaze, and a smell like nothing she'd ever smelt of before just hit her nostrils hard. Her mouth watered and she scooted forward to see where it was coming from-- the creature on the right. Oh, she didn't care what they were now, her instincts told her she needed to eat, and her rear end wiggled in anticipation as she drew ever more closer to the edge of her cover. Shuffling forward again seemed to draw the attention of the tall one from before and it threw something on the ground in response. This is my chance! She thought and bolted into the clearing in a straight line towards the discarded item. She groaned happily; it was heaven. Her ears twitched as she heard the other thing make a strange noise and speak an even stranger language. They didn't seem dangerous now and she glanced sideways at the one that spoke, mouth still busy devouring whatever delicious morsel it was.

Sometime later her belly was full, and she was finally able to rest, or at least she would have if the smaller creature hadn't decided to come closer. She flattened herself to the ground and tried to inch away, but the creature had stopped too. This confused her. What was it doing? Its paw was held out, strange as it was and just like everything else, almost like an offering. She sniffed the paw tentatively- nothing seemed amiss, so she moved a bit closer. She was surprised when it moved a touched her, stroking down along her back and then back up to her ears.

Yes, these things were safe.

[Melonpan - Sweet bread covered in thin layer of crisp cookie dough. Their appearance resembles a melon.]

[Nori - Dried seaweed]

[Onigiri – Rice balls wrapped in seaweed.]