Gaara, AW for Tuksha'at wolves! —

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The girl sat at the edge of the den entrance, hovering in the shade as the sun above drifted higher into a cloudless sky. Despite the evenings that were finally growing cooler, today seemed to hold promise of a blooming late-summer heat.

Gavi's back foot lifted from the ground, scratching awkwardly at the base of her ear. Her tongue drifted out of her mouth, eyes half-closing as she rattled herself with her own momentum.

And then she would yawn.

After another moment, she would take her little puppy teeth and start pulling at the fur on her forelimb, pulling out loose bits of sand and debris from her thick, dark coat. Her sharp fangs would work gently at her tender baby flesh, her little body practically vibrating with the inability to sit still.

Finally, her eyes would lift, squinting against the sun as she pressed her bat-sized ears forward. The wind would gently blow, sand and heat lifting from the shifting dunes. And finally, the girl would take a step forward, instantly feeling the scorch of the desert through the base of her paws.

And then she would leap, taking a few extravagant bounds through the sand, barking at the breeze.

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skill: warrior

There were a great many pups in the den. Some of them looked very different from their two brown parents. Some looked all coy, some looked older. One was even a badger. If Gaara didn't know any better, he might have thought some of them had been stolen from their parents or maybe all just wayward children taken in. After all, hadn't Gaara come into the fold the same way?

Either way, Gaara didn't know any better, nor did he really care. They were Hati's babes and so he would protect him in the same manner which she had protected him.

He would have been laid in his usual place along the mouth of the den, so that they had to climb over him to get out, but at the highest time of the sun, he was now settled in the slivers of shade a gangly mesquite tree might offer which was situated just a bit from outside the den. At noon and the few hours which followed, it was not wise to meet the sun directly.

Chewing on a piece of root, when he noticed one of the pups exiting the den, he drops the root and woofs for the pup's attention, hoping either she would scurry back into the den or take to the shade next to him.

Gaara —

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Eventually, the hot sand began to burn her delicate little paw pads. As she ducked and dove through the dunes like a rotten little sandworm, she began to feel the oppressive and steady burn of the sun. It was hot, hot, hot!

Curse her dark coat!

How come everyone else had light brown coats that allowed them to basically merge into the sands like a mirage, and she was stuck with such colors! Colors that held the heat and made her stick out like a sore thumb!

Distracted by her own games, she hadn’t noticed the older red coyote until he called to her. The woof was sharp, and she knew immediately it was aimed at her — there was no one else out here breaking the rules, afterall.

She wasn’t far from him, only a few feet really, and her little head perked up. What did he want with her, anyway? Gavi’s oversized ears swiveled in his direction, and she instantly threw her chest into the burning sand in a play motion and sent a few sharp yips in his direction.

Unfortunately for Gaara, Gavi did not want to come inside yet.

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skill: warrior

As it were, they were both dark of coat. The girl's lighter grey underside matching his own and where she was dark grey and rusty on her top coat, he was dark grey and red. They both stood out like sour thumbs. Gaara had fared much better blending into the land of red rock. He missed what was home, once. There was nothing of familiarity in a land always changing. The tides of sand always turning. Only a true expert could navigate their way around here and that was her mother, not he, so he had every intention to keep the girl close.

Gavi tosses her front half down to touch the scorching sand, and indication of play. Despite the heat, her energy did not relent. Gaara knew if he were to attempt to bring her to heel, there just might be the possibility that the child, full of youthful ignorance, would rush far into the rolling tide, never to be seen again.

So instead, Gaara would play her game and later when she was spent and thirsty, a lesson would be revealed that play should be savored for late hours instead when the sun was not so high. Luckily, it was dawn. A bright new morning instead of the peak of noon.

Gaara lifts then, his tail a high banner behind him and he too then suddenly drops his lower half. Another sharp bark given before he rushes at her.