Heart Bonding

My piece for Heart bonding, task 1 of KrosFox’s Valentines event.
Use your affinity to make a flashy showing of your feelings to another fox for half an artifact! If they respond in kind, they get half an artifact!
Hopefully this is okay for the prompt?_{I’veactuallyhadthisnearlyfinishedforalmostaweekbutthenseeingXel’sthingforFahneitremindedmethatIneededtokickmybuttintowritingthelastparagraphofthisandactuallysubmittingit.} Haha Enjoy more stuff for Fahne~ C: Everyone loves him he deserves all the Valentines loves.

Beware of big chunk of story text below explaining the picture.

Season of love huh? Sounded fun!

Already thinking of things she could do, the two tailed fox was about to bound up to the present elders to ask about secret admirer notes, but already they were swarmed with other aeniama. It might be a better idea to have a go at one of the other tasks whilst they were busy for now.

But… Who could she celebrate with? And as a matter of fact, sound wasn’t exactly flashy. Actually “flashy” sounded rather scary. How would she make a “flashy” show with sound…?

Shuffling so she was slightly out of the way, Kaerii sat in content with the hum of the nearby aeniama chattering about the event in the background, and began pondering what she could do, and for who.

It wasn’t long before she was struck with an idea.

-------

Shaking some dirt off of her head after plucking it out of a little hole she had previously excavated- a little hidey place for any interesting things she found throughout her explorations- a small grin was on her face, surrounding a bell similar in appearance to her own totem.

Fahne was the first fox, of course other than Elders, she had interacted with so if anyone he deserved something! And they hadn’t talked since they both had one tail! When they had first met, he liked the sound of her totem and it seemed reasonable that they could bond and catch up beginning with more of these happy noise-makers.

Shifting the dirt about again to conceal her little stash, she could do with finding something so she could carry things with her, her ears flicked about and the vixen headed off through the sewers with the knowledge that there didn’t seem to be any mutant rats nearby.

Kaerii hadn’t seen Fahne around as often nowadays, he seemed to spend a lot of time away from other foxes, and the times she had a glimpse of him, he had a gloomy expression. She didn’t know the exact details, but knew it was because of the loss of Domino, the two must have been close.

After reaching a crossroads of tunnels, she paused and now focused on her affinity, listening intently around the tunnels and tugging any distant sounds in the sewers to herself. Trying to contain a shudder as many echos of water droplets and shifting rubble piles cascaded towards her, the fox tried to focus on any sounds that would lead her to Fahne.

Sadness and even guilt sat in her heart as she remembered Domino, it was because of the mission that he was now gone, and Kaerii felt as if she were at least partially responsible, having teamed up with Domino. Perhaps if she had been a bit less nervous of the slums, or If she had paid more attention to potential signs of danger things would be different?

The faint sound of breathing could be heard by the Sound Aeniama as she strained to ignore other noises, and she soon padded off towards the source of the sound, hopefully it would be him.

She could make Fahne feel better surely! She could prove that she could pay attention, and keep her friends safe and happy too!

SMACK!

When did that pipe get there? The fox, now flopped on her belly, stared up for a moment at a particularly low section of piping which was stuck out at a rather unsafe angle. After a few seconds of wondering what happened, she bounced back to her feet, scrambling to pick up the bell that had bounced out of her mouth, and wobbled back on her journey.

Okay, maybe she still needed to work on keeping an eye on her surroundings and staying focused… Twitching her ears, feeling them lightly brush on the mask which was sat on her head she let out a little sigh. To be honest she was probably a bit too reliant on her mask. What with walking into that pipe, it seemed to only be bringing a false sense of security, after growing the eye holes didn’t seem as big and it had limited her range of vision just a little. In fact, when she first met Domino he even had tried taking her mask off, but the dark grey fox had been too paranoid to keep it off.

Once again stopping, Kaerii lifted a paw up to nudge at her mask, eventually slipping it off her face so that it dangled around her neck on it’s cord.

What a difference something so small made. Sure she felt more exposed, but trying to ignore that feeling- her ears were sensitive, right, she surely could hear if anything was going to happen near her- it felt almost as if things were closer to her. Maybe others would appreciate it more if she wore It less?

With a slight shudder at the feeling of not wearing at the mask, Kaerii once again resumed her journey, focusing on what she could hear just that little bit more now.

Soon however excitement bubbled up in the aeniama, he didn’t sound too far away now! And, even if it was simply the sound of breathing, she was sure it sounded like her friend! With a skip in her step, she quickened her pace and let out a joyful giggle.

Almost skidding around the corner on the damp sewer floor she crouched so as not to fall again, Kaerii came face to face with, thankfully, Fahne! Quiet for an awkward moment, regaining her breath, she attempted to squeak out a ‘Hi’, although with the bell in her mouth it most likely wasn’t easy to understand. With her tails swaying lightly behind her, she dropped the bell and quickly explained her sudden presence, “I wanted- I wanted to come see you, for the Valentines event by the Elders. I wanna see you happy again~!”

Okay so
981 words = 2 Kros
And Full coloured, shaded and lined, full background and 1 extra character: 8 Kros
So 10 Kros in total for this? (And half an Artefact?)

(AahhIthinkFahne’sexpressionlooksalittletooangry.)
Okay now I really need to work on the other section of the event but I only have a vague idea of what to do. Hmmmm. *Brainstorms*

Edit: OH ALSO YES. I am using this as a good excuse to stop Kaerii wearing her mask just a bit before she reaches her 3rd tail.

Art&Kaerii © me, Baka-Inu-Ninja
Fahne is © Dragon-of-Twilight