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Chapter 0 - The Forest

Prologue - A Chance Meeting

Jumping over an unsuspecting homeless man sleeping in the alleyway, Astah had managed to break line of site with his pursuers as he sprinted down into the depths of the alley.

For now, anyway, he knows it's not going to last for very long, the cops were always tenacious this side of the city. He needed a plan and he needed one now. Looking around the dingy and dirty alleyway, the albino vampire bat tried to come up with something on the fly.

He was on borrowed time as it is and the longer he stood there like an absolute idiot the less of it he had.

His sensitive ears twitched as the sounds of boots stomping the pavement came up behind him. If he wasn't out of here in the next few seconds, he's sure those itchy trigger fingers of the cops would shoot him dead. Astah quite liked being alive, thank you, there was just too much in the world to do and see to either waste it away rotting in a jail cell never to see civilization again or bleeding out in a dirty alleyway full of shit and piss.

In his initial frantic once-over of the alley he had managed to overlook the fire escape of the nearby ancient apartment building, a rusted old thing he wasn't sure would hold his weight, and quickly hauled himself up it. It gave an ominous groan under under his paw. Cursing, the albino vampire bat moved as fast as he could so that, in the seemingly likely event that the damn thing fell down into the alley, he'd already be long gone.

It held, somehow. Thankfully.

He ran as fast as he could up the winding stairs of the fire escape that lead to the roof of the apartment building, not caring about the clang of the metal under his dirty old combat boots.

Shots rang out, clanging off the bottom of the old rusted metal. The cops had noticed his escape tactic and weren't too keen on taking him in alive, it seemed.

Figures.

Well, he was dead either way so what's a bit of breaking and entering on his conscious? With little finesse, Astah kicked at the window of the apartment that this level of the fire escape was connected to in the hopes it would break and shatter. It took a few good kicks, but he'd managed to crack the glass and then, with one last hit with the steel toe of his boot, he had managed to shatter the glass into the apartment.

A bullet whizzed by his right ear, taking a chunk out of it at the bottom. He winced at the pain, doing his best to ignore it, as he dove into the apartment through the broken window and rolled onto the floor of a musty room with decor from the mid century, the smell of death lingering in the air.

Whoever was the old tenant of this place was long gone, food for the cockroaches and rats.

Astah smirked to himself, however. The cops would need to go through the apartment building and the fire escape if they wanted to shoot him down. Which would take time. Time he had to get onto the roof and get out of here.

You know... He's always wanted to see the ocean near this side of the city. Why not start there? Once he's on the roof he'll be able to guess his current location and the best way to get to that coveted bit of ocean front property he'll be hiding out near for the foreseeable future... At least until the heat dies down and he can return back to good old civilization.

Not wasting any more time, the albino vampire bat makes his way through the dead tenant's apartment unit, out the front door into the building's main hallway and proceeds to sprint up the stairs to get to the roof access. Thank any and all gods out there that this old apartment building had indoor stairs. He'd hate to think about getting stranded in one of the newer constructions, those tended to lack roof accesses like these old turn of the century red stones did.

Panting hard, he finally opened up the door to the roof after sprinting up 3 flights of stairs, Astah ran to the edge of the roof and looked over the ledge, being careful to not let the cops see him if this just so happened to be facing the direction of the alleyway he ran into. Thankfully it wasn't, small miracles honestly. Now all he had to do was get off this roof and onto a few others in order to get out from under the cop's noses... On his left side there was a building that looked within his gliding range. He took a deep steadying breath as he backed up a fair bit, psyched himself up, and ran as hard as he could before leaping off the ledge of the apartment's roof and spread his arms out as wide as he could, his wing membranes catching hold of the hot air of the asphalt under him and extending his jump just enough that he half landed on the the ledge of the next building. Pulling himself up with a grunt, he didn't stop running once his feet hit the gravel of the roof, and proceeded to jump and glide over several more buildings he chose at random, putting that much more distance between himself and the cops after him.

Finally daring to look back, Astah judged how far he'd gotten from his starting point but he couldn't make out the original apartment building he had started from. Probably for the best. However, the upside to this is that he also couldn't see any cops on any of the surrounding roofs.

Mission accomplished: got away from the cops.

The albino vampire bat gave a triumphant, albeit heavily relieved, laugh as he sat down with little grace onto the roof's gravel. Still feeling a bit hysterical, he laid down and took the time to recover his breath.

---

Astah jolted awake a few hours later, close to when the sun was just threatening to break the horizon, by the sound of a door slamming behind him. Quickly, he ducked behind a nearby AC unit, hoping that whoever that was didn't see him. His sensitive ears twitched as he listened to heavy footfalls on the roof gravel travel a small distance around the roof before whoever it was went back into the apartment building.

He sighed and then scratched at his ears absent-mindedly. The wound on his right ear from the bullet was stinging and itching, he had to forcefully stop himself from rubbing at the new knick in his ear to alleviate the discomfort lest it start bleeding again.

He approached the edge of the building and looked for that telltale shimmer of the ocean but he couldn't see it from this angle. Carefully travelling around the perimeter he managed to finally spot it, a dark mass off in the eastern distance, surprisingly closer than he had expected. Just how far had he run? He doesn't remember being this close to the beaches...

Whatever.

The albino vampire bat looked around for a fire escape he could use to get down onto the streets once more, not wanting to deal with any of the tenants inside or having to land hard onto the ground if he continued his rooftop hopping shenanigans. No, he's had enough cardio for today, thanks. Luckily this building had just what he was looking for and he carefully headed down the metal stairs. With one last wing assisted jump down, he was safely in the alley. Putting his hands into his jean pockets, he nonchalantly walked out of the alley and back on the streets as he headed east to the beach.

He was a lot closer than he expected, honestly, seeing as it was only a 15 minute walk away. Astah gave a sigh of relief as the familiar smell of salt water overtook the dirty stench of the city and soon enough he found himself on the boardwalk. He looked around but it would appear that all the usual outside concessions and convenience food vendors had packed it up for the day and closed down their stalls. Bummer. Well, it wasn't that bad, he wasn't starving anyway.

He walked up to a nearby vending machine, thankfully still working, and scammed the machine into giving him a water. Dumb thing, making him pay something every organism needs to survive. He walked over to a nearby bench and sipped at his ill gotten goods while he surveyed his surroundings. He needed a good place to lie low for a while, just enough time so that he's not actively being searched for anymore.

This was destined to continue being a night of disappointment because no such place magically materialized before him.

It was also, apparently, the end of a night for the nearby university students to be throwing bonfire parties.

Crumpling up the now empty water bottle, he chucked it into the recycling and headed down the beach and away from the partying university students. Astah snorted with derision, lucky bastards didn't know how good they had it.

---

He had been walking down the beach for a while now, and while he could check his phone to see the time, the damn thing was dead so it was a moot point anyway. His mind had travelled elsewhere so this whole journey between the boardwalk to the current he found himself in was nothing but a meaningless blur in his periphery. He rubbed at his forehead in frustration and exhaustion.

He had to find somewhere to sleep, he couldn't keep walking aimlessly like this, especially since the dawn was so close. Not to mention his feet were positively aching in his boots.

Looking around, the albino vampire bat shocked himself as he realized how... Wild the area he was in now was. It was covered in thick brush, the grasses up off the beach itself would probably reach up to his knees, if not to his hip. The forest even farther up was thick and dark, even with the full moon shining on it. He folded his ears back a bit as he imagined all sorts of dangerous critters just waiting to tear him apart lying in wait in there. Like cougars. Cougars hunted near dusk and dawn, right?

Swallowing hard, he took a step closer to the ocean and away from the forest involuntarily.

He smacked the sides of his head in frustration. He had to think... He was too tired to even attempt at building a shelter and he wanted nothing to do with the forest full of potentially hungry cougars which left... What exactly...?

The albino vampire bat felt anxiety start to sink in before he caught an interesting smell... It smelled like... Smoke and... Grilled fruit?

He put a paw to his chin as he thought. Usually it was best to walk away from the smell of smoke but... He did see those university kids partying on the beach earlier. Perhaps a few randy ones had made their way out here for a rendezvous? Well, okay, only if he discounted the fact that he was probably a lot farther than he should be. Regardless, it was his best lead so he followed his nose and trailed after the smell of smoke.

Slowly it grew stronger and soon enough he was staring at the gently smoldering remains of a small campfire dug into a pit in the sand with a very primitive grill resting on top of it. The remains didn't look like one of those they teach in scouts or the military, it was too... Rugged and haphazard. As if it was made using personal experimentation rather than taught rigid standards.

Before he could think further on it, his ears twitched as he picked up a sound behind him. Whirling around and expecting the worst (wouldn't it be hilarious if he had manifested those cougars he was thinking about earlier, he though hysterically), Astah was instead greeted by the site of something slightly less worrisome but also... Interesting.

Standing before him several meters away was a gangly spectacled fruit bat. Their fur lacked the sheen of modern product, their hair fell over their face in long greasy strands, and their ribs protruded a bit showing that they were underfed. Their bare feet were covered in dirt with thick callouses and their claws were long and sharp. Thankfully they looked to be healthy otherwise, no sign of the fungal rot from white nose. The best part, however?

They were completely naked.

The albino vampire bat unashamedly gave this stranger an appreciative look over, maybe he'd actually gotten real lucky and found a wayward university student that partied a bit too hard out here. Astah gave a surprised but delighted smirk, "Why... Hello there, darlin'... I'm not interruptin' any fun now am I?"

Chapter 1 - The Forest

Chapter 1 - In from the wild

It was a queer experience staring at this bone white creature hovering over the remains of his cooking fire for he had almost forgotten what it was to see another person after so long surviving alone. It had unnaturally clean fur and eyes the colour of blood. Its claws were short and neat, too small to be useful in hunting, going off the dentition he observed as it spoke. Clothing that was both dirty yet not, and it lacked the frayed edges of longtime use. Fancy, if he had to give it a label. Useless for camouflage if he had to give it a descriptor. Flashy, brightly coloured in places, splotchy... It was as if he was observing a male bird showing off his colours to attract a would be mate.

Confusedly, he titled his head as he observed this individual, for it spoke a dialect that he could barely understand. It was familiar enough to know that they were speaking the same language but so different that it was almost impossible to comprehend at times. Communication would be hard, if not impossible, due to the nuances lost between only spoken words and that of the natural language of bodies. Both could lie, but without the two working in tandem, that lie would be even more pronounced.

The figure before him started to look unnerved the longer he stared at it so, taking a chance, he slowly approached the other. He was being very careful to telegraph his movements as much as possible so as to not spook the clearly nervous individual in front of him. It was all for not, however, as it would seem that any movement he took towards this individual caused increasing levels of distress.

The figure started to back away with a nervous warning growl and more of that garbled dialect being spat at him. Curious... Very curious. So, without warning, he lunged at the bone white bat to see if this individual was worth helping and keeping alive or if he should just put it out of its misery with a quick death.

Thankfully the individual dodged out of the way but it landed hard into the sand as it lost its footing and subsequently flopped over upon the beach in total exhaustion and defeat. The force of his lunge that he used to test this person, however, had him gouging deep furrows into the soft sands of the beach that he had to pull out his arms from the trenches they had created. No matter. The fact the other dodged regardless of their apparent exhaustion plaguing their limbs was enough for him to want to help this flashy bone white bat survive the day.

He stood up and started brushing off the sand from his arms and wing membranes before picking out the grains that had lodged themselves under his claws. As he was doing this simple task, he made sure to enunciate loudly enough to get the other's attention.

His voice was scratchy and deep, painful after many years of never having to communicate before, which caused him to cough due to the irritation of using his vocal cords for more than just his usual simple echolocation. It seemed foolish to address the other with a greeting seeing as he had already attempted assaulting the bat so a simple observation and question seemed more appropriate.

"There is hope for you yet, wayward traveller. Tell me, what brings you to this beach?"

As he observed the prone figure, he saw the other's jaw make some sort of expression but it was lost as the other bat slowly, with a rather pained if not overly dramatic groan, sit up before giving him the most incredulous look he can remember seeing. Which, and no, the irony is not lost on him, was a rather long time ago.

The other bat started to speak in that weird garbled dialect but when it observed that he could not understand it, it rapidly switched through different dialects and even a few languages, before the bone white bat said something that he could understand.

"Can understand now?!"

It was unfortunate that it made the other figure sound like a youngster just learning the nuances of their mother tongue. No matter, he could work with it.

"Yes, I can understand you now," he replied in a flat tone, unused to infusing his words with emotion after so long surviving alone.

The bone white bat gave him a queer look but said nothing more before it drew itself up to its feet again and started to brush itself off of the sand it had collapsed onto. The dirty look it gave the sand was both warranted and not, seeing as it did, after all, get everywhere and tended to stick around for many moons after the fact.

It was just too bad for those flashy clothes.

He began approaching the other bat, being, again, careful to telegraph his movements to show that he did not mean harm in the long term.

"It is no use, the sand grains will remain in the fabrics for many moons. Leave them," he said. He meant it in more ways then one but he needed to get closer to this bat before he could actually get the other out of danger.

The bone white bat let out a complaining groan before giving up and shot him quite the venomous glare. It was somewhat warranted, what with him lunging at the other, but also not. It sneered at him as it talked, arms flailing a bit as it tried to recall words but also in demonstration of its frustration, "What do now?! Lost!"

He tilted his head as he contemplated on this before he flatly responded, "You must remove those clothes if you wish to survive the day. Fur can be hidden and masked with mud. The clothing you wear will only attract attention to you... And I imagine you do not want such fancy and flashy clothing ruined." He cannot remember much of his life before he came out here for, what he assumes to be, at least, personal reasons but he does remember that even the best cleaner had difficulty getting out deeply set old stains from the choicest of fabrics.

The other bat looked at him in a mixture of disbelief, embarrassment and... Something he couldn't quite place. Or perhaps something he didn't want to place.

"Well. Me lucky..."

He couldn't, nor didn't want to, parse that simple phrase for now. The bone white bat then smirked at him and started to disrobe in a comically sensual manner. He would laugh if he didn't feel it would embarrass the other bat... However, they were still on borrowed time so, forgoing any more lollygagging, he grabbed the other bat's belts and pants and started undoing them as quickly as he could.

This had the opposite effect as the bone white bat started to nervously chuckle, its voice was full of lust, excitement, and a bit of fear as it exclaimed, "Quick! No wait?" He shot it a glare as he pulled the brightly coloured studded belts, shining bright beacons under the now rising sun, and flung them over his shoulder with little care. The other bat gave an indignant squawk before shoving him away in a fit of pique.

"Fuck off!" it loudly yelled before petulantly crossing its arms over its chest as it glared at him. After a few moments of this, the other bat huffed like an overgrown child and stomped to go and pick up the belts he threw.

He glared at the other bat in frustration, if it wasn't going to cooperate then he would just leave. Let this other bat survive on its own through the day. Was he being rather childish himself? Yes. Was he also trying to get off the open beach and back into the hidden brush of his shelter? Also yes. With one final glance at the bone white bat, one last view of the only other intelligent creature he's seen in so very long, he started walking back into the tall grasses so as to head back to his shelter.

As he was just about to duck down and hide amongst the knee-high grass, the figure behind him let out a panicked, "No! Wait!" which stopped him in his tracks. He turned around and tilted his head as he regarded the other bat now frantically pulling off its flashy jacket and jogging towards him with clear fear on its face, holding those studded belts he had ripped off of it in one of its paws. Oh, so now it wants to cooperate but only when he's leaving? Perhaps that overgrown child metaphor was more apt then he initially thought.

The bone white bat stopped before him before shucking its pants and, after a few tense moments of contemplation, slowly removed its underwear and finally standing before him naked as the day it was born. It clutched its clothing in a tight wad to its chest as it stared at him with trepidation and embarrassment. Hopefully that shame of nakedness would pass quickly. He doesn't know how long this bone white bat will be in his company. He gave the other bat a calculating look as it stood there growing more and more tense. So the bone white bat had cock and balls. Didn't necessarily mean anything but it was good to know since, for example, he could now skip teaching a few specialized hygiene routines.

Putting the other bat out of its misery, he pushed down on the other's shoulders until it leaned down into a crouch with him, and gestured for the other to follow him through the tall grasses. "Stay close and do not rise above, the predators will spot you easily."

The bone white bat's ears lowered as it winced and softly asked, "Cougars?"

He softly laughed in response but nodded, "Cougars... And more. Keep close."

The other bat nodded before he lead the two of them through the knee-high grass, stopping every so often to use their sensitive ears to listen out for any worrisome noises. Thankfully the slowly encroaching morn remained just as quiet now as it did minutes earlier when they had met. It was a slow trek, he would stop periodically to make sure the bone white bat was still behind him, but they had made it to his first destination: the pond that sat on the outskirts of the forest. He pointed it out to the other bat once the other had stepped up to him panting with exertion.

Was this bat out of shape or did it have a physically demanding night? Questions for later.

"Give me your clothing," he ordered and, after it gave him a confused and wary look, the other bat thankfully did. Once he had the bundle in his arms he then pointed at the mud of the pond. "Slather that into your fur, you need to dull the bright shine of your coat if you wish to remain unseen."

The other bat gave him a nasty glare but, after a few moments of contemplation, it took several cautious steps towards the pond. With a look of sheer disgust, it pulled out a pawful of pond mud with a sucking squelch and started to smear the algal and bacterial infested mud of the pond into its bone white fur. At first it did it too thick, giant globs rolling off its fur and landing back into the pond mud with a loud and disgusting wet splat before it finally figured out that the goal was to dull the white of the fur and not completely change its colour to that of mud. It gave him a look of fear and trepidation as it gestured to its sheath with one paw and a handful of green spotted mud with the other. He shook his head, there was no need to put unknown bacteria into an environment where it could easily cause infection of a very sensitive organ. The now muddy tan bat gave a sigh of relief as it let the pawful of mud fall back onto the ground before grumpily walking back and squatting down next to him once more.

He gave a nod with a bit of a mean smile before he began leading the other once again. He'll keep a hold of its flashy clothing and while he may not be civilized amounts of clean, he's currently a lot cleaner than the light tan bat following him. He carefully lead them just near the edge of the forest, but he did not set foot in it. That wasn't the destination. Slowly the grasses started to increase in size, now reaching mid navel, but it was still unsafe to stand.

Then, the grasses ended. Or, to be precise, opened up to a space between several rocks just wide enough for a midsized bat to squeeze through. The sound of the ocean was being funnelled through the opening. He gestured for the light tan bat to go through first and, although it was visibly reluctant, did as requested. Taking a moment for his sensitive ears to listen for any concerning noises, he quickly followed suit and shimmied his way between the rocky passage.

He came out on the other side to the light tan bat looking at his little campsite in both awe and confusion. It was a hidden area that lead down to a secluded cove, ringed by rocks on the east and north side and trees and thick bamboo on the west. The south dipped down into a sharp cliff edge, a cliff side of perhaps 6 or 7 meters tall, giving a good view of the cove below them. He placed the other bat's clothing bundle near the head of the tattered old hammock he used to sleep in.

The other bat soon snapped out of its awe and then looked at him with a bit of shyness as it came to some sort of conclusion. He watched it with curiosity as it looked around before heading to the opposite side of his campsite and curled up. Was the light tan bat actually going to try and sleep like that? He shook his head as he approached the other bat with exasperation.

"No. Between the damp mud and ocean wind, you will not survive the exposure during the daylight-"

It huffed petulantly as it interrupted him, "Where sleep, then?!"

He rolled his eyes before he grabbed the other's paw and forcefully pulled it up to standing. Huh... Up close and on even ground the other bat was actually quite a bit shorter than him. Regardless. The other bat had a curious look on its face as he lead it back to his hammock. He gestured for the other to get in.

"We will share."

The light tan bat gave him a nervous smile as it laughed and rubbed the back of its neck self-consciously. What proceeded were several painful minutes as he observed the light tan bat unsuccessfully attempt to lift itself up into the tattered old hammock before it finally flopped into it ungracefully. He didn't say anything figuring that the mortification of that display was sufficient enough before he deftly hefted himself up into the hammock and landed on top of the other bat's chest, causing the other to softly grunt at his weight. The hammock gave a gentle groan but held fine, the knots remaining taught and the trees it was tied to barely bowed under their combined weight.

The light tan bat then gave him what he supposes might pass for a flirtatious smile as it slowly but purposefully slid its paws from his sides and then onto his ass. He gave it a flat look and a warning growl which caused the paws to find purchase on his lower back, just under where his wing membranes attached to his sides. The lay there in silence for several minutes, just enough for him to enter a light doze, before the light tan bat spoke again.

"Astah."

He gave a sleepy hum in response, "...Astah?"

"Name. My name Astah."

Ah. Yes, that would be helpful, wouldn't it?

"Hello, Astah. I'm Lanon."

The light tan bat gave a noncommittal hum but nothing else. The missed comfort of another bat had quickly lured Lanon into sleep, the gentle (if muddy) body heat of the other bat so soothing, it was such a stark reminder of how long he had been out here alone. Unconsciously, he burrowed further into the soft fur of the other bat with a slight shiver of pleasure that caused the other bat to swallow hard and clench its paws where they rested on him.

It was going to be a long night for one of the pair.

---

Lanon awoke the next nightfall feeling warmer and more relaxed than he had in... Far too long. He couldn't quite remember the last time he was this comfortable out in the wilds, the ocean breeze stealing all warmth from him for years on end. The constant shock of cold having him hold himself tight as he slept and causing the expected muscle cramps and fatigue. Not this morning. His sleep addled brain tried to put two and two together, throwing him into half remembered memories and hazy recollections of a time before the ocean was his only trusted companion. Squinting open an eye he was met with dirtied fur (white was too bright during the day), clumps of now dessicated mud flaking off in places where it was applied too thickly in haste (it didn't know not to shove handfuls onto itself), broad shoulders and a thick ruff (it wore flashy clothing much like a bird).

His thoughts kept on spiraling as on one hand the observations vaguely recalled something that had happened the dawn before, something important and tied to the why of his current relaxed and rested state, but his mind just would not put the pieces together. Much to his eternal frustration.

Only one thing left to do, actually make an effort to get up. Pushing himself up onto his shoulders he fully opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of the light tan bat, Astah, sleeping peacefully below him. It was then that the previous night's happenstance meeting came back to him fully.

Huh.

You would think that meeting the first bat he had seen in countless amounts of seasons would have actually fully registered in his memory but apparently not.

Well, let it never be said that Lanon never ignored opportunities. He looked down and observed his companion in safety, really studying the other bat's face, now that he had full freedom to. Was it a bit creepy? Certainly. But he also knows that if he doesn't do so now than who knows when he'll be able to do so again. Astah had avoided putting the pond mud on his face, his dark blue dyed hair was enough to not draw much attention should a predator be prowling about the forests and brush just before dawn so Lanon did not push for it. This left the other bat's face clean and easily observable.

He tilted his head in thought. The other bat had broad ears that stuck out like radar's from its head, slightly bigger than his own, with pink flesh. They were free of piercings and the rot associated with the dreaded white nose fungal infection but otherwise unremarkable. Well... Okay, the right one had an inflamed notch taken out of it so they'll have to watch that wound for infection. Astah's nose was flat and quite large, shoved into his face causing a truncated muzzle. Brachycephalic? No, that didn't feel like the correct term to use, the other bat was clearly from a different lineage as him. Lanon idly thought of how different life must be for the other bat considering his muzzle was long. Did the other bat smell all the nuances of the night? Of food? What was its diet like to allow for such a truncated jaw? The nose was also a dull pink, as if he was able to see all the blood vessels underneath the other's skin. Natural or...?

It hit him then, he was observing an individual with albinism. This... Complicated his plans of helping the other survive in the wilds some as he would need to be extra careful of the other's sun intake due to his hidden campsite still receiving ample sunlight during the later portions of the afternoon during the fall and summer months. He'll have to find a sheltered enough area so that the other's skin doesn't burn unnecessarily as they come into late spring. Something to keep in mind for the future.

His musings, however, were quickly cut short as the bat below him moved around a bit and he soon became aware of a telltale hardness and wetness poking him between his legs. Ah... An expected biological response but still unwanted on his part. With a grunt, Lanon hoisted himself rather forcefully out of the hammock, causing the other bat to quickly jolt awake from the lack of weight, warmth, and the instinctual fear of falling. This sudden panicked movement almost had the other bat falling on top of him but thankfully he was able to hold the hammock still enough by keeping a heavy paw on the other bat's chest to prevent it from bolting up.

Panting hard, Astah then gave him quite the grumpy glare before the other bat ran a frustrated, if still sleepy, paw through its hair all the while grumbling in that garbled dialect of its. Hopefully he'll find some material so that he can fashion the other bat a hammock of its own so that they would be able to avoid such awakenings in the future. Ideally it would be of the same material he gathered to fashion his own but beggars cannot be choosers in the wild. Granted he'll miss the relaxed muscles and restful sleep that this experience offered him but-

He was pulled out of his musings by Astah waving a paw in front of his muzzle with a teasing grin.

He coughed and backed about two meters away, giving the other bat the space to get out if it so chooses. From this distance he then observed the light tan bat attempt to get out of the hammock rather ungracefully. The display was like watching a bag of 4 week old kittens try to escape confinement, there was a distinct lack of coordination that caused Astah to fumble, get caught and eventually fall out onto the ground in a naked heap of fur and limbs.

The light tan bat would get there eventually.

He then gestured for the other bat to follow him, there was much to teach the other about survival in this part of the wild and, he would imagine, a lot of learning on both their parts about the other. Astah approached his shoulder eagerly and with a nervous smirk.

"What we do?"

Ah yes... The dreaded elephant in the room so to speak: language. On both their parts.

"I propose a deal, Astah," he addressed the other bat and catching the other's attention quickly. This wiped the smile off its muzzle as it gave him a suspicious once-over. Well he did suppose that sounded quite ominous without context, so he continued, "We need to be able to communicate effectively. While we both speak the same language, we are having difficulty fully understanding the other so I propose a kind of dialect exchange."

Astah gave him an odd look and then a lazy smile as he nodded in agreement, "Lanon have deal."

He gave a relieved smile as perhaps this wouldn't be so bad. After all, there was only so much baby talk he could feasibly handle. He knows that most of what the other lacked was grammar. On his side, the real fun for himself at least, was getting to know from the ground up the dialect this other bat was speaking. Language had changed so much since the last time he was living in civilisation. He stuck out his paw for the other to take but the other bat surprised him by grabbing him by the forearm and giving it a firm shake, sealing the proposal. Some social customs didn't seem to have changed too much, at least.

"Most excellent!" Lanon exclaimed with a bit of a swing of his free arm, "Come, follow me, we will learn from one another as we travel and I teach you the ways on which to survive on this side of civilisation."

Astah simply gave him a nervous laugh in response before it shyly took back its arm.

Curious... But no matter. With an encouraging smile, he lead the other bat out of the secluded campsite and the view of the cove, and back out into the dangers of the brush. Astah lagged behind, giving the campsite an enigmatic look before letting out a defeated sigh and following after him.

Chapter 2 - The Forest

Chapter 2 - The long road

Lanon had so far spent three full moon cycles with the albino bat, Astah, as he both taught the other bat how to survive and thrive out in the wild brush near the ocean's edge and they both learned the specific nuances of the other's dialect. Turns out that the dialect that he had been using, according to the other bat, was one not heard of for many generations back in the city.

Curious... Just how long had he been out here surviving alone? Was he older than expected or... Was there something else his memories had yet to release back to him? He was unsure and it was particularly troubling, it was as if a dark ink was currently smeared all over his memories of his past before the wilds. Just translucent enough that he could pear at them but still too opaque to be able to see any fine details. The clear and distinct memories he did have of his previous life before the wilds were few and far between, usually filled with inconsequential nonsense that both frustrated and perplexed him in equal amounts. How is it that he could remember a toothpaste advertisement but not what his familial name was? Or where he was born versus some one-off newspaper headline talking about the price of gold per gram? He felt himself involuntarily glare at at the mat of reeds he was busy weaving into a mat to cover a simple pitfall trap, almost causing him to miss a link.

Today they were currently near the gentle drop off that lead down into the hidden cove. After the shock of the first day when he learned his newfound companion was actually sanguivorous, Lanon had had to quickly change tactics on how to provide for his charge. It would do neither of them any good if he let the other bat perish due to starvation. So, instead of wasting his time and energy teaching the albino bat the safe fruits to eat, they instead fumbled through learning how to trap and kill prey so that Astah could properly feed. This, unfortunately, culminated in less time in foraging for himself so there were several weeks early on where they both went to bed quite hungry.

This also left them no time to look for any washed up materials for which they could use to craft a hammock for the albino bat to use. By the time they had actually found some, three full moons had passed and by that point the two bats were more comfortable sleeping together than apart so the consensus was to keep the material and use it for when the summer gave way to fall seeing as the albino bat's clothing wasn't suited for cold weather. The other bat also felt exceptionally guilty in that Lanon had no clothing to speak of so he flat out refused to wear them if it got cold anyway. That was... If Astah was even here come fall, anyway, the other bat still seemed rather cagey on whether he wanted to return to the civilized world or not. Lanon gave a slight modicum of worry at what that could signal, unused to the indecisiveness of his partner. Was Astah in trouble back in the city? Did the other have any family he should return to? The other bat said many things about the city but nothing personal. It frustrated him to no end.

His musings were cut short as he heard the other bat come up behind him and lay a rather annoying paw upon his shoulder. In the time since he first took the ablino bat under his wing, to metaphorically speak, he learned a lot about the other bat. For one, the other bat had absolutely no experience living away from civilization and its many conveniences overlooked by its residents. For two, the other bat turned out to be quite the clingy individual, always touching and wanting to be around him, quite content to talk his ears off about the most inconsequential things imaginable. Lanon would find it endearing if it... Wasn't so overwhelming. After so long of not having any company and then to be thrust into it with a most gregarious individual was a steep learning curve that he wasn't sure he would ever be able to plateau.

With a put upon sigh, he looked behind him at the other bat who stood grinning down at him with that mischievous air he had come to know in the past 3 full moons. That smile then started to wilt a bit at the edges the longer he looked at the other bat in silence.

Eventually the other bat broke and threw up his paws in a fit of frustration. With a petulant groan the other bat scrubbed at his face with a bit of embarrassment before finally breaking the awkward tension. "Come on, Lanon, I know your brain was fried from being alone for so long but the least you could do is the bare minimum here."

He rolled his eyes and returned back to threading the reed mat for the pit fall trap. "And what would you propose I do then? Guess whatever it is that you wish for me to do in response to your increasingly confusing unsaid questions?"

Astah rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously as he responded, "Well... Yes, actually, that's usually how social cues work..."

Lanon just rubbed a frustrated paw over the bridge of his muzzle. He set down the unfinished reed mat and then stood up to properly address the other bat. "And I have told you many times before that you still need to use plain language and demands. The cultural nuances you seem to expect me to understand are just that, nuances of a culture I have not been a part of for many winters."

The albino bat cringed at that before he shook his head in defiance and grabbed his paw. With an excited, "Whatever, old man, come on, I want to show you something. I think you'll actually be proud of me for once," he dragged Lanon away from the unfinished reed mat and pit fall trap and off into the brush that lead down into the cove.

He gave one mournful look back at the area the trap would most likely remain unfinished and a hazard to anything unwary around it. Mostly he was mourning the death of his reed mat. He had finally woven an actual good one after much trial and error.

Alas and alack for his time to be wasted as he indulged in the exuberance of his companion.

---

Astah lead Lanon for over 10 minutes to some unknown location, never once letting go of his paw. It was starting to grow uncomfortable as with the added heat of the summer, both of their paws had been sweating to the point where he's sure that the instant that the other bat releases his paw, he'll find a fully formed swamp hiding out in his palm. Again, uncomfortable.

As he was contemplating forcefully taking his hand back and wiping his palms free of sweat onto his fur, Astah stopped and let go of it on of his own accord. The other bat was pointing with an air of smug superiority at the little contraption sitting before them. Lanon cocked his head in confusion as he observed the little contraption before them.

"It's... A box made of bamboo," he told the other bat flatly.

Astah gave a rather world weary sigh, "It's not just any box, Lanon, look closer!" The other bat then proceeded to present it with both paws splayed out in dramatic fashion.

With a shrug, he then approached the little bamboo box, squatting down to get a closer look at its workings. It was rectangular in size and composed of crisscrossing bamboo strips held together tightly with... rope? Where did Astah get rope? As he was about to question his companion if the other was withholding resources from him, it then struck him what exactly it was he was looking at: it was a simple box trap. He fuzzily recalled seeing one of these from the times before being stuck out here in the wilds but it was hazy and ephemeral, unable to get the true details of the inner workings of the metal traps he could vaguely recall seeing.

Astah then excitedly sat down next to him, wanting to point out the various details of the bamboo mimic. To make sure Lanon was paying full attention by taking his paw once more and used it to demonstrate all the mechanisms. "Now, see here, this is where those little rodents I kept noticing were running all around this area will enter, which will cause them to depress the rope here, and once they do that to get to the bait I'll place at the other end... Snap! The trap closes and I manage to catch my own food reliably!"

Astah looked very proud of himself and Lanon had to agree, this would drastically decrease the amount of time that both of them would have to spend expending energy actively catching prey for the albino bat. He gave the other bat a soft smile as he told the other, "It is rather ingenious, good job. I'm rather impressed that you managed to successfully mimic those metal traps."

Astah gave him a look full of wonder, his voice breathy, "Wow... Really? You really think so...?"

Lanon rolled his eyes and gave the other bat a flat response, "Obviously. In the moons that you have known me, when have I wasted my breath on shallow praise?"

Astah just huffed in response looking a bit put out, which confused him to no end. The albino bat's moods were so finicky at times, he swore. Regardless, he stood up and started to observe the little contraption from all angles and offered some critique and warnings. "First thing's first, you'll need to show me how you crafted this so that we may replicated it several more times for sustainability in passive collection. Second, we'll need to be checking these constantly. The rodents will happily chew through the bamboo in order to escape and while I'm not worried about running out of bamboo, I do worry at the labor time repairing it. Lastly, I think until we get a good method down, we should still focus on trapping the larger animals for your intake needs. We're both decent enough hunters at this point but small vermin do not meet your daily caloric needs nearly as well as the deers and hogs we've managed to kill in a spiked pitfall trap-"

Astah let out a frustrated grown, interrupting his monologue, before quickly standing up and stomping off back the direction they came from. The immediacy of this confused Lanon and he stared after his companion for several moments in stunned silence before following after the temperamental albino bat. He called out to the other bat, "Astah! Astah, wait!"

Thankfully the other bat stopped in his trek and waited for him to catch up. Panting a bit as he jogged to reach the other, he questioned his companion, "What... What was that about?"

Astah stared at the ground and chewed on his lip for a bit before he huffed out a growl, refusing to look in Lanon's direction. Was it petulance or something else? Accurately reading the other's emotions was difficult enough on a good day but this? This felt like something else. Before he could start questioning to get to the bottom of it, the other bat finally replied.

"Why is it never good enough...?" the other bat asked the ground softly.

Lanon tilted his head in confusion but Astah didn't let him actually respond before continuing, "Why is it that you praise me only to then go into this long list of complaints about... About things I already know, Lanon!"

Lanon was taken aback before the indignation welled up in him. "If you had merely wanted shallow praise without constructive input then you should have said so. This is about survival, Astah, we can't be waisting our time on frivolities like... Like-"

The other bat stopped him with a rough shove to his shoulder, pushing his smaller frame back and almost having him trip down onto the ground. Astah snarled at him, "Fuck off, Lanon, life isn't all about suffering and the harsh realities of nature! I just... I just-!" The other bat cut himself off as he took in deep breathes before he shook his head with a muttered, "Gods..."

Lanon titled his head in confusion and a bit of worry. In the moons they had been surviving together, the other bat had never acted in such a peculiar manner. Sure, the other bat was quite horny and moody at times, but at no point was the other prone to anger quite like this. Anger at the world? Their shared circumstances? Yes. Anger at Lanon for something that wasn't... What was the other bat actually angry about? It certainly wasn't anything to do with shallow praise, he's sure of that at least, but how is he to approach that problem in a correct manner...?

"Ugh, again! You always do this!"

He's brought out of his musings once more by the other bat, the other's behaviour was just... Beyond him at this point but before he could question the other, Astah continued his rant.

"I hate it when you go blank on me! It's like I'm talking to a computer or... Or a wall! I can't get through to you, nothing pleases you, I do everything you ask me to and yet it's never good enough, you treat me like I'm some idiot child you had the misfortune of having dumped on you! No matter what it is I do to prove to you I'm worth your time, you just don't get it! Just-!" The other bat cut himself off, expression one of intense embarrassment, and gave a long and drawn out groan of frustration as he pulled at his hair.

Lanon's sensitive ears picked out a sound from the wilds that the frustrated bat before him didn't and, not knowing if it was dangerous or not, he slapped a paw over the other's mouth and forcefully pulled the other down into a crouch. Ignoring the other's indignant glare, he placed a finger in front of his muzzle to get the other to stay quite before he pointed at his ears. Astah's eyes widened in recognition and tuned himself into the sounds of nature as well.

The sound was that of soft footprints quickly spaced, too close together to be a large predator or prey animal. No, it was small and occasionally there was a slight shuffle of a tail brushing over the ground and occasional soft squeaks. A nocturnal rodent of some sort. The footsteps became slow, cautious he imagined, before there was a soft snap, frantic movement, and then the gnawing of tiny teeth trying to bite its way out of something.

Lanon looked excited and gave Astah a pleased smile, his voice full of pride. "Congratulations, novice trapper, you just caught your first animal in that mimic trap of yours..."

Astah looked shocked as he released the other's muzzle. Keeping in mind what the other bat had ranted to him just moments before, he continued in a softer tone of voice, "That's something to be proud of, you did very well. I'm... Very pleased by this and proud of you."

Astah gave him a weird look, one he couldn't parse, before the albino bat coughed nervously. "I uh... T-thanks..." the other bat managed to choke out before he quickly stood up and all but ran back to his little bamboo trap, leaving Lanon behind to stare off at the other bat confusedly.

Curious.

Regardless, he then took a few moments to tune into the sounds of nature to make sure there were no dangers lurking that were attracted by the frantic movements of the trapped rodent. Hearing none, he then stood up and sedately followed after the other bat.

---

Since that trap moment, Astah had been incessant in showing off to him, trying desperately to garner any sort of praise from him. While it was wonderful to see his companion so lively, it was... Rather odd. For 3 full moons the other bat was more content to be a bit passive and follow his lead, but this past moon cycle the other bat was almost bursting with ideas and energy.

The other bat had also increased in his clingy behaviours this past moon cycle, if that was even possible. If Lanon had thought that Astah was overwhelming before, than the levels of almost desperation the other bat was demonstrating now was beyond comprehension. He swears, the only times that the albino bat will leave him alone anymore is when they have to relieve themselves or when they wash off the night's muck in the stream that flows into the ocean west of their campsite. Even then he's not so sure because he swears he's caught site of white fur out of the corner of his eyes creeping on the periphery.

And that's not going into the sheer amount of touching the other bat does! Whenever they're idle, Astah is always hanging off of him, leaning on him, or starting an unprompted grooming session. Granted that he's not really complaining, being without another bat's touch for so long he actually welcomes these impromptu cuddle sessions. No, what's really getting him are the other bat's wandering hands. What will begin with innocent cuddling will eventually devolve into the albino bat's hands travelling down to between Lanon's legs or they'll start scratching or rubbing his nipples or massaging his inner thighs, his hips or his aft end. On one memorable occasion, the other bat had boldly stuck his thumb into Lanon's mouth whereupon he bit it in retaliation so that only happened once. Thankfully Astah will stop when he tells him to and move his hands to more acceptable locations but...

He just can't parse out why this keeps happening, it's a bit maddening. What exactly is he missing...? Lanon isn't sure if these instances of less than innocent touches fill him with a sense of excitement, frustration, or confused disinterested boredom. It would be easier to just ask the other bat but Astah always becomes quite cagey when he asks and quickly changes the subject, refusing to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

Speak of the devil...

Astah approached him with an excited boyish grin and grabbed at his arm as he had been lost in thought as he inspected the ties of their hammock for stability. Well, the knots appeared still be tight and the gouging into the tree's bark from the knots was minimal so he assumed it to be fine. He knew he was being a bit overly cautious with this but it's only been 4 full moons of the other's added weight into his tattered old hammock, he still wasn't too sure how or when the old canvas material would give up the ghost and dump both of them onto the ground one day.

"Lanon! I have to show you something, come on! Camp maintenance can wait, this can't!" Astah tugged on his arm to emphasize his point, his voice light and full of excitement.

Lanon laughed and gave the other bat a soft smile, the albino bat's excitement infectious. "Okay, okay, I'm coming! Sheesh... What is it that you need to show me?"

Astah just rolled his eyes in response and gave him a teasing smirk. "Less talking, more walking," the other bat said as he started to drag Lanon out of the campsite through the rock entrance and out into the wild brush of the beach, walking at a quick pace. The other bat said nothing more and did not let go of his arm so he was content to be a passive participant in this walk. He kept an ear out for danger as always but the night was clear and, for once, the stars were not obscured by clouds. He chanced a look up at the billions, if not trillions, of small pinpricks of light that danced and sparkled across the night sky. Even after so long, observing the stars never got dull to him. Absent-mindedly, he reached out a paw to the sky, wing fingers extended, as if trying to pull down the heavens. He traced the outline of the purple scar that stitched the two halves of the night sky together, the ominous wound covered in an uncountable amounts of stars radiating blues, whites and reds.

Astah noticed his distraction and gave him a fond laugh but didn't let up in his pace. Just where was the other bat leading him...?

Lanon's confusion and anxiety only increased as the two bats made their way, coming closer and closer to the wild forest's edge, something that he knew he told the other bat to never set foot inside lest they both bring about the forest predators upon them. However, the albino bat was strode with confidence, signaling to him that the other bat had made this journey several times and deemed it safe enough, which was worrisome in its own. Now that he had become accustomed to company once again, the sudden loss of it would be quite devastating.

While the walk itself was a brisk pace, it felt like their actual trek took far longer than it had in actuality. Most likely because Lanon could not stop noticing how close they were to the forest's edge. Eventually, though, the tall grasses and wild brush leading out to the beaches gave way to an open copse of trees, the moon able to shine through the foliage creating small dapples of light that illuminated this pocket of the wilds. Strange, he thought, he had never once noticed this before in all his time out here and foraging for food... In fact, this area that they were now standing in should have also been dark woods.

Astah snapped him out of his anxious pondering by tugging at his arm. With a wink, the other bat released him and ran out into the bright woodland area. Even more anxious now that his partner had run off ahead of him, Lanon gave chase. Something about this place didn't sit right with him and he couldn't quite put to words what it was. The albino bat, however, continued to laugh and evade him, ducking and weaving between the tree trunks in play, before quickly running off and maintaining a distance to where the other bat was just out of reach. While this wasn't really out of the norm for the albino bat, it was odd that the other wasn't feeling the oppressive force of this place. Was this naivety or forest trickery?

As he ran after his partner through this almost ethereal wooded area, the trees seeming to grow in ordered rows and spacings, the albino bat disappeared behind a bush and then all sound seemed to stop around him. Panting, he cautiously approached the bush the other had ducked into, the sounds of the forest around him muted as even the nocturnal insects had ceased their singing.

"Astah...?" he called out to the other in an anxious whisper. He received no response. He folded his ears back as he ducked farther down, the anxiety of being alone in a new environment that he never knew about or been in getting to him, his heart rate ratcheting up.

A twig snapped.

An owl hooted.

And Lanon, spooked, ducked through the bush in front of him with little grace, crashing through the brush in a panic in his quest to escape that which may or may not exist behind him. Better alive then dead, better scared than attacked, better mildly injured than ripped apart limb from limb, flesh and sinew torn away from bone and blood coating the ground in a fine crimson paint.

He emerged from the other side and collided with a warm furry body. Scared, he bit and scratched the places he could touch, his opponent grunting in pain, before he was promptly squeezed hard and his nostrils were filled with a familiar scent that drained the fight out of him.

Oh. It wasn't a predator lying in wait for him. That's nice.

Slowly his hearing returned to him, the haze of panic and adrenaline letting his other senses return to his consciousness.

"-Ere you are, come on..." Astah told him, slowly releasing the hold on him but Lanon didn't let him, gripping the other bat tighter with a growl. This just caused the albino bat to laugh. "You would think I'd know not to do something like that but... Sorry... Sorry for scaring you like that."

Lanon didn't say anything in return so the other bat continued, his voice remorseful, "Just... Wanted to show you something is all. Should've remembered that you had to live on your own out here for so long that... Well. It's not important anymore, I suppose, just... I'll remember not to do something like that again."

Lanon released the other and took a small step back in order to give the other bat a frustrated glare. "You had better not, what were you honestly thinking?"

The other bat gave a small shrug, "Obviously not a whole lot considering..." He then trailed off, wilting, as the other bat continued to glare at him. With a nervous cough the albino bat continued, "W-well! Uhm.... Just..." He then grunted and gently took Lanon's paw to lead him over to an overhang that overlooked a valley full of nature's beauties.

The forest below them, of that he could see, was full of various strands and splotches of pines and aspens. The valley's walls were composed of flat topped mesas that lead into smaller jagged cuts of red rocks, sculpted away by ancient waters and made into various shapes of towering sizes. The landscape was torn in two by a winding snake river that lead outside the valley and out to the ocean, the various meanders connected to it that he could see terminating into the various tree stands, never to see the other side. It looked and felt wilder than anything he had since seen yet but something nagged at him that perhaps they were not welcome here.

Or perhaps that he's forgetting something important...

He tugged at Astah's paw with a bit of urgency, "This is... Quite amazing and I very much appreciate you showing this to me but there's something that's-"

But, as always, the other bat cut him off (a very rude habit that he wishes the albino bat would cease) as he was pulled along with a reassuring, "Just one more thing, promise, then we can go back."

Lanon gave a shaky sigh, "O-okay... I'm trusting you that you know what you're doing here... Although I probably shouldn't seeing as you've only been out here for 4 full moons and that's entirely too little time to be able to properly gauge the wilds for what they are and-"

Astah pulled at his arm and gave him a frustrated smile that broke him out of his anxious ramblings. He swallowed hard and followed after the other bat fully ready to have to sprint away should danger present itself.

After a walk that felt longer than a lifetime and about as pleasant as the aftermath of eating rotten fruit, the albino bat had lead him to a small clearing that was, on first glace, quite unremarkable. Confused, Lanon was about to say something before the other bat put forefinger to muzzle and the two of them quietly crept along through it before Lanon's attention was taken by the sight before him.

It was gruesome, in a way, but beautiful. Before him was the skeletons of a wild felid of some sort, perhaps that of a cougar or lynx, entwined together with its unfortunate prey, that of a cervid of some manner. The two were locked in their last moments of life, a struggle of survival, by the flowering vines that held them to the ground, slipping, knotting and weaving through the bones long since picked cleaned by scavengers and bleached white by the sun. They rest on the edge of the clearing close to a stand of aspens, illuminated with a soft glow by the moonlight, the tall grasses that surrounded where they lay almost obscuring them. It's hard to say what it was that trapped these two creatures here or if they were trapped together in that last dance of survival, but it was quite the sight. A reminder that nature takes all.

This was...

Lanon didn't really have words as it was a scene demonstrating how well the other bat had come to know him over their short tenure together. The morbid beauty of death... Some would say it was erotic, others would be horrified by it, but, for him, it was a fact of life that he wrestled with on a nightly basis. Making sure Astah was paying attention to him, he drew up their joined paws and placed a lingering kiss on the other's knuckles in thanks. Perhaps intimate, perhaps not, but words were insufficient for the feelings that had overtaken him.

Astah gave an audible swallow and a small soft smile before they both took once last lingering look at the long forgotten bones of predator and prey knotted together until dust.

The walk back to the campsite overlooking the cove was a silent one, but... If perhaps he walked closer to his partner this time and if, perhaps, the other bat never once let go, only the moon knew.

All too soon, the familiar grasses and wild brush came back and the night proceeded as it had the past 4 full moons, that of hunting and trapping small game, checking to see if anything larger fell to its death having been impaled on sharpened bamboo in a deep pit, foraging for fruits, and scavenging the beaches for any washed up detritus.

As the two of them lay together in the hammock he has since called theirs with the albino bat's body heat comforting him into sleep, he swore he felt something mumbled into his hair and followed up with a kiss to the crown of his head.

Curious... Why did that make his heart beat faster?

Chapter 3 - The Forest

Chapter 3 - Something gives, something takes

Ever since that night that Astah had shown him the overlook of that strange wild bit of forest and the deadly dance of the predator and prey trapped forever in death, things between the two of them had changed. For the better? For the worse? It's hard to say. In some ways, yes, Lanon would say that they're a lot closer than they had been before. Astah still tried to impress him but the gestures seemed more thoughtful, as if the other bat put a lot of emotional weight into the decisions he was making. Same with the touching. Gone were the almost frivolous teasing or playful touches, now the other bat had taken to lingering and purposeful placements of his hands. There was also something more that was hiding behind the other bat's expressions. Something unspoken but building as if waiting for nature's crescendo to be enacted.

Something that, try as Lanon might, he just could not rightly place... Unsure if he found that unknown something a thing he wished for or something he fervently dreaded. It was no lie to say that the other bat had changed his life since he had found the other inspecting his small cooking fire a little more than 5 full moons ago. Astah had brought back, or perhaps simply reignited, a light that had been snuffed out by the cruel realities of surviving so many winters alone. Surviving solitary had dulled many things about himself, things forgotten and buried, but the addition of his partner had made life colourful once again.

Living versus surviving. Joy, anger, excitement, actual emotions when before there was just crushing static and muted faded pallets as the haze of making it day to day buried all but the most essential of emotions. Truly he could not thank the other bat enough for this, his gratitude for the other immeasurable.

Was it only gratitude though? That was the question his musings had taken him to. With a shake of his head to rid himself of his mental tangent, he returned back to what he had been doing to start with.

This night found him fixing up a few snares built from the remains of washed up rope and fishing line that Astah had found down on the cove's beach. While there is much that he could say about fishing vessels so carelessly polluting the ocean with items meant to kill even when not in active use, it's best not to go down that line of thought lest he, once more, get lost in the weeds as he is so want to do. With one final tie, he takes a careful step back and observes if the snare trap is hidden enough, which thankfully it is. With the added catching power of the snares, his partner was now able to take in more calories. Blood was a poor diet and offered very little nutritional value seeing as it was mostly just water, but, as it is with all organisms, Astah had to eat what his biology had evolved to consume. Sure, the other bat could consume some flesh but most of those calories had to come from blood.

Odd what nature will do when presented with an exploitable food resource.

Speaking of Astah...

Lanon looked around for said albino bat and spotted the other currently hunched over one of those bamboo cage traps the other had crafted almost 2 full moons ago. While they had managed to craft 2 more after the first one, they had proven to be quite time consuming to repair if they weren't checking up on them regularly. Bamboo, after all, was a very easy material for tenacious rodent teeth to gnaw through.

He approached the other bat and sat next to him, silently observing the other take out damaged bamboo poles and replace them with gathered new ones. The other bat gave him a quick look but said nothing as he returned to his work. While Lanon could be using this time to scavenge for food, he felt it was more worth his time to stick with the other bat for now.

After several more poles were replaced and the trap thus fixed and ready to be used once more, Astah placed it back on the ground and gave him a nervous look. Titling his head in confusion, Lanon waited for his partner to say something.

The albino bat rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously as he nervously stuttered out, "Uh... H-hey, there's uh... Something I need to talk to you about, could you... Wait here for a bit?"

Lanon shrugged in response, "Sure, I can do that."

Astah gave him a relieved smile and stood up, bamboo cage in hand, "Sweet! Okay, hold on, I need to- Just... Yes!" The other bat then scampered off a bit awkwardly, presumably to place and bait the trap. With nothing else to do, Lanon looked up at the sky and observed the clouds sailing through the stars and making their journeys inland. Did they carry enough moisture to rain? Hard to say as the moon was not full this night and thus the night was all the more dark for it. It was coming into fall now so it was a possibility.

Soon enough his albino partner returned, standing about a meter before him looking quite awkward. "Could you uh... Stand up? For what I need to tell you, I mean."

He tilted his head in confusion but complied, standing up and walking up to the shorter albino bat, "Odd request but I see no harm in it. What is it that's so important that we both need to be standing?"

Astah looked a bit cagey and appeared to be struggling to actually say anything more. With a muttered, "Fuck it," the albino bat grabbed his shoulders a bit indelicately and roughly kissed him, shocking Lanon for several moments where he could feel his partner starting to tense up, before instinct took over and he leaned into it.

Oh. It's that kind of important.

But was it important to him?

Taking a chance, wanting to know if that something unsaid was something shared, he pushed into Astah more, chasing some fleeting feeling that he wasn't even sure truly existed. Was this just a fluke or was it something deeper?

The kiss was rough, inexperienced on his part, and wetter than he expected as his partner got lost in the sensation as they both pushed and pulled to find a rhythm that was enjoyable. It was pleasurable in a way, the intimacy of feeling someone so close, as sensitive lips glide along one another but it was hard for him to focus solely on it. Lanon pulled back, panting at the exertion, and observed the glazed look of his partner who was staring at him with such an intense focus it made him a little bit self-conscious.

Astah swallowed hard and looked around the area where they found themselves. It wasn't anything much but it was currently set for snares. With a hard swallow, the albino bat took his paw and lead him back in the direction of their shared campsite.

Lanon, more confused and curious than anything, followed along sedately. The walk was quiet and filled with a slightly awkward air on his part at least seeing as it was difficult to gauge his partner's current state through the back of his head but eventually, the familiar crevice in the rocks appeared and he was gently tugged through the opening and into the campsite clearing overlooking the cove.

Home for him. A version of it for his partner. Safety if there ever was such a thing as to be found out in the wilds.

Astah had let go of his paw. "Wait here, I got to... Just hold on," the other bat awkwardly got out (so it's not just him) and went off to gather that extra large scrap of canvas they had found those many moons before when he was teaching the other to survive and they were both teaching each other how to communicate with the other. Both a long time but also a short time in the grand scheme of things. Funny how perceptions of time change as one inserts or subtracts things from life. He shook his head to put himself back in the present as he observed Astah fold out the canvas scrap onto the ground of the campsite and then gesture for him to approach with one of the more nervous grins he's seen on his partner to date.

As he stepped upon the canvas he looked around with confusion, "What's all this for, then?"

He watched as his partner fidgeted with his paws and awkwardly shuffle about before making a few vague gestures with little meaning to them, "Just uh... Wanted to make sure that no bugs would... You know? And the beach sounds hot in the moment but sand in certain sensitive places isn't very... You know, comfortable..."

Lanon cocked his head but privately agreed in that, yes, sand up sensitive places is a pain to have to deal with and then clean. Washing it out of fur was one thing, getting it out of pubic hair, and all things associated with that area, was another. "You... Have a point, agreed," and figuring that the other bat wished for him to sit upon the canvas, he shrugged and did just that.

Astah gave a nervous smile and a soft sound of relief before proceeding to sit rather close to his side. With twitching fingers the other bat then softly asked, "I just... I thought before that maybe you weren't interested but I don't... That's not really the case so uhm... Could I... Touch you?"

Lanon gave his partner an incredulous look, "You touch me all the time and never had the nerve to ask before so what makes this situation any different?"

The other bat laughed anxiously at that observation. He didn't say or make a move for several long moments, enough to have Lanon worried, before Astah laid his paw on the inside of Lanon's thigh and merely... Left it there. He observed the clash of dirtied white fur made tan on top of his dark brown, the contrast taking his full attention, but he made no move to shake the other off. It was a curious thing.

Feeling emboldened, the other bat's paw then travelled further to his groin, scratching at the sensitive flesh as it went that caused small tingles to travel across his nerves and have his eye twitch. But, still, he didn't stop the wandering paw. He looked up at his partner's face. The other wore a serious expression, his face full of worry and hope and that something hidden and unsaid. Then it hit him.

He felt like an absolute idiot in that moment, "You meant sex."

Astah gave a surprised bark of laughter, almost doubling over at the absurdity of his statement (which was a bit uncalled for) before nodding in a more relaxed manner, "Yes, yeah, I meant that. So you uh... You still want to or...?"

Lanon thought on it. In his time alone and out here, sex and sexual pleasure had been the furthest thing from his mind and if there was a time before where it was something important to him, before he was scavenging these beaches to survive, he couldn't concretely remember. So, with a nonchalant shrug, he agreed, "I mean, I've never had much interest before but perhaps that's due to all of my energy being focused on the day to day."

Astah gave him a dry smile, "Wow. Don't sound too eager there."

He snorted petulantly and was about to say something more before the other bat's paws were exploring the thick ruff of his chest fur, his eyesight now solely composed of the albino bat. He could feel fingers and claws working through the thick ruff, moving in a manner more akin to a forceful petting then the usual business focused movements of mutual grooming. As if the other was savoring the ability to touch him. Claws scratched gently in a manner that had him arching his back before they gently pushed him to lay down upon the canvas laid below them. Wanting to see where this would go, he complied, pulling the other bat down with him with a leading hand on the other's shoulder.

Astah gave a pleased hum and leaned down, placing his weight gently but firmly against his chest as the other's paws then started travelling and scratching down his sides. It was a bit awkward as they had to maneuver around their respective wing membranes but the touch was pleasant and slightly electrifying. The albino bat then buried his nose into Lanon's chest fur and took a deep breath, which caused his legs that were bracketing the other's hips to draw up due to the shock of it, all before Astah moved onto his armpit and did much the same.

"A-Astah!" he called out in embarrassment as he twitched that arm away from the sensation but the other bat merely snorted in amusement and gave him an unrepentant smile.

"I like your smell," the other bat simply said before returning to rooting around his chest ruff with a pleased hum, his paws scratching at Lanon's sides.

Lanon grumbled a bit but simply rolled his eyes before curiosity got the better of him. He brought his own paws up and started to scratch at the albino bat's back and sides, listening for any any signs of pleasure that the other would give. Between the hitched breaths and pleased sighs, the moment that Lanon scratched at the sensitive area where the other bat's wing membrane joined the skin of his back, Astah pulled him into a deep and heated kiss. Good to know.

This heavy petting went on for a while, the two bats exploring the other's bodies, before Astah started to pull himself down Lanon's body. He's sure the other bat was trying to be sensual and alluring about it but Lanon found the whole thing quite goofy and couldn't help giggling a bit at the other's expression, causing the other bat to start laughing a little.

"S-stop! I'm simply out of practice, okay?" Astah got out between soft bouts of laughter. Lanon didn't see what the embarrassment was all about, perhaps the city valued these things more than he suspected, so he let the moment pass. Pleased, the albino bat looked at him from between his thighs with a lazy grin and then put tongue to a place where he honestly never expected a tongue to go.

Certainly Lanon has explored his own body and knew about the various places that would create zings of sensations through him but that's always as far as it ever went for him. So to have another, someone he trusted like he did Astah, put tongue to the bundle of nerves between his thighs was a novel experience. The other bat set about licking and sucking at his clit, causing sharp electric charges to shoot through his body that had his back arch and his legs want to squeeze inwards as if trying to hold the other bat's head there.

But, as always, the sensations soon lost their novelty and and he lost himself to thought. He looked up at the blanket of the stars that peaked through the canopy that shaded their campsite and marvelled at the wonder of the heavens. He heard Astah give a grunt of annoyance once the other bat noticed that he had lost focus before he then increased in his vigor and the sensations became something Lanon couldn't ignore. It was intense and the sounds that the other bat was making as he tongued and explored his clit and cunt were both some of the most disgusting squelching noises he has ever heard... Yet they were also oddly erotic. He placed both paws into Astah's hair, the white roots and sun bleached light blue dye of the ends contrasting with his dark paws, as he grabbed and scratched the other's scalp in that odd pleasure pain of it all. Eventually something had to break and as he curled into himself, fingers clenching and pulling at the other's hair, as the buildup in his belly snapped, and he was left panting in a haze as his orgasm washed over himself.

It was... Something, he supposed in the aftermath. He removed his hands from the other bat's hair and used them to prop himself up and observe the other bat.

Astah gave him a triumphant smile and then leaned up and captured him in another heated kiss. It wasn't exactly the most pleasant sensation to taste himself on the other's tongue but he figured he'd simply go with it. When the other bat pulled away, he gave Lanon an expectant and hungry look. That was when Lanon observed the other bat pushing his hips rhythmically into the canvas. That couldn't have been very comfortable. Quickly, Lanon pulled the other bat up into a sitting position and then observed what he was working with. The other's cock had emerged from his sheath, the shaft red and twitching, dribbling precum from its tip.

The thought of putting that in his mouth did not interest him, nor did having it inside of him thrill him. So, with nervous trepidation, he reached towards it with his left paw which caused Astah to give a laugh before grabbing said paw and licking it.

"Canvas chafes enough as is, love, let's not add to it," Astah said before guiding Lanon's paw back towards his cock and slowly guiding him on how to touch it. He gave a few experimental strokes, paying careful attention to the amount of pressure and twists he did that brought the most pleasure to his partner, smearing his paw further with the precum that beaded at the tip to aid in the glide of skin over sensitive skin. He used his other paw to fondle at the other's balls, rolling them around and gently squeezing and caressing the sensitive sack. Slowly the base of the other bat's shaft started to swell and form a knot. He had observed this before when he had accidently caught the other bat masturbating, usually the other bat would then start to move faster and focus more at the base underneath the knot. Being careful of his claws, Lanon carefully picked up the speed of both hands, making sure to pay more attention to the most sensitive spot on the other's cock, and observed how his partner's hips began to twitch and stutter atop the canvas.

Astah was grunting and groaning as if in pain but a look towards the albino bat's face told a different story for Lanon saw a look of pained pleasure, a wince as the other bat panted and moaned wantonly at the sensations. Without warning the other bat grabbed Lanon's paw that was currently rubbing his cock and squeezed it as the albino bat gave a low groan and his hips stuttered. Thick white ropes of cum painting his chest as Astah moved their joined paws and milked himself with Lanon's paw through his orgasm. The albino bat then rested his head on Lanon's shoulder as he panted in the aftermath before he released Lanon's paw from around his cock.

Lanon loosely embraced his partner and started to gently stroke the other's back, the albino bat giving a tired but pleased him as he nuzzled into the dip where shoulder meets neck, burying his nose into the thick ruff of Lanon's fur before he brought his arms up and returned the embrace. They stayed like that for a few moments before Astah pulled them down to lay on their sides, entangling his legs with Lanon's own with a sleepy content hum.

In all honestly, Lanon would like to get the come off his fur before it really dries but he's willing to let it pass for now. As he lay there with his partner in the lazy contentment, drifting between awareness and a gentle doze, he heard Astah mumble something into his neck ruff but it was too soft for him to hear properly.

The two of them woke up several hours later feeling a lot more relaxed and rejuvenated and that something hidden in Astah's expression wasn't very hidden anymore. The other bat looked as if a weight that had sat over his chest had finally been removed and the albino bat became... Perhaps not more clingy, seeing as that was the other bat's modus operandi, but more sure. Set. As if something that was became something that is in the wake of it.

The two set off for the stream that flowed into the ocean they usually used to bathe and set about scrubbing the dried cum from their fur. Astah gave a bashful look as he scrubbed the semen off of Lanon's chest but Lanon didn't really mind. It was simply a fact of having falling asleep before cleaning it off. He told his partner as much, "We'll just need to be more diligent with aftercare hygiene."

Astah choked at that but then gave him a soft pleased smile, his claws scratching over Lanon's chest fur with an excited promise, "Y-yeah... Suppose we will."

As they switched off and Lanon set about cleaning Astah's fur, his sensitive ears twitched as they caught a tinkling sound followed by a wild howl. Pausing in his ministrations, he looked over his shoulder towards the direction that the albino bat had taken him to the overlook a moon's phase ago. The trees rustled with the ocean's winds but otherwise things remained still.

Astah gave him a confused, "What? Hear something?" and when he looked back at his partner, Astah was looking towards the trees with naked confusion.

"You... Didn't hear a bell followed by a howl...?" he asked with some trepidation.

Astah returned his attention back to Lanon before scrunching up his face and giving a very confused slow shrug, "Er... No, I didn't hear anything beyond the wind and water."

Lanon slowly nodded but didn't say more as he went back to cleaning his partner's fur. If he had bothered to look up he would have seen Astah's concerned look.

---

After that initial awkward fumbling adventure, sex, or at least some version of it, between the two of them became a semi regular occurrence for the next half moon cycle. Mostly it was Lanon servicing Astah, the albino bat becoming almost insatiable once that avenue was opening up to him. Sure, he was happy enough to help his partner get off, but to Lanon... The act left much to be desired.

Often he found himself getting lost in thoughts whenever the other bat would set about trying to return the favour, as it were, sex holding little interest to him most days. Sometimes the novel touches and feelings would grab him but too often his thoughts inevitably drifted away from the physical world and any build up that had occurred would be washed away by the stream of conscious. He's unsure why, it's not that he's not interested per se, it's just that there is little there to keep his focus.

He can tell that this bothers his partner at times, Astah coming away with a hurt expression and slumped shoulders whenever Lanon's attention wavers, the other bat increasing the input near exponentially in order to bring him back to the present. An avenue opened but more often then not it was a one-way street with regards to mutually reached pleasure.

This is where his thoughts leave him, mulling over how to approach the topic with his partner, when he hears that chime echo out across the wild brush he's rooting through for berries and other fruiting bodies. His sensitive ears twitch and swivel as he tries to pinpoint where that sound came from. In all the time he has been out here, not once has that sound occurred. Has it? He takes a chance and stands tall, illuminating his form to the dark woods that sit at the periphery of the brush. Lanon tilts his head, closing his eyes in order to reduce the amount of feedback his mind has to process when, or more correctly if, that distinct noise calls out.

The chime echoes out again.

Lanon snaps his in the direction that it came from before opening his eyes. Just like that first night, the sound comes from the direction the overlook into the valley lays, and he feels a deep compulsion to travel there. However, to do so without telling his partner would be at the minimum rude and at the maximum, asking for him to die and leave the other bat alone. Pushing the almost basal need to head towards the chime, Lanon instead looks around to locate his partner.

Astah sits close to the ocean, feet occasionally being touched by the tide, as he alternates between gazing at the stars and then hunching over and draining the life blood from some small captured mammal.

Lanon, with leaden feet that feel almost impossible to move, heads down to the beach. Placing a gentle paw on the other bat's shoulders and causing Astah to jump in surprise, the other bat looks up at him with a soft smile. He tilts his head, overcome a bit by some unknown emotion that chokes his words as he gazes down at his partner.

"'Hoy there, love. Was just watching the stars and taking a small break," Astah tells him before he threw the exsanguinated corpse of the small mammal into the ocean for the crustaceans to devour. "How's things with you?"

Lanon contemplates on just how much he should tell his partner in that moment. The other bat clearly didn't hear the chime tonight nor that night half a moon cycle ago and it's not that strange for the two of them to spend most of the nights spent on their various foraging tasks separated... But what he's planning to do will take him away from Astah for a prolonged period of time. Taking a chance, he tells his partner the bare minimum of what he plans. "I'm... Going to head to that overlook you showed me about a moon ago," he says with a soft voice.

Astah gives him an odd look but then shrugs with an easy smile. After all, Astah had made the journey there alone before so that's not a worry, but Lanon wanting to return alone is a bit out of the norm, he's aware. He's just thankful that his partner seems fine with it, if a bit befuddled at his statement. "Alright, thanks for telling me," his partner says before he stands up and pulls Lanon into a quick kiss. "Need me to get anything for you incase you stay out too long?"

Lanon ponders that before nodding, figuring it's best to assume that he'll not be able to forage as he follows the chime, "I would appreciate it yes. If you could gather around one of your bamboo trap's worth, I would be very thankful."

Astah gave him a beaming smile, "Certainly, I can do that for you easily, boss," and with that, the albino bat walked off with one last wave. Lanon gave his partner a lingering look as the other bat left, rooted to the spot by something inexplicable inside him. He then shook his head and headed in the direction he heard the chime with a clear conscious.

As he travelled to the overlook, that initial compulsion he felt earlier when he heard the chime only grew in intensity and urged him to move faster. The scenery bled by in his periphery, the darks woods he was skirting becoming the odd airy woods illuminated by the moon and stars with little rhyme or reason. It was all just one giant smear to his consciousness as the compulsion drew him further and further in.

Eventually the chime echoed out once he hit the portion where all the trees were evenly spaced and unnatural, the echo he felt in his soul and had turned his feet into tree roots. The scene around him grew narrow, as if only the cone of sight right in front of him that he could observe was the last thing to exist in the world. Oddly, he felt no anxiety or fear even though he logically knew he should. A golden haze fell upon the evenly spaced trees before him, the gentle rays of an early summer day, before all light was winked out for a blink and then trees around him shimmered in a hazy bright outline. He observed the leaves in the lower branches as if each was held under a microscope, the stomata opening to allow for gas exchange, the chloroplasts producing sugars through photosynthesis, the cytoplasm within the cell walls subtly vibrating within as the the machinery of the plant cell went about its normal life cycle.

But that, too, was soon erased as the cone of his sight was filled with the outline of a proud stag. Its outline glowed with that same hazy shimmer as the trees around him did but as the stag approached him, it shifted and undulated into something that was a deer but was not. Its antlers were much like dense branches of scrub oak, its hooves holding too many points that did not sink into the soft leaf litter, and when he looked at its face, it stared at him with the eyes of a predator. He wanted to run, he knows he should run, yet his feet remain as sturdy as the deepest of tap roots. Immobile, immovable. However, his mind remained free of fear. Every step the proud stag took towards him, that chime would echo out, before it too, stopped and observed him.

A wild howl broke the silence, the same one he had heard that first night, whereupon a cougar that shimmered with starlight dashed through the evenly spaced rows before mounting the proud stag. The cougar undulated in erotic display and pleasure as it sheared flesh from the stag's bones in-between thrusting with wild vigor. The stag remained still and seemingly unbothered by this violation. Eventually the cougar stuttered and gave one last wild howl as it buried itself for, what he assumes, was sexual release into the stag before it fell to the ground writhing and wailing in pain as its skin and muscle rotted away into putrid discharge that left the ground below it dead and dry.

Yet the stag remained standing and staring at him.

---

Lanon awoke the next dusk curled tightly around his partner in their hammock. He blinked awake with confusion and as he lifted his head towards his partner's face, he was met with the exceptionally worried expression of Astah.

"Oh thank fuck you're back with me..." the albino bat sighed with sheer relief as he pushed a shaking paw through his hair. Lanon cocked his head but before he could think a coherent question, Astah beat him to it. "You came back from the overlook as if you were being pulled by a string, so you can imagine how worried I was. Thank fuck you weren't foaming at the mouth, though... But you were acting really weird."

Lanon swallowed hard, could he actually be...

"You drank and ate just fine, you didn't have any of that late stage hydrophobia," Astah said rather forcefully as he ran his paws through Lanon's ruff, "But you were speaking in a language I had never heard of before... It sounded almost ancient, like some long lost language, and you were insistent on scratching out something into the dirt of the campsite."

With a gentle push, Lanon carefully exited the hammock before Astah followed suit. The albino bat lead him to where he had covered up whatever it was he had scratched there with the spare canvas. Carefully his partner removed it and he was met with a language that he had never seen before... Or, one that he cannot recall ever having seen before. A word, however, did catch his eye.

"Envy..."

Astah gave him an odd look, "Uh... What? 'Envy?'"

Lanon crouched down and pointed to a 2 symbol word at the end of the third line, "This says, 'Envy.'"

He looked up at his partner with a worried look, swallowing hard, as Astah crouched down and studied the passage he had scratched out in a fugue state. Just what had encountering that stag...?

Chapter 4 - The Forest

Chapter 4 - In all things, this is just

The vision of the stag with scrub oak antlers and the starlight cougar plagued Lanon's thoughts incessantly for several more nights, along with the passage he had scratched into the dirt with the only word he recognized being, "Envy." Thankfully he was otherwise in sound health and mind, the worry that he could potentially be going rabid put to the wayside as no telling symptoms occurred. It was nearing the 6 full moon mark since he had met his partner, Astah, that night in mid spring and they were now coming upon the torpor season. The two of them had been foraging with intense vigor as they raced against the turning of the seasons to put on sufficient body weight and insulate their campsite against the claws of winter.

Odd... Why was he so worried about winter...? For as long as he could recall, this area had mild seasons, almost as if those seasons never existed to begin with. The cool winds that blew in from the ocean were the only observable change that he could fathom. Something intrinsic within him, however, urged him into eating more, insulating against heavy winds and snows that never fell. Or, perhaps, he is just now recognizing the season's changes due to his partner now bringing him back from the monotony of surviving into the lived reality of existence. The clock, as it were, beginning to tick and tock to the beats of his heart again and thus reigniting his conscious awareness of all life passing him by.

Hard to say.

Regardless, the strange imagery that he had subjected himself to by following the chimes on the wind had made focusing on the here and now, the contented simple but hard living out in the wilds, almost impossible to deal with. Something... Something about what he saw seemed prophetic.

Or perhaps apocalyptic.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the tangent, but it was no use. The thoughts had soured and made bitter any and all fruits he had scavenged this night. With a look of disgust, Lanon dropped the handful of berries he was about to shove into his maw onto the ground, their fall ripe forms gently tumbling around his feet. Some, the ones on the verge of spoiling, laying in a thick splatter of sweet juices. In nature there is no such thing as a wasted substance, any food he does not consume for himself simply becomes food for the other organisms both macro and micro in size. He sighed in defeat.

Looking around, ears drooping with leftover anxiety from his incessant thoughts, he spotted his partner relieving himself near one of the singular trees that dot the landscape before the brush heads up to the dark woods. Most likely a product of animal dispersal seeing as the prevailing winds head into the dark wood. He grunted in annoyance as his thoughts, as always, wander off. The point is that with those nagging thoughts eating away at him, he decided it was better to try and talk out these thoughts out rather than let them fester for a moment longer.

Approaching his partner, shame had long since abandoned him, he waved and called out.

"'Hoy, Astah."

His partner gave an embarrassed cough before signalling him to wait. He's unsure why, it's not as if it isn't anything he hasn't seen already and knowing this spot would help in him avoiding it for the future. Lanon turned around and observed the landscape of the winds ruffling through the brush and grasses, the tree canopy swaying in a delayed motion as the winds finally hit them. The tide washing onto the shore rhythmically and washing away anything and everything left on the sand. Always ephemeral and changing. The landscapes may change, countries rising and falling, yet for all of recorded history the oceans remains unconquered.

Soon enough his partner joins him with a slightly embarrassed air. After a few awkward moments, the albino bat speaks, "So uh... What's so dire that a man can't shit in peace?"

Lanon rolled his eyes at that, "We live in the wild, there is no peace, lest I remind you of the time you defecated on an ant hill."

Astah slowly nodded his head, conceding the point, "Fair enough, I suppose..."

To Lanon, that event was quite memorable although he's sure his partner would like to forget about the week he had to deal with ant bites on his aft end. While it was undoubtedly an important lesson, the consensus is that it's better to listen to the individual who has spent more time doing something than yourself, in this case surviving alone, instead of having the consequences of your actions come back to literally bite you in the ass.

Anyway, the mechanics of defecation and Formicidae aside, that's not exactly what he came here to focus on. Unsure of how to start, Lanon began picking out the dirt from under his claws to keep his paws busy. "There's... Something I'd like to discuss with you if you'd allow me the time for it..."

Astah looked stunned for just a moment before he scoffed at him and bumped him with his shoulder, "Lanon, you don't have to ask me for my time, it's me you're talking about. Weird circumstances aside, at what point have I ever asked instead of barging in? So long as you're not telling me that we're breaking up, I should hope you feel free to come talk to me about things at this point."

Which, while objectively true, still didn't quell the anxiety riding up within him, "I... No, it's... Wait, 'break up with you?'"

His partner gave a nervous laugh but waved that concern away, "Alright so that worry was unfounded, whatever, just... What's got you all... You know... You've been really weird these past few nights and I'm not talking about the fear that you could be rabid, it's... You coming up to me and asking me to talk well... A guy's going to worry, alright?"

Lanon hummed in response to that before returning his attention back to the landscape. "That's... Actually part of why I wanted to talk to you, actually, it's about-" but his anxiety choked him up at the last moment as if some unseen force held his throat closed and prevented him from continuing. With a growl of frustration, he forced himself to speak about the vision he saw in that light area of the forest the other night, about the stag and cougar and all the weird phenomenon that happened, to his partner.

Through it all Astah said nothing, his expression calculating as he processed the story he was being told.

As Lanon finished his retelling of the event, about how he doesn't remember anything past the point where the Stag addressed him, perceived his very soul, his partner finally speaks up and asks the expected question, "You... Didn't eat anything weird before you followed this chime sound into the woods, did you? I didn't think you did, when you told me you were leaving you looked in your right mind..."

Lanon shook his head, "No, I did not. While an expected question, I assure you that I did not eat anything that would produce such vivid hallucinations. As far as I can recall, there are no such substances growing in this area for I have not encountered any. Eating a rotten fruit, yes, eaten a fruit or contaminated fruit that had me hallucinate like the experience I described? No."

His partner hummed in thought and seemingly came to a conclusion. The albino bat took his paw in his and started to lead him back in the direction of their campsite looking a bit worried but mostly determined.

The journey back was silent but thankfully felt short, Lanon worried he had said the wrong thing by admitting to what he saw that night as he squeezed through the rocks that made up the entrance. Astah gestured for him to sit down in the center of camp before the other bat began to pace a bit before sitting down heavily in front of him.

"So," the other bat began, "I know you're not going to like hearing this, but I think we need to leave."

Lanon just stared blankly at his partner, "...Leave? What do you mean leave?"

Astah sighed with a faint nod, "I mean leave this place, you know, this beach."

He recoiled, appalled at the idea. This beach and these wilds had been his home, it was a cruel one certainly, but it was the one he could remember with clarity. The memories he had of the before were nothing but hazy dreams and half smeared smudged moments of colour and sensation.

His partner just gave him a wry smile, "Yeah, thought so." The other bat started to fidget with his fingers before sighing, "Let me... Maybe if I explained my thought process you might... Also agree that leaving would be best...?"

Lanon snorted but gestured his consent, "Go ahead, perhaps your rhetoric can sway me."

His partner rolled his eyes with a smile, "So... I might be remembering this just a little wrong but bear with me," and then started in with, "A long time ago there were three wolf brothers who-"

Lanon quickly interrupted him. "What does what I am assuming is a fairytale have to do with what I saw the other night?" he asked his partner incredulously.

Astah just gave him a frustrated look, shoulders slumped inward with mild frustration, "Just trust the process, alright? Promise there's a reason behind this one."

Lanon tilted his head with a disbelieving look but then gestured for his partner to continue regardless. He did say that he wanted Astah to convince him, perhaps this was one of those interwoven essays that all connect to a central argument but, alone, appear meaningless.

---

A long time ago there were three wolf brothers who were too old to defend their territory. The oldest and wisest brother told his brothers, "The younger wolves have forced us out of our territory and will not let us hunt anymore. There is nothing left for us here, we must journey to find our fortunes and luck."

His two younger brothers agreed and so they set out on a long journey that saw them travelling through miles upon miles of woods. Eventually the wolf brothers had to rest for the night. "I will take watch for tonight, brothers," the oldest told his two younger brothers and so the two younger brothers fell asleep as the oldest watched the woods for any predators that would tear old wolves apart.

The oldest wolf heard foot steps and looked up to see a dragon approaching him. "Hello, sir dragon," the oldest wolf said.

"Who am I talking to?" the dragon asked.

"Good travellers," the oldest wolf replied.

The dragon nodded, pleased, as he bequeathed upon the oldest wolf a boon: the ability to never tire when running down a deer. But the wolf must not tell his fellows until the dawn and then the dragon left.

The oldest wolf waited until dawn, when his younger brothers awoke, and told them of the dragon that visited him in the night. The younger brothers were in awe and when they went off to hunt, the oldest wolf never once tired and brought down a mighty stag and the three brothers feasted well.

The three wolves then continued their journey, crossing a river of starlight. The oldest wolf turned around and told his brothers, "You may go on, but I will stay here and find my fortunes following this river made of stars." The two younger brothers bid their oldest brother farewell and continued their journey.

That night, as the two remaining brothers stopped to rest, the middle brother told the youngest, "I will keep watch tonight so that you may rest." The youngest wolf agreed and went to sleep. That night, the middle brother was visited by the same dragon that had visited the oldest wolf. The middle brother greeted the dragon, "Hello, sir dragon."

"Who am I talking to?" The dragon asked.

"Good travellers," the middle wolf replied.

The dragon nodded, pleased once again, as he bequeathed a boon to the middle wolf: the ability to track any prey so that they can never hide. But the wolf must not tell his fellows until dawn and then the dragon left.

The middle wolf waited until dawn, when his youngest brother awoke, and told him of the dragon that visited him just like how it did the oldest brother. The youngest brother was in awe and when they went off to hunt a most tricky prey. The did not once lose sight of it and they brought down the trickster, stealing his kill and feasting well.

The two wolves then continued their journey, passing by a meadow filled with the sunlight of late spring. The middle wolf turned and told his brother, "You may go on, but I will stay here and find my fortunes in this meadow that smells of the sweetest clover." The youngest brother bid the middle brother farewell and continued his journey.

That night, the youngest brother remained awake and was visited by the same dragon that had visited his two older brothers. The youngest brother greeted the dragon, "Hello, sir dragon."

"Who am I talking to?" the dragon asked.

"A good traveller," the youngest wolf replied.

The dragon nodded, pleased once more, as he bequeathed a boon to the youngest wolf: the ability to sing so sweetly that it will call his family to him. But the wolf must not sing until dawn and the dragon left once more.

The youngest brother was confused by this boon he had been granted. Restless to continue his journey, the youngest wolf then set off once more. As the youngest wolf continued his journey through the night, he came upon an ancient wolf.

"Please, could you sing for me? I am too old and my voice cannot hold a note anymore," the ancient wolf asked the youngest brother.

"Sorry sir, but I cannot sing until dawn," said the youngest brother and continued walking. Soon the youngest wolf crossed a river that flowed with pure light but he did not stop there and continued his journey through the night where he came upon a beautiful she wolf.

"Please, could you sing for me? I have always wanted to hear the voice of a well travelled wolf," the beautiful she wolf asked the youngest brother.

"Sorry ma'am, but I cannot sing until dawn," said the youngest brother and he continued walking. Soon the youngest wolf passed a meadow that was filled with the flurries and fury of the winter but he did not stop there and continued his journey through the night where he came upon an injured pup.

"Please, could you sing for me? I have never heard the voice of another wolf before," the injured pup asked the youngest brother.

The youngest brother felt great sympathy for the injured pup and unable to ignore its pleas, he sang a beautiful song for it.

The injured pup then gave a look of pure hatred and transformed into the dragon that had visited him in the night. "You have failed to heed my warning and so I must take your voice," the dragon told the youngest brother before the dragon ripped the youngest brother's throat out with terrible claws.

The dragon, still full of such anger at being defied, travelled back to where the middle brother had settled down with a family in the meadow filled with late spring.

"Your youngest brother did not heed my words and thus, you will have to pay for his crime," and the middle wolf had his skull crushed.

The dragon, still not satisfied as his anger burned bright hot, travelled back to the where the oldest brother had settled down with a family as they chased deer near the stream that was filled with starlight.

"Your youngest brother did not heed my words and thus, you will have to pay for his crime," and the oldest wolf had his legs torn off.

The dragon, still not satisfied as his anger consumed him like an inferno, travelled back to the start of the wolf brother's journey, waiting for the next traveller to enter his woods.

---

Astah coughed a bit when he finished telling the morbid tale and grabbed one of the shells they had been using in the camp to store water. Taking a drink he then looked back at Lanon with an expectant look.

"I..." Lanon began before falling silent, confused at the tale and what it meant for their current predicament. Just what was he supposed to get out of a tale about three wolves and a dragon? What did that have to do with his vision of the stag and cougar, not to mention that scratched out passage where the only recognizable word was "envy?"

His partner gave a laugh as he shook his head. "Yeah, that's what I thought when I first heard it. It's this fairytale told as part of a religious service I heard when I was just a wee puff of smoke myself," he scratched at the back of his neck looking a bit uncomfortable before continuing, "You think, why was the dragon so mad? Why did the older brothers have to die because the youngest brother wanted to give a dying kid its last wish? What's the point if the wolves were going to die anyway?"

Lanon nodded, those had been some of his questions as well. "So then... What actually was the 'moral' of this story?"

Astah gave a defeated shrug, "What I was told as a kid, it's a simple story about greed, in that the greedy nature of the dragon can never be fulfilled. But..." this is where his partner took a long pause and looked decidedly uncomfortable, "Here? Now? Nah, I think that stag and cougar you encountered are like the dragon in this story. Something otherworldly and unknowable that doesn't know nothing about the emotions of... You know, being a person."

Lanon hummed in thought as he pondered the implications. It's true that the stag was some other being that was not wholly of the physical realm, same with the cougar that mounted it and subsequently died. Did that mean that these creatures were unable to comprehend the emotions of people? Or was that just a red herring and he's missing a larger bit of the puzzle that his partner is trying to point him towards?

Astah took an audible swallow before he continued, "It just sounds like... Something is out there and it's targeting you for a reason. Probably because you've been here so long? A-anyway, this is why I think we need to pack up and go." The albino bat looked like he was going to say something more but then dropped the subject, nervously running a claw against his thigh instead.

He gave the proposal some thought. Certainly it held some merit as ever since he followed his partner to that outlook that passed through the odd open forest, he's had a mild sense of unease about this place. As if something wasn't completely right even though he has been here for many seasons. Something a bit otherworldly, as if he's had something shattered and he's only now finding the message written behind the mirror. However, one thing stopped him, "It's going to be torpor season soon, do you think it wise to leave now...?"

Astah bit his lip as he considered this, taking a long moment to reply before finally nodding, "Yes, I... I think this is our only window we have because..." he gave a heavy sigh looking rather anxious, "Because something tells me that this is the only chance we're getting before this.... Whatever it is comes for your soul or something. I... I'd rather we avoided that, you know?"

Lanon wasn't one to go with gut feelings but the longer he remained quiet, the more anxious he watched his partner become, as if the very idea he would say no would shatter the other bat. In the end, even if it amounts to nothing, it won't do much harm to at least humour his partner and assuage the others fears. He nodded slowly, "I... Suppose we could-" He was then cut off as he was pulled into a tight hug, the other bat giving a shaking sigh full of relief.

"Thank you! Gods, Lanon, you had me- Well, it's not important, just... Thank you."

He gave his partner an awkward pat on his back before he returned the hug, "Of course, it's what partners do after all, there is no need for thanks."

Astah pulled back to look him fully in the face, looking as serious as he's ever seen the albino bat before, "Not for this, love. I think a lot of thanks are needed here."

Lanon just looked confused but any further thoughts he might have had about the moment were cut off as his partner drew him into a passionate kiss, pushing him to the ground. They say that emotionally charged events can induce a need to procreate but he's unsure why this conversation would spark such a thing in his partner. Perhaps it doesn't matter, in the end, perhaps what's more important is to give the other bat the comfort that he's seeking in this moment. He opens his mouth and gives a pleased hum as feels the other bat's tongue against his own, feeling his partner's claws scratch at his sides. He returns by running his own claws down the other bat's back, eliciting a deep groan from the albino bat who then hooks one of his legs under Lanon's own, spreading his legs out wide for the other bat to settle more upon himself.

The beginning of planning can wait, he supposes, until they must retire at dawn.

---

Lanon was a bit blindsided the next dusk as they set about packing away their campsite. When it came down to it, the amount of possessions that the two of them had was paltry. There were, of course, Astah's old clothes that now sat upon his frame loosely, the canvas that made up their hammock, the other canvas scrap that he swore he had a plan for but the memory of why it was important sifted through his paws like so much sand, and the various traps and contraptions they had crafted to catch the small creatures that roamed the brush of the beaches.

In total, all worldly possessions that were worth something could fit easily into a makeshift backpack carried by himself alone. It was a stark reminder that, even though he could only remember this place with any clarity, that the stress of survival with only primitive hand tools on a day to day basis did not leave much in the way of item accumulation.

Or did it? Perhaps he just lacked the imagination to create new items. In all of his long clear memories of this place, he cannot recall creating much after he built his campsite. Peculiar.

"All packed up over there?" Astah asked him even though they both know that they were. Perhaps it was just trepidation in leaving, that odd feeling one gets when saying farewell forever to a place that they had lived in for a good portion of their life. Or perhaps it was the fear of the unknown that stalled them. Him, specifically, his partner looked fairly easy going about it all.

The plan, as it were, was to follow the beaches in the same manner that his partner had those 6 full moons ago when the other bat had stumbled onto his cooking fire. The worry, of course, was water availability. His partner told him that there was a large chunk in his wanderings that he couldn't quite recall with much clarity due to exhaustion. Astah paused over the word "exhaustion" as if that wasn't quite the word he was originally thinking of but yet, it also rang true, the other bat had been quite exhausted when Lanon found him so he let the subject drop.

Their plan, since they did not have any container in which they could actually transport water with, was to drink from the stream that lead into the ocean located near that initial meeting place of theirs. It was better than nothing seeing as the time the other bat had described to him, the journey took less than a night to go from the city's beaches to these in the wild. Dangerous and stupid, to be sure, but the other choice was to stay here and risk another episode like the other night.

Clad in that old peacock outfit that used to shine and glint under the full moon, the metal tarnished by the harsh ocean winds, Astah assumed a different kind of confidence. Standing before him was once more the bat he met the first night, the one that was all image with little substance. He stood and walked differently to what he had come to know as his partner, putting on the mask of the city bat and discarding the fumbling easygoing nature of the wild bat.

The image was slightly ruined by Astah fighting with his pants and constantly itching at himself, unused to the feeling of fabric sitting on his frame after going so long without it. "Ugh, damn things won't stay up! Gods!" In the end Lanon took pity on his partner and threaded the scrap rope leftover from the hammock through the other bat's belt loops, fashioning a makeshift belt that didn't weight the albino bat's pants down compared to the now rusted studded ones.

His partner gave him a sheepish grin before rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously and took one last look at the campsite that had been their home for the past 6 full moons. Lanon tilted his head, observing his partner as he let the other bat have this melancholy moment. Quietly, he exited his campsite for the last time, the familiar sights and smells now soon to be a fragment of the past forever lost to him.

His partner emerged through the rock entrance several moments later and gestured for him to lead. "After you, love."

He snorted and gave the other bat a soft smile before taking up the leading roll as they travelled through the brush.

It was nostalgic, in a way, leading the other bat through the brush in the same way as that night so long ago but, this time, he didn't have to coddle the other bat to keep him safe. His fur didn't stand out in the wilds anymore and his outfit didn't glint under the full moon. He didn't stumble and stomp his way through the brush as they kept their heads below the tall grasses. As they approached the pond from that night, Lanon gave it a calculating look. The reeds surrounding it appeared to have doubled and increased more than expected between late spring to early fall. If he didn't know that this was the pond he had forced Astah to rub mud into his fur from, he'd suspect it of being a different pond altogether. Curious.

His partner also seemed perturbed by it but didn't say anything, instead looking around the area with a renewed sort of anxiousness. Lanon dropped the subject and pressed on.

They were making good time as they passed by the place that they had initially met, the ocean tide and winds leaving no trace of their meeting so long ago now. Not even a trace bit of charcoal remained of that old cooking fire, truly it was as if it didn't exist in the first place. He had a fleeting thought of how much prehistory simply doesn't exist due to the effects of nature assimilating everything back down to its barest building blocks, leaving only the most trace of trace fossils in very specific locations in very specific biomes. He shook his head as he rid himself of the thoughts and pressed on.

Eventually, and oddly more tired then they had expected, the two of them came upon the stream that lead into the ocean. Astah gave it a confused look as he walked up to it. He looked back at him and asked with such befuddlement, "Lanon... I don't remember ever having to cross a stream before I saw and was subsequently attacked by you... Why... How?"

Lanon tried to think. He knows for a fact that this stream has always been here... Hasn't it? Of course it did, he knew that this would be their last place to drink fresh water safely earlier in the night... "That's... Rather peculiar. Are you sure this wasn't something your exhausted haze of a memory of that night ultimately glossed over?"

Astah looked unsure, "I... You might be right..."

Lanon stared at the stream with some hesitation but, since it was their last option for fresh water for a while, he bent down and drank from the stream freely, quenching his thirst. They would be spending some time near the stream, hydrating over a period instead of gorging themselves all at once. The stream's water tasted of... If Lanon was hard pressed to give it a taste, it was that of pure light. It was an indescribably warm flavour that had no match in the natural world. It tasted otherworldly.

He pulled back with shock and stared at the stream with renewed interest, resisting the urge to plunge his head fully into it. He looked over at his equally shocked partner's face. Or was that horror...? Lanon looked down at himself in the stream and... That was still him. Maybe it was just the unnatural flavour of the waters. Still, they kept to their plan and stayed by the stream, slowly drinking and hydrating for the long walk ahead.

Or what they assume to be a long walk as Astah's memory of this place was no more than a blur.

Lanon motioned for Astah to take the lead from here seeing as, past this point, Lanon has very little to no actual memory of what lies beyond this stream. Astah gives a dramatic bow that gets a small smile from him, before the two of them cross the stream that tastes of pure light. Lanon swallows hard as a feeling of pure dread suffuses his body and makes walking through the shallow water an arduous task. His partner, however, has no such difficulties.

He trusts his partner, right? He should... Maybe if he...

Lanon is shocked into the present by his partner taking his paw before he looks back towards where they had come from, the other bat resolutely looking towards where they're going and not where they had come. "Don't look back, Lanon, whatever you do, don't look back," the other bat says with gravity, "Keep your eyes on me if you need to, just don't look back."

Lanon gives a shaky nod but remains rooted to the spot, too terrified to continue walking. His partner tugs on his arm and the imbalance causes him to instinctively take a step to keep him upright. Astah keeps pulling him and they make it across the stream unscathed. Once on the other side, the feeling of dread fades to a level that is manageable but never actually goes away. His partner never once lets go of his paw and thus continues to lead him down these beaches he cannot ever recall seeing before.

But he surely must have, all those spotty memories of his life before the wilds is of him, perhaps, living in civilization of some sort. Surely? He can't seem to recall them anymore... What was his life before the wilds? What will his life be out of them...? Feeling his thoughts spiral, he focuses on his partner walking just slightly ahead of him, at the feeling of the other's paw in his.

Don't look back.

They travel for what feels like days upon days but Lanon knows that to be untrue for the stars only shift as expected, the moon's arc across the starlit sky the journey it always takes during this time of the season. Perhaps it is because it has been progressively getting colder as they travel the beach, the air taking on that crisp edge that signals a true fall night. Otherwise, the landscape changes little. It is as if they are travelling on a belt, stuck in one place as the world around them changes... Surely they have to be making progress otherwise he wouldn't be as exhausted as he is now if they hadn't been... Right?

Lanon quickly lets go of Astah's paw and doubles over in pain, knees hitting the sand as he clutches at his stomach. He bends over, placing his forehead onto the sand, breathing hard.

"Whoa, whoa, what's wrong?!" his partner asks him as he, too, kneels in the sand next to him. Lanon squints to look up at his partner from this position, the other bat appearing upside down, hovering paws near his back and wearing a worried expression. He's about to reply before he retches and gags, the pain overwhelming, causing him to claw at the sands beneath him. Eventually he vomits all over the sand before him, thick viscous liquid as black as night pours from his mouth in-between heaves as it splatters into the sand in thick mucousy globs. The stench is horrendous, stinking of rot and death. He just keeps heaving it up for what feels like ages, some coming out his nostrils with a stinging burn. He can feel his partner holding his shoulders up, rubbing his thumbs across the tense muscles as he gags and spits the vile liquid up.

He's left shaking in the aftermath, tears running down his face as he observes the foul liquid he purged from his body in disbelief. Where... He wipes his mouth and face with shaking hands as his partner helps lift him back up on trembling legs. Carefully Astah leads him away from whatever that was that he had expelled from his body. He resists the urge to look back at it as Astah puts an arm around his shoulders and continues to lead them down the beach.

Things blur together as they travel down the beach and soon, Lanon feels exhaustion pulling down at his limbs. Astah then shifts positions and pulls Lanon's arm over his shoulders and shifts his arm so that its under Lanon's other arm, helping to carry him. Oddly, his partner seems unaffected. Winded, perhaps, but not dead tired as he is.

It gets progressively worse, the exhaustion. It pulls on his limbs and causes his feet to drag. Seeing this, his partner grunts with exertion as the other bat pulls Lanon onto his back and proceeds to carry him. It can't be easy for the other bat is shorter than him, but they both are under weight due to living in the wild for so long. Yet Astah proceeds on with determination.

He feels like he's dying if he's being honest, unable to keep his head aloft or eyes open. "Don't give up on me, love, I know we're almost there, I can feel it," he would periodically hear from his partner but he was too tired to speak and reassure his partner he was still there.

Eventually... Eventually...

There's a dense pressure pulling down on him, choking him, as if he had dove into the ocean and swam too far down. He wants to say something, scream out in pain, but there's nothing left for him there. He can hear the thumping of his heart as it switches between that of a rabbit's to the beat of someone deep in sleep.

A pop.

And then it's... Gone? Senses return to him and the crash of waves, his partner's smell and labored breath, the taste of salt and vegetation, the feeling of his partner's clothing and fur under his body, and the sight of thick green bushes before them. All of it returns to him, but it comes with a cost, his limbs lethargic and weak. With great effort, he taps on his partner's shoulder to ask to be let down. Astah gives a groan of relief and gently leans down so that he can get off the other bat's back. Using his partner to keep himself standing on shaking legs, he takes the other's paw. Astah gives him a pleased smile he's unsure of the meaning of before giving his paw a tug as they travel through the bush before him.

Lanon gives a soft but shocked gasp as he takes his first view of the city in ages. The sight, however, causes him to clutch his head in pain as for but a brief moment, the rush of all his forgotten memories return to him. Who he was, his family, his age, everything he couldn't remember about his time before the wilds returns to him in a luminous explosion before it winks out back to being nothing but indistinct smears locked away under a thick layer of obscuring grime.

Thankfully, when he turns to look at Astah, his partner didn't notice. Instead, the albino bat is looking at the city with a bit of trepidation, perhaps lost in his own thoughts and memories of the place. He takes his partner's paw once more, snapping the other bat out of his own musings for once.

Astah gives a bashful smile before tugging him along, "Come on, love."

And with a smile of his own, Lanon follows after his partner into the heart of the city, trusting the other bat implicitly.

---- END - THE FOREST ----