The Not so Lonely Wilderness

[PixelatedGlory]

Mert was distracted by making faces at Deli and failed to notice Asta's discomfort. His hand remained there for a moment before his attention returned to the woman and he quickly removed it.

Deli thoroughly enjoyed the scratches and was a bit upset when they stopped. She looked between the two people to see what they were up to. Mert just stopped making faces and grinned, "Aye, she's very smart. You might say she's the brains here... Aha! No need to hide your yawning, Asta. You've been through much I think."

He stepped back away from her to rummage through his bags, "First lesson in dealing with Sionadyaki, be simple and direct." He pulled out a few older blankets and tossed them towards Asta, "If you won't use the bed, then at least take these. It'll get cold once the fire dies down and we can't keep it much above embers while we sleep."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, thank you." She took the blankets gratefully and quickly bundled herself into them. She wriggled in her little cocoon for a moment, then one arm stretched from the pile of cloth and tossed his coat back in his direction. "The blankets should be enough, I feel...awkward, taking your things," Asta said as she poked her head out of the top of the bundled mess.

[PixelatedGlory]

Deli squeaked as she was half buried in the blankets as they were given to Asta. She wriggled her way out from underneath and then climbed back up onto her perch closer to Mert's bed.

The way that Asta bundled herself into a cocoon with the blankets brought a big smile to Mert's face. It reminded him of how Deli used to jump into a pile of his clothes and roll around until she was hopelessly entangled. Of course she had always ended up so warm and comfortable that she fell asleep like that.

He caught the heavy coat before it could fall too close to the fire and shrugged, "I offer what  I can or want to part with. Up to you whether you accept. You need something, just wake me or Deli."

Mert made a point of hanging the coat on an empty peg fairly close to where Asta was, in case she changed her mind in the night. "Good night Asta," he said softly. He then went back to the fire and poked around a bit, making sure the coals would not be able to flare up and start a fire overnight. Some of the coals were carefully moved into a pile so some  would be left to rekindle the fire in the morning.

After he was satisfied with the coals he finally laid down on his bed of furs and pulled his blanket up to his neck. Deli scampered over and curled up into a ball on his chest. It wasn't long before he was snoring away.

[DragonSong]

With a small smile, Asta curled up into the blankets and closed her eyes, curving slightly toward the fire. "Thank you," she murmured yet again. "Really. I- I'm not sure how much longer I would have lasted without your help."

Her voice trailed off sleepily and she yawned, then burrowed deeper into the covers and tried to sleep.

[PixelatedGlory]

Mert's reply to Asta's sleepy statement was just a quiet grunt. There was no sense in discussing it. Without any shelter few creatures could survive for long in the brutal cold of the north. Moreover Mert was not used to dealing with people thanking him.

Thankfully Mert was very tired himself and as he felt the blissful pull of sleep tugging him into its soft embrace he had one final thought. Today was a good day. He lay there on his back and snored away. Clearly he wasn't used to the idea that this could bother other people.

Otherwise the tent rustled and the supports creaked in the wind. Together with the sounds of the wind itself they created a sort of pleasant white noise effect. With the fire now reduced to embers the tent began to cool significantly as the night went on. It was not cold enough for the occupants to freeze of course, but it was definitely noticeable.

After a few hours Deli woke up and could be heard shaking herself in preparation for finding a warmer spot to sleep in. She peered through the darkness to check on their guest.

[DragonSong]

Asta had always been a light sleeper, and sometimes prone to tossing and turning. Which resulted in a rather tangled mess of blankets around her form sometime in the middle of the night.

She's also somehow turned into a fox. Perhaps because she'd been dreaming of chasing rabbits. A fluffy white tail was just about all of her that could be seen in the mound of blankets, twitching lightly as her paws scrabbled while she chased imaginary prey.

[PixelatedGlory]

Mert was actually a fairly heavy sleeper, though Deli was not. As Mert continued snoring on without a care she was aware of their guest tossing and turning in her pile of blankets. She would have just ignored it but she wanted to make sure Mert wasn't keeping Asta from sleeping.

Instead of climbing under the blanket and tucking herself in with Mert's warmth she carefully climbed down off of him to go investigate Asta. As she crept closer to the wiggling ball of twisted blankets her whiskers twitched as she sniffed the air. A different scent in the area caught her attention. It smelled like a fox, but she no longer smelled the faintly wolf-like scent of Asta. At the sight of the fluffy white tail sticking out of the blankets Deli nearly panicked.

She could have easily let Mert know there was trouble, but instead she decided to investigate herself. She climbed up one the blankets and gave the tail a yank with both her front paws to get the owner's attention. She then hopped back and stood ready to bite or run towards Mert depending on the reaction.

[DragonSong]

Asta yelped, coming awake with a start, and whirled around to snap blindly at what she perceived to be an attacker.

She really only managed to tangle herself further in the blankets and fell on her side with a sharp yip, wriggling uselessly. As she started to calm down, she realized she was in fact safe- and that she'd shifted forms in her sleep. Again. Great.

Huffing, she glowered balefully at Deli. Was that entirely necessary?

[PixelatedGlory]

Deli stared back at the fox hopelessly tangled in the blankets. She didn't move to wake Mert or try to attack the fox. Instead she very slowly approached Asta and started pulling on the edges of the blankets, trying to loosen them so the fox could move.

Though she wasn't very large or very strong, she moved with an intelligence rivaling that of a human. She left distance between herself and the fox's jaw but after working on it for a little while some of the blankets started to loosen enough for Asta to free herself.

Across the tent Mert had rolled over onto his side and was no longer snoring. Instead he was facing the others in his sleep and a big goofy smile was spread across his face, with a tiny bit of drool starting to form in the corner of his mouth.

[DragonSong]

With a soft huff in gratitude, Asta wriggled herself free of the covers. She cocked her head to eye Deli with the senses of a fox, mouth slightly open as she tasted the air curiously.

Cautiously, she dropped onto her belly and wriggled forward to sniff at the other creature, tail twitching slightly and eyes wide and friendly.

[PixelatedGlory]

Deli was pleased she had been right about the fox's intentions, though a little embarrassed that she had woken her by pulling on her tail. But that had been the only thing sticking out, and she didn't know if Asta was ok.

Deli crouched as if ready to spring, but allowed the fox to sniff at her. The intelligent creature certainly smelled like stoat or a martin. She didn't seem veryy afraid, though her eyes did quickly glance toward Mert's sleeping form occasionally. She waited for a bit and then edged forward to gently bump her nose against the fox's. Her own tail was curled around behind her.

[DragonSong]

The shapeshifter darted her tongue out to lick Deli's nose quickly, then sank back into a playful crouch, waving her plumed tail back and forth.

Asta wasn't exactly well versed in her own people's culture, but from what she'd been told growing up they were...method. Their core personalities never changed, but they tended to take on the mannerisms of whatever form they happened to be in.

And currently Asta was a fox. A highly intelligent fox with the ability to change her shape at will, but a fox. She bounded forward and batted at Deli's ears, then sprang back again and sank back into her play-crouch, mouth open in a foxy grin.

[PixelatedGlory]

Deli squeaked at the touch of the tongue to her nose and blinked rapidly. Her own tail began softly lashing back and forth, delighting at the beginnings of a game. When Asta sprang forward to bat at her ears she nipped at the fox's paws and chittered happily.

Deli might have been a faithful companion, and he would call her his partner, but it had been quite a while since she had someone to play with. Mert tried when he had time, but he was too big and too afraid of hurting his little friend. Asta though, seemed to be the perfect opportunity. They just had to be careful not to wake up Mert. He probably wouldn't understand what was going on.

Rather than wait for the fox to pounce again, she leaped forward in an attempt to climb onto the fox's head. As she did so there was a stirring from across the tent as Mert shifted in his sleep. There was a brief moment when it seemed like he might have woken up, but then the was the sound of lip smacking and a mumble and he was clearly still asleep.

[DragonSong]

The fox tipped happily, and rolled onto her back in an attempt to thwart Deli's go at her head. All four paws paddles through the air, her whole body wriggling as she scorched toward the Martin with that same lolling grin, tail wagging.

[PixelatedGlory]

Deli was already committed to the jump and sailed onto the fox's belly instead when she rolled onto her back. The little paws scrambled and grabbed for fur and she rode the wriggling fox as she scooted across the floor of the tent. Unfortunately one of the flailing fox paws knocked Deli loose and she rolled off with a squeak.

Rolling back to her feet she chittered happily and renewed her playful attacks at the soft belly of the fox. Her beady little eyes glinted with joy and her tail could not stay still.

[DragonSong]

Yapping happily, Asta curled in on herself trying to lick and nip at the smaller animal, and the two went tumbling across the floor of the tent in a writhing bundle of white fur.

Her back fetched up against something warm and solid and she yelped, jumping to her feet and spinning to find herself face to face with a sleeping Mert, Deli caught- at least for the moment- between her front paws.

[PixelatedGlory]

Deli happily rolled along as the larger form of Asta tumbled around. She squirmed and wiggled and tried to lightly bite at Asta when she wasn't dodging the fox's own nibbles. Just before they had collided with Mert the two had been a tangle of happy white fur. Deli winced at the yelp and knew that Mert would wake up. She tried to wiggle out of Asta's grip but she was firmly caught.

With all the noise and the sudden collision with his sleeping body, Mert stirred and opened one of his eyes. Being eye to eye with a fox was enough to jolt him awake and as he rose he saw Deli caught in the paws of the fox.

With a wordless howl he threw off his blanket and reached for a knife.

[DragonSong]

Panic wrapped around Asta in an icy grip and she reeled back, eyes wide as she desperately tried to come up with some way of diffusing the situation.

In her foxy brain, the best she could come up with was escape. And the quickest way to do that was to fly. So she became a crow, bleached white with the same pale, glassy eyes she held in her human form, beating the air wildly with her wings as she tried to take off with a frantic caw.

[PixelatedGlory]

Mert had seen red when he thought his companion, his only friend, was about to be torn apart to a fox. How did the thing even get in here and why didn't Deli wake me if she heard it? He fully intended to draw the knife and plunge it into whatever part of the fox was closest but he was thrown off when the fox disappeared.

Deli was dropped safely to the floor as the fox released her and immediately started squeaking and trying to push against Mert. Given her size there was very little she could do to stop him. Mert was utterly confused. He looked over and saw that Asta's blankets were empty and then looked back at the new crow starting to flap around.

Instead of trying to grab for it or stab it with the knife, he paused. "What do you mean? You're not making sense Deli, be clearer." He then placed the knife on the floor and spoke with a lot of barely contained anger towards the crow, "Don't know who or what you are but Deli trusts you. Come at me or her again and i'll end your life but otherwise i'll give you one chance to show me you aren't dangerous."

[DragonSong]

The crow cawed again, quietly, then slowly fluttered down onto the pile of blankets. The moment her clawed feet touched the fabric, she was human again, staring up at Mert with wide eyes as she wrapped her arms around her upper body.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, shrinking back. "I changed in my sleep, and I didn't realize, and she pulled my tail, and we were playing and- and..." She swallowed. "Sorry..."