one foot | p, axle | in front of the other

[ophelia.]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 65%; line-height:120%; text-align: justify;font-family: verdana;"]The night had been getting fairly cold lately. Normally, this wouldn't bother Ophelia much. She was used to surviving all kinds of environments, bearing all kinds of weather, but... Well, she didn't have to bear things anymore. If she were cold, she could simply go find a warmer place, collect some blankets, or lay before a fireplace. There were probably even more options than she could think of, and that was as odd as it was comforting. Taking all of that into account, she flew down from the rooftop she had been laying on, the sound of her wings flapping breaking the quiet of the surrounding area as she landed softly on the ground below.

Her eyes flicked around to give a quick check of her surroundings before she padded onward, goal in mind. She was simply going to check around the area, see if she could find some blankets to bring back to her home. She figured it was as permanent as her membership here, so she best start decorating it. Making her home a home was probably the best idea, as weird as it was to be able to settle down somewhere.

She ended up shuffling around in a particularly dilapidated car, having seen a few blankets bundled in the back. They were dirty, but that wasn't a problem. Most things in Tanglewood seemed to be well-used and/or abandoned. Sometimes both.

[HAMMOND]

[align=center][div style="text-align: justify; width: 60%; font-family: georgial; font-size: 11pt;"]The cold weather had never been a friend of Axle's. It wasn't that a break from the smoldering heats he was used to was bad, but his fur was coarse and short, even with its protective properties there was only so much chilliness it could protect the Australian breed from. It had been one of the first few things he noticed when slumbering in the territory, being so used to finding shelter in burrows meant that resting out in the open with erratic weathers had not been pleasant. The wildlife was noisier as well, even more invasive than he'd expected, with a fair share of insects using his warmth as their own little sleeping bag. Hesitant to make a den anywhere near the camp, instead opting to just curl up in random places in the territory, Axle had had enough of his own skepticism and made the conscious decision to check out the cars. Compared to magical things like powers, the male was more accustomed to the metal beasts that used to tear up this overgrown land, even if they were close to the town that familiarity might help him settle down.

A nice idea in theory at least, the Blue Heeler made his way towards the last known direction of the abandoned vehicles (if they'd somehow been driven away he'd eat his tail), the spring in his step burdened with weariness. Even with his body's reluctance to get up and go, Axle hadn't taken too long to reach his destination, nose wrinkling in satisfaction. They'd have to be searched first, lest he wanted to accidentally lay on a snake or other venomous being, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make if he didn't have to sleep on the life-infested floor no more. Slowly the canine approached one, ears and head erecting instantly as he swore he heard shuffling. Gaze focused, the male would slowly lower his head as he prepared to strike at whatever being had made its home within the backseats of a car. Closer and closer he crept, like some wild predator, only stopping once a flash of ebony fur entered his vision. A cat... it was just a cat, one that lived here.

Heart still racing with adrenaline and exactly one to initiate conversation, Axle backed away from the female, instead hopping onto the back of one of the trucks around the area. He presumed the rickety clunking of metal would be enough to draw Ophelia's attention should she wish to know who was foraging close to her, and though keeping an ear out to make sure she wouldn't sneak up on him, Axle's eyes had gone towards the trunk. Paws scuffling as if pawing at dirt, he seemed prepared for any threat that could've come from him disturbing the peace.

[ophelia.]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 65%; line-height:120%; text-align: justify;font-family: verdana;"]At the sound of movement, Ophelia's ears shot up in an almost comical manner, swiveling toward the sound before she lifted her head to look toward it, too. Her gaze landed evenly on Axle as he climbed into a car; he didn't seem to be looking at her, but she could tell by the tilt of his ear that he was listening to her, too. Huh. Relaxing a bit at the realization that she wasn't actually in danger, she turned her attention back to her task.

Still, she found her gaze shifting back towards Axle as she worked to drag the blankets out from the car. Despite her tenacity, she was still just a domestic cat, and these heavy things were going to be tough to carry all the way back to her home. She could always lighten the load a bit, and... Well, it seemed like a certain someone was just as cold as she was tonight. Making up her mind after only a couple of seconds of looking down at the blankets with an intensity that rivaled that of a killer, she grabbed onto one of them, pale green in color, and started to drag it in Axle's direction. She got near enough to the truck, but didn't hop up into it. She was observant enough to guess that he'd made an invisible boundary between him and the outside world. That didn't mean she wouldn't be nice, though.

"Here. It's cold out tonight, and I would certainly be freezing if I were laying out on top of metal in the elements." she said, taking a second to regain the breath she had lost while dragging the hunk of cloth around. Her gaze moved back up toward the dog's, measuring. "If you do get any colder, or you are too cold already, I will leave you with an open invitation to come to my home. My home is... a work in progress, seeing as I'm almost as new as you are, but the invitation stands."

[HAMMOND]

[align=center][div style="text-align: justify; width: 60%; font-family: georgial; font-size: 11pt;"]Something soft was dragging along the dirt, the gentle grazing not going unnoticed by the male despite his snout being deep within the weather bitten holes of a muddy tarpaulin. Another sound soon entered his ears, causing the jet coloured things to flick in preconceived caution. The sound was staccato, similar to a toddler beating on a bass drum, Axle realised quickly that it was his own heartbeat. That thing being lugged about could've been anything, from a corpse to a weapon; the mere thought caused his ginger tinted limbs to freeze up. Closer and closer she got, until eventually the Heeler didn't trust his good reflexes enough to settle in such a prone position. Whiplash be damned the canine spun his cranium around, fixating in on Ophelia. His wide-eyed gaze briefly flickered towards the thing that she had been carrying... a blanket, doing a double-take before looking back at the winged felidae. Still wearing a guarded expression, the tension within Axle's limbs started to dissipate when he realised that it was just some bedding.

If someone so small tried to smother him with it, he was sure he could escape it. Furthermore, from what he'd seen from Ophelia so far, she seemed to be fairly level-headed, not the type to use such a strange item to kill someone. Then why be suspicious in the first place? one could ask him, the answer being a rather simple one. You can never be so sure. Her generous words couldn't have come any sooner. Listening carefully, Axle's mouth began to twist about as he was offered the blanket, not being able to find the smile one should've had when offered such a good thing. He nodded his head in gratitude, giving up his perch to collect the green cloth. Careful not to step on it as he tried to jump up again, Axle would place the blanket down to his side when he was back within the embrace of the cargo bed. "Thank you," he finally uttered them fabled words. He kneaded his paws into the gentle fabric as Ophelia continued talking, the material reminding him of his youth. It felt like centuries ago, out in the wilderness Axle had never gotten good at counting the days, he didn't know his own birth date anymore.

"No," he had to state to Ophelia's invite to distract himself from a tangent, head shaking to further put emphasis on his dislike of such an idea. He had nothing against the Tangler, but Axle wasn't ready to share a sleeping space with someone else yet. Waking up to the the hustle and bustle of the Tanglewood's camp wouldn't be practical either... if he could sleep at all knowing that so many of the living were just dozens of meters away from him. "Here's good. Good space if I need to move,". It wasn't very good reasoning, but the Heeler didn't want to spill his heart out to the poor feline. "S'not safe elsewhere,".

[ophelia.]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 65%; line-height:120%; text-align: justify;font-family: verdana;"]Ophelia watched his expression shift before he decided to nod and take the blanket, and she felt a great deal of kinship to it. She was adjusting pretty well to society, yes, but she wasn't exactly used to it. She could understand easily how hard it was to figure social situations out, to put on appearances for others so that she wasn't seen as odd or outlandish. Luckily for her, she had at least read a little bit, and she'd picked up on things over the couple of years she'd been alive. She wouldn't pretend to know if Axle had learned the same, and it wasn't her place to ask, just as it wasn't anyone else's place to ask her about her own sociability.

"You're welcome." she responded sincerely, listening as he explained his reasoning. She could understand it, sort of, but she did tilt her head at the last bit. It wasn't safe? She supposed that was fair. There were alligators in the swamps and that nasty radioactivity she'd been warned about, but... It was unlikely any of that would affect them up here, away from the waters. She understood that this could just be lack of trust, which was also fair, but she really didn't want him to freeze his tail off out here because he felt unsafe being anywhere else.

"You can always stay in one of the abandoned houses, you know. You would be the only one there, and I'm sure having walls around you and a roof over your head would be safer than being out in the open. They are where most of the joiners are settling down, because they're a little bit warmer than being out here. You don't have to, of course, but it is a thought." She trailed off for a second, then refocused her thoughts. "It doesn't have to be a permanent residence, if you're worried about that. It can just go to the next creature when you decide you don't need it."