SMILE IN THE DARK | open, double joining

[vellichor]

[align=center][div style="width: 45%; text-align: justify; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: times new roman;"]♡ — Clark had never done anything but travel so he didn't have the same reaction to this new place as his mother did. In fact, the little boy seemed more than excited about it. He was darting all over the place, giggling as his paws were stained with mud and green water. It was so pretty! He jumped up and down a few times, watching as it pooled around his paws and squished between his toes. This was the best place ever! When he dug his paws in the bottom of the mud, there were even more rocks! There were rocks everywhere! He kept going from one area to another, only looking up occasionally to make sure he was generally in the same location as his mama. He was trying to hold all the rocks he found, sticking them everywhere he could think. Some time ago, he'd found a bag and it was almost completely filled with rocks. Now that he was in a place that had so many, it was getting pretty hard to carry them all. However, he didn't seem to let the extra weight slow him down as he ran all around the general area.

When his mother spoke, he didn't react to her voice at all but then turned when he felt her put a paw on his shoulder, pushing him forward. Oh! They were going somewhere again! This was so fun! He loved walking around with his Mama so much! He wondered when they'd be able to stop, though. He wanted to look at all his new rocks and wash the icky stuff off them. "Mama!" It was the only word the little boy could say and it came out in a soft bark-like sound before he hurried forward. He was going to lead them! Surely that was why Mama wanted him to walk in front! He ran forward up until he was forced to slide to a halt when she put her paw in front of him? Oh no, was he doing something wrong? Was that why he couldn't lead anymore? The little boy glanced around until he noticed an especially pretty rock and a wide smile spread across his face. He used his paws to bring together a big pile of the mud and then pushed it towards Cherrywine before placing the rock on top. "Mama!" the odd child barked again, his tail wagging as though he were a canine and not a creature that primarily appeared to be some sort of feline. He looked up at her with a wide smile, clearly waiting for some sort of sign of approval or joy from his mother.