MARCO? MARCO?! — joining

[purgatory]

It was the abrupt loud call of a bird that made the cub jump out of his fur. Big blue eyes were wide and wild as premature claws pressed into the ground as he assumed a threatening stance. Maybe 'threatening' was a bit of a stretch as fluffy, snowy white fur with short stubby legs, small ears and a chubby frame isn't exactly threatening. But like most children, Koda likes to think he'll grow up into an intimidating creature to make up for being more cute than scary in his childhood. To be so frightening, no one would dare question him. To be so intimidating, no one would look him in the eyes. To be so powerful, there wasn't a soul who didn't know of his name. To be so feared- feared? Now that he thought about it, all of that sounds awful! He didn't want to be scary or feared! He wanted to be loved and adored! Others wouldn't want to be his friend if he was scary! He'd get lonely without anyone to talk to and will absolutely be driven mad. With fear comes isolation and with isolation, insanity. He takes back all that talk of being a force to be reckoned with. But he couldn't be strong and powerful unless he was intimidating or scary, right? That sounds about right. Powerful and scary with no friends or weak and cute with lots of friends? He doesn't want to be anything that would make it much harder to make friends but also wants to be strong. They were conflicting ideas in his mind, as different as winter and summer.

He managed to calm himself down after a couple seconds, panic giving way to curiosity before he was already scampering towards the source. Was it the smartest idea? No. But what if the bird was calling for help? It also was a new sound for him so of course, being the inquisitive child he is, he had to investigate. Due to their stature, it stilll took them a while to get there but once he did, he was met with a tall creature. Great, another individual to remind him of how short he was. In reality, he was about the size of a full grown domestic cat but in a clan where he was familiar with manticores, a lion, a wolf, coyote and an indoraptor, he felt small. Where was Ourias? The cub felt his self-esteem plummeting and he needed a hug. The stress of meeting new people and the fact that the new individual he was faced with was many times taller than he is was enough to make him whimper softly, as lips pressed together in a pout. Shyly taking a step back, he dropped the notebook he had been carrying and scribbled down a few words. "Hello! May I have your name and business with the Roseblod Rosebloods, please?" Clicking his pen, he held it up to her as he hid nervously behind the book. If following every bird call would lead him to a new person, he was going to have a heart attack. Will he stop investigating things that interest him?

Nope.

[align=center]✯ "speaking" / "writing" ✯