[clackno1]

"Concentrate, you'll never get better if you don't work." The biolune rollaby twisted against the white background, looking bored and unimpressed."Go ahead and force me out of your head. I know you want to." She did a back flip onto her back and stared up at the white nothingness."Oh, I actually felt something. Keep concentrating. Focus on the anger I'm creating inside you. They say it works better if you use happy thoughts, but since you refuse to smile and won't do anything but feel dark and dreary I guess that won't really work." the white background started to turn a hazy crimson and a loud rumble made the rollaby vibrate."Good, I'm actually having to work harder, but not by much. You're so pathetic sometimes, you kn--" The rollaby's sentence was cut off when she disappeared into nothingness. She opened her eyes to the rainforest scenery. A temple like structure rose up behind her, crumbling and covered in vines and other plants. It was old.

A calamikuhna was panting a few yards in front of her, obviously exhausted."Hmm...Maybe you're not so pathetic after all." The kuhna started to growl and looked up at her. His eyes burned with anger, no, not anger, hatred. His razor-like claws were deep in the dry earth. He had actually been holding himself back from lunging at the seeming to be sleeping body of the rollaby. His tail lashed as he kept back a hiss of anger. It was over."Goodness, you take things so seriously. You need to relax a bit." She kicked a pebble and it hit the stone brick wall of the temple, bounced off, and disappeared into the forest vegetation."How can I, Eshe, if you're always looking for opportunities to sneak into my head for a look around." Eshe seemed almost offended, but he knew it was fake."Vandol, I'm insulted. I'm merely looking for your weaknesses so I can figure out how to make them stronger." "Sure you are." Vandol said."Hey, If you want, I can go into your head and make the endings of your worst memories a lot more gruesome." He winced at the thought and his ears went down at the thought."That's what I thought." Eshe rolled away to the uncovered opening of the temple."Why don't you do some physical training. Have you gotten past that one step yet?" "Hey, don't blame me for not being able to. A bit more climbing experience and you could of changed that." Vandol roared as his vision went red. He crouched to lunge at Eshe, but she had already gone into the temple. he calmed himself. he had no wish to enter that place. It smelled of death. So he pulled himself out of the crouch and went over to the wall of the temple to start climbing it. Eshe was right, she was always right.

[potterchic]

Kiana ahead of Calli, watching the thich leaves everywhere. "Why did you want to look for a moonling, anyway? They sound pretty cool, but really... I've heard that they're tricksters, I just can't see you hanging out and agreeing with one." she said to the myuu reaper. The whole point of this trip was for the two of them to have some fun and find one of those moonlings. She didn't like the sound of them, but really, Tengel was a nice place, if you got past the ruins and all the vines and other plants constantly blocking your way.

Recently Calli and Kiana had met in the Vast Plains. They had gone home for a little bit, and then they called eachother and arranged this outing.

How likely was it that they'd actually find a moonling? Not very, but they might find something cool in some of the ruins here.

[clackno1]

The small myuu reaper skipped after the common kuhna."Well, since you can't be with me all the time I wanted a friend to be with me when you're not. I thought a moonling would be able to keep me occupied. They're probably not that bad once you get to know them." Company was all she wanted. With no friends back at home she got lonely, and when she got lonely she got bored, and when she got bored...she saw things. Sometimes they weren't too bad, little things that would happen in a few minutes, but other times...She shivered just thinking about it. She didn't even have anyone to confide in, The owner had said she'd be there for her, but the owner is rarely at home. Out doing business, was her excuse."I haven't heard of any knew pets coming in, so I decided I'd go out and get a friend myself." She stuck her chin in the air and marched on.

~~~

Vandol was already a few yards off the ground. He was panting heavily, and his fur burned from the moisture in the air. Well it was a rainforest. What did he expect? The rock was slippery under his paws and his claws scraped against the edges. The temple had a good architectural design. It was a basically a step pyramid, bit with a flat top and some sort of shrine there, he guessed. Not the nicest place since most of it had washed away. He scrambled up the current step he was on and stopped to catch his breathe. He wasn't even to the really hard part yet. Eshe was right, he was pathetic. He had let too many people die in his past, but now he was changing that. Even thought going with Eshe didn't seem like the best choice, it was technically his only choice. He was alone it the world. It was either go with Eshe or go back home and tell the owner that he had let one of her pets and a complete stranger die. He wouldn't have said a thing about Eshe, since she just caused the fire. He hadn't done anything about it.

[potterchic]

"Are you sure you can befriend one, Calli? I mean, I bet that they're not that bad when you get to know them, but what about getting to know them?" the kuhna asked. She understood that it had to be lonely for Calli. What seemed to be her only friend had recently been killed by a crazy rollaby. A moonling might be a good idea, but still, why couldn't the girl feel like befriending a Mr. Wilson? Even a hunter would be good, it would probably keep her out of trouble. But a moonling? She could more easily see it getting Calli INto trouble.

[clackno1]

Calli scanned the forest for something that might be a moonling. Well, it wasn't completely her idea."The owner suggested it actually. I don't know why, maybe she likes moonlings." She grumbled. The owner had suggested a moonling as a friend for Calli, when Calli had been planning on going to Terrace Park to find a Mr. Wilson. A wombear had also once entered her train of thought, but she never wanted to go to Vast Plains ever again. Never. Everything else was bigger than her and mean. She watched a bug crawl across the ground, over sticks and leaves, as she walked past. She was much bigger than it was, so she wondered how it must feel. The stench of death closed in on her and she watched as a spider jumped out and attacked the bug. She took deep breathes to make the smell and the suffocating feeling go away. It made her want to gag.

~~~

"Giving up already?" A voice called up to him. He spotted the black shape of Eshe standing at the base of the temple, her markings glowing in the bright sunshine."You went much farther yesterday." He started to growl but stopped himself. He needed to concentrate, not get angry. he started up the wall again, new determination pushing him on. Eshe watched in silence. At least that would keep him busy for a while. Of course her plan had actually come to the first step, but having him around all the time made her nervous and jumpy. At least the stench from the temple entrance kept him away from there. She entered the dark tunnel that led down to the main shrine. The tunnel was wide, and dark, but her markings glowed slightly, showing her the way. White skeletons lined the walls, either chained or in pieces. The sacrifices for the shrine annoyed her too, but gave the feeling that she was surrounded by death, which made her more comfortable. Vandol would never dare going in there.

[potterchic]

"Hmm... Maybe she thinks that you'd like one? I don't know, but you like getting into small spaces, and maybe something small would like to get in there with you?"  Kina kept walking, looking around. She figured that they'd have to search hard to find anything. This jungle... Well, it would be hard to find a skyscraper in this place! They needed giant magnifying glasses or something...

Calli started breathing more deeply. "Are you okay?"

[clackno1]

"F-fine." She mumbled. She shuddered once, stood up and shook her pelt before walking ahead. Her sensitivity to death was no gift. Even a bug made her freeze. At least she couldn't tell when something like a germ died, then she'd never leave her room."Where should we start looking first?" She asked. Calli wasn't sure where they could look, other than where they were. There weren't really any specified places in the jungle, were there? She supposed it was just one big place, as in here could be anywhere in the jungle, so if she asked where they could look and Kiana said here, than would that mean the entire rainforest? Calli's head was hurting. She was confusing herself with her not understandable logic.

~~~

Vandol was at the hard part. The steepest and highest step on the temple. Also the smoothest, though the edges were rounded from hundreds of years of continuous rainfall. His claws got barely any purchase on the stone, and about halfway up he was around a yard above the previous step and about a yard away from the top. he found a small crack in the rock and dug his claws into it. It would have to be enough. His paw reached for another small crack as his back legs scratched at the wall. When he reached the crack he replaced his front paw in the first crack with his back paw and continued up like that. One of his claws finally caught the edge and found a hold, but one of his back legs lost its hold. His front paws were on their own. He tried to pull himself up by his front paws as his back legs scrambled against the smooth surface of the stone. it was no use. He'd have to give up."I know what you're thinking, but save yourself the self pity. You can do it, you're giving up too soon. With that attitude you'll never get anywhere." Eshe was looking down at him from the top of the step."It's easy for you, you just appear there." Vandol grunted, then panted. Too much strain, he couldn't hold much longer."Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can just give up without doing your full." Vandol grunted again and pulled himself over the edge onto his side. He had done it, but there was still a ways to go.

[potterchic]

"I'm not sure about that..." Kiana muttered. The myuu reaper seemed sort of disturbed.

"Umm... I dunno. Which way do you think we could go? We just have to be careful not to get lost, and we can go anywhere that we'd both fit." the common kuhna said after not much thinking. Really, that's all she knew of for searching a jungle. They should've gotten some cool Indiana Jones gear with them! Then they could easily explore the ruins here, and maybe moonlings had whole colonies or flocks or herds or whatever in the ruins! The only question would be who got to wear the hat. Ugh. She needed to stop watching so many movies!

[clackno1]

Calli pawed at a leaf that had fallen off a tree. She jumped after it as it was blown away by a breeze."Maybe we should look in the trees. They look like the best hiding spots." She looked up at the canopy of leaves and squinted to try and see through the thick wall. Anything could hide up there, as long as the tree could hold them. A battleheart couldn't hide in a tree, could they? A lot of things that seemed impossible were possible, and a lot of things that seemed possible were impossible. This was probably one of those impossible things that really are impossible, she told herself. A battleheart would crush a tree to smithereens if they tried hiding in it, or sitting in it for that matter.

~~~

Vandol lay on his back, staring at the sky. Only a few small puffs of clouds could be seen, but they still distracted him as he tried to clear his mind. Staring at the sky seemed an easy way to do that. At least, staring at a completely blue sky seemed the easiest way. Eshe was down her hole of a temple, so he had the sky to himself at the moment. He could hear the birds in the forest, and the wind in the trees, and it almost made him want to smile. But he hadn't smiled in so long, he'd forgotten what it was like to be truly happy. He could tell himself that he was doing the right thing and that he should be happy, but he never was. Vandol rolled onto his side and stared at the next step he'd have to climb. What was the point if the creatures he really only cared about were dead. They wouldn't care what he did, Eshe only cared if he did as she told, but she didn't really care about him. Emotions were nothing to her.

[potterchic]

"Yeah, that sounds good. I can see a moonling sitting in a tree, just waiting to do whatever it might like to do. Which tree do you want to look in first?" Kiana answered with another question in the mix. She figured it couldn't be a tree that was too big at first, since that one was the one they'd have to climb, the rest they could climb onto from the branches. It seemed that every branch was touching another. As long as they were able to walk along the branches, they'd be fine. So... Could they walk along the branches? They looked strong enough, but looks are decieving.

[clackno1]

Calli put a paw to her chin as she thought. All the trees looked the same to her, and since she was so small she didn't really need to worry about the branches giving under her."I choose...this one!" She lunged at a tree and sunk her claws into the bark as she started to slide down. Once she had stopped, she started climbing up to the first branch."Come on Kiana!" She called down from the branch. She started jumping from each branch, squinting through the leaves for the shape of a moonling. The sunlight coming down through the leaves made them seem to glow. Calli started to stalk along the branch and pouncing and preying on bunches of leaves. It was all a small adventure and game to her.

~~~

All in the past, all in the past, he said to himself as he got to his feet. Vandol looked at the next step he had to climb. It looked bigger and smoother now, almost impossible to climb. He had to do it though. Eshe would never give it a rest if he gave up, and he'd never give it a rest either. If he just gave up he'd never forget it and it would always eat at him forever and ever that he could have done it, that he could have succeeded, but he just didn't want to try. He'd feel weak and powerless. With his eyes burning he lunged at the step, almost reached the top. He gritted his teeth when he claws started to slip, but pulled himself up before he could fall back. Only a few seconds passed and he was climbing the next one. This one was crumbling, falling apart under his claws. He couldn't find a hold. He could hear small chunks of the temple rolling down the side as he continued on.

[potterchic]

Kiana watched Calli start to sort of climb one of the trees. "Okay, I'm coming!" she ran at the side of the tree and extended her claws, trying to go up quickly. She chose a large branch to stop at, only one or two above Calli. She walked towards the edge carefully, testing the branch for weakness all the way. So far, everything would be fine. She wasn't going to fall off of these, and it didn't seem that she'd break the branches. She watched Calli attacking bunches of leaves for a minute, then started looking for the mysterious outline of a moonling. She felt something tickling her back and jumped, turning, only to see a cluster of leaves hanging over her.

[clackno1]

Calli jumped to another tree. She bounced on one of flimsier branches, but it gave no indication of cracking. She froze as she heard some leaves rustle. She quickly attacked the bunch of leaves, only to find that it was the wind that had made the noise. She pawed at a leaf on her head and looked up through the branches. She squinted through the sunlight on her face. Would they really find a moonling? Would it be a boy or a girl? What would its name be? Would it really be her friend? Calli climbed higher in the tree. She wanted to see how far the jungle went and see what was in the distance or what was really close. Would she see a temple? Questions buzzed in her mind as she popped her head out into the open and stared into the distance. Nothing. Such a disappointment. Were they lost? Maybe they'd have to wander the jungle forever. It looked like the jungle went on forever, anyways. She quickly pulled her head back under the canopy of leaves.

~~~

He had finally done it. He lay there panting next to the crumbling shrine, staring at the rare cloud that happened to float by. he could see for miles from the top of the temple, but it didn't interest him. He just wanted to rest. After a few minutes of heavy panting his breathing evened out and he closed his eyes. Almost immediately he saw flames. Smothering, choking smoke filled his mouth and nose and he sat up coughing. Nothing had changed. it was all in his head. In his complicated, grief stricken head."Another bad dream, Vandol?" He quickly looked over his shoulder to see Eshe standing there."What was it about?" She said eagerly."The same." He said, getting to his feet and facing her. Her ears sunk and she seemed disappointed."You need to let go of the past. I can't help you but say the same thing again and again." he sighed."I know, I know, I need to let go of the past. Got it." She started on the climb down, hopping down to the next step. She wanted something, since she could just disappear and be at the bottom."How can I let go of the past when I know I'm the one who caused it it?" This was the first time he had asked this question, and he watched as her ears perked up slightly. She looked back at him."Your point?" he sighed again. She was right. There was no point, he just had to let go. Vandol looked out across the trees. He spotted a small speck of black a distance away among the green. He blinked and it was gone. Strange.

[potterchic]

Kiana started wonering to other branches. She didn't really watch Calli much, seeing as it was near impossible that SHE'D break a branch. What would happen if they found a moonling? Would they just go home, if they could even find their way, or would they stay here a little longer? Anyway, she had a moonling to find. How hard could it be to find one? Very. The rainforest was huge, and moonlings were tiny. How long would it take to find one, would they be here long enough to find one? She could just imagine millions of moonlings gathering right where they were just after she and Calli left.

[clackno1]

Calli bounded across the branches back to Kiana."I can't find a moonling." Of course. After only a bit of searching she got bored. She had a short attention span, she couldn't help it. Attacking leaves couldn't keep her busy for that long, it couldn't keep anybody busy for that long. Jumping across branches was sort of fun, but when there was nothing to do while jumping around in the branches it got boring and became not fun."Can we play Hide-and-Seek? Please, please, please, please..." Hide-and-Seek was one of her favorite games, and she was really good at it."I'll stay in the trees and I won't go too far." She promised. She didn't have to go far. She could find five hiding places in a small area when someone else could only find one.

~~~

Vandol followed Eshe down the temple wall. She still wanted something, since she was going the normal way for a non-flying non-magic creature to go. She wanted answers."Are you going to take my advice or not?" She was two steps farther down than him and her question made him stop dead in his tracks."Advice. I thought it was more of a demand." He could see Eshe giving a demand better than giving advice."Yes, advice. It's not a demand because you can go ahead and keep on having dreams for all I care." That was it. Eshe had something good in her, even if it was so small it barely did anything, it was there."So you do care!" He jumped down a step and almost ran into her. How had she gotten up that step so fast?"No one is completely evil, not even me. I thought you'd learn that by now. That's why I--" She stopped her sentence and continued down the temple."That's why you what?" He asked."Nothing." Was all she replied. He didn't ask again, knowing that it would only make her angry, but he'd find out eventually.