Even though there's a blurry connection between us, being without Master is uncomfortable...

2 wasn't far away, keeping watch as we rested, but I still felt sad with the inability to see master, and her inability to clearly communicate with us. All we had were vague orders given based on her understanding of our situation, and the occasional assurance. Before, at least, we returned every day with the things we caught and found, but after seeing that we were a bit larger and noticeably faster, she sent us on a full expedition saying that she could trust us to stay safe.

But Master needed to make us to be able to deal with her predicament. She isn't strong enough to do things on her own. And she seems to be reluctant to make more of us. What if Master is unable to deal with something that comes while we're gone? What if-

A feeling of calmness washed over me, the tenseness flooding out from my body. "Stay... calm, not... worry... too much." The broken sound of something like Master's voice sounded out, and I was experienced enough now to not start looking around for her. She's always complimenting me for being clever, but I still did something like that a few days ago... 

I didn't even notice that I was once again ramping myself up until another wave of calmness washed over, forcing me to relax. 2 even came over to lay her paw on my head, cutely trying to mimic the feeling of master petting us. Cuddling somehow turned into playing, and our break ended on Master's orders after 2 managed to pin me down. Even though Master praises me more, 2 is much stronger, and she seems to even grow more than me. When we compared ourselves, she was a much higher level than me, and the difference just keeps growing as her strength and speed enables her to do more faster.

Even now, she had to hold herself back to make sure that I can keep up with her running ahead. Half because she was being mindful, and half because she didn't remember the way we were supposed to be going. Master had sent us to look for a 'Source', the closest one nearby. Apparently it was supposed to be about nine days away from home, and Master wanted as much information as possible on it. She taught me how to reference the stars and mountains to find the location only minutes after figuring it out herself, so that I could keep us from getting lost while so far away from home. 

Running through the snow and bushes we would occasionally encounter animals smaller than us, animals larger than us, and occasionally we would catch a glimpse of things that Master would tell us to stay away from. Even after growing a bit stronger through leveling, we were nowhere near those things, and my instincts would shout at me to run long before Master did. And there were rare times we would see creatures that didn't evoke anything like that feeling, but Master seemed all the more cautious of them. 

While we were hunting a rabbit for our next meal Master told 2 to back off, to let me have the kill. Even though it wouldn't be much progress towards my next level, she said she didn't want either of us to be too far ahead of each other, like what was starting to happen. So from then on, I was to be the only one hunting. We tried to tell Master, that that wasn't the only reason why 2 was growing so fast, but she didn't understand. Our abilities to communicate without a good grasp of the language that Master understands kept us from being able to discuss properly. Once, master had asked me if I could visually show how I understood my level and skills, using words like 'menu' or 'system', but I couldn't, and issues like that continued to pop up until she gave up on fully understanding levels for the time being. 

Carrying the rabbit back to the cave, I thought on how close I was to my next level... and there was hardly a difference compared to last time. My skills improved just like 2's, but unlike 2 I only ever grew well when it was something really strong that we killed, or when it was lots of moderately dangerous things like the time where Master had us finish off the gnolls. 2 meanwhile leveled well after any kill, and she seemed to be developing very different to me - she benefited less from individual levels, and her body seemed to be changing a lot while mine remained small and the same. 

Apparently, I was thinking too much and being too slow, as 2 ran from the little burrow we were using as a sleeping spot for the night and impatiently walked around me, eyeing the rabbit in my mouth. Honestly, this girl, even though she was created at the same time as me she really is so different. I easily let her have most of the rabbit, not in the mood to play and fight over who gets the largest serving, quickly eating the leg I took for myself and curling up to nap. I felt a bit irritated, and Master must have been busy because there was no reassuring, calming feeling transferred through the connection.

Thump.

It was only a few minutes so I quickly woke up, to see 2 giving me another part of the rabbit. Even though she's bigger, and should need more... I shook my head and tucked it under my foreleg, trying to block out the setting sun.

Another few minutes passed, and this time I heard scraping. I knew it was 2 up to something but just in case I looked, and there I saw her dragging a bunch of acorns on a dead leaf over the snow... I didn't know whether to be amazed that she found a stash so quickly, or exacerbated. Swishing her tail back and forth she nudged the leaf towards me, and I shook my head again to show that I didn't want it... But, when the swishing of her tail slowed to a stop and she looked down sad, I felt really terrible. For once, I was the one to get up and pounce on her, and our not so grand tumbling and chasing and pawing and barking lasted until we both tired ourselves to sleep. 

HopelessRomantic

Fluff is difficult as a heavily plot and character driven writer ( >,<)

1 is an anxious fluffball and must be protected!

Hah, wait? What? I actually managed to post this on time? Wow, that... Was difficult... Let's do it again! ( *-*)9