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eugolorp

Prologue

The mud was thick, making it hard to walk. Talon pushed through anyway, yanking his foot out of the sunken ground with every step. The forest was dark, making it ten times harder for Talon to find what he was looking for. He shoved the branches away from his face, growing more and more impatient and, not to mention, hungry.

He made a growling noise, stopping in his place. Giving up, and then trusting his voice more than his eyes. "Beema!" he yelled out into the woods, emptying his call to the open air.

But it turned out not to be so empty.

Before Talon could prepare himself, a figure swung down from the tree above him. "BOO!"

"Jesus!" Talon screamed on instinct.

Beema laughed obnoxiously, uncurling his tail and dropping down from the tree branch. "You should've seen your face!"

"What are you doing playing around? Get back to our quarters."

"It's sundown Talon, meaning we can be out if we want to!" Beema hollered the last part, Talon then slapping his shoulder and shushing him.

"Not in your real form dumbass, and that only applies for the scavengers. Do you look like a scavenger?" Talon didn't give Beema a chance to answer before saying, "Thought so." He playfully rubbed the mess of golden hair atop Beema's head and Beema jerked away with an unwelcome growl. "Now let's go."

As Talon started to head back the way they came, his dear friend followed, although annoyed. "Tú asesino de diversión." You fun-killer. Beema insulted, pulling on Talon's lengthy tail.

"Hey! Te voy a despellejar vivo!" I'll skin you alive! Talon shouted in a playfully insulting manner, jabbing him in the stomach.

Beema chuckled, and eventually that led to Talon laughing as well. On the way back to their quarters, Beema's stomach growled. "Agh, I'm hungry," he whined.

"Then we better hurry back."

"But I'm hungry now."

"Great, you've been promoted from a baby to a toddler. Congrats." Talon stopped, smelling a very familiar scent. Stopping Beema and coaxing him into silence, he knew Beema was about to say something.

"Do you smell that?" Talon asked. Beema sniffed, stimulating his eyes into widening as he recognized the scent. "Food," he whispered. Instantly, Beema rushed up the nearest tree. Talon, secretly intrigued, followed him.

They scrambled up the tree's trunk. Beema climbed around the tree as if it were a spiral staircase, swinging on branches with his hands and his tail. Talon, on the other hand, used his nails and dug them into the tree's bark. "You climb like a lizard-monkey," Talon criticized.

Beema paused and looked down at him. "And you climb like a spider-squirrel," Beema responded, already at the top of the tree.

Once Talon reached the top, Beema, already up there, started speaking. "Plus, a lizard-monkey as you call is how our kind is taught to climb."

Talon scoffed. "So then what are these for?" Holding up his fingers, the elongated claws were pushed out of the small openings in his skin.

Beema, his mood altering, muttered a response. "Bạn biết tốt và họ không cho leo cây..." You know good and well they aren't for climbing trees...

The two friends balanced themselves on a large branch, staring out and gazing softly at the summer night as it was meant to be gazed. The birds were chirping noisily even though the sun had already died. Talon figured that they found comfort knowing it would rise again.