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Description
Rain drizzled down on five tokotas, the sky was a dull mix of gray clouds and slate blue popping through in the spaces between the clouds. You could just hear the distant rumble of thunder in the direction of the mountains, and lightning flashed occasionally in the clouds. The afternoon’s gentle breeze had stilled, leaving the air heavy and humid. Hollows in the ground were getting full of rainwater, the tokota’s reflections sometimes catching in the murky waters. The blue grass around their paws had grown damp and slick, their claws churned up fresh mud and there were worms everywhere.

Unfortunately for the worms, Donut, a small gray curly maned toki, seemingly unaffected by the rain kept trying to eat them. For about the millionth time the alpha female, Alawa, managed to liberate yet another pink, writhing worm from Donut’s quick grasp. “If you do that one more time you’re going to get carried again” she warned, her brow furrowing, looking very sternly down at the toki.

Ammon, the black alpha merle male kept walking ahead of the group, plodding onward, Aurora paused, rain running through her black and white curly mane. Misae, a golden tawny colored female, shifted from one muddy paw to the other, trying to think of a way to distract the young toki.

“How much further?” the toki whined, unrepentant. “I’m hungry.” Ammon turned to give the toki a cold hard stare.

“You’re always hungry” Misae interjected. “I’ll say” Aurora agreed.

Alawa glanced up at the horizon. “Since we’re already so damp I changed our plans of going to the geysers for camp tonight, we’re going to head to some nearby caves that should still be high and dry – and its near some berry bushes and bunny burrows. We’ll get there soon, I promise.”

Donut cheered up at the mention of food, and the group continued making their way to shelter with Alawa confidently leading the way.

Soon the group reached the hillside with the caves, it would be cramped with all five of them in there, but it was better than spending the night out in the rain. Checking the caves for carnivores they fortunately found nothing. They weren’t quite ready to settle in just yet though, Donut, along with everyone else was now pretty hungry from the day’s journey.

Taking charge, as Alawa was apt to do, she split the group up. Ammon would keep a watchful eye on Donut to make sure he didn’t eat anything he wasn’t supposed to. As for herself, she would join Aurora and Misae on their quest to find enough rabbits to fill the tokota’s growling bellies. Ammon didn’t look thrilled with the decision, but then again he never looked like much of anything.

There was at least one good thing about the rain, it would help cover up the tokota’s presence, but there was also the downside that the rabbits would be less likely to be above ground, just hopping about.

Plodding alongside Donut, Ammon watched as the toki scrambled to follow the scent of anything that looked even remotely edible, stopping the young one from eating a worm a few times. It wasn’t long though due to the toki’s sense of smell that they found a cluster of rabbit burrows. Time to start digging. Here Donut’s talents shone, his small paws finding holes that a larger tokota’s could have missed, his sharp nose hunting out the rabbits even as they slept in their dens.

Unfortunately for the ladies they hadn’t been as lucky, and while Alawa was confident they would find food soon, Misae and Aurora both were tired of being wet and muddy. Just as Aurora was about to suggest they turn back and see if the males had had anymore luck she caught the scent of rotting berries. Where there were rotten berries there might be fresh ones, or even some animals braving the rain to scavenge whatever they could.

They soon found the source of the smell, a group of thorny berry bushes, interspersed with fallen rotten berries, ripe juicy berries, and not ripe green berries. Careful to try and avoid the thorns the trio gathered as many of the riper berries as they could carry. Normally they would have preferred a chunk of meat to fruits and veggies, but in a pinch it would do.

The two groups of tokotas made their way back to the caves around the same time, Ammon carrying several rabbits on his back, and one in his mouth, while Donut proudly carried his catch, exhibiting some serious self control as he tried not to just eat the animal right then and there.
Soon though everyone was full, the berries red juices staining the corners of their mouth and a small pile of bones was left where there had once been rabbits.

With their appetites sated, and the gentle sound of raindrops overhead, the shared warmth of the cave and the five tokotas it wasn’t long until their eyelids grew heavy. “Tell me a story” Donut murmured, eyes fluttering closed. Alawa’s head rose briefly, but even she was tired, Ammon had already fallen asleep and Misae, though tired was busy cleaning as much of the mud as she could from her coat.
That left Aurora, and in a soft voice she began telling the story of Carl the vampire. “Once upon a time, there was a vampire named Carl. Now he wasn’t born with that name, he was born Rasmodeous Van Covingburn the third. Rasmodeous lived a pretty normal life until he was about twenty-three. It was then he was turned into a vampire.” It wasn’t long until loud snores could be heard from the toki, and Aurora’s voice trailed off as she was lulled to sleep.

As was habit Alawa found herself awake before the rest of the group even began to stir, at some point during the night the rain had fortunately stopped. She looked to the east, the sun was just rising, and stepping out of the cave she began looking for some breakfast. Wandering back to the berry bushes she found some rabbits picking over the bushes for their morning breakfast, which she made quick work of.
Back in the cave Alawa nudged each of the tokotas awake, except for Ammon who had woken shortly after her and had been keeping watch while the younger tokotas slept.

After breakfast the five tokotas started back up on their journey, feeling refreshed, ready for another day of travel, taking up the positions of the day before. Alawa was, of course in the lead, Ammon was right beside her, with Misae and Aurora on either side of Donut. Travel plans for the day were to skirt around the edge of the Tartok Mountains and follow the West River until they reached Kesuk bay.

There they would have plenty of fish to eat for dinner and shelters left by tokotas who had been there before, as the bay was a popular fishing spot, especially in the warm summer weather. The only thing they would have to be careful of were bears, the river and bay were a popular place for the large hungry mammals to find their fill of fish as well. However Alawa wasn’t too worried about that, with five of them she was sure if they needed to they could take on a bear, though she would, of course prefer to leave the wildlife be, especially since fishing usually took a lot less energy than hunting and taking down a bear.

With the sun growing warmer against their backs the five tokotas continued their adventure.

Description
Rain drizzled down on five tokotas, the sky was a dull mix of gray clouds and slate blue popping through in the spaces between the clouds. You could just hear the distant rumble of thunder in the direction of the mountains, and lightning flashed occasionally in the clouds. The afternoon’s gentle breeze had stilled, leaving the air heavy and humid. Hollows in the ground were getting full of rainwater, the tokota’s reflections sometimes catching in the murky waters. The blue grass around their paws had grown damp and slick, their claws churned up fresh mud and there were worms everywhere.

Unfortunately for the worms, Donut, a small gray curly maned toki, seemingly unaffected by the rain kept trying to eat them. For about the millionth time the alpha female, Alawa, managed to liberate yet another pink, writhing worm from Donut’s quick grasp. “If you do that one more time you’re going to get carried again” she warned, her brow furrowing, looking very sternly down at the toki.

Ammon, the black alpha merle male kept walking ahead of the group, plodding onward, Aurora paused, rain running through her black and white curly mane. Misae, a golden tawny colored female, shifted from one muddy paw to the other, trying to think of a way to distract the young toki.

“How much further?” the toki whined, unrepentant. “I’m hungry.” Ammon turned to give the toki a cold hard stare.

“You’re always hungry” Misae interjected. “I’ll say” Aurora agreed.

Alawa glanced up at the horizon. “Since we’re already so damp I changed our plans of going to the geysers for camp tonight, we’re going to head to some nearby caves that should still be high and dry – and its near some berry bushes and bunny burrows. We’ll get there soon, I promise.”

Donut cheered up at the mention of food, and the group continued making their way to shelter with Alawa confidently leading the way.

Soon the group reached the hillside with the caves, it would be cramped with all five of them in there, but it was better than spending the night out in the rain. Checking the caves for carnivores they fortunately found nothing. They weren’t quite ready to settle in just yet though, Donut, along with everyone else was now pretty hungry from the day’s journey.

Taking charge, as Alawa was apt to do, she split the group up. Ammon would keep a watchful eye on Donut to make sure he didn’t eat anything he wasn’t supposed to. As for herself, she would join Aurora and Misae on their quest to find enough rabbits to fill the tokota’s growling bellies. Ammon didn’t look thrilled with the decision, but then again he never looked like much of anything.

There was at least one good thing about the rain, it would help cover up the tokota’s presence, but there was also the downside that the rabbits would be less likely to be above ground, just hopping about.

Plodding alongside Donut, Ammon watched as the toki scrambled to follow the scent of anything that looked even remotely edible, stopping the young one from eating a worm a few times. It wasn’t long though due to the toki’s sense of smell that they found a cluster of rabbit burrows. Time to start digging. Here Donut’s talents shone, his small paws finding holes that a larger tokota’s could have missed, his sharp nose hunting out the rabbits even as they slept in their dens.

Unfortunately for the ladies they hadn’t been as lucky, and while Alawa was confident they would find food soon, Misae and Aurora both were tired of being wet and muddy. Just as Aurora was about to suggest they turn back and see if the males had had anymore luck she caught the scent of rotting berries. Where there were rotten berries there might be fresh ones, or even some animals braving the rain to scavenge whatever they could.

They soon found the source of the smell, a group of thorny berry bushes, interspersed with fallen rotten berries, ripe juicy berries, and not ripe green berries. Careful to try and avoid the thorns the trio gathered as many of the riper berries as they could carry. Normally they would have preferred a chunk of meat to fruits and veggies, but in a pinch it would do.

The two groups of tokotas made their way back to the caves around the same time, Ammon carrying several rabbits on his back, and one in his mouth, while Donut proudly carried his catch, exhibiting some serious self control as he tried not to just eat the animal right then and there.
Soon though everyone was full, the berries red juices staining the corners of their mouth and a small pile of bones was left where there had once been rabbits.

With their appetites sated, and the gentle sound of raindrops overhead, the shared warmth of the cave and the five tokotas it wasn’t long until their eyelids grew heavy. “Tell me a story” Donut murmured, eyes fluttering closed. Alawa’s head rose briefly, but even she was tired, Ammon had already fallen asleep and Misae, though tired was busy cleaning as much of the mud as she could from her coat.
That left Aurora, and in a soft voice she began telling the story of Carl the vampire. “Once upon a time, there was a vampire named Carl. Now he wasn’t born with that name, he was born Rasmodeous Van Covingburn the third. Rasmodeous lived a pretty normal life until he was about twenty-three. It was then he was turned into a vampire.” It wasn’t long until loud snores could be heard from the toki, and Aurora’s voice trailed off as she was lulled to sleep.

As was habit Alawa found herself awake before the rest of the group even began to stir, at some point during the night the rain had fortunately stopped. She looked to the east, the sun was just rising, and stepping out of the cave she began looking for some breakfast. Wandering back to the berry bushes she found some rabbits picking over the bushes for their morning breakfast, which she made quick work of.
Back in the cave Alawa nudged each of the tokotas awake, except for Ammon who had woken shortly after her and had been keeping watch while the younger tokotas slept.

After breakfast the five tokotas started back up on their journey, feeling refreshed, ready for another day of travel, taking up the positions of the day before. Alawa was, of course in the lead, Ammon was right beside her, with Misae and Aurora on either side of Donut. Travel plans for the day were to skirt around the edge of the Tartok Mountains and follow the West River until they reached Kesuk bay.

There they would have plenty of fish to eat for dinner and shelters left by tokotas who had been there before, as the bay was a popular fishing spot, especially in the warm summer weather. The only thing they would have to be careful of were bears, the river and bay were a popular place for the large hungry mammals to find their fill of fish as well. However Alawa wasn’t too worried about that, with five of them she was sure if they needed to they could take on a bear, though she would, of course prefer to leave the wildlife be, especially since fishing usually took a lot less energy than hunting and taking down a bear.

With the sun growing warmer against their backs the five tokotas continued their adventure.