Living near the sea was nice. There were less kin that lived in this area, giving Hundred Year Slumber the peace she craved. It wasn't that she disliked being around other kin, it was more like she had a low threshold for large groups and those that didn't know when to be quiet. One on one interactions could be nice. She wasn't a complete hermit.

The downside of living near the sea was the weather. It was never too hot due to the breeze, but a beautiful day could turn tumultuous in the blink of an eye. Today was one of those days. Slumber had been out on a walk on the shore, enjoying the breeze and the salty smell, but when she turned around to head back towards her den, she realized she'd completely missed dark, ominous clouds building up behind her. She knew she wasn't going to get back home before the wind intensified and the rain came, so she set her sights for a cave not far from where she was.

By the time she reached the mouth of the shallow scooped-out space it was starting to drizzle. Slumber didn't mind getting wet, but she'd rather not walk in the driving rain and wind. She could wait it out here. Inspecting the cave, she found it was deep enough to hold three or four kin if they squished in. It was perfect for her to stretch out on the sandy ground, her gaze towards the sea that was slowly starting to churn, waves getting higher and more frequent as the storm rolled in.

Dark clouds had hung in the sky like an omen for most of the afternoon, though distantly. A worry for later, or so Lost to the Depths had assumed initially. Now, we'll down the coast from his home and with rain starting to soak into his fur and weigh down his tail, he was realizing he'd perhaps not been reading the warning signs properly. Weather could be such a fickle thing.

He knew there was a cave nearby, he'd played there with his siblings and half siblings many times before, and that was the only real shelter along the beach for quite a distance.

And the swamp itself was full of mud and tangling branches. No thank you.

Lost made for the cave, and when he reached it, hair clinging to his neck and shoulders --water dripping from his chin and ears -- he was surprised to find he hasn't been the only one with a similar idea. He stood in the mouth of the cage head tilting thoughtfully as he looked down at the doe stretched out leisurely before him. "Sorry for the intrusion."

Lutz wrote:

A clap of thunder made Slumber glance up just in time to see a shape making its way towards the mouth of the cave. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, her tail flicking back and forth on the sand in irritation. This was her cave and while there was technically room for two, she really didn't feel like sharing. But as the soggy, bedraggled kimeti slogged his way into the mouth of the shelter she couldn't help but feel a bit badly for him. His tail was an absolute mess, his mane was plastered to his neck, and he looked about ready to call it quits seeing that she was occupying the space.

Fine. He could stay.

"Just keep your dripping over there," she said in return, her tone clipped but not impolite. She shifted her tail to curl around her a bit, giving him some space to come in and drip-dry as best he could. She surveyed him openly, not at all worried about keeping her eyes to herself. She wanted to know if this buck was going to be a threat to her space or not. Given how he had entered, though, Slumber wagered he was looking for a peaceful sharing of the space and wouldn't oust her once he'd dried off a bit.

"Blew in quick," she observed. As much as she didn't particularly want company, it was a relief to know others had been taken by surprise as much as she had been.

Beejoux wrote: