The grey clouds hung heavy in the winter sky, and Firefly fought back a shiver as she blinked open her eyes. A human had left a piece of fire enclosed in a small box of clear stone and placed it by a memorial stone.
Lantern. A distant memory of what her mother had once said about human-habits floated up. They placed fire in one of these and left them on by the stones sometimes, usually along with some plants they had picked. She had curled around the then-burning and warm lantern for the night, but the winds must have sneaked into the lantern and blown out the small fire.
She stood up, a bit stale after a night spent out in the open, and jumped a little as she noticed a human standing only a few fox-lengths away.
Sun and moon, Firefly, you've got to become more aware of your surroundings, she thought to herself, still not used to being out here. She began to back away, slowly, so as not to trigger any possible hunting-instincts of the human, but it just watched her. It was strangely still, and over the aroma of the two flowers it was holding, she could smell the... grief (?) of it. Of course, she had noticed similar scents drifting by in this place, just never this strongly or this close.
She had to suppress a wave of empathy, out here there wouldn't be time for sympathizing with strangers.
But then the human did something unexpected, even for a human, and knelt down as it took out something from a pocket and held out a piece of it. She could smell the sweet scent of meat. Not the usual mouse or vole meat, but still meat. Catiousness fought with curiousness, fear battling against the hunger tearing at her stomach, until she couldn't resist stepping a little bit closer, then a little bit more. Her mouth opened slightly to breathe in the scent, whiskers angling forward to investigate.
"Gooood human," she tried, hoping it wouldn't attack her or try to eat her.
Then her jaws closed around what the human was holding, taking it and moving back as quickly as she could. The human flinched a little but seemed more so spooked by her sudden movement than preparing to attack. She eyed the strange one as she chewed what it had given her. The food was sweet and salty at the same time; the familiar, wonderful taste of meat mixed with something light brown and cream-colored that had been around it. The human looked at her for a moment more, before carefully waving its forepaw in the air, standing up, and walking away, completely forgetting to do anything with the two flowers it was carrying.
Strange human, that one.
[ Open to anyone
]