As the three Người sói approached the others and the... apparatus, Eight began to notice a trend. These Người sói must be the clever sort, there were scribblings in the dirt depicting... things, and other broken down... things, as well as plenty of lashings, vine, lumber. They clearly enjoy making... things.
And this thing was no different. They were all very pleased to present it to him, this jumbled mess of vine and fallen limbs.
màu hoa cà, lilac had begun pulling back a vine with her jaws. The center of the vine was stretched between the two trees, wrapped around the thân cây once and went up and over the first lowest branches - about 10 feet off the ground. On each side, suspended from either end of the vine were large rocks.
Eight followed the length of vine in wonder until he got to the rocks. His mind ceased its wonder and his eyes took on a slightly concerned look as he treaded past the others, away from the hanging stones and found a seated position in what he presumed to be a an toàn, két an toàn place.
Zen came around his backside and stood on his right, everyone now apparently behind their gadget and facing the treeline toward the field.
"See, It takes two to pull the vine back and set it on some stakes, the other two have put those stakes into the ground there. The further back the vine goes, the higher the counterbalances." Zen motioned with his paws as he went on, pointing out Mingo and Darriel on the stakes, màu hoa cà, lilac and Grunt pulling the vine taught over them, and up to the rocks, now very near the height of their travel.
"We load up something in front of the vine, in your case, it was a small stone. Again, very sorry," He chuckled nervously, his slightly nasal voice cracking just slightly, "When the stakes are removed, the rocks pull the vine taught, very quickly, launching whatever is in front of it."
"Hmm..." Eight nodded and smiled. "Thats... well thats damn clever, actually." He laughed as he complimented, giving Zen a slight cú đấm on the shoulder. The others had finished their work and were wagging their tails happily at Eight's compliment. "Really, this is great work!" He đã đưa ý kiến again. "So, lets see it work!"
They spent the tiếp theo giờ hoặc so launching various things at the treeline, all falling just short of the field. The travel of most of the debris was about 30 feet. They laughed, and played and launched and laughed some more. Eight told his stories, the rest would listen between launchings, everyone else would pitch in and make some bình luận hoặc another, snide, joking hoặc cheereful in their observations. It was shaping up to be quite a day.
Some time went bởi before Eight got an idea.
"Hey," He began to get everyone's attention before the tiếp theo setup began, "Hey, uh, bạn think this doo-dad would launch any of us?"
The others got a twinkle in their eyes, Grunt and Dariell grinned at each other widely, Mingo danced around in place, clearly excited at the idea.
"Well, Maybe Mingo, here." Zen đã đưa ý kiến after a pause and thought, "But I don't know about the rest of us. We'd need a lot thêm weight for the twins."
"Hey!" The twins protested in unison.
"Oh c'mon guys," màu hoa cà, lilac piped up, her voice soothing with a sassy backing to it, "You each easily weigh twice of what any of us weigh and bạn KNOW it." She teased them and smiled before trotting over to Eight and Mingo's space. The two argued for a moment,
"She's talking about you, you're the fat one."
"No, NOOO. YOU'RE FAT. And stupid."
"Well bạn smell, and bạn snore."
This went on until they both agreed to disagree.

They each faced each other now, sort of a 'circle of the minds'.
"Well what about thêm weight? If we each pulled and doubled the stakes?" Eight offered his assessment.
It didn't take much else than that to convince the others. Zen didn't have time to protest hoặc think anyway, Mingo was already trotting his scrawny hide to find larger rocks, and the twins began working on the ones currently tied.
A slight fashion hoặc two later and they had their new improvement. màu hoa cà, lilac even opted to reinforce the vine some, to prevent breaking.
Each chó sói, sói put their backs into it as they bit hold and pulled, Eight and Zen in the Center, màu hoa cà, lilac and Grunt to Eight's right. Mingo and Darriel to Zen's left.
Their claws dug into the soft, cool dirt as they tugged and pulled. Stretching and groaning noises clamored about in the treetops and through the vine itself as they heaved along. Finally they had staked the vine, and as a test, they placed in a small limb and took up their positions.
Eight was overlooking the right, Zen, the left.
"Ready?" Eight asked.
"Ready!" màu hoa cà, lilac responded with much excitement in her voice.
"Yeah!" Came Grunt's decisive voice.
"Ready?" Zen asked his team to the left.
"Uh-huh!" Mingo sounded off quickly.
"You know it!" Darriel shouted, his voice so full of excitement it shook the trees.
Eight and Zen looked at each other and counted down from three.
"3...2...1... LAUNCH!"
The stakes were removed, the stones hit the damp, soft forest floor with an audible THUD. Each chó sói, sói watched in excitement and amazement as the vine snapped taught and propelled the length of limb out of the treeline and straight through the field, out of sight completely within a second.
"Woah..." The twins recited simultaneously, their jaws slack and their eyes wide.
"That was..." màu hoa cà, lilac began a sentence that faded before she could finish. Mingo just nodded, maw agape.
Zen, all the while was calculating for the few brief giây he had, "I guess we should have chosen a larger test piece..."
"Why?" Eight protested, "That was -" His sentence was cut short bởi the sound of screaming and yelping from the field. Each chó sói, sói stopped everything, even breathing. Their eyes grew very wide, their ears perked up at the sharp sound of pain from the field.
"Time to go!" Zen stated, almost as immediately as anyone knew what happened. He got up and turned to leave, trotting off into the forest.
"What?" Eight's eyes took their time leaving the cây line, "We j-"
bởi the time he had turned around, he noticed what was left of Zen's tail disappear into some shrubs.
"Oh. OH!" Eight stood and took leave too, looking behind him as he scrambled into the forest.
Eight trailed behind the others as they zig-zagged around cây trunks and bushes and the like. Everyone traveled quickly and in silence for a while, until Eight spoke up.
"So where are we headed?"
"Our Special place." màu hoa cà, lilac called back to him form the front.
"Its our little piece of heaven." Mingo added, his small voice sounding less rushed than normal.

A half giờ of travel and they arrived at the most beautiful piece of riverside property that Eight had ever seen. The waters were glistening with the borrowed light of the early afternoon sun as they babbled across the rocks on the bank and down around a bend. It was a mixture of smooth, round stone and sand here, with the sand being heavy closer to the waters edge. The river in this part ran almost 20 feet wide with a few feet of bank on the opposite side that was met bởi a 30 foot cliff side which faded down gradually in either direction. The surface of the water rolled lazily along, in no apparent hurry to get to where it was going.
Eight stopped short of the trees, stunted bởi the awe he held before him. The breeze blew the scent of the water into his nose and carried the cool from it as well. It was such a stark change from the woods it was unbelievable. Zen hung back with Eight, standing on his right side, and màu hoa cà, lilac on his left while the Twins and Mingo ran off to the waters edge. Grunt passed them both and immediately into the river, swimming and splashing about.
"Wow," Eight said, just above a whisper, "This is..." He couldn't find the words as his eyes drank in every bit of it. If it were possible, the clear blue sky would change the very color of his eyes.
"Amazing. Isn't it?" Zen finished his sentence in an assured question.
"Yeah." Eight looked to Zen "Yeah, its -" He looked then to màu hoa cà, lilac who was already looking at him. Their eyes locked for a moment as he finished his sentence almost breathlessly, "- Its something else..." He took the brief moment to decide which beauty he was Mất tích in and for the first time taking note of Lilac's light colored fur, very well kept, save for some muddy splotches on her paws and legs. A side effect of trouncing though the forest all day. He noticed her slender body, long, full tail and most of all, her pale blue eyes. He was Mất tích for a moment, but between her and the scenery, he'd probably be Mất tích all day. The two engaged their glance for what felt like an eternity, before Eight became self-aware and turned his head back to the landscape before him, smiling. "Somethin' else."

For the tiếp theo few hours, The twins and Mingo played and splashed around in the river, coming to the bank, hoặc jumping right in. Finding any high place to make their splashes bigger upon landing. Zen, Eight and màu hoa cà, lilac took up shelter on the bank, just where the coarse patches of smooth stone turned to sand. It was comfortable here, cool and calming, and far enough away from a barrage of wetness. Eight laid there, head on his paws. màu hoa cà, lilac laid as well, her head up watching Eight, unnoticed most of the time and switching her attention any time the boys made a louder than normal sound - hoặc in a mild fit of embarrassment when Zen happened to catch her staring at the new guy. Zen stayed seated, the three still in the same order that they arrived.
The warm sun beat down on Eight's back, the wind kept him cool enough as it blew through, carrying mist here hoặc there off the river's surface. They each talked some, if they felt they needed but otherwise, the three enjoyed the ngày while the others played and got waterlogged.

Somewhere between the sounds of laughter accompanied in a symposium of wind and water and the occasional sentence from his newfound friends, Eight felt himself drift further away, as though carried bởi the current of the river itself. His eyes grew heavy and the perfect temperature made for a precise mixture to send him fading into sleep.