k this is the prologue to Caitlyn, Reese, and Constance's debut (sorta) So here. Enjoy! xD
The faint sound of crickets resounded in the still night, a tiny sliver of a moon barely managing to illuminate the forest path, which wound through the deep woods and up a steep hill. A small rustling, and a fox, fur, manyoya dark as the night, stepped lightly out of the underbrush and padded nimbly along the path up to the juu of the hill. He stood, ears cocked, head swerving around, and then briefly alerted, bristling, before slipping back into the forest. Walking quickly, his mwepesi, teleka paws barely making a sound in the thin layer of leaves covering the ground, he arrived at a thicket. He stopped briefly to sniff at the ground, ears sticking straight up, then poked his nose into the brush. Two pairs of eyes greeted him, one pair sapphire blue, the other a muddy green-brown. The fox, mbweha didn’t so much as twitch his nose at this discovery, it seemed as though to him, this was the most normal thing in the world. Still stepping softly, as to not make any noise, he stepped into the thicket, tripping into a large hole. He did a few somersaults, and when he stopped, sprawled on the earth was no longer a fox, but a boy, around thirteen years old, with ruffled brown hair and torn, dark clothing. The owners of the eyes he’d seen earlier were immediately on him, two girls, one tall, slender, and blonde, the other extremely short and stocky, with a frizzy mop of red curls tumbling off her head. The redhead regarded him coldly, shrewdly, her green-brown eyes narrowing slightly, but the blonde smiled genuinely. “There wewe are, Reese,” she alisema in a loud whisper. The boy, Reese, smiled back.
“What’d wewe find?” asked the smaller girl impatiently, an edge in her voice. The blonde girl glared at her.
“I think I saw something, on the other side of the hill. Some shelter maybe,” Reese said, locking eyes with the blonde girl and disregarding the other. “C’mon, Caitlyn. We can check it out.”
Caitlyn, the blonde, nodded. She picked up a dark-painted bucket which had been laying on the ground, and began fiddling with a rope which was tied around the rim, sliding it through her ukanda and tying the end in a secure knot. “We’re going, Constance,” she told the smaller girl, who frowned, folding her arms across her chest and digging her heels into the ground.
“I don’t wanna,” Constance whined, but Caitlyn ignored her, hoisting her up onto her back. “You’re gonna ride piggyback, it’s faster that way,” Caitlyn told her. Constance grumbled, but obediently put her arms around Caitlyn’s back. Reese had turned back into the dark-furred fox, mbweha again, his clothes seemingly melting into his thick pelt as he transformed, and stepped out of the thicket. Caitlyn, crawling on all fours with her bucket hanging from her ukanda and Constance clinging to her back, followed, the chill night air hitting her face and making her hair billow behind her.
Caitlyn slowly straightened up as she stepped out onto the path, Constance digging her short legs into her chest. “Stay low,” Reese hissed, and Caitlyn nodded, adjusting her posture accordingly. “Now follow me,” Reese instructed, scurrying along the edge of the path, staying in the shadows of the trees. Caitlyn adjusted Constance on her back, then followed, moving slower but on tiptoe so as not to make a sound.

Reese, being small and light in fox, mbweha form, easily made it up to the juu of the hill, but Caitlyn was much slower. She was strong for her age, but the added weight of Constance on her back combined with the steepness of the kilima meant that kwa the time she reached the peak, she was panting. Constance slid off her back, grateful to be back on solid ground, and Caitlyn squatted on the ground inayofuata to Reese. “Now wh--” she had begun to ask, but stopped short when she saw him. He had alerted, his muscles tensed, fur, manyoya bristling on his back, ears pressed flat against his head, baring his teeth. A low growl escaped him, and Caitlyn turned to where he was facing, but saw nothing.

Reese growled again at the unseen danger, and Caitlyn pulled Constance closer to her, the fear reflected in her sapphire eyes. Constance gave her usual grumbling protest, but Caitlyn, as usual, ignored it. She was fixated on the point that Reese was staring at; so fixated, in fact, that she hadn’t realized what was coming from behind until she was flat on her back.