Northstar Vale I love inside jokes; I'd love to be a part of one someday.

Unnnngghhh!

The nasal whine bounced off the earthen walls of the den as Lilitu, bored (as usual), tugged on @Arielle's scruff.

Come play come play come play! her eyes sparkled and her childish squeaks suggested, even if the words weren't quite there yet. She had been exploring the outside of the den but it got lonely, and she wanted a friend. She wanted her best friend: her sister.

Mmmmmm! Lilitu grunted, the sound muffled against the other girl's baby flesh and downy fur. She stepped backward, trying to drag Arielle with her. She didn't care if she had to be the most annoying wolf in the world to achieve her goals. As far as Lilitu was concerned, the best way to get others to do things for you was to pester them until they relented.

And boy, oh, boy, was she good at the pestering.

Lucky for her sister, it didn't take much pestering at all to get her to do whatever she wanted; Arielle was eager to please her loved ones. She had been napping as the first whine sounded, woken soon after by the pulling of her scruff. She yawned and stretched, only waking fully at her sister's continued pestering. She knew what Lilitu wanted, and she was happy to oblige once she was more awake. 

She stood and wagged her tail, snapping playfully back at her sister. Then she trotted forward, turned, and released and excited nip. She waited only seconds before scampering outside to wait for her sister. She wondered what they would do today. A leaf blew by and caught her attention, making her chase after and jump on it before taking and edge into her mouth to chew.

Good! Arielle woke up rather quickly and soon launched herself out of the den (but not before getting a playful nip in). Lilitu loved her sister for myriad reasons, one of them being her willingness to play. She couldn't imagine having a boring, grumpy sibling who did nothing but sleep and eat and poop. God, how dull would that be?

Her eyes glittered as the brown-pelted girl pounced upon a leaf. Finders, keepers—that was law. Lilitu crouched close and sniffed at the newfound toy, taking in its smell, but left Arielle to it, looking for her own diversion.

She found it in the form of a bumblebee.

Its fuzzy body zigged and zagged in and out of a patch of daffodils, dutifully pollinating each flower. She was mesmerized by its plump form decorated in vivid yellow against black. The girl cocked her head, and then pounced, landing atop the clump, crushing some of the plant—and sending the bumblebee tumbling from its perch in the process.

As you could imagine, the bee was not amused. It made a beeline (HEHEHE) toward Lilitu, and she watched with wide eyes as it landed on her nose and promptly stung her, right above her upper lip.

WAAAAAAAAAAA! she wailed, rearing backwards and falling onto her tushy, adding further insult to injury.

sorry i'm slow!

She would have given her leaf to Lilitu, no problem, but she left her to chew on it and went to explore somewhere behind her. Arielle listened intently to the sounds of her sister's exploring but her main focus remained on the leaf that was slowly starting to come apart in her mouth now that it was saturated with her saliva. It didn't really taste that great, but she continued to chew it up anyway because it was fun for some reason. 

But the sound of her sister's painful cry had her freezing and then whipping around to see what happened. A bee was leaving the scene of the crime and her sister was sitting back on her hind end crying. Arielle rushed over. Tu! Tu! she called out as she reached her sister's side. Then she licked her face, trying to soothe her.

The sounds of play between the children were constant anytime they were awake, but it was the shift to a pitchy shriek that made Ibis react swiftly. At first she moved in because the noise was too sharp and she wanted to shush whichever daughter had erupted; however as she descended between them she saw Lilitu's little face melting in to tears, puffing up and distorting, and entirely lost her cool.

It was difficult enough to move around in their small den, harder still to get a glimpse at whatever had happened to Lilitu because of how Arielle crowded her. Ibis moved between them and after getting a little bit panicked and frustrated, picked up Arielle and plopped her by one hip while Lilitu sat at the other, then tried to inspect the girl's face. In the dim light Ibis couldn't quite make out the red sting mark.

Oh Lilitu, shhh, it will be okay, she tried to soothe, but Lilitu's face was starting to puff quite dramatically and Ibis did not know what to do.

At least the attention made her feel a little bit better. Took a little away from the burning, stinging sensation, of the feeling of her lip puffing up. She gingerly prodded it with the tip of her tongue and recoiled, whimpering. It was no use keeping a brave face if your face looked like a balloon animal.

Instead, she tried breathing deeply in an attempt to soothe her sobs. Tried not to concentrate on the predicament at hand. Lilitu looked at Ibis with tears in her eyes, then over at Arielle, and then over at—

She shrieked, spotting a bumblebee (the same one?!) landing on a flower nearby, fussing around in the center of it. She gestured wildly with her head at it and backed away, fur bristling. This was it, her great nemesis. She had made an enemy for life; she was convinced of that.

Lilitu's lip quickly began to swell, and she stared at her with wide, worried eyes. She had no idea what do, but it turned out she didn't have to try and figure it out. Ibis was suddenly between them, picking her up and dropping her on her other side so that she could see what was going on. Arielle peered at her sister from around their mother, wondering if Ibis might have some kind of fix for her sister's swollen lip; she always seemed to know how to make them feel better. 

Her sister's scream had her eyes widening again, and she looked towards the flower to where her sister motioned. Buzzing from petal to petal was the culprit of her sister's attack. Arielle grew angry—a rare emotion for the genial girl—and she released a tiny growl that sounded much more threatening in her head than it probably did to anyone else. She took a step forward and stared it down, ready to jump out and attack it should it come any closer.