Ankyra Sound don't let your head hang low, you've seen the darkest skies i know

@Caiaphas post-dated by a week ahead :)

the nearby hallooing of a great grey owl had a child astir. lycaon sat bolt upright, peering wide-eyed from behind the undisturbed forms of his brother and sister. the drone of crickets that soothed him to sleep each night had ceased their symphony. 

hoo-ha-hoo hoo-hoo

jostling over wylla, the pup loomed up to the mouth of the den, emerging halfway into the crepuscule with uncertainty dwelling on his footfalls. he waited in earthed silence, listening raptly as his eyes stared up the mighty boughs that encircled the swath of the haunt -- looking for the creature that flocked from the paleface of the moon, tucking himself away in a secret place amongst the cathedral's breathing pillars. in the twilight the leaves were unblinking eyes and they unnerved him, followed him. he shrank back and looked behind at the motionless outline of Lusca and Wylla and Ingram, feeling apprehensive of the prospects he was up against, and unattended at that.

whoooo whoooooo

or maybe not unattended? the sound renewed from the gathering gloom of nightfall, causing the boy to snap his head back to the fore. toddling into the clearing, he planted himself on his quarters in a puddle of moonlight, tail gently whumping against the humus. "hoo..." he attempted to reproduce the unique sound, and was met with discouraging silence. but moments later, hoo-ha-hoo hoo.. "hwoo ha hoo!!" lycaon crooned again, excitement swimming in his gaze's benthal blue.

"hwoo.. hoo-oooooooo!" the pup tipped his head back and began to howl. it was a weak and inexperient note, but it was his and he would come into it as he would come into himself.

w hy are you so perfect at pooples

she had awoken with a start, noticing immediately the absence of a pup by her flank -- the cold seeped her barrel and heart alike. she rose quickly, scrambling over lusca's form and darting madly for the den. ahead she heard an owl's cry -- had it seized lycaon? had it killed him? wide-eyed, wild and furious the she-wolf threw herself out into the night, immediately assuming the worst.

but she didn't know where to go -- fear chilled her as she looked about her wildly, scanning the tree-line for any form of the owl. she made for the copse when she heard lycaon's howl -- wheeling about like a drunken madwoman she bolted off in the direction of the puppy's owl imitation. when she came across the pale baby she threw herself to the ground, wrapping around him like a bony and unwanted scarf. relief flooded her and she clenched him tightly, her breath drawn in uneven rasps.

o pls u flatter

unaware of the panic his first little adventure had ostensibly wrought in Caiaphas' heart, the boy was alarmed to find himself cradled in her arms asudden, the erratic template by which her heart forged its beat sensatory and strangely troubling to him. he flopped backwards, gazing upon the boundless, bible-black darkness of her face, and paddled his feet slowly in the air as she focused on stabilizing her breathing. "ups! you okay!" he chirped, repeating a remark he often heard his mother use when he or his siblings took a particularly traumatizing spill. "whoops! you're okay!" and although he seemed to make the connection between visual upset and expressions of comfort, he didn't make the connection between his disappearance and her distress. the extent of his comprehension of the situation was that she had just fallen to the ground and was sad about it. but he caught her, so it was okay.  

alas, concern for his most-best-loved provider met its waterloo in an encounter with every child's vulnerability -- a short attention span. the owl's hallo, faint this time, gained an audience once more in Lycaon. squirming out of Caiaphas' grasp, he pranced from tree to tree, sizing up its trunk with wonder. "chees doing that?" he asked shyly, coming to the natural (and indeed, the most logical) conclusion that it was the trees hooing at him.

the siren queen dipped her slender head, nosing the child as he looked about in wonder. his innocence and inexperience of the world were foreign to her, like some brilliant gem indisposed from the blackened earth. she pulled him close and murmured: "chees doing that." and sat with him a while in the darkness, savoring the content mood that bathed her like brilliant twilight.