Stone Circle heartache

At nearly three months, Nikai was slowly beginning to grow into his body, at the edge of a future growth spurt. He knew that @Keoni had been sick, but she had also gotten better, much to Nikai's relief. Things were looking up on the whole, and he was a cheerful and optimistic child, always ready to try something new or take on the world, but also soft and inclusive towards others. It looked like he would grow up to be a caring wolf, for even as a child he tried to help or unburden others where he could, even if his means were limited and instinctive.

Today was a day with a lot of sun. Nikai sat outside of the den in the snow and stared into the sun, squinting his eyes so that he could better see. He glanced over his shoulder, not sure whether Keoni was inside of the den or somewhere else. He hadn't played with his sister in some time, because she had been sick for such a long time, and he hoped to change it today if he could get a hold of her.

Hope you don't mind Grayday butting in. I would love it if Keoni joined us, still!

Though his own children took up much of his time, Day still made time to hunt for small game when he could. His scent was still strong on the borders as well, as he took their claim on this land very seriously. There were not only his own children to think about, but Steady's as well.

Speaking of Steady's kid's, there was the little boy, on his own in front of the alpha's den. The scent of Steady and Valette (as well as Keoni's) was strong here, and Day smirked a little to himself as he wondered how that little family was getting on. He was sure he hadn't imagined Steady's jealousy when he mentioned his pet name for Valette. Day didn't mean anything by it, of course (and he'd been sure to let Steady know), but it seemed like the younger male had been upset by it.

"Hi Nikai," Day said as he drew near. He'd been looking for Valette to see if she had any hunting trips planned, but Day could never pass up the chance to interact with these cute little pips.

Not at all, thanks for joining! :D

Because he was squinting as he looked into the sun, Nikai didn't notice the other wolf approach. He looked over his shoulder, looking for and thinking of Keoni, and when he turned away he was startled to see someone there. "Oh!" he called out in surprise and Nikai leaned backwards, a bit too far, and toppled over onto his back. He quickly scrambled back to his paws and turned to look at the wolf. "Scared me!" he shared with a mixture of indignation and amusement.

Nikai gingerly sniffed the air in front of him, only to conclude that this wolf smelled sufficiently of Steady and Valette to trust. "Hi, what'sa you?" he asked the stranger with an inquiring tilt of his head, one of his ears flopped over comically.

Day gave a low chuckle, lowering his belly to the ground to put himself in a less threatening position. "Sorry about that," he apologized, wagging his tail behind him to show that he was a nice, friendly wolf. No need to be scared.

It seemed, though, that he needn't have worried about it. Nikai soon calmed down and asked what Day supposed to be a question in a friendly enough voice. He thought for a beat and then decided to risk trying to answer, even though he wasn't sure what the question had been.

"I'm Uncle Day," he replied. "How are you doing today? Do you know where Valette is?"

"Is not sorry," Nikai told the stranger; Keoni startled him all the time, and he was used to it now, so he didn't think anyone should be sorry for those kind of things. Nikai didn't know there were wolves with multiple names, so he was surprised to hear that the wolf's name was 'Uncle Day'. Also, 'day' was a word ('uncle' was one he hadn't heard before, so he didn't recognise it as such) which Nikai didn't know could be a word, too. As a matter of fact, he had no idea that Steady was a word as well as a name, either.

"Day'sa word!" he said with a marvelling amazement. "Is name too?" He forgot about the question that had been asked of him because of how he was marvelling over the name, not realising that he was missing anything.

Day's ears flickered as he remembered another little voice asking him the very same question in the same incredulous tone. "Yeah, Day's a name, too," he laughed, tail whisking more swiftly, now. Kids were so cute. "You know," he added, recalling the way he'd answered Adeline, "Steady is also a word and a name. When you're not wobbly, you're steady."

Nikai was surprised that the wolf had a name that was also a word, but he wasn't judgemental about it. He tilted his head as explanation was given to him and gasped as he was explained that Staddy's name was also a word. "It is?" he asked incredulously, then settled in to listen. He was quick to ask, with head still tilted in question; "What's a wobbly?"

"Wobbly is when you have trouble walking," Day explained, performing a short skit to demonstrate during which he mimmicked the ungainly walk of his own two children and then fell onto his belly, legs splayed wide. "Like that," he said to the boy, hoping to see some amusement for his efforts.

Nikai tilted his head and looked as Day did the wobbly walking. He giggled and said, "Wobby!" Because not just the walk was funny, but the word too. Then he quickly came into motion to try it out for himself, because Nikai loved trying things out for himself. He did a wobbly walk, mimicking Day nearly to perfection, and looked up to ask for confirmation while chanting, "Wobby wobbly wobblum wobbles!"

To his delight, Nikai decided to perform his own rendition of the wobble-walk. It was unbelieveably cute. Day couldn't stop himself from releasing a quite aww in response. What a weirdo, he thought, wondering what the child would do next.

"Just like that," Day agreed, muffling his own snorts of laughter. He watched, bemused, as the boy began to sing-song the word - or, his own version of the word. Not quite knowing what he was meant to do about this, Day just watched.

"Eeheehee," Nikai giggled as he did the wobbly thing. After a while it grew to bore him though. When he was done with being wobbly, Nikai plopped down on his butt and stared up at Day, waiting for him to do another interesting thing.

All too soon, the boy grew tired of his little comedy act. Day was a little disappointed that the fun had stopped and decided to see what else Nikai was capable of.

"How about this? Can you do this?" Day asked, standing up on his back legs and balancing on them, breifly. The honest truth was that he was hoping the kid would fall over and provide more laughs, but it would also be pretty cool if he could be taught to walk around on his back legs like some weird, fuzzy bird. It would be just the kind of thing to drive Steady crazy, if only Day could convince Nikai to keep where he'd learned the behavior a secret.

Nikai looked up at Day with a concentrated look on his face as he was asked attention about a new thing. He looked at Day as he stood on his hind legs and gasped because he'd never seen a wolf do such a thing. The fact that it was possible was highlighted in the fact that Day was doing it right now, though. "Ooo," he marvelled in quiet praise while he looked at the trick, but it was over before he knew it. "Again, again!" he cheered, hoping to get Day to repeat the trick so he could better study how to do it.

Then he tried it himself, getting up to balance on his hind legs, but finding it difficult to get up in the first place. He got off the ground only by a little bit the first few tries, getting nowhere near Day's performance, but he kept trying dilligently, making little hops while he whispered to himself, "tricks, tricks, tricks..." in a melodious way much like the wobbly song.

At the boy's request, Grayday stood back on his hind legs once more, making an effort to keep his balance for longer, this time. He even managed to take a few wobbly steps before he fell back onto all fours, more gracefully than his previous 'trick' had gone.

"Just keep practicing," Day instructed, eyes glittering merrily as he imagined the kid practicing in front of Steady, in the future. He wasn't sure how the alpha would feel about this sort of shenanigans, but whatever, this was adorable and Day was sure that Steady would see this before anything else. "I gotta get back to my hunt - Stay out of trouble, kiddo," he instructed, poking his nose at the pup and giving him a few sloppy kisses before moving on, tail wagging now as he went on his way.

After he had tried a while, Day said that he should keep practising and that he needed to leave. Nikai stopped his trick-practising, tilted his head and looked at Day with a disappointed look on his face, because he wasn't quite ready to say good-bye to his new friend yet. But he knew adults had busy lives and they didn't always have time to spend with him. "Okay, bye," he said, tail wiggling briefly as he was given a few good-bye kisses and then he watched as Day left. Nikai started to trot on home, ready to practise some more so that he could show Day how well-practised his tricks were when they'd next meet.