Stone Circle play time

hoping for baby sibs :D

Ever since he had last met with Alya, his mind had been all over Alya. He hadn't even asked Valette yet if it was okay for her to stay within Easthollow for a while — he pretty much assumed that the answer'd be yes, anyway, considering how eager Valette had been to meet the girl of his dreams. Since his return Nikai had spent his time around Easthollow, patrolling the borders, hunting, or just hanging out with @Clary, @Steph, and @Ezra and of course @Valette.

On this particular day Nikai was on his way to his baby siblings, hoping that they were up for playing. He'd brought a bunch of bright blue feathers he had found at the little pond where the kingfisher bird lived and hoped that they would like them. With the feathers between his teeth Nikai made his way there, hoping to catch one or a few of his siblings there.

Steph yawned, the back half of her body inside the den while the front half was soaking up the sun. She was hoping Murdock would stop by, but so far he hadn't. Her ears perked when she heard the rustlings of someone coming, and hope filled her eyes that it would be Moo. While the wolf that appeared was not him, she was not disappointed. 

Her tail wagged and she bounded over to Nikai. The bright blue feathers stood out against his dark fur, and Steph tried to reach up to sniff them. What're those? she asked, curious.

As Steph approached, Nikai smiled softly through the feathers in his mouth. She reached up to sniff the feathers and asked him what they were, so Nikai put them down on the ground. Luckily it wasn't very windy today so they didn't go flying everywhere right away. There were five brightly blue coloured feathers there that he had spent quite some time gathering at the kingfisher-water he'd taken Burr earlier. If Burr and Cyron liked pretty feathers, then surely his own siblings would, right?

"It's feathers from a very special bird," Nikai explained to Steph. "I thought you guys would like them. They're pretty rare, from a bird called the kingfisher who lives at a small lake in Easthollow." He wasn't sure it was big enough to qualify as a 'lake', really, but it was the easiest way to describe it for now. Nikai looked expectantly at Steph, hoping that she'd like the feathers.

Nikai was nice enough to bring the feathers down to her level, even spreading them out on the ground so that Steph didn't have to stretch to check them out. She sniffed them over, taking in the new scent. She had yet to see a bird, so her mind was going wild with what the creature looked like. It's a King? she asked, picking up on that particular word.

Then, as curious minds will do, she thought the best way to learn about this new creature was to see it. Can we go? she asked, looking up at Nikai, hoping he would say yes. She wanted to see this King, with his bright blue feathers.

Nikai was taken aback by the swiftness of Steph's decision-making. She asked if it were a king and he chuckled as he explained, "It's called the kingfisher because it's a king at fishing. I'm pretty sure that's the only thing it's a king at, though. No magical kingdoms or anything." As far as he knew, anyway. Steph decided that she wanted to go and see it and Nikai thought for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, we can go and see if we can find it. Can you put these somewhere safe, maybe with your siblings? Maybe they want to play with them later." Nikai gestured at the blue feathers and waited for Steph to put them away before they could be on their way to the stream where he'd seen the kingfisher.

Her bright eyes widened as he explained that it was the king of fishing. Then, she cocked her head to the side and asked, What's fishin'? Hunting hadn't been explained in great detail, though Valette had showed the trio the big beasts that they hunt. Steph had no idea that fish existed, though. 

She wagged her tail when he agreed to show her, and carefully picked up the feathers. As quickly as she could, she took them back into the den so that Clary and Ezra would find them, and came out in a flash, bounding over to Nikai. Okay, come on, let's go! She would pause long enough for him to show her which way they were going.

"It's like hunting, but in the water. That's where the fish live, and like us sometimes, the kingfisher bird likes to eat the fish so he dives in and grabs some. He's real fast." Nikai smiled and then, after the feathers were swiftly and safely stowed away by Steph, started leading the way to the small pond where he had last seen the kingfisher when he and Burr had gone.

Her enthusiasm was endless and Nikai chuckled as he started leading the way — though it was hardly leading, considering Steph was always some steps ahead — to the pond, quietly enjoying the time spent with his younger siblings.

They were off with Steph bounding around Nikai excitedly the whole way to the pond. I haven't played in water, she confessed. She drank it, of course, but until now she had been to young to experience swimming, let alone fishing. Are you going to fish when we get there? she asked, hoping to be able to see it in action. Will the kingfisher be fishing? If he was the king of fishing, he must be really good at it.

They came upon the pond, and Steph stepphed to the edge of the water, her paws sinking a bit into the mud. Her eyes quickly searched the area, looking for anything that had blue feathers on it. Where is he? she asked, speaking of the king fisher. Maybe Nikai could spot him better than she could.

Nikai chuckled at all of Steph's questions. He wondered if he was always asking this many questions when he was Steph's age. "Hopefully the kingfisher will be fishing," he said, of course unable to guarantee anything. "As for me... Wolves fish very differently from fishing birds, but maybe if we can't find the kingfisher I could show you some of my skills." He didn't think it would be very interesting for little Steph, really, as it required a lot of standing still quietly and he kinda doubted her ability to do that for very long.

As they came up to the pond Nikai looked round the trees that surrounded the pond to see if he could find any flashes of blue. "Now we have to be really quiet so that we won't chase it away," he said in a whispery quiet voice, and he stood still while he looked around, hoping they would be in luck today.

Her tail wagged when he said the kingfisher might be fishing. It would be cool to see him in action, she confessed. He explained that the way it fished was different than the way the wolves fished. Maybe you can show me the differences, even if we do see him. She was trying hard to get him to agree to show her how to fish, and she wasn't ready to take no for an answer. 

She listened as he explained they needed to be very quiet, and she nodded silently. She looked around, trying to see if she could spot. Every few moments, she looked to Nikai to see which direction he was looking, and then she would look there, too. She wanted to ask more questions, but she didn't. She didn't want to be the reason they didn't find the kingfisher.

Nikai remained quiet and so did Steph. He had better hopes than when he had been here with Burr, but even then they had seen it. Nikai remained quiet for a minute or ten and kept looking round, his gaze followed by Steph. It was hard standing still for so long but he wouldn't give up just yet... But after ten minutes he began to lose hope and looked at Steph to see if she was still patient enough to wait some more, or if he would have to commence the fishing demo and check for the bird again later.

After a few minutes, Steph slowly lowered her haunches to a sitting position. She was no stranger to looking at her surroundings, as she loved to take in the scene around her. She watched the water at one point, the trees, the bank around the lake. For Steph, there was always something new to see, regardless of the time spent looking. 

Still, after a while, her head turned to Nikai. Her eyes said it all: That bird was not here. While she had wanted to see it, Steph was not disappointed, especially since there was still a chance Nikai might show her how to fish. She remained silent, waiting for his instruction on what to do next.

Nikai was disappointed, but sometimes you just didn't get what you wanted in life. Steph didn't look as disappointed as he felt though, so it was easy to change plans. "It looks like it isn't here today," said Nikai. "But I'll take you some other time -- I've seen it here before, so I'm sure it'll come back to fish here some time." Maybe it was currently sleeping, he thought idly.

Anyway, he hadn't forgotten their alternate plan so he offered, "Shall I show you how to fish now?" He figured he'd try the patient method first, though he reasoned she might want the chase-and-herd method instead. But she had been patient waiting for the bird, so as Nikai walked up to the water he instructed, "You can fish this way alone, too. First we have to get into the water up to about our stomach and then we have to stand still and be patient, until the fish trust us and start to come up to us." He first put a paw in the water and shivered at the cold. ".. Maybe just up to our knees this time, the water's pretty cold." Then Nikai made his way into the water, not going further than about half his legs' length so that only his toes'd get cold. Hopefully the fish wouldn't take too long getting to trust them or the fishing adventure might have to be cut short, too.

Nikai looked more bummed than Steph did, but she was glad he agreed to come back later. Maybe he already caught a bunch of fish earlier, she surmised. Because, why wouldn't he want to show off any other time? It was childish thinking, but then again, Steph was a child.

Her tail wagged and she smiled as she bobbed her head up and down. Yeah! she said a little loudly. She figured it didn't matter if they were quiet now that they weren't waiting for the kingfisher to show up. While Nikai was careful when he stepped into the water, Steph had no such qualms about the cold. She jumped in, not worrying where the water might go. She stopped, though, when she felt it hit her stomach. Nikai was a lot taller than she was, so he could go in further than her. Are the fish going to come up this close to the edge? she questioned. 

She settled into her spot, her eyes glued to the water. Her ears were perked, listening to whatever instruction her teacher might give, while at the same time searching for any movement that might give away the spot of the fish. So far, she saw a lot of nothing. But, she did make a splash entrance.

"Yeah, maybe," Nikai agreed with a nod. Surely they would see the bird another time; he'd seen it here a couple of times before so he was pretty sure it would return for more later, assuming it didn't hole up somewhere for winter. He probably still needed to eat, after all, despite winter's cold.

As Steph jumped in a few drops splashed Nikai's way, though the guard hairs on his coat caught them and they slid off smoothly. Steph went in a bit further than Nikai did, but she didn't get as close to the deeper bits as he did because she was still smaller. At her question, he looked at the shallows and suggested, "Some of the smaller fish might, though they can be trickier to catch." The real small ones were pretty impossible to catch, as they'd slip between your teeth, in Nikai's experience. Still, it wouldn't hurt to practise.

Nikai waited for the fish to come closer while he continued his explanation: "So we stay quiet, the fish come closer, then when they are really close we can try to grab one with our teeth."

Steph's attention was easily diverted from the kingfisher to fishing. She listed as her big brother said that the smaller fish might come up to where she was, but it might be harder to catch them. Steph was going to do her best, though. She listened to his instruction and stayed quiet and still while she watched.

Her eyes watched the water, hoping to see the movement that would tell her the fish were coming closer. It took a while, but eventually, Steph began to see fish here and there. When one came close enough, her head darted into the water, her open jaws hoping to clamp down on a fish. When she came back up, though, they were empty. The fish had been much faster than Steph was. She shook her head to rid herself of the water, then looked to Nikai to see how he was doing. 

Nikai watched as Steph patiently waited for the fish to come closer. He admired her patience, a thing he knew not all children possessed, and was glad that she was willing to put her best into learning this thing. He was watching Steph until he saw her attention shift, noticing that she'd seen a fish and was going for it. He looked down at her own feet then and saw there were a few fish swimming around at his ankles, too.

Only a small moment after Steph dove down for her fish, Nikai too pushed his head in the water to try and grab a fish. He felt the slippery scales of a fish flop in his mouth, but the next moment the fish escaped, flying through the air and eventually landing back into the water. "Almost had one," he called out to Steph. "How are you doing?"

Nikai seemed to be having about as much luck as Steph was. She shook her head side to side. I didn't get it, she replied. She hadn't even felt the fish between her jaws. But, she was not willing to give up just yet. She returned her gaze to the water, her stance much the same as before, and waited.

And waited.

Where were these darned things? Didn't they know she was trying to learn how to hunt? Finally, they started to come back around, thinking it was safe. Steph didn't go for the first one she saw, but instead waited for one that was really close. One came from between her front legs and Steph darted for it. Her teeth clenched around the squirming fish, and she did her best to hang on, but she was not prepared for just how hard it would fight for its life. 

Before she knew it, it was slipping from her grasp and sliding back into the water. Steph tried to catch it again, but it was long gone. She frowned towards Nikai, Slippery little suckers, she commented.

Steph patiently continued the waiting game, and Nikai smiled as he watched her. When he saw her dive he looked down at his own feet to see that fish had gathered there once more and he too dove his head down. He managed to get a firmer grasp on a small fish this time, and clenched his jaws shut while it wriggled everywhere. Nikai quickly galopped to the shore to throw it on the land, where the fish continued to flop.

He could not help but chuckle at Steph's comment on the fish. "They can be surprisingly strong," he amended. "Do you want to try again or eat the fish I caught?" Nikai would leave it up to Steph if she preferred to eat now or if she wanted to really catch her own fish first.

When she looked over, Nikai had caught his fish. Steph felt a bit of jealousy, but she knew she needed more practice, especially now that she's found out how strong even the small fish are. It was funny to her; watching them swim around in the water, they didn't look strong at all. But, getting one between her jaws and trying to hold it while it flopped around really opened her eyes.

She considered for a moment trying again, but the cold water was beginning to have an affect on her. Eat, she decided, walking to shore from the shallow water. She shook her fur free of the water, and then sat back on her haunches. She looked to Nikai expectantly, figuring he would take his share first.

Nikai nodded as Steph said she preferred eating. He smiled as she patiently waited by the fish after exiting the water, presumably for him to eat first. Nikai tore a part off the fish, cutting off half of it as best he could. He then dragged it to the side so eat it, leaving room for Steph to take her share after.

She returned his smile, her tail wagging excitedly in anticipation of being able to eat the fish. She watched as he grabbed the fish and split it into two pieces, not paying attention to which was one was bigger or smaller. She only wanted whichever part he would give to her.

Nikai backed up, leaving her portion, which Steph went after with gusto. The girl liked food. The taste of fish was much different than that of red meat, and it took a few bites for her to really appreciate it. But, she found she liked it. She ate her share, and then licked the remnants from her maw, looking over to Nikai to see if he was finished, as well. When he was, she asked, Ready to go back? She didn't figure they'd stick around to see if the bird came back, and she was starting to get a bit cold.

After finishing the fish off Steph asked if he was ready to go back. Nikai glanced at the sky as if hoping the kingfisher might show up just because they were here, but then he looked back to Steph and nodded. "Alright, let's head back." Getting into motion and getting warm somewhere would be good after their swim. The movement'd help warm them up again, too, and so Nikai started heading back home.

Nikai, after a moment of pause, agreed that they should head back. Steph tail wagged and she turned in the direction of the den. A little worn out, she didn't run ahead like she normally would have. Instead, she walked a normal pace behind Nikai. 

Once they reached the den, Steph would give her licks to Nikai and thank him for showing her how to fish. Then, she'd go in, curl up, and snooze for a while.

Archive here?

They returned home to the den where Nikai left Steph. He smiled as she thanked him and wished her a pleasant nap before turning away. He was glad that the children had a loving home to grow up in here and that Valette took care of them so well, even if Steady was not here to help raise them. He looked back once more before turning away and moving to find a good place for a nap himself.