The Sunspire what will become of these gestures that we make
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#1
All Welcome 
the newest sensation to sweep the nation and overwhelm the little puff was something so simple, but so glorious, and she had yet to figure out just what it was.

an unusual boldness had overtaken her as she woke that morning. try as she might, the little girl could not find comfort next to her brother as she usually did — there was something happening just out of her reach, where the day caught against the den's opening.

there was a high-pitched call, and she drifted closer and closer to the opening to investigate. as she emerged in to the light, she squinted, for her little eyes were still somewhat delicate, and then flew wide when she saw the blur of movement. a trio of songbirds had watched her coming, and hastily avoided a possible confrontation by taking flight.

the music had stopped, and she pouted.
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#2
Rather than returning to her usual sleeping quarters, Wraen had decided to rest not too far from the dens, where the pack's matriarchs resided. Not that they lacked protection - being as far away from the borders as possible - but more or less, because she was very tired. 

It did not take long for her to fall asleep, but she was awoken by the shrill sound of birds after - what seemed to her about 5 minutes later. "Geez," she groaned, blinking sleep away from her eyes and lifting her head to look at the feathered beasts in an accusing manner. Did they really have no manners?

She then - quite by an accident - looked to the side and caught sight of a white puppy that too had been woken and drawn outside by the bird voices. "Hi!" Wraen greeted the little thing as a friend and approached her carefully. "Nasty buggers, aren't they?" she asked, flopping down on her belly at a distance that gave the puppy enough space, in case she did not want to have an unknown adult so close to her.
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her sadness was short-lived. as abruptly as her glee had faded to confusion and sorrow, it was all lifted when a large figure approached from her periphery. at first she thought the silhouette belonged to her father — but her little nose identified a different smell, not that little ibis would've understood the implication of 'people smelling differently' or whatever.

she heard the stranger's voice though, and found it fascinating - almost as much as the singing birds. her fluffy little self shifted gears pretty quickly after that: no longer fixated on the little creatures, she began to roam closer to the talkative shadow. ibis even tried to mimic the voice: nanana! nana boog!
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"My thoughts exactly," Wraen replied, laughing. She had to rake her memory to find out, if kids were supposed to talk this early on or she was facing an era-defining genius at the moment. 

With wagging tail, she put her head on the ground between her outstretched forepaws and waited for the little bundle of joy waddle closer. Already the puppy had won over all of Wraen's rational misgivings, why a lot of puppies was not a good thing.

Post 1000 goes to you. Cheers!
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#5
That's awesome! Congrats!!

none of the sounds made sense, but once she began to make them she couldn't quite stop. the feeling over her tiny voice in her throat was so new, so interesting, so entertaining! and the more she babbled, the more attention she appeared to get from the adult — so babble she would!

booog boog boogggah! she chortled as she stomped,
ananana! nananab! oog! she sang off-key, and the more ibis repeated those weird little sounds, the higher-pitched she got until she was howling a little song at the clouds overhead, her nose tilting up and eyes squishing shut: agoogoooOOoooOOoh!!
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The kid turned out to be a talkative one and Wraen listened to her performance in amused silenece, as if the information she gained was of the utmost importance. When it got to the higher notes, her ears drew to the side - the shrill sound not being entirely pleasant on her hearing. Then the song came to an end and the only thing she could add was: "You don't say..."

Though not particularly musical herself (in fact, all her attempts in early childhood and youth had been nipped at the bud by Sarah, who refused to be in the same area, if Wraen even attempted to sing a tune), she mused for a little while about, what she could add. And eventually, she tilted her muzzle sky-wards and with eyes half-closed let out a low howl: "Arwhoooo...."

When this was done, she looked at the girl again, encouraging her to try as well.
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prompted by positive reinforcement from her new friend, the child wanted only to please, and began composing a lengthy ballad the likes of which none had ever heard; similarly, it held no modicum of rhythm or charm, but became a dissonant mixture of weak howling and unpracticed chattering. when finished and out of breath, ibis' song became a yawn, and she could barely focus on her audience.
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"I see that you go for modern music and improvisation," Wraen concluded, having listened the little girl's performance to the end and smiled, when the final tunes had become hefty yawns. 

"But you should start with classics, like..." here she paused, trying to recall any of the rhymes the Old Sue of her former pack had told her. The elder had had her mind going a little, but she had always been clear, when she had sung or recited all the silly bits of poetry. Wraen had been amused by her (and because of her she had had made an attempt to sing at all), but had never thought that any of her then gibberish would come to use. 

"This one... 
A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?
"
she sang in a coarse voice, hitting 50% of tunes right and 50% being off. But Sarah was not around and the kid could not tell her yet to shut up.

Nursery rhyme - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wise_Old_Owl . Not my property.
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Although she was growing sleepy from all the exertion put in to her performance, as soon as the older wolf began to sing the little one perked up. Her eyes went wide, lashes fluttering, and she gasped - then began to mimic her. By the end of the song she was babbling in puppy-speak, wahh ohh buhh! Her little tail was flipping about like a livewire, and she began to giggle, pleased beyond belief. Her little paws clapped as if awaiting more.
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"You are a fast learner!" Wraen exclaimed happily, when the kid mumbled something that was very similar to the first verse of the rhyme. "I can go slower for you, if you would like?" she offered and, whether she got a confirmation or not (and not taking in consideration the fact that the kid could not yet speak properly), she repeated, "A... wise... old... owl..." Here she paused, giving the girl time to think stuff over, and when it felt like enough, went on: "...lived... in... an... oak."
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#11

She was too young to have command of much, but she was still enamored by the sounds her friend was making. As Wraen went through it step-by-step Ibis did her best to keep up, but the sounds didn't always correlate.

A.. wise... started the woman, and Ibis replied a little off-beat,
Ahh wuhhh,

—old.. owl— was met with, awwwah!

And finally, lived.. in... an.. oak,

lalaala l'oog!

That was the best she could do, but considering her age and ability, perhaps it really was impressive. She was just happy to have the attention of Wraen for so long — and the game of making noises together was a lot more fun than napping!
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"You are a natural!" Wraen praised the puppy, who gave a perfect baby version of the rhyme. She was pretty sure that the kid had no idea of, what she was hearing, but her interest in the process and will to learn was admirable.

"Second verse," she announced and cleared her throat. "The.... more... he.... saw..." this time she gave a little more emotion to the words, putting emphasis on "he" and making "saw" quieter, as if she was about to tell a secret. "...The less he spoke..." a dramatic pause.

"The... less... he... spoke..." here her voice went from a whisper to louder and after the "...the... more... he... heard." she lifted her head up and pretended to listen intently.

"Why... can't... we... all... be... like... that... wise old bird?!" this she sang in her off-tune way more quickly and found it wonderful that the kid was not judgemental of Wraen's inferior skills at singing.
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#13


This was getting complicated. But she would do it! This was way better than trying to chase those noise-making things (birds); they had sounded so nice and bright, but learning this had proven to be more entertaining. Being the center of attention obviously didn't bother Ibis very much at this point in her life.

Wraen went on to recite more verses, and in between her efforts the little one could be heard parroting sounds back at her; she didn't quite have the enunciation portion or the beat, but for the most part she kept up. Once she got to a specific sound though, she just couldn't give it up.

more.. he.. saw.. went Wraen, and Ibis responded: Eeeb awww!

Then, watching as Wraen put action to her words, Ibis was briefly distracted and took on an excited, wide-eyed expression before giggling and wriggling in place, babbling in conjunction with the woman's recitation until she got to the end: wahh ohh buhhh!


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"Brilliant!" Wraen praised the little one. "I think that this will be enough for today, huh?" she asked the kid, realizing now that she had got tired as well. Teaching stuff was an exhausting business, when you got serious with it. 

Want to continue or let's have a new thread?
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Yeah! I'll fade it here.



She had been tired when they'd started, but now her babbling was showing signs of becoming less and less melodious and much more actual nonsense, to the point where her sounds were punctuated with little peeps and yawns, so it was clearly evidenced that Ibis needed to sleep. The woman seemed tired as well — so the lesson was over. Ibis was so sleepy that she didn't mind taking a break; she also didn't mind when Wraen hoisted her tiny self up and carried her back to the den, where she was deposited for a refreshing nap, snuggled up against Okeanos once again.