Dublin had grown nearly to his adult stature in the transitional time between fall and winter, his eyes changing from puppy blue to a brooding green that rivaled the loam of summertime forests. He hadn't quite filled his adult stature and, like most juveniles, remained thin, lanky and awkward. For his part, the boy barely noticed the passage of time— days turned into nights turned into days, on and on. He had grown more withdrawn in the absence of his father, and the loss of his uncle had introduced a cruelty of the world that the anxious youth wasn't entirely able to cope with.
In an effort to still his mind, he moved through the forest on the trail of some small animal— a squirrel, he thought, or perhaps a stoat.
brotherbrotherbrotherbrotherbrother!!!!!!
Szabala had been fortunate enough to come upon a cache in which she'd found a rabbit buried, and, as caches were pretty well up for grabs (as far as she knew- plus her mother was the alpha, so who would scold the alpha's child for feeding herself?) so she ate part of the rabbit and pushed the earth back over the rest of it. While she enjoyed a free meal, Szabala did have manners and didn't want to eat the entire thing herself, especially now that Ondine had given birth, or so she'd been told, so she was now higher up on the priority list when it came to wolves who should be fed. Szabala was still very much a child in mind, and liked to have the things she felt a child deserved.
She came across her brother's tracks, and while it caused her to pause in the little song she was humming away to herself, she quickly resumed both her pace and the ditty as she travelled along her brother's scent trail to find him and see what he was doing. If he was just dithering, perhaps they could dither together, even though he- like Cypress- had become quite reclusive...And if he was hunting, she might be able to get something else to put in her belly if she helped.
When she spotted her brother moving along she moved from a trot into a lope, hoping he wouldn't get away on her. Szabala liked attention and company- and hoped her brother wasn't going to be a complete mope and run away from her.
YAY, I'm so glad we get to thread together. :D
He slowed and shrank away from the approaching paw steps, but when he realized it was his sister, the boy relaxed considerably. If he had paid more attention, he would have known it was Szabala from her lilting hum, but Dublin was often in his own head— abandoning the rest of his senses in favor of his anxious thoughts. They thundered loudly in his mind and he had not yet found the trick to turning them off.
"Sza," he greeted her quietly, though his green eyes didn't quite lift to see her, and his tail wagged low behind him. His chest felt tight and his stomach acidic, though he had long ago mastered the art of keeping the worst of his constant panic from his features.
"How're ye?"