The sky was drab and heavy. Distant clouds streaked rain down on the western mountain, but for now, the Blacktail Deer Plateau wolves were safe from the downpour. The leaves of their spacious forest shook ominously, but this foliage cacophany was perfect for Saēna, who the adults had soon discovered loved noise. The toddler found silence disconcerting and grew uneasy, so rather than settling her down for a mid-afternoon nap where she would fuss, Kisu had decided to take her for a walk.
The coppery male strode ahead of her, surveying their surroundings with his spotted daughter followed dutifully behind him. She was the least rowdy of her siblings, and obedient to a T, but she was probably the loudest of them. Every few feet she would drop her front half, drum the ground with her paws, then squeal out a raucous battle cry and charge after her father's retreating legs. Kisu took this behaviour with exceptional patience, which was probably the only thing that kept her from screaming (her new favourite form of communication) in his face.
They continued this way for a while, with Saēna frolicking in her father's wake while the stoic Virtúte male led them both on patrol, pausing every few minutes to let his daughter catch up.
I was going to ignore this really cause blue hogs all the puppy threads.. but i just couldn't do it i couldn't ;)
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Blue Willow had been in the lower plains catching some food for the alpha's, Kisu in the pups. She had also stopped in to drop something to eat off for Osprey making sure she at least ate a few bites before following the trail to the den where the babies lived. Today upon walking the trail it was Saena and Kisu she was greeted the sight of rather than the normal Jr and Peregrine. She smiled at both of them giving a gentle chuff at Kisu and then bending her nose to gently chuff at Saena.
Hello LIttle girl She singsonged as she laid the bloodied rabbit t othe side of the trail. She tilted and ear back to listen to the rain and then she spoke in a conspirator's whisper Did you do a rain dance is that why it's raining?
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There were still some adults Saēna had yet to meet, but Blue Willow was lucky not to be among those. When it came to strangers, the girl was quiet and reclusive, often making several attempts to become invisible throughout the course of the encounter... But Blue Willow was a common sight for the pups, and Saēna greeted her exuberantly as befit the Caretaker's status.
For now, the cubs could get away with shirking hierarchy. This made things less confusing for all of them, though Saēna knew her place was at the bottom of the heap. Still, she was able to prance up to Blue Willow and dance an excited jig without being reprimanded by her father for lack of manners. She had a bright spirit that one day would loathe the confines of being in Osprey's and Pura's shadows constantly, and probably Ty's as well, but she was as non-confrontational as they came. She might have had the spirit of a fighter, but she certainly didn't have the heart... Though in these moments when she was alone, anyone could see she wasn't so weak as her litter-mates treated her.
Blue Willow spoke to her, and the sound of the Caretaker's voice rose Saēna's ears as though they had minds of their own. Grinning goofily around her tongue, which hung out the side of her mouth, the girl nodded vigorously and screeched a loud, "Ya ya ya!" What the hell is a rain dance, she might have asked as an adult, but being only a child and only understanding the word rain, and knowing she liked how rain sounded, she could only assume it was something exciting. “Reeeee-daaaaa reeeeee-daaaa," parroted the patchy pup, romping in little circles around Blue Willow's legs as she chanted this newest word.
Blue smiled at the young girl as she pranced and wriggled her way towards her. She licked the young girls head and nuzzled her downy ears. Saena had the potential to be just as dominant as Jr though without the violence. Blue hoped as the younger girl got older she would be able to assert her dominance though in a more passive way. The girl had spirit that was for sure, in retrospect Jr was a bit of a bully, but it was only normal for pups to show dominance and when they were not counteracted well they just kept that mind set.
Blue chuckled she knew the girl had no clue what she was talking about, but it was super cute to see her enthusiasm. Alright little one I can show you? Blue had momentarily forgotten that Kisu was near and truth be told she didn't care what anyone thought of her, for when she was playing with the pups she was playing with the pups and that was that regardless of her age. With that she side stepped and pranced and danced around Saena making her paws stomp louder than normal and she threw her head a few times then she play bowed laughing wondering if the pup would look at her strangely or join in.
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Maybe Kisu was standing in the background, rolling his eyes at the antics of his small daughter and the Caretaker, but perhaps he was laughing. He was forgotten by Saēna, who was completely transfixed by Blue Willow's imaginary rain dance. It went without saying, but Saēna loved Blue Willow, who was always so willing to play with her even though the other puppies always made sure she was last to do anything.
The cub was quick to join in, though her rendition of the rain dance was much sloppier than the Beta's. She pranced avidly in a less-than-perfect circle around the bowing Beta, kicking her legs and flailing her arms and throwing her head around and squealing as loud as her lungs would allow. “RA-DEE RA-DEE RAAAA-DEEE!” shouted the babe at the sky above, flopping down on the ground and panting breathlessly.
Blue willow would defend these pups with her last breath for she loved them as fiercely as she could love anything really and they weren't even hers. She was happy to call them family and gladly allow them to call her aunt as Peregrine had asked so many days ago if she would allow.
Blue Willow copied the pup and flopped down comically and a bit more stronger than needed. After all it was all about the exaggeration and imagination that's how pups learned and grew. She nuzzled the little girl soflty and spoke quietly Wonderful Rain Dance Saena. You will make an excellent rain dancer when you get older, perhaps even the rain will obey you. She knew the young girl probably didn't understand a word she was saying, but ti didn't matter all that mattered was that she was talking to the little lass.
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Blue Willow continued repeating the sounds that Saēna so enthusiastically repeated, making more and more clear the exact sounds being made. “RAAA-DEEEE RAAAYYYY-DEEE RAAAYYY-DAAA,” she continued yelling at the top of her lungs, kicking her legs and slapping her paws against the ground gleefully. She recognized her name in the sea of unfamiliar words, and suddenly she began to bellow, “Sana! Sana! SANANANA!”
That's me, she tried to convey, that's my name, I'm Saēna! But she didn't know the words to say it. She rolled over onto her back and began wriggling wildly in place, giggling loudly and imagining she was rolling on the soft clouds overhead and not just the ground beneath her.
Blue Willow chuckled at the pups enthusiasm. She shifted so that she was also laying down and she pounded her paws on the ground a steady thrum thrum.
That's right that's your name Saena, Saena. Such a pretty girl. Blue laughed again and repeated some more of the no nonsense words at the girl. Finally, flopping to her side letting the rain come down on her and panting gently in exertion.
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“Sananana,” chirruped the pup, who had already forgotten exactly why she was repeating her name. Her eyes rolled over to Kisu for a moment before returning to Blue Willow. The sight of the healer on the ground was oddly funny to the cub, who began to giggle uncontrollably.
That is, until a large glob of bird droppings smacked the grass right near her face. Silence wrapped itself around Saēna quicker than she could even blink, and within an instant she was on her feet and sniffing the foreign black and white glob.
“WHA IS?” bellowed the young pup, finding the scent of the bird poo interesting. She strongly considered rolling in it, but being somewhat of a diva, she reached out a paw to touch her toe to the edge first and, discovering it was wet and gross, immediately began to scream, “EW EW EW EW EW,” one of the few real words she knew very well.
Blue Willow laid her ears down at the shrill yell of the youth. She had a set of lungs on her that was for certain. She felt bad for all who shared the girls living space if she was that loud on a daily basis. Tilting her head she saw the bird poop and the girls reaction made her wince yet laugh.
She got to her feet and with a small chuckle she said quietly EW EW is right. That my dear is bird poo. Stinky yucky poo. She then smiled and wondered if the girl would be like her brother and roll in it. He could be a foul little smelly thing when he wanted, but he was adorable and blue didn't mind so much. Though usually after being within two feet of Saena's brother she had to get a bath due to lord knows what having been stuck to her pelt.
Saena was most definitely not like her brother. As soon as Blue Willow stated that it was “poo”, something very well known to all four of the plateau's cubs, Saena's hackles lifted, her tail puffed up, and she leaped as far away from it as she could get, as quickly as she could get there. She was notoriously clean for a pup her age, and the very thought of getting any sort of muck, especially poo, on herself was absolutely repulsive.
As if to emphasize her severe dislike of the bird droppings, Saena began to holler nonsensically at it, growling and lashing her tail and slapping the ground with her paws in a fit of pure agitation. If only she could find this aggression when she was being picked on! But, alas, Saena spared her litter mates her ire on a daily basis. It was better spent, she had learned, on denouncing the filthy things of the world that her brother seemed to love so much.
Blue had to laugh at the girls reaction, it was utterly over the top. Unlike Pura it seemed that Saena enjoyed keeping her pelt clean and free of any type of Poo. Whereas Pura rolled in any type of poo he could get to. She realized she preferred the latter rather than the former, herself not being fond of getting poo or herself, unless it was impossible to get away from.
CHuckling to herself she looked around for a leaf to help the poor girl get rid of the offending glob of bird poo. Finally finding one she spoke softly Look Saena getting rid of it With that she took her paw with the leaf and wiped up the offensive manure. Then with swift paws she dug a hole and dropped the leaf in there with the poo on it and sat back to her haunches after covering it up. Maybe Pura could dig it up later and play in it if he ventured this way.
Although she didn't entirely understand the magic trick Blue Willow performed on the bird droppings, Saēna watched in awe. Something as simple as wiping up the poo with a leaf and disposing of it underground was a miraculous discovery for the pup, who never would have thought of such a thing by herself. The lesson she took away from this was perhaps incorrect: that she could solve all of her problems by digging a hole and throwing them into it.
Although Saēna began to wonder whether that would work with Junior as well, the girl's behaviour didn't betray any such dark thoughts. Her rump and tail wiggled and her eyes found Blue Willow's, but only for a moment. “Ooooooh,” crooned the girl, who was wholly convinced now that her aunt was a wizard. “More!” she requested with large, pleading eyes, no doubt confusing the poor Beta in the process.
Blue was momentarily struck dumb, what more could she possible do and on top of that what did the small pup mean. She had no idea what to do, or what the girl had meant by more. Unless she meant the cleaning up of the manure that lay there. She couldn't really do much else there as ther was no more to get rid of.
She spoke softly I can't do more. No more Poo all gone. All Gone. She shrugged her shoulders there was nothing left to make disappear she could maybe make a line in the sand and make it disappear but other than that nothing. She bent down where the leaves were laying and she gently blew on one making it rise up in the air and swirl around. You try.
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Fading here 'cause it's old, thanks for the thread!
She watched with huge eyes as the leaves danced on Blue Willow's breath, forgetting all about her previous disappointment that the female couldn't repeat her cool disappearing act. She puffed out her cheeks and blue hard on a leaf just as Blue Willow had, but to no avail. The tip of it lifted only a little and then settled back down.
The young pup tried again, blowing with all her might until her eyes crossed, but the leaf wouldn't budge. Sensing that it was time to leave, Kisu emerged from the outskirts to collect his daughter, and Saēna happily went with the babysitter (since there was no connection between him and herself in her mind), vowing to herself to try blowing the leaves again someday.