"i'm gonna go see the babies," chani told chiro, astera, and ravin. "bring them, umm, a flower!" the idea of bringing gifts to her cousins and aunt was a nice one, and so without waiting for anyone, chani bit away stem of sea lavender and dashed off.
she arrived in the tangle with no flower but coated in petals; she squirmed her way among the thorns and soon reared up, putting her paws on the edge of the hollow. "bonjour!" she squealed down at them, tail wriggling excitedly. "ask you maman can you come and play!"
The babies! With a start, Astera realized that she had not been spending much time with the new puppies. Gently picking an iris, she followed after her sister, tail high. Astera carefully crawled into the hollow, leaving scarce pieces of fur clinging to the thorns. She placed the flower down next to the pups with a wag of her tail. Ya! See if you can come out an play!
sound was still new to sobeille. she wrestled with the implications of its presence in her life. each day it attenuated, broke down, reformed. today a snarl of noise outside had her whip her head around, focusing on the bright faces of two relatives she instinctively registered as her own clade members.
she rose in a toddler’s drunken way, thick legged and confident despite her assured lack of control in the world. lavender and salt laced the air as she began her climb out of the hollow. any moment now she expected her progress to be impeded, but damn if she wasn’t going to play!
oh! astera was with her, and chani squealed with delight as one of the smallest children tried to join them. tante caught the girl, then set her down between the daughters of chacal.
chani kissed the little face and ears with great merriness; "ou tankou yon papiyon!" the girl chortled.
The smallest emerged from the den. She was a chubby little pup, with a confident and persistent air to her. Awww... you're so little! Astera offered the flower to Sobeille, hoping the pup would accept the gift.
picked up like a little feather, sobeille squealed in delight as she was propped between chani and astera. her head bobbed as both swam arrestingly into view.
with no command over language just yet, all she could muster in response was a parroted YON!
before a flower was held in front of her.
sobeille’s eyes widened in gluttonous interest. she had never wanted for anything more than how she pined for that flower. reaching her little paws in front of her, sobeille screamed in the universal shriek that was toddler speak for ‘gimme!’.
"give it!" chani urged astera, giggling uproariously as their little cousin screamed for the bloom. she didn't think she had ever heard someone so loud!
she formed an instinctive blockade for the littlest one, pretending to dig in the dirt with a little crow. "look! look! we lookin' for treasure!"
Sorry for the wait, gonna be my last post, as this is quite old.
Oh god. That tiny gremlin was loud! Astera dropped the flower, startled. She watched Chani's pretend play with interest, joining in the game shortly. Still young, it was only a matter of time till Astera lost her interest, resigning herself to abandoning the fun, and returning to the den with a yawn.
the bloom! miette watched as it was dropped, pouncing upon it with a gluttonous cackle. all hers! hers!
she shoved it in her mouth. her nose wrinkled as the pungent smell and taste overcame her senses. pffaht
crumpled petals fell to the ground as she spat out the flower, now entertained by chani's eager digging in the sand.
miette fell to her belly and wormed her way alongside chani, wet nose inquisitively scouring the sand as she dug gregariously alongside chani. she did not notice astera had left, but eventually she too would tire, and would flop into the hole they'd dug with a yawn. the sand felt cool and inviting on her belly.
before long, small snores sounded from the tiny burrow.