once more silkie finds himself at the mouth of hougeda. the morning is overcast and the day's heat had yet to reach it's peak. it was still hot, the air thick with moisture of a recent rain to boot. and though he peers curiously into the redwood forest nearby he stays where he is. something in his gut warns him that unless he's got an adult escort it's safer to stay close to hougeda ...probably safer to stay in the cavern but silkie's endlessly curious about the world. or perhaps, more specifically, the claimed territory of drageda. the rabbit leg he'd carried out with him is remembered suddenly, briefly forgotten in lieu of his excitement at the smells that lingered after a fresh rain. a droplet of rain water rolls off a large leaf where silkie has taken shade and lands on the crown of his head. for a moment it startles him from his breakfast, and the rise of his head bumps into the leaf and forces several more droplets to roll free and splash upon his muzzle and nose.

content that he was not being drooled on by something larger than himself silkie returns to his rabbit leg and strips it of flesh and meat, small chunks of carrion clinging to his — once — pristine whiskers where the blood now stains the sides of his muzzle and his chin a rogue red. when the bone is clean he clamps it beneath both front paws and begins to eagerly chew on it, teeth carving into it effortlessly, suckling the bone marrow — which had became his favorite part of worrying bones — with each bite.

it's easy enough for silkie to tune out bat as she splashes around somewhere nearby in puddles. he enters a single minded focus as he worries his bone, akin to the focus he displays while chasing after some poor, small woodland creature that happens to be unfortunate enough to cross his path. silkie's not a great hunter and though the instincts to chase are purely innocent and fun-filled for now, they ultimately prepare him to become the apex predator he is ...or will be. silkie is so focused on his bone that he doesn't even notice that the splashing has ceased. he hears the joyous cry of his name, evidenced by the twitch and cup of an ear but he doesn't notice that bat draws nearer until he sees her pounce a few feet in front of him. silkie's head is angled down and away and he catches her movement out the corner of his eye.

he blinks up at her, bone temporarily forgotten just in time to hear her question. she butt wiggles him, her body poised in a play bow. the young dragonling's eyes light up with the prospect of play but he's slightly perturbed by her mention of the word 'bath'. bath? oh no. abort mission. he sees wildfire nearby — a shock of flaming reds against the green and browns of the world around them — and he swipes his tongue across his jowls again as his ears flutter back to rest at half mast against his skull in lieu of answering his sister right away. "no," silkie attempts to reassure bat quickly, hopefully before their mom decides that he does, indeed, need a bath. silkie's not overly fond of baths and will go above and beyond in attempts to avoid them.

silkie rises to his feet, his bone abandoned beneath the curling leaf he'd taken shelter beneath and prances closer to bat. "whaddya wanna play?" he inquires with a wag of his tail.

crisis averted. ...somewhat. silkie might have managed to change the topic of conversation from the dreaded bath word yet bat somehow manages to wrangle him into water nevertheless. silkie asked her preference for a game though and thus feels the heavy weight of obligation to indulge bat and predictably she chooses something that pertains to water. it hasn't fallen out of the observant dragonling's notice that bat has a thing for water. silkie isn't judgemental: they were all individuals and they all liked different things. bat's thing was water. silkie's thing was naps and chasing unlucky beasties that sometimes he caught and ate and sometimes he didn't. her damp paw hits him in the shoulder and silkie lets out a small grunt. it didn't hurt; the sound was more instinctual as if he anticipated the smart more than anything.

bat's enthusiasm is infectious and silkie catches it quickly. he bounds after her, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as she begins to splash. he pauses a bit away from the pool of water, eyeing the berth between him and it thinking he could make that jump. he butt wiggles bat. if she wants a splash fight then a splash fight she would get. without further warning he launches himself at the water, hoping to make a decent if not good splash when he lands.

silkie hears bat's cackle over the sloshing of the water. there's a smugness to the set of the pale dragonling's shoulders that makes it's way to his lips where they curl into a lopsided grin at his darkest sister as he blinks away the droplets of water that clung to his lashes. he gives a slight shiver, as he itches to dispel the heavy weight of the water as causes his fur to cling ( probably unattractively ) to his body. he has yet to make the transition from pudgy cupcake to lean beefcake ...not that it perturbs silkie. there's a casual and childish disregard to his general appearance, if the constant state of mussed and windswept fur he typically sports is of any indication.

he watches the water tug and pull around their legs, looking up at bat suddenly when she announces that the bloodstain was going away ...and doesn't see her paw rise up and fling towards him out of the water until it's too late and she smacks him. silkie recoils back, blinking furiously as his brain tries to process it. it smarts where her paw connected with his nose. "ow." the reaction is a beat too late and even as silkie makes himself go crosseyed in an attempt to look down his muzzle at his nose the smarting has begun to fade. honestly, silkie — beyond being startled at first — isn't even perturbed by it. "jeez bat," silkie ribs her lightly. "tryna smack my nose off my face." he teases with a deep belly laugh because being snooted by his sister was funny and silkie is far too laid-back to take any sort of offense to it even if it hadn't been ( and he was fairly sure that it was entirely ) an accident.

silkie's gaze takes in bat's facial expression as his sister, full of lively energy seconds before her paw made contact with his muzzle, froze. his ears taper back to rest at half mast atop his skull as his eyes keep their focus upon her with wild concern. it hadn't been that big of a deal in silkie's books. it'd been an accident — done in play. accidents happened all the time and it took a lot for silkie to be offended by his siblings. "i know," silkie assures her, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as she appears to unfreeze. "nope!" he crows in response to her pain question. it was true despite that he threw their mother a quick, concerned look. she seemed otherwise occupied and really, there wasn't any need to draw wildfire into it. "c'mon," He prances in place in the puddle. "let's keep playin'!" now that the small setback was taken care of and in the past.

bat seemed willing to accept silkie's reaffirmations that he was fine ( really, he was ) and that there was no reason to feel bad ( it'd been an accident after all ). his begging was a success as his darker sibling gives off an casual laugh that echoes around them. silkie's muscles tense as he watches bat launch herself at him and though he tries to scramble out of the way she collides with him and wrestles him to the ground. right smack into the puddle. he's already damp from splashing in it moments ago but it rushes around him as he lets out a fit of laughter punctuated by play growls and yips as he snaps his teeth at her with the same level of playfulness as the noises he makes as he tries to gain the upper hand so that she is rolling around in the puddle instead.