Ravensblood Forest get yourself a decent haircut, man

for @Chusi ! slight pp - let me know if you want me to change anything! <3 also, sorry if this post is poop. i wanted to get it up quick before bed

It had been a long time since Arturo had a child as a companion on a trip but it was easy enough to remind himself to take breaks along the way — for her to rest, nibble on whatever he could catch, or sate her thirst. He was anxious to usher Chusi into the safety of Teaghlaigh and to take her to meet Isley and Palisander but he had to take into account that she was still a kid and the trek probably wasn't as easy for her as it was him. Eventually, they progressed towards the borders that he and those he had gathered had marked and with a low sigh Arturo ushered the girl across and into his lands where visibly the hyper vigilant tension had eased from his shoulders. He didn't think anyone would pursue them, to get the girl back; it wasn't as if Arturo was stealing her. It had been Chusi's choice; and it hadn't even taken any persuasion from the gangster. Simply the initial offer.

“Here we are,” Arturo introduced to her, reclining back upon his haunches once they were inside Teaghlaigh's borders, fixing the girl in his fiery red-orange gaze. “I'll introduce you to the others a little later,” The gangster promised her and after a few seconds a small smile began to tug at the edges of his lips. “I hid a bone somewhere around here for you, just as I promised.” He encouraged with a 'go get it' gesture of his muzzle, the slight mischievous glint in his eyes demanding that she impress him with her scavenger hunting skills.

Tiny bit of pp for @Lotte, tell me if it's not okay!

Lotte had kept her promise and had helped Chusi prepare for the exciting day Uncle would come for her. She had said her goodbye's and had probably promised to visit at least 5 times. After she had given her older sister a big hug and had said goodbye to anyone watching. It wasn't long before she had scented Arturo and her little legs began sprinting. The journey was easy for the growing girl- it was nothing compared to her earlier travels. Sometimes she would even run ahead and ask if they were almost there yet. Every time the answer was no, but the scent of Arturo and Teaghlaigh soon filled the girl's nostrils. Her tail began wagging and she rushed over the border when Arturo's words were spoken. Finally! Uncle 'Turo had taken FOREVER!

She turned to face him and listen to what he had to tell- taking in the bleeding trees and the shadows the mountains cast on them. It was spooky, but kind off awesome, she found. There are others?! She exclaimed excitedly. More family! Friends! Still, his next sentence excited her much more. Her head spun from left to right a few times over- left paw lifted as she smelled the air. What did bone smell like? She hurried to Arturo and gave a cat-like nuzzle to his shoulder if he would let her. Thank ya!

She then sprinted over the dirt terrain- searching for anything that seemed out of place. She looked around trees, in a den of some random mr. Rabbit and under piles of leafs. Her obsidian pelt touched slightly by ash-like grays was already covered in a thick layer of dirt and tiny things one found in the forest when she saw something white- dirtied by the elements. Her eyes grew big. She hurried to it with quick steps (Actually having lost the way). There it was- a perfect bone her size, poorly buried under some leafs and dirt to perhaps make it a little easier for the child to find. She smirked. She nosed some dirt away and clawed at the earth until the bone was within her reach- picking it up carefully in her mouth. It sure had taken some time- but victory was hers now, and she couldn't wait to show 'Turo. Now... Where was she? 

no need to match the length, marie. i got a bit carried away with this, haha!

“Yes,” Arturo affirmed with a soft chuckle when she inquired about the others. Arturo allowed her to nuzzle his shoulder as she drew nearer — the affectionate gesture something of a stranger to the Fearghal monarch whom could not, for the life of him, remember if his children were ever so affectionate. Likely, they were, but growing into their own, blossoming into the adults they were today left them scoffing at the thought of gestures. Instead of spending much time pondering the past — which was the past —Arturo instead turned his to cherishing the now. He would cherish the time he got to watch Chusi grow up and the time he had to spend in shaping the woman she would become. It was an incredibly sad thing: to watch children grow up but it also inspired pride. Arturo had learned from his first litter to never take for granted the time his children were children for it went by so fast. He would remember it for his future litters. He would apply it to Chusi, too, despite that she was likely four to five months old. He wasn't sure specifics but they did not matter, really. She was still a child and for now, she would need him.

He watched as she disappeared into the thick, massive sequoias whose looming and goliath terrain swallowed her sylph figure soon. Arturo followed after her, his pace slow as to not aid nor give the impression that he thought she would not be able to find her bone. He had not hid it too terribly far, and though he'd made some effort to hide it he had not made it so hidden that the young child would not be able to find it. The point was for her to have the bone, after all. To strengthen her jaw and gums and to suckle the nutrients from the marrow to promote the strength and growth of her own. He followed her scent easily enough, her location given away as his ears cupped forth atop his crown as she dug to unearth her prize. Yet, presumably after she'd recovered her gift she did not come careening towards him as he expected and an idea came to the gangster.

He moved, adopting a slow pace, keeping his body low to promote stealth movement away from her scent trail. He left his own, sure, but there was an opportunity to offer her a lesson and Arturo planned to seize it. “A warrior lesson,” He informed her from the shadows. Arturo didn't ask her if she was ready for it — her enemies and opposition would surely not ensure her preparedness before attacking. He did not stay still, working to make his steps as light and quiet as he could. He was not a beast made for stealth. He did not believe in ambush: his enemies would know when and where he was coming from. Yet, others did not command that level of confidence or fear and Chusi as a warrioress would have to be able to respond to both.

“Those who oppose you will not always share the confidence nor command the fear required for a fair fight,” He informed her before he moved to another cover, settling quietly onto his belly, staring at her from within the shadows for a few moments. “They could ambush you. You must train yourself to expect it, to learn how to react to it.” He spoke before he rose to his paws and moved in an effort to avoid her detection. “Come find me,” The Ceannasach challenged her the smoky reticence to his low, deep voice demanded it. He moved towards the edge of a sequoia's shadow, his fiery red-orange gaze caught in a small sliver of sunlight long enough for her to see it before he withdrew deeper into the forest. “before I find you.” He warned though it was an empty threat. Chusi was safe with him. He would not harm her and not allow harm to befall her from anyone else. He wished to inspire a serious reaction and rise to his challenge within the girl as he took shelter in a thick, hollowed sequoia's trunk, hunkering down. The idea was to allow her to find him, having left a clear scent trail behind him. He did not seek to win this lesson inspired game, after all.

oml, I could never XD

The mere thought of meeting wolves who also followed Arturo was enough to get her excited. She wondered if they were all just as butterfly as almost everyone she had met so far. To be honest, the only ones she really didn't like were Sen and Doe- and even Doe she could stand. She hadn't done anything too awful, and perhaps as Chusi grew older she would better understand the gray lady's decision. For now, she didn't even know what winter was and what problems and obstacles it held- her being a child of Spring. Still, she felt the breeze coming off the waves clearer every day, becoming colder and her body shivering at night if no one was there to hold her tight. It was obvious the world around her was changing, but into what she couldn't tell.

She took the bone in between her teeth- gnawing on it a few times before her eyes darted around for Arturo. Still, the masked man was no where to be seen, and the enormous trees did a good job of hiding him from her. She lay down her prize, her brows furrowing. 'Turooo....? She whispered softly. Something was amiss, she could feel it. Then, the low voice of her caretaker reached her young ears. They flicked around trying to locate him, but the sound bounced off the hollow trees everywhere- making it really hard for such a young soul to do what she had taught herself. A lesson so soon? She listened carefully for more instructions, nosing her bone back in the hole to get it later when their lesson was over. She made sure to rub her scent all over it before Arturo's lesson actually began. 

Ambush? Why would anyone want to do that? she thought. A smirk appeared on her little face. Yeah, she'd find him alright. She moved swiftly into one of the hollow trees, pressing one ear on it's side. She soon found out that she had cornered herself this way and rushed with little nose out of hiding into the unknown. The empty threat just reached her ears, and her ears flicked toward it. She made sure to stay low- hiding in whatever cover she could find but avoiding the piles of leaves after finding out earlier they made a LOT of noise. Her nose almost touched the earth as she tried to track her uncle down, sniffing in his scent the moment she had wanted to give up. Now to follow it before it was too late...

It took an incredible amount of willpower to resist going to her when her soft whisper — drawing out the part of his name that Chusi could pronounce called out to him. Instinct demanded that he go to her, comfort her, assure her that he had not left. That he would never abandon her as her parents and those that had came before him with the exception of the lovely bard had. The paternal dominated part of his mind was horrified that he held to his intentions and kept moving, leading her away from the place she'd found her bone. To ignore her whisper asking for him in that soft, childish voice. Yet, to reveal himself to her would spoil the whole purpose of the lesson he deigned to teach her. Thus, Arturo pressed on with it.

His shoulders stiffened, his ears cupping forth atop his skull as he picked up her light footfalls against the bracken that covered the forest floor. Admittedly, Arturo could have made it harder for her  to find him but the intent was not yet to present that type of challenge for her. The goal still remained the same: she would find him without his intervention and accordingly, without him making it harder for her. Those lessons were for later when her skills improved. He remained low, tucked against the inside of the seqouias hollowed out trunk, waiting.

It was like a light popping on in her head as she sniffed in Arturo's familiar scent. It was so recent she just knew that this was the way he had gone, and this she had to follow. It wasn't like she hadn't followed a trail before anyway. This would be easy, she thought positively. She soon found out sneaking is better than dragging her growing body over the cold sand, and that was precisely what she did. Even she couldn't hear her own footfalls anymore- her agile frame not weighing enough to shake the earth under her too much. It was almost like flying, she found- like a little butterfly.

Her ears cupped forward- he was near. A tiny smirk was present on her face when she saw his darker pelt disappear between the huge trees. She calmed herself down, and sneaked a little faster- his scent the only thing the tiny girl was focused on. One step after the other, she approached the hollow tree he had hid himself in, weaving through a tiny crawlspace so she didn't have to go through the big opening and make a sneaky entrance. But, she had forgotten she wasn't so tiny anymore. Ufff... She let out as her butt got stuck.

Found yaaa... She breathed out awkwardly, panting and struggling to get free. 

It did not take Chusi too long to find him and this pleased the gangster. He heard her approach, his ears swiveling to the side, hackles ruffling along his spine as she stalked around to the back of the tree as opposed to going for the wide yawning mouth that he'd used. It unsettled him to have his back exposed though he inexplicably trusted her ...and there wasn't much damage she could do to him yet. Old habits died hard, though. He looked over his shoulder when he heard the rustling sound of her trying to squeeze her body through a smaller gap at the back of the trunk, watching as the light diminished as she slid in and then stopped with a soft grunt.

Arturo moved and turned so that he was facing her in full when she let out a breathy exclamation to finding him as she struggled to free herself. She was stuck, Arturo realized. The Ceannasach's lips twitched upwards in amusement and his fiery gaze rested intently upon her as a laugh rumbled in his chest and bubbled up his throat to where it spilled from betwixt his lips. For a moment he allowed himself the amusement of his young ward's situation before he extended his muzzle towards her with the intent of offering her a gentle nudge to her smaller muzzle. “Calm yourself, Chusi.” He advised her in his deep, calm, accented timber. “Take a deep breath. Stop struggling. Still yourself so you can try to determine the best way to get out of your predicament.” Arturo instructed her calmly. “Panic will only make it worse.”

the mission had been to found Arturo, not hurt him or playfully attack. Chusi was not one to follow orders easily, but she took training very seriously. That Arturo was willing to take her under his wing and train her to become not just a butterfly of the coast- but a warrior of it was enough to make her listen. If only her biological mother had done something like this- she perhaps wouldn't have left with poor, poor Zephyr... Still, this was much better than home! Well, she supposed this was her home now. The bleeding trees would be the things her sleepy eyes would fall on every night and morning- they would call her name forever from now on, like the wet winds of the sea.

Her ocher eyes fell on an amused, masked face and she made an angry pout face. It wasn't her face her butt was too big for the stupid tree! Still, the thought of a small wolf stuck in a tree made her giggle too, and soon she was laughing along with 'Turo. When he moved toward her, she breathed out happily. I am perfectly calm... She said in defense, though she really hadn't been at all. She wiggled her behind and clawed gently at the ground with all four paws. With stretched forelimbs she made a weird move- setting her body free and rolling into the hollow space with an "uufff". It wasn't the most graceful landing of her young life, but at least she was free and with her Arturo now. She grinned up at him, quite proud of what she had achieved so far.

She moved for the bigger opening this time, posing in between the sides with a confident smile. And now ya gotta find meh! She giggled and ran off as quietly as possible for her.

She struggled against the dirt, pushing in an attempt to heave herself through the gap instead of trying to squeeze herself back out the way she'd came into it. Arturo almost told her to stop, to try backing out of the gap instead of continuing through with trying to fit through it, but the moment Ceannasach's lips parted to speak she had pulled herself through with enough force to send her forward with a rather ungraceful tumble into the wide berth of the hollowed out trunk. Arturo moved quickly out of her projected path to avoid having her slam into him on accident, and let out a low rumble of a chuckle, shaking his head. “Are you alright-” Was all he managed to get out before she giggled that it was his turn to find her and ran off, attempting to mask her quiet, flurried footfalls. “-Chusi.” He'd lost the momentum of his question and her name came out softly, as to not call her back. Admittedly, he had not intended for the lesson to be turned onto him. He was not an ambush fighter. His enemies knew when and where the brawl would take place. He fought on his own terms. Still, he didn't particularly see the harm in indulging her. He rose to his paws and followed the scent trail she'd left in her wake, his pace slowed as to give her a fair chance to hide from him. She was still a child, after all, and Arturo imagined she very much enjoyed playing games still.

Perhaps it hadn't been the smartest move to follow through with trying to fit into the gap instead of backing back out, but Chusi was stubborn. Soon she'd have to accept that her body was growing rather rapidly, but for now any tiny crawlspace wasn't off-limits. Maybe being small had its good side as well... Still, she couldn't wait to grow up and defend Teaglaigh with all she had in store. As she tumbled in, almost hitting Arturo if he hadn't stepped away, it didn't hurt that bad. Only her back knees were sore from squeezing into the tiny hole, but that wasn't going to stop her.

After she had announced the beginning of another game, ignoring the soft words her caretaker spoke and not pausing to say she was okay, she ran off. She was planning to go back to her bone, but an idea flashed through her young mind. She had rubbed her scent all over that place! She could make it seem like she was there while in reality she'd be hiding in one of the giant openings. She smirked while running as noiseless as she could manage, tracking her own scent and following it until she was almost there. She suddenly changed course and set her sights on a tinier "cave" inside one of the trees. She hurried to it and flopped her bottom on the ground once there, ocher eyes scanning for any movement.

The girl's newly appointed teagascóir and guardian followed after her leisurely, allowing her the chance to keep her head start and to successfully hide from him. Play was so important for children and Arturo knew this. It helped to develop the skills they would need in their lives. Though Chusi had flipped the tables on him, and despite that he frowned upon guerrilla style warfare fervently and that, in truth, he did not need a lesson in awareness and being able to act upon a potential ambush he allowed her to turn herself into the mentor and he, the pupil. No doubt being able to look at it from all angles would help her in the long run. Not to mention the Fearghal monarch struggled to say no to her.

Arturo followed her scent, finding that it led back to the clearing he'd hidden her bone where her scent was the strongest. The girl had rubbed her scent all over the burial spot of her bone, probably so she did not lose it, which he silently commended to himself before he took a moments pause to allow his fiery, red-orange gaze sweep over the clearing. It was obvious she did not linger here and the Ceannasach bowed his head and drew in her scents, the older and the newer, deciphering them until the freshest one was found. He followed it, and found that it led him towards a tree. It's hollowed out cavern was small and shadowed within. He did not try to squeeze himself in there, lingering at it's mouth.

“That was very good, Chusi. Using your older scents in an effort to throw me off your trail.” Arturo praised her, the smoky reticence of his deep, low accented voice laced with his pride. Perhaps someday he would teach her to conceal her tracks, out of necessity, to keep her from being hunted as he'd worried that the mysterious brute that had attacked Isley had done.

Luckily this opening was big enough for her still small frame to fit, otherwise she would've been stuck again. With some struggling she was in- now all she had to do was wait. She nosed the dirt around, trying to find anything that could hold her interest and attention for more than 3 seconds. It was dark in there, and she really didn't feel comfortable. It was like the den all over again. Nervously her ears flicked from side to side. It was too late to change her hiding place- especially when she heard the footfalls of uncle 'Turo.

She stuck her head out of the opening, eyes sparkling with pride when he said she had done well. Before she could open her mouth to say something, she yawned- her mouth wide open to reveal her sharp teeth. All this excitement had made her rather tired, but never would she admit it herself. She hurried out of her hiding place and nuzzled up against Arturo if he would let her. This is fuhn, 'Turo. She let out with another yawn. I can't wai' to meet the others.

Wrap up with your post? Feel free to pp 'Turo as needed. <3

His ears swiveled to the side as he heard her yawn from the shadows moments before she came from her hiding place, melting out from the shadows that had previous concealed her. He gave her a knowing look though she did not speak of her exhaustion, instead nuzzling up against him. The gangster welcomed his young ward's embrace, bowing his head down to brush his muzzle softly against her crown, drawing his tongue affectionately against it as a father would give the top of his daughter's head a kiss. “I will try to make our future lessons as fun as this,” It would take some planning but it was nice to have it confirmed that he was not rusty at being a father. It was an awakened instinct that he would never be rid of, regardless of how many children he had, nor how grown up they were. “You can meet them later,” He promised her, the smoky reticence of his voice soft. “You should rest. Come on, gather your bone and I will show you where I sleep.” He encouraged her, taking a step back and gesturing with his muzzle.

She placed her head on his shoulder, softly running her nose through his soft fur that smelled as much like the sea as she did. Again a fluttering feeling overwhelmed her- like tiny butterflies tickling the inside of her belly. It was a weird but nice feeling, and only being with Arturo could make her feel like this. She didn't know what is it was, having never been told about love or mateship, but she dearly hoped to forever be by his side. Yeeesshhh..... She let out softly, almost ready to fall asleep right then and there. Alrighty. She answered to both his questions, removing herself from him and padding to where she had left her Gift. 

She came back not so very later, the bone stuck between her teeth. Her eyelids were half-closed and she padded to Arturo's side, following him silently. She was too tired to talk, and as soon as they got to the place Arturo used as a den, she fell asleep against him almost immediately.