Dragoncrest Cliffs ask yourself

Closing in quickly on her seventh week, Opalia had grown considerably and quite comfortably in such a short time. Bigger, steadier, and generally more to her in mind and body alike, it was with each week that she progressed further towards some semblance of who she may become. While her worldview still remained blissfully small, comprised of the den, its immediate reach, her litter-mates, parents, older sister, and the handful of other adult wolves she glimpsed at on occasion.. she swiftly found herself captivated by the sheer possibilities--the open spaces, the vast skies ahead, and all beyond--whenever she could catch a peek at them.

 
As per the routine she knew best, their father had returned to the den with food, appropriately distributed it among any willing hungry mouths, and she had been hassled long enough for a quick bath.. Once she was done and freed, all clean, fed, and awake, Opalia was feeling keen to escape the immediate radar of her parents' attentions .. for only a moment or two, if she could. As she loitered just around the den doorstep's reach, she held to hope that maybe her siblings would be keeping them busy somehow, or that at least, she could proceed uninterrupted. In reality, her dad already had eyes on her.. but so as she she stayed close, he wasn't worrying.

In her head it all seemed like a grander scheme than it truly was. Her little voyage went practically nowhere in the end. All within reach, she had trotted but a few lengths away and immediately found herself a warm patch of sunny grass there to go sprawl on. She didn't need to test the boundaries majorly to keep herself busy today, it seemed, but doing something all on her own certainly pleased her. 

Stretching out as far as she could, she rolled around, growled a bit (happy growls though), and nipped at some blades of grass. More than anything, she simply soaked up the sunshine--just happy to be out here in it.

While Opalia was keen to evade their watchful parents, she seemed to have dismissed the curiosity of her brother. Dacio observed her quietly and from a comfortable distance, half-hidden among the longer grasses just beyond the den's mouth and nosing at rogue stalks.

His relationship with the girls was mostly rocky, as Dacio was often too bold for his own good. He was always all up in their business, poking his nose where he wasn't wanted and never learning his lesson. Despite knowing that pushing Opalia and Sequoia too far would result in a squabble, Dacio continued to venture into dangerous territory. 

He crept out of hiding when his blonde litter-mate flopped on the ground, and tip-toed toward her with a careful stride. When the opportunity presented itself, Dacio stepped directly over her and dropped like a dead weight on top of her with a satisfied "hmph!.

Very content to bury her face in the grass, breath deep, and enjoy a good stretch and roll, she had begun to lower her guards when a sterling brother of hers came creeping to interrupt. She should have known, really, and should have bothered to mind for a few moments longer if she truly expected a clear pass at no interruptions. Dacio, and if not him, Sequoia, were always here or there or at least nearby when it came to the gold-tinted goufa's bubble. She was almost always in their company to some degree and it was usually quite how she wanted it to be; they meant familiarity, security, and a warm cozy spot just for her. But they also meant competition, and attitudes separate from her own that didn't always align perfectly with what she wanted or how she wanted it. Such was life, though, and oh the joys of siblings... Opalia, consumed with enjoying the grass, was seconds away from being an unsuspecting victim of one such joy.

When pancaked beneath the whole weight of her brother, she shrieked as any indignant little girl ought to. "AIEEHHH," she squealed. Surprised, then irritated, she tried to at least roll herself to be paws up at him. If not, she'd have to try   worming out of there somehow before he flattened her entirely, jeez, and of course she was quite happy to overreact about such disservice. She wasn't outweighed by very much or really even all that squished. The notion still stood however: "UGH," she rallied back with, kicking at him and trying to wiggle all around to unseat his flopped self.

As expected, Opalia screamed in outrage. Dacio sprawled out over her back, pushing down heavily on her shoulders in attempt to prevent her from flipping over and assaulting him with teeth and claws. Still, the girl writhed around on the ground and her bold brother grinned wickedly in his success at besting her so swiftly. 

He rooted a dark paw on the ground, trying to maintain balance and prevent himself being face-planted among the grass. In doing so, however, Dacio accidentally allowed his blonde sibling a chance to slip out from beneath him, and he scrambled in the dirt to gather himself. Not quick enough to avoid retaliation Opalia delivered a swift kick to his ribs, to which he uttered an "Oof!" and made to roll onto his side. He guiltily lifted his stormy eyes, certain that the other cub would round on him for the offence he caused, and braced himself for attack.

He didn't make it easy. But, when he did ever? Exasperated quickly by such dismay, when she was finally free enough to kick free of him, it came like a breath of fresh air. Opalia used this brand new motivation to pull herself up with an awkward spring forward. While loathe to leave the grasses and the nice refreshing roll and yoga-stretch she had been enjoying, suddenly, giving her brother a taste of his own medicine was priority.

She let loose a little yip of a battle cry and pounced back at him front-paws first--though she stopped just short of him sort of clumsily with her sassiest tail whip added too. "'CIOOO!" she complained in his face, because why not? She then sprang around him if he allowed, then reared up and cannon-ball jumped on him from behind.

As expected, Opalia turned on him. With determination in her stride and the lash of her tail, the blonde youngster swung around and made a mock lunge in his direction. Dacio held his breath then, squeezing his eyes shut as he braced himself for impact by curling closer to himself, but the only wrath he faced was the shriek of her voice.

It was grating, and the ashen cub laced his charcoal ears back against his crown in attempt to dull the noise as he found himself blinking up at her in surprise. Opalia scampered around him then and, as he shook his head and tried to decipher why she'd so obnoxiously screamed in his face, her weight was upon his hindquarters.

He yipped, unfurling like a viper to twist among the grass and aim to grip the closest part of her between fierce milk teeth in retaliation. Dacio had submitted to his sister's for two long, he decided, despite always being the one to push their buttons.

The pale daughter was easily ignited by her mild displeasure, so fell swift into the role of retaliation now that she had half a reason to. It was these motions that she surged after him with, instinctively trying to get any second's worth of advantage she could.

She pounced, he yipped accordingly, but as she followed through, her defense suffered teeth on her forelimb somewhere before she could even bask in the satisfaction of getting him back at all. Opalia yelped out too, of course, and keeping true to giving him back what he sent her way, she tried to bite at his ears. Trying to pull away without getting his teeth off would just make this worse.. so she had to harass him back. Nothing too mean, but she knew he wouldn't like it--she wouldn't.

His jaws found her forelimb and pointy millk teeth sought to hold fast. Dacio gripped tight and success caused his chest to swell, though it was short-lived. The quick-thinking Opalia always seemed to be one step ahead of him and, instead of shrieking and trying to pull away from her brother's attempt at over-powering her, she set about bothering him in ways he hadn't anticipated.

Her fangs found the delicate, tender flesh of a charcoal lobe and, crying out in surprise, he released his hold of the girl's blonde leg. He made to duck away from her, which caused her to tug at his ear and inflict greater pain. "No like!" Dacio cried out, the words followed by a series of soft whimperings emitted with the sole intention of getting an adult's attention as he rose a dark forepaw and reached out to bat Opalia's tufted chest.

Opalia's rewarded just enough so that she could get free from his teeth--so, success! But, this wasn't entire freedom yet. As if his pointy bits weren't enough, her harassing just made him loud now too. The pale goufa flattened her ears and backed off promptly, leaning away from him and shutting her own mouth, nipping effectively ceased. His foot on her chest, and his whimpering seeming a little extra needy to her, she didn't like that either..

In no mood to be reprimanded for dishing out everything he deserved, she made it very clear she wasn't doing it (or anything) anymore--especially if an older wolf was already coming to check on mister drama queen. As soon as she thought she caught onto him, she shot him a side-eyed look, and lowered her head submissively..even lifting her lips in a grimace that meant to signal her white flag. Enough--especially if he was going to be a squealer about it, jeez....

He whimpered and whined, pitiful, but eager to show the adults that he had not been at fault despite his initiation. Dacio crouched low, ultimately flopping onto his side with a paw still pressed firmly on Opalia's chest to keep her from further harrassment - a dramatic display that was surely spectacular enough to make his mother realise that he was the victim in this scuffle.

No adult came to his aid, probably because the blonde Goufa admitted defeat with a submissive dip of her crown and a flash of teeth. It was then that Dacio, satisfied she would no longer assault his sensitive ears, released her and curled his forelimb close to his chest. He eyed her, still suspicious, even as he carefully gathered himself to move away with a tucked tail to content himself elsewhere.

She didn't feel like she could glare at him and roll her eyes at the same time hard enough to express how his theatrics made her feel, but once she backed off and the whimpers stopped, some of the tension over this diffused through her quickly. It didn't mean she was thrilled about any of it, but, acceptance was gradually settling in as well. Most of all, she was just able to be glad the whining stopped, even if it meant her brother got what he wanted out of her: this current ceasefire.

Thankfully no scolding followed, and while not exactly thanks to the best approach, she did get her brother to move away from her eventually in the end here. She slowly lifted her head to watch him move off, though she couldn't tell what was his exact goal was in it--which was fine! Opalia, stubbornly, stuck her nose up at his direction and would be on her own way too then if that was how it very obviously was. She picked herself up, gave a shake, huffed loudly, and trotted off for elsewhere--opposite him.