Lost Creek Hollow to be calm, when you've found something going on

liffey and rannoch had fled the coop, which sucked for whichever sibling was tasked for watching sionnach -- because the girl was not having it.

it was bad enough her parents thought they could just leave whenever they wanted, but to leave without taking her? sionnach was besides herself. already an ill-tempered sprite when she didn't have her way, sionnach was especially stormy today -- after chasing irritably after whatever unfortunate littermate happened to be nearby, sionnach stole to the mouth of the den and marched for the rendezvous, ignoring any call meant to summon her back by her older siblings.

Thoughts of her family back at Elysium clouded her mind as she tried to hunker down for a nap, leading to Ibis becoming more introspective and sad than she intended. She did not mean to wallow. The girl was naturally quite emotional though, and the reunion had left her with a mix of feelings she couldn't fully decypher. She needed to get her messages to her father but was still dwelling on the events at each of her stops, digesting them as best she could, only to get stuck on Elysium.

She knew she missed her mothers, her friends there, the beauty of the territory — but here in the Hollow she had purpose, and she had her father. But her father had some new kids to watch out for and a wife. Ibis was old enough to decide what to do with her own life but it felt wrong to consider her options. Everyone else was so happy with the way things were, why had she suddenly become so withdrawn and gloomy over it? Maybe she missed what used to be, but even then — Seabreeze and Terance had not gotten along; to the point that her mother had taken the children away and the pair had split, so. How could she desire something as tragic as that, and not feel bad about herself?

Ibis shook her head lightly to try and get the thoughts out, and plonked her chin on her crossed forelimbs where she lay. She was too involved with her own internal drama to notice the noise of the children in their den nearby; they were always very loud, these kids. Maybe every litter was the same, she wouldn't know. Beyond the shrieking of their little voices was the shifting of the trees from gusts of wind, drawing together grey clouds that caused a white-out of the sky. Everything seemed so gloomy — and by happenstance, she glanced up in time to see a pale bundle with a sunny face roaming closer and closer, so she sat up to watch them as a dutiful adult, but found it hard to focus as Sionnach came in to view.

it would come to no surprise to anyone who knew sionnach that she did not stop once she heard her parents calling for her. her steps only became more emboldened as the insolent whelp tread further from them. thinking she had managed to give the parents the slip since their calls had faded, sionnach instead was prompted with a rather rude awakening -- there was a babysitter outside, too!

what the frick! the girl cast a glance behind her, scowling and peering into the den where her parents were housed, and had retreated rather smugly once they saw ibis outside. affronted by this sneaky transfer of ownership, sionnach turned back towards ibis with a suspicious glare. since she was "not puppy age" she was lumped in the same category as the rest of the unfun adults: certified fun police.

sniffing suspiciously, sionnach stood up primly, too self-absorbed to realize the rather forlorn construction of her packmate. expecting some sort of order, the girl cast ibis an unruly glance and then ignored her, showing she was going to do whatever the heck she wanted, consequences be damned.

Ibis could smell hints of Aengus in the air - and that made sense, as the large boy was rarely far from his siblings - but she didn't see the roly-poly boy when she began to search the surroundings for him. Instead she caught sight of the pale girl again and, as a sign that she was paying attention, she rolled to her belly and sprawled in the green. The child didn't come any closer but Ibis watched as she lifted her chin and took on a defiant posture. Ibis wasn't sure what to make of her — and she didn't want to disturb the child if she didn't desire company — so she didn't call out (much as she wished to) or invite her to play a game (which Ibis expected all children were keen to do); instead she lazed and sprawled, sinking deeper in to her own emotions.

never in sionnach's life had an adult treated her with indifference. she paused, sizing ibis up with the hairiest eyeball she could manage. sure, her mom occasionally pretended to ignore her when she was exceptionally bratty, but sionnach knew it was fake ... but this... it seemed like the real deal.

sionnach snorted derisively and made a big fuss of turning her attention elsewhere, but all the while she had ibis in her peripherals. once she was sure ibis was completely and totally unenthused by her presence, the girl bolted for the underbrush where she had been explicitly told by adults to never go in.

She was content to lay and to wallow for a bit, but there was a jolt of motion as the gold of the girl's face streaked alongside Ibis and in to the woods. Startled by the sudden movement, Ibis sat up and then rose to her feet, cocking her head a bit in confusion as she tried to determine where the child had gone off to. A part of her wondered if maybe one of their parents had been nearby and garnered their attention - and so Ibis backtracked a few feet, looking around as if she were playing hide-and-seek until she spotted the obscured figures of adults nearer to the den. They seemed preoccupied, and there was no creamsicle child among them.

With a huff Ibis turned around and began to investigate the trail the girl had left. She wasn't the best tracker nor did she have any natural sense of direction, but neither would the child - and moreso, Sionnach wasn't stealthy. Her trail was apparent even to the inexperienced scout, so Ibis made sure to follow the route left behind and trailed cautiously through the densely packed Hollow, curious of what she might find.

oh gods no, sionnach was not stealthy. she had all the stealth of a pig wading through a track of mud. she was about as incognito as the criminal impression of a cat pawprint on a freshly baked pie; she would be easy to stalk even for a wolf with the visual mastery of a bat.

marching off through the undergrowth, sionnach mistakenly believed she was alone. she paused with a snort as she saw a slant of light spill through the arms of an oak. beneath it, in the shaft of brilliant yellow pylons, there was a large toad-stool.. it looked as if was sitting there for eons, waiting for sionnach to discover it. she gasped delightedly at her discovery and started a rough canter towards it.

As she emerged in to glimmering light she was temporarily blinded, and the sharp contrast of slanting sunlight through sullied boughs of green left a smattering of dots burned in to her vision that Ibis hastily tried to blink away; combine this with her attempted stalking gait, and you've set yourself up for a blunder. She emerged in to the hidden grotto with the staccato sound of Sionnach's racing steps to guide her.

When she finally managed to get a good look at the cream-coated girl, Ibis wondered what had caught her attention and picked up her pace. She joined the child within moments, not really thinking about how they might react to being followed. They were young; it was Ibis' duty to keep an eye on these kids whether they liked it or not, but she was also a pushover, and didn't want any of them to grow up disliking her. 

Then she caught sight of the toadstool just beyond Sionnach's slim figure, and called out — Wait! Don't touch it! With the slim hope that she would be obeyed. If Ibis had learned anything during her time within the Hollow, it was that not all plants were good, and she'd certainly never forayed in to the study of fungus, so she couldn't say for certain if it was a worthy toy or a death-trap to be avoided.

the little babe bounded through sundappled shade, eyes fixed on the bulbous shroom ahead. ibis' call of caution went unheeded, and only further sped sionnach's hasty errand. with a delighted growl the girl pounced upon the swollen entree, seizing it in her mouth and then bearing it aloft like a coveted prize..

only to immediately spit it out -- PFFLEW!! her features contorted into primal disgust, and the girl stuck her tongue out and squinted as the acrid taste awashed her senses.

The girl child might not have heard Ibis, but she felt like she'd been loud enough with her shout that her words ought to have carried; it didn't dawn on her yet that Sionnach might've been ignoring the warning on purpose until Ibis had caught up to her position. She watched as Sionnach grabbed one of the shrooms fleshy tops and ripped it free of the earth, only to spit it out again and glare with her tongue hanging out of her muzzle.

Oh, you stupid girl I told you — Ibis found herself huffing and puffing, speaking sharply for the first time probably ever. She didn't really take in to account how she sounded or what she was saying, feeling flustered and a bit panicked at the thought of the child becoming ill from the plant. As she hastened over to the disposed remains of the funghi she nudged it with her nose, sniffed at it, and pressed the tip of her tongue to the surface - but then she got the same taste, and recoiled.

Ibis looked to the girl in the next second, frowning at first and then sighing, trying to relax so that she didn't stress the child out. The last thing she wanted was a hysteric little girl on her hands. I'm sorry, you can't just run around munching things. There are dangerous plants around here - and I have no idea what might happen to you now. Was the kid old enough to understand? Either way, Ibis hoped the tone of her warning sank in. It was up to Ibis to keep an eye on Sionnach now in case there were any side-effects.

ibis was unfortunately deliberately ignored, a fact that sionnach had yet to regret despite how repugnant the mushroom had tasted. "EEUW!" sionnach bayed, scraping her tongue against her upper teeth with a grimace of disgust. the taste still clung to her senses, vile and bitter and alltogether way too at home in her mouth.

up until this point ibis had been fairly friendly -- or at least, not unfriendly -- so the harshness in the girl's tone caused sionnach to sit upright and regard ibis the way a child might sneakily (and alarmingly, predatorily) regard an adult they underestimated, or how a sly crow might watch the silent flight of an owl. her squint became a full on hyper-critical scowl, not even lifting as ibis too tested the mushroom and recoiled immediately. "stupid girl!" sionnach rallied scornfully, rising to steady limbs with a pompous flick of her tail. i know you are, but what am i???

The girl's ears pinned when the cub repeated her little shout, and Ibis knew she had screwed up, but couldn't exactly take the moment back. The taste slowly ebbed from her tongue and she wondered if any lasting effects would surface, but if they did they'd hit Sionnach first - so Ibis kept her attention trained on the feisty little brat, trying to be patient while keeping her worries contained. She wanted to explain the dangers of eating random plants to the girl, but Ibis didn't know how to make her listen - clearly such discipline hadn't been bred in to her.

Ibis huffed softly and kicked the broken chunks of mushroom away, destroying the fey circle and scattering the bits and pieces among the grass. Yes, yes, I was stupid too. I'm sorry for yelling, she half-heartedly explained although, the tone of her voice was more exasperated than regretful. There are some dangerous plants out here and if you eat the wrong one, you'll die. You'll go to sleep forever, and you'll be like --- like the dry hunks of meat in the ground. It was a grim image to paint for someone so young but it was the only thing Ibis could think of to get her point across. She looked to Sionnach sharply after that, hoping to impress upon her the seriousness - but figuring she'd fail. Imagine that! Your brothers and sisters playing together, but not you! You'd be gone.

sionnach's sly expression did not soften as ibis apologized. if anything, it seemed to take on an animal cunning -- for she had learned long ago how to manipulate adults. while her skills in that regard were roughshod at best, eventually she would be without equal.


so, sionnach accepted the apology with an airy, almost frosty indifference -- a gesture that was of course meant to spear and sting ibis' confidence. a scoff was given as ibis continued to explain her reasons why she had been short; while sionnach was not actually offended, she was smart enough to try to use her feigned affront to her advantage. glancing casually at the mushroom that had been strewn about by ibis' hand, sionnach could not help but pip: "we should bring some back for aengus."

whoops! had that just slipped from her mouth? she blinked innocently, a cherubic smile sunning her features. surely an angel such as she had no idea what she had just said, right?

Judging by the lack of reaction she was experiencing (lacking?), and the fact that Sionnach wasn't affected at all either, made Ibis feel a little better. She missed the shifty nature of the girl's expression as she finished pulverizing the funghi and turned back to the conversation afterwards in time to hear the next suggestion and didn't react much to it. The bits and pieces were strewn across the soil and through the grass; even if they did bring them back, testing them on burly little Aengus would probably not have any effect. Still, Ibis should probably dissuade such a notion: That isn't a very nice thing for a sister to do, she remarked as she began to stride around the girl, heading back the way she'd come at a very lazy pace. Ibis didn't want to leave the girl on her own in case of dangers - that would be irresponsible - but she was nearing her limit with their attitude.

dang, sionnach had hoped for more of a reaction. a chastisement, an exclamation: heck, she'd even have taken an outburst of anger or a snap of teeth! as a professional instigator, sionnach was disappointed with herself. she had failed to antagonize an interesting response from the older girl.

she sniffed in response. of course it wasn't very nice. sionnach wasn't very nice. she didn't really know that yet, but it was probably becoming apparent to everyone else in the world that sionnach looked cute as hell, but didn't act cute as hell. with a shrug, she padded after ibis. as a puppy, the girl understood the silent cue most adults demonstrated, and when it was time to follow along. she would forget all about the mushroom soon enough, and was mostly joking... right?

following for some time, sionnach eventually came to the conclusion ibis was not very exciting -- deciding things would be more exciting back home, sionnach suddenly darted from the path, and beat a hasty bee-line for her den.