Ouroboros Spine pick me up

The days grew shorter as the months flew past her eyes. Her two sisters grew and changed in ways that amazed her each day. Aiolos stood by anaa's side, and Sialuk took time to reflect and look inward. She spent more time with the bones in these past few months than she did with any of the other wolves in her pack, but now she felt it was time to reach outward.

Anaa had mentioned a man she was to meet, and Sialuk had even neglected her new friend @Foxfur. She felt no shame in this, for her time with the bones was needed, but she did hope that he would not be angry with her for not spending more time with him.

She had enjoyed his company, and she would enjoy it again if he happened to be nearby.

Kau had reached three months of age and had not become any prettier. She had been odd and ugly as toddler, now she had grown into a gangly kid that was still nothing great to look at, when it came to looks. When the two sisters were seen together, it seemed that Samani had got all the best there had been to give and the second one had been patched up from leftovers. By now it was clear that for whatever reason one of her eyes had never developed properly and that twisted foot of hers became more mishapen, now that the bones continued to grow.

Despite all this she had survived this long. And her zest for life and not giving a crap about being different from other puppies balanced out the physical deformities. When she was not tormenting her sister and cousins, being a pain in the ass to her parents and other adults, she spent time in her own world. Doing little expeditions to explore the surroundings, collecting and playing with odd objects. Talking to herself in a language that only she could understand and rarely engaging in conversations with others. 

But on occasion she did not mind company and, when her single working eye caught sight of a "Mommy no.2" (because she looked so similar to Principal Mommy no. 1 aka Kukutux, she left, whatever she was doing and ambled towards her. "ARooorororoorooo," she greeted her with, what sounded like a moo a cow would express.

The twins were remarkably different, despite being born on the same day. They grew quickly, and before she knew it, they were walking around like miniature adults. They were still floppy, her sistraas, but they were coming into their own.

It was Kausiut who called out to her now, the one paw curled inward as it always was. Sialuk smiled, unperturbed by the strangeness in her younger sibling's appearance.

Roo roo! she mimicked back, a smile pulling at her lips.

Kausiut was not particularly affectionate by nature. Yes, she was attached to her mom and few other parent figures to a degree, but instead of calling it unconditional and pure love of a child, her approach was more practical. People often had resources that she did not. When it came to other puppies, she could be more aggressive in her approach. When it was adults, she had observed and learned that they responded more favourably, if she displayed a degree of submission and used one or two useful tactical moves to draw attention and to appease them. She was already showing early signs of a person, to whom emapthy was a foreign concept, but who had a strictly rational and calculating mind. 

What she had not learned by now was to keep her appearances long enough to divert the other person's attention away from her true intentions. For now her attempt to fool people was endearing and amusing. Like now - after that superficial greeting routine with Sialuk, she turned her attention to the bone fragments her older sibling had been playing with. She nosed them curiously, took a step back and looked at the owner inquisitively.

The bones, which had been at Sialuk's feet, had caught Kausiut's attention. Another smile pulled at the older girl's lips. She could have swatted her sister away, told her not to touch the bones, but instead, Sialuk thought it might be more interesting to nurture curiosity in her younger sibling.

You like them? she asked. Sialuk had been drawn to the bones early, under Sixsix's tutelage, if one could call it that. He had provided the bones for her, and she had offered him meat in return. The black bird was likely off gathering more bones for her now. Each one had been assigned a meaning. Some of the meanings came quickly to Sialuk, but others took longer to give their purpose.

This one means death, Sialuk said, pushing it toward her younger sister with a paw. Sometimes death of a wolf, sometimes of an idea, sometimes of an era.

Kausiut too was drawn to bones, but her motivation was not in line with Sialuk's. She recognized the shape of the bones and having played with plenty of such before, the first association was food. True - this one smelled somewhat stale and there was not much meat on it (if any at all), but food was food, no matter in what form it came your way. 

Therefore she pretended to listen, even mustered up a comically all-too-serious face, while her older sibling spoke. This charade payed off, the desired item was pushed in her direction and without a further ado, she pounced and swallowed 
Death whole. In her haste, however, she missed the fact that the bone was bigger than her oral cavity. The bone got lodged between her palate and molars, nearly obstructing her airways. 

Kau shook her head, saliva flying everywhere, pawing at her muzzle and coughing. Her gasps for air grew more desperate the more panicked she became.

lemme know if you want me to revise any of this! figured sialuk would act quick and kausiut would be pretty incapacitated.

If her sister had swallowed it, it would not have been the first bone she had lost. Sialuk watched for a moment as the bone had its way with her sister. It had meant death, but Sialuk rarely took the bones at direct face value. Instead, they spoke in riddles. This was no riddle. This was an impulsive child.

Without wasting time, Sialuk shoved her sister to the ground. She then pressed hard and fast on the side of her chest, hoping to push the bone out with the air in her lungs in one fell swoop.

Foolish! she said.

All is well! :)

If things could have got worse, they did. What Kau thought was the most inappropriate moment to playfight, Sialuk was suddenly onto her, pounding on her chest with her forepaws. This did nothing to soothe the kid, who was already scared beyond reason. Now she was faced with not only the mortal danger of choking, but also being battered to death by a bigger wolf (if a person is small, all things seem out of scale). 

Two things happened simulatenously - there was a muffled crack, when a pair of Kau's ribs gave way to weight of the older wolf, eliciting a scream of pain and frantic attempts to bite the offender. Milk molars hit the hard bone and a moment later Death was spat out and Kausiut was lying on her side, breathing heavily, whimpering in pain, as blood, mixed with salive dribbled down corners of her mouth. 

This was something she did not wish to repeat.

The bone flew out, just as Sialuk had hoped, although there were some unfortunate side-effects. For one, she could have sworn she felt something give way beneath her paws besides flesh. A sound not unlike the breaking of a twig when stepped on. Still, Kausiut was breathing again, her airway cleared and death laying in front of her. Sialuk swiped back into the pile of the other bones.

I will call for anaa, Sialuk said, concern in her voice. She was not sure what @Kukutux could do for her younger sister, but surely she would offer at least some comfort. She tipped her snout to the sky and called for anaa.

Kau flicked an ear in response to Sialuk's suggestion, still recovering from the ordeal. She cleared some bone and milk teeth fragments from her mouth and with a quiet whimper, rolled to lie on her stomach. There she attempted to cough and not to do it at the same time - hard to find that balance, when every breath is very painful. Then her gaze shifted up to her older sister - she stared long and hard at her with an accusing expression, mixed with frosty anger and resentment. Kau was too small to understand that her impulsive act had consequences, that it was her fault. From her standpoint - her sibling had attacked her, when she had already been beaten down and had caused her pain. 

That would not be forgiven for a very long time. If at all.

when the duck arrived, it was to find both her daughters. but the tension between them brought her brow to worrying. she sought to nose over kausiut, looking to her oldest not with accusation but with question.

the younger's mouth smelled of blood. she intended to clean it if her younger allowed her close. teeth were how the daytime star communicated.

she wished that kausiut would not look with such anger upon sialuk.

Anna arrived, looking between her two daughters. Sialuk knew it was she who must explain.

She ate a bone—it stuck in her throat. I pushed it out, but... I think I hurt her, Sialuk explained as quickly as she could. There was a bad sound, like a breaking stick.

Mom arrived and, while she examined her slightly pancaked kid, the instigator of this whole ordeal kept growling and staring at Sialuk in unbridled anger. The only (couple of) thing(s) that did not let her lash out was Kukutux's presence and the fact that her sides still hurt very much and her mouth and throat felt raw too. The third reason - there was a high possibility that her older sibling could do this process again. 

So, there she lied, feeling entitled for the role of the hurt princess, whom the whole world has done wrong. And in this moment she learned another valuable lesson - despite the pain it really paid off to appear hurt. You were lavished with attention and care, which she did not mind, even if she did not appear very grateful either.

kukutux gave a single nod in understanding. kausiut seemed to burn with anger. "you will be well," she clucked to her younger daughter. and to sialuk: "pukak. i see it was necessary to use such force. if you had not, your sister might have died."

she licked kausiut's head. "come with me. i will give you medicine so that you will sleep."

Sialuk felt the knives from Kausiut, knowing they were the feelings of a child who could not understand danger or medicine the way she and anaa did. In a way, Sialuk was envious of her younger sistraas. They had been able to be children. That had been ripped away from Sialuk at such a young age. The raindrop did not begrudge them for it, but it did pain her to see them like this, to know that she would not receive the same infantile care that her mother now showed her younger child.

She stood and watched helplessly as anaa guided her younger daughter away.

While pretending to be way more hurt and miserable than she actually was, Kausiut hobbled after her mother, whining and whimpering quietly. Only, when the path was to turn around a corner, did the girl stop and give one last, dirty look at Sialuk. There was anger and self-entitlement, and had she been able to do so, she would have given her sibling the finger. But gaze and expression spoke volumes, where her digits could not. 

Back at ulaak, tired from the ordeal, comforted by Kukutux and high on calming medicines Kausiut slept soundly.