Sleepy Fox Hollow devil in me

Open! Special shoutout to family

Reluctance had brought the girl out of the den, the heat of the sun on her back as her nose wrinkled and she plopped in the dirt in front of a stick. She began to gnaw on it, paying close attention to it as the boredom set it. Simply whining for attention did not feel as if it was effective anymore, and so she was left to mind her own devices. It was frustrating for the little ball of fur.
 
Perhaps she ought to find @Anselm or @Emmerich. Perhaps they had something more fun to do though admittedly the thought of playing with her brothers lacked any sort of appeal as well. Perhaps @Wylla or @Mahler might give her the attention she actually deserved… perhaps she had to do something to make them realize that she even needed this attention to begin with. She was not certain.
 
It was met with a huff and sigh as she rolled onto her back, her paws in the air as she simply stared upward in contemplation… as much contemplation as her puppy brain could handle at least.

"guten nachmittag, isa," mahler greeted. he was carrying a brace of woodpigeons which he presently set down. they had been a very lucky catch indeed, but with paleo's numbers only themselves, hunting was not so hard.
with much harrumphing he settled on his own spine alongside isa, and stared up at the sungilt sky with its floating clouds.
"vhat do you suppose that vone looks like?" he asked, lifting a forepaw to gesture toward a particularly tight clump of white drifting.

Just a cameo because d'awww

The pups were old enough to stay at the den by themselves for a short while, so Wylla had gone for a brief jaunt to stretch her legs. She wanted to do a sweep around the perimeter and really get her muscles moving, but she couldn't leave them alone for too long and Mahler was out hunting, so she merely trotted up one side of the river to the great oak tree and down the other, back toward home.

When she arrived, it was to see her mate lying supine in the new grass with Isa at his side. Emmerich and Anselm must still be inside. Wylla paused a little while to watch as he jabbed a paw up toward the sky, drawing their daughter's attention to the clouds. She was unaware of the dopey smile she wore when she turned and trotted for the borders after all. Just a quick patrol while Mahler spent time with the cubs.

Dad duty suited him perfectly, and they couldn't be in more capable paws than his.

It was her father that arrived first. Her nose wrinkled lightly as her head shifted to the side to look at him, his limbs splaying upwards to match hers. He was then pointing at the clouds, her eyes widening as a softer expression found her features, a smile as she looked at it and thought about it. Her limited vocabulary yielding but one result at the tight clump that drifted overhead. “Rabbit!” She let out almost excitedly, batting her paws in that direction as if she was trying to catch it from all the way down on the ground.
 
She did not recognize her mother’s approach nor her exit, completely distracted by the presence of her father and the sightseeing they were doing together. “Why it up there?” The question formed loosely on her lips as she continued to bat at it, wondering why it was all the way up there and they were all the way down there, and what it was doing up there.

"ja, das ist ein kaninchen." wherever possible he spoke his tongue with the children, slipping in and out of common with each sentence. a younger mahler had been committed to fluency among his offspring and the children of his pack, but this iteration was only happy to still find it sharp and unchanged within him.
"vielleicht ist es in den himmel gesprungen," he suggested with a smile and a light laugh. "hop!"

She giggled lightly when he agreed with her, watching as it floated across the sky. No, not floating. Jumping. Hopping. She grinned at the word. “Hop! Hop!” She added excitedly before piecing together the word, though the multi-syllabic nature gargled in her mouth. It was at the very least an attempt at her father’s tongue. “Gespnguen!” She frowned when she realized it did not quite come out right.
 
She used that opportunity to look over at her father, her head turning which caused her limbs splayed in the air to lean slightly towards him as well. “Gesprungen?” She went through the word slowly, keeping her eyes on him to see if perhaps that had fixed it and she had gotten it correct.

"gesprungen," mahler confirmed with a rumble. 
the hollow was at peace. he felt that he had searched for this all his life, and finally at what he had thought would be the end, he had discovered it. 
for some unknown reason, tiercel came to mind. he wondered what had become of her. had wylla ever spoken of her first daughter? if she had, it was rare. and so he did not speak upon that entlein.
"was ist mit dieser wolke?" the gargoyle asked, panning his broad paw to the sky's right side.

Her father repeated the word after she said it correctly and a strange feeling fluttered through her chest. Was it pride? Determination to learn more? She could not be sure but she found that she quite enjoyed having that feeling. She looked back up to the rabbit she had identified prior. “Gesprungen! Hop!” She added again, wondering if she’d get the same praiseful confirmation that she had before that could only work to add to her already amassing ego.
 
His paw pointed as more strange words came from his mouth but looking at the clouds she knew what he was asking. “Das hier wolf!” She stated as she pointed at the figure that was vaguely shaped like them, though it took quite a bit of imagination to see where she was coming from.

"oh, sehr gut, kleiner baum," mahler murmured pleasantly. isa was right: the cloud did rather resemble a wolf, in an abstract sort of way.
"wenn der hase gesprungen ist, wie ist der wolf da hochgekommen?"
a little hum of a laugh. this was enjoyable, and with a start mahler realized he had begun to experience a lighter feeling these days, and one that remained even when the day had panned into another.
he was growing accustomed to it.

Don't mind my slight nerding at the end of this post -- I love second language acquisition, especially in infants

She knew the praise and the term of endearment well. The question was met with a few blinks, really considering everything as she tried to figure it out. “Wolf leap too!” She decided with a wide grin on her features. It seemed like it made the most sense, at least to her little puppy brain.
 
“Wolf sprang in den Himmel!” She repeated again, hoping that she found some way to translate it out. Learning the two languages simultaneously took practice, but it was easier than trying to learn one after another for sure. Her exposure was only going to grow day by day.

it's so fun to watch it happen in real time, both writing and irl! <3

mahler was immediately enchanted by isa's blending of her two languages. "very good," he told her with a twitch of what on anyone else would be a moustache. "you are an amalgamation of us both." that one would be far beyond her, but not forever.
he rolled to his paws with a grunt and shook out his pelt. "let us go and find your mutter, hmm, liebchen?" mahler suggested, looking at his small daughter with a great adoration.

The praise caused her tail to thump lightly against the ground, pride showing in her eyes as he used more words she did not understand. It would not stop her from trying. “Amalhadfjtion?” The butchered attempt at complex dictation fell upon ears that would likely cringe but appreciate the effort. She didn’t even know what it meant, but it sounded fancy and for that, she would remember it forever.
 
He spoke of finding mom and so she wrinkled her nose, sighing but nodding. “Yes, Vater.” She obeyed as she rolled onto her paws, shaking her pelt and carefully pulling any leaves or otherwise unpleasantries from her pelt that she was capable of seeing. “She is nicht weit.” She was fairly certain she had caught a peek of her mother earlier, which meant she was close.

shall we have another? <3

"ist das so, schatz?" mahler smiled. "dann führe uns zu ihr!" he said encouragingly. isa was surely correct; he would be happy to follow along with her, allowing the girl her tracking today.
it was important they all knew how to support themselves. paleo thrived each day they grew stronger.