You're Laughing in the Season's Sky

@Cicero c:

The intention had not been to end up where he had. He'd simply been moving through the woods, paying no mind to where he was going, and had ended up wandering closer to the Queen's den spot than he'd wished to go. Kove had had the privilege of meeting her daughter, the little Potema, but he'd never even seen the other two from a distance. He didn't know why the little girl had thought him to be the one's “other papa”, or of how they acted. All who knew was that he'd grown a bit too close, but still continued forward. Simply turning around when he'd already made it so far had the potential of making him appear as if he was lost, which he didn't want, so he just kept walking forward. The distance that laid between his side and the space the den resided in was rather wide, he made damn sure of that. He didn't want an upset mother after him for going passed too close.

While the ghost's conscious knew he shouldn't, his legs stopped moving for a bit and he glanced at the den. There was no denying the fact that Kove liked puppies and was interested in seeing the other two, but he restrained himself form moving any closer. With a shake of his head, he began his walk forward once more, the thought of getting into trouble not something he found appealing. That might have been the case in his mind, but on the outside his legs worked to move him as slow as possible, unconsciously hoping to catch at least a glance of one of the puppies.

Unaware it might invoke his mother's wrath, Cicero waddled out of the den, eager to explore the world around him. Like most children, he was always excited to see the great, big world out there, even if it was dangerous. His mother was protective and made sure he did not wander too far most of the time, but since his father's disappearance, it was harder to keep the children in check.

Once outside, Cicero excitedly blurted out his catch phrase, "Sees go!" and burst out into the small clearing near the den. He peered into the shadowy trees with a wide smile on his face, searching the trees for signs of life. For some time, he just sat and stared, until he noticed something white. "Yaaay! Toy!" he happily chirped and he clumsily galopped towards the trees to where his 'toy' was hiding for a closer meet-up.

There was a small, faint voice, but it was shaken from his mind and deemed nothing more than his ears playing tricks. Then came the sound of clumsy movements, which also sounded small, and that pulled Kove's head from the path in front of him to the side. That was when he spotted the tiny, patchwork body coming at him, a wide smile on his little face. It was a puppy, no doubt one of Meldresi's, but not the one he had met before. He figured it must be one of the boys, and he was somewhat eager to meet the miniature wolf. The ghost had always been somewhat fond of whelps, and had often wanted to take them on grand explorations and teach them what he knew, but such things might be a bit much at the moment. So, instead, he settled for lowering himself down onto his stomach as he'd done with Potema, watching as the two-eyed pup grew closer. It was then he realized why the snowy girl had questioned whether he was also the father of her one brother, as the boy's one eye was a bright orange—not exactly like Kove's, but close enough for him to know where Potema's thoughts had been coming from. “Hey, little guy,” he would tell him, once the boy was close enough to hear him.

The closer he got to his toy, the larger the toy became. Once Cicero was up close, he needed to arch his neck to look up at the other wolf, which had once been a speck of white he'd seen through the trees. Cicero tilted his head once he reached his toy, and was greeted with a 'hey' — Cicero knew that word, it was a greeting — and 'little guy' — he knew that too, though didn't know the exact meaning, because he had been called it before.

"Hey toy!" Cicero returned the greeting. Then he stared up at the adult and proudly announced, "Sees!" Because that was his name and the world was allowed to know it.

When the patchwork pup reached him, the greeting returned was a bit odd. 'Hey' was normal, but he didn't understand how the smaller creature could see the man as being a 'toy'. Choosing not to question it, he lowered himself down the best he could so the boy wouldn't have to arch his neck back, copper eyes trained on the smaller face. “You have a nice name, Cicero,” the Alaskan commented, giving the miniature lupine a smile. He would never get over how much he liked most pups. They always seemed to be so full of life and energy, ready to go on any adventure you throw their way. It was amusing, at times, and he couldn't not enjoying being around them when the opportunity was available. “What brings you out here, little guy?” Kove didn't expect an actual answer, but felt the need to ask either way. Perhaps it would provide some insight to why he was referred to as a 'toy'.

Considering the reason might be because he didn't know his name, the copper-eyed wolf thought it would be a good idea to tell him. “I am Kove, not 'toy',” he said, though a part of him somewhat doubted the knowledge of his name would change anything. He was just a new 'thing', as it seemed, essentially making him a 'toy' of sorts.

Kove repeated his name, which elicited a cheery tailwag and "Sees roooh!" from Cicero, even though he did not understand any of the things that were said before it. After that, he was once more refered to as 'little guy'. "Liwagaw!" Cicero repeated in a blabber, not able to fully grasp the words. Compared to his siblings, Cicero was behind on the language front, and he did not seem to care as much about learning words properly as most pups his age. He disregarded the question, not understanding anything other than 'what' and 'little guy'.

Then the toy said his name was Kove. Cicero bobbed his head in an exaggerated nod and smiled brightly while he looked up at Kove. "Kohv toy!" he said, waiting for praise upon his repeating of the wolf's name.

It was soon realized that his experience with the girl of the three pups was much different than the one with her brother. She could not yet speak in the way of a mature wolf, but her babbling was still more advanced that that of the child before the white wolf now. He found it interesting, but didn't mind too much. The boy would be able to understand everything someday, so letting him go with how he was now didn't seem like a bad thing. “You learn quickly,” Kove noted slowly, unsure what words of his could be understood and which ones could not. Despite that, he felt the little boy deserved some sort of praise for repeating something in his own way of speaking.

Once more, when Cicero repeated his name, Kove felt he should give him some sort of praise or reward. He seemed like a quick learner with his parroting, but the 'toy' part was still odd. Oh well, though, what puppy is normal? They all seem to have their own way of things, and the patchwork child's way just seemed like it involved seeing others as playthings. “That's right, very good!” he said, smiling at the small lupine.

Cicero did not understand all of the words that were spoken to him, but he did understand that they were all words of praise. The intonation was evident, and Cicero's little tail propellored in excitement as he was praised by Kove, his newest toy. This one sure stood still much, just talked and did not move. Cicero looked absent-minded for a moment, standing still with his head erect and alert, but his duo-coloured eyes not all there, until...

Suddenly, Cicero burst forward, and first bumped into Kove, causing him to fall backwards on his butt. He shook his head, got up again, and ran right past Kove. "Toy come go!" he shouted excitedly to get Kove to come into motion and follow him. He wasn't quite sure where they were headed out to yet, but that was the fun part!

If only for a moment, the small wolf's mind seemed to be transported away from present day, and off to who knows where. The small boy was definitely different, but he'd yet to figure out if it was for better or for worse. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, Kove figured he was simply odd due to the curiosity that came with being so young, and nothing more. It was, more than likely, much more than that, but he would never be the one to point that out. It wasn't his job to say such things, it was the little one's job to figure it all out on his own, as he grew older and older. The man noticed that the smaller one seemed to come out of his trance, which let to him literally being hit with something—actually, someone.

First the pup had bumped into him and fallen over, than he'd gotten back up and ran passed him shouting something to the older wolf. It didn't take long for Kove to be up and trailing after the patchwork child, making sure to go slower than usual so he didn't pass the pup. “Where are we going?” he asked, not that an answer was expected. He had learned rather quickly that the pup wasn't as advanced in speaking as his sister, and tried to keep his sentences short to make up for that. “Adventure?”

Cicero hadn't a clue where they were going, but his little tail wagged with uncontained joy when Kove decided to follow him. Cicero let out a couple of excited barks as his toy came into motion, ignoring the words that were spoken to him. Even the word 'adventure' did not string any chords in Cicero's head — other than the recognition that it was a word his sister liked — because it was too long for him to properly understand.

"Toy toy toy!" Cicero happily sang as he trotted through the woods. Then he halted and turned to look at Kove. "Sees go, Toy no come." He didn't wait to see if his toy understood this, and quickly dashed away. He could be easily caught up to if Kove wanted to, but Cicero intended to get away from him, hiding a couple of trees down the narrow path they were following in a bush. Hopefully Kove hadn't been peeking when Cicero was hiding!

The larger man let a chuckle slip loose from his throat when he heard the excited barks of the smaller wolf. He paid no mind to the fact that his question had been ignored, figuring he probably hadn't understood, or didn't even know himself. Adventures like that, when you didn't know where you were going, were always fun to the Alaskan. He saw now as an opportunity to partake in such a thing once again, after having left such an idea in the past.

It hadn't seemed like it's been long before before the boy stopped, which made Kove stop as well. The words he spoke were easy enough to understand, though he did wonder why he was not to come along anymore. The answer was soon given to him as the patchwork whelp took off and hid. Had he realized what was going on sooner, he wouldn't have watched, but the realization only hit him after the fact. No matter, he wasn't going to end the game so quickly. With a smile stretched across his face, the alabaster lupine made his way after Cicero slowly, pretending to look for him as he did so. “Cicero, where are you?” he called out, making sure he walked right by the place he hid behind, but did not look in his direction. Instead, his eyes trailed around and scanned every area but the one that hid the odd wolf. “Where did you go?” As he continued to call out for him, he wandered around the area, continuing to look in every direction other than the boy's.

After awhile, when he felt the game had gone on for a reasonable length of time, Kove made his way over to the tree he hid behind and plopped down on the other side of it. The action was clearly a ruse, and he made that known as he crawled around to the other side on his stomach, staying as quiet as he could. Once he was closer to the opposite side of the tree, he peeked around it and at Cicero, amusement evident in every fiber of his being. “Found you,” the man stated, moving forward a bit more so he could see without trying to twist his neck around the trunk. “You're great at this game. You know, I actually thought I'd lost you!”

Looks like this just got super adorable. omg

Adorable <3

Cicero waited in his hiding spot, barely unable to contain his excitement. He almost just wanted to run out of the bush and up to Kove again in his excitement. When he heard Kove call out for him, Cicero giggled uncontrollably. As Kove passed the bush he was in, Cicero still giggled, particularly when it became clear to him that Kove was going to walk right by the bush!

A somewhat manic, childish "Eeheeheeheehee" sounded from the bush, in case Kove hadn't already known where Cicero was hiding. Cicero did not consider at all that Kove might find him because of his giggles and rustling (sitting still was hard when you were an excited bundle of pup). He remained in place, and after a while it seemed as if Kove had gone away. He kept calling and looking around, but not so near to the bush anymore.

Cicero yawned and he was just deciding between running out of the bush to uncover himself and falling asleep in place, he heard Kove's voice behind him. He let out a surprised babble when Kove looked at him and said he'd found him. "Toy foun!" Cicero yipped excitedly and he bounced up and down in place while giggling happily.

"Toy go, Sees no come!" said Cicero and he plopped down on his butt, waiting for Kove to follow his directions.

The ghost smiled and chuckled when he saw the boy's reaction. He missed the puppy years of life sometimes, which made the game that much better. He could play freely, though he would always go easy on him. It just wouldn't be any fun for either of them if Kove played as the adult he was, rather than like the younger wolf. "It was not easy," he commented, letting out a sigh to play further into the act. "You must be the Hide-and-Seek King!" Perhaps he was overselling it, but the man couldn't help it. He hadn't played the game since he was a mere whelp himself, and recalled loving when his babysitter would go easy on him. It made him feel as if he was the top dog, so to say, though he didn't recognize that as being the feeling back then. He just had fun playing it, and wanted to give Cicero the same experience.

When the instructions were given for him to go hide, the pale being grinned and gave a nod of his head. "Alright," he said, standing up as he did so. "No peeking, though, okay?" Without waiting for a confirmation, he started off to find a place close by to hide. He made no efforts to hide his trail or leave the boy's line of sight, as he didn't mind being spotted. After he was a short ways off, Kove settled himself between some shrubs that were much to small to hide his form. He laid on his stomach and pretended as if it was his best place to hide, then began the game of waiting.

sorry for the abrupt ending to this adorable thread, seemed to make sense for Cicero to grow tired and distracted at this point ^_^ this is my last post!

Cicero was happy to be praised, it was one of his favourite things in the world, as it was many young children's. "Baw!" Cicero replied nonsensically in response to Kove's compliments. Then he looked expectantly at Kove as he made to hide himself. Cicero closed his eyes tightly as he waited for Kove to go away, all the while "eeheeheehee" giggling to himself because he was so very excited for the next phase in their game of hide and seek.

However, after a short while, Cicero began to fall asleep. He startled awake just as Kove got into position, but didn't see Kove right away; instead, Cicero just looked from left to right, confused what he had been doing here in the first place. "Sees go," mumbled the boy to himself and he got to his tiny feet and started to waddle in the direction of the den. He yawned long and wide on the way there and curled up alongside his siblings and mother, where he took a nice nap.

Aha, Cicero probably lasted longer than most! Thank you for the thread. c:

The ghost waited for the boy to come and find him, but after a few minutes of silence had passed, he got curious. He left his hiding spot to return to where he'd left the boy, but he didn't seem to be there. Kove perked his ears up and listened closely, but he couldn't hear him, either. For a second, he thought he'd actually lost one of Meldresi's children, but was quick to not panic. He could have just wandered away, after all, so the older wolf started to look around in search of the child. When he came up emptied handed, his snout wen to the ground so he could pick up the kid's scent, and he went to work following it. Why he hadn't just done that in the beginning, not even he knew.

It didn't take long for him to reach where the trail went off to, and the sight caused Kove to release a sigh of relief. Then, he smiled to himself and shook his head, knowing he should have expected it. Cicero was bound to either get bored or tired (or both) at some point during their game since he was still so young. "Sleep well, little one," he said in a hushed voice, not wanting to risk waking any of the whelps. After than, the pale man turned and headed away from the den, leaving the Hide-and-Seek King to his dreams.