Dragoncrest Cliffs this downpour can't hide oceans

Perpetual gloom and heavy rain all day was finally driving him back to the more inner reaches of their home. Earlier on, the redwoods had served as some cover from it, but it had worsened steadily towards the tail end of his efforts. He'd trudged on through the sheets of water until he could barely even smell himself for all the saturation. When the wind picked up again, and this time with a new vigorous bite to it, he took that hint, concluded his scope of their boundaries, and turned his heading towards the cavern as lightning cracked overhead just to drive the point home.

Soaked and dripping, he finally moved into the cover and out of the rain with a great, heavy sigh. Relief came next, just to be out of the elements in full. After, the pale wocha set to surveying the cavern for the other residents--in part to ensure that his family was keeping dry, and second to reluctantly admire the thick humidity in here. He knew he wouldn't be drying off entirely any time soon.

He shook his coat out best he could, then moseyed deeper in.

she had ventured off just a little bit while the others were inside dry and cozy like. Dalia let brother stay put, nuzzled into mom as she drenched him in warmth. Normally, Dalia would've just stayed put like sirio, but she wanted to see something different. There was something she felt like she was missing, perhaps the storm that tapped against the cave and echoed off the walls.

quietly making her way a bit farther from Portia and sirio, she caught sight of a wolf she had seen before. Portia liked him very much. So, wasn't Dalia supposed to like him too? To be completely honest, she wasn't very sociable, though when compared to sirio, she actually was quite able to be around others. She didn't enjoy the loudness of the others, but it was a nice change, just a bit overwhelming with how many new faces she has seen.

dalia, being the little more headstrong of the duo pair, kept still as she looked up to the man in front of her. He looked familiar as well as his scent had a special place in her memory. He had something to do with her, she wasn't sure what quite yet, but he was connected to her. Unbeknownst to the small fae, she duck waddled her way over to him before plopping down right in front of him before musing a noise in greeting.

"raaa..." she whispered as she looked up to the large male, wondering what he was going to do, not even noticing he was drenched with water.

After being out in the weather for so long, it was taking time to readjust to not being pelted with rainwater and wind. That, and his muscles were steadily cooling down too, and he was changing gears entirely as he wound down. This was a much different setting, relatively peaceful, quaint by comparison, and he could smell his family all over.. so he could relax, ease it off..

Sight of Dalia coaxed a low, fond rumble from the back of his throat, and his ears were perked happily to her greeting. "Hey little flower," he crooned softly, reaching down to press his muzzle against her cheek. It wasn't so typical to find her alone, without Portia or Sirio or both immediately near her side (a glance upward and past her did confirm that for him). This, at least, led him to believe they were not too far away. He had missed them each out on his rounds, she was just the first he'd get to find. "Keeping dry in here, I hope?" he asked, also beginning to wonder what she was up to in the first place. But, much of this would go right over her head if he kept saying too much. "It's getting bad out there," Dio explained with a gesture in the direction he had come in from, his trail of wet pawprints and dripping coat on display for an example.

his greeting was soft and tender, dalia couldn't help but almost purr when her dad nuzzled her cheeck. she had still yet to truly recognise him as a parental figure, but slowly she was becoming more ande more aware of his presence at the den and with portia. hopefully, she could say "dada" as well as she could say "mama". as dio pulled away, dalia simply walked to his side and kept her soft puppy gaze on him, not understanding his words that well. but, a word did catch her attention, keeping. why she found the words mesmorizing, no one knew, but something about it made dalia try it on her own, just for a second.

"keeh," she said fondly as she looked up towards dio. perhaps, that was what she was going to call him when she grew old enough to talk, keeh? hopefully sirio would spit out the word "pa" and she would call dio that instead. that's how portia earned the title of "mama", sirio just vocalized the noise and dalia parroted him. 

before she could vocalize anything else, her attention was turned towards the outside. she heard the wind howl, she saw the raindrops hit the dirt, and smelt the petrichor enter the atmosphere. she liked it. with just a few steps, she moved past dio to get a closer look outside. she wanted to go out there, jump outside and splash around, how lovely would that be?

but nature seemed to want to make dalia change her mind. a spark of bright light illuminated the sky, then a crack of the whip echoed after. dalia nearly shrieked in fear and ran away from the exit, running in between dio's legs and snuggling herself up against his leg, ignoring the fact that he was wet.

Outside maintained its steady shower and he followed her small steps carefully. To find her interested in the storm came as no surprise, not while knowing her mother's interest in them, but the pale Wocha's ears fell back in anticipation when lightening illuminated the skies. The rumble followed scarcely a heartbeat after, creasing his brow as it did and he protectively had loomed just a little closer to her--not that it would matter, for she came recoiling back to between his legs almost faster than his eyes could follow. "Don't worry, we're safe in here," he assured her, even knowing that much of his meaning may be lost in his words. The protective, yet relatively relaxed stance (threaded carefully with a gentleness he did not often practice to the keenest eye) just may say enough. He trusted the cliffs, and by extension this cave.

They would weather this here and wait for brighter days. Soon, they'd return, and he could romp in the sunshine with his growing, lovely pups.

Reaching down below himself, he softly nudged her shoulder. "It probably won't be nice outside again for a while," he sad with his ears splaying out, none too pleased about it either. But as it were, the weather wasn't something they could argue with. "Let's go find Mama and Sirio until the thunder stops, hm?" he offered, beginning to step away from her, though hesitated to make sure she was ready for her cover to move with him.

ooc: dio's such a good daddy d'awww <3

she kept her eyes hidden away from the cave opening and tried to press her ears against his limb to serve as earmuffs. whatever the loud noise was, it scared her, a lot. hopefully it would end soon or else someone just may go sleepless tonight. thanlfully, however, dalia felt protected as she stood under dio. her head gently rubbed up and down his leg in a appreciative manner, silently thanking him for protecting her from whatever made the noise outside. when he spoke, dalia couldn't quite grasp what he was saying, but she sure as heck tried to pay attention. she especially paid attention when the word "mama" was brought up.

perking up just a bit, dalia noted how dio began to go along without her. fearing be left alone, she ran up to him as he paused to make sure she was following. she stayed close to him, leaving his underside and instead resided very close to his hind legs, the left one to be exact. soon, dalia would begin to see dio more often and hopefully begin to imprint how important he is to her. maybe, just maybe, she could figure out that he's her papa.