Lost Creek Hollow for you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not

sionnach had been told on estimate, at least seven different times by a gradually annoyed @Deshyr to leave her siblings alone. being told to do something was not something sionnach particularly enjoyed, nor something she respected — so naturally, like any tiny tyrant, sionnach completely disregarded deshyr’s numerous exasperated warnings. 

so sionnach did what any self-respecting child above the law did — she renewed her efforts sevenfold, lashing out in the manner of a child who had obvious issues with authority. in the sneakiest way possible, sionnach climbed a ledge in their den above one of her siblings (probably @Tiarnach tbh, since he was a favorite target of hers, but for posterity this is pending som’s willingness to turn his character into sionnach’a personal punching bag ofc). from her ledge, sionnach peered downwards, surveying her kingdom with the satisfied smirk of a ruler about to wreak havoc — and then she high-jump tackled the sorry sonuvabitch, completely remorseless to the high wail of agony that followed. 

she had little time to gloat before @Deshyr was atop her, dragging the girl to an empty corner of the den and propping her up against the wall. sionnach was quiet as she was hauled to her far off prison, a satisfied smirk lingering unrepentantly across her visage as she did her time for  numerous crimes against innocent siblings.

ah, the corner. the corner was a familiar location to little ash, who spent many a day there after chomping someone’s tail a little bit too hard a few too many times. or for screaming, but he could scream in the corner too. ash was still a little tyke, still mostly babbling and not really understanding reprimands. treason still did it anyhoo, ruling with an iron fists in hopes that one day he’d understand. fat chance. 

feeling a little down, terance had set them free away from the den, hanging out nearby. he was close, keeping an eye out for danger, but was mostly assuming that they would just go bother rannoch’s kids and give him some time to think. this was generally true as ash took off into the unknown. 

he went headfirst into the frostfurs den, not really caring what it was besides somewhere he could be and somewhere with other wolves scents. he bowled straight to the back for some weird reason, eyes locked on his cream colored target. and then, without much thought or warning (besides maybe the crashing sounds of his still somewhat unbalanced maneuvering) ash made to chomp down right on the others rump.

sionnach was quietly compiling a colorful list of insults for Deshyr that would have made a flower wilt when her ears turned back involuntarily, provoked by the crashing tread of a wolf behind her. 

she breached her timeout immediately, whirling around and suspecting fragile Tiarnach had come to seek revenge — but it was not her brother that faced her. it was one of the other kids, the ones who had the very scary wolf as their mom. sionnach peered carefully around her, assured then that she did not see treason — good. 

she stole a glance Deshyr’s way, stiffening under her elder sibling’s disapproving gaze. she was about to loudly tattle-slash-inform all that her time out was being ruined by a snotty kid when Ash bit her smack in the tail — yowch!! 

sionnach shot up like a rod, a belligerent HEY!! ricocheting off of the cave walls. she brought her paw back and attempted to smack the grey puppy right in the face; a no-holds-barred kind of physical retaliation that was meant to hurt and carried no empathy with it.

ha! 100 points to ash, thrilled with himself for hitting his marked target. he backpedalled from her, wearing a devilish grin — one that even that smack to the nose couldn’t get rid of. 

he sneezed at the smack, giving a little wiggle shake as he peered back at her again, head cocking to one side, a still mostly floppy ear flipped backwards against his head. hi!!!! he chirped brightly unabashed by the look the old lady was giving him or by the dirty gaze this pup was giving him. life was good! he was winning his own game!! ash babbled something incoherent, tackin on at the end, i am asssshhh. it wasn’t almost a sneer, the way he said it. as in, you aren’t! hah! 

play wi’ me!! the little shark added loudly, lunging to head butt her right in the chest.

sionnach’s aim left little to be desired — with a resounding smash and a smirk to follow, the girl inspected her handiwork.. only to be surprised her victim was still grinning. 

sionnach frowned, sneakily glancing towards Deshyr, who had yet to scold her for her sixteenth attempt to deliberately hurt something; maybe the older sibling was talking to terance about boring adult things — all sionnach knew in this moment was that she was free to do whatever she wanted to ash. 

she grinned maliciously, turning back to the little child in time to be head butted in the chest. ooof! the air was pushed out from her, and sionnach rose with a growl. you’re annoying, ash. she announced, giving an imperious wave of her tail in dismissal. she kept stealing glances to her older sister and terance, ensuring she was not being watched (read: ensuring she would not get caught.)

smiling rather innocently, sionnach decided they would play a game. slowly, she raised her paw (the self-same one that had hit him only moments prior) and tentatively waved it in front of ash’s head. stand still, sionnach commanded sweetly, then placing the paw (if allowed) gently on ash’s forehead. for a moment she seemed serenely quiet — and then her eyes flashed with mischief, and she shoved down as hard as she possibly could before darting off with a cackle.

and then the force from her mighty paw smashed his daft little skull in and ash was dead on the floor! 

haha, no, but imagine??? 

wherever terance was was not of concern to ash, who was far more intrigued by his new play buddy! who was VERY GOOD at playing by ash’s standards. she called him a word he didn’t understand, to which ash absentmindedly parroted, anying. onyong. aannnnn. ying!!!! but, true to form, much more annoying than it shouldve been.

somehow, she managed to get him on the ground. must’ve been some witch power, but ash crossed his eyes to watch as her paw slowly and sweetly lowered him to the ground, his tail beating against the earth. unaware that she was planning an attack of her own, ash silently counted the seconds down until he could CHOMP on her exposed limb. but before he knew it he was the one under fire!! wow!! good get, ash was impressed. and as she scampered away, ash scrambled to his feet to chase after her, giggling and hooting the whole way. run run!! he cheered, rearing and lunging clumsily to tackle the older pup to the ground and bite literally any exposed limb. or piece of flesh. he didn’t discriminate.

sionnach giggled as ash unsuspectingly fell under fire — if she wasn’t expecting a full retaliation, she might have stayed to see his reaction to being rudely shoved beneath her. as a non-frostfur, that’s where he belonged, right?

cavorting off, sionnach soon had evil-ash hot on her tail — now this was a game she could play. rough and tumble was far more her style, and other than Aengus she rarely had a chance to excise her physical dominion on willing subjects. darting to and fro like a hare, sionnach managed to avoid the first of ash’s attempts, but not the last. the boy landed on her haunches as she spun, which forced her hind limbs to give and her body to crash to the ground. as much as sionnach enjoyed rough play, she was not yet strong enough to withstand much physical pressure — she barrel-rolled to the side with a growl and rose determined, snapping at any part of ash that was within reach.

ash was not, by any means, graceful. he was a puppy just learning the ins and outs of balance. by the time he was funny grown he'd probably have his mothers balance and poise... terance's too, but really terance was just so bulky and sturdy that it was hard to knock him over. that was the difference. either way, he was 1. not good at running and 2. not good at lunging. he was wobbly and clumsy and all those puppy things, so he missed a few times chasing sionnach around the den (clearing?).

ash was definitely younger than the frostfur pup, probably smaller in comparison, but they were both stupid noodly puppies now. so like ? obviously they were easy to push over. and ash couldn't even properly manage his attack -- when he got her down he went right down with her. as sionnach made to snap at any part of him, ash did the same thing. this led to a tiny battle of >:V vs. V:< as they smacked mouths together a few times in attempt to bite the living snot out of one another. at least, that was ash's plan. 

she got ahold of one of his half floppy ears, getting a good chomp with puppy sharp teeth. unfortunately, this was sensitive territory ): so despite ash's typical immediate retaliation, he gave a loud yip of pain before he tried to actually bite her again. ouch dude.

throughout sionnach's life, one thing would become clear: she never played fair.

her little battle with ash was no exception. she used every ounce of her bigger form to her advantage, attempting on more than one occasion to bowl her smaller adversary over like aengus did to her. at one point she managed to snag an ear and pulled away grinning, only to have her paw chomped on with dozens of little milk teeth.

"OW!" sionnach hollered in ash's ear, pulling her limb away from the offensive child with a start. that did it; sionnach threw her metaphorical gloves down and lunged for the puppy, this time attempting to pin him right in the dirt with her superior weight (read: fatness).

they wrestled for a time, the winner different each round -- and then fully tuckered, sionnach stumbled clumsily for home.