Seaside Moors and what did i especially desire

@Regin was called that day. erzulie had found the remains of a deer killed some time ago; the discovery near the edge of the territory had set her hackles abristle. but the hunters had long gone. strangers passing through, the harlot suspected.
she cracked one leg for the marrow, glancing toward her adopted bird with a measuring glance of invitation to the skeletal remains with its hidden richness.

Gin watched with a suspicious squint of her eyes while Erzulie worked to pry apart the bone and reveal the marrow inside. The young pup did not feel that Erzulie would lead her astray ‐ she had always been good to Regin and Valravn. Rosalyn too; they had tended to the pups with love and care. 

Stepping toward the exposed treat within the bone, Gin glanced up to Erzulie and sniffed at it. The bone would probably prove to be a decent toy for later, as well. Waiting for her permission to taste the marrow, Regin looked up with doleful puppy eyes at her caretaker.

"go 'head, child." erzulie stepped back, smiling over regin. the child was growing into a figure that resembled caiaphas, though the cape was not so pronounced. and those eyes had never belonged to any. she knew the paternity of the child — drageda — but refused to pedestal the idea.
he was not here, and regin knew her as maman. she belonged to rusalka, and to all those here who loved her. erzulie settled herself nearby and turned her gaze toward the horizon, watching geese move toward warmer climes.

The troubling thoughts that plagued her mother figure were thoughts that likely had no real foundation. Gin knew very little about the family that she came from – those who had created and birthed her into the world. She knew only of the care she had received from Erzulie and Rosalyn and the siblings that she had been brought up alongside, treated no different than the others. There was likely nothing that would turn her from the home they had crafted in Rusalka.
 
Once permission had been granted, Gin eagerly bent to lick up what she could. The taste of the marrow was surprisingly savory to the pup. After several minutes of working to clean it, she pulled back and glanced up to Erzulie while licking her chops excitedly. “More?” she asked, tone almost like honey. The daring glint in her gaze would have been the only thing to betray that.

"oui," the woman grinned, splintering another bone to show its innards. regin's mischief bemused erzulie. she found that toward the children not of her body she was far more indulgent, delivering little treats here and there. granmaman, she joked privately to herself.
"look at dis," the harlot instructed after a moment. a motion of her slim muzzle toward the clear pawspread of a strange wolf, in the dirt alongside the remains. she herself could glean many things from a sniff of it; she encouraged regin to try with a chuff, though erzulie was content to return for more marrow if the child so chose.

Regin did not hesitate after her mother had spliced another bone open. She licked the marrow up eagerly and cleaned her muzzle and lips with a few swipes of her tongue. The young siren would have been content to simply clean the marrow from any bone in their vicinity, if that were possible. However, Erzulie seemed to have found something of interest and had invited Gin to test the scent of it with an instructive chuff.
 
The siren approached and lowered her dark head toward the pawprint. Gin sniffed it but drew her head back at the unfamiliarity. Yet there was something there that she felt she had smelled before. Glancing toward her mother, Regin tilted her head to the side and frowned. “Who’s that?”

"strangers." two men, from the signs of it; they had passed through rusalkan territory, killed, and departed. "not of us," erzulie sought to clarify for regin. her stare swept the ground for more tracks, and she began to drift in the direction the fellows had gone.
by now they would be long disappeared inland, but for the sake of the girl and her knowledge she trailed the wolven pair. "sometimes if a pack be small, den ot'ers come and kill upon de edges. i allow it, for i do not want to be fightin' all de time, as long as t'ose who come do not linger. howevah, it is important to know how far dey came and where dey went."

Gin felt sour at the thought that they were just allowed to chase something so close to a pack and slaughter it there, feast upon it openly. Should they not stand firm on the borders? Ensure that no one would pass through and would give them wide birth unless they sought to join. If so, such a kill would have made a suitable gift in an attempt to win the favors of the Rusalkans. Instead it was chewed apart and then left, nothing gained for the seaside pack.
 
“Why? That doesn’t seem right for them to do that,” the young siren remarked, emotion heavy in her voice. She wanted her mother to know that she did not feel it was right. She wanted her voice to be heard because it was her home too. Regin felt that if they let lone wolves run freely near the edges of their hold, then what would stop them from crossing that line? What would make them feel threatened?
 
More than this, Gin hated seeming weak.

"it not be correct, but," her shoulders rolled, "dey have passed on now. an' if dey come back, we kill dem." perhaps it would not be a lesson the girl wanted to learn, but learn she would. "it be t'eft," the harlot explained, "to take kills from our land." 
but she saw no reason to hunt them down, to track them — rusalka would not starve for this pile of bones. "come wid me," she instructed, noting the weight in the young one's voice.
to the borders, and as with caiaphas so long ago, erzulie began to mark, urine steaming in the cool air as she motioned for regin to do the same.

The girl followed silently as Erzulie led them to the borders of their claim. She copied her mother as best as she could, but Gin could not help but think about the mysterious wolves who had disrespected them so openly. The young siren wished that she knew who they were; she would hunt them down for herself and teach them a thing or two about respect. At least, it was nice to fantasize about doing so. Sniffing at the earth, Regin knew that it wasn't likely she would ever know who had killed the prey on Rusalka's edge. It did not seem to matter very much to her mother, which felt commonplace to the pup. Erzulie had always seemed to have the perfect cool head, as long as the girl could remember. 

Do you think we can eat? Gin asked after a short while, glancing to the back of the older woman's head. I'm feelign pretty hungry.

erzulie was a creature with languid words and a disposition quick to wrath. yet she supposed she had tempered in her age; the reality of rusalka's size superimposed against a pair of hunters in their prime were not odds the harlot wished. regin followed about valiantly, but her mother found no further trail of the strangers.
"nan kou," the woman murmured, choosing to turn their trail onto something more pleasing. nearby was a cache, she knew, but beyond that, the promise of different prey. "what be soundin' good to eat?"

“Anything!”
 
Gin quipped with a sharp smile.
 
She hadn’t realized just how empty her stomach had felt until it had rumbled in that demanding way. The young siren likely would have continued on with her day and ignored it if she had been more invested in the actions she was taking. Walking around with Erzulie was probably akin to having to follow one’s mother through the grocery store. Erzulie was patient and good to Regin, but the dark-hooded girl was restless and eager to sniff out trouble.

anything. erzulie grinned back at her. "i see here," and she lowered her muzzle to gesture toward tracks again, "dat a coyote has come t'rough. let us go an' see what he has found." lengthening her stride, she began to set a faster pace after the smaller beast, who surely had discovered something collectable in their claim.
the presence of buzzards piqued erzulie further, and eventually she drew to a slower trot. "look." an elk which had aged to death, lying limp in the cold sunlight and near untouched. the coyote near, slicing meat desperately from its haunches as the wolves approached, and with a shout erzulie began to charge for it.

Gin followed with increasing interest as Erzulie led them across a short distance toward a carcass that still managed to look appetizing. The young girl felt her stomach lurch hungrily, and she glanced toward her mother with an eager sidelong stare. More than anything, she wanted to just approach the fallen elk and begin tearing away at its meat. She knew better than to let her gut take over for her mind. 

Watching with fur standing tall along her back, Regin looked shocked as her mother tore across the earth and fired at the coyote. She hadn't noticed it, but she watched the look of fear strike its face and she smirked at the sight of Erzulie chasing the beast away from the kill. With a satisfied wag of her tail, Gin followed swiftly behind.

the hapless beast snapped once at the air and then scrambled away from the wolf. erzulie chased the animal a short distance, worrying its haunches with a nip before it yelped in submission and scoured off across the moors.
plume waving, the harlot made an about-face, returning to gather regin with a little lap between her ears. "eat all you be wantin'," she instructed her daughter, guiding them both back to the carcass.
tearing away a chunk of flesh thick with fat, she settled nearby to watch the moorland while regin consumed what she wished.

After having admired her mother's daring move, Gin focused her sights on the carcass that had been offered. The scent of the meat was mouthwatering. The dark-hooded girl prowled toward the deceased animal and sniffed at the tender portions of its body with interest. It would be more than suitable to fill her belly and provide her with energy to last the remainder of the day. 

Tearing into the same fatty portion as Erzulie, the young siren pulled a chunk of meat away and found a place where she could gnaw on it. The expression of the coyote flitted through her head, creasing her lips in a smirk. She chewed at the chunk of meat between her paws and cast her gaze toward Erzulie.

more and more regin resembled raleska. valravn as well in his own way, though erzulie had long suspected that shard of greenglass came from the sire she refused to mention. he had gone unnamed this long; she would keep it that way going forth.
regin bore the stamp of caiaphas as well, somehow. 
erzulie felt that this might come to pass as a well-wish. after all she had loved and respected the dour old sea-witch. it was good that regin would wear some of her as well.
something to the edge of the girl as well. erzulie lay back in the brush, grinning up at the little one with a thump of her tail to invite play when the meal was ended.

There were things to be admired about both of her mothers. Erzulie and Rosalyn were wildly different from each other, but they had managed to build a structurally sound home for those who gathered beneath them. This in itself was worth note – even the young siren did not fail to see that her parents had done a fine job with the circumstances that had been handed to them. Though she did not often think to the future, Gin wondered if she might inherit their resilience as she grew older.
 
The invitation for play was not ignored. When Gin had chewed down the meaty portions of her treat, she looked at the unappealing lump of bloody leftovers with a scrutinizing stare. There wasn’t anything left on it that would distract her for any amount of time, so she turned her attention back to Erzulie with a daring glint in the yellow of her eyes. The invitation to play was welcome.
 
The siren crouched down into a hunter’s stance and prowled toward Erzulie eagerly.

grinning in return, erzulie's cinnamon ears thrust forward, and she snapped gently at the air as if to ward away regin's stalking approach. something again in the lines of the child that was not all wolf, but there was no aspect to the girl that was unloved by either of her mothers. 
erzulie rolled to her back, pawed toward the oncoming little hunter. a cluck of her tongue; a laugh; she enjoyed these wordless times and the way that they fed memories into tomorrow.