Blacktail Deer Plateau strunk

From the very moment she was born, it was as if something was pulling at her.

Not even like nose to tail, but deeper than that. Between two parts of her soul—one way, then the other. 

Shadow, into light, into shadow, into light, into—

FUCK!

Blueberry lay within the rendezvous den, moping. She stretched out a paw, finding a pillbug there, crushing it beneath her pad. Normally, she'd find some diversion in the death of this non-factor creature.

Instead, she lifted her foreleg and stared dispassionately at the squashed insect, rolling her eyes and resting her chin upon her forelegs.

Mom and Dad had gone astray, once more.

Wouldn't it be better if they were all dead?

Gathering the children would be a difficult venture, likely to destroy any connection that Mou and Maegi had built up in their time together. Mou dreaded it; even as he trudged his way back to where the children were kept upon the plateau, seeking to find them and spend at least one afternoon in their company before turning their lives upside-down, he felt a keen sense of loss.

When he arrived at the plateau the first thing he felt like doing was taking a nap, finding something to eat, or wallowing somewhere in private. It was not an appropriate response to everything that had thus far unfolded. He instead swept the plateau for signs of the children and for Kigipigak, as the pale guardian and Sakhmet had been left behind to protect their desired claim.

Granted, nobody had told them of this role, but Mou did not think about that aspect. He could find no sign of Sakhmet or Kigipigak and felt a startling sense of worry - heading straight for the last known rendezvous area where they had been together. It was here Mou found the wayward Blueberry, and all but flattened himself to the dirt to grovel before her.

Where were her siblings? Where were her protectors? He swept her close whether she wanted his contact or not, and began to administer tongue licks and cuddles, as if she could save him from his misery.

Indigo eyes rolled sideways to find Mou approaching, then shifted forward again, accompanied by a sigh that racked her entire body (small as it still was). She bore his licks for a few moments before shifting away, brow furrowed in consternation.

Go 'way, she told her father sullenly, all but burying her face in the dirt. She didn't want to see him right now, didn't want to hear him. He and Ma had been so distant; they cared about everything but her, it seemed. All wrapped up in the drama with Ves and Peregrine. . .whatever that was.

She gave an apathetic flick of her forepaw, sending the crushed pillbug rolling into the nearby brush.