Larksong Grotto for the time is near

tagging @Vuk just because anna is probably invading her space, but you dont have to reply if you dont want. open to anyone! someone else could come along and distract hosannah, or remove her.

they made their way back to the grotto, and once there, hosannah explored. she felt she needed no guide, as she had the daystar to draw her to points of interest, and thus the woman departed from reek's company. there was a sound in the air, a summons, and he promptly left her in order to deal with it. left on her own, she was given a moment to pause and reflect. to think. to breathe. and she wandered her way deeper in to the territory — but not too deep. spotting a patch of darkness upon the mountainside, she crept towards it, and then entered, not realizing it was reek's precious castle.

she was overwhelmed by the scents of other wolves; the aroma of youth. was this dark man a father? was her task to influence the newly born? oh, she whispered a line of soundless praise unto raas, feeling blessed and fortunate for the opportunity. the knowledge of her beloved god would spread far if she could kindle some form of understanding in the youngest of minds! yet as hosannah perused the cavern, she found only darkness, and could not adjust quickly enough to it.

ill leave it up to you if contact is made! <3

vuk found she had grown more comfortable around the wolves of reek's home, and ventured from the grotto when seff was asleep with increasing frequency. the stretch of barren brown still jolted the girl; she longed for the greenery to return, and ever-present was the looming dog's-head threat of starvation if the famine continued much longer.

she dozed idly that day, seff curled against her, but the turquoise eyes opened at the tread of another. it was not reek, nor terich -- the three adults and the babe were the only ones currently allowed in the grotto. hackles prickled; vuk lifted herself clear of the slumbering pup and stalked toward the flicker of a shadow in the darkness, fangs lifted.

she did not know this wolfess, and the scent of larksong was light upon her! the patchwork wolfess did not take a moment's hesitation but lunged with maternal fear and rage toward the interloper who dared stray too close to seff's nest, jaws parted to wound and to drive away.

there was movement in the dark. she saw a span of white-turned-gray, heard the snapping of teeth, and was recoiling, but not fast enough. hosannah stutter-stepped in reverse, twisting one of her ankles on a ridge of stone as she withdrew; rather, tried to withdraw, because the defensive mother did connect a few times with her snapping, and hosannah felt the sting. she backed in to the light as if the glow of raas would protect her there, protect her from the dark and its strangeness, and as hosannah did this she bowed her head low in fear. her short tail was wedged tightly upon her rear end.

shh - shh! stop! she implored the unseen entity, tongue flicking across her lower teeth in a signal of uncertainty. around her a halo fell, the illumination of the spring sun catching across her crimson pelt. i mean no harm! indeed, she had come to this place without any intentions. drawn here. now, she felt a sweltering doubt rising in her mind - had raas tricked her? brought her here for another lesson?

teeth met flesh that gave beneath grip; vuk growled and backed the stranger more forcefully toward the mouth of the grotto. the light that enveloped the other set the wolfess' fur aglow, but the girl was in no mood to marvel at this stranger. words evaded her heated throat; her hackles continued to bristle, though they did little but accentuate the boniness of her near-skeletal shoulders, ribs showing above the milk-rippled slackness of her belly.

vuk was in little mood to banter words with this one; the protests turned her teeth aside, but she stood with a warning glare upon her face, unwilling to turn her back and go back to seff unless she knew the pushy stranger would not attack.

it had been unwise of her to come here, to investigate. to linger as long as she did. but if this was the home of reek, then this too was her's. this would be her base of operations, and it would be filled by all manner of herbs, totems, and reliquaries. first she must remove the awful girl who nested here. hosannah felt no true ill-will towards the child, nor to the babe she defended, but she was afraid for her own safety. being met with an angry mother was something she had not expected nor wanted.

the red woman distanced herself from the cavern mouth, feeling much like she did when running from the wolves of the moonlit hills; her short tail tucked briefly upon her flank, and when that memory surfaced, she halted mid-stride and turned her head, narrowing her bright eyes upon the mother. she said nothing. only studied. investigated the curve of the womans face, the gauntness, the colors, and knew she would find cause to punish her one day.

silently, bruskly, hosannah departed from the grotto.

vuk met the stare of the reddish wolf with a harsh glare of her own, noting that the other seemed neither contrite nor submissive beneath her higher rank. had she known that reek planned to elevate this woman to leadership in the coming days, the reaction would have been no different. 

as she watched the narrow ruddy form stalk away, the woman tilted back to her head to summon @Reek. she would inform him of what had transpired, though she was suddenly quite exhausted by all of it, and lowered her haunches to the earth to wait for the dark leader.

The timing was near impeccable. Just as the messengers from Tavi's mystery pack turned to leave, Reek was pulled away from the border by the sound of Vuk's voice -- calling for him with what he believed to be urgency. Reek was immediatly wracked with worry. Normally, he kept vigilant watch over both Vuk and Seff when he was not fishing for food for the mother and child. Could something have happened to the boy in his absence? Reek hoped that wasn't the case.

He tore away from the border and made a beeline to the grotto, carved into the ridge. Following Vuk's scent, he stopped when he was nearly upon her. Panting, Reek spoke. "What happened?" He asked, breathlessly. "Is Seff okay?"

he arrived quickly and vuk was flushed with relief. "a w-wo ... man," she stammered, tripping over her words in her hurry. "s-she c-ca ... me t-too c-close! r-red w-woma ...n," was all she managed to speak, before her ears fell back against her skull and she blinked up at reek with her wretchedness clear.

vuk was not combative, nor did she wish to inform upon the red girl, but the simple truth of the matter was that she was angered by the stranger's behavior. "t-too close a-and r-ude!" she hissed, gazing down upon the ground.

Feel free to skip my posts, jus though I would slip Seff in here as I am very excited to thread with him!!

Movement, voices, and sounds woke tiny Seff from his slumber. He stirred, brilliant blue eyes slowly opening as he rolled onto his belly. Where was she? His guardian, provider and the one thing that had remainded constant since his birth. With an ingident squeak, he got to all fours and gazed around the home that seemed giant to him. 

His eyes finally fasted on the pale backside of his mother, and with a proud babble he waddle toward her, paws skittering over the smooth rocky ground of the den. His little ears had recently begun to hear for the first time, and though his left ear was still a little floppy he had begun to discern his mother's voice from others. With a tiny "oof" he bumped into his mothers backside, taking comfort in the scent of her fur. He peered around her at the dark-furred creature, eyes wide.

Vuk responded in a panic, which initially gave Reek rise to worry for the safety of the child. He tensed up, fearing the worst -- but once Vuk said her piece, Reek breathed a sigh of relief. The red woman, Kesheph may have been rude, but all parties were fine and there was no emergency. The boy whom Reek had shared his home with and become so fond of had not come to harm. This was further proven when the youngster tawdled up behind him mother and made his presence known with a clumsy oof. Reek bent down, bringing himself to the pup's level, and smiled.

Nothing would ever harm the child. He would have the protection of Raas -- Reek would make sure of it.

Still bowed, Reek shifted his gaze up to Seff's mother. "That's Kesheph," he said. "She's a Seer, sent by the Daystar himself to steer us into His light." She may have been blunt, but the Seer had the right to be: she was, in effect, the spiritual leader of the grotto as of now. "Kesheph will be sharing our home with us," he continued, motioning to the cave that stretched behind her. "Don't be afraid, she means no harm." She was sent to fix the pack -- to fix Reek -- how could she possibly do anything but good for the grotto wolves?

vuk turned to smile fondly at her toddling boy as he emerged from the den, then looked down into reek's eyes as he stooped to shower seff with affection. her gaze slowly closed as the bud of an iris might at twilight; so this woman was to live among them? kesheph, seer, daystar -- vuk knew none of these terms, but one thing, and one thing alone stood out in stark relief: reek would move a stranger into the grotto she had once found safe.

demurely, she inclined her head in a bow and rose to sit before the denmouth, allowing reek a moment with seff if he so wished. for herself, vuk knew she must now choose another home for her son, within the borders of larksong, but the girl would leave the grotto to reek and to his ... kesheph.

Ignorant to the emotions of the adults around him, Seff was interested solely in the huge black face now a short distance away. With a tiny babble, he waddled around his mother and placed a single tiny paw on the muzzle of the male wolf, curiously feeling the wolf's wet nose. With a tiny screech, Seff seemed to sudden become alarmed by the nose and hid behind his mother once more. 
However, he couldn't resist, and peeped out at the big male again.

While Vuk had not given Reek a verbal reply, he could see her reaction written across her face. Brining the Seer to the grotto was not a popular decision, but it was one Reek believed to be made with the greater good in mind. He needed to be fixed. He could not lead these wolves so broken, not any longer -- and for that, Reek needed the healing Raas provided. The Seer, she was willing to help Reek rise from the ashes, and in turn, she could help the rest of the pack see the same healing that Raas could freely give. Vuk would see the light eventually, thought Reek, and so would Seff.

The pup inched closer as Reek layed crouched. A rare, happy smile played across Reek's face. It was one that hadn't graced his features in what felt like ages, but he couldn't help himself as the pup reached out to touch his face and rocket away into hiding. Having shared his home with Vuk and Seff for so long, they felt like Reek's own family -- and the boy, his own flesh and blood. Tangible, unlike his own living child.

"You are so loved," said Reek as the child peeped around his mother's leg. Being so young, speech was probably lost on him, but Reek hoped his warm tone would carry his message across.

feel free to skip vuk!

the fondness in reek's tone was not lost on vuk, who nudged seff forward gently and lay down across the mouth of the grotto. she herself was put out, but she kept silent and gazed toward some other fixed point, one ear swiveled to listen to her son's little sounds and reek's gentle murmuring.

The dark face spoke, a rumbling voice. A happy voice. Seff had begun to tell apart happy and sad, mad, and and other emotions, and this wolf sounded like the the first. Happy, was good. Seff tumbled toward the dark wolf again, smiling and tail wagging. "Eeee!" he exclaimed as he attempted to crawl onto the big wolf's head. His scrambling paws may have hit an eye or a nose in the process, but Seff was sinply determined to climb to the top of the happy head.

With keeping his head on the pups level, Reek should have realized that his face would soon become the pup's target. Even still, when the youngster clumsily made his way up Reek's face in a scramble of forward pedaling forelimbs, he couldn't help but levy a small, surprised snort -- perfectly timed as one of Seff's blunt nails caught Reek's nostril. It was painful, causing Reek to wince, but he kept his head low and refused to pull his head away as to not startle the pup.

However, despite the discomfort, Reek couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. A spry laugh blossomed forth from the alpha male. This -- in this very moment, Reek was the happiest he had been in what felt like ages. Not since the maplewood had he sported a smile so wide.

Seff, was magnificent. Here he was, at the top of the mountain that made odd sounds. He looked quite proud, sitting on the wolf's head for a moment, before he carefully stretched out his neck and looked at the wolves eyes. He might look comical, sitting on top of Reek's head and peering at him, but Seff did not know this. He made a happy little humm, leaning orward to prod the wol's maw when it stretched into a smile. His own smile firmly in place, Seff leaned forward even further to see if he could touch the older ones noise again- and tumbled of the head with a yelp of surprise. He recovered quickly, though, and gave an excited "Eeee!!" 
That had been fun, he realized. Falling down things was...fun! However, the young pup was quickly growing tired, and would wait to try such a thing again. Instead, he sat comically in front of the alpha and gazed at him with adoring eyes. This big fluffy thing was fun. Seff liked this thing, he decided to himself. This thing was good.

For a moment, the child was king of the hill. Reek remained perfectly still as the youngster poked and prodded at his face, allowing him to enjoy the moment until he eventually came tumbling down in a heap at Reek's forepaws. Reek couldn't help himself as a chuckle rumbled in his throat, but his happieness was short-lived with the realization that he would never be able to do such things with his own son, Tambourine. How much would he miss out on? He wondered. How painful it was to never see one's child's smiling face. Reek's smile faltered and his eyes became downcast, muddled with sorrow.

This pup was the closest thing he had to a family now. One thing was certain, Reek would hold tightly and never let go. He moved his snout forward, toward the child, and placed a sloppy, wet lick right on his forehead.

Seff noticed as the wolf's expression went from happy to sad, and he gave a little sigh. He didn't want this wolf to be sad! He wanted his new friend to be happy! But Reek gave the boy an affectionate kiss, and Seff's tail perked back up and a smile returned to his maw. His tiny worm-like tail lashed wildly, his ears sticking sideways as Reek's kiss landed on his forehead. He returned it, offering his own little lick to the bottom of Reek's muzzle, before trotting back to his mother and collapsing back at her feet. The day's events had been rather...well, eventful, and he had no wish to continue carvoting around. In a few moments, he dozed at his mother's side, a small smile still on his tiny muzzle.