Blackfeather Woods Till the sun goes down

She grew quickly. Already she was far more impressive than the small potato she had been at birth, her mind and body expanding and changing and growing. Today her ears pricked up, she was a day or so early. First sight, then noise, and yet these senses continued to strengthen. The simple act of hearing had been an awe-inspiring thing for the young girl, and she announced her happiness by ways of a symphony of loud noises. She had begun to play near to the entrance, and today, she slipped past her mother and sibling to play at the entrance, where the sun shone bright and interesting things dwelt.

An object that she had no name for captured her attention, and she plunged toward it, wrapping her maw across the rough and somewhat uncomfortable surface, chomping down with her gummy maw.

@Kove! Set to when she can hear XD 

Set to today, lmao.

It was rare for Kove to near the mother, having no reason to invade her space. She was his wife’s sister, yes, but there were no connections between him and her that might draw him forth other than that. Yet, in spite of that, he’d found himself walking towards the den with a recently killed rabbit swinging from his jaws. It was a gift and a meal wrapped in one, and so his pace had been increased so as to bring it to the family sooner. Once the den was in sight, however, he’d slowed back down until he was walking, then stopped a short ways off from the entrance when a child was spotted. She was smaller, still, than his own children, but it was to be expected given that they were born on separate days. For a moment, he’d watched the girl, then dropped the rabbit and loosed a chuff from the back of his throat.

While he’d meant to leave the hare for Althaia and then leave, he'd not departed immediately after having released the body. Rather, he’d remained and smiled at the girl, the cousin to his own offspring. “Salutitsinik, kitunngak,” he voiced, realizing his mistake only after he’d already spoken. Knowing she’d not understand him, he spoke again, but in English. “Hello, little one.” Thereafter, his gaze shifted towards the entrance of the den, awaiting the sound of a growl—or just any warning in general—that the mother might give.

The girl paused her chomping, straying at the white male with her maw still wrapped around the thing. The blankness, the total absence of color that was his fur, surprised and shocked her, as did his words; they sounded foreign, as all words did, but these were extra odd, she decided. Her mouth left the stick if only to chirp a single syllable, "ki!" 

At at the sounded she grinned widely, then approached the male eagerly, tail wagging behind her as she paused before him, sitting on her rump and staring up at him with interest.

The child’s attention had been acquired, but her mother’s had not—or so it seemed, anyways. He could not feel eyes lingering on his form, and so he assumed that she must be either sleeping or out walking. Whatever the case, he’d decided to remain for a short while longer with the girl, just in case she truly had been left alone. Whilst he did not feel as if he harboured any connections to the children—the fact that he was married to the sister of their mother mattered little, for they were not of his blood—he would not leave them alone to find danger. So as the girl drew nearer to him, he’d lowered himself down onto his stomach, expression neutral. She appeared to be happy, judging by the wagging motion of her tail, but the reason why eluded him.

“I don’t suppose you speak, do you?” the Inuk questioned, despite having already known the answer. Keoni was young and far too much so for the ability to speak to have been picked up just yet. However, that did not mean that she couldn’t learn at this stage; Kove believed that children start learning to speak from the moment they’re able to hear, even though they do not begin using their own voice until much later. “Ilinniasuven?” was asked, though an actual answer was not expected. He’d spoken for the purpose of gauging her interest and would proceed based on what he might witness.

She recognized something distinctly different about the words, but what she could not say. And her limited attention span hardly allowed for her to truly investigate or for the words to hold her interest much longer, and though she babbled happily, soon her interest shifted once more. She burst into motion and beeline for one of the limbs of the male, intending to wrap her gummy maw around the snowy forelimb of the stranger.