Dragoncrest Cliffs don't be that way

portia was pregnant, and dalia wondered what that meant. every day still she received praise from her mother-- during lessons, espeically. dalia was not unskilled, she would never discredit herself, but what use were those skills when wolves like portia and rose existed in drageda? she was incredibly useless. she was merely a soft-spoken version of her mother, drown out by the southern charm and-- well, bluntly-- her more likable personality. would there be another version of portia? delicate, with a thin, sharp face and little speckles across her nose? would dalia, finally, be cast aside? or would portia's collection of precious, trophy-daughters grow?

dalia didn't know. 

but there was no denying how excited she was for her mother and father, how excited she was to have siblings. they'd be better than sirio and her cousins, and far cuter. she was concerned, of course, but not nearly as concerned as she was happy. she was having an identity crisis, sure, but that would never overshadow how loved she knew she was, and how much she loved her parents.

until that day came, dalia wanted to curb the baby fever she herself was feeling, so she sought out @Wildfire and her tiny crew of fluffs, a gift of a couple of velveteen doe ears held in her jaws. she assumed they were at wildfire's whelping (den? log? etc?), and so that's where she came, making her presence known with a soft bark.

Wildfire's lower lip puffed out as she gnawed thoughtfully at her cheek, her chestnut eyes glazed over as she peered off into the distance outside the log. She couldn't stop thinking of the encounter with Blixen and Furi. There wasn't much she could do about it at the moment, though it preyed on her thoughts, making her momentarily oblivious to @Kiwi's plight (she was squished beneath her mother's foreleg).

Fortunately for the pup, someone appeared outside the den and Wildfire immediately blinked back to the present and sat up before Kiwi could suffocate. The Feisripa paused to take in the sight of Portia's lookalike, with the ears held in her maw. The Feisripa didn't know whether @Thuringwethil would approve of this particular visitor, though it wasn't really in Wildfire's nature to shoo away a clearly well-meaning guest.

Hovering protectively over her brood, Wildfire greeted, "Hello, Dalia."

the girl placed the deer ears on the ground, nosing them forward in a clear display of a gift. "i can leave," dalia said quickly, understanding her position in the pack as more of a floater than anything and how protective a mother was (and should be over her children) "but i brought a gift for the babies." 

"congratulations on your litter, mother told me how excited you were," she added quietly. even in her most vocal, the girl was soft-spoken, but her congratulations were genuine as ever.

The soft-spoken Kru immediately offered to leave, though Wildfire only paused a beat before shaking her head. "No, it's okay." Although she didn't beckon the yearling closer, she smiled and thumped her tail against the log's interior. "Thank you, on both counts."

She hesitated a second, then moved her foreleg so Dalia could see the pups. "This is Kiwi, Silkie, Tux and Bat," she said, pointing at each of them. Her lips twitched as she realized she'd begun using Rorqual's nickname in lieu of her real moniker. "Their eyes are open and I think they can hear a bit too," she shared.

Quite often, the litter was asleep during visiting hours, which worked pretty well for her. Right now, though, Kiwi seemed upset about something. She began beating her forelegs, striking Silkie in the head, causing him to fuss. Wildfire bent down to soothe both babies with her tongue, rearranging them slightly with her smudged snout so that Kiwi's movements wouldn't disturb her brother.

Glancing up at Dalia, the Feisripa asked with genuine curiosity, "How're you?"

her head dipped at wildfire's thanks, glad she wasn't shooed off. she was even more delighted to have been offered a look at the babies, but she didn't dare get closer. a delicate paw raised to her chest, dalia craned her neck to better look at the little tykes, her tail wagging slowly at her hocks, nose twitching as she viewed them with curiosity. 

"they're beautiful," she said sweetly, returning to a more neutral stance, her tail still waving. she watched as the mother organized her babies, a small smile on her face, patient and quiet as ever. and then, when wildfire returned her attention to the kru, dalia was very surprised to hear her ask about herself, and perhaps it showed in the way her ears pricked up. "i am fine, thank you," she replied without really thinking about it. she wondered if wildfire was referring to her run-in with rumil and drogon, since the last time she'd seen the fiseripa her mother had been talking to her about it. she hesitated, a little bit, before returning the question. "and you? everything feels good?" she knew enough to help right now if something was wrong and, besides that, she could always find portia to get more help.

Dalia reminded Wildfire of Portia so much in that moment. Like the Fisa, the yearling was very sweetly tempered and totally unflappable. She rejoined by bouncing the question back at Wildfire. She wanted to insist that she was fine too, though she took a moment to really consider the question first.

"I'm good," she replied, "really good, actually... I've been through a lot but everything seems to have worked out in the end. I have these guys and all of us are happy and healthy." Her heart did pang when she thought of the poor twins, though she let that thought crumble and flutter away on the wind.

"Are you a hunter?" the Feisripa asked conversationally, pointing a little red toe at the ears. She had mistaken them for rabbit's ears, though now that she looked at them, Wildfire realized, "Are those deer ears?"

wildfire didn't press, thankfully. dalia just didn't want to talk about herself to this woman-- or anyone. and she liked to think that she had a much better hold of her emotions on the surface, which seemed to hold true, thankfully. and, still on a wave of fortune, wildfire revealed that she was doing very well, which was more good news to dalia, who let out a soft breathe. "well good, i'm sure my mother will be around for a check up anyway," she shared, because she knew portia well enough to know that the freckled fisa was occasionally too thorough in her work. not that that was a bad thing.

and then wildfire asked something that caught dalia by surprise, and the girl blinked in a small shock. "n-no," she said gently with a shake of her head, and she was going to tack on what she was but... nothing came to mind immediately. a medic? naturalist? she collected stones and seashells... what did that make her? a hoarder? "but... yes, there was a patrol that took down a doe... i asked if i could take the ears to you," she added in a quick explanation. she herself was not nearly skilled enough to take down a whole deer.

The question seemed to catch Dalia off guard, though she recovered quickly. Wildfire wondered at the momentary bewilderment but wasn't going to press. Apparently she'd guessed correctly about the ears. Her tail tapped as she regarded the silky lengths. They would have many uses, from softening the den's hardwood floors to giving the puppies something soft to chew as they teethed.

"Well, thank-you for thinking of us. They'll come in very handy," the mother said before conversationally adding, "So, do you have any trades in mind? Will you be following in Portia's footsteps?"

portia's footsteps. dalia was silent for a moment, save for a sweet smile that she pressed on her face at the fiery woman's question. "perhaps," she said softly with a gentle shrug, "i love the ocean and all of it's treasures... i kind of want to study that." though... she dipped her head to one side sheepishly. "though i don't know how that'd help drageda much." 

sorry for the short!crappy!post!

Wildfire couldn't immediately come up with any practical uses for that particular skill set either, though she didn't want to discourage the girl from pursuing her interests. "Not everything we do must contribute directly to the pack," she mused. "Maybe you could collect treasure and we could find uses for them. At the very least, I'd love some decorations when Heda and I eventually move back to the redwood." Because they wouldn't want to keep anything pretty and breakable in the whelping den, of course...

There was a momentary lull in the conversation before Wildfire thought aloud, "What if, while you were studying the ocean, you observed the wildlife? Maybe as a prey source but just for general knowledge too. I think there's probably so much we don't know about life under the sea. I'd love to learn more about it, even secondhand through you."

dalia thought about what wildfire was saying for a moment, her brows not daring to crease as she did so. it was, however, evident that something was going through her mind, processing and debating the advice that the mother was giving her. to study wildlife? would that be helpful? it must be, dalia eventually decided, if wildfire was telling her to do so.

but decorating? it seemed like a stretch, and dalia eventually decided that that comment was merely made out of pity. "i can study the wildlife," dalia said in return, finally, a small smile stretching across her muzzle, "though it's a bit hard, since anything that washes up on shore usually dies." the second comment was added a bit sadly, her smile faltering, as she thought to the starfish she encountered the other day. 

"but, yes, if it'll help drageda, i will do it."

"That's true," Wildfire agreed, happy that Dalia was entertaining the idea, "but you can still make observations from dead things, at least in my experience. In fact, you can learn a lot. I'm sure your mother would tell you of the value of dissection and how much we can learn, even if it's a little on the gruesome side."

The yearling truly wanted to contribute to her pack, a sentiment which earned an acknowledging smile from Wildfire. "I'd love to accompany you sometime. Maybe when the pups are older, we could all visit a tide pool together. What do you think?"

Mind slapping a conclusion on this sucker when you get a mo, @Dalia? <3

o fuck i forgot

dalia nodded, a bit shyly, at the idea of her and wildfire and her puppies traveling to a tide pool. she'd actually really love that, of course it was just a bit worrying. what if she had nothing to teach them? what if they hated it? oof, the thought of that stressed her out. but she tried to be positive. "yes, ma'am, i'd love that," she said with a wagging tail, though her ears were still lowered. then, glancing behind her quickly, dalia added, "i'll leave you and your kids be-- thank you, wildfire." and then with a polite dip of her head, dalia turned and left, off to go tell her mother about what wifi suggested.