The Sunspire got up before dawn, went down to the racetrack

open to whoever's allowed near the dens! :3

at a month old, okeanos is a chubby charcoal smudge, wanting for nothing. and though he is content, and though he still spends much of his time curled tight against mama's belly, some mysterious urge pulls him to the mouth of the den. there is a world out there -- it's daunting, it's scary... but somehow he wants to see what it's about. 

of course he's too much of a goody two-shoes to try and sneak out on his own, so instead he crouches near the entrance and whines at whoever is closest: "wan' look..!"

On few occasions, when Wraen had left food at Olive's and Seabreeze's cache, she would go by the dens to see, if any of the mothers were out and if there was any chance to catch a glimpse of the puppies. Up until now she had been too busy (or so she told herself) to come a have a proper visit to her niece and nephew, but she reasoned that, while the kids were in the awkward "can't see, can't walk, can't do much of anything" stage, she did not need to waste her time. 

Now - as one month olds - they were finally getting interesting to their aunt. Therefore today, after leaving bits and pieces of duck in the cache, she took one feathered wing and brought it to the dens. In her childhood this object had been a great toy, until several sets of sharp teeth had disintegrated it to shreds. All was peaceful and quiet, except for a little dark form in the den entrance, who was peering out in the world.

Wraen approached the little boy in a confident manner, wagging her tail and further expressed her friendly intentions by lying down nearby and putting the wing on the ground within such distance that the puppy could reach it with no difficulties.

cameo

she has spent most of the day sleeping, there in the sunlight that filtered in from her sister's shared den.  one eye peeked open as her beloved son began to speak, and her ear flicked as wraen approached.  for now, she would continue to pretend to sleep — her son was too polite to get into trouble.

no one grants him permission and so he sniffles pathetically by the mouth of the den, about to return to mama's side when an unfamiliar face shows up. alarmed, okeanos takes a step back, looking between mama and the new woman. she seems to be inviting him outside -- and oh how he wants to go -- but mama hasn't said he could. but she's also not paying attention to him at all -- and, well, if it was really dangerous, she'd stop him, right?

feeling a tiny rebellious flare the boy-child takes one step out of the den, toward the interesting feathery thing on the ground. nerves quickly overtake him and he stops again, looking back at mama -- still asleep? "is 'kay?" he whines, looking back to the other adult -- someone please please please give him permission!!!!

Wraen had managed to catch the boy's interest, but she was unsure of what prevented him from coming and claiming it. Obviously he wanted to have the toy - that part was not so hard to read from his features. He looked eagerly over his shoulder towards the den mouth, the hunter lifted her head as well and with ears cupped forward peered in the darkness. For a moment it seemed that she had caught sight of movement inside, but nothing followed after that. 

"Come on," Wraen encouraged the kid, looking at him kindly and wagging her tail.

no explicit permission is granted -- he wiggles in place for a moment before deciding that come on counts, since mama hasn't said anything. glancing back at her one more time the pudgy boy begins to waddle forward, his steps hesitant until excitement overturns his anxiety and he breaks into a shuffly run. when he reaches the wing he falls upon it -- literally -- rolling over it excitedly before landing on his belly and scooting to gnaw on the shiny feathers. 

pleased he looks up at the strange adult, shyly hiding his face behind the wing as best he can. "than'u," okeanos murbles, his tail wagging against the earth happily.

Wraen laughed merrily, when the boy tumbled and fell in her excitement to get to the toy. At the same time she made sure that he was alright and had not hurt himself in the process - his roundish proportions prevented from getting any permanent damage, it seemed.

"A polite one, are you?" she responded to his words of gratitude and smiled. "A little gentleman just like your dad?"

he does not know what a 'polite one' or a 'gentleman' is, but he likes the ring of it, echoing "gelman," with wide eyes and lots of head nodding. to prove this fact, whatever it means, okeanos takes hold of the wing with more delicacy than is usual for a child and tries to bring it back to the woman. unfortunately his featherlight grasp means the feathers themselves slip from between his teeth as he takes a step -- frowning he tries again, a bit harder, and continues his clumsy attempts to carry it over.

"Gelman - please, tell this to your dad next time you see him," Wraen chuckled both at the misspelled word and the very smart look of the kid, who nodded and took the matter so seriously, as if he had really understood every word she had told him.

"You will get hang of it," she encouraged the boy, when his first attempt to pick up the toy had failed.

again wraen's words largely find no call-response within his developing mind -- except for dad, which makes him chirp happily, echoing "da'! gelman!" at her in pleasant babbling tones. he's dropped his wing again in talking and whines, pausing to take grasp of it again -- this time he's able to get his baby teeth into a decent grip and drags it closer, stumbling a little but eventually he's able to drop it near her feet. pleased with himself he flops back onto his butt, wiggling excitedly and raising his tiny paws to announce "than'u!" once again.

"Yup - that's de Man! De Gelman," Wraen repeated one more time to be sure that this would be the first thing Terance would hear from his kid, when he met him in the evening.

With some struggle the boy managed to cover the short distance between the feather's initial location and his aunt. And the toy was proudly dropped at her feet with an announcment that she did not fully understand, but pretended that she did. 

"Why thank you!" she told him, leaning down to pick the wing up and after some deliberation on, what to do with it, tossed it up in the air and let it fall down on the ground. "Want to try this out yourself?"

gelman! he likes the word, though whether he will remember to tell papa about it remains to be seen. (most likely: yes). more importantly she thanks him for his gesture and he wriggles, pleased with himself and making a series of happy chirps that he's more or less picked up from his singer of a sister. she does a cool trick his eyes can barely follow but he gets the gist, amazed when the wing comes soaring back down in front of him. so amazed, in fact, he falls completely backwards, his little legs sticking out. 

okeanos scrambles to his teensy paws, nodding enthusiastically. he grabs the wing, letting it crunch under his baby teeth, and tosses his head back like wraen had. the wing flops across his face, sending him onto his back for the third time, where this time he remains rather like an overturned turtle, waving his little legs enthusiastically. "wo!!!" he cries, the sound ambigous if it's happy or sad (though he certainly looks fine).

Wraen had to fight back laughter, when Okeanos's attempt to repeat the throwing movement took an unexpected turn. "Whoops-a-daisy," she said, then got up to her feet to take a quick look over the boy and be sure that he was alright. In fact, he seemed to be doing so well, that the all four paws up position looked rather comfortable. Therefore she lied down herself and rolled on her back, now looking at the little boy from an upside-down vantage point. "This is kind of fun," she said to the little chap.

okeanos.. kept... falling... over.  and maybe it should worry her, but really, it doesn't.  he is safe with wraen and she is thankful that she can trust her children's aunt to keep them.  the exchange is more or less lost on seabreeze, but she will remember gelman, and if her boy cannot translate their child's words then she will be able to.

no need for concern seebee, you've just given birth to a very fluffy turtle. or perhaps a large beetle. okeanos giggles when wraen mimics him, perfectly content to remain wriggling on his back for the time being. "is fun!" he agrees, glad she agrees with him. "oke-no like," he tells her, beaming, "is fend?" wiggle wiggle! is friend!

"I will be honored," Wraen replied to Okeanos inquiry about them becoming friends, though she realized that he might not understand her choice of elaborate words and therefore added, "friends."
All this lying on the ground was so relaxing that - before Wraen knew it - she was yawning and becoming sleepy. Sensing this, she rolled back on her stomach and began to groom her paws in preparation for a nap. 

Maybe you can fade in your next post and we can have a new up to date thread?

sounds perf!

once again the majority of her words go not-understood, but when she says friends he barks happily and wriggles, letting his tiny legs flap in the air. since she makes no effort to leave their position neither does he, and by the time wraen is grooming herself to sleep okeanos is out, his sweet little form flopped against her and snoozing happily until eventually he is returned to mama's side.