Moonspear but i took careful aim, and i made no sound

for yami! family welcome ofc

arcturus came fumbling back to the den, rather hastily in pace, with his podgy belly swinging this way and that, not unlike the ungainly to-and-fro of a primordial cat-flap. across his darkly noble features concern was writ, for he had seen @Yami and her condition earlier, and it fretted him immensely.

he didn't stop as he entered the den; instead he bullishly stormed to where his sister was sitting, and proudly delivered to her the trinkets held in his stiff jaws that he and @Revui had carefully collected -- everything, and anything, of interest that he could muster as to console his sister's dejected spirits, and hopefully balm her wounds by distraction.

a bevy of things tumbled down from his mouth: a flat river stone, a pinecone, a curiously thin bone (likely the rib of a fox or badger) -- all wrapped in a sling of summer fern which came tumbling to earth with a stony clatter. in earnest and apprehension he looked to his sister, hoping she might forget the insult of quills for a while, and find joy in the tiny supplications he provided.

Yami had been pleasantly surprised to wake up and discover she had survived the quill removal. Well, for like, a minute. Once the pain began to reclaim her awareness, the pleasantness of being alive had faded a bit. She'd attempted to sleep more in hopes of just skipping the whole lying around in misery while she recovered thing, but her siblings seemed to have other plans for her. Arcturus appeared just as she'd begun to doze again that afternoon, dropping a whole damn mess of crap in front of her before giving her a hopeful, anxious look.

Her brothers were so weird...

"What's this for?" she queried as she rolled slowly to her belly, wincing as her wound gave protest. Yami shut her eyes against it for a minute before looking closer at the trinkets, her head tilting. The pinecone was whatever. The stone was kind of pretty, but it was the bone that stole her attention. She blinked at it for a moment before looking anxiously at her brother's dark face. "Is that one of the quills?" she asked, leaning back away from it as though it might leap at her of its own accord and bury itself in her face.

IM NOT WEIRD UR WEIRD !

he held his breath as his sister turned to him, catching sight of the red pock-marks that stung her face. as she winced and closed her eyes arcturus could not help the twinge of worry that crossed his features - that was what brothers were for, right? taking care of their sisters (and not relentlessly tormenting them)?

he thought the stone was pretty, and his eyes seemed to light up as yami inspected each trinket -- up until she caught sight of the bone and seemed to recoil from it. a wrinkle of a frown worried his muzzle and creased his brow -- he would never do such a convoluted thing (ok, maybe not so freshly after injury.. but once they could all look back and laugh on it... no promises) as bring the very object that had wounded yami back to haunt her.

"no!" arcturus exclaimed, a defensive air in his tone that was mollified by a more carefully wounded inflection in his body language there-after. he glanced guiltily at the bone, regretting his oversight in presenting it.

Arcturus looked momentarily just as horrified as she did over the thought that he had brought one of the instruments of her torture to her as a gift. He fell then, looking hurt that she would even think that of him. Those expressions, of course, went over her head. She settled down a bit once reassured and looked at it with more intrigue and less anxiety, though she kept her distance still.

"Well what is it then?" she queried, leaning slightly more forward before making a profoundly scientific statement, "It's funny looking."

the young boy's fur was still on edge in indignation, but as the seconds passed his offense lessened, until eventually he had forgotten the 'accusation' all together. siding up next to his sister he nudged the thin arch of the bone with his black nose, his tail tentatively thumping against the stone beneath them.

"it's a bone," he said in a hushed manner, nudging it closer to his sister so she might inspect it. he hoped that she would find it as interesting as he did; he liked the soft, flutelike quality of it. it wasn't a thick or clobbersome bone like he was used to, and it appeared delicate while being extraordinarily strong.

Yami's nose scrunched up at Arcturus's declaration. "Is it really?" she questioned as she leaned in closer and sniffed eagerly up and down the length of it. It did smell a lot like a bone - like long-faded blood and rotted away meat, earthy, organic. Her stomach rumbled softly as the idea of food invaded her mind, but she ignored it for a different thought. A better thought. One that lit her face up with eager, devilish excitement.

"Oh my gosh, Arc, you know what we should do?" Yami murmured, her tail beginning to flail about in spite of how it made her wound ache, "You should, like, stick it in my fur on my neck or something and I can like go to Yam and Vevie all freaking out like I fell down and I broke my spine and now my bones are all sticking out and we can totally scare 'em and it'll be so funny!!"

In which Yami is evil and Stevie makes up nicknames.

of course it was a bone; arcturus huffed to himself, an indignant expression reappearing on his dark muzzle. it faded rapidly as yami suddenly became animated -- even her tail stirred rapidly besides her.

the bone was forgotten as she drafted a plan; arcturus listened as a willing accomplice, nodding dumbly to each word. the scheme in itself didn't excite arcturus as much as it did yami, but arcturus was one who was willing to please, and would have happily obliged any plan yami detailed.

once she had finished arcturus mutely picked up the bone and gingerly swung it towards her, trying to place it across her shoulders in the crook of her wither -- or some place where it would stick up and their diabolical plan could be executed.

Yami grinned happily/devilishly as Arcturus nodded and set to work as she’d instructed. He was always good for just hopping onboard with whatever plot she came up with. She would’ve appreciated a little more enthusiasm from him, but beggars can’t be choosers. She was still but for the tremble of excitement as her imagination spiraled out of control. By the time she came back to reality, she had drafted an entire funeral procession attended by all of the pack at the end of which, she’d pop right on up and announce that she was alive, prompting the overjoyed sobs and worship-like gratitude from friends and family alike.

Back in the moment through, Yami glanced back at her brother fumbled at sticking the bone in her fur. ”Did you get it yet?” she queried before launching into some followup questions, ”Does it look good? Like, if you didn’t know what we were doing, would you think like, oh my gosh Yam oh my gosh, or does it look lame? Were there more bones? Should we try to find more?”

i hope the mild PP is ok but smack me if not

arcturus stepped back to inspect his work. the bone stood out, unlevel and unbelonging. yami already had besieged him with questions, and the answers tormented him because, well, she looked a little silly.

arcturus had seen bone before and it wasn't just white when it was poking out of something that ought to be covered: it was red, too.

that gave him an idea -- without a word he slipped from the den and disappeared for a few minutes. there came a rustling shortly thereafter that announced his return: in his jaws he held the weighed-down bough of some kind of berry-laden twig. the berries, dark red and sunburnt brown, would do -- in silence he mashed their round pits against the stone and nosed the thick red fluid along yami's spine and the bone -- until near half of her was painted a grim and unwelcome color.

this would be a brilliant plan; the two of them giggled as they exited the den, faces bright with hope as they made impishly for their parents....