Sun Mote Copse aahh! stoooop! i could've dropped my croissant!

@Wraen

 

Her mouth hurt somethin' fierce. 

It made her a bit more ornery and chompy than usual. Moms and dads paws, or their ankles, were typically the first thing she'd go for until they managed to successfully distract her with something else to put in her mouth. That was an art, though, that took several days to accomplish. Woe to the stranger she might start to chew on (which she certainly would once her mouth began to bother her). 

It interfered with her ability to sleep very long. It made her all the more fussy, but it was when she was loud that all was well in the world. Only when she was quiet was it clear that she had acquired a target to gnaw on. 

This morning, she felt okay to start. Q was in good enough spirits to trot out into the open air and sniff the sky and even take a wee while the wind tossed her hair about. Her tail even waved for a minute as she thought about it being a good day... when her gums again began to throb somethin' fierce. Q stood there, her facial expression shifting between confounded and vexed. It was easy for a child to forget about pain when it was gone, but she was remembering now this sore feeling. AGHGAGHAGNJA, she babbled with frustration, her features shifting to a morose pout as she swatted at a poor, innocent weed. AHBAHEEAHBA! translated roughly to: this effing sucks, who signed me up for this, I am not into it.

Up until now Wraen had successfully evaded babysitting duties, because this year there were plenty of older subordinates to do the job, while the Sovereign could stand and observe from afar or reap the best of the fruit, when she was actually around. It was probably not entirely fair, but she was convinced that in the last three years she had contributed so much to rearing youth that she could take a sabbatical, if it was necessary. Or because she was the head of the pack and sometimes could do, whatever she wanted. 

But now and then there was a pang of conscience and living a life as a free and irresponsible adult got boring. Now that Maia had been away for weeks, Wraen missed letting off the steam and being a kid herself. Puppies were good at agreeing to all kinds of silly stuff after all. Therefore one paragraph and a half later we finally understand, why Wraen happened to be nearby the very heart of the pack, where all the puppies rested and were raised together. "Hey, Q!" she greeted the little shark and approached her boldly, taking a good look and onceover sniff of the child to know that she was alright, then remained standing, looking down at the girl, eyes smiling, tail wagging.

Wraen was less familiar to her than the rest, but that did not mean much to Q who would charge up to just about anyone with excitement and happiness on a good day, and march up to them with the Imperial March playing in the backdrop on a bad one. Her puppy blue eyes darted toward the Sovereign who greeted her, and Quetzal blinked and began to lament grumpily to the nearest wolf to her as she darted clumsily in her direction: akawjgnajgnasj, she started with a huff, and though she tripped over a stray root that didn't stop her from continuing on her rant which increased in volume as pain came to her gums again: ABAE BRA BWEA BOO!!!!!!!!!!! 

She looked to the apple-green-eyed wolf before her and then began to race around her like the little tasmanian devil that she was, hollering, AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! all the while as though this would help resolve her of the pain she suffered. Wraen would get approximately ten seconds of silence while Q caught her breath, but she continued to yell and sprint around her all the while. 

Q was birth control on four legs. If Wraen felt any guilt for never visiting, Q would probably absolve her of it then and there with her hollering.

There were times, when Wraen was actually glad that she was not a parent. Sure, kids were had their good points - from such romantic notions as carrying on the family legacy and where there is so much love between the two, the third will make it even better - to them simply being awesome, unjudgemental (in their early months at least) and funny. With any luck they even grew up to be decent adulst. But there are bad points that Mother Nature works so hard to erase from parents' memory (in case they decide to never have another kid again) - meltdowns and screaming matches, being simply annoying, and unstoppable.

As Wraen calmly observed, how Q pretended to be a steam engine gone wild on tracks, she knew that she would not be able to endure this on daily basis. Especially, if there were three others, who also wanted and would make such noise. The thought of baby teeth made her shudder. The mental image of Niamh getting bitten in the soft parts of the belly, while the little devils chewed out the milk, made Wraen wince and take a carefuly step to the side.  "I totally agree with you," she told the girl, who probably did not even expect an answer, all she wanted was an audience. And I am so lucky that you have three parents to take care of you.

Wraen responded, and Q spoke over her: AH! AAAHHHH!!! Because whatever she said did not take the pain away. 

It took about ten seconds after that for Q to remember what had helped her some... Chewing. The very thing Wraen dreaded. Q skidded to an abrupt halt behind the Sovereign and was much too quiet while she darted toward a hind paw that was quite within her reach, then and there. One thing that she knew helped her was chewing. 

So Q went for an ankle, or a paw, or whatever she could really grab first looking quite harmless as she darted toward her present supervisor. But once she got to gnawing, should her teeth land true anywhere, she could be likened to a chomping little pirranha. None of it was malicious; Q was just in pain, and had yet to understand she could hurt others in full. That would likely come a few days later. Right now, in the days of not comprehending or understanding, everything was a game to her... but this was just a cure. Like when she was hungry, and ate mom or dads soup-vom, or mamas yummy milk. 

Chewing on whatever body part presented itself to Q was pain relief, and that was what she sought as she went for whatever she could grab with a waving tail. This time she wasn't meaning to make mischief, just help alleviate the pressure in her mouth.

wheeeeeecameo

Niamh had a splitting headache- and had been chewed on and drooled on by teething children for long enough. So when one of the twins started screeching outside the den, she reacted with swift, shrill vengeance by screeching right back without moving an inch from her bed inside the den.

"For cripes sake...Q. For the love of f...STOP the SCREAMING, right -now,- child!!"

She huffed for a moment, hoping her words would have the desired effect, and set her head back down, praying that her child would listen, and that her headache would go away.

Wraen managed to dance away from the puppy, who missed her ankle by an inch or so. She gave the girl a toothy grin, then circled around to bat playfully at the toddler and stopped mid-stride, when she heard Niamh's angry voice from the den. Boy, motherhood did not suit her well (or she had outgrown of the bliss rapidly, once the cubs had begun teething) and she felt sorry for her as well.

In order to give Niamh some peace of mind, Wraen changed her plans slightly, leaned down in a play bow, placing her forepaws deliciously close to Q's set of razors and woofed encouragingly. To those, who doubt her sanity - no - it was not her wish to get mauled voluntarily, rather an attempt to lure the kid further away so that, if it began to scream again, the exhausted mom would not hear her.

Her mothers yelling was matched with a banshee shriek to top them all as she looked to Wraen, who had annoyed her further by somehow avoiding her sniper-like accuracy. First came a mighty inhale, and then, looking right into the eyes of Wraen with a horrible and impish delight, she hollered: AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Inhale, as Wraen play-bowed, exHAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH— 

Not at all unlike a velociraptor suddenly hearing a clamor in the kitchen (a la Jurassic Park), Q noticed belatedly that enticing paw. Her jaws did not even get the opportunity to clap shut as she bellowed a rally cry: HAAAEAEAEAEAE!!!!! With needle-thin teeth seeking a place to gnaw on, for the comfort of her hurting mouth.

When Wraen had met Niamh's kids for the first time, she was sure that she would be unable to tell the twins apart. Now - she was sure that she would, because you could not mistake a voice like that for any other. The little screecher, if trained properly, probably had the makings of the next Maria Callas the opera singer, her voice would shatter vine glasses and make ears bleed.

For one amused moment Wraen let her mind wander along those lines, but then the little, furry crocodile had reached her and attacked her paws once again. And just like last time, she evaded the assault and was daring enough to, playfully snap at the other's head in return.

Another miss!!!! 

Quetzal shrieked loudly and charged for Wraen just as Wraen went for her, and the playful snap landed on an ear. It was little more than a pinch, being that it was playful, but it was Q's first lesson about pain. For the first time, her silence was not because she was up to some con; Q reeled backwards and let out a pitiful series of yelps (woe is me, how could youuuuu!) that might make any listener forget how annoying she had just been the Biggest Nuisance in the World. Might. 

Her ears were pinned backwards as she gazed up with utter confusion toward Wraen, and she shrank to the earth to make herself small. Not at all certain what had just happened, Q whimpered for @Niamh having forgotten she likely had given up her only ally in being The Biggest Nuisance in the World seconds ago. Her ear smarted some, but it made her forget all about the pain she had been feeling in her mouth at least.

Why was it so that, whenever you had seemingly harmless, boisterous fun with another person - be it a kid or an adult - something sure as hell was going to go amiss? Say, you play "catch me if you can" with your little sister and in the most inappropriate moment she tumbles over her feet, falls on down knees first on the concrete. And you end up having a bloody mess of a kid, who is screaming her ears off and mom yelling at you for being an irresponsible idiot.

Wraen did not think that she was in much trouble with Niamh, because not only Q was still in one piece, but she had also yelled a great deal before for unrelated matters. This did not mean that guilt did not pinch just a bit in Sovereign's heart, therefore she stopped the game, sat down and looked at the little girl and patiently waited for the tantrum to be over.