Neverwinter Forest the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world

morning's rise came with soft birdsong, the breeze rousing yehudis from her rest. she lifted herself onto stilted legs and stretched, yawning with the release of her aches. there were things to be done today; she had to finish digging her personal cache, ideally before sundown. evening would bring blooms of the elusive angel's wing.

for now, her focus was on finding breakfast. yehudis trotted into the rendezvous and began sniffing out the main meat store.

More and more often he found himself wandering beyond the den- ever since Cupid had taken him out, he had gained confidence in his endeavors. And his curiosity would only grow; the only way to satiate that thirst was exploration. 

Several yards ahead of him stood a black-furred wolf- he nearly thought her Lenny, till he noticed the oranges embedded in her fur. She seemed to be sniffing at something, but he didn't care about that- he wanted attention, and now. Caerus barked a little WOOF! and danced on his paws, hindquarters wagging in the air in hopes of stealing the spotlight.

childish whimperings drifted along the wind. yehudis peered over her shoulder at their source, smiling demurely down at the child. with owlish eyes half-lidded, she carefully examined him, eventually turning her nose back to the trail. 

the boy's search was obviously for attention, something which yehudis did not intend to immediately give. still grinning, she walked in his direction and stepped over his tiny frame, continuing her quest for food.

A smile from that mysterious face- that was good! Butt and tail wiggled some more with joy, and then slowed as she 
walked
right 
over 
him!

Frowning and stomping his feet with annoyance, he stumbled quickly after her, pouncing at one of her hind legs with the hope of wrapping himself around it with a high-pitched shout of H-HAI!!

yehudis could both feel and see the child's attempt to pounce. she allowed him to come forward, but quickly snatched her leg from his reach. she detoured; the scent trail grew stronger, pulling the pair closer to its source.

her goal was to keep him interested. yehudis turned and looked, but pretended that she didn't notice him. instead, she walked over him (again) before returning to the path.

The object of his interest was snatched away, and he was walked right over once again. No, no, no- he did not like this woman at all. Not one bit. He frowned, stumbling after her still, but childhood emotion welled up inside of him. He couldn't follow much longer, only a few steps on tiny feet, before he slumped into a seat and begin to sniffle. Sniffle sniff. His head slumped back against his shoulders as he began to cry loudly, throwing his first tantrum with a loud WAHHHH!!! that could practically be heard throughout the forest.

the child's wants wouldn't be met because of one pitiful cry. yehudis sighed, disappointed by the display, and continued walking. she was no longer interested in playing this game; this child wasn't curious, but entitled, and obviously too young to be away from its mother.

yehudis yipped for anyone nearby, hoping that this might include either parent.

Mal was just minding his own business today. He was back in the territory and just catching up on everyday things. He was making a quick round of the known caches just to make sure everything was in order. He was on the way to another when he heard a wail that certainly got his attention in a way that most things didn't. Not that he placed the voice in the first place -- he hadn't heard Caerus ever make a noise like that. But still, instinctively he headed over with great haste, hurried on more by another yip from another.

So when he came on the scene and saw it was his son and the newest member of the pack it was quite the vexing set of emotions in the young man -- protective of his son, an edge of panic, wanting to know what happened and probably a few more he couldn't pin down. After an initial pause where his brain was interpreting the situation, he rushed to Caerus, with the unsurprising shout of, Caerus! pretty much expecting the worst, nosing around and examining the boy. A quick glance to Yehudis, What happened? He seemed fine? Aside from the fact he was how far from the den? Super far for the stubby legged boy.

Yehudis continued walking, which only served to enrage him further. And yipping- acting like she was the careful babysitter! She didn't give a damn about him. Sure, he'd felt left out by his fathers the other day, but he'd never felt so utterly ignored. Of course she would only notice him after he begun crying- and unfortunately, she had just taught him a very bad lesson that wouldn't leave anytime soon. Throw a fit and people start looking at you. 

Soon daddy arrived, but it wasn't enough to soothe his nerves. He stumbled towards his father drunkenly, face still contorted in a never-ending wail. If he was a human baby, he'd be looking something like this. 







His head was thrown back, mouth open, nose beginning to drip with baby snot while tears matted the fur of his cheeks. He slumped defeatedly against one of Mal's legs, sobbing against his father's fur.

yehudis remained composed. she didn't see any reason to become anxious because she hadn't done anything wrong. still, mal's arrival was acknowledged with the submissive fall of ears and careful tuck of obsidian tail. he's your baby? she asked, voice low and free of accusation. he wandered after me, and grew upset when unnoticed.

caerus didn't resemble any of this father's known qualities. he was a pitiful thing, quite audacious, too. yehudis wondered if there were more of them around, but figured that he was more likely an only child.

How did one disarm a squalling kid? Look, he hadn't been trained for this either. Mildly bewildered but not willing to admit it, he replied to  Yehudis instead, Yeah. Maybe he got tired -- he's really far from the den... It was the only thing he could think of, at least. But trying to move the boy back in this state was probably going to be difficult.

Back to Caerus, he leaned down again, saying in a sort of hushed voice, It's okay. I'm here. It's ok. He gave the boy a few nuzzles, then started licking him, hoping that would soothe him a bit better, ready to continue with whichever seemed to work a bit better. It was, again, all he could think of.

yehudis nodded her head. he's so young, she replied, he has a mother here? and more importantly, where was she? yehudis's eyes darted toward caerus, landing on him with the marked look of sympathy. 

maybe another caretaker can help. children are sometimes difficult to corral. of course, yehudis wasn't volunteering herself for the job, but she could imagine the potential benefits to involving someone else.

pls dont skip me!!! 

Eyes were swollen and red, the adult's words fell on ears that could not understand, and thus he was unable to react rationally. He was a child, a child who had never met other children, and to him the world was supposed to revolve around him. Learning that there were people who didn't care about his presence was utterly disturbing to the little boy.

His father's laps did little to soothe him completely, but no longer did he sob loudly, simply sniffled and cried more quietly to himself, blue eyes wet with tears. He pulled his face away from dad's leg- first to gaze up at his father with sadness. And then shooting a gaze full of baby malice towards Yehudis, blinking coldly through the tears. First impressions were the most important, and this memory would not soon be forgotten.

What was the best way to describe Cupid without having a discourse about it? Mal would rather just leave her a little confused if he had to, as right now his attention was mostly focused on his son, Cupid, yeah, he's probably freaking out right now. He pulled Caerus closer to him with the end of his muzzle -- a little bit of a hug in a sense. At least he seemed to be calming down at least.

Aaaaand at some point Caerus gave Yehudis a little puppy death-glare. Yikes. Another kiss to the top of the boy's head, I need to talk to him about a few things, will add that on the list -- and since I gotta get this little guy back whether he walks or gets hauled there, perfect opportunity... A quick grin to her, a bit of a whisper, He does seem a little bit grumpy. Thanks for catching him. 

Back to Caerus, he started to take a step with the leg that he wasn't currently curled around, C'mon, Caerus, lets' go, right? Was he gonna come along or was he gonna have to figure out how to carry a puppy? That hadn't been on his education so far.

yehudis's confusion would have been clear. she'd asked about the mother, but mal had mentioned another man. obviously, she knew about same-sex couples; two men getting together with the help of a woman wasn't strange, though she wondered, if the actual mother was absent, how they had managed to wean caerus so early.

regardless, the pair had turned to take their leave. yehudis returned to her original task of searching for a meal, her mind left somewhat boggled by the conversation.

Dad pulled Caerus close, planting a kiss atop his head. His heart slowed, his breathing slowed, tears slowed and so did his sniffles. Dad began to move, and so Caerus had to do the difficult thing: shove down his massive ego and pull himself upwards onto his feet. That didn't mean he couldn't be moody, though- and so he trudged as slowly as humanly (wolfly???) possible after his father, murmuring a quiet little whine of hmm..

Yehudis headed off without another word -- that part was a little odd to him, but whatever. Right now, he wanted to make sure Caerus got back safe to the den.

Speaking of, Caerus did seem to be moving. Slowly. Mal kept checking on him. And as he sloooowly dragged himself along, Mal was trying to think of some way to get Caerus to move a bit quicker. He didn't want to outright just grab the boy (reason 1 being the fact he'd never carried a pup, reason 2 being he was making the guess that Caerus wouldn't like it), so what was a good alternate? 

Make it a game maybe? After a bit of this dragging on, he gave up and bounded forward a few strides before turning back to his son. A play bow, wag of his tail, and a thump of his paws against the ground before jumping back another step. C'mon, not so glum! He hoped it worked.

But no matter how fast they moved, the farther along they went, the more he kept an eye and an ear out for @Cupid.

At dad's display of joy, Caerus' expression soured. There was nothing to be happy about! He was sad, and the world revolved around him, and that meant dad ought to be sad to. And so at the playbow and tailwag, he lowered a brow, sneering with a little hmph! His dragging increased its pace slightly, though not by much- but soon they had arrived near the den, Caerus looking grumpy as ever but no longer so sobby.

Okay, not the response that he was expecting. His expression faded, ears folding back a moment on his skull. Really? He didn't know why Caerus was acting like this. He just wanted his son to be happy. Oh well. At least they were still heading back to the den. Mal moved back to walk alongside him the rest of the way.

If Caerus wasn't going to play, Mal would still hang out and watch him a while if he wasn't going to dive on in to the den to sleep -- and even then, Mal would likely linger a while just to be sure. He lay down near the entrance, his attention on Caerus entirely. Choice of what to do was up to his son.

Caerus entered the den without any more noise, though he was certainly dramatic and moody about it. He sat within but just toward the entrance, settling himself on his belly and turning his head away. He didn't want to see Yehudis, or Mal, or any of them- he wanted to mope in the rest of his dwindling fit and sleep away the attitude and ego that was strangling his heart.

Assuming this is archive time. XD If not, boop me on Discord and I'll revive.

Mal watched him walk around and then into the den. A slight sigh. He really did want to make his son happy, but nothing seemed to be working today. He'd done his best, and he'd linger around a while longer in case Caerus had a change of heart. He watched the boy settle himself in the den -- that was it then? Okay. He lowered his head to his paws, resting a little while. But there were other things he had to do, so eventually Mal would quietly dismiss himself to do whatever random tasks he was supposed to do.