Redhawk Caldera primordial

"mama! jeffrey not coming back heah!"
chickadee clicked two twigs together. they were warring stick siblings, fighting over who got to tattle first to their stick mother. she was of course forgetting how often she herself told upon her brothers for tiny infractions.
one twig broke underpaw.
chickadee gasped.
"mama! jeffrey BWOKED!" did she mean the stick mother or maia? it was unclear.

Maia had her attention mostly focused on the pups gamboling about further away, but Eljay was playing with them and seemed to have it well under control. It didn't mean she loved watching any less, and that adoring warmth that suffused her filled the smile on her face while she listened to Chickadee's stick narration.

Oh no! she gasped, seeing the stick broken on the ground. Maybe she could have used this moment to treat it as something serious, but Chickadee seemed more surprised than genuinely upset. So she took a different route, the one the storyteller in her encouraged.

How could this have happened?! Maybe we should investigate, detective. She gave it the mock sincerity of her very best Watson, ready to help Sherlock find the cause of this heinous crime.

"i not detekteeve!" she growled, irate. but then her brow furrowed. "i step on heem," chickadee admitted, her chin trembling despite her determination to be brave. "you fix, mommy," she mumbled, picking up the two pieces of jeffrey and nudging them toward her mother's paws. 
mommy could do anything. chickadee sniffled but she had full faith that her mother could magick the two halves of the stick boy together again.

Oh, so it was serious. Maia nodded. Nurse then. If you want to help me? She had to think for a moment, first running through Eljay's medical supplies, but none of those would really do the trick. Spiderwebs would fix it temporarily but there was no way it would hold up to more play. Actually, though, there was one thing that might work.

Follow me. We need to get some supplies, just like daddy does when he fixes things. She smiled and guided Chickadee towards the trees that ringed their family play area. She started inspecting the trunks as she went, only pausing at pines, looking for the telltale shine of exposed sap.

I hope you both don't mind me joining—feel free to PM me if you do mind and I'll remove this post. <3

Sylvie's younger siblings had changed her life for the better. She doted upon them and practically begged @Eljay and @Maia to babysit whenever needed. There was something about them—a feeling she couldn't adequately describe—about them that filled her with an immeasurable amount of joy. Her demeanor had changed since they had been born, and she had more good days than bad. Though her self-loathing thoughts still happened regularly, they didn't control her as they once had.

She had heard @Chickadee as she approached the area where her parents and siblings played. "I can help, too!" she offered, prancing after her mother and sister.

yes! the more the merrier! <3

daddy fixed a lot of things. this buoyed chickadee's spirits even more. she frisked after her mother, beaming around as her older sister joined them. "seevee!" the girl crowed. "jeffrey hurted! i step on heem on askiddent! but mommy say she fix! like daddy fix," chickadee explained with great importance.
the two halves had been left behind. she looked back over her shoulder as if to assure herself of their return way.

Seevee. Maia turned and greeted her older daughter happily, then nodded as Chickadee explained the situation. We have to find some medicine to help him heal back together. It's sticky and it hides under the bark of the pine trees. She knew that Sylvie would catch on pretty quickly to what she was getting at.

Like this! She reared up and clawed a hunk of bark from the tree, then showed it off, her teeth grasping the edge where it wouldn't stick. That should be enough. It wasn't a big stick to begin with, and she was more guessing than sure that it would hold. Maybe, if they let it dry long enough and if Chickadee was careful. It only needed to last until she got tired of 'Jeffrey' and moved on to other things, but Maia still didn't mind. She loved to see how much the little girl cared, even about something as "silly" as a twig.

"Ah," Sylvie acknowledged, picking up what Maia was putting down. "I can for sure help you with that!" She was happy to help wherever she was needed.

Their mother demonstrated how to retrieve the sap that was necessary to piece Jeffrey back together, and then she looked at Chickadee. "That sticky stuff should help Jeffrey get back to normal in no time," she explained, her tail wagging.

mommy picked up some things that chickadee did not understand. she did, however, comprehend that what was going on would help jeffrey. "okay!" she shouted, frisking beside sylvie. "i go an get heem!"
panting dramatically, chickadee led the way back to where she had left the two halves of her pet stick. she pranced impatiently next to jeffrey, looking up at maia with great curious eyes.

Chickadee was so adorably and wonderfully insistent and Sylvie played along beautifully. Maia was glad that both she and Hymnal had the same idea of childhood that she did, and maybe that was she and Eljay's doing. Maia was not the kind of wolf to ever scoff stop childish things. She would join in every game, encourage every (harmless) fantasy, and even build them further sometimes. She never wanted them to feel embarrassed for having joy, or imagination, or enthusiasm. Even if someday, others might judge them differently.

Syl, hol' hm? It was hard to talk without dropping the sap, but she didn't want the dirt to ruin the stickiness. She indicated the longer end of the stick, though, and that she wanted her older daughter to lift it.

When it was raised, Maia covered the broken end with a glob of sap, then plucked up the shorter end and pressed the two, fitted, together. She smiled at Sylvie as they held it, then lowered "Jeffery" carefully to the ground.

We have to wait for the medicine to dry before he can play again, okay? And you - he will have to be careful, sweetheart. No more fighting. Maia corrected herself, fitting the tone of doctor and nurse a little better. With any luck, until she grew tired of it, Chickadee would pick up the role of caretaker or protector with the stick. If she swung it around like before, Maia wasn't sure her fix would hold up for long.

@Maia do u want to continue this or fade? <3

chickadee watched with rapt interest and growimg impatience as mama and sissy worked over her precious twig-puppet. honestly, the way they fussed over jeffrey somehow made him seem more real. chickadee found herself growing more and more anxious, but maia spoke with precision.
finally jeffrey was put on bedrest with doctor's orders not to rough-house anymore. chickadee sat down with a hmph and sulked. "how i play with heem then?!" she huffed, not understanding that there were other and calmer ways to get in some good fun.

fine to fade I think!

They got him put back together and now all Maia could hope was that it held or that Chickadee moved on from the toy.

First you'll have to let it dry. She said fondly. But after, you can carry him or move him. But you'll just have to be careful. The games she had been playing should be fine, but if she fought over him or threw him, that might be another story.

Him. Now she had Maia thinking of the stick as a character! Maybe you could tell him a story while we wait? Maia suggested, smiling. She wouldn't mind hearing one herself, if Chickadee was willing.

<3

chickadee settled to do just that, making up an elaborate tale for herself, jeffrey, mama, and sylvie.
eventually she yawned.
and then chickadee blinked. she lay her head against her sister's foreleg and poked a little at jeffrey, but never did finish her fairy tale before she fell asleep, worn out from the day's events.