Moonspear Baby Shark

Seal, like most toddlers, had good days and bad. Today was just one of those terrible-awful-no-good-very-bad days. Big, complex feelings spilled up and over the top. Seal didn’t know how to handle it all!

Mami and Da had told @Orca II and her that @Raiyuk and his parents were moving away to a place called Moontide. Even worse… was that @Stingray had gone too!

It was also especially hot today. Around noontime Seal’s heart couldn’t take it anymore. She sat in a corner of the rendezvous site and began to wail. Big crocodile tears errupted out of her eyeballs as snot dripped down her nose.

Today was the worst day EVER!

Towhee swung by the rendezvous site to bring the kids some lunch. @Towhee Jr, @Sable and @Orca II all came running at the proverbial dinner bell, though Seal was conspicuously absent. She frowned thoughtfully, then left the trio to gobble their meal as she sniffed after her missing granddaughter.

She found the little girl sobbing her heart out in a corner of the clearing. Towhee froze, then rushed forward to nose her. She didn’t smell blood and couldn’t find anything physically wrong with her. Towhee retreated a step, wondering at the source of the child’s woe.

-“Grandma’s here,”- she soothed, taking a seat. -“What’s the matter?”-

Seal rolled over as Towhee inspected her. She kicked her paws this way and that as she wailed, overcome with emotion. However, Towhee’s words managed to calm the pup just enough to achieve some coherence.

“Gwan-ma,” Seal sputtered, voice quaking. She hugged Towhee’s arm and pressed her face against it. “Ah-Ah-Ah,” she tried to speak but the hiccups wouldn’t let the words come out! 

Equally frustrated and overemotional she began to cry again but looked up at her grandma with big puppy-dog eyes and signed one of the few words her mother had taught her.

-Stingray-

While Seal hugged one foreleg, Towhee brought the other to the space between her shoulder blades, gently rubbing in circular motions. She couldn’t hear the child’s wails but she could feel them through her back, sobbing breaths that hit her harder even than her own children’s cries might. She always had been softer with her kid’s kids.

When Seal moved her face from her grandmother’s leg and looked up at her, Towhee sucked in a surprised breath. She smiled despite herself, pleased that some Ptero had begun to stick with Meerkat’s girls. If they spent enough time with Jr and Sable, they should be fluent in no time and might even be able to teach their parents. Young ones tended to pick it up a lot faster and more naturally.

-“Your brother?”- she said and signed, not sure what Seal meant, though it clicked pretty quickly. -“Ahhh, he left for Moontide, didn’t he? I take it you miss him?”- Towhee asked with all the sympathy a tone deaf wolf could offer.

Cameo! Emotional support blanket Orca II, here for duty

It wasn't that Orca II was unaffected. It was that they seemed to alternate days, mostly—and this was a good day for Orca. It worked out, because it meant she could support Seal... as Seal supported her, when their roles were reversed. Orca cheerily ate, but noticed that Seal was not present. She play-wrestled with @Sable and @Towhee Jr for only a moment before she grabbed extra scraps and sprinted to Seal when the cries became extra loud.

And then she threw the food toward Seal, and dove in front of her as a security blanket. She happily watched her grandma with warm eyes, and looked to her sister as she snuggled into her.

Seal coughed and sputtered as Towhee rubbed her back like she was finally working through all the little sobs. Big puppy dog eyes – blue turning into a dark brown – looked up at her grandma. Her lip quivered shut, holding back more cries, but Seal managed an emphatic nod.

“Ah m-m-miiisssss him sooooo much,” she warbeled.

Then, Orca arrived for a snuggle and, like a baby sloth going from one branch to the next, Seal hugged her tight! “O-o-rcaaa!” she wailed into her sister’s fur.

Food was a good remedy, right? With her sister’s encouragement, Seal picked up the meat and began to eat with big, fat tears rolling down her cheek

Missing someone was the quintessential, universal experience of a wolf born in the Teekon Wilds. Seal would have to get used to it, though of course Towhee wasn’t going to say that. Perhaps if she had been older, her grandmother would have given her some frank advice about how to cope. But she was so young, all the elder Redhawk wanted to provide was comfort.

-“I know,”- she said, validating the youngster’s feelings. -“You miss him because you love him so much. It’s hard when our loved ones go away. But he’ll be back!”-

She didn’t get an opportunity to say anything further because Orca promptly appeared and tackle-hugged her sister. Towhee laughed through her nose and watched the girls embrace. It made her think of her bonds with her own litter mates—sans Titmouse—but particularly her own sister, Orca, may her soul rest in peace.

Orca the Remix had thought to bring Seal a snack, which was very thoughtful of her. Towhee reached out to ruffle the fur on top of the kid’s head affectionately. She then bent to gently nudge Seal’s cheeks, bulging with food and still wet with tears. Towhee nosed them away.

Seal found that the more she stuffed her face, the harder it was to cry. Therefore, she crammed as much food into her cheeks as she could, until she resembled a fat chipmunk.

Then, after a big gulp, Seal burped and suddenly felt a lot better.

One last very-big shakey sigh released the sadness demons from Seal’s lil heart.

With Towhee’s reassurance, and her sister’s affection, Seal felt that everything would be alright.

She sniffed a long string of snot back up into her nose. “C-can we play?” She asked her grandma and sister. Crying = sad and Play = fun. It was simple addition.

Towhee sat back to let the child finish eating. She didn’t hear the burp, though she certainly smelled it. Her lips twitched into a smile as Seal seemed to recover from her melancholic spell. There really was merit to comfort food sometimes!

Seal must’ve stuttered because her grandma didn’t quite catch the first word, though she caught, “—play?” Towhee nodded, wondering which games her granddaughters knew and whether Seal had a preference. Maybe she’d like to learn something new today?

-“Of course. Have you ever played Sneak Up Granny?”- she wondered, making up the name on the spot (thanks, Wikipedia!). -“You two go over there,”- Towhee pointed across the rendezvous site. -“I’ll stay here. I’ll turn around and you’ll try to sneak up on me. But when I turn around and yell, ‘freeze!’ you have to stop before I catch you, else you’ll be sent back to the starting line. Does that sound like fun?”-

If it did, Towhee planned to summon her kids to play too. The game would be more fun with more competition. They could work off their lunch and then, hopefully, everybody would be nice and ready for a nap afterward.

The game suggested did sound fun, at least to Orca. But since Seal was the sad one, Orca (barely) resisted the impulse to bellow "YES!!!!". In fact, her cheeks looked just as filled as her sisters a moment ago... just with hot air. But her eyeballs all but bulged out of her sockets as she looked at Seal, willing her to say yes, because she herself was still a young girl who had no idea how to hide her own desires...

Her gaze turned back to grandma, air slowly oozing from her jowls as she slowly nodded, then stopped when she looked at Seal and remembering, oh yeah, Seal was the sad one... and nosing her softly now in a way that suggested, whatever you want! No pressure!

omg the cuteness is killing me. Last post for Seal! Gonna wrap this for me since I'm going on vacay soon. Please feel free to continue and PP Seal

Love was all around her! With one final sniffle, a long strand of snot sucked its way back up into Seal’s nostril. Then, all of the little girl’s sadness was forgotten.

In its place was fascination. A game! And not just any game. A new game!

Seal’s eyes went big as she squeezed one of Orca’s legs. She locked eyes with her sister, gaze wide with excitement. An exuberant nod of the head accompanied her words. -“Yeah!!!”-

The pup could barely contain herself as they waited for cousin Sable and Towhee Jr to join!

Their faces told their grandmother she had struck gold with this idea. She grinned, particularly when Seal signed an enthusiastic response. It made Towhee so happy to see her granddaughters picking up Ptero.

-“Alright, the more the merrier, so why don’t you two call for Sable and Jr for me? And then get into position, so we can start as soon as they get here!”-

Towhee had no doubt they’d rise to the occasion, so she playfully turned her back to wait for all four kids to arrive and line up so their playtime could commence.

I could stand to lighten my log a little, so I went with the fade! :)