Blacktail Deer Plateau no nuns. no nuns, none!

making some assumptions about what will happen in this thread. still assuming that until there's a thread w/ @Phox that says otherwise, ves is remaining close to @Maegi and @Mou.

she had remained close to father and mother— she still thought of them that way, and thought she always would— though vesper had drawn into herself. the hints of stoicism that been growing before all of this had taken over the child. she was more reserved than she had ever been, but no less dedicated to the family that had adopted her as their own.

the darkling had needed to mature rapidly in the face of her entire understanding of the world changing; now, her body had grown to match. she was still tiny, smallest of her siblings, but vesper was more proportioned now with the exception of her ears. her milk teeth had fallen out, giving way to adult molars. except for a small, lingering speck of blue in her left eye, they were now almost fully transitioned to the dark orange. the same color as phox's. her real father's.

vesper wanted nothing to do with him, unlike @Peregrine. she rarely ventured out from the den site, and went out of her way to avoid the dark stranger and @Meerkat. mother had indicated they would likely want to leave and take her with them, but she would rather die. the adults all quietly agreed to give her space and time to process; the juvenile perhaps played up her melancholy to buy more of it.

but mother, father, and @Blueberry had gone for a stroll together; vesper was invited, of course, but she refused. not wanting to risk having to speak with phox. an hour went by, with her alone in the den, and she sighed— bored, now. she moved to the entrance and poked her head out, searching the area with sullen eyes for any sign of the unwanted stranger. when she felt confident that the coast was clear, vesper stepped out into the late-afternoon sun for a stroll of her own.