Blackfeather Woods going off my head, down to somewhere

@Averna BUT any others welcome too ♥  

astara scratched at the floor of the den, a root snarled through the upturned earth. with her jaws clamped around the root the girl growled and sat back, giving mighty tugs to the spindly tendril. each tug heaved some more give in the line, until at last the long root was nearly entirely unearthed. it tasted bitter in her mouth, but she tugged it anyway until it at last snapped -- victoriously she carried the thing round the courtyard her mother had assigned for them, her tail held high and little growls sounding from her puffed cheeks.

The ghost child observed as the dark one walked into the courtyard, snarls ablaze and cheeks puffed. She let out a huff -- she did not care much -- and watched at the gnarled-looking piece of root between the dark one's teeth. The pale one was not one for showing off, but even she was not immune to the whims of the pup and there was an itch she could not quite explain to challenge for this piece of garbage the dark one had. Instinct required her to hone her skills and the ghost child suddenly bolted from her spot by the side of the clearing with a loud "yee-ow!" She headed towards the dark one and aimed to collide at the shoulder. Should she succeed in catching the dark one off-guard, the pale child would make a grab for the root, hoping to snatch it from her teeth and run off with it.

mom cameo! <3

in these days, when relmyna felt her thoughts turn to cicero, to maegi, to ramsay, to euron, she felt the familiar pang at considering she had lost the wolves around her that could have been closest. maegi especially — when she was able to leave the pups with shivali, the priestess wandered, searching for the melonii girl's scent. but it had grown stale, and relmnya was still bound to blackfeather for the time being.
the loss was echoed with familiarity
your son, offered the girl
but she could not recognize its origin.
at present, her turquoise gaze was soft with a wistful contentment as she watched her nightcub prise some root or other from the denfloor, and here came the daycub — for that was how she thought oft of her daughters — to take it away, meeting her sister's challenge.

the parading of the dirt-clung root was short-lived, for a white streak bludgeoned the thick black of averna's shoulders, spurning her back with a growl that caused her to drop the root. her prized possession, her hardfought trophy -- it was yoinked rudely from her.

thief! miscreant! astara had only a moment to collect her wits, and shot her mother the most disbelieving stare before her competitive nature took the better of her. she cantered clumsily after her sister, growling as she gained ground. it was her stick! she had seen it first! fueled by the instinct to win, astara went for the next best thing -- averna's outstretched tail.

The sweet taste of success tasted rather bitter and sandy, but it did not matter much to the pale child. She lifted her head high as she took the root and bolted off to the other side of the clearing. She glanced from the corner of her eyes as she slowed to see if she was being followed by the dark one. The pale child felt confident in her abilities to outrun the dark one, but she had stayed to allow her to catch up -- whether it was because she wanted to be caught or because she had sacrificed too much speed to look where the other was -- and soon a yank in her tail stayed her.

The impact of the grabbing of her tail left the ghost child falling flat on her face for she had not expected it. The root tumbled from her mouth though the ghost child let out a chuckled bout of laughter rather than being let down. She had only lost what she had only just gotten, after all. The ghostly girl scrambled to her feet, hoping to intercept the dark one before she could reach the root, if her tail would be let go of and she had been right in her assumptions the dark one would go for the prize once more.

vindication flourished in the chambers of her little heart as she grasped averna's tail -- a satisfaction that compounded as she witnessed her brightly plumed sister embrace the dirt. gloating, the dark sister peeled past her upended sibling and scooped up the root in her little jaws.

she swung round to face her sister, meeting the intelligent white of averna's gaze - a silent challenge to come hither, if she dared.

The ghost child scrambled to her paws but she was not fast enough thereafter to stop the dark one from taking the prize once more. There was a moment of silence and calmth as they stood facing each other. The ghost child peered into the dark child's eyes and a moment there was nothing but the pair of them, yin and yang, the balance.

Then instinct took over and once more did the child stumble towards the other, aiming to grab the side of the root that stuck from the dark one's mouth and commence in a game of tug o' war.

they squared each other off as if two old enemies of some bicameral lost order; one white, one black -- two souls of irrevocable differences that, combined, made something strange and whole.

a small growl rippled through the dark cub's throat: a challenge, or some dare otherwise. the blanched child stirred, and astara saw the indomitable fire in her eyes as she came forth with jaws parted. 

astara turned tail to protect her prize, but not quick enough -- a weight on the end of the root announced averna's hold over it. with puffing cheeks, astara gripped the root hard and sunk to the ground ostensibly,  refusing to relinquish what she had fought so hard to unearth.

For some time teeth on each end of the root grabbed hold firmly. The ghost child was set on getting claim over the root for some good time, until she saw something. A butterfly, dancing past them. Her attention did not waver; it was simply gone. She let go of the root abruptly and started to prance towards the butterfly, completely unaware that her actions may influence the dark one in any way.

astara dug deep into her inner reserves, extracting one last mighty bout of energy -- enough that when she bade to sit down, she did so with an extraordinarily well-aimed tug.

unfortunately, that extraordinarily well-aimed tug coincidentally happened to be extraordinarily well-timed -- averna had plumb released her hold on the root, and astara was sent tumbling buttocks over tea-kettle like a fat gumdrop pushed down a hill.

she had no defense for this sudden upheaval and somersaulted, the root still clutched possessively in her teeth. she landed with a heavy thud in the damp earth and looked up at her sister huffily, debris littering the sides of her body that had made unfortunate contact with the ground. the butterfly was only just noticed -- astara watched it (and her sibling) as it flitted in an unorthodox and highly unpredictable way, her attention transfixed on its brightly fluttering wings.

relmyna draped one foreleg over the other. in her throat, soft chuckling mounted as she watched the antics of the boisterous pair. both were distracted by the colorful fluttering by something out-of-doors, though astara bore the brunt of that choice. on the remains of her mute tongue rose the word butterfly — relmyna's jaw tightened briefly with a bitter stab of regret, shame that she could not communicate with her little ones.
watch them she continued to do, if with some sadness arcing unfairly through her heart.

The pale child was distracted but briefly by the sound of the dark one crashing into the earth. Ears cupped forward, but the comical somersault or its origins -- her -- was lost on her as the fluttering of the butterfly caught her eyes once more. By the time the dark one turned back, the ghost child's attention was fully on the butterfly as it darted by. She continued on towards it 'til she reached it and an interested, possessive growl bubbled in the ghost child's throat as she stared at it, lowered her body to the ground and prepared for a jump to catch it.

in silent awe, astara followed the graceful arc of the flitting butterfly. her mother's pain, which might have been detectable had she spared her dam a glance, went unnoticed -- all that consumed the girl's interest was that strangely fluttering, brightly garbed thing.

root still in her mouth, astara moved dumbly towards it as if in a trance: she stepped behind her sister and dropped the root abruptly, lunging upwards with a snap of her milkwhite teeth to (unsuccessfully) capture the aerial insect.

Just as the pale child made her jump, the dark one came out of seemingly nowhere. She had not been noted at all as the pale child prepared to jump and just as a white paw outstretched towards the butterfly, ready to catch it, the ghost was mowed out of mid-air by the collision and the pair of them fell to the ground together. She yelped in surprise, then laughed shortly as they tumbled through the air and landed with another yelp on the hard floor.

For a short moment the ghost's lip trembled as though she would start to cry as a child would, but then the butterfly darting about caught her attention once more and the ghost child was easily on her feet to unsuccessfully leap after the butterfly another time, the pain of a few seconds ago forgotten.

lemme know if the pp isn't ok <3

pp is always okay! <3

astara had been so enraptured by the gossamer glint of the butterfly's wings, that she had jumped plumb into her sister's already initiated trajectory.

the impact caused the girls to tumble, and tumble they did -  a heap of black and white, a sprawling tangle of lean limbs and youthful looseness. for a moment astara, like averna, seemed to wrestl with the physical implications of her impact - but she rallied as she saw averna gather to her feet and once more lunge for the staggered path of the butterfly.

astara stood, propped her hindquarters out and gave them a little waggle - and then she too frolicked after the bug with playful growls.

<3 this seemed like a good place to fade :)

It didn't take long for both girls to recover. A spectator that would walk onto the scene just now might think that there had never been anything bad happening at all. Whatever soreness the stumble had caused soon vanished as the ghost child continued to dash, and there were no adults there to gasp or ask them if they were alright with sorrowful eyes; so everything was alright.

This time a bit more coordinated, the dark and the light one pranced after the butterfly, never quite catching it but having a shit ton of fun in the hunting process nonetheless.

mere seconds had passed, but astara had already forgotten their trouble from moments before. the enticing flutter of the butterfly commanded both siblings' full attention, and the two coursed and parried after -- two grinning, carefree children with eyes only for the insect that avoided each successive attempt to catch it.

if only their lives would remain so blissful.