Dragoncrest Cliffs High and dry

On the way back from her interruption of mother-daughter bonding time, Kiwi was bound and determined now that she hadn't wanted to play anyway, so yeah, she did actually want to return.  But because this wasn't the case at all, she ended up sulking away from her brothers and stodgily ignoring her mother when they finally did return.  She accepted the gift from @Bat with a somewhat less enthusiastic, but heartfelt, tackle hug.  But then went right back to ignoring Wildfire.

Since they were allowed to roam more, this wasn't as hard to do.  Right now it consisted of watching a robin hopping about, her little blue-green eyes transfixed on it as it bobbed and pecked for food.  Slowly she crept forward, on her belly, wondering if maybe she could catch it.  That'd show them that she was special enough to hang out! Or just... y'know.  Be fun anyway.

her mind is still full of sad buzzing from her brief stay with the girls and her short reunion with furi. remembering what mother had said to her when the breakup first happened -- keep yourself distracted, use your baby siblings -- she sets out to check in on the little squirts. the speed with which they grow is actually kind of alarming -- was it like this watching her and her brothers grow up to? (and then she remembers with a pang that mother wasn't here for most of that, and.. yeah. nope, think about something else.)

she spots kiwi and makes her way towards her with a little grin, taking advantage of whatever's distracting her baby sister to creep up on her until she leaps forward with a playful bark. oblivious to the robin that goes flying with blixen's sudden appearance (sorry kiwi), the redhead cheerfully greets her with a "'sup, kiddo?"

Kiwi was too focused to notice Blixen's approach until the bird had flown away, and the stinkeye she gave her older sister was honestly kinda impressive.  "Heyyyyyyy!"  She squealed indignantly, stomping a small paw.  "I was gonna catch it!" . Very little chance of that, but in Kiwi's mind, Blixen had definitely just ruined it.

She already wasn't in the best mood, and now she moodily frowned at Blixen, accusingly.  Not fair that she got to just come up and ruin her hunt, just like Mom earlier had ruined her fun.

what is that look for? the redhead swivels, catching sight of the bird as it swoops firmly out of view safe and sound. oh, woops. sheepishly she grins at her indignant sister, not really that guilty about the whole thing (it's hard to take kiwi's ire seriously when she's so tiny and cute). "sorry kiwi," blixen says anyway, crouching to meet her eye level, "wanna find another one to catch?"

Umm no.  She was displeased and that meant Blixen better be sorry for it; instead she's smiling.  Kiwi turned abruptly and started to stomp off, with a "No," in her most petulant voice.  But unfortunately, she missed the rather large rock that was in her way doing so, and hit her paw against it with a resounding "thwack".

Immediately she sat down again, her nose wrinkling against the pain and how unfair everything was.  Slowly a whine built up, then unleashed in a dramatic, keening wail.

blix has spent most of her time with bat compared to her other baby siblings, and thus is sort of used to the more laid back attitude of her big-eared sister. kiwi on the other hand -- she doesn't know what to do with that reaction, eyebrows shooting up at the attitude. which is still really funny, actually, especially when she immediately collides with the rock.

a snicker threatens to escape her. the redhead bites it down as soon as kiwi begins to wail, pressing up against her in alarm. "hey, hey, it's okay, c'mon," she begs, having no idea how to handle a crying child, "here, lemme take a look at your paw, i'm sure it's fine, no need to cry--" assuming she can she goes to examine the bruised paw in question, giving it a firm lick to demonstrate it's a-okay, and please, please stop crying kiwi.

The world was ending and everything was awful.  In the ways only a toddler can, she threw a fit via wailing, only muffling it when Blixen presses against her by pushing her face into her sister.  Immediately she forgot her earlier anger directed at her; now she just wanted affection and attention, both of which Blixen was delivering at least ok.

"It h...hurts," she sobbed out haltingly , but held it out obligingly, letting her big sister do what adults do best... make everything better by gratification.

"there, there," she says obligingly, letting the girl cuddle close and grooming comfortingly the top of her head. "you're having a bad day, huh?" blixen mutters, nevermind the fact that's she directly responsible for like, half of it at least. she doesn't want mother to know that she made her sister cry (or at least made her run away, thus kickstarting the crying events), so she'll stay close 'til she's settled.

Kiwi just nodded, and remained there, cuddling against her older sister for some well needed (if not quite deserved) attention.  Eventually she'd spill all about mom and Bat and everything, in a ranting explanation that would likely bring the upset right back to the surface as she told it.  But eventually she would get past it; when she was older she'd probably learn to hold a grudge with iron grip, but for now, she was too young to be upset for long.

sorry for the holdup!! gonna go ahead and wrap this up <3

eventually, thank god, kiwi seems to settle. blixen doesn't know what to make of her rant, something about mother and bat, kids stuff she guesses, but she listens obligingly, every so often agreeing with a that does sound terrible, until at length she can usher the kiddo back to mother and escape.