Stone Circle Digging up the past

@Greyback & Others welcome as well! What a troublemaker she is...

The standing stones were quite an obsession for little Arlette. The other wolves around her were always taller than she was, even her siblings, but compared to the stones even they were small. She marveled at the structures every time she came there. Sometimes she would follow her mother, she would be boring, by not wanting to play with her. Her mother would always do this weird thing of looking out over the plains. She said she would look at the biesooons, or whatever they were called. Arlette found the stones far more interesting. 

They were so hard under her paws and she realized that they were different from other rocks. They were sharp while others were round. Her mother had told her they were special. Arlette could only agree. However, the young child didn't realize how special the stones truly were. She was far too young for that. The girl had been playing around the stones. She hopped from shadow to shadow and zigzag'ed between them, she also climbed on the rock in the middle. When she did, her eye fell on the tallest stone. Steady Stone! Her mother said the stone was called Steady, at least that was how she recalled it.

She plopped on her butt and then tipped her head. If the rock was so tall above the grass, would it continue under the grass? The young girl wondered. Then she decided to take action. She was a girl of action not one of thought. Her brother was more of a thinker. She jumped off the round stone in the middle and rushed to the tall stone, Steady's Stone, and started to dig at the foot of the rock. Little did she know about the meaning of the rock or what was buried under the grass...

Watching from the treeline, Greyback gazed at the small form of Arlette bounding up the hill to the Standing Stones. Smiling humbly, he sat down and chuckled as she jumped between the shadows, entertaining herself. He could relate, often doing the same thing when he was younger. Greyback and his siblings were isolated from the others with their upbringing; busying being groomed to inherent their father's title. It left little time to play with eachother.

When Arelette disappeared from he view he became worried. He had only been watching to make sure she was alright. She was so young, too young to be on her own yet without a supervisor. Standing, he walked out into the open and raised his head. "Arlette?" He walked in farther towards the stones, not stepping into the circle. "Arlette dear, where are yo-." Cut off, Greyback stared open mouthed at the scene in front of him.

Arlette- white as ever, was now tinged with brown as she was digging up one of the stones. Anxiety flooded him he knew what was buried there. Drawing in a sharp breath, he paced forward where he stood behind her. "Arlette, stop." He said with a stern tone, but never raising his voice. He peered down at her, seeking how deep she had dug before looking upwards. His anxiety worsened as he noticed this wasn't just any stone. It was Steady's, Easthollow's founder and someone deeply connected the girl's mother.

Arlette eagerly moved her paws to push away more and more dirt, she found out that the rock continued under the ground, it didn't just stop. She moved her nose closer as the rock that had been under the ground scented differently than above ground. She wanted to see how far the rock would go! How fascinating! The girl had no clue that she was being watched. Often when there was an adult around the girl didn't feel like she was being watched. It was normal for her to have other wolves around especially when her mother was doing something else there was always another pack mate. 

The girl perked up her ears when she heard Greyback's deep voice. Her muzzle was stained with dirt, as were her paws and belly. "Greybac--!" Her greeting stopped abruptly when the male sounded so strict. Her ears flopped back in uncertainty, head ducking lower as well. Her red eyes looked confused at the male. Since when was digging not allowed? A slight frown came upon her face, yet still making herself smaller, almost fitting in the hole she had been digging. "Waswrong?,"she sounded confused.

"Waswrong?,"

Greyback stared as the girl turned around, her big eyes much like a doe. His gaze softened then, it was obvious she had no idea what was going on. She was so young. Much too young to be burdened with the realization of death. Shaking his head, he bent down and nudged at her rump softly, asking rather than forcibly shoving her out of the hole.

"How much do you know about this place, Arlette?" He questioned. His tone was soft as he spoke, not wanting to scold her if she had no knowledge. He waited for her to respond as he took to carefully scooping the misplaced dirt back into the hole. He felt uneasy touching the grave site, giving a silent prayer above so the gods didn't strike him down for disturbing it. It didn't take long since there wasn't much, after all, his own paw size was huge in comparison to the pup's. He was easily able to undo her digging with a few paw strokes of his own.

He looked down at the grave once he was finished, turning around to now look at Arlette after her answer. Dirt caked to her muzzle, making it look like she took a dirt bath. He felt sick having to explain to her that she was digging up grave unknowingly. "This place is very special, dear. When others, wolves who we love...pass away we bury them here so that..." Greyback looked past her as he thought of what to say. What was it that Valette told him months ago? "...So that they can watch over and guide us. We must be respectful to them," He turned his attention back to her and gave a small smile. "They want to rest, dear. We shouldn't bother them with our games, do you understand?"

The girl easily moved to his nudge. She hopped out of the hole she dug and glanced at the large male. He asked her about this place, about these stones. She knew they were special and that her mommy loved them. She slightly pouted. "Mommy said they special," she returned to Greyback. However, she couldn't tell him why they were special. The meaning of the word 'special' was still vague for the young female. She did know that it meant there weren't many of them. 

The girl watched as the male closed the hole she worked in mere seconds. She worked so hard on digging that pit. She looked rather horrified when seeing him cover her hard work. She let out a soft whine. Now she would never find out if the stones go all the way down in the ground! And most of all, where they would end. "Aww," she groaned when the male was done covering up her mess and looked at her. However, the grass was gone it was clear someone had started to dig by the stones. Greyback still didn't look happy though. Arlette was starting to feel bad. 

Slowly her confusion furthered. "Whats 'pass away'," she asked. "Isit like pray?," she asked again. Because prey would pass away, meaning sleeping forever, while they would be eating them. Her tail started to gently wag when he offered her a tiny smile. "Oh oh! I know! I know!! We bury praay after passaway! Then we eat again!" Perhaps it was something like that as well. This was just a... "Casheee!!!" she beamed. Her happy face then crumbled in confusion. "Mommy said when hungry I dig for casheee? This not casheee?" 

"

"Whats 'pass away', Isit like pray?,"

Greyback watched as Arlette tried to figured out what his words meant. He was sure it was difficult for her to understand since she had a limited vocabulary. He folded back his ears at her guess and shook his head. "Not q-"

"Oh oh! I know! I know!! We bury praay after passaway! Then we eat again! ....Casheee!!! Mommy said when hungry I dig for casheee? This not casheee?"

It only got worse as she continued to talk. This was difficult. He didn't want to outright say death and tell her that her past pack mates were dead beneath them. He felt a sigh leave his lips. Arlette was a smart girl, he was glad she was connecting "bury" with "prey" and "cache." But her naivety difficult.
"Very good!" He explained, praising her. "Wolves pass away like prey, and It's sort of like a cache...but its not prey buried here. We don't eat what's buried here." He looked to Steady's stone for a quick second before looking back at Arlette. He wanted to change the subject as fast as possible. It wasn't his place to be teaching her these things without approval of her mother. "We can go get you some food elsewhere if you're hungry?"

Arlette glanced up at the large male with expectant eyes. As the big wolves always knew what something was she wondered if he could explain more about this. She was confused as to why this wasn't allowed. She instantly started to wag her tail, and since she was sitting down, it was making dirt fly behind her. The girl was just glad that he wasn't mad at her anymore. Prey-Cache, it was almost like a rhyme, hence why she remembered it. She tilted her head cutely when the male explained that this was a cache but not really. Her eyes bulged when he said wolves pass away as well. But how? They weren't prey. Momma told them they weren't. They were predaaroons! 

Now Greyback thought she was digging for food, but she wasn't hungry. She shook her head. "Nah," she returned to him. "I dig to see wher stone end!!!" she spoke and then pointed her muzzle at the big stone. "Not hungry!" She had been just digging for something interesting, not really because she was hungry. 'You kno wher stone end?" She was not quickly convinced to be taken away from this interesting place. Besides, her mother fed them this morning so she was eager to explore with her full tummy. 

"nah, I dig to see wher stone end!"

Greyback followed his gaze to where Arlette had been digging, his eyes resting on the tall stone of Steady once more. He heard her ask about where it had ended but he unsure himself. It must of been planted deep if it was staying up like that. He grimaced slightly, knowing that the girl had no idea what he was talking about.

"You kno wher stone end?"

Greyback looked down at the silver pup after her words. She was still filthy from paw to nose, dirt adorning her fur in streaks and speckles. He couldn't let her go back to the pack looking like that. "It goes very deep," he lied while moving to lay down, his paws on either side of her body. "Far too deep for me to even dig," He hoped that would put an end to her curiosity.

Leaning forward, the Gamma swiped his tongue across her face and prodded her with his nose as he tried to clean the dirty fur. His wet tongue easily washed most of it away, but ended up making clumps of the silver pelt stick out in odd places. "You're too dirty to go see your pack mates like this, dear,"

Arlette's eyes became wide set as Mr. GB told her that the stone would go too far to dig. The female looked amazed at the stone. Now she was even more impressed by the stone. "Wow, I didn't kno!!!," she beamed at the large male. She had no clue that the male was lying to her. The girl would obviously believe everything that the adults would tell her. The red-eyed girl groaned when the male started to lick across her face to get her clean. She stepped back and fell down on her butt. She shook out her head to make her fur go back to the right places.

"Mama is this color!!," she protested, only slightly. The female was often quick to accept what an adult wanted. She was never really the rebel of the group. She just wanted the play. "Mama dirty?" she giggled at Greyback. She knew that her mother didn't smell of dirt or that she was dirty but she thought it was funny to think so. She then stepped closer to him, if Greyback decided that she did need a full bath she would accept it. 

Greyback was glad that Arlette took the lie, he had no idea what he would of done if she didn't believe him. He offered her a small smile at her raw, untamed voice. He was glad she was so carefree and easy to please.

He watched silently and let her wiggle away easily after letting his tongue drag over her fur, though his brows knit in worry as she toppled backwards and fell onto her rump, but noticed she was okay and soothed his face. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle when she shook her fur and fluffed out slightly.

"Mama is this color!!, Mama dirty?"

Greyback tilted his head at the protesting voice and continued to chuckle at the child's antics. He let out a fake gasp and desperately looked around. "Oh my, it seems as if I lost little Arlette! Wherever has she gone?" He lifted up his paw to check under it before looking back at the dirty pup. "Oh, there she is, it seems my eyes are getting old! I thought you were but a pile of dirt," He spread his paws as she moved closer, happy that she decided a bath wasn't too bad.

Arlette was quickly taking on to the game. "Here I am! Here I am!," she called out eagerly. She was a good little girl. If she got into trouble then the girl often didn't mean it or was clueless that it wasn't allowed. The light colored girl jumped before him. She let out an excited squeak when he 'found' her. Arlette grinned. "Ya! Thats me! Pile'o'dirf!" she laughed and bounced before him. She knew that she would probably have to get a bath now. She did try to shake out her coat to get most of the dirt off but still, her fur was stained. 

"Mr. GB! I will race yu!" she grinned and then started to run down the hill as fast as she could to reach the stream with water first. She didn't think that Greyback might be way larger so probably much faster than her. The innocent girl just thought it would be fun to race him. She was filled with endless positivity and eagerness to do well. 

"Mr. GB! I will race yu!"

Greyback watched as Arlette jumped about and called after him before her tiny figure bolted into the grass and down the hill. With a laugh deep within his stomach and a smile he bounded after her, his fur blowing in the wind as he chased the girl. It wasn't difficult for him to catch up, however he darted around her playfully to stay behind.

Grass tickled him lightly as he followed the white fur. It had been ages since Greyback had played with someone, let alone a pup. Never before had he done such a thing. At the moment his heart was filled with warmth. "I'm going to get you!" He called, his snout pointed downwards as he gained on her. However, as he neared the river he slowed down, careful not to bump into her. "You won," He panted, bending down to lap at the water before looking at her. "You're too fast of me." He chuckled.

Arlette tried her hardest to run the fastest. She let out an excited squeak when Greyback was so close. She tried to add another gear to run extra fast. She almost tripped over her legs but managed to stop herself, making it seem only like a light stumble. She was getting steadier on her feet. Arlette sounded excited giggles and squeaks along the way. Clearly enjoying herself, the digging of the stones long forgotten. 

She needed an emergency brake when they reached the river. Greyback wasn't far behind her at all. "Yay!!" the girl seemed to be beaming. She couldn't believe that she was faster than Greyback. She looked adoringly at the male. It was a huge confidence boost for the pup that she was so fast! She would have to tell Keen and Merrit. Oh! And her mother, of course. She was quite thirsty as well and started to drink from the water. "I'm too fast!," she repeated after him with a grin.

We can fade here if you like! <3 Since Greyback will return soon we can have a new thread :D

Sounds great to me!

Greyback chuckled as the girl squealed and came to the stop at the river, her white fur like a blurr of snow. He watched her lap at the water and wagged his tail slightly as she cheered for herself in return to his words.

"I'm too fast!"

Greyback hummed in return. Arlette had not been as fast as a grown wolf, and the man wondered just how fast she would be when she's grown. He continued to give her a smile and playfully flicked water at her with the tip of his paw before walking up the bank and sitting; watching her.