Dawnlark Plains friends and liars dont wait for me

a thousand times she had looked for her children, gone this way or that -- and it seemed ironic now that she was searching not for a child, but an adult. she hated the idea of rosalyn being nicked from the heart of ankyra under her watch - and hated even more the idea of it being done by an enemy. that chestnut shrew was supposed to be her arch-enemy, uneasy alliance aside -- and if anyone was to sink a tooth into that witch's salty hide, it should be her.

she wouldn't have admitted it, but she felt a little bit of alarm too - if rosalyn, a full grown wolf, could be abducted with little signs to show for it, the same could be said for her children. which made her question why she was out in a snowed in, freshly-burnt to the ground area,  leaving her children unattended.

yet they had a penchant to travel together, she reminded herself - and with erzulie afoot, it seemed unlikely.

what didn't seem unlikely was who the perpetrators were.. the siren had as good a guess as any, given the marks and the scents had been clear as day. all the same, she felt it her duty to at least scout nearby territories, mostly to see if they had dragged her frenemy to some hidden outpost well beyond their stony walls.

His journey continued.

With his skybound companion overhead, Aningan travelled farther from the direction he’d originally come. That home was so far away now hardly bothered him—how could it when he had no true ties there, those that were meant to be his family having never offered him much of anything, especially not their time—and whatever feelings of dread  did nag at him would fade without scarring. He could not think long on the glacier, nor when he might return, for a plan would ruin his adventure; he had no intentions of returning any time soon, of course, but even that he wouldn’t say aloud for fear of taking away from the mystery of his trek.

The farther they went, the more barren the earth became. There came to be an expanse of land on which he saw no trees, and thus stole a glance upwards at his friend. Did that bother her? Whether it did or not, she did not show it, using the land to her advantage instead as she hunted. Eventually, the owl went beyond his line of sight—not that Aningan noticed. Whilst she’d been hunting so skillfully, the child had taken to trying to pick out from the snow a meal for himself. This consisted of him hopping, pouncing, flailing, and falling—sometimes in that order, other times mixed around. At times, the way he jumped resembled a fox without grace, as he threw snow all around each and every time. It turned into a game eventually, with him flinging snow in every direction possible—and then it happened.

It was a game no longer.

As he came up again, there was a mouse trapped in his jaws, small and lifeless. Thrilled by his success, however tiny it was, Aningan completely missed the approaching woman.

much noise was being made somewhere south of her, the sound picked up by the keen cant of her ears. caiaphas glanced about her: finding her solitude unbroken, she elected to hunt down the author of such a racket. 

she came upon a child, or — a juvenile — for as she assessed his frame it occurred to her he was not so different in age than svalinn. he had ceased his flinging of snow sometime earlier, and now proudly now spotted something caught in his jaws. 

the siren studied the ropy tail that dangled from the prison of his little teeth. whatever it was, it appeared it wasn’t having a good day.

It took one—maybe two—seconds for him to down the mouse, its body hardly a snack (but damn ’phas is kEK). The mouse was just enough to awaken the hunger he hadn’t realised he’d developed, causing his stomach to let out a loud rumble. Determined to silence it, and now knowing that he was capable, Aningan pushed his nose towards the snow as he sought out another rodent—but, instead, he got a nose full of a snow and an eyeful of stranger.

Immediately, his head shot up and tilted to the side as he stared the woman down, finding her appearance curious and her being there strange. Was she hunting the mice, too? He couldn’t help but glance skyward, searching for his friend, but there was nothing there.

Okay, so he had to handle this alone. Cool, cool, he could do that.

Without an ounce of hesitance—he didn’t understand the concept of stranger danger, he’d never been taught—Aningan bounded towards the other wolf, a mix of English and Inuttut greetings flying from his mouth in a jumbled mess of sheer excitement.

it took aningan twice as long to notice her as it took him to stuff his face full of maus-hide; caiaphas' ears slid back as the boy froze, acknowledging her with surprise in those chestnut eyes. and then he did the unexpected; he moved towards her in jubilant bounds, a garble of unintelligible words strung from his muzzle.

she only grasped the meaning of a few of them; her fur had raked upwards in surprise, and was now settling. as she looked around them (inspecting the prints in particular) it occurred to her the boy appeared alone -- even his pelt bore little evidence of company.

so -- phas did what phas was famous for -- with a smile to herself she bent down in a playbow, and then teasingly dove out of his reach.

henlo i have a hellacious headache a t m so plz excuse anything not quite right thx

Although he’d received little attention from his family, he was still well aware of play and how to do it, thanks to his siblings. When the female bowed he slid to a stop, tail waving proudly like a flag over his rump—she wanted to play with him? Having grown incredibly accustomed to being ignored by those older than himself, this came as quite the surprise.

Without so much as a second thought, Aningan dropped his front half down and barked. Hardly a second was allowed to pass before he sprung up and raced towards her, tongue flapping in the wind.

the sylph was already off like a dark-faced hellion; while aningan's features were lit with surprise, caiaphas' were contorted back as she zoomed away. at his bark, the siren whirled back around, thundering towards him at a pell-mell speed as he raced towards her.

she slowed just enough that if they passed, she would aim a slight nip at his waving tail; it was a carefully restrained bout of play, meant to test aningan's threshold for play, and hopefully goad him into playing harder.

As the game of chicken began, he slowed but did not stop; he resembled a young, goofy puppy most of all in that moment, as he bounded towards her with his tongue flapping in the wind. He was all for colliding, figuring that getting a little mouthy was acceptable with a complete stranger—only, she went by him. Not only that but, before he could spin, he felt a pinch on his tail. And although it did not hurt, it startled him just enough that he let out a little yipe and tucked in his rear; it wasn’t long before he was right back at it, though, spinning and taking off towards her once again.

This time, Aningan intended to further engage her. He tried his very best to close what distance was between them so that he could mouth at her wrist like some weirdo (aka Minion the lil black lab x kEK).

as she drove by and nipped at his hindquarters, she heard the aftereffect -- a loud yip punctuated more by surprise than pain. slowing her tread, she turned around in time to see aningan rebound, hurtling towards her like a tiny white comet.

he was gaining speed, and caiaphas, ready to give him a small victory, lowered her head and stood still -- resulting in a catastrophic collision where his mouth and body connected with her frame, his teeth gumming her outstretched limb.

she had nearly been pushed backwards by the blow, but with an impish grunt, she pushed hard against the earth with her hocks --attempting to spring right over him like an antelope.

Well, that was unexpected.

The sudden impact set his teeth to rattling, his head forced back whilst he blinked several times. In his stunned state, his mind refused to register her spring over him, which left him confused once he finally recollected himself—where had she gone? He glanced towards either side of him but did not notice her until he finally spun; at that point, he was tired and, honestly, still trying to decide whether or not their collision had knocked something loose inside him.

“You’re good at playing,” he noted between pants, though he didn’t exactly have much experience to compare their game to. He’d never had the chance to play with his older family members, and engagements with his siblings had oftentimes been brief. It was refreshing to have discovered how best his energy could be used. “Do you play a lot?” he asked; no matter her answer, he’d already decided that she definitely did—how else would she have become a play expert?!

for a moment the wych wondered if she had been too hard on him -- he slumped to the ground in pants, seemingly stunned by her roughing. quietly, the sylph stepped back towards him, no trace of the concern she felt lingering on her features.

and then he spoke -- a statement followed by question that elicited a knowing smile from the siren mother. "not as much as i should like - but i live with many children who play often. would you like to meet them?" smooth, you little pup-napper.

Although she didn’t play as often as he believed, he admired her stamina; perhaps, had things been different early in his life, he would also be able to maintain himself. Alas, that simply was not the case—but perhaps it could be.

He cocked his head at her question—then tossed it to the opposite side—considering the proposal. Other children with whom he could play versus the home he’d left behind that was void of any such thing. Why, it was a no-brainer. “Can I?” he asked, wanting to be certain. “I’d like that. No one at the glacier ever wants to play.” Not with him, anyways. But maybe that was how it had to be—how it was supposed to be, when a mother wants nothing to do with her son.

archive with ur post? or we could archive here. since we have new ones <3

the waif smiled, pleased the boy had taken the bait. someday in the future, he might be more intrepid -- but for now he was a lost boy, and she a beacon in the dark wilderness he found himself ensnared within. "hmm, good. then follow me."

she turned back for rusalka, keeping a playful distance that aningan would likely be pressed to match. caiaphas decided she would first introduce the child to raleska, or perhaps svalinn - both who would likely be receptive of company, particularly of a boy their own age.