Lost Creek Hollow houndstooth

Ashlar was not a child who was prone to fits, but after @Sionnach and @Aengus were taken away, he had thrown more than perhaps up to this age so far.

I wanna play WITH AENNGGGGG he wailed, and as he did so he stomped his growing paws on the loamy ground.  @Mona had explained patiently before why this wasn't possible, but Ashlar wouldn't hear it.  He could not understand concepts like parents choosing to leave and taking friends with them, and he cried for it.

His mother was the unfortunate focus of his frustration now, and Ashlar stormed off a short distance to plop down.  Here he started in again.  I WANNA PLAY WITH SIA!!!

the tag is simply for reference though any and all are welcome to join.  come play with my sad boi

One of the bonuses for following directions was that Spook was allowed a bit more freedom. Hearing the ruckus, he had wandered away to investigate while his other siblings were probably being given a lecture on proper behavior nearby. 

He poked his head around a bush and peered at the other boy. Honestly the others leaving probably meant least to him out of all the pups around -- he wasn't the most social dude, so his siblings were more than enough trouble for him to deal with. Sup, came the quiet yip. There was a fuss going on, though. Heck if he knew why. Spook probably looked like he knew he might be interrupting something.

I'm going to powerplay some so they can travel <3

Mona seemed impervious to his wailing, a likely result of the fact that she could do nothing to resolve it.  Ashlar breathed in and prepared for another volley when someone spoke from aside, and instead he turned to stare at them.  

It was one of the other children, the ones he knew from tag.  Ashlar's cries died in his mouth and he instead sat down with a heavy thump.  He did not want to stop screaming but he knew better and was sensitive enough to not want to turn aside a new friend by crying about the old ones.  Ashlar sniffled.  Wanna go see fish, he said, quietly.  

A likely very relieved Mona agreed, but Ashlar followed her softly questioning look towards Spook.  D'you wanna see fish? he asked, still quiet.

He looked back behind him a moment, likely to Arbiter and the rest of his siblings before turning back to Ashlar and taking a few tentative steps forward again.

He tipped his head.  Whuh fish?  Now whether that was "what fish" as in what is a fish or "what fish" as in what specific fish Ashlar meant, who knew.  The part of the creek that came closest to the den wasn't particularly deep, so what small fish inhabited it were a couple inches long at most, and were thus also probably small enough that Arbiter just ignored them and didn't point them out.  After all, they were insignificant enough to not be a meal for anyone as big as her.  Can go.  Wherever the fish were.  Heck, at least Spook knew where the den was by now, so he could be sent home without getting too lost after whatever adventures were over.

Ashlar didn't even think of the alternatives; there was really only one answer that he knew to give.  In da river, he explained, and suddenly he was much more cheerful now that he and his new friend could go explore the water.

Mama gotsa one last time n I'm gonna getum this time. He added as he bounced along at Mona's heels.  On Gannet's warning he had steered clear of the water alone, but with mama along nothing could go wrong.

Okay, the river!  There were all sorts of river/creek/brook/etc things around, so Spook wasn't sure where they'd end up, all things considered.  Beyond a certain radius of the den, his knowledge of the territory was pretty fuzzy.  So, here he was just gonna follow along and see what happened!  Ya, let's go!  At least with others around, that meant that things were probably much safer so he didn't need to be all freaked out like he ordinarily would have been at new stuff.  Though he didn't have any bad memories of the water so far that weren't directly caused by an overly-rambunctious sibling, anyway.  Hopefully Ashlar wouldn't be as much of a jerk as his own brother and sister. And so, he hopped along after, but at a slower pace due to shorter legs.  Is it far or..?  As mentioned, the water never seemed to be at a set distance -- or really it was just his family rarely went to the same section multiple times in a row due to various things.

im going to wrap this since im dropping ashlar for a bit

It's not far! Ashlar exclaimed, though he looked away as he scrambled over a collection of fallen limbs.  His attempt to follow his mother was in a childishly inefficient way as he wove through the more interesting rough places.

When they got there, Mona would carefully show both of them the way to catch a fish if they were patient, but Ashlar was too exuberant about being there with a new friend.  His goal would be to pull Warlock into a game of chase with the fish, confined to the shallows as they were.

Spook would take a bit more time to get there -- he was younger and far less agile at this point -- but at least his size meant sometimes he could find a way around instead of over.  Either way, the fish were quite a fun game!  And it was also pretty great to get to play with someone who wasn't siblings.  It made things that much better.  Though he wouldn't be using Mona's fishing tips for quite a while, some of it might even stick in his brain for when he was a little bit more coordinated.  All and all, it would prove to be a pretty good day.

It was gonna be Spook's turn to be sad soon enough.