Northstar Vale Come on, guys! Early worm gets the. . .worm.

set earlier this afternoon

Today, Lilitu was getting herself gloriously, incredibly filthy by jumping from puddle to puddle.

The rain had started, and it wasn't letting up. She spent her time either playing around in it, or watching the deluge from the shelter of the den (drying off from her last excursion, naturally). She did miss the sunshine, the singing of birds, but this was an interesting change. And to let it go by without taking full advantage would be foolish.

Raindrops spattered down upon her head, trickling down her growing muzzle. They darkened the silvers in her fur to nearly black, and the black hues grew even more pronounced. But there was a nice thin coating of mud and grass to go along with the darkening of her fur—Ibis was sure gonna love cleaning her girl up later.

Splish-splash-splosh. Like a game of hopscotch, Lilitu leapt from one pool of water to the next. Then she spotted a blob of brown-green by a tall patch of grass nearby and oh get this. . .it had eyes. What we know as a frog became her new favorite obsession, and she sailed toward it, continuing on even as it began to hop frightfully away.

It had been raining for the majority of the day now. Earlier in the day, Cordelia had hunkered down in a den to wait it out but, they need to clean water, and stretching of the muscles proved impatient against the persistence of the rainfall. At first, she tried to stay under trees. Quickly moving from one to the next to avoid getting soaked, but as time went on and her coat sustained more droplets she abandoned the effort and walked calmly through the rain. Arriving at a small stream she tested out the ground ensuring she wouldn't sink too far into the mud when she lowered her head for a drink.

The sound of rustling grass caught her ear as it approached her location. She could see the grass moving but not yet what was in it. But if it were shorter then tall grass it was likely not large enough to cause her serious harm. Being apart of this pack unharmed for such a time made her less skittish then she had been when she entered. Perhaps it was a squirrel, but then again she didn't see many of them frolicking in grasses. Her curiosity would simply have to grow until the source released itself.

The frog was slipping from her grasp. That is, if she ever really had a grasp in the first place (spoiler alert: she didn't). So it was to her frustration that the squat creature eventually vanished from view, though she kept on doggedly— bringing her headlong into a pale, plush chest.

Lilitu shriek-gasped in surprise, stumbling backwards and falling into a puddle. Sputtering, she tried to regain some sort of dignity as she rose to her paws once more, gingerly shaking herself out. But she was well and truly soaked, she was freezing, and. . .

Oh, poop! It was one of those white wolves again. Why always them?! Why were there so many?

S-sowwy, she burst out hastily, remembering her manners. She turned still-somewhat-blue eyes toward the stranger, squinting. The woman looked an awful lot like the others. A little different, maybe, but how the heck was she supposed to tell them apart? This could be the mean woman, and if so, Lilitu was in trouble.

The grass continued to rustle and out the side of the blades hopped a motivated frog hastening to his destination. Perhaps with all this rain, he was granted larger leaping grounds. But her attention turned away from the frog as the rustling continued and soon charged into her chest. With a light thud, she was greeted by a darker pup, contrasting the white snowflake puppies Cordelia had interacted with previously. The pup stumbled back and fell into a puddle, prompting Cordelia to turn away and take a step back to avoid the splash. An apology was quickly expressed but Cordelia was concerned with other matters. "Thank you, but it's no trouble. Surely an accident. Are you alright?" she asked seeing the little one shiver before her eyes.

Oh. This one was nice. She sucked in a relieved breath, nodding. Yeah. I'm a'right. Just wet, a little chilly, incensed from losing her frog, et cetera, et cetera. . . But she could deal with the pitfalls if this wasn't the mean woman, but someone else instead. Someone like Uncle V.

Who you? she inquired, cocking her head. I'm Lilitu. She'd been practicing her name, having butchered it so badly before. Her name, her sister's, Hotaru's— She was beginning to speak clearly, now, and less like a babe with a mouthful of pebbles.

The dark-colored pup seemed to be unharmed by their coalition and wasn't quick to cry over such little things as Hotaru had once done. It was a bit surprising to hear the little one speak with such fluency. Of course, it was bound to happen at some point, but all the other young individuals of the pack could barely say their own names let along have a conversation.

After introducing Lilitu introduce herself and asked Cordelia her name, Cordelia responded with a pleasant smile, "Nice to meet you Lilitu. My name is Corra. Who do you belong to... or rather who are your parents?" Cordelia questioned. She'd ran into other pups of the pack but if she was being honest with herself she rarely saw their parents and wanted to be able to connect the dots and lineages within the pack.

If Cordelia was impressed by her fluency, she was about to be disappointed once more. Mama, she responded, thinking that perhaps she'd never heard the actual name before. Oh! Wait— Uh, Ibis, she clarified, shaking her head. Mama Ibis. Da. . .Aka- Akavee.

Close enough, yeah?

D'you know Hotaru? And Haruki? Lilitu asked. All the pale wolves seemed to know each other. She assumed they were all family. And luckily, this woman seemed to take much more after Hotaru than Haruki or the mean witch. She didn't need any more of that bad energy in her life.