Whitefish River Blink

The rain had ended and made things less fun around here. Which was lame. So now what was there to do? There had to be something. Things had gotten quiet for a minute (read: boring) and so when it was just too much, Nutmeg slunk off to explore. Trips were more interesting when she had the chance to make stuff up. Not that hanging out with family was lame or whatever, but sometimes they just couldn't keep up, you know?

She slunk through the shadows, ears twitching. So, who was out today? Who would be actually interesting or were they just gonna show up and be lame? Sometimes she'd go and not spot anyone at all, but then again, since she was spending time lurking around the shadows, maybe that's why.

| I gotta have an Ira puppy thread
| all mild and healing: swollen left hind leg. swollen front left ankle, sprain. scrapes and bruised all over, swollen right eye
| partly cloudy
| 11:00AM

Oh he saw her sneak off. Even though Hieronymous wasn't one of @Ira's children's fathers, he still felt that tug of parenthood - perhaps it was just camaraderie of being a part of the same pack and helping Ira raise them when he could before the injuries - and followed the little scamp. She kept to the shadows, which meant she was.. doing something. As kids did he assumed. Perhaps she was playing a game, honing in on her stalking abilities in a way regardless if she knew or not.

He was slow to follow but he kept as close as he could, trying his best to stick to his own little cover and not to disturb her little game just yet. After a while, he would begin to creep up on her, rounding around her trajectory and the moment she'd stop for any reason - he'd slink out from beneath the thinning leaves. Maybe he could give her a fun little surprise, a little spook. 

'An where do you think you're off too lil' missy, hmm? His tone wasn't one of a scornful parent, instead, he smiled softly, playfully, and looked forward to what the young lady would say.

Why couldn't they go and cooperate? Seriously, did Nutmeg keep going the wrong way or something? Maybe she should go find a cache or something -- maybe more luck there. That'd be uhhhhhhh. She paused for a moment to think about her new direction when a big face popped out in front of her. Where did he come from?!

She scuttled back a step or two, but her fur spiked out. Look, now going and ruining her thing was just no fair! Hey! It was basically cheating. Top that off with the fact that she hadn't gone and met too many people -- mostly because a lot of people didn't hold her interest, so why bother? -- so he was a stranger to her basically entirely. Sure, he might have smelled a little familiar but he wasn't cool enough to remember! Or something! You know, kid brain here. It didn't always make sense still. What are you doing?! Ruining things, obviously.

There was no stopping the chuckle that came from his lips as he saw her puff up and retreat. They were more fun now, the puppies, they had thoughts of their own and were able to do more than just lay around and be all cute. Now they were cute and moving, did they even remember anything of him? Possibly not, he wasn't around nearly enough for them to do so - maybe now he could. 

Checking out suspicious behavior. Were those words too big for her at this age? Eh, he'd know from her reaction soon enough. Looked like you had a plan for today and I want in. Clearly he couldn't tell her that he was here to watch over her as she wandered around. Ira had already lost two kids, how much more could she take before the woman breaks from stress?

So? What are you doing? Offering a friendly wave of his tail, he gave her an impatient, excited glance and waited for her to lead the way.

She squinted at him, clearly absolutely suspicious of whatever he was up to. Ruining her fun, she was sure. Why else would he have appeared like that? Her games weren't always appreciated, but that was just too bad for those people. Yeah, she didn't think about the other stuff -- blah blah, adult things were boring, y'know? So, nice little orbit that was her world view, pretty small, and it all orbited around Nutmeg herself.

It was one thing to trust her sister to actually be fun sometimes, but he'd popped outta nowhere supposedly up for adventure -- too good to be true, maybe. Stuff, was her pointed answer. Stuff too cool for you. Yeah. If he thought he was gonna join in just like that. Nah, her games had a bar of entry and he might be too tall to ride. It did end up making Nutmeg a bit of a tough cookie to deal with at times but hey.. could be worse. She could be a teenager.

She was already on the route to being a little troublemaker, a rebel from what he could tell. How cute. How... how much of a handful were these puppies for Ira? She truly was an incredible woman to be raising them on her own, with the help of the pack of course, without their fathers around to aid in keeping an eye on them. Both a fantastic mother and a leader. He couldn't have more respect for the woman than he did now. 

It must be sooo cool if you're the only one doing it. He teased, hoping to try and coax her into showing him just how "cool" her little scheme was. If he could wiggle his way into her adventure and be a low-key guardian while she runs off to do these things. Why don't you show me how cool you are so I tell everyone else?

Nutmeg was definitely trouble. She was one of those kids where if you weren't clearly noticing her racket somewhere it was maybe a little too quiet and you should maybe figure out what she was doing before she does something actually bad. Of course from her eyes, it was all in good fun and it kept her entertained, but that's what everyone thinks before they realize the kid got ahold of the trimmers and shaved stripes onto the dog or a sibling's head and started following along with a Martha Stewart how-to on the dining room wall.

She huffed, And what if I don't want them to bug me, huh? Maybe they'd all ruin it! Obviously Nutmeg was totally not sold on him. He wasn't her sister (obviously) so why should he be involved? Her mother sometimes did put a stop to games (or otherwise ended/prevented her fun) so why trust another adult to be any better? Probably more likely to tattle!

Well, I guess that's it huh, I think maybe you don't wanna show me because what you're actually doing is just boring. He shrugged loosely. It seemed this one was the problematic one, the one that may be giving Ira the most trouble - or maybe she acted better around Ira than she did with others. Whatever it is, he wasn't going to sit around and argue with a child. Instead, he began to walk away and let her do her own thing. Perhaps he would be better off just watch her from a distance and make sure she was safe and sound.

Yup, that's it, she replied, sort of acting like it was final. Really, though, she just didn't want to have someone watching her. It interfered with her plots. How was she supposed to hide if there was some guy just like standing there being all lame? As soon as his back was turned, there was a scuttling noise... What was it? Nutmeg absolutely bolting for cover farther away. A thick, hedgelike bush was her target, diving underneath and squirting through to the other side.  But she stopped there -- for now, at least, crouching down to peer underneath just enough to see if paws were heading her way.

That was at least kind of exciting -- either she was gonna get away and go back to what she was planning, or if she got chased, maybe it'd be fun to try and ditch him.