Blacktail Deer Plateau It's Britney, bitch.

assuming they're still at the plateau. Let me know if not. Tagging @Ibis @Akavir @Arielle for reference

Now, don't get me wrong, traveling with Mama was fun and all. But I really missed Arielle, and Papa, too, and. . .

She stared down her nose at the small toad, sitting near-motionless a few feet away. They were both parked near a small copse of trees on the far side of the plateau, in the shadow of the mountains.

Why am I even talking to you? Are you even listening? The girl stepped forward and the amphibian emitted a gurgling croak, hastily hopping away.

Sigh. She was babbling to no one, really. She could burden other more sentient beings with her endless chatter, but Mama had been there, done that, and she didn't want to smother Arielle.

Maybe Papa? He was the strong, silent type—

Oh, who was she kidding? Too strong and silent. It would be talking to the toad all over again.

Lilitu missed the valley. Well, sort of. She missed Hotaru, and the other kinder souls she'd met there. She did not miss Haruki and that wretched woman (though dead now) and never would. That place always felt weird, anyway. She was glad they were gone.

But. . .now what?

Her parents had indicated they were looking for a new home. Was this it? It was nice, unfriendly toad aside. Pretty. 

But it was also getting colder, and Lilitu's unfamiliarity with winter meant the declining temperatures would forever paint this place with negative vibes, man. She didn't yet know that it was this way everywhere—yuck. (Ah, the innocence of youth.)

So, she waited. Someone would eventually tell her what to do and where to go.

She wouldn't be quiet about it, though.

I think that a while ago we spoke about having a thread-date, didn't we? I will keep vague, how the thread with Ibis goes.

Blacktail deer plateau was a large place for two small group of wolves to live in the same premises and not cross each other's paths. Truth to be told, Wraen's group had a tendency to wander far and wide during the day, this place was only to gather and check up on each other time from time. So, no wonder it was a little bit curious to the grayscale she-wolf, when during one of her solitary walks through the woods, she heard a child talking. 

Quietly Wraen drew nearer to the source, stopping here and there to test the air and sense the presence of other wolves, before either she or them caught sight of each other. There was a faint whiff of there being more than one, but the child aside, no one was in the immediate vicinity. Which was good for now, but meant that she had to watch her back constantly, in case an enraged mom or dad charged through the bushes and attacked his, in order to protect their brood that had wandered off. 

She met a girl - no longer a wee kid, but halfway to her adolescence. Her agouti coat mixed well with the color of earth and fallen leaves and only the bright shine of her eyes, gave her camouflage away. "Good afternoon, young one!" Wraen greeted the young wolf calmly, coming out in plain sight, but keeping a safe distance.

Yay :D

"Good afternoon, young one!"

Lost in thoughts, not paying attention to her surroundings in the least, Lilitu nearly jumped out of her pelt at the sudden greeting. Trying to calm her pounding heart, she sat up straight, giving the stranger a guarded but undoubtedly curious look. The woman seemed friendly, after all. And she was still too naive to know that sometimes friendliness could be a ruse.

Um, hi! she squeaked out. If wolves could blush, she'd be crimson. Had she been caught talking to toads? How embarrassing! 

Lilitu tilted her head. I don't know you, she continued—99 percent sure of that statement. After all, the willows had thrown her for a loop, though this woman didn't give her that same sense of deja vu. Are you here to see my parents, or. . .?

That's what she assumed, anyway. Willfully ignorant as she was to the existence of others outside her small social circle, she hadn't noticed the scents of others scattered around the plateau. It just hadn't occurred to Lilitu that a different group might be staying here, too.

Lucky for Lilitu - fate spared her the lesson of, how friendliness could be worn as a mask to hide ill intentions. Wraen was just as kind inside as, when she looked down at the kid, who she had scared by her sudden appearance alone. To remedy this, she lied down in order to be within the same eye-level of the girl and smiled at her encouragingly.

"Who are your parents?" she asked, wondering, if they were anyone she might know and feeling glad that the girl was not entirely on her own. "My name is Wraen," she offered. "What are you called?"

As the woman approached, Lilitu found herself enraptured by the green gaze. Like, whoa! Her mother's eyes were beautiful, but more like the sky; these were closer to spring grass and abundant foliage. She found herself staring. She couldn't help it.

Your eyes are pretty, the girl blurted, then paused. Um, I'm Lilitu. My Mama's name is Ibis and my Papa's name is. . .Akavir.

Such a fierce moniker. She preferred Papa. 

Lilitu lowered herself just like Wraen, placing one dainty paw atop the other. One would think she was very distinguished, if they were unaware of her bubbly, outspoken personality. So, do you know them?

"I just may have run into your mom recently," Wraen remarked, having met Ibis in person a day prior, though it had taken her some time to remember, who she was and where they stood in their relationship. It was still a little sad to realize that, while Terance had already become a grandfather, she hadn't had even a chance to be a real mother. In just two years Lilitu too would be a mom and Wraen's life would not have changed one bit. 

Grim and bitter prospects, to be honest. Ones she wished to mull over, when she was on her own, not, when there was a kid around. "Not very well, no," Wraen shook her head in response. "I heard you speaking to someone - is your brothers or sisters around too?" she asked, casting a glance around the immediate vicinity, but seeing no one.

That made sense. Ibis seemed to be on top of things, and if there were other wolves wandering around the plateau, her mother must have checked them out. Made sure everything was safe and all. She hadn't ever explicitly told Mama about the mean pale woman, but her discomfort must have been clear. . .clear enough for them to leave, anyway.

Lilitu grimaced as Wraen brought up the chit-chat. Well, I do have a sister. . . she said, trailing off and looking a little flustered. Why lie? Worst case scenario was that the woman made fun of her, and then she could just have Papa drive her off, right? Best case scenario was that she found a friend in describing her bizarre pastime borne of boredom.

I was trying to talk to a— Oh, what was it called? She suddenly lost the word. Little brown and green jumping thing, Lilitu finished lamely, and made a small hop in place to illustrate. But it wasn't talking back to me. Can only wolves talk? Or was it ignoring me? I guess I was talking a lot.

She might have just annoyed it, really. But Wraen would know the answer. Adults knew everything.

"Little brown-green jumping thing, huh?" Wraen furrowed her brow in concentration, figuring out, what the girl meant by it. Under warmer conditions she would have guessed that it was a frog, but this far in the season she doubted that any self-respecting amphibian was still wandering around. For all she knew, they tended to disappear during the cold months only to spawn every possible standing water surface with millions of babies during the spring. 

"Well, it could be that it either does not speak your language or it understood everything, but had plenty of his own brown-green-jumping creature stuff to think about," she suggested. "I mean it's not just wolves, who speak. Every living creature communicates one way or another. We are not versed in their tongue - that's all," she said. "In fact, I recall having a mink friend back in the day. @Nynka was her name and she had quite a lot to say," it was probably the only of wild fauna that she had ever encountered, who had ever wanted to talk with her.

Miryam has never been good at ecology, particularly the seasons in which things do or do not emerge. But Lilitu was pretty sure it was a toad—she'd chased them during the rainy season in the valley. (And who knew the difference between a frog and a toad, anyway? Not this girl!) She nodded, and then listened studiously as Wraen continued on.

Really? she exclaimed, fascinated by the idea of talking to other animals. And. . .well, kind of bummed out, too. She thought suddenly of the rabbits and squirrels Mama hunted for them to eat. Had she been able to hold a conversation with one, Lilitu didn't think she could stomach swallowing them down afterward. 

What's a mink? Lilitu asked. And how do you talk to one? Like, if I want to talk to a bird, do I have to go cheep cheep cheep? 

It seemed quite silly, but she was into it. The possibility of more friends, no matter the species, had her excited.

"Well - in the case of that particular mink - it was very willing to talk to me. All I had to do was stay quiet and listen," Wraen explained, looking back at the good old times spent with that amusing oh-so-full-of-oneself little critter. She hoped that, wherever Nynka was now, she was faring well and that nobody had eaten her.

"Ummm... I don't think so. It could turn out that your innocent "cheep-cheep-cheep" turns out to be either a total gibberish or something super rude in the bird tongue. So - either you will be laughed at or you will make them super-angry," she suggested, having never thought about talking with birds herself.

"And very often the body speaks just as well as the words themselves. If you observe any creature long enough, you can learn about the way they communicate very well," she said. "In the end - follow your instincts," she concluded and winked.

She giggled nervously as Wraen explained how she could possibly offend a bird if she didn't know what she was saying. Body language. . .that seemed even difficult to pick up. Next time she saw a bird, she would watch it for a while. See if she could learn how to speak to it.

And toads. . .well, how did one talk to a toad, exactly? Lilitu had only heard them make a gurgling sound that she wasn't sure she could imitate.

What's a mink? Lilitu asked again, not forgetting her earlier question—and then added, What kind of stories did it tell you?

"Mink are small, but fierce little carnivores. They have a long body, short legs and a notoriously high self-esteem," Wraen had not met anyone like Nynka afterwards, nor had she sought out any of her kind to attempt a conversation. 

"Unfortunately I do not recall much, what she told me - we spoke mostly about... current affairs so to say. Not stories, no. Though I recall that this little fellow certainly had world domination plans in mind," she grinned. That rang almost true. "And perhaps today she is somewhere else making those plans come true."

"Did you know that wolves speak in different tongues too?" Wraen asked.

The mental image Wraen created was quite funny. She smirked, thinking of a squirrel. Squirrels had little tiny legs and long bodies; she imagined minks looked like that. A lot of the rest went over her head. World domination? Current affairs? She knew some of those words, kind of.

But what Wraen said next had Lilitu riveted. Really? she asked, cocking her head. Wolves that talk different from you and me? How was that even possible? She had been able to understand every word of her family, and the wolves in the valley—even the mean ones! And now here she was with Wraen, having a conversation.

She had a lot to learn, and she was a little irritated that she was limited to this plateau to do so. Surely the world beyond must have more answers.

My 3000th post goes to Lilitu! May she grow beautiful and strong, and has just as many posts as exciting adventures! :)

"Exactly. Unfortunately I am not versed in foreign tongues, therefore I am unable to tell, when a wolf is truly talking and making sense or just having a go at me and talking gibberish," Wraen smiled at the curious little bird. In some ways she reminded her a lot of, what she herself as a child had been. Small, inquisitive and with a thirst of knowledge that only the world could quench. 

"Have you thought of, what you want to be, when you grow up?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and smiling down at the kid.

congratulations again <3

Gibberish—she didn't know what that meant, but maybe she didn't have to. Hooray for context clues! She was smiling, but upon Wraen's question, her face fell into a contemplative frown. Because. . .hmmm. She'd never really thought of that before.

I wanna be. . .uh. . .my Mama. She paused and then resumed talking again when she realized that probably merited an explanation. She's really nice and pretty and smart. I wanna go everywhere and know everything, just like her. And maybe one day be a mama too.

That seemed simple enough. But how to do it, and how long would it take? She didn't think she could wait much longer as a kid cooped up on this plateau.

"These are very good aspirations. Your mama is a very good person," Wraen replied, enjoying the child's honest answer. "Do you know that a long time ago she was just a wee-puppy as you are now?" she asked, smiling at the recollection of baby Ibis - ball of white fluff and cuteness. 

"And... if I remember correctly, she did not talk much, but had a knack for music too. Howled songs before she learned to say "mama" or "dada"," there was a grain of truth in that recollection, Wraen had just furbished it a little to make a story out of it.

Her jaw dropped. She thought Wraen had said she didn't know Ibis very well! Yet here she was, telling stories of her mother's childhood. A wee puppy, and singing before she talked— 

She still sings! Lilitu exclaimed. She has since we were really little. Do you. . .

A thought had occurred to her, and it filled her with such wonder that she could barely sit still. Eyes round, she looked at the woman in earnest. Are you. . .her mama? Because if she was, Wraen was family, and that was exciting. She hadn't known any other family beyond her parents, her sister, and Uncle Vin.

How else could she know? She must have been there at the very beginning.

"Oh, no, I am not her mother," Wraen shook her head. "But I am an aunt of hers. Her father was my brother," it was strange to talk about Terance in the past tense, but she had not met her brother in two years now and for all she knew, he could be dead. Or MIA. It had not seemed as if Ibis had any recent news about her father either. And they had lived on the same side of the mountain range. 

"Which makes me a grand aunt of yours," she guessed, not sure, how extended relations actually worked, but this was the closest.

So they were family! Just not in the way she had first thought. Still, it was an exciting development, and Lilitu's tail began to wag excitedly. Ibis's papa. . .her brother. . . She tried to piece it all together in her mind, but it seemed too complicated. All that mattered was that Wraen was family.

That was pretty cool.

Do you live near here? Lilitu asked. She could always use more friends. Obviously her life was boring enough that she was stuck talking to toads. We live here and it's boring. I miss our old home in the valley.

"I am staying here for a while with some of my friends," Wraen explained the girl, then took a moment to think, what should be done about boredom. Usually, when the room was empty, it would surely fill up pretty quickly. In the beginning there would be dust, then would dust-bunnies come and then... that's, where the imagination began to fill in the blanks. 

"What was your old home like?" she asked curiously, wishing to find out, where the girl came from and what she had liked about her home in particular.

I think we can wrap this up; light PP of @Ibis :)

Oh, really? She hadn't smelled them at all, though maybe they hadn't been in the same part of the plateau, or Lilitu was just noseblind. Attention focused as it was on non-talking toads, head in the clouds, it was entirely possible. And it was very intriguing—and comforting—that there was a friendly wolf here besides her family.

And speaking of—

Lilitu! she heard her mother call, coinciding with Wraen's question. Ugh, sorry, I should probably go, Lilitu said reluctantly, making a face at Wraen, one ear flicking backward in idle acknowledgement. That's my mom. But we lived in the mountains, up there. It was okay. I had some friends.

She cocked her head, questioning. I'll see you again? She assumed so, if they were living here. Then again, big plateau, big world. By the time Lilitu got to exploring again, Wraen and her friends might well be gone.

She wouldn't forget the woman, though. She vowed it, vehemently, as she turned to scamper off toward the summons.