Blacktail Deer Plateau Family matters

Hoping for kids, but aw!

With his wife off to commune with @Sakhmet, Mou was left in charge of the children. It was not a situation he had ever seen himself a part of; glad as he was to play the father role, he was somewhat out of his depth.

Reaching the plateau had been no small task. @Vesper, @Peregrine and @Prevost were a lot to handle by himself. @Blueberry had begun picking up on some of their habits, good and bad, and the effort of emulating her older siblings further tired Mou out.

They climbed together along the rise, through a network of trees, to where the forest thinned and the family could pause to look out over the flatlands to the south; much like taking toddlers on a wilderness hike, with Mou serving as their troop leader.

There was Prevost chewing on a pine cone; Peregrine trying to entice the others in to a game of chase - no, tug of war, with a stick six times too long. Blueberry seemed reluctant; but there was Vesper, being the protective and encouraging sister.

With a drawn breath, Mou set upon the goal: to find a safe place to rendezvous. He hoped @Maegi would return soon with backup.

their lives had changed in ways vesper did not quite understand; the pack of children were led away from the island that had been her entire world. she had fought it, stubbornly, for a time— had even attempted to find her way back to it all on her own, before father had found her and brought her back to the rest by the scruff of her neck.

after that, she more or less accepted that this was home, now. not a place, but father and mother and her siblings. and so vesper resumed her role as the older, protective sibling— stoic like father, warm in her own way. she did not fret about blueberry quite so much anymore, and often when the others played, it was vesper that remained at the outskirts. she was the supervisor, the encourager, but she did not often play directly unless she was attempting to put an end to rough-housing.

play, vesper encouraged blueberry, giving her pale sister's haunch a nudge. that seemed to be the confidence boost the youngest of them needed, and when she joined peregrine's game of tugging, vesper split away to join mou.

gingerly, she planted her front toes on his chest to lick at his chin, tail lowered. she had never seen him so angry as when he had found and brought her back to the group, and though he had not unfairly punished her, vesper still felt a need to make amends. the experience had taught her that she never wanted to see him like that again— to lose her father's love would be devastating.

He lingered on the periphery to the children, reacting more to their sounds of playing and chaos than anything. A tail tugged too hard brought a squeal to life, the scratching of blunt claws on packed clay dirt filled the air next, then a phwump from a rolling body. Mou didn't think much of their rough-housing and continued to browse the area, sneaking steps every so often.

When he heard something moving towards him, low and haphazard, he paused and swung his head around. Affixed in his good eye, there was Vesper. She moseyed over and sought Mou's company, which he welcomed. Her little tongue reaching, reaching — and so he dipped his nose down a little bit to help her reach, and felt it graze his chin.

Mou chuffed in response, then his own tongue unfurled from his often-too-long face, like a banner from the top of a tower. He draped it across her forehead and with a heavy swipe, curlie-cued the lengthening fur atop her head. And well, it was a kiss too — but now she was stylin'.

she giggled, delighted, as father's tongue swept over her forehead. the kiss did make the fur on her crown feel a little funny, but the darkling had no way of knowing how stylin' she was looking. but this affection from mou was enough to tell her that she was forgiven in whole, and she breathed a happy side as she nosed along his shoulder and inhaled his scent deep. noticing that doing so had relieved an itch, continued the motion, leaning her whole side against him as she moved down to his haunch.

there, she settled, sinking down to the earth before rolling onto her back and wiggling, now scratching an itch along her spine.

Mou sank to his haunches as Vesper fidgeted and rolled, and when he saw her next she was all legs. She resembled his lost son so greatly in that moment; the same dark coat, the same abundance of energy — at least until he had grown older and begun to suffer through sleeplessness, which curtailed all of Hypnos' childish antics. The memory of his son hit him hard, and Mou felt a weight in his chest.

He staved off the worst of his regret before it could snare him. The day was young, there was no taste of smoke to the air here, no ash falling upon the plateau (or in his mind's eye), only the happy, playful girl with an entire life ahead of her.

With a little snort, Mou dove nose-first towards the girl's exposed belly and lightly grazed at the fur there, or at her toes, or reaching for her tail. Little touches and playful antics to keep her entertained.