Ouroboros Spine sullukoppuk ∺

for all pups! easier than tagging! <3

by now the children of her sister would know her as ajâtsuk. they had traveled between the close ulax, fed by two mothers, watched over by aiolos, and tended by sialuk.

today she brought the hind-foot of a deer, still hanging at its joint. moonwoman lay down the object among their playing bodies, glancing around for the cloudberry woman. "see what it is," she urged the young ones in the words she had promised to teach.

She had grown in leaps and bounds since she had been born, her rotund little body now stacked up by too large paws and little toothpick legs. She looked rather like someone’s unfinished art project as she neared her two month mark, ears too big for her head, feet too large for her body. Vairë wasn’t newborn fawn anymore. Instead, she was growing fawn, learning how to be a deer and wolf all at once. Prey and predator had harmonized, and Vairë benefited from it. The young beige girl showed an aptitude for the outdoors, and a seemingly boundless want to run and leap as high as she could.

The shifts from her families went rather unnoticed, though Vairë was a little confused. It didn’t concern her much, though. After all, she had far more important things to attend to. Such as running, leaping, and chewing on leaves despite how much she hated the taste. Those were her priorities on this earth at the moment, before she was cognitive of the rest of goings on at Moonglow.

Little fawn was in the bushes again when white doe came bearing something new. Vairë poked her head out, a leaf still held in her mouth, to watch Kukutux for a moment in time. Then, she was off, out of the bushes to investigate.

Is? She piped squeakily, prodding the object with a curious nose.

whilst the children of moonglow fill the den site with sounds of cheerful play, lómion quietly watched from the sidelines. it was custom for him to spectate from his mother’s side, but today his side hugged the den’s walls. there he observed his peers play with guarded interest.
his ears careened forward when he heard someone approach. from the horizon came a familiar face. soft and caring like mother she was, but lótë she was not. he enjoyed her company just as much as his dam’s, but still grew timid around her and her sentinel.
there was a twinkle in his eyes when he saw the gift she carried in her jaws. lómion watched his sister poke at the object until he could not contain his curiosity. he trotted to her side, and sniffed the hove before blinking questioningly at kukutux.

By now Kau had mastered walking and doing so in a straight line, not veering off course unintentionally and without toppling over. Her gait due to the mismatched length of her forepaws was not even, akin to limping, but she did not show any signs of pain. And being the kind, who did not suffer quietly, one could easily trust that this puppy was fine. 

The deformed paw was such, that part of it below carpal joint was twisted outwards. And on an occasion she had learned that it was quite handy in pushing stuff that interested towards her - the angle was just right to cup the object and drag it. This she was doing now, when Kukutux arrived, bringing a gift: lying on her round belly, hind-legs splayed behind her, while the fore pair were experimenting on, how man objects she could collect without actually getting up.

The god inside her head watched this in bored irritation - there was not much he could do at the moment, though the scent of flesh and blood, awakened him just enough, to kick that puppy's hunger point and send it to investigate the stuff. Its only hope now was that, if his host ate regularly and a lot, it would grow up faster. And out-survive others. 

And in this they were in agreement. Eating was important. Kau jumped to her feet, ambled towards the leg, gave it a perfunctionary sniff, pushed away another puppy (if such happened to stand nearby) and dug her tiny needle teeth in the meat. She pulled and chewed and growled possessively.

The shift in her home dynamic might have registered, if not for the fact that she had not seen her biological sire since she could count less than a handful of days. It might have been confusing but this was all she had ever known. In Wil's developing world, Aiolos was her father. Kukutux was mother, though not in the same way that mother dove was -- near enough that the distinction hardly appeared on her radar. Sialuk was sistraa and so were the two red furred sisters that came and went with pale anaa.

When the ivory dove appeared in the den, she had been playfully gumming at Ink's tail but her attention was quickly captured by what anaa had brought for them -- a new game her mothers had been playing recently, bringing them these strange items from The Outside. Her steps were shaky as she toddled over to slump down against the Moon's ankles, but only barely. Diluted hazels peered up at Kukutux for a moment, half-folded ears perking up curiously as first wife spoke. Her sights then turned towards the severed hoof and she leaned forward, using her tiny sniffer to give it a good whiff.

She gave it a hesitant nibble but promptly backed away when Kau limped over and pulled the hoof into her own reach. Wilwarin gave a wide yawn in response, not too horribly upset by this turn of events and quickly became invested in trying to pounce on her brother's dark tail.

kukutux settled to her haunches and watched each of the babies in turn. little vairë was first to step forward. "it is the foot of a deer," she told the child in the words she meant for them all to share.

lómion came next. she dangled the thing just above his head. "brother deer ran and ran, but he was not fast enough," the duck crooned when she had set it down among them.

kausiut next. by now the curve of her paw and the look of her face was apparent. but the daytime star would not be controlled by such things. she was first to draw blood from the hock of the gift.

little wilwarin next, the sparrow-girl. a delicate smelling and she was rolling toward her sibling. kuktuux smiled, remembering how she had been entrusted to carry that child.

"taste," she said, changing her words. taste the blood and the salt of moonglow's kill.

Of course, the fawn recoiled when, in a sudden motion, sister was there, rending the flesh from limb, spooking the fawn back over to Lómion and Wilwarin. Distrustful puppy blues stared around her dark brother, before Vairë was making her way towards Kausiut at Kukutux’s encouragement, nose lightly wrinkled.

Beige darted in to rend a piece of flesh from the leg, before she took a few steps back to chew on it. Blood coated her tastebuds, and old doe, quieter by the day, recoiled at the taste of her kinsmen. Vairë, for what it was worth, didn’t drop the meat she held, just chewed on it more vigorously to try and get the taste out of her mouth.

the foot of the deer, kukutux explained, who ran and ran but was not quick enough. this brief story sparked curiosity and wonder in the boy. now he wished to see this deer.

more of moonglow’s children were draw out by the gift. first kausiut, who forced space between herself, the gift, and the rest of the children. then wilwarin, who’s tentatively nibbling was interrupted by her denmate.

vairë tore flesh off for herself. then it was his turn. lómion stepped forth and breathed in its smell. it oh so tantalizing like mother’s milk. he dug his teeth into the opening his sister made and relished in the taste.

Somehow none of the other puppies paid any attention to Kau's clearly spoken message that not only the spot she was gnawing at, but the whole leg was HERS! She sent an angry snarl at a puppy on one side, a snap in the direction of the other, but nothing changed. A deep crease appeared on her forehead between her eyes, as she processed the situation and maybe for the first time in her life got a hint that some things were way bigger than her. Both pysically and figuratively. 

She looked up at her mom, wondering, if she might do something about it (fend those intruders away), but she did not seem to be perturbed by the situation either. Kau exhaled and pouted, but that expression of irritation and unhappiness lasted only for 10 seconds. Soon she was back at her spot and eating away, as much as she could.

last round <3

the children gathered.

her daytime star saw fit to engage her place above the others. kukutux smiled softly. "when you eat this flesh, inside your spirit, give thanks."

she closed her eyes.

"kuyanak, brother deer. you give your blood to moonglow. we honor you." she opened her gaze again. "always say these words when you become hunters. respect the spirit that gave itself to your teeth."

Wilwarin blinked owlishly, middling hues of creekwater blue drifting almost lazily from the pale mother to the red sister. The runt had no desire to tempt fate, not at first. She was much more content with the thought of bumbling over to Inkalorë and joining her sibling in a nap than losing some skin. At least she was until she saw that her older littermates braved the star girl’s jaws. 

Not to be outdone, little Wil slipped closer — waiting until Kausiut was distracted fending off Lómion and Vairë’s advances to whisk forward and tear a chunk free. Her own snarls might have escaped past her wrinkled lips but no sound was made. Even so, her teeth bared feral and fiercely in warning as she backed away with the stolen morsel.  

To the place between Lómion and Vairë was where she scurried. They would protect her she knew, so long as she shared the strip of flesh she lay between their tight-knit forms.