Redsand Canyon Hey girl, how you doin'?

For a cute little lady named @Makono >w<

Jack Snipe had been itching to meet new wolves since Leona had gotten sulky and quiet and wouldn’t leave the house (insert brotherly eyeroll expression here). She didn’t even want to romp with him as much and that really chapped the boy’s behind. With Towhee working toward finding her footing in Mereo again and Maxim making an effort to prove himself to the boring old guy with the hawk’s eyes, Jack was feeling entirely ignored!

He set out on his own that day in search of adventure. He did not care who took him up on the offer, but he was hoping that he might find Killdeer or Fennec in the canyonlands.

makono had wasted very little time with the children of mereo.

not that she wasn't a child too but...they were smaller! she bet none of them would even understand the important of a princess or diplomatic missions. perhaps she should have set aside time to teach them, but time and time again the adults proved more fruitful for her mission.

but here she was again, faced with another boy.

this one just as unique as the last. she wondered if mereo made up for personality in their looks. that sure was a thought.

however, instead of her usual approach of speaking first, she stayed in her sunspot. lapis eyes fixed on him with the heavy gaze of the pharaoh she came from. she wondered if he had any interest in her presence.

A gold-touched girl sat basking in the sunlight of the canyon. Her brilliant blue gaze was fixed on the boy, watchful and serene. She was in for a ride if she thought that Jack Snipe would behave in any way like a diplomat or member of royalty.

The young boy thought she was pretty, though. He still felt annoyed that he didn’t have Leona to harass, so he figured he’d just make an easy swap and that would solve all of those problems.

Sup? he greeted to her, lifting his head to smile smarmily in her direction. You’re pretty! Wanna be my new sister?

sup?

she may have rolled her eyes if the words that followed were not more worthy of a deadpan expression. he had complimented her. then insulted her. all in one fell swoop!

do you have royal blood?

she dared to ask, gazing down her nose at him. the picture of entitlement.

This is absolutely going to be so fun heheh! >w< I love her dignified personality already.

The hot girl asked if he had something called royal blood which just sounded like some snooty way to say that it was special. Jack Snipe paused, thinking hard on the question. He really wasn’t sure what kind of answer she expected. Didn’t everyone have blood?

Sure I gots blood! See!

Jack lifted his paw where he had cut himself open by romping too close to a gnarled tree stump. It had cut his leg and he had bled for what felt like hours before it had closed itself and the bleeding had ceased. There was still a cool cut, so he figured she’d like to see that.

Check it out! Rabble blood huh? Good stuff. Jack nodded his head to the girl waiting to hear how she might sing his praises.

well...he certainly was determined, if nothing else. it may have been admirable if he wasn't so thick-skulled. apparently not thick skinned, though, if the cut showed anything.

royal blood. were you born to the imperator?

it was hard to tell when the eagle was a smudging of colors and makono had not met his wife personally. even if she was, she would have to wonder if there were not other (more admirable) boys.

im loving jack snipe countering it so much :3c

<33

Yeah, yeah, rabble – royal, they were the same word almost. He had it close enough. At least the girl knew what he was talking about. She didn’t seem like she was put off by his manly scratch. Jack had wondered if it would turn into a scar. He wanted something that made him look strong so he could brag about it to Leona and mom and dad.

The pretty girl asked if he was the son of the Imperator. Jack Snipe scoffed with a toothy little smile.

That butt fluff? No way! He makes me tired when he talks. My name’s Jack Snipe! My mama is Towhee and my dad is Maxim and they’re way cooler than the Emperor-toes. Words were still a bit tricky, but he’d gotten the sounds of most sentences down and could parrot them back without too much difficulty. The word Imperator was still a difficult one. Emperor-toes sounded far better to say.

What’s your name?

that butt fluff.

all at once she wrote the boy off, but still he proved amusing at the very least. he spoke of towhee and maxim, figures he deemed better than emperor-toes. she wondered what the imperator made of such a boy in his ranks.

jack snipe.

i am princess nekubi makono of akashingo. do you know what an emissary or diplomat is?

What a mouthful. Jack’s tail waved as the girl introduced herself. He’d never heard such a long name before, not realizing that she’d included her titles and place of origin in the introduction. The boy had already forgotten half of what she’d said before she’d finished, though he really tried to remember the special words she’d used.

Wow Princess Nebu…ki. That’s a pretty name! Do you gots a nickname? Mama calls me Jack sometimes instead of Jack Snipe so you can too! And I can call you…

Hm… what could he call her? All the words she’d said were jumbled up in his skull and rattling around like the beads in a maraca.

Kono! That’s cute huh? Good nickname. Do you like it? Jack leaned toward her, much too close for having just met the royal lady. Then, I dunno what those are but you can tell me while we find a snack!

yes, she decided again, determination was strong within jack snipe, but everything else seemed to be...lacking. not that she looked upon him directly unfavorably for this, but he was certainly low on a list of her reactions to those in mereo.

if you are to call me kono, you must put princess before it. she despised the nickname, despised not being recognized as her proper position even more. her face drew back into her own neck, chin tucking down towards her chest.

as if the closeness of him might bring her some sort of dirtiness.

then she stood, feeling big in both size and personality before him.

Mmmkay Princess Kono! It’s still kinda long but that’s okay cause you gotta like your nickname or else it’s just not good. That sounded right. Calling the pretty young girl Princess Kono was way easier than attempting to spittle out the full length of her name and titles. If the girl was looking to avoid being insulted, having a nickname was almost mandatory.

She didn’t seem bothered by the idea of a snack. Jack Snipe thought this was good. He looked at her with his goofy smile and waited until she had risen to her paws. Once she stood beside him, he marveled at how long her legs were.

I know where mama keeps the tasty treats. C’mon! The boy charged off on large puppy paws, plodding away at the canyon earth as he led the Princess to the prey cache where there would be a plethora of prey animals to pick from, or so he hoped. What’s a dippermat? he asked conversationally as they walked, hoping she would elaborate on her words from before.

he was good for entertainment and food. momentarily she tried to imagine him in akashingo. yet she thought of him almost as out of place there as he seemed here.

regardless, she allowed him to lead her to wherever these tasty treats might be. did mereo enjoy the sweetness of honey and berries? a thought she was not allowed to linger on.

a diplomat is one who comes from one palace to another as the representative of their home. perhaps he might actually learn something from her — or find more words to butcher. so i come from akashingo to visit mereo. we are allies.

have you heard of akashingo?

Kono gave a very well-put definition for what a ‘dippermat’ was. Jack listened with one ear swiveled toward her. The young boy didn’t understand a whole lot of it, but she had a good skill with her words that he’d never experienced before. He’d seen his parents sign to each other and he’d listened to his dad talk, as well as the Imperator, but they didn’t sound anything like Jack Snipe’s new sister.

She asked if he had heard of Akashingo. The boy thought it sounded familiar, but he couldn’t have picked it out of a lineup of geese if he’d had to.

I never heard Askashingle. Is it tasty?

Jack was mostly interested in what was tasty and what wasn’t. He’d put a lot of things in his mouth to test them out and he was ready for more.

Is allies like being brother and sister? he then asked, referring to her earlier statement. Took a minute for the thoughts to catch up, that's all.

he had never! well, she was uncertain what to make of that knowledge.

had he truly never heard of it? or had the word simply never stood a chance of penetrating his thick skull? makono could not say either way. especially at first question.

akashingo has many tasty things. and allies is...almost like brother and sister. we must look after one another and know about each other.

Ohhh issa place! You go to there and get tasty things, he agreed eagerly. That made much more sense. After considering it, Jack was certain that he’d heard that name before. The Imperator had said it, perhaps. Maybe it was a word that had been spoken by the boy’s father. He wasn’t too worried about who might have said it before since he got all the information he needed straight from the Kono’s mouth.

I like that! We can be allies Princess Kono. I can go to see Askashingo with you.

It would be awesome if he could find tasty things that his mom and dad hadn’t tried yet. He would return as a hero with joyous offerings from the land of the Princess. There was no way Leona could do something that cool.

The boy had found the cache where he’d seen his mom pull snacks from. He sniffed at it before plucking out a fat vole. Mouth full of fuzzy little creature, Jack looked to Kono and wagged his tail. You likes these? Wanna share?

that fact she she warmed up to the boy should have been alarming enough. instead she humored him with a small smile.

when you get a bit older, i will invite you to akashingo. you will be given every tasty thing you want. she informed him with a warm look. her father had said much the same about her trip to mereo. when she was older...now here she stood. not much older than that day but certainly feeling so.

the boy offered to share.

she supposed it was the least the boy could do before princess kono, as he called her.

i would like that. then maybe you can tell me what you do around here.

Kono was like the dopest person he’d ever met, hands down. She was going to invite him to her place, and they were going to feast on treats. Jack was eager to hoist this over Leona’s head and brag about it for months until the time came to make good on the promise. Nothing could be cooler than going to another wolf’s home and getting spoiled by their good things.

The boy tossed the vole to Kono and watched it flop to her paws. He figured it was best to give the lady Princess a bite before he tried to take one for himself. The remnants of the vole’s taste still lingered on his tongue, and he considered turning around and sniffing at the cache until he found another one. His company wanted to know what he did in Mereo, though.

I learning to fight real good. Beat up a big guy who was so scared! Jack laughed, thinking of the look of shock on Reyson’s face. Ah… that had been a moment of triumph. I’n gonna be the strongest. He said this plainly, as if it were common knowledge.

He found another vole and pulled it out with a happy little chuckle to himself. Jack swung around to sit next to Princess Kono so they could talk and eat.

oh, dear.

she was rather smitten with the thick-skulled child. there was just too much potential here for her to waste.

i bet you will! she praised as she worked slowly at the vole. do you know that akashingo gives their best warriors the tastiest things? a brow raised in curiosity as she waited to see what he would make of this.

she could plant seeds now. she could see how they might bloom in the months to come.

Princess Kono had captured him.

Jack was all ears when she mentioned that the best warriors of Akashingo got the tastiest things. His tongue slipped out to swipe at his whiskers. The boy could feel drool forming in his mouth, but he didn’t want to slobber. Slobbering was very uncool. Plus, the boy wanted his company to believe that he was worth taking to her home and showering with delicious morsels.

Oookay we gonna have a good time Princess Kono! We gonna show how strong Jack is and then I can get all the tastiest things, he planned aloud with her, nodding several times as he shared. Plus I can protect you! The boy grinned at her with a confident swelling of his small chest - an absolute badass.

fade? <3

it had worked.

she had grasped claws and teeth right into the boy's desire for treats and treasures. she only wished she could take him back to akashingo at once, but he was too young still. nor was her reach so grand as to make such a demand either here or in akashingo!

yes you can. she purred with grand approval, eyes shining.

he would be good to see grow into a warrior.

Would LOVE another one if she comes back in the future. <3 *w*

With her agreement, Jack was set. He would work his way up until he was the strongest man in all the world and then he would march himself to where Princess Makono had her home and would present himself as her valiant warrior. In his mind, these dazzling dreams impressed him. He would think of these plans for days to come, until he had formulated his own plan for how to attain such goals.

Sharing his time with Kono, Jack relaxed and chattered to her mindlessly until the time for talk had come to an end and she expressed that she would need to return to her duties. The boy thought to ask to follow her, to see what she was doing in Mereo. He figured it was best to let her do whatever it was that Princesses were supposed to do. He would go work on getting some thick muscle added to his lean figure.