Dragoncrest Cliffs blacknose

Dawn, rising in a gentle cup of sun over the horizon.

She had pushed through the night, keeping up a ground eating lope her domestic ancestors had once upon a time used in a land far from this. But here she was, proud, dawn on her shoulders.

Chantale caught her tongue between her teeth, whooped a loud wa-wa-woo! of a noise, and rested her ass right on a rock over the border. This had always been her house, anyway, and saltspun and red as she was, even with her odd structure she was easily identified.

The girl’s tongue lashed from between her lips to taste the salt in the air, no different from the sister pack she had absconded from, but somehow different all the same. She sighed it back out, and looked ahead, waiting.

eresta! there was so much intrigue to it that sobeille felt bitter she did not go.

when she saw and heard the silken call of her sister, sobeille strode to meet her.

chantale was grown - sobeille measured the difference with a heavy sweep of her gaze. a disconnect was tangible between them; she said nothing as chantale tasted the air, waiting for her to break the yawning chasm between them.

whether she liked it or not, sobeille had acquired herself a shadow.
jadou toddles eagerly along behind her, crowing  various stupid questions such as where we goin'? and are we there yet? and do you have eyelashes? because, to him, these were the most important inquiries to make as a boy who was the equivalent of a human six-year-old. and, truth be told, sobeille fascinated him in a way he did not yet quite understand.
as they made their way to sapphique's border, jadou spots the silver-backed interloper and does not recognize her. sobeille says nothing — what was wrong with her? this was their land! their home! and this noodle necked freak was traipsing all over it!
who you be?! jadou titters, kicking his feet around in the soil like a bull about to charge. dis be saffique!

The shift of sand makes her ears raise, and she turns just in time to catch Sobeille’s eye. Her grin is wolfish, raising a leg in a wave to her sister. There’s a laugh on her breath as she calls.

Ou jis pral kanpe la?

And then there’s a pipsqueak.

Chantale drags her leg back to stare at the child speaking to her, frowning down her nose at him. Eventually, her lips raise into a half sneer.

Sa a se lakay mwen, kribich. The red coat of the babe could mean a lot, but she glanced to her sister to confirm. This was a little brother, right?

sobeille's shadow did not tire. as she inspected the delicate features of her sister, jadou practically bristled at her feet, pawing in the agitated manner of a beast about to charge.

go ahead, do it, she thinks to herself with a smile: it'd be so very interesting to watch.

chantale broke the ice with a wave and a gentle taunt. sobeille almost responded, but then jadou stormed in.

chantale peered down her snout -- a long way to go in terms of real estate -- at jadou. sobeille answered with a half-hearted shrug, as if she'd just found the thing and didn't have the faintest idea to do with it.

suddenly, an idea came to her. she rounded upon chantale with a long sniff, playing oblivious to the puffy child behind her. d'you be hearin' someting, chantale? sobeille's tone was airy, and she looked around her pointedly as if confused by the voice at her ankles.