Circle Around You, Dancing

Located in the Redgrove.

The night was cool and Kove's want to explore had been revived once more. Instead of leaving the territory, as he'd done the times before, he decided to make his way to a part of the land he'd yet to go. As he neared the place known as Redgrove, the pale wolf was amazed by the sight he saw. The crimson color—like that of blood—littered the forest floor, making it apparent as to how the place had gotten it's name. The trees were not as thick as the rest of the woods, allowing the moonlight to sink through and make the white wolf's coat appear to glow, and they held the forms of birds within them. They appeared to be ravens, and their voices confirmed his thoughts, but they didn't matter to the wolf. He wasn't there to see some birds or try and get their attention.

Kove started looking around the place, long legs carrying him through, over, and around all the crimson bushes. It was as if there had been a bloodbath on the land, one that had been massive enough to stain every bush that grew on the patch of earth. He liked it, finding that it brought some color to the dark forest, and noticed that the color seemed to grow more vibrant as it basked in the moon's glow. In a way, it reminded him of the glowworms that lived down within Mephala's Web. It was highly appealing to one's eyes, or at least that was what he believed.

Even though she was the smallest pup, the so-called Princess, she proved so-far to be the most adventurous of the Dark Trio. Whenever her mother was not looking, or sleeping, she would scramble out of the den into the dark world which was her home and explore. This time, her mother and brothers were sleeping, leaving a restless Potema to escape unnoticed. A perfect little assassin already.

A few minutes away from her den was a beautiful clearing full of a deep, vibrant red. The color of blood, something she had grown familiar to over the past few weeks with her weaning, was everywhere; a red spot in the black-purple woods. Potema squealed delightedly, pouncing into the red bushes without a care in the world, dancing haphazardly for a while, until she saw another white wolf nearby.

She was far away from him, and not able to see the copper hues that were in place of the familiar ivory she was used to seeing on a white male. Instinctively she started trotting towards him, her stubby tail waggling as she called to him. "Papa!"

A small voice, one he did not recognized, filled the man's ears. The little sound called out for the father of it, but after giving the area a quick scan, Kove found he and the tiny white form were the only two there. He knew it was a simple case of mistaken identity, and would by no means attempt to pass himself off as the father of the miniature wolf, but her appearance brought a smile to the man's face. He had a fondness for the young, and had often gotten himself into trouble when he was younger for trying to take all the pups of his birth pack out on wild adventures. It would not be a wise decision to lead the pup in front of him all around though, as he believed Meldresi would be worried as to where she'd gotten off to. It was his first time meeting a member of the Queen's litter, but there was no denying that the blue eyed child was, in fact, one of her's.

He lowered himself down to the ground so he was lying on his stomach, as an attempt to be on a more even level with the smaller lupine. “Sorry to say, but I'm not your dad,” Kove told her, not entirely sure if she was yet able to fully understand so many words or not. “I know him, though, if that counts for anything.” As a switch often went off inside the wolf during violent situations or hunting, it seemed to flick in the opposite direction when he was around pups of any age.

When the large white male lowered himself down to her level, Potema realized with disappointment that this was not indeed her father. "Eye w'ong...no papa..." She declared to the stranger in her clipped baby speech. That was the way she could identify her father: his eyes. Damien's eyes were slowly turning towards that pale color, as well as one of Cicero's. But the princess wondered if this wolf was Cicero's other father, since his eyes matched Cicero's other eye. Almost.

"Cicy's ot'er papa?" She asked him, her large dark blue eyes gazing up innocently at him for a brief moment, before a voice caught her attention and her head instinctively turned towards it, away from the orange-eyed male's face.

Uh oh. Did Meldresi or Bane discover someone was missing, or did Potema end up with a follower of sorts? c:

The small wolf seemed disappointed by the fact that Kove was not Bane, but he really couldn't blame her. Had he been the pup in the situation, he would have been just as disappointed by the fact that he'd confused his father with another. For a moment, anyways. After that moment passed,he would have been off and after the next thing that moved, dragging his siblings and cousins along with him as he did so. He had been one wild and adventurous little lupine, and often ended up getting into trouble. For the little girl's sake, as well as Meldresi's, he hoped none of the little ones were like that. Causing trouble when you're young can be fun, that much he was positive of, but it didn't always result in good things—which he also knew from experience.

Now, Kove was far from being an expert when it came to the way babies spoke, but found it not overly hard to piece together what was being said to him. It took longer than it would when speaking to a pup slightly older, but he didn't mind the extra time spent. He was confused by her words, though, once he realized what she'd said—or, rather, asked. “No, I am not Cicero's 'other father' either,” he told her slowly, making sure he didn't accidentally allow a laugh or two to slip out with his words. “You guys only have two parents, a dad and a mom. Not two dads and one mom.” He watched as the little girl's head turned to face something, so he followed her gaze to see what she might have spotted. He saw nothing, and quirked and invisible eyebrow at the little lupine.

Actually no...since Potema's the most normal-looking/acting pup of the bunch, I made her have slight schizophrenia, so she hears voices sometimes. XD Probably should have said that.

Potema blinked at the bushes, disappointed that, again, there was nothing there. These voices came sporadically, sometimes they would tell her important things, other times they were here in an instant, gone in a flash. She didn't like it, and she pouted to Kove, resuming the conversation he started about two fathers and one mother.

"Wai? Wai no too papas?" It was the only thing that made sense to her young mind. Her brother Damien had his mama's fur, and his father's eyes and one patch of white fur like Bane. She had her father's fur, but her mother's eyes. Cicero was different, being a mix of gray, black, and white, with two different eye colors that matched only one parent: Bane. So why couldn't he have another father that gave him the orange eye?

Ohhh. I went back and edited my post at the end so Kove wouldn't have heard anything. Even with that, she's still the most normal, isn't she? And super adorable

The larger wolf's head turned back as the smaller one's did, a bit confused to what had caught her attention. He assumed it was just her imagination, or perhaps he'd missed something, and mentally shrugged the incident off. The corners of his mouth lifted into an amused smile as the little one inquired why there could not be two fathers, but he still refrained from laughing. Kove understood she was young, and that there was much she couldn't understand yet, so laughing would not be an all too nice thing to do. The snowy pup was still learning, and he respected that.

“It just doesn't work that way,” he said, giving a shrug of his shoulders as he spoke. Kove had very little experience talking to children, and no experience talking to ones as young as the one he was with now. The man didn't know what she understood, or how much he should say so as not to confuse her. “It'd be pretty cool if it did though, huh?”

Yeah she is. XD

Potema pursed her lips. So two fathers was not possible. It just didn't happen. But what would she call all of the other male wolves if they weren't her fathers? Or the females? She decided that names would be best until she learned something else. "Wat name?" She asked him, her sapphire eyes gleaming.

"Mine Potema!" She was proud that she could pronounce her whole name, which she spent hours laboring on. When her mother named her; Potema Vaermina Melonii, she only remembered the first part, and mangled the name completely. She was only a month old, and that was weeks ago! She was an older, wiser, smarter person now. She hadn't bothered to get her brothers' names right, they were much too complicated for her: Damien? Cicero? Ugh.

Edit; We can wrap this up with the next post, if you'd like. I don't want another thread to die. @Potema

The topic of multiple fathers seemed to have been dropped, and instead the question of his name was proposed. “My name is Kove,” he told her, attempting to give a small dip of his head despite the fact he was laying down. It didn't work out well, but the motion was enough to be recognized as something different from him just laying there. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Potema.” Meeting such a young wolf who had traveled a decent way from the den she often resided in was not something Kove took lightly. He enjoyed seeing adventurous minds, even if the adventurer was suppose to be wanting to explore, rather than doing it freely. He couldn't possibly know what was going on within the little wolf's head, however, so perhaps she was simply exploring to see things, rather than to learn as a puppy's mind often wanted.

The thoughts brought forth a question of his own. “What might you be doing out here, little one?” It was curious thing that the girl was alone. “Does your mother know where you are?” His head cocked to the side as he inspected her face, hopefully awaiting an answer to his questions.