The Sentinels I looked up to the stars above, to find you once again

i cant stop but maybe a wild @Eilidh

the cub had only awoken for a moment when her father kissed her brow in his goodbye, and then fell back to her blissful dreams. deirdre slept well now that her sister was sick no longer, having been quite restless up until the day she could velcro herself to emaleth's side again. she slept fitfully once more, and her spirits were rejuvenated.

hours later, the youngest mayfair woke again. she detached herself from emaleth but did not try to wake her as she usually would. instead she simply sprinted toward the Otherworlds door and squinted at it, looking at the footprints her father left in his wake. there were dozens like it at this threshold, and she hadn't any idea which were fresh and which were not.

there was no telling what made her do what she did next, really. but deirdre missed her father greatly in the short span of time he had left, so the cub took it upon herself to retrieve him. were it not wintertime her dallying outside would not be such a bad thing, but it was!, and she meandered only just beyond the warmth of their abode now. a plethora of scents distracted her, and so the babe did not go very far at all from home. in fact, she got nowhere at all! but the scent here was familiar, very much like the man she loved, and deirdre pawed at it. it was a concentrated area, but he was not there!

well, for whatever reason, deirdre desired her father then and there. as he did not appear as she would have him do before her very eyes in this very moment, she felt unsettled, and so began to cry. nature stirred around her in her fit, the trees convening with one another before a breeze came and wrapped around her, a comforting thing but thoughtlessly done as she shivered.

will keep vague bc the joining thread is still in progress

tachyon was far from hale -- despite this, he had struggled to acclimate to being a valid contribution to donnelaith. he did not remember with clarity his acceptance, but he felt a flood of gratitude that lasher had graciously taken such a sorry wolf as himself into his fold. he felt a mixture of indebted and guilty -- he somehow must prove he was worthy.

he had spent the morning trying to  wait for a small fester of mice to resurface from their tunnels -- and after a while, he ambled slowly back to rendezvous with only one little mouse in his maw. it was then he heard crying -- he paused, unsure if it was indeed a whimper. but he heard the noise again and tentatively made his way to the small threshold. it was heavily scented with sundry wolves and their passing and he inched forward on his belly, unsure if he should venture any further.

deirdre continued to drone on, her reservoir of tears seemingly endless. were it not for a sound that called to her attention moreso than this emotion she enabled the world surely would have found out! the sound was a simple one: a snowdrift landing on open earth. the dull, muted thud distracted her... and then, an appealing scent! weepy eyed deirdre turned toward the newest member, heedless of his lack of seniority and in fact of even her own shy constitution!

one of donnelaith's upper members lurked nearby to keep a close eye, but the cub paid them no mind. she was much too enchanted by the smell of food to do anything except put the observer to the wayside! deirdre clumsily moved toward the latest recruit until she seemed to remember herself, and froze to stare at him in utter terror once she did.

tachyon nearly flattened into the ground as the shadow of an observer overtook them -- but it seemed the wolf was only that, a watcher -- and emboldened by his lack of interception, he turned his attention back to the whelp. she was still weepy, though a look of curiosity seemed to take her. just as quickly her investigative expression seemed to dissolve into one of sheer terror.

tachyon's ears flew back in confusion -- what had he done? a frown worried his muzzle and he nosed her gently, though he did not rise from his supine position on the ground.

deirdre stood there, frozen. his reaction did nothing at all to supplicate her emotions, and unconsciously she mirrored nearly every move he made as she did so. only when he loomed nearer did the cub reel backward, and she heard her name emitted in a tender voice. confusedly she looked over her shoulder, not knowing what sort of inflection was used here but knowing it did not help her present mental state of—

as his nose touched her shoulder, she let out a girlish squeal of distress. at that, she seemed to have had enough, sprinting toward the other adult present. it must have been her mother, who tiredly looked on and stood half-in, half-out of the den while emaleth slept. the babe hid behind a stilt of a leg, thinking her hiding was exceptional when it was quite the opposite, all but her eyes visible to the other. she was under the impression that because she could not see the other, they could not see her.

now and then, she peeped out from beyond her mothers leg. her mother comforted her with a quick round of kisses, and by the time her mother had groomed her to a standard of perfection deirdre looked out again. still the other lingered in their prostrate manner, and this time she let her gaze linger. she dashed out from behind her mothers leg and scampered quickly toward the other and once she arrived to the halfway point, the cub seemed to think better of it, turn around, and move back toward her mother.

it was clear she wanted to go near, but the babe felt her shy spirit dance within her throat and keep her at bay.

deirdre's squeal caused tachyon immediate grief -- for a moment, he wished he was a ring of smoke or the fail trail of fog, rendered instantly by the wind. he half expected the denmother looking in to deliver some sort of sharp toothed rebuke for tormenting her babe, but none came. he didn't move -- instead, he peered dumbly at the entrance for some time until the little puff appeared again.

he remained motionless, his head flat on the ground and his chin cold against the stone's touch. as she drew closer he couldn't help the faint stirring of his tail in submissive excitement. but this time again she waffled, and a small frown soured his features as he watched her retreat again.

the cub peered at him from her near-distance, and if it were at all possible for a wolf to purse their lips surely she would be doing so. but she looked on at him, straightfaced and tentative, not too sure what to do with this situation. her desire to be social in the moment outweighed her desire to retreat, but she so wished for her sisters proximity and gentle reassurances all the same.

she flopped onto her belly in her admission of personal defeat, and scooted nearer to him. now and then she'd look behind her to make sure the one that watched her then was alright with her own movements, and when she heard no complaints deirdre found her legs again and moved toward him with the swagger of a drunk deer crossing the road and looking straight into the headlights. and when she was in her own arms reach of him, she extended a single leg and waved it around his inky nostril and was so close, but so far from her mark! deirdre did not manage to touch him before she lost her nerve and galloped away once more, but this time paused not nearly so far away as she had just a moment ago. in fact, now she even grinned! whether it was at him or her own success, though, not even she knew.

tachyon remained still, his head between his paws and his expression brightened by hopeful interest. his eyes strained to view the little blot as she came closer in ungainly and uncoordinated steps. as she pulled close and brought a paw upwards in a clumsy stumble, tachyon's tongue darted out as if to lavish her with affection. however, he was slower than her and she had spun back towards the den once more.

tachyon nosed the mouse on the ground with a low whine, the ridge above his eyes wrinkled with perplexity.

as she looked to him and smiled, the scent came back to her in full force when he nosed the morsel toward her. deirdre forgot her reticence and padded toward him, ears perked over her brows and one flopping over limply as they sometimes did nowadays. her tail waved behind her and she put a paw upon the little mammal her mother—or father—sometimes brought home for she and her sister.

large eyes found those of tachyon's, and she let out an excited whimper of her own. in knowing nothing of hierarchy and the values of it deirdre lay on her belly before him and pulled the dead thing toward her. a sniff confirmed to her what it was he had brought, and she began to gnaw on it while watching him happily.

nothing was so encouraging in tachyon's life as that little wiggle of deirdre's tail -- he nearly beamed with happiness as the little thing plodded towards him, finally unafraid. he was afraid to move -- even as she looked at him and flopped sideways he was unsure of how to react -- if he moved suddenly, would she flee?

his ears remained the only thing that moved -- with his head still on the ground and between his paws. at length he too rolled on his side, watching her worry the little mammal in sideways view.

her confidence was a fickle and strange thing. the cub could hardly self-identify with any term, though it was becoming standard to look upon beings she had never before seen with a certain degree of trepidation. for now such shyness was shortlived, particularly when food was involved. at her young age she was easily won over with delectable snacks like rabbit liver and rat hearts; tachyon had found himself in her favor at a quicker pace than any other she had met. her first interactions had others quite limited in what they could do; she would stare at them, and run away if approached. 

her damage done to the rodent was minimal at best. her milk teeth could do very little but prick more holes into the thing, and what he witnessed could be likened to vampirism. she'd swallow the thing whole if she could, but she patiently bled the thing out and lapped at the red fluid that came from it. deirdre seemed to forget if she could chew it to a pulp quite yet, too, and was distracted by his whole body moving. this time she did not freeze in fear, but nudged the thing no longer plump with blood toward him as though insisting he partake.

last post for me-- feel free to PP tachy falling asleep or something - is deirdre up/about yet? let's start a new one?

tachyon was thrilled when he witnessed deirdre fall upon the mouse. at first it was tentative -- but as the blood seeped from the wounds inflicted by her tiny teeth it appeared her appetite grew voracious. he watched keenly, his breath quiet and still as if he were afraid he would instill fear in her again. as she nudged the now thoroughly pincushioned little mouse towards him he nosed it back, slumping onto his side with a soft whoosh. he could still see her from the corner of his eyes if he looked upwards and so that was what he did -- but if he was not careful he'd fall asleep shortly.

when he nosed it back, deirdre was content to finish the thing off. though by the time this was done she became aware of a strange droning like noise, and felt the drought of whooshing air o'er her back that came from him. she stared up at him for a moment from where she lay, though even when she booped him warily he did not stir. it was then her father arrived and did not waken tachyon himself, but instead quietly brought deirdre back to warmth. delighted to see him, but tired from the days endeavor, deirdre settled beside her fathers chest and fell fast asleep herself.