Larksong Grotto who knows what tomorrow might hold

Laurel had spent a lot of time with @Hiram — whom she insistently called 'Reek' — after coming to Larksong Grotto. Every moment not spent with him was spent being bored and searching for him, or playing with @Indra or napping in one of the rare moments that Reek had to himself in these days. She had yet to meet @Jhala , but she had smelled her, among other wolves, on Reek's fur and wanted to meet her pretty badly, like she wanted to meet everyone. She did miss her family at Silver Creek lots and she wondered when she would be able to visit them. The journey had been pretty long, though, and Laurel wasn't so sure she could find her way all the way back even if she wanted to.

Today Laurel couldn't find Reek anywhere, and with a pout on her face she started to trot around the territories. She ended up finding a lake and muttered to herself, "Stupid Reek, walking away from us..." before she turned her attention to the lake. As though expecting him to magically appear at her request, Laurel screeched out across the lake: "REEK! REEK!" in hopes that it would somehow bring forth Reek. Or kill her boredom for two more seconds.

tagging for reference, but i'd love a jhala!

Jhala walked with bees in her head. They buzzed around, causing her to be incapable of a proper thought-- well, a proper answer to any of those thoughts, anyway. She asked herself why she was so sore, and why she still felt so uncomfortable and hot. She felt better than that dreaded first day, but she still felt like she was different somehow-- sick even. Though she'd try to stay near Reeks den-- now her own-- she just couldn't. He had asked her to stay near, though not explained it really. She never asked questions when it came to Reek, he knew what he was doing-- she might as well listen. She didn't understand that she was in heat, and that that meant that every other male in the world wanted to bang her-- that thought never crossed her mind, because she didn't know what that was. 

Feeling that it wasn't really a big deal, Jhala trekked from the grotto and towards the lake-- her favorite place in the territory. When she arrived she sees the brown form of Laurel, one of Reek's children. Both children had been sleeping when she'd came to check up on Reek, and so she hadn't had a formal introduction. With her shoulders high and her tail wagging excitedly behind her, she trots over to the young princess. "Hiya!" she barks from a little ways away, hoping to grab the pups attention. "Are you Miss Laurel?" she asks happily.  

He remained close, stealing away only to go to the cache he kept across the lake to bring back lunch. His watchful eye remained on both his children and his wife the entire time. From where he stood, they were only but specks in the distance, but that was enough to put Hiram at ease. Laurel, it seemed did not have that same comfort.

She screamed for him -- as most children do. Her father sighed as he finished unearthing the unfinished haunch of a mule deer the pack had felled earlier. "What?!" He returned, calling back to Laurel before taking the haunch in his jaws to carry it back to the group across the lake.

Laurel was displeased when she found nobody but some female who asked for her name. She wanted dad to be there, because he was supposed to play with them all the time, and he wasn't playing with them right now! Indra had been tired, so whatever, she could chill out and sleep some more; Laurel would go off on adventures alone, then, with Reek, so he could teach her all about how to be a cool villain, or a cool medium wolf, whichever he was.

She looked defiantly at the woman in front of her and asked with a sassy attitude, "Why are you fat?" She wasn't even that fat, but Laurel was mostly just disinterested in her in general, looking to hurt someone, and she was grumpy because she was starting to miss home, and because Reek wasn't here! Just as she was about to confirm her name to the woman and ask who was asking, Reek showed up!

"Yay, Reek!" Laurel squealed with childish glee and she ran over to her father to shower him in nips and licks. Hopefully he'd tell the fat lady to go away so that they could go off on an adventure!

Jhala might've knocked the child over right there had she not been so utterly confused on what had just happened. "Fat?" she repeats, glancing to her sides. She was bulky, sure, but not at all fat. Her shoulder were kinda broad and she was overall rather large-- especially for a girl-- but by no means fat. She glances to Reek just as he appears, her tail twitching. 

"I'm not fat," she responds, her ears perking. "I'm a mercenary. If you're not muscly as a mercenary, you'll get killed," she says to the pup, uncaring if that was inappropriate to say to a child. Besides, she'd learned it when she was that young-- why not pass it on to her... step-daughter... Yikes that was not an easy word to swallow. 

By the time Hiram arrived, he had not heard Laurel's tactless comment. Instead, he only heard her cry of glee as he approached. The affection she held for him filled Hiram's heart with joy. Finally, he had his daughters. He had his family together, and all was right with his world. He dropped the haunch on the ground as Laurel greeted him with a barrage of nips and licks.

"Well hello there Princess Laurel," he spoke, smiling as the honorific title he had given her passed his lips. Perhaps he was only serving to stroke the girl's ego, but her father hoped to make the grotto feel like home in any way he could.

As the child continued to shower him in affection, Hiram turned his attention to Jhala, who now spoke. Fat? His brow furrowed. Jhala was far from fat. Sturdy and strong -- but not fat. His brow furrowed. "Fat?" He questioned. "No one here is fat," he continued playfully, hoping he could dispel some of the tension. He turned his attention over to Jhala. "And no one here is getting killed. The grotto is a safe place." In truth, it was... as long as no one strayed to close to Sleeping Dragon.

He bent down as he turned his gaze back to Laurel. "Lorry, this is Jhala. She is my wife -- and that makes her your stepmother." It went unspoken, but Hiram meant that she was to be treated with respect.

Laurel's tail whirred excitedly at her father's acknowledgement of her special position here as princess of the grotto. She pushed her face against her father's chest and then looked at Jhala, who said that she wasn't fat and that she was a mercenary and therefore was 'muscly'. Laurel giggled when Reek said that Jhala -- or anyone -- was fat, and said haughtily: "Yeah, don't say so many bad things about yourself." There was a smirk on her face as she looked at Reek when he said the grotto was a safe place to stay at.

Laurel made a face when Jhala was introduced as her stepmother. She was quick to say: "She's not my mom." She didn't even remember what her mom was like, but she knew that Jhala wasn't it. Then she looked at Reek and asked, "Reek, when are we gonna do something cool?" She'd been here a few days and was so bored so far — she hoped that her father'd take her to do something fun soon!

Yeah, fuck kids.

With a bored expression on her face Jhala gave a quick glance at Reek before she gave Laurel a face. "Yeah go do something cool," she says, "I'm going to go back to the borders," Patrolling was way better than babysitting, especially when the child was an absolute brat and a total asshat. She didn't have the patience or maturity to deal with it.

Parenting was, in fact, much harder than Hiram initially expected. Laurel was headstrong: a trait he had admired (and even enjoyed) during his confrontation with Spring at the Creek. However, when her discontent was directed at his own wolves, especially one who meant as much to Hiram as Jhala, it stung. He bit his lip and did not know what to say. Jhala soon after took her leave.

Now that it was just him and Laurel, Hiram tried to brighten his demeanor. "Wanna go on an adventure?" He asked, smiling.

Laurel was glad when the stupid woman left, and she stuck out her tongue -- though bending so that Reek couldn't see -- as she watched her form fade into the distance. Even if she couldn't see it, the statement was still made. She then looked up at Reek with admiring eyes and squeed out a "Yay!" when he suggested going on an adventure. "Where we going?" asked Laurel, tail whirring excitedly as she started to bounce around Reek in joy.

Laurel's excitement was infectious -- so much so that Hiram had nearly forgotten the rude comments she had made prior. He looked down to see a smile spread across his daughter's face. His heart filled with joy. "Hmmmmmm," hummed Hiram as he thought about Laurel would find interesting, but then and idea struck.

He smiled, asking, "Would you like to see where your mother and I used to live?" Redtail Rise was just a short walk away.

Reek seemed to think for a while and Laurel looked at him with eager, questioning eyes as he did so. Eventually he answered — to see where he and mom had lived! — and Laurel quickly contorted into a series of nods. "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" she said excitedly and she scampered off, tail wagging in excitement...

... Only to realise she had no idea where to go, so she skidded to a halt and started to bounce up and down in place as she impatiently waited for Reek to lead the way.

Hiram's eyes shot wide as his daughter scampered off in the wrong direction. However, he prided himself on her enthusiasm. Once the realization struck, she skidded to a halt. The cardinal shot his daughter a smile. "Wrong way Lorry," he prodded as he playfully stuck his tongue out at her. He turned his gaze to the mountain looming over the grotto to the west. 

"See that mountain?" He asked. "That's where we're going!" With a final, beconing motion, Hiram summoned his daughter to his side to lead her in the proper direction.

"Oooh," she said and quickly turned round on her heels into the direction Reek pointed out. She looked at the mountain and quickened her pace, racing as quickly as she could while she shouted loudly: "Come on Reek, faster!" and dashed as fast as her legs could carry her. They eventually reached their destination and had a fun day, despite its rocky start.