Blackfeather Woods I'm done with having dreams

"The Night Mother sees and knows all, littlest brother," Koume said as she led an overly excited Ramsay into the depths of Mephala's Web. He had never been allowed to go this far on his own, and whining for one of his relatives to take him hadn't gotten him very far in the past. Koume had therefore elevated herself very quickly to Designated Favourite by inviting him along on her walk. An older and more guarder Ramsay might have wondered why she had asked specifically him to go, but one month old Ramsay didn't know any better. He showered her in affection as a result of this, which she tolerated admirably enough. If she held any secret distaste for her twisted brother, she kept it carefully concealed from him.

"Hers is the great web of lies," Koume went on, her voice echoing off the tunnel walls and inviting passersby to join them, "and She could pluck you from this mortal coil without batting a lash. She is the reason you still live." Ramsay did his very best to pay attention to her lesson, but many of the concepts were still beyond him, and he missed the subtle dark hints. He would eventually come to respect and revere the black gods as the Brotherhood's best did, but for now, they were just names on an empty canvas in his mind. He already knew deep down what lies were, but no one had instilled a sense of wrongness where lying was concerned, so he thought nothing much of Mephala and her web... yet. "Lassssh," he repeated clumsily, waddling along beside her with his ape's gait.

"Sure," she responded in a bland, noncommittal tone. "Always remember, Her will above all." That was probably the only take-away Ramsay was going to get from Koume's lesson, for without warning, the little shit of a dwarf giggled and took off down the tunnel, on a crash course for any other wolf who might be heading in their direction.

He was just on his way to try and find @Damien in the depths of Mephala's Web. He carried a leftover piece of food -- a rabbit's leg -- to bring to his brother. Ragged ears swiveled forward as he heard the unmistakable giggling of a pup, but he was too late in the tunnel to react and so his dwarfen son headed straight for him. His long legs narrow the pup acted much like a bowling ball of sorts that easily knocked down the pins from underneath Cicero, likely sending them both tumbling forward in a mess if his son didn't stop on time.

Ramsay very much was a bowling ball in appearance and temperament, always forging ahead with almost no regard for what was in front of him. He was staring at the ground as he skittered away from Koume, giggling wildly, and didn't notice Cicero until he slammed directly into the older wolf's legs. The patchwork adult went down and Ramsay tumbled under him, still laughing maniacally when he came to a stop some very short distance away.

He shook his entire upper torso, ears slapping hunched shoulders comically, as he flailed back to his feet. "Hi!" he chirruped to the fallen adult with a surprising amount of pleasantness after completely sweeping poor Cicero's legs out from under him, but before Ramsay could recognize the man, he noticed the rabbit haunch and his entire focus shifted. "Ooooh!" exclaimed the covetous toddler, and within seconds he was slobbering all over it.

The air was knocked from him as his legs were sweeped away and he fell down with an "oof!" The rabbit haunch flew from his mouth and landed not far from the pair of them. As Cicero looked to see what had happened and which of the pups he had collided with it was not hard to spot the small, compact form of the dwarf pup.

"Ah," he said out loud as he analysed the situation. Still a bit dizzy he watched as the pup went for the rabbit haunch he had carried. "Hmm." No matter, he would find Damien something new. "Yes, you have that, pup." They had been named, he was certain, though at the moment the pup's name slipped from him. He supposed he would learn better once they would speak more and learn their own names.

Cicero licked his lips as he watched the pup slobber over the rabbit, though he wondered if the pups ate solid food yet at all. Well, it did not matter, he supposed, as he would find out soon enough. Meanwhile he picked himself off the ground and shook the debris from the fall from his fur.

The answer to Cicero's unspoken question was a resounding no, as both he and his son would soon find out. Ramsay gnawed on the rabbit haunch as best he could, shredding away minor flakes, but his milk teeth proved too dull for the task of ripping it apart. Regurgitated meat was already broken down and easily chewed by soft baby teeth, but tough muscle was another matter that required sharper tools. Ramsay was not possessed of those just yet.

It didn't take him long to abandon the haunch. After swiping nearly every exposed inch of it with his curious tongue, the dwarf whirled around to prance back in Cicero's direction. Koume was visible in the background, but his sister kept her distance for now. Maybe she was frightful of the consequence of her subtle threats, or maybe she just wanted to observe, as she so often did. Either way, Ramsay ignored her in favour of the slender jester he had bowled over.

"Op!" he repeated to the best of his abilities, wildly swinging his little tail as he came to sit directly in front of the now-standing wolf with an expression that hungrily sought praise, although he hadn't done anything to deserve it.

Cicero was momentarily distracted by Koume as he noticed her first, though soon put attention back upon the pup as Koume did not near further. Vaguely grateful that she would not chase him from the pups, as he could have imagined any of his relatives to have done, he turned back to the pup who was still slobbering over the meat. It did not do him very well, Cicero could tell once the pup abandoned the meat, as it had mostly gotten, well, moist. Not very eaten.

The pup was vigorous, that much was for sure. It was enthusiastic; Cicero wondered if it would stay that way once it realised what it was and what it looked like. And especially: how that reflected upon how others saw him. Strange, he philosophised idly, that wolves should put so much esteem in the opinions of others and feel differently as they grow up based upon these opinions. Well, most wolves, he supposed. Perhaps this weirdly shaped pup had inherited enough of his father's genes not to.

"Op?" repeated Cicero with a tilted head. "Are you hungry? Cicero could chew some of that up." He licked his lips as he gestured at the slobbery meat to emphasise his offer.

He flipped his massive ears forward and his hindquarters wiggled approvingly when Cicero repeated back his own repetition. He couldn't quite form proper words yet, but that would come soon enough. Even if the mutants of Blackfeather Woods didn't often get visitors besides Ganondorf and Cicero, they attempted to speak to one another often enough that in time they would develop the skill. Maybe more slowly than the average pup with a loving and attentive mother, and maybe always in a manner that was broken, but they would speak someday.

He didn't understand the rest of what Cicero said, but excitement hitched in his chest and pushed his breath out several measures quicker when the adult wolf motioned to the abandoned haunch. Ramsay was always hungry, as it turned out. "Op!" he tried again, still associating the word pup with himself and everything else in his vicinity, and it was with that word that he tread nearer to Cicero and tried to lift himself up to prod at the adult's lips. He couldn't reach like Euron and Maegi could, of course, and ended up prodding at his unknown father's chest instead.

'Op' appeared to be some sort of synonym to 'yes', Cicero deduced as the word was repeated with vigor upon his question. He rolled shoulders into a shrug and then took a bite from the haunch to chew some up for Ramsay. Ramsay pounced at his mouth though did not quite reach. Paws batted against his chest while he chewed up the meat, ignoring the impatient pup for the moment.

He then spat out a pile of chewed up meat in front of the youth and waited for him to presumably dig in while he started chewing on the rest of the left-over haunch.

His eyes and the tips of his ears quivered with anticipation from the first bite Cicero took. After his unsuccessful upward lung, the boy remained poised on his toes, half-crouched and swaying every now and again as if he forgot that his body was even there. Spittle gathered in the corners of his lips. He licked it away absently, and his short tail twitched sharply when Cicero's narrow muzzle descended.

It took no time at all for Ramsay to fall upon the chewed meat. He displayed for perhaps the first time to someone other than his litter mates the difficulty in having such a short spine and neck: he could not reach down for the meat with his forelegs straightened, or even slightly bowed. Ramsay instead had to lower the entire upper half of his body, pressing his chest to the mess on the floor and smearing it into his fur, in order to reach it with his limited range of motion.

He chewed noisily, all the while bathing his elbows and belly in it just so that he could eat it.

The pup ate awkwardly, he noted as he watched him dig in. Perhaps it was because of how odd he looked, Cicero mused, but it did not matter much to him; though he imagined it to be frustrating for the kid. But one who did not know any different would perhaps never mind it. He watched as the pup ate, then decided, "Cicero should find new food for Damien." And find him... "See you later, pup." He would return to check on them later, but for now he needed to tend to his brother. Cicero turned round to leave, not watching to see if the pup would follow or not.

With a few spoken words that the boy could only partly understand, the father took his leave. Ramsay remained. The promise of food kept him rooted to the spot long enough for Koume to return from the shadows she'd retreated into and shepherd him back to the den when he finished.