Blacktail Deer Plateau together we map the world

Tagging: @Saēna :)

Osprey Jr. found herself at a loss. Sometime before she'd woken, Tytonide and Pura had run off together somewhere. She shouted their names and even tried to howl to them, yet she received no answer. She wanted to go out there and find them but Peregrine would absolutely not let her leave without taking a buddy. She definitely didn't want to take an adult (she was a big girl now!) but that left only one option: Saēna.

Truthfully, this situation made her want to track down her pale cousling and use her as a punching bag. If she did that, though, Saēna surely wouldn't want to come with her. Much as it vexed her to think of it, Junior needed Saēna today. She'd been grounded all day yesterday and she was going to go crazy if she didn't get out of the house (so to speak).

With no other choice, Osprey Jr. eventually paused in the middle of the clearing and imperiously bellowed, "Saaaēna!"

The smallest pup had been strongly considering taking a nap in the safety of Peregrine's shadow. While she spent her life (at least this week) hiding from her litter mates, they spent their days exploring and socializing with one another. She was a self-imposed outcast, especially with Tytonidae, and that was completely fine by her. She was somewhat resentful of them all this week, for the completely illogical reason that Junior didn't seem to want to kick their asses as much as she did Saēna's, which was obviously their faults. It was so unfair that they all ganged up on her like that!

Still, being shoved into the ground was such a natural part of her life that when Junior bellowed her name, the creamy Redleaf-DiSarinno pup didn't hesitate in standing up, whether or not she thought her situation was so totally lame. Slowly and steadily she was beginning to comprehend that resistance was futile. So, despite her scowl and the fearful thumping of her heart, she stepped out of Peregrine's shadow, preened back her ears, tucked her tail, and waited to be bowled over.

Saēna materialized promptly, the poster child of submission. Two-toned eyes narrowed slightly as the other pup reluctantly slunk away from Peregrine. Osprey's chest puffed out and her tail rose as Saēna crept closer. For the moment, she did not make a move toward her smaller cousling, finding Saēna's show of submission satisfactory. Plus, she still needed Saēna to come with her and willingly, so now was not the time to use the other tot as a punching bag.

"Wes go!" Osprey Jr. crowed simply when Saēna reached her (or came as close as she dared). Giving the subordinate puppy a pointed look, Osprey spun on a black heel and began to lope into the woods. "C'mooon!" she shouted impatiently when she reached the trees and looked back to make sure Saēna was following as commanded.

The expected tackle never came. Instead, Osprey Jr. announced that they were leaving, and then began to march off into the trees. Saēna didn't waste time in following, though she kept a rather healthy distance between herself and her foster sister in the event Junior changed her mind. It was a daily occurrence, after all.

Yet she found some bravery in herself and, as they put the rendezvous site behind them, the patchy child summoned her courage and quietly asked, “why?” It wasn't a very important why, just specifically the why are we leaving. She didn't even care where they were going, for she had found in herself a love of exploration, no matter how rarely she actually explored. She simply cared why.

They marched into the woods, Osprey leading Saēna impatiently and secretly hoping to lose her. Somehow, the smaller puppy easily kept pace, gliding along behind Junior like her paler, prettier shadow. She remained quiet for a spell before softly asking, Why?

"'Cause!" was Osprey's impatient and imperious reply. She shot her cousling a brief, annoyed glance and continued running, simultaneously putting as much distance between herself and the boring old rendezvous site and keeping an eye, ear and nose out for any sign of the other two pups.

Somehow, the twosome ended up near the edge of the plateau overlooking the flat lands below. "Ooo," Osprey said. She hadn't meant to come so far... or had she? She craned her neck to peer over the edge, then blinked as Saēna caught up to her. Osprey briefly considered shoving the smaller pup overboard, unaware that it would result in her instant death, when a noise stole her attention.

Some ungainly creature was moving around at the foot of the path leading from the plateau into the unclaimed terrain beyond. It looked birdlike, though it had a peculiarly long neck and a very strange growth on its face. Osprey stared at it from her vantage point and asked, "Whassat?" She looked to Saēna. The pale girl was usually wise and full of answers, something even stubborn Osprey could admit and acknowledge.

She wasn't given much of an answer, but the more patient of the pair simply accepted it with the knowledge she would be worse off if she further questioned Junior. They ranged far from the rendezvous site, but contrary to popular belief, Saēna wasn't enough of a tattler or a worrier to bring it up. She followed in silence, keeping her thoughts to herself and silently wishing she could just go back home.

Junior paused at the edge of the plateau, and for a brief instant, they had the same thought about pushing one another over. Before either pup could act on their insensitive impulses, Junior pointed something below out to her, which coaxed the patchy pup to come closer to the edge. The thing O.J. pointed out was most certainly a bird, since it possessed winds folded up against its strange body, but the similarities to song birds ended there.

“Dunno,” she admitted unabashedly, though it was said in more of a mutter than anything. She didn't really want to get close enough to that thing to find out what it was, but some small maturing part of her thought that it was an inevitably no matter what she wanted.

Saēna failed to provide an answer, much to Osprey's impatient disappointment. She shot the young pup a dirty look, then turned to watch the... whatever it was. Despite its strange growths, it was some sort of large, gawky bird, she decided. As far as Osprey Jr. knew, birds were harmless. The longer she sat there watching it, the more Osprey wanted to go down there and either chase it away or kill it. She felt her baser nature swelling up within her, prompting her to attack.

"C'mon," she said crisply to Saēna before running along the ledge and locating the path that led downward into the grasslands. She loped to the bottom, then made a beeline toward the creature. She slowed and stopped about a dozen yards from it. It was a lot larger up close than she'd anticipated. Junior felt intimidated for a moment, then swallowed her fear (she literally gulped) and began to creep closer.

The bird made a honking noise that startled the pup, causing her black fur to puff up and her ears to thrust forward uncertainly. It turned to face her, then spread its wings and beat the air with them. Osprey nearly retreated, yet she steeled her jaw and stood her ground. She was a young Warrior and she wouldn't let some ugly bird scare her away. As a matter of fact, she would put the damn thing in its place!

With a banshee shriek, Osprey sprang at the goose, aiming to bite at its soft, curvy breast. Yet something struck her on top of her head before she could make contact and then the Alpha pup found herself overwhelmed by a volley of angry honks and the bird's beating wings. They slapped against her black back with surprising roughness as she pressed herself quickly to the ground, cowering beneath the blows.

Still, despite her fear and confusion, the puppy did not go down without a fight. From her new vantage point, she could see the goose's strange webbed feet. With another, smaller cry, she snapped her jaws at the nearer of the bird's two homely legs, inviting a whole other level of hell that rained down upon her now.

She could do nothing but follow swiftly on Osprey Jr.'s heels. Peregrine's young daughter was headstrong and wilful, and even if Saēna had tried her best to convince the girl that it was a bad idea, it would only land her in hot water. She had had more than enough of being beat up unnecessarily by the other child, and knew compliance was the only way to avoid having to take more punishment.

Yet when she realized what Junior was planning to do, Saēna's ability to keep her mouth shut quickly dissolved. “Ju, don't...” she whined softly, but by the time she quietly pleaded with the other to leave the weird bird alone, Junior was already upon it.

The bird retaliated shockingly quickly, sending the black-furred pup down faster than Saēna could blink. She warred with herself for a split second with her heart hammering in her chest. Was it better to leave Junior here at the mercy of the bird and try to find Peregrine or Blue Willow? Was "I told you so" an appropriate response?

At the end of the day, dislike aside, Junior was her sister and Saēna was loyal to her. “Junior!” she cried out when her brain caught up with what was happening. Without a second thought the smaller child was galloping toward the goose, intent on slamming into it and throwing it off her older sibling. All fears for her own safety were forgotten.

If Osprey had been able to form coherent thoughts, hers might have been, I've made a terrible mistake. The goose continued its noisy onslaught, biting at her now with its sharp bill and eliciting melodramatic cries of, "It's killin' me's! I'm dyin'!"

Abruptly, the assault stopped. Battered and bleeding from a few shallow cuts, the pup scrambled to her feet and snapped her head around to see Saēna tackling the indignant goose to the ground, triumphing where Junior herself had failed. Rather than feel put out by this, Osprey Jr. trembled slightly and watched, wide-eyed and unwittingly admiring, as tiny Saēna proved that she was Warrior material too.

Junior's shrieks only spurred Saēna on. She was blind to what she was doing, or perhaps the child would have felt more fear. What she was doing was laying her life on the line for a family member... And a leader. Saēna may not have been the best sister in the world, and sometimes was jealous and petty and dramatic and hated her siblings' guts, but she was a good subordinate, most of the time. She would dare to say she was an exceptional subordinate, especially when it came to defending her superior.

She collided with the goose, sending it down with an indignant squawk. The Redleaf-DiSarinno ought to have backed away the second she made contact, yet she was so surprised that she had actually hit it that for a minute, she stood there in shock and awe. It was a minute too long, for the goose returned with a vengeance, throwing its head forward and nipping hard at Saēna's ears. It slapped its broad wings forward and advanced with hisses and sharp bites, sending the puppy tumbling with a wild cry.

You're welcome to power play the goose coming after them or leaving them alone. :)

Although Saēna showed a measure of bravery that would forever elevate her in Osprey's eyes beyond this turning point, it wasn't long before the goose retaliated with a vengeance. Osprey's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the big, ugly bird attacking her little sister. Just as Saēna instinctively protected her leader, so did Osprey Jr. feel the natural impulse to shield her subordinate.

Although her bowels quivered with fear, she charged with an earsplitting cry, slamming into the goose's downy breast and forcing it off Saēna. Although the young Warrior was tempted to persist in driving the goose away, she knew the odds were not in her favor. Instead, she whirled around and grasped Saēna roughly by the scruff, then yanked and frantically began dragging her toward safety.

She was smaller than Osprey Jr., so the goose's assault not only enticed her to crouch, but forced her to the ground. She whined pitifully as she curled in on herself, crying out at every sharp nip and heavy slap of the creature's wings. Junior came to her rescue (Saēna was surprised beyond all belief at this development, though she shouldn't have been), forcing the bird off her and then grabbing her scruff roughly and dragging her.

She was stupefied for a moment and allowed herself to be hauled, but then her senses returned and she stumbled against the ground. Righting herself, the young Redleaf-DiSarinno daughter began to run behind Junior, fleeing the wrath of the goose, which was in hot pursuit. It would aggressively ensure the pups were well away from it before it turned back to whatever it had been doing before, at least until another unfortunate victim came across it.

Saēna eventually found her own feet, so Osprey let go of her and ran all the faster, casting sidelong glances over her shoulder to make sure her sister was keeping up and to make sure the goose wasn't. It waddled after them for a few dozen yards before blasting the air with a few indignant honks. It did not seem keen to pursue them any further.

Gasping and panting, Junior led Saēna into the shadow of the plateau and huddled up against the rock wall. "T'at... was..." She didn't even have the words, nor the breath, to finish. Wild-eyed, she stared at Saēna, so many thoughts running through her head. She was madly impressed by her smaller sibling's actions, though even now she felt herself growing reluctant to acknowledge the little girl.

Before the window of opportunity closed entirely, Junior said, "You was weal bwave, Saēna-na." She sounded a little awed, then bit her lip and fell silent. Her verbal praise would end there, though Junior would never be able to look at—or treat—Saēna the same way again after this.

It felt like they ran forever, but eventually, they came to the dark wall that cast the whole plateau in deep shadow and stopped. The smaller pup panted hard to regain her breath and cool herself, giving Junior ample room to say whatever she wished, whether or not Saēna wanted to hear it. She was expecting, as always, to be shoved aside and blamed for what had happened.

Instead, Junior praised her. It was one of those strange moments the two occasionally had where O.J. relented her dominance and allowed her youngest sister a brief moment to enjoy the spotlight, or so it seemed to her. For a long moment, she neither said nor did anything, but merely stood there considering what had been said. Before Osprey Jr. could take it back, the mottled female took a few steps forward, hesitated, and then snaked her muzzle beneath her older sister's with appeasing licks and nibbles to her chin.

“So wh'you,” she said with genuine sincerity. Even if there were times when Saēna hated Hawkeye's eldest, and even if there were times she would happily have seen Junior gone from her life, there was real devotion there. Maybe not the kind of unconditional devotion siblings ordinarily hard, but devotion nonetheless... And if nothing else, she would prove to be dedicated to her devotion.

Saēna replied in kind and Junior nodded slowly. She supposed she'd also shown some measure of bravery... but was that so surprising? She'd always been the dominant, confident, headstrong pup. It was Saēna's atypical show of bravery and power that was truly remarkable today. Yet Junior didn't exactly have the words to convey this concept, so she said nothing.

When the smaller, paler child nudged Osprey's chin, she arched her head to lick and nibble the bridge of Saēna's muzzle, accepting their respective roles and reinforcing a bond that had suddenly become considerably stronger. As Alpha pup, Osprey would not magically cease the posturing and behavior that came with maintaining her dominance, yet from this day forward, she would no longer consider Saēna her personal bunching bag. The era of bullying had ended when they'd fought a common enemy side by side.

"Wes go home," a weary Osprey said after finally catching her wind. She stood slowly, then waited for Saēna to do the same. She pressed her hip into Saēna's so that the two of them walked in tandem up to the plateau proper, their closeness and suddenly united front perhaps a welcome surprise to the rest of the pack and, particularly, their closest loved ones.