Heron Lake Plateau if i die because you farted, i'm taking you with me

The autumn breeze swept through his fur, though with no elegance - grey hairs stuck out in odd places, swimming back and forth as the wind blasted him from the side. Eyes of a burnished orange glinted in the light, predatory gaze honed in on his prey; the blackthorn's paws carried him slowly forward, creeping on his belly with his tongue poking out the side of his jaws. It was a habit that took hold of the boy when he was focused, all his senses trained on his object of focus.

In this case, it was a stone. Cinder sprung from the undergrowth with a yowl of victory and landed upon the lifeless thing with a thump from beneath his feet. "Haha! You cannot escape the great Cinderman!" Tail smacking roughly against his hind with the excitement of his own game, his teeth latched around the stone and he shook it with force in his jaws. "You have been stopped!" Perhaps he could deposit his prize in the paws of Tywyll, or even Raleska.

Niamh's routine had more or less been cemented in place, even though her border patrols had become distinctly more chilly of late, due to the changing of the seasons. She dreaded the oncoming winter- the ducks and geese and even the herons seemed to be fewer, which displeased her greatly, and it was getting colder. Though she snuggled close to Colt at night, she simply couldn't get close enough. The topic of digging a den had come up- or, rather, she'd brought it up- and thought it wasn't Colt's favourite idea, she was sure she could convince him otherwise, and she had plans to find the perfect spot and dig it herself. 

On her way scouting for a future densite, though, she happened upon young Cinder, squaring off against a rock that he held in his mouth quite fiercely. "'Cha got there, Cinder?" She asked, as though she couldn't see hat it was he had...Just in case he was playing a game and imagining it was something other than a rock.

He had been prepared to bury the object under the ground, cover it with dirt, but the appearance of Niamh startled his thoughts and he dropped the rock suddenly at his feet. Oh. Bronze eyes flickered up to meet her gaze, and he blinked before play-growling again, ducking and biting at the rock. "A thief! An intruder - he stole from our food!" The young boy announced, but resorted to grinning sheepishly at the beta once he realised she might think him to be childish for creating his own little game.

From what she could tell, Cinder wasn't quite sure how to act when he'd been caught pretending. He was at that stage between being a child and being an adult, where fitting in was important, and the silly games he'd played as a pup were now more for training than anything...Thus, a rock wouldn't have exactly been the number one choice for an opponent. Still, he was in the middle of that threshold, and Niamh wasn't going to school a kid for being a kid. He might've been a bit old for those kinds of games- but then again, if he was too old for them, Niamh was DEFINITELY too old for them...So she might as well just join in. 

"Seriously?" She asked, doing her best to pretend as though she disapproved of his game. "And you're just gonna let it hang out inside our borders? I don't think so!" She said, finally cracking up. She side-stepped neatly, flicking another rock in Cinder's direction with one hind foot. "Dude brought reinforcements!" She shouted, sending another small rock scuttling across the ground where it would stop short of Cinder and his other rock. "We're under attack!" She said, and began to dig up, pick up, and fling rocks hither and to- being just careful enough to make sure she was avoiding Cinder of course, but still...Not likely winning role model of the year, teaching a boy how to throw rocks.

Sorry about the wait!

Seriously?

At first, he was certain that she was about to lecture him on how his game was silly, like tywyll might have teasingly done, or perhaps tegan, and his ears flicked uncomfortably - perhaps deciding on whether or not to press against his skull awkwardly, but as he listened, something rather unexpected happened. She joined in.

We're under attack!

The blackthorn had to duck fast in order to avoid a sudden rock launched in his direction, and after getting over the initial surprise a goofy grin had spread across his young features, a second play growl releasing from his throat. "Raah!" He exclaimed, tail beating against his rear as he attempted to roll away from the sudden spray of rocks that flew left and right of him. He bared his teeth playfully at them, ducking before springing and landing on a small pile. "There's so many! We have to be quick!"

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It did occur to Niamh that tossing rocks around probably wasn’t the best way to prove she could puppysit. She was relatively gentle with her endeavour, sending rocks scuttling rather than sending them flying, but the boy would have to toughen up it he wanted to survive anyway. She couldn’t have him wilting at the very first hailstorm he encountered, and surely hail could sometimes be more devastating than the little pebbles they were kicking around. She’d be really out of luck if he started chewing on them and chipped his teeth, as those couldn’t exactly be replaced- and she knew that full well. Then  again, Niamh was missing one of her canines and though the healing process had been ugly and painful, she’d made out alright in the end.

It was more of her philosophy that some small scuffs and scrapes would make a stronger wolf. As far as she could tell, if the pups wanted to be babied, they could go to Eljay. The surprise that had shown on Cinder’s face was enough to tell her that Eljay probably didn’t play with the pups like this...But this was how they were meant to play. They were meant to be rough, to assert dominance, t take a chunk out of each other’s ears and pull out mouthfuls of fluff. That was how she and Ambrose had played when they’d been young, and they’d both turned out relatively fine, despite it all.

”You take on those ones,” Niamh shouted, gesturing wildly to the pebbles and rocks that were just beyond Cinder, ”And I’ll handle these ones,” She said, and set about trying to clear as many rocks from their little clearing as possible, whipping this way and that before batting one or two of them into the safety of a bush. Of course, as Cinder was doing the same, she occasionally had to side-step or give an offending rock a second kick, but when one bounced off her shoulder- one that wasn’t even the size of her eye- she flopped to the ground dramatically, grabbed at it with her feet and began to juggle with it clumsily. ”Cinder! Help! It’s got me!” She said just as she dropped it, allowing it to bonk her straight on the end of her nose.

He was quick to turn his attention on the rocks that Niamh had ordered him to tackle, and the young boy darted toward them with a rumble that reverberated from his throat - he growled and rolled, tumbled with the rocks as he might with Tywyll, whipping his head to the side and playfully shaking his jaws with a tail that wiggled excitedly at his silvery rear. He would have continued to do so, but a cry for help reached his ears and Cinder spun around to watch in horror as the rock attacked the beta.

"Don't worry, Niamh! I'll help you!" He cried back, paws racing over and tongue poking out at the side of his muzzle until he reached her side, shoving himself toward the rock with a mock growl. Stop right there, fiend!

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Niamh had to stifle a giggle at the look on Cinder’s face when he realized she was in peril. She wriggled her nose to get the feeling of being bonked out of it as Cinder rushed to her side, thumping slightly against her ribs and forcing a half cough, half chuckle out of her. Niamh was fiendishly ticklish, so she had to hold her breath as the boy’s tail thwapped against her ticklish underside. He confronted the rock, but just then, Niamh got another idea, and began to suck in air with a wheeze, straightening her forelegs out. She rolled her eyes back, and coughed.

”It’s too late,” She wheezed, ”Save yourself…” She said, and coughed again, still trying to suck in air, though she’d gritted her teeth and had closed her throat off slightly. ”They...Transform….You...Into….RRRRRRROCK!” She shouted, and tried to make a grab for him with her awkwardly long forelimbs. ”MINE!” She howled, scrambling to grab at Cinder and if possible, lock him in her grip. He was getting a bit big for this kind of play- but it just meant that he’d he able to stand up for himself in a spar, which was exactly what Niamh wanted.

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