Lost Creek Hollow just sit down, take it easy

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." sionnach's voice hauled down the stony interior of the den, gaining resonance with each echo off of the hardened walls. her nubbin ears were perked as she listened to the walls chatter back, singing alongside her in perfect cacophony.

her short puppy snout was twisted in a devil-may-care grin, and she babbled excitedly and listened as the caves babbled back. sitting back on her haunches with a plop of her round legs. lumpy tilted her head up to the ceiling and continued her serenades. "ah aH AH AH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Eshe had been teething when Sionnach's voice began to ricochet, and instantly the older of the two's attention was caught. Eshe turned towards her sister, disregarding the antler that laid at his paws, her eyes wide and ears erect as she observed Sionnach from behind. Sqwaking seemed to be fun, and Eshe was eager to join in. 

Without much notice, she threw her head back and projected her voice as much as she could.

"waaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH," Eshe shrieked.

Another voice joined the delightful din, prompting the uncoordinated and clumsy Sionnach to bumble around until she caught the source: Eshe.

"WaaHHH," rebounded the voices in the cave - Sionnach's half-mast ear flopped and she turned to the walls to stream her own perfect music: "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH AH AH AH!" Her mighty bellow was interrupted by a slight hiccup, causing her to cross her eyes as she struggled to master her unwilling body. "hicc,"

The girl was passing by, a hop to her step, as she carried a small vole in her teeth. It wasn't entirely fresh but it was otherwise untouched, freshly gathered from a cache. She had been a little bit hungry after spending a few hours gathering flowers and studying the plants of the Hollow; she wanted to cover the woods with floral gifts — or bring pretty things to Elysium whenever that trip occurred with Gannet — but first she had to know more. Much more.

However, as she was passing by the familiar den where she'd encountered Rannoch, she heard a great din rising from the depths. Her hunger was promptly forgotten. The girl approached cautiously, not wanting to anger the parents or disturb them in any way, and as she came to the opening she dropped the dead vole at her paws — looking around and sniffing the air, but inevitably flinching back at the cacophony of their young, inexperienced voices. 

The noise might've been loud and dissonant, but it did not drive away Ibis — no, the longer she listened, the more enamored she became with them; she began to hum a softer tune with a simple beat, easily drowned out by their shrieking siren-like voices, but hoping they'd notice and maybe - just maybe - sing with her.

Just as Eshe was about to reply Sionnach hiccuped, and the child's eyes grew wide with wonder—that was a strange noise! Hoisting herself onto unstable paws, Eshe waddled forward until she was in front of Sionnach, and then she thrust her face as close as she could to her sister's snout. She'd face her sister's puppy breath to get an up close and personal look at how her sister had made the sound. "Ooo?" Eshe inquired, waiting for her sister to make the strange noise again. Eshe's concentration on Sionnach was short-lived, as she soon heard a sweet-sounding hum—it was beautiful. And much lovelier than her sister's voice. 

She turned towards with den's foyver with a smile. "OOH!" she squawked with a wagging tail, suddenly very interested in the other wolf.

"hicc," came the encore, followed by an obnoxious snot bubble -- Sionnach nearly fell on her backside as Eshe delivered an up-close and personal inspection. She was about to howl again when her nub-ears caught the strangest sound -- certainly a sound that didn't belong in Liffey's House Of Discordant Melodies.

"Ooo?" Sionnach parroted Eshe, turning towards the source like a little piranha. She didn't quite see Ibis outside of the den yet, but she could hear the non-nasal, perfectly on-key voice. "AhhWOOOooooooo," Sionnach's "singing" contribution came, hellishly off-beat and piercing. You're welcome.

The din in the den (which sounds like a Wolf equivalent to an Oktoberfest party) suddenly quieted, but not for long. The children were busy inspecting one another. Ibis didn't want to breach any protocol or anything, so she nestled down on her belly at the den mouth, her own little tail wriggling in the grass behind her as she resisted the urge to scoot closer.

Her humming continued, and finally one of the kids noticed — then joined in with a rising sour note that made her ears flip back for a split second; but she felt bad, and didn't want to be too judgey about their abilities (or lack thereof), so she forced herself to listen, and ended up laughing softly to herself. Her next series of hummed notes became a light croon, even she couldn't resist the urge to sing once they began to yowl.

Eshe was given exactly what she had wanted; Ibis sang, harmonizing (somewhat) with Sionnach's attempt. With both of the other women singing, Eshe then began to lend her voice—making the duet a trio. 

"WAHWOOOOOOOOOOOOO," she crowed, confident that her voice was as beautiful as Ibis' (it wasn't), "WAHWUWHOOOOOOOO!"  She was doing it right, right?

later in life, it would become quite apparent that sionnach was not one to be outdone. rising on shaky nubbly legs, sionnach tottered determinedly after her sister. being much too young to know what stranger danger was, the girl simply stared at ibis' form, her little tail working in a frenzy for all she saw was potential new friend.

"YIP!" bounding on stumpy legs over to ibis, sionnach accompanied each step with a mini series of grumbling yips: "yip, yip, yip, yip, AWWOOOOOO."

They were making quite a racket, but Ibis didn't have the heart to tell them anything negative. She would rather support them in their efforts anyway - teach them to sing as they got bigger so that she wasn't alone with her little hobby. Plus, they had quite the pipes! She didn't hear noise, she heard potential, and the more they participated and reacted, the more she joined in: AaawooooOoo! She mimicked them, transitioning to a series of ooh ooh sounds to suit the cadence of their own yowls and calls, hoping they'd notice the beat she was making. They were very little and very young, so Ibis was mostly singing to herself - but she enjoyed the company of the curious kids regardless.

they were a wonderful symphony, but after a while of lending their ochestra to the teekon, liffey came in and announced it was dinnertime. without so much as a goodbye to her new friend ibis, sionnach scampered excitedly after her dam, eager to have first pickings before fathead aengus came along. after she had eaten her fill, she yawned heartily and curled up in a ball alongside liffey, putting another excellent day of being a puppy into the books.