Swiftcurrent Creek Here's lookin at you, kid

Puppies!!! If you guys have time! Anyone else is welcome as well!

She took back any complaints that she had ever made about losing interest with the creek... She hadn't known boredom before now. The golden wolf lay at the mouth of Njal and Tuwawi's den, staring sullenly into its depths. At least their pups were kinda cute, if lacking in the entertainment at such a young age.

It wasn't that she minded babysitting. She actually kind of enjoyed it. While she never intended to have pups of her own their company, if awkward, was not unwelcome. She was also flattered by the trust Njal put on her by giving her their charge. It was a huge gesture. If she was being honest with herself her bad mood was mostly due to bottling up her thoughts. Danica wasn't used to keeping things inside of herself and hated doing so. In the present circumstances however it seemed the best course. She needed to wait until certain things died down. Laying more stress on the pack now wasn't something she wished to do.

Mummy wasn't here. Mummy had left. He was old enough to recognize her absence and yet young enough to not understand it; Larus' entire world revolved around his mother. So when a figure arrived at the den and promptly chose to stay outside, the pup grew flustered. Why was mummy out there and not in here? Did she not want to visit him? Had he done something bad? The boy wasn't usually the bold one of the bunch — that was Valtyr, or sometimes Jokull, who were both big adventurers already — but Larus was desperate to affirm his mother's love. He lurched to his feet and with a handful of wobbly steps, poked his head out of the den mouth. "Muuu," he moaned, "Mama?" he squealed upon recognizing the stranger's scent as like mother (female). The boy thrust himself in to action with an eagerness usually reserved for his more rambunctious siblings, and then.. Promptly tripped over his own feet, causing little Larus to plop down on his "mother's" tail.

Sounds from the back of the den caused Danica's head to whip around, once more peering into the darkness. Suddenly a small shape emerged, crying out as it did so. Soon she could see that it was one of the boys, Valtyr. He ambled in her direction and her eyes widened. Uh oh.

Sure, babysitting was one thing... but when it came to actually dealing on a close basis with pups, Danica figured she was next to useless. She had never done it before. She could guard them, fight to turn back anything that might approach, but when the approaches came from the other direction, she was thrown.

The little pup wasn't swayed by her trepidation, however, and abruptly came right up to her, tripping to land on her tail. Resisting the urge to slide it out from under him lest it cause him to fall on the less forgiving ground, Danica looked around. Seeing no one, she gazed back at the pup, a small smile lighting up her face. Reaching forward with her nose, she stroked the pup's fur, marveling at the softness. "Hey," she said softly, somewhat at a loss. What did you even say to pups? What did they understand at their age?

"Mama" had a plush tail, just the way he liked them, and it cushioned his collapse. With his face buried in tufts of fur, Larus should have noticed the difference between this stranger's scent and his mum's - but the boy was so overjoyed to be in her company (alone in her company) that he was content to just sit and bask in the moment.

She was swift to sooth him, although for the first time he didn't need soothing. He was pleased with the attention nonetheless, and gave a gurgled, gleeful response; murmuring nonsense in to the pillow beneath him. When Larus finally came up for air, his eyes were wide and hopeful. He slouched with his nose across the fluffy tendril and peered up at Danica with such warmth -- but then he noticed the yellow fur of the girl's face; the wide set of her jaw; the eyes which didn't look as stormy as Tuwawi's at all; lastly, he heard her voice. "Hey," the stranger blurted, and Larus reached a conclusion.

This wasn't mommy.

A knee-jerk reaction followed. The boy's eyes lost the innocent adoration with a blink, and he pulled away from the soft tail as if it were made out of porcupine quills. "Naaaa!" He bellowed - mouth wide, tiny teeth exposed - and bowled himself backwards in his haste.

Edit: would @Maera , @Valtýr , or @Jökull want to join in here? Then Larus can jump back in when Java has more time if we don't finish it up ;)

Danica smiled at the gurgled responses from the little creature, surprised at the warmth with which it looked at her. Then, she watched as it's little face came to some conclusion, pulling away and shutting down instantaneously. Oh, she thought, surprised and disappointed with the reaction. She wasn't quite sure what had happened, not being well versed in pup behavior, but the pup cried out and fell over in his haste to get away from her.

"Not like I blame you," Danica responded to no one in particular... the pup probably wouldn't understand the words. Her stormy mood she felt had been driving a wedge between herself and quite a few of her packmates. She just hadn't wanted to socialize lately.

Remaining where she was, she kept the same low voice that she had been using, not wanting to startle any of the remaining pups or the one that had come out to interact with her. "I will give you one thing, though, young sir. You are cute." Even frightened the pup was absolutely adorable, rolling over itself in the way that puppies do. "Don't worry, mama will be back soon." She laid her head back on her paws, golden eyes watching him for any reaction to any of her words.

Valtýr had been curled in the back of the burrow snoozing without a care in the world. Tiny sounds chirped as he rested deeply, back legs kicking as he dreamed. Suddenly, he brother squalled, and Val woke up with a weary groan. What was going on? Drowsily, he rolled onto his tummy, and half-crawled, half-walked across the fuzzy deer skin floor. A large golden wolf laid at the entrance of the den, with her chin resting atop folded paws. If it wasn't mommy... then who was it?

Larus rolled backwards, surprised, but Valtýr crawled towards the watchful Danica. Unlike the more cautious Larus or skeptical Jokull, he was quick to trust and love, and had no problem stepping right up to Danica looking for cuddles. "Baa," he cooed, looking at one, very large paw and wondering how to conquer it.

Just as one pup seemingly lost interest in socializing, another emerged, trotting right up to her and setting to examining her paw. Surprised and impressed by his forward little nature, she bent down to study him. He held some of his mother's fire both in actions and appearance.

"Hello, little one. My name's Danica, just holding down the fort." He had been so upfront in approaching that it only seemed right to introduce herself. Slowly she picked up her paw a bit, then began placing it right and left, baiting the pup as one might a kitten. Perhaps he wanted to play?