The group gathered together seemed to be different every time a meeting was called. Not that it mattered a great deal to Sagacity, who had faith only in Naira and Mapplethorpe and perhaps now in Asta, should the woman continue to be as helpful and decent as she was. Her yellow gaze swept across the new females and found herself immediately wondering if they would stay or if they too would filter through the crack and leave the pack one day or another. It was impossible to tell thus far, but she didn't get her hopes up. Sagacity had never been much of an optimist when it came to putting faith in others.

It was said that they would be joining together in a communal den. To this Sagacity's ears flicked forward; she liked the idea of having more eyes around to mind the children, though she once again sent her gaze to each of the new members. She was, naturally, protective of her son and would much rather get to know the new females rather than simply assume they'd be kind with her baby boy. Naira seemed to have enough faith in them, and Sagacity's trust in her queen gave her courage. She nodded to her alpha female and met Asta's eyes, giving only the two females in the pack she knew a small smile.

She lowered her head and licked Mercy's scruff, smoothing the fur down and preparing him for the voyage. Her savage teeth were kind and gentle with her son's fur and skin as she picked him up and began to carry him. As she moved past Asta she waved her tail gently, allowing the feathers of it to swipe gently at the female's side as a friendly gesture, inviting her to walk up the mountain with her toward the communal den. She knew that Mercy recognized and trusted Asta and this meant as much to Sagacity as simply trusting her herself. She followed the alpha pair to where the new communal den would be.

The open space, lit by a small beam of light, would do quite well for a safe play zone for the pups. This was what Sagacity noticed first. She settled Mercy down on the ground and fixed the fur at his nape with a loving stroke of her tongue. Mapplethorpe encouraged the girls to explore so she too lowered her head to Mercy's cheek and uttered a soft chuff, nodding toward the girls and the security of the den where they could tussle and play.

Aponi Aquila As the skinny ones showed up Aponi snapped her jaws shut, though her tongue still lolled out the side of her now closed mouth limply. Her eyes were now adjusting and she opened them fully, displaying the puppy blue that they held, she watched intently as they approached her mother and how they greeted her. So when her sister finally showed up she expected Nova to do the same to herself, ruffling her coat she puffed out her tiny chest and stuck her muzzle high in the hair, her tail raised. She growled the smallest of growls at her sisters strange wobble, Ma no do that, we no do that. She gave her sister a strong poke with her snout, trying to silently get her to stop, the small girl had already learned that the one they should be copy catting was their mother. When a small boy arrived she was distracted from her sister, and her bubble of attention stretched to include him as well. Curiosity was shown on her muzzle as she sniffed the air, but finding that he didn't smell of her mom like her sister did she wrinkled her nose. Giving him a glare that showed that she had no time for him she turned away, tail up, looking back to her mom at the sound of her voice, though most of the words she didn't understand. She felt the jaws gently clasp her and she wriggled around, squirming to be placed upon the ground, tiny grunts of exertion escaping her. She wanted to be carried by Ma and no one but Ma, but even more than wanting to be with her mother, she wanted to run. Finally she hung limp within the male's jaws, though she emitted a series of high pitched squeaks expressing her displeasure at being carried. When her paws reached stone once more she wasted no time in trying to fly as fast as possible, though she was easily stopped by her mother's legs. Distracted again from running she nuzzled her mother's legs squeaking happily as if she hadn't seen her mother in years, "MA! Ma Ma Ma Ma." It was between her mother's legs that she saw Mapplethorpe disappear into the darkness and she felt sadness fill her. Though he may not realize it his voice had grown familiar to the girl from his talks with her mother outside the den, and his smell familiar from how it would linger on her mother. She had no sense of time, and once anyone left her vision they were in all meanings of the word gone to her until they came back. When she could see him once more she was filled with happiness and trying to express this she tried to call out his name. She had heard her mother call him something, it was a long word and frustration covered her expression as she tried to pronounce such a large word, "M.....M.....Ma......Map.....Ap....." The words were stutters before finally she shouted out, "PA!" And she was content with her own version of his name, unknowing that it could be misunderstood as something else. Aponi ran between his legs and looked up from between them, proudly declaring once more, "Pa," as if she was a mother naming a child. When nudged forward she was distracted once more and took off full tilt into the cavern without looking back.

my sun and stars

silver & gold

the moon of my life

Having Mapplethorpe partially eased her nerves, even if he did little more than audibly acknowledge her presence. Taima shifted her eyes downward as Naira began to speak, willing herself to stay focused on her paws. Every so often she scented the air, waiting for Datura to return, anticipating the rhythm of his gait to reach her already strained ear drums. He had told her that he would return, that was for sure, and she was certain that she hadn't thought it up or imagined it. She had even seen @Rais come and collect him from her. Her brow furrowed in a timely fashion, her eyes narrowed just as Naira mentioned that she wanted to move the pack to a more communal setting.

When she fell silent, Taima glanced up as Mapplethorpe began to move. They were going to this place now?! Her breath caught in her chest and she held it until she stood up and began following the rest of the pack, falling into step behind Asta and Sagacity. Every so often as they traveled, she glanced over both of her shoulders, keeping an eye out for the golden prince. He didn't show.

Up at the mouth of the cavern, she paused as both her leaders came to a stop before Mapplethorpe stepped inside after instructing them to remain where they were. Her eyes would have gone to the three cubs that were brought up if it hadn't been for the Advisor's quick return and official signal that they were welcome to check out their new home. Her tail wagged and she held back as her superiors moved forward to investigate. Once the trio of cubs were ushered in, she made to step forward but was stopped upon seeing a flicker of gold from the corner of her eye.

The Lyall felt her face heat up beneath her eyes and she warmly greeted Datura with a simple touch of her nose to his before drawing away. She glanced up to him then to the dimly lit cave before her, careful to avoid Naira's gaze. Wordlessly taking a step forward and tearing herself from him and all the scents he carried in his coat, she smiled then gestured with a slight tilt of her head for him to follow in hopes of finding an isolated space the both of them could share away from the adults.

Nova wasn't entirely sure what everyone was together for, but her tiny tail flailed back and forth regardless. When she was suddenly hoisted into the air in a gentle grip her voice yielded a surprised squeak, tail pausing until she realized it was her mother's jaws she was held between. Perhaps it would have been frightening to be dangling what seemed like miles above the ground in someone else's mouth, if it wasn't her own mamma carrying her.

Nova was almost disappointed to be set back down, and she looked around in wonder at why the fun ride had stopped. She didn't quite realize they had traveled any distance at all, and when looking into the inky darkness of the cave they'd come to she thought it was the same old place. It was similarly rocky and dark, except the smells were odd and foreign, not quite what she was used to.

Nova didn't really want to go into their funny smelling home just yet, and was content to sit in the sun at her mamma's feet. At least, until she saw Aponi shoot off into the darkness shouting something. Without quite thinking about it, Nova lurched to her paws and trundled after Aponi, mimicking her sister's shouts with a shrill "Appa! Appa!". Blue eyes hadn't the time to adjust to the darkness, and she smacked her nose into the advisor's ankles at break-neck puppy speeds. Knocked back onto her rear, she yelped. Nothing was broken, but her nose did smart a little bit. "Appapa," She whined, little black triangle ears folded back with her best sad puppy stare aimed right up at him. Maybe it was her fault she'd run into him, but it was his legs she'd run into.

This place belonged to her

• NAIRA AQUILA •

and she belonged to it

A smile fell on her muzzle as her golden son joined them, it’s brilliance only diminished a little by the absence of the silvery second, although perhaps he was simply stashing whatever they had caught in the cache. She would allow it to slide for now regardless. Her attention was quickly pulled toward her daughters when they both began their own racket and it was with a quite chuckle that she lowered her head to nudge Nova encouragingly around the legs of @Mapplethorpe and into the den beyond.

No objections had been raised and so she too made her way into the darkness beyond to explore some of the more secluded passageways at the rear of the den. Finding nothing out of order, she allowed herself to return to the main area and settled down to watch the children play amongst themselves.

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RE: Highway Star - Mapplethorpe - Jul 03, 2013

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The Nomads began to step inside their new den but before the Advisor could follow after them the girls were at his feet. @Aponi tried her best to say his name, a word she had certainly heard when he and her mother had their talks near the old den, and he cupped his ears forward to attentively listen. "M.....M.....Ma......Map.....Ap....." It actually wasn't all that bad for a first attempt, he would have declared himself "Uncle Map" for all he cared (after all, "maps" as a word was not apart of his vocabulary or mental 'tool box' since they're primarily man-made). But then, she settled on a syllable that nearly hit its mark, "PA!"

Mapplethorpe had to raise a brow, curiosity getting the best of him before he realized with the second utterance of "Pa" that the "pull" in the middle of his name was not too far off from the sound she had made. Soon after Aponi had christened him with his new name, here came @Nova with her own rendition of, "Appa! Appa!" Her voice had taken him by surprise, Aponi, the last time he checked, had always been the louder of the two. He glanced about for her but he had practically missed her black coat in the darkness that lined the edges of the cavern. She bumped into him and immediately Mapplethorpe lifted his paw, gently patting it over her small back as she whine again with a more refined pronunciation of "Appapa." Even if he realized now that she could have been calling out for both Aponi'sand his new name all at once.

As @Mercy vied for Aponi's attention, the grizzled Advisor slowly leaned down to nudge the noisy girl towards the boy. With their new quarters established, there would be no use in trying to keep the princesses separate from him. They were merely curious and Mapplethorpe could only hope that the new place and setting would help the three in procuring the much needed social skills they would need later in life. With his eyes turned away, he felt @Naira brush up against him, gently edging Nova into his embrace. She pulled away and he watched briefly as she made her way towards the back of the underground space. He smiled tenderly to the girl before him, looking into her puppy blue eyes and the grimace starting to tug at the corners of her mouth. "Shhhh shhhh," he softly hushed her, pressing his large nose to her button-sized one. "It's all right. You're all right." He pressed his tongue over one of her dark ears.

"Appa's got you."

(EXIGO.)

pro nunc meum et tuum

TEMPLATE © NDA OF RCR & RPG-D

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