Fisher's Split to me, you're all i am

Brielle is 7 weeks old, closely following this development mark but not fully there yet: Pups sport a disproportional large head and feet as their skeleton grows towards its adult form. Puppies weigh about 20-30 lbs. (9-14 kg.) and may start to eat small bits of regurgitated meat. At this milestone, they begin to realize differences in their siblings (brothers vs. sisters) and can differentiate adults from children. Most puppies are highly curious and may persistently ask questions in order to understand what they might not know. Their vocabulary might now consist of roughly 200-300 words, including some made-up ones (ie. "mouses," "birdses," "crovens," "breaked," and "hitted.") and combined phrases (ie. "Whassat?" and "I dunno."). Estimated human age: 5 years old.

Bri had found that her favorite thing to do was adventure. There was a certain power that had come with making out on her own for a minute and exploring the land around her. She could prove that she was the most fierce! She claimed every land that she put her paws on, not that she fully understood yet what it meant to own anything. The air was thick, causing her to couch as small flecks fell from the sky… had she been older and experienced a winter, she might have thought it was snow.

Instead, though, her eyes widened in both amazement and fear as she recognized it for what it was: the sky was falling! The sky was falling!

Her tail lashed from side to side. How dare the sky fall without asking her! “Rude! Rude! Rude sky!” She would howl out as she began to jump around much like a bucking bronco, dying to be set free as the ash began to settle into her fur, remaining a constant fixture until the flakes fled her pelt from her rapid movements shaking them off. She could not stand for this! She had to find her parents right now so they could scold the sky and set things right.

”Speech"

Jeni-Sue @DA, iMouritsa @DA & yellowicous-stock @DA

She was not a fan of this new air. It hurt her lungs on a good day, and on the bad days she could barely see where she was going. Sometimes all she could do was get to the river for a drink so the cool water would sooth her throat and then go hide away in her little den once again. It seemed to be the only place the air didn't burn - not as bad, anyway.

Today the air wasn't so thick, but the sky was dark. When the little flakes began to fall Llinnea worried for a moment winter had come early - but it was warm. She stood at the riverside and watched the little grey bits fall into the water and slowly wash away. They perched lightly on her fur, and they smelled. Her ears twitched back. "Loach...? she called. Maybe he would know what this weird stuff was.

Almost as if in response to her call she heard a small voice. Llinnea couldn't see anyone upon turning, so she warily moved toward the sound. Finally she saw the pup jumping at the sky and shouting at it. With a snort of amusement she paused. This child was still small, which meant her parents had to be nearby. She was certainly smaller than Llinnea had been when she'd run away from home, and given that Llinnea was still small that was saying something. "Why do you shout?" she asked in her accent, not quite as thick as it once was but still it dragged her words.

Brielle’s nose would twitch in disdain for the voice that flooded her ears. It was not familiar, and she had already been told that strange voices could be dangerous. She wasn’t afraid of no strangers! She would ask in a thick and strange voice why she was shouting which would cause the girl’s tail to light lash in annoyance. “Ciel!” Her father’s native tongue would slip out, with a voice that implied it should be obvious to what she was referring to. “Ciel impoli!” She would state again with her maw extravagantly waving towards the reddened sky, the ash falling all around them as it began to settle on the ground.

She’d let out a cough, having accidentally inhaled another piece of ash that didn’t quite settle right, sneezing as she flopped onto her rump from the force and surprise of it, unable to keep herself on her paws as her nose twitched once more. The day was far from perfect or ideal, and it caused another growl of annoyance, no real aggression behind it unless her irritation at the sky counted.

“Whose?” She’d ask, confident she had said the right word as she demanded to know who the woman was. And she would not be ignored. Whatever she wanted, she got, thank you very much.

”Speech"

Jeni-Sue @DA, iMouritsa @DA & yellowicous-stock @DA

This strange girl was... well, strange. Llinnea stepped back and stared at her, ears half back an tail mostly relaxed - mostly. She didn't know how to handle children. She hadn't been around them since she was a child herself. Even @Claw was her own age and they barely spoke except in passing. Ridiculous.

When the strange child finally spoke it was with a word Llinnea did not know. That wasn't unusual, given that Llinnea didn't know many words, but she was getting better. She didn't tilt her head, as she might have done when she was younger, but her gaze flattened somewhat. "See-ell?" she said slowly. "Is that your name?" she asked, or perhaps that was who the girl was shouting at? Llinnea glanced up, but still didn't see anything but the ash she was blinking against.

The crème girl did not expect to happen upon a stranger, nor did she expect what she had in front of her which was multiple language barriers compounded into one, and a lack of understanding from the puppy that language barriers could even exist.

Her head tilted and Brielle didn’t know what it was meant to mean, listening as the woman tried to pronounce the simplest of words in the French language, her nose twitching in irritation as she huffed. She ought to call for her dad, really, do that way he might be able to school the woman in front of her for her lack of education. She was barely a pup and she could understand it!

“No!” Her tone implied some measure of mocking as her nose twitching. “Ciel! Sky!” She unintentionally taught the woman through an exasperated voice that implied that she should have already known that answer. Really!? It was one of the first words her Pa had taught her so why did she not understand them?

”Speech"

Jeni-Sue @DA, iMouritsa @DA & yellowicous-stock @DA

The pup seemed... troubled. Shocked? By Llinnea's lack of understanding, and she suddenly wondered if that's what other adults had thought of her upon their meeting. Perhaps Loach had been as confused, but at least Llinnea had a good understanding of English by then and didn't slip into the tongue of her mor quite so often anymore. She thought back to her birthplace and wondered how much harder it had been on Inger, being grown and having to learn a new language in a strange place knowing a man was hunting her. She had to have known, for how quickly she jumped to Llinnea's defense the day she brought the monster home.

Llinnea's ears flicked back at the girl's tone. "Sky," she said. "Sky, himmel. Why do you shout at the sky?" It seemed an odd thing to do. Then again, this was a pup and Llinnea had no experience with them beyond her own childhood. Who was she to know what was normal behavior for pups?

Sky Himmel? She didn’t know what she was meaning to say by that which simply confused and frustrated Brielle even more. She felt a grumble rise deep in her throat at the prospect, her nose twitching lightly with her irritation as her tail lashed from side to side, a tantrum brewing under the surface as the girl tried to place just what was going on! She was asking why she shouted at the sky and the girl growled, her teeth gnashing.

What was so difficult for the woman in front of her to understand? The sky was falling and she had not given it permission! She motioned towards the sky once more. “Sky falling! Not allowed!” She finally answered in plain English, realizing she was going to have to spell it out for the idiotic adult who was not grasping what was happening, she presumed due to a lack of awareness.

”Speech"

Jeni-Sue @DA, iMouritsa @DA & yellowicous-stock @DA

Llinnea was considering telling the child off for yelling at her - how rude! - when she heard incoming pawsteps and suddenly they weren't alone. The girl stared impassively at the woman as she flashed her teeth in warning. It wasn't as though Llinnea was going to hurt the child. The pup was the one being rude and shouting and making a fuss about the sky falling.

Which it wasn't. "No need for shouting," she said flatly. "The sky does not fall." She gave the adult a look, wondering if she spoke only this strange new language or if she spoke this one too. She'd never really considered other languages beyond the two she knew. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised they existed... but it only served to make her world more complicated. She just wanted simple. A simple life with the few wolves - or, one wolf - whom she'd decided she could trust, and not worry about anyone else. If it was just her and Loach the rest of her life she could be happy... but alas, it was not fated to be so.