Oak Tree Bend the rain falls and clears my mind

RE: Spring showers have come early, resulting in heavy downpours throughout parts of Relic Lore.
Tagging @Mako and @Spieden so they know what's up.  They are always welcome.  Open for one or two!

It is becoming less unusual to see pups wandering outside their respective dens – a little more than six weeks old, and Marina is absolutely enraptured by the world outside of her doorstep.  Perhaps the only small blessing in this is that the young Coho has yet to discover that there is, in fact, a world outside of Oak Tree Bend.  For the time being, her entire universe is framed by the river, dark and curious, the trees, tall and proud, and the remontant blossoms that linger on the banks, cheerful and inviting.

It is these flowers, in fact, that entice the young girl.  The colors seem all that much brighter now that they are blooming for a second time that summer, and all morning, the gently swaying stalks have been calling her name.  With Speiden and Mako distracted, the pup sees her chance.  The toddle from den down to the colorful place is anything but grateful, but the seal cub makes it there all the same.

The water, for the time being, is forgotten.  Instead, she stares upwards at the dancing colors, red, oranges and yellows on bright green stalks.  It is utterly amazing, and Marina might have been content to stay there for hours had a fat raindrop not plunked directly between her eyes.  The girl shook, but it was followed by another, and another still!

“Stop!” she yelled to the trees, scowling as another fell above her eye.  “Stop!”

 

Kino had decided that he was going to go pay the Coho pups a visit. While he did see them at least a one or two times a week, usually to bring food or see if Speiden or Hal(usually found not too far away from the trio) needed anything, today he didn’t have a lot to do. Everyone had been working hard, and he’d found that almost all caches had been filled appropriately and that the borders reeked so strongly of the Bend that one would have to lack a sense of smell in the first place to miss them. So, having a free day he figured he would do something that his mother had occasionally done for him and his siblings when they were younger. Finding a mouse holed up in a hole in the hollow of a tree-trunk, he was careful to flush it out then, instead of kill it, he instead grabbed it by the tail. Playing with a live mouse would help their motor-skills and provide entertainment for all of them. For, as they all knew, a bored pup was just asking for trouble.

Venturing to the den, he felt a raindrop splatter on top of his head. Looking up he squinted, snorting as another drop fell on his nose. Great, it was raining again. Mother nature had been generous in her rainfall this season, the whole fiasco with the Coho birthing den flooding showing that quite obviously. He continued on his way, silver auds flicking forward as tiny yells could be heard. He picked up his pace to a lope, tail flagging up in a fierce look in case it turned out that an intruder had ventured into their land. Coming upon the scene, his tail dropped and a small grin came to his jaws. Ah, so she was just yelling at the rain. The large male decided he would heed her request, padding over to stand over the small girl shielding her from the water. “Do woo not like wain, Marina?” he asked over the tail of the mouse still clutched in his jaws. It gave a little squeak, swinging frantically before laying still again.

Marina was so consumed by the sudden rainfall that she’d no idea her packmate was about until the man towered over her. The world was her oyster still, and Speiden’s daughter had yet to understand that not all wolves would be friendly, or kind. She only blinked owlishly as a shadow fell over her, but the rain stopped, and so she poked her head up and between Kino’s front, tongue lolling out as she peered up at the male.

“No,” she huffed, puffing her cheeks out in a great sigh. “No wain.”

It didn’t occur to the child that the yearling was using ‘baby talk’ with her – the growl of an ‘r’ was still beyond her language capabilities. Plopping her plump bottom on the ground, she was content to lean against the silver wolf’s leg, her stubby tail thumping against ground. “Who you?” she asked after a moment, aware she had seen this wolf before, but didn’t know his name. If she was told (and it was quite possible she was, simply not storing it in her mind), Marina didn’t know, and she glanced up expectantly at the older boy. To introduce herself didn’t seem to be something she was planning on, either. Who was he? The only thing on her mind.