Sex: FemaleBackdated to ~26th of June or so, making Bennet one month old. Set near to the birthing den, just outside of Lach's herb den, so it can be assumed that Karina, Ky and Atropos are nearby.
She'd gone out a few times to look for the snake again, but it was never there when she peeked into the strong-smelling den. The first time she'd looked in and pouted upon seeing it empty, promptly stomping back to her mother to complain emphatically. Since she was still yet to make use of real words the cause of her frustration had gone unknown. It had been nothing a belly full of milk couldn't solve, though, and she had fallen asleep quite happily having forgotten about it.
The next time, she didn't expect the snake to be there, and as such was not disappointed to find her expectations met. Where her juvenile sense of logic had, at first, simply associated Lachesis' den with the presence of the snake, it was beginning to rewire itself with the understanding that she was wrong. On all successive trips, this was confirmed with its continuing and distinct lack of snake. She'd fully accepted it by now, and it no longer bothered her, though the memory of its large black eyes staring at her still occasionally transfixed her, causing her to sway for a few moments before snapping out of it.
Just outside of Lachesis' den was where Bennet sat that morning. For the first time, she'd actually gone inside rather than just look inside, her curiosity having moved away from the absent reptile and more to the pungent scents that always fascinated her nose, so different and varied compared to the fresher air of outside. Shameless, she'd pottered around inside for a few moments, having no idea what she was looking at and not caring, driven only by her nose. Drawn to a particularly smelly pile of dried leaves, she had carefully (meaning 'utterly arbitrarily') chosen one and taken it back outside.
Now back in the open air, she had flopped down and dropped the leaf in front of her, poking it with a paw and her nose, even giving it a testing lick. Finding that the feeling on her tongue was weirdly similar to the feeling in her nose, the revelation encouraged her to bring the leaf into her mouth again, this time swirling her tongue against it to prompt an explosion of flavour. It was so fascinating and wonderful - totally different to the smooth, warm taste of milk - that she continued to chew and suck the leaf despite it actually tasting rather unpleasant. Content and quiet, her presence in the den remained hidden, though she picked up the sound of adults passing by outside. While not feeling guilty for her actions - primarily because she didn't understand it to be wrong to sneak into Lachesis' herb den and start eating his stock - she made no attempt to draw attention to herself. Time drew on and nobody called for her, so perhaps they still thought she was asleep. She could not deny there was a small thrill in flying under the radar, in sneaking out and going unnoticed, like she existed on a different level to everyone else. How long could she stay here and have the world carry on as normal? Lachesis would return eventually, this den smelled as strongly of him as it did of all these weird plants and bundles. It all belonged to him.
The leaf in her mouth, now limp and wet from gentle teeth, belonged to him. But not anymore. Abruptly deciding that she wanted to go back to her mother, for all this flavour was making her stomach rumble, Bennet crept out of the den when nobody was looking and hopped back to where she had left them all sleeping, but a small gust of wind gave her pause before she slipped inside. Her eyes drew to a tiny, crisp leaf as it blew along the ground and then settled again, and she ran her tongue along the underside of the chewed leaf which was now hers.
And it would be hers forever. Dropping it to the ground, she carefully ripped it up, holding it under her paw and tearing small pieces off and spitting them into the air. By the time she was finished, evidence of her leaf had vanished into the grass, either where they had fallen or wherever the breeze had taken them. And only she knew. Hers forever.
Satisfied, she stepped into the dark and warm and curled up next to her mother's belly, nosing at her fur where she knew that milk would be found, the taste of her leaf lingering at the back of her tongue.
(This post was last modified: Aug 10, 2016, 10:38 AM by Bennet.)