Kingsfall blackbird

For @Inna -- @Lekalta is welcome too.

Halting at the mouth of her mother’s den, the girl paused only long enough to ascertain that everyone inside was asleep. She entered slowly, letting her scent (and the scent of the roses she brought along) imbue the air gradually so as not to alert her sleeping mother. As much as she would like to talk to Kisla, if her mother was awake then the pups would be awake, and Karina was tired of having to talk about and feign enthusiasm over the wiggling little lard balls. So what if Lekalta sneezed, it’s not cute-- it’s just dusty in there! And who cares if the other one was learning to scoot across the floor of the den?  That just made the pups harder to look after!

The eldest princess creeped forward and carefully placed her three Nootka Roses down on the dirt floor so she would have use of her mouth. She began cleaning up the mess that her charming sisters left behind, knowing that Kisla would appreciate finding her den clean upon waking. She left the roses to brighten up the smell and feel of the dank little den, but also as her calling card so her mother would know she had visited. Also, by Kisla’s maw she placed a single, gnarled ginger root for her to find when she awoke. Karina knew firsthand that cleaning up after the puppies could cause a bit of a stomach ache, and chewing ginger helped immensely.

Without a backward glance Karina stole away from the den, her mind set on making a beeline for Kjors’  place. Her and Kjors’ place, she mentally corrected herself. Kjors kept his den—their den-- spotless, making it an ideal place to recover after she visited the birthing den. She stopped only to nose around for the ginger root she had brought along for herself, recovering it from where she left it hiding in a patch of grass by the mouth of the den. Just as she went to leave, she heard an odd shuffling noise behind her, and she realized with a jolt that she had woken someone. She whirled around, probably looking very comical with her wide, panicked eyes and the ginger root poking askew from her maw.

Nootka Rose. Rosa nutkana.

Native to Western North America, this plant is most commonly found in the Thicket of Secrets and Iridescent Lagoon in Relic Lore, growing as tall as 3 meters in height. They also bloom in the meadows, shrubby wetlands, and woodlands.. The 2-3 in. flowers produce a pleasantly strong fragrance in the early summer and usually occur singly or in groups of two or three. They provide an ideal food and habitat source for both deer and birds.
Common Habitats: Thicket of Secets, Iridescent Lagoon, Clandestine Brook, Verdant Mosses, Sierra Hills, Umbra Copse.

Something had woken her from a very good dream that involved her mother, sister and food.  After opening her eyes Inna stretched her tiny legs out in front of her all the while yawning the sleep away.  When that was done she blinked her puppy blue eyes against the light from the entrance of the den as she looked around for the source of what had woken her.  Over the past few days her vision had become more clear which she was happy about.  She did not like everything she saw being blurry.  After only a moment she saw someone standing in the light from the entrance of the den.  It reminded her of the last time that she had seen someone there.  Perhaps they would be as nice as the man that she had met there.  Quickly was up on her short legs and bounding over to where the girl stood. Inna was curious about who this new wolf was and what was past the bright light that was behind her.  When she reached the girl she yipped at her with her tiny tail wagging behind her hoping to get her attention so that she could play with her.  That was one of her favorite things to do besides eating and sleeping.  “Rrrrf,” she barked once more at the girl in a further effort to get her to play and maybe take her outside now that she could see what was out there past the light that she had only known as something to make it a little easier to see in the dark den.

(This post was last modified: Jun 07, 2015, 03:18 AM by Inna.)

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you.

 

Oh no, it couldn’t have been Kisla or Lekalta she’d awoken; it had the be the other one. She hardly looked more than a dustball with eyes, hunkered in the darkness of the den and staring at her. The child then popped up on her little legs and ran toward her, startling Karina into backing up a few paces.  When had the pups learned to run?! Last she saw, Inna was just scooting around merrily on her belly, wide eyes all but blind in the darkness of the den. The eldest princess reasoned that Kisla and the young had been asleep for her last few visits.. actually, Karina couldn’t even remember the last time she saw the pups awake. Had it already been half a moon?

The insides of Kisla’s den disappeared in shadow as Karina backed into the afternoon light. Surely the pup wouldn’t be so bold as to follow her out here, right? Karina’s ears flattened dubiously. If Inna was already up on four legs and running, she was probably already making little trips out of the den. ”Hey…” she whispered at the gaping darkness of the den, “I left a rose in there for you to play with, okay. Get it? Inna.. rose! Inna get rose!” Fates above, she had no idea how to talk to babies—would a child so young even understand her? Perhaps a few more of her visits should have been during the pups’ waking hours, so she might have heard how Kisla spoke to them.

It dawned on Karina that the raven princess would have no idea what roses were. “It’s..” Karina was going to say pink, but having lived their entire lives in the dark, the pups wouldn’t know “pink” either.  ”It’s smelly,” she finally landed on the perfect description. “Inna get smelly thing!” she hissed into the darkness. Satisfied now that the child would understand that she was supposed to play with the rose and leave her alone, Karina turned her attention to the ground in front of her. With all of that talking, her ginger root had slipped from her jaws to land somewhere in the grass. Cloudy eyes of little use to her, Karina lowered her nose to the ground to sniff around.

   

    
 

Being woken from her sleep wasn’t really new to Inna, that’s how it seemed to go for her.  Sleep a little and then get woken up.  Usually getting woken up meant something good like food and this time was no different.  There was someone new at the den entrance and she was eager to meet them.  It was exciting for her meeting new people especially now that her vision was much clearer now.  Not wasting time or wanting the girl to go away she had bounded over to her hoping that would get her attention so that she wouldn’t go away. Inna was sad that the girl had moved away from her but she didn’t want to give up so she followed her into the sun.  It was bright and made her blink a couple of times before her eyes adjusted but when they did she finally was able to see what lay outside the den all this time.  The girl was talking to her though Inna didn’t understand what was being said to her.  She understood her name of course but there were other words that were spoken and she wasn’t completely sure about them.  So as the girl seemed to be trying to tell her to do something Inna tilted her head from one side to the other.  There was one other word that she did understand, “P…p…play,” she repeated happily. She was tilting her head to one side once more as the girl spoke about getting something smelly.  She gave her head a shake, “No, smelly. Play,” she said wanting to play more than to get something smelly.  It didn’t sound very pleasant, at least not as much as play would be.  Then the girl had lowered her head to the ground and Inna saw that as a good opportunity to get the game started.  So she tried to pounce on the girls head.

(This post was last modified: Jun 10, 2015, 07:27 PM by Inna.)

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you.

 

Karina narrowed her eyes at the insolent child, who was insisting on “play” instead of doing what she was told. The eldest princess tried to recall if she would have done anything so defiant when she was a child, but her earliest memories were lost to her. Inna wouldn’t remember any of this interaction either, so “playing” with the little rugrat seemed completely pointless. "Okay, play.” Karina told her persistent sister, “..With Lekalta. Play with Lekalta!” Karina put a lot of feeling into the words, to make it seem extra enticing, even nudging the little princess in the direction of the den.  She then lowered her head to continue searching for her ginger root.

Inna obviously misinterpreted the nudge, because her next move was to pounce directly for Karina’s face. The cloudy-eyed girl didn’t see this coming until the little black furball was on top of her, and as she let loose a startled bark she lifted her head, whipping it back and forth out of reflex. The movement succeeded in flinging the pup from her face, and the child tumbled away to disappear into the tall grass. Karina gasped with horror as she realized what had happened. “Inna, Inna! Are you okay?” The Baranski yearling snuffled in the grass fretfully, nose coming in contact with her sister’s warm little body. She lifted the child out of the grass and deposited her in the dirt in front of the den. ”Are you hurt?” she questioned, tone all business. Her nose moved all over the child, sniffing and nudging, giving the girl a thorough check herself just in case.

   

    
 

When she heard the girl say play Inna bounced up and down on her little legs. "Play," she crooned.  Then the girl said her sister’s name which brought the little puppy to a halt, disappointed. "Leka sleep," she stated thinking the girl might want to play with Lekalta. "Inna here, Inna play," she said hoping to get what she wanted across. Still Inna didn't think the girl understood when she started to smell the grass. This disappointed Inna so she decided to do something that she hoped would get her message across more clearly. That was when she pounced on the girls face.  Next thing the ebony girl knew she was tumbling away from the girl a small cry of surprise escaped her tiny maw.  When she finally stopped Inna shook her head only to be lifted into the air and placed back on the ground in front of the girl once more.  "Inna okay," she said blue eyes looking up at the girl. That however didn't seem to be enough because the girl was sniffing and nudging her so Inna liked her muzzle as she did her check so the girl would know she was okay.

(This post was last modified: Jun 21, 2015, 10:14 PM by Inna.)

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Karina sniffed at the child’s belly, rear, and ears, not willing to take an infant’s word for it that she was truly fine. The raven colored girl began licking her face, tickling her older sister’s whiskers in a way that was uncomfortably adorable. “Hey, quit it!” Karina stuttered out, head rearing back as she took a few steps away from her sister in surprise. Didn’t she know how to be a proper patient?! The last thing Karina wanted was this.. child’s affection, not when she was so determined to dislike her. Inna’s blue eyes gazed alluringly up at her, penetrating Karina’s very thin exterior and deep into her soul. “I.. uhm.. we can’t..” How was she supposed to explain to such a little baby that they couldn’t play together or even like each other, because they were rivals for their parents’ attention?

 

Guilt flooded the elder princess as she watched her sister.. the pup was just so darn cute, and enthusiastic! “..We can’t play,” she finally told the child, grasping for some sort of explanation. ”I uhm, I don’t know how.” That was true enough, when was the last time she had actually played anything? How did a grown wolf even go about playing with such a delicate babe? One sneeze out of her was likely to send Inna flying again, tumbling end over end back into weeds. How could her mother sleep with two babies underfoot? Wasn’t she worried she would squish them? The girl turned her head and took a small step as if to leave, but she hesitated, held captive in place by the charming girl’s puppy-blue eyes. “Sorry..” she said, feeling compelled to say something more.

   

    
 

A young deer has been separated from the rest of its herd. Hunt Opportunity

Inna didn’t really understand why she was still being fussed over when she had thought she had made it clear that she was okay after her tumble.  Inna became surprised when the girl reared her head up and stepped back.  She let out a whimper to show her disappointment in the older female’s reaction.  She didn’t understand why she would react that way, her mother always seemed to like her face to be licked.  This wolf was very confusing to Inna, she’d seemed worried one moment and then the next she was backing away.  Inna tilted her head to when side when the girl said they couldn’t, “Why can’t?” was all Inna said.  She was very confused about what they can’t do and she suddenly wanted to have it explained to her. Then the girl said that they couldn’t play which caused Inna to be very disappointed, “We play,” Inna stated because she didn’t understand why they couldn’t.  She didn’t see anything that would prevent them from playing.  She decided that she wasn’t going to give up on the girl that easily so bounded toward her the best that she could on her little legs.  She stopped short when the girl seemed to be leaving, “No sorry,” she whimpered, “Play, please.”  She all but pleaded with her hoping that she would change her mind.

(This post was last modified: Jul 14, 2015, 01:33 AM by Inna.)

Please see Kajika's OOC profile for OOC preferences, thank you.

 

The girl’s begging was heartbreaking, and the older princess felt her resolve faltering. “I just..” Karina started to say, trailing off as she reminded herself how ridiculous it was to make excuses to a baby so new to this world that she only knew a handful of words. Karina sighed in exasperation. When the child was older, she wouldn’t even remember this anyway, would she?  Mind made up, the older sister did what she did best; she turned tail and bolted, without any more pathetic attempts to explain herself. A split second after she leapt away, she realized that Inna might not understand and might try to follow her. Such a small baby would get lost the moment she set foot in the woods!  

Karina stopped in her tracks and ducked behind a particularly large bush, which had wilted, smelly blossoms hanging from its branches and littered along the ground below the boughs. She peered through the branches to make sure that the girl wasn’t following her. As she hid, waiting to see if Inna would come barreling after her, Karina was struck with the sudden feeling that this situation was very familiar. In another instant she knew why.

She had been in this situation before. When she and her brothers had played hide-and-seek as children. It took all of the young lady’s willpower not to groan aloud at her own stupidity. Without even realizing it, she had started playing a game with Inna! But had Inna realized she was hiding..? Holding her breath, the Baranski triplet remained frozen in place, making not a sound as she watched for the appearance of the tiny child. Inhaling the putrid, sickly sweet scent of the decomposing blossoms was beginning to tickle her nose, and Karina realized in horror that she was about to- “Ah.. ah..  ACHOO!”