Broken Timber Pines All the world's a sunny day

was thinking about Silentium just wanting to follow Io around... and this happened... SURPRISE!

June 29 2015, Late morning, Sunny 77F/25C

There was a quiet sigh. Bracken looked down as the small puff of air stirred up a cloud of dust and sent a fallen leaf fluttering. She scrambled after it, a graceless collection of stubby legs and wild energy. The girl pounced on it, forelegs stretched out to pin it down while she shredded it. It was great fun -bits of leaves flying everywhere and sticking to her face- but it didn't last for very long. Foggy blue eyes searched for another leaf, anything to do. But there was nothing.

She sighed louder, fading into a thin whine. Bracken was bored. Mother had left, which wasn't a bad thing because the darkly-smudged girl invariably got into more trouble fun when Iopah wasn't there. Ember was sleeping, or ignoring her wild sister; one of those two. It was a beautiful, sunny day and Bracken had nothing to do! It was terrible! A series of muffled whines voiced this complaint and the girl flounced to the ground, kicking her backlegs as she propelled her pudgy body through the dirt in an attempt at amusement.

A noise! Her tiny head flung up in a puff of dust. What was that?! Something was moving, just large enough for puppy eyes to notice. She rose to her feet, whip-like tail going nuts behind her. Something was always better than nothing. The girl sprinted for the edge of the clearing, tripped and went tumbling once, then slipped under the curtain of salmonberry brambles that had been intended to keep other's out. Iopah couldn't have anticipated how impulsive her daughters would be, or how easy it would be for them to duck underneath it.

A high-pitched yip announced her presence. The puppy sat down, weak blue eyes looking eagerly for the visitor. Mother didn't really like it when she jumped on her and Ember definitely didn't like it, so she was going to wait right here. Impatient, but waiting nonetheless.

(This post was last modified: Sep 08, 2015, 12:51 AM by Bracken.)

 

Silentium had seen the small pup leave the den that morning without a supervisor and had become her shadow without a second thought. He had no idea which one of Iopah's daughters this was, Ember and Bracken looked identical to him but either way they needed protection. Once the queen had recovered enough from childbirth that she was able to leave the den on her own for periods of time his guardian focus had changed. While he had once followed the monarch around to assure her safety he now found himself staying behind to watch the den when she left. He had never interacted with either child more than poking his head into the den to ask their mother a question but he felt protective of them all the same. When they wandered off on their own the yearling had taken it upon himself to follow them, out of eyesight and as quietly as possible so they still had their freedom but close enough in case of emergency.

Which was where he found himself now, following the young child, parallel to the salmonberry brambles which with his large size he could leap if necessary. Her adventure had not taken them far from the den and she had been playing with some weeds when Si had made the mistake of stepping on a branch and snapping it. It took less than a second for the pup to come tumbling down beneath the brambles and practically landing upon his blonde paws. Emerald eyes widened as he eyed her over to make sure she was okay before he scrambled awkwardly backwards at her yip. She seemed to be alright, but Silentium wasn't sure that he was with the situation. He had never interacted with them directly and always assumed their mother would be around when he would. What was he supposed to do now? His mind was racing trying to come up with something and failing, so instead he stood their legs splayed out comically just staring at the child.

 

Oh!

No sooner had the excitable girl-puppy jumped out and looked up, than she'd found the visitor. He was right there! Her muzzle formed a perfect circle and she gazed up in adoration. He must have been waiting for her! Stubby tail went still at this idea and then went into a flurry. Eagerly she scooted closer, not noticing how Silentium moved to keep space between them.

"It's... " Slate-blue puppy eyes studied him, frowning at the shade and grown- upness of the yearling. Certainly her mother must have mentioned this patient play-mate before. "... it's... " Certainly she'd seen Silentium around, and had probably even heard his name despite not being able to recall it now. That little detail was cutting into their play-time and Bracken finally couldn't stand the delay and blithely announced: "It's you!"

It was good enough for her.

Introductions out of the way (according to her), she flounced into a play bow. Front legs were too short to keep her chin from brushing the ground. She looked back and forth -stirring the dirt with the bottom of her chin- as she studied his fore paws. Silentium's bow looked a little different than hers. Tongue stuck out in effort, she shifted her front feet further apart. It was hard to perfectly mimic Silentium's stance, but she did her best. Finally she could get no lower and the girl looked up hopefully, tiny chin resting fully on the ground. "Playing?" After all, what else was there to do?