Cedarwood Forest not from the same slice as me

RE - Spring showers have come early, resulting in heavy downpours throughout parts of Relic Lore.
This thread occurs at the same time as this one. Open to all.

Unlike her brother, Ophelia could not remain entertained by the endless droves of bugs and, unlike her sister, could not for the life of her be confined by the rules set before them by Mama and Daddy and Papa. The little princess wanted to see what else was out there just outside of pack territory. What made it off limits? She'd find out for herself!

Fearless, Ophelia plodded deeper into the forest than she had ever dared before, skipping right over the scent markings that detailed the end of Grizzly Hollow lands. Nothing in her short life had given her reason to be wary so she continued on walking even as the forest grew darker with gathering clouds overhead. While she didn't care for rain, it wasn't anything she was afraid of. Now, just where did everyone go when they left them behind in the den? Out here to hunt? How did they hunt? Ophelia only knew they came back with bellies filled with food which was promptly regurgitated for them.

Spotting a nearby stick jutting out of the ground, the pup became momentarily distracted and began to chew on the end of it until it lay in pieces at her paws. A mild hunger prompted the tiny princess to pluck up one of the smaller pieces and swallow it. She stuck out her tongue. "Taste bad," she said to no one.

Hoping to meet a new wolf out here, Ophelia then began barking as loudly and shrilly as ever just as the first drops of rain began to fall.

(This post was last modified: Jun 27, 2016, 06:09 PM by Ophelia.)

/attempts to contain joan who is all over the place oops

But instead of meeting a new wolf, Opie met her sister.

"Opie," the silver girl hissed, hating herself all the while "What are you doin?" Joan did not like that her sister constantly turned herself into The Nagging One. She did not like being the naggy sister, but somehow this was how it ended up. Opie was always going out of her way to break all of the rules and this frustrated the older sister not so much because it was wrong, but because it set up obstacles for Joan to let loose or be the wild child. Joan's heart longed to explore but not if it meant being like her petulant younger sister. And now here the girl was, standing outside the borders and now Mama and Papa and Dada were never going to let them ever leave the pack territory ever again.

She felt like she had seen this coming. Her dreams the night before had been full of vexation and a scent that was completely unfamiliar. The scent was evoked now, here, with Opie on the edge of Grizzly Hollow. Before the girl could take a better whiff, though, a fat raindrop plunked onto her nose, dampening and dulling her senses. It was if all of a sudden the whole forest became fuzzier.

As mad as she was though...

"Wanna play?" She quipped, brightening.

They were already out here.

Joan @ ~8 months: Adult fur and winter coat grown in, eyes are now grey, nearly adult sized. Human age ~11-12

Her ears pinned back as soon as she heard her sister's voice. Annoyed, Ophelia turned to pin a stare that said just that to @Joan. She lifted her chin, not keen on letting the eldest sibling dictate what she could and couldn't do. Besides, Mama and Papa and Daddy had gone off for a while and she was bored! "What you care?" she asked, sticking out her tongue.

Just as quickly as her tongue had appeared, so did a flashing smile. "You break rules," she pointed out. She never would have expected her straight and narrow sister would be the one to follow her out this far. If anyone, she would have thought it would be @Felix. Not only that, but Joan offered to play first? It was a day of new things!

Pleased with this new side of her sister, Ophelia barked, bowing down in play. She launched at Joan in the hopes of grabbing an ear or tuft of fur to tug on. In their wrestling though, a quiet rustling caught the pup's attention and she rolled to an upright position, the game momentarily forgotten.

"Hear that?" she wondered. Ophelia sat upright as a skinny face slithered into view and peered at them from under some rotted leaves. Without waiting for her sister's approval - or more likely refusal - the pale princess giggled and raced at the creature.

She reared back in shock when the creature lifted itself from under the leaves, its neck flattening just under its head. With such a great view of it now, Ophelia marveled. It was all neck! She yipped and padded around it and found a tail-end. With a growl, she pounced on it, little needle teeth catching hold. To her surprise, the creature flailed wildly, lashing against her small body with its long one until she let go.

As soon as it was free, the harmless snake darted off. On a warrior's cry, Ophelia looked back at Joan. "Get it!" she laughed.

The forest of Grizzly Hollow was often so safe and secure, especially with so many helpful and dedicated paws about, Oula seldom worried for her children's safety. It wasn't out of the ordinary to find the pups away from the den, playing or discovering some little nook, or spending time with a packmate. But her suspicions were raised when she came across two sets of little pawprints meandering closer to the border than she liked. Oula quickly abandoned her previous route, instead trailing after Joan and Ophelia's tracks.

Oula's mouth set into a firm line as she followed the haphazard prints first to the border, then past the border. A small huff puffed from flared nostrils. What did her children think they were doing out here? While Grizzly Hollow itself was quite safe, the same couldn't be said for the no-mans-land that wasn't under their control. She grit her teeth, pushing into a run and hoping they were safe. Just over the sounds of pattering rain, Oula could hear Ophelia's unmistakably sharp barking.

Oula arrived just in time to find Ophelia shouting about something, undoubtedly whatever little creature was currently rustling through the brush like it's life depended on it. "Joan. Ophelia." The Whitebark woman growled a stern warning. "Just what do you two think you are doing out here?" She stopped directly before the two, her sage eyes moving first from Ophelia, then to Joan. "What have I told you two about going outside the borders alone?"

Joan's own ears twisted back underneath the intensity of her sister's stare, feeling a mixture of emotions that, in the end, left her feeling puzzled. Part of her was annoyed right back at Opie, the lawless one, and part of her was also frustrated that Opie always left her out of all the fun things because in Joan's short life she had already dug out a reputation for herself as "no fun" and "tattle tail." And there was still another part of her, on top of that, that was disappointed that her own sister didn't feel the same stirrings of a bond that Joan felt in herself. She did love Opie, she loved her not so deep down, but it was just hard to show it most of the time, especially when Opie made it hard, made herself the victim all the time. And because all these emotions were too much to bear and too hard to find words for, Joan only offered her sister a sullen shrug in response to her barbed question and even more biting accusation.

At least Opie did not refuse the opportunity to play, and Joan brightened again, heartened by her sister's more agreeable bark. Joan wasn't fast enough to get out of the way of Opie's dull milk teeth that found her ear. Joan squirmed, trying to take her ear back even if it was gunna fall off in the process when suddenly her sister let go and she felt her butt hitting the ground with some force.

Her head twisted: she didn't hear what Opie heard, and now Opie was getting up and walking away. Joan's mouth hung open, confused and sort of offended, though she followed her sister after some hesitation. Snatches of her dream were flashing in her mind but she couldn't make sense of them, only the unsettling feeling it made in her stomach. Joan was about to cry out to her sister when suddenly a long branch just sort of animated itself off of the ground and was now levitating in front of Opie. A small, short shrieking bark came from Joan's mouth as she watched Opie watch this weird levatiating stick, "No! Bad!"

Instead, though, Opie flung herself at it. The tussle was over in an instant, and then Opie was ordering Joan to go after it. If Opie was unafraid, Joan did not want to look like a wuss. She nodded her head solemnly and took a step forward, when suddenly she felt compelled to hug the ground by the commanding tone of Mama. Oops. "I was ....we were...." How to even explain this? "I took Opie out. My idea. For fun," she mumbled bitterly in the ground, wanting to take the blame for her sister, wanting her sister to like her.

Joan @ ~8 months: Adult fur and winter coat grown in, eyes are now grey, nearly adult sized. Human age ~11-12

Unlike her sister, Ophelia didn't curl beneath the gaze of her mother as she assumed the growl had been meant for that silly moving stick rather than her. While @Joan hunkered down, the pale princess wagged her tail and yipped in greeting to her mother. She would have raced over to go lick at Mama's muzzle, too, but Joan had interrupted the action with lies! Joan didn't lie.

Without realizing she would be telling on herself, Ophelia whirled on her sister and barked a sharp "Na uh, Liar!" She turned towards @Oula with a stern pout. "Mama, she lie!" She raised herself up importantly, standing as tall as she could, and declared with pride, "I came first!" Whether it was a competition or not, Ophelia was going to win!

Going on without concern for the trouble she may be in, the little princess continued yammering on. "Mama! Found moving stick! It wrapped me up and worm-wiggled away! Let's get stick!" Inviting Mama along only made sense she was already there. No doubt the strongest wolf in the world would be able to catch that moving stick with no problem! "It go that way," Ophelia informed Oula proudly. She'd been watching the yearlings with how they would track prey across the territory. Even if she'd never witnessed a hunt yet, she had a good idea of what happened. But watching Mama get that stick would be the best treat!

Oula's eyes flicked between the two girls, bothered that she wasn't sure which one of them was telling the truth. Maybe one of them was lying, maybe it was both their idea, but in the end it really didn't matter to the worried mother. The end result had been the same. "I don't care who's idea it was, both of you should know better than this." She rumbled disapprovingly. Oula didn't want to imagine what could have happened if they'd gone further, and run into some of the unsavory creatures of the forest, wolves or otherwise. It wasn't that far from here where Oula had been accosted by that Willows wolf, and two naive girls wouldn't have stood a chance in a similar situation.

Ever the little chatterbox, Ophelia was already jabbering away about something else. Oula's small ears pricked forward, trying to figure out just what in the world her daughter was talking about. A stick, moving and wiggling and what? It didn't make any sense. Was this a tall tale just to distract her from the real problem at hand?

"A moving stick?" Oula hummed in disbelief, sage eyes shifting to Joan to see whether her sister corroborated. "Just because you saw something beyond the borders doesn't make it alright to be out here alone."

hi hello sorry sorry

Somehow Joan could never make Opie happy, and the older sister was reduced to a cowering mess as Opie turned on her, exposed her as a liar. With an open mouth and a heart full of shame and guilt, the girl wondered if she had ever felt so bad in her whole life. She had broken the rules for nothing, she had tried to protect her sister and had it flung in her face. Did Opie hate her? Did Opie hate liars in the same way Joan hated herself now, or was Opie just seeking out the upperhand as she always did? There was no answer that didn't make her chest hurt, and her watery silver eyes turned upwards to Mama. There was nothing in them to make her feel better either: the green gaze was cold and disappointed. 

Joan should have known better. But why hadn't that mattered?

"I'm sorry Mama," Joan mouthed, too frightened and full of self-disgust to even speak. Instead she continued to wordlessly respond to her prompts, confirming with a nod that, yes, there had been a moving stick of some sort. But Mama was right, no stick was gunna make this okay. Was this the vexation of her dreams? Was it Mama? Joan tried to remind herself that a dream wasn't a justification either. Wiggling about with her belly on the dirt, the colorless child moved toward her mother to lap at the air, hoping her Mama would lean down so she could kiss her chin.

Joan @ ~8 months: Adult fur and winter coat grown in, eyes are now grey, nearly adult sized. Human age ~11-12

Unlike her sister, Ophelia was unfazed by Mama's tone. The pup had never been treated roughly and Oula's tone didn't speak of impending doom to warn the pale princess that there was anything to be concerned about. Mama was not happy. It would pass. It was all simple math to Opie and she would do it all again for the simple reason that she'd wanted to. Mamas were supposed to stifle fun and pups were supposed to have it anyway.

Of course, Joan didn't see it that way. Suck up. While the oldest sibling cowered, Ophelia stood there without a worry.

That is...until the moving stick came within view again.

Ophelia gave a warning bark before shooting off after it again as if her mother had not just scolded her for being out there in the first place. It was safe to her - Mama was here. What could there be to possibly worry about? Nothing she could think of.

"Moving stick, moving stick!" she giggled as she ran after it, needle teeth searching to grab at its tail. The snake, in alarm, whirled upon her to strike harmlessly at her face, leaving the pup to yelp with concern before giggling and resuming her chase after realizing no harm had come to her.

kydnt gave me the go-ahead for the pp. Vet, feel free to archive it with your next post.

Joan waited for any sign that Mama might have been appeased, but then of course Ophie went off madly cackling about the stupid moving stick. Mama seemed like she was pretty done with the whole moving stick business. She stormed right over to Ophelia, smacked the moving stick squarely on its end. It didn't rise right away, but Mama was already shoving her runty sister out of the way, commanding the two of them to go home. By her tone, it was clear that Ophie's antics had only upset her further. Great.

Flattening herself, the little girl turned and whined to her sister. "Please Ophie let's just go," she didn't want to end up punished on account of anything her sister was doing right now, or worse yet grounded. No matter what happened, the girls probably wouldn't be returning to the border any time soon—or, well at least Joan intended to be a good girl, Ophie would probably be back in an hour or two. But couldn't Ophie think of her sister just this once? "I wanna go home." Hopefully all this would make Mama happy, though she still seemed aloof and frustrated by all the girls nonsense.

Sighing, the girl followed as the older woman stormed away.

Joan @ ~8 months: Adult fur and winter coat grown in, eyes are now grey, nearly adult sized. Human age ~11-12