Grizzly Hollow you'll find you get what you need

Pupsitting thread! @Tomen @Felix @Joan @Ophelia
Backdated to July 11th. Dusk.

In many ways, the birth and subsequent raising of Grizzly Hollow's newest batch was very odd for Nineva. At times, it even caused a dull ache in her heart to watch them scuttle around, not able to help but think that this should be @Ash and Narime's litter instead; her baby siblings that she could share all her favorite parts of the Caverns with. When those wistful thoughts occupied her, she couldn't help but wonder if Tomen ever felt the same way, thinking of @Rook and Quil. Never had she been intrusive enough to ask, however, and whatever bottled up feelings were had, Tomen seemed pretty eager to be a part of the children's lives.

Nineva was finding that she personally did not hold a particular affinity for children, but they certainly were adorable and she enjoyed watching them grow. They were little sponges, and she loved the opportunity to share learning. Thus, whenever she was around to, Nineva was happy to join in the responsibility of helping to watch over and raise the trio. Today, that meant pupsitting as @Veho and @Oula were gone to pursue whatever business they had elsewhere, and the Hervok girl was particularly thrilled to share the duty with her best friend.

Night was falling fast, signalling the nearing end of their shift. The late afternoon had been spent playing games, switching it up every time the pups got bored of their current activity. The latest had been a wolfish form of soccer, with a pebble tiny enough for puppy paws being used as a ball. With a grin, the girl tossed the small stone toward one of the children by use of her nose. She jittered from side to side, womanly graces not quite able to keep up with her playful state, ready to receive the token back when a flash of soft light caught her eye.

She turned her head to follow it, a softer smile taking up residence on her lips. The fireflies were beginning to come out, lifting lazily from the verdant growth to share their glow. They reminded her of one of the few times she and her sister had worked together, and she was so lost in the reminiscence that she temporarily forgot her vow to never speak a mistruth.

Nudging the nearest child gently, she breathed "look." Her muzzle lifted, and one of the luminescent insects alit just centimeters from her nose. "These are what falling stars become."

It had been remarkably easy to separate the puppies from their unusual creation in his mind. While Tomen had long ago accepted the reality of what his life was - what his family was, what he was to this pack and what it was to him - it didn't mean he still entirely liked it. He just kept his mouth shut. Nineva was probably the only one who had any idea, not that he had talked to her about it for a long time... not really since he'd broken down in front of her during one of his darkest moments.

But the puppies were not to blame, not in any capacity, and where he might have been a little justified in feeling some kind of resentment towards them, he just didn't. Considering that they called Rook 'papa', it had been remarkably easy to slip into the reality that these were his siblings. Blood didn't mean much, after all, right? His aunt Trisden might have tried to impress upon him the value of the Lyall name, but he just didn't see it... maybe it meant something different to her. Maybe it was his Attaya influence muddying those waters. But then his mother had left because of her love for family, so... clearly some element of this familial worship just hadn't filtered down properly to Tomen.

When his grandmother and uncle had both left with his visiting aunt, that had left himself and his father as the only Lyalls left. There had been one thing that Trisden had said which had rang true, and that was that Grizzly Hollow didn't belong to his family anymore. But what was his family, exactly, and why did it have to be Lyall? He would sneak glances at Nineva as she laughed and let the puppies win their game of tug-of-war, or as she found a perfect-sized pebble to be rolled around by the children, and would wonder if he was allowed to define what family meant.

Neither the words Lyall or Attaya were important to him one bit.

He had been wrestling with @Felix, Tomen on his back with his brother on his belly, the older boy being punished for his underhanded previous attempt to steal the pebble, when he saw Nineva's posture change subtly out of the corner of his eye. Looking to see what had caught her attention (even if it gave Felix the perfect opening to launch a fresh attack) he saw her beautiful two-colour eyes focusing on a soft spot of light hovering off the ground. They were all over the place, he realised, and rolled over onto his front (unceremoniously dumping Felix off him) to better look at them.

By total accident, his eyes drifted to the one nearest to her, and as she spoke, his gaze slipped totally accidentally to her face, seeing those pinpricks of light reflecting off her eyes, and his breath caught.

(This post was last modified: Jul 14, 2016, 09:04 AM by Tomen.)

:C i'm so sorry it took me so long to join this :CCCCC also tomeva SO CUTE
note to self: pups are like 10 weeks or something @Ophelia @Felix

Eagerly the girl had pushed the pebble back to Nineva using both feet and nearly he whole body to aim the stone and push it with the same force that her big sister had with just a simple muzzle twitch. But the ball-stone rolled straight up to Nineva and then straight past her, and Joan's eyebrows furrowed with disappointment—she had been so sure that was a good push—as she turned her attention away from the pebble only to find that there were dancing lights above them. Her mouth fell wide open as the reflected light danced in her fading blue eyes. Apparently these were falling stars. "Wow" the oldest Maceio breathed, her eye wandering around the candle-lit space above her head.

Until her easily-distracted heart caught another movement: Felix flopping to the ground as Tomen rolled over to get a look at the falling stars too. Except after a second it didn't look like he was staring at the stars at all: he was totally staring at Nineva. "Tom! It's rude to stare!" she chirped, her expression rather severe for a pup as she moved as if to protect Nineva from the strange softness of his stare. Rude was a new concept for her, however she used it liberally and with great satisfaction. It felt good to call out the rudeness in the world—especially if it was Ophelia who was doing the rude-ing.

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

Shallow water has trapped several fish in a small pond. Hunt Opportunity

There Joan was, at it again. The pale princess's peridot eyes rolled upwards with annoyance. Why did she have to be such a busy body? Always with her nose in someone else's business. The smallest Maceio trotted forward to nip hard on her sister's tail before snickering and dashing out of reach. Let that be a lesson to her to mind her own!

Ophelia reluctantly allowed her attention to be pulled towards the fireflies above them. Knowing it would garner a great reaction, the pup bounced up and snagged one of the falling star buggies in her mouth. Her lips wrinkled with distaste; falling star juices were not appetizing and she could feel them coating her teeth. "I'ma star eater," she declared proudly, still licking at her teeth and lips to get the glowing residue off.

No doubt this would send Felix into tears and Joan into a fit. Her siblings were rather predictable, Ophelia thought. It seemed no matter what she did, she could always earn a good reaction from them. Her interest in the fireflies fell away as soon as it had appeared and she squared off towards Nineva, bowing down in play as she'd seen the yearlings do before. The pale princess gave a growl that sounded almost as good as Mama's, hoping to impress the yearling as well as entice her into play.

(This post was last modified: Sep 25, 2016, 09:57 PM by Ophelia.)