Secret Woodlands come little children

RE: Secret Woodlands, a gopher snake has made its home in your natal den.
Tagging the people who said they'd try to throw people in but naturally all of SW welcome!
@Flair @Miccah @Belladonna @Ash

The chocolate pup curiously worked his way through the familiar expanse of territory that belonged to Secret Woodlands, to his parents and his family… there was a deep breathe along with a soft smile forming on his maw, nose crinkling slightly as he started to approach a familiar patch of land near where the natal den had been when he was smaller… he was still quite small, didn’t quite stack up next to giants like his father… but he’d get there. Cináed poked his head around, a light shake of his head when he heard it. “Hey, whose there?” He called out stubbornly, eyes narrowed at the sound of the hissing.

He bet it was Flair! She was always trying to sneak around and surprise them so she could get the upper hand in a spar… and by them she meant him… Enia liked to avoid the conflict, and truthfully Cináed did too for the most part… not that he’d ever turn down a challenge. “Flair, is that you?” He called out accusingly when he heard the hissing continue… until he saw it, his eyes widening as he took a few steps back, watching the brown, black, and yellow snake start to uncurl itself, hissing as it started to stand up tall while slithering along the ground.

He didn’t put much distance between them before he was snarling, like he did in play fights though it didn’t have that fun overtone to it. He didn’t know what it was, but it certainly wasn’t a wolf, and if it wasn’t a wolf, it didn’t belong in that den. It was a trespasser… how proud would his parents be if he could scare it off?!?!

(This post was last modified: Aug 21, 2016, 01:56 PM by Cinaed.)

"Duck?" she sang, airy and calm, having mistaken the movement of the nearby child for that of her son. Now that the Athesila puppies were rapidly growing, it would not be long at all until their stature rivalled those of the more average members of the Woodlands - for wolves like their father must surely have taken a while longer to grow to such a size - whereas the larger of the children were slowly starting to reach their mother's height. At the same time, it would not be long before Cinaed, in particular, outgrew Duckweed - a fact she knew he was aware of but was utterly reluctant to discuss or acknowledge. This was his first time around young children without being one himself, and she hoped that, on the whole, it was a liberating and enlightening experience, the knowledge that not all young were as cruel as he had endured. She knew he was fond of them, demanding and time-consuming or not. They were a good source of innocence and healing after his terrible ordeal, something she would never forgive herself for letting happen.

To mistake Cinaed for Duck was a silly thing of course, size aside, for their pelts were utterly contrary, and it was an error she quickly realised. Features softening as she pushed forward through the foliage to greet the sweet young man, Bella was stopped dead by the sight of the boy with his teeth bared at the den - and as her eyes flashed towards the dark, unused entrance, she saw the coiling shape and inhaled sharply.

"Cinaed!" she breathed, jolting forwards as if already bitten, not aware that the snake was entirely nonvenomous and only posturing; all Bella saw was a flash of snake puffing up and making all the right movements to be mistaken for a rattlesnake or viper. Neither of those things were acceptable playthings for a child. She might recognise it for what it was after close examination, but her instincts did not leap towards the scholarly, only the motherly. "Don't - don't go near it, come away please."

A lynx has left behind the remains of a deer. +5 Health