White Fir Notch Make the cut

All packmates welcome!

9/16/2016
Weather:
60° F, 16° C
Cloudy
5:50 PM

Almost all creatures made good playmates, at least as far as the young Lieris girl was concerned. This one was quite the grumpy butt though. The girl's mottled frame had spent some time lounging by the edge of the springs and watching the water. She'd just had dinner and there was no better place to relax for a while. The downtime didn't last long though, not when there was so much more to see and do. What finally roused the young wolf from her resting place was the sight of ripples in the glassy water. Something was moving on the bank to her right, something pretty big.

Soft green eyes squinted sharply. Was that a... rock? Her head tilted to the side. Oh! The pup was on her feet in seconds. It was one of those biting turtles! Just as quickly as she had risen, the girl shrank back toward the ground, taking the posture of a stalking mountain cat, and continued to observe its massive body creep slowly ashore. She had seen one before, but this guy was huge; almost her size! Fuzzy black ears stuck straight up out of the grass, alert and attentive to its every move. She wasn't supposed to get too close to these; they were mean, and Mommy and Daddy didn't like her playing with them much either. She would be careful though!

The turtle had just about reached the grass when Aleris decided to stalk closer. The child was hardly stealthy, though she tried. Its beady eyes and pointy head turned to face the approaching animal slowly, and the pup froze. A mischievous smile crossed her maw, and she jumped, pouncing forward and off to the side, well out of reach of whatever danger the creature promised. A long, irritated hiss slithered out from parted jaws, eliciting a burbling giggle from the little girl. She bounced forward again, this time in a quick play-bow. The noise got louder. Aleris retreated to the side and back on dancing paws, slapping the earth and wagging her tail.

He was much too slow to catch her! The eldest Lieris child stuck out her tongue in light of this, and settled her head on the ground between her paws. Its long wrinkly neck reached out, though much too sluggishly to be really threatening. The creature's sharp beak clicked closed a few times in warning, and again it let out a long annoyed hiss. He was even grumpier than @Merys! The dark girl chuffed dismissively. She clamped her own mouth shut and bared her new adult fangs in jest.  "Ssssssssssss," she replied, the noise quickly falling back into a bubbly laugh. Stupid turtle. Maybe he knew she was just goofing around, or maybe he at least hoped so.

Aleris bounded backwards, finally rising to normal height and just watching it for a minute. Again its mouth opened and closed, and an idea struck. A smug smile crept onto the pup's maw. She loped back toward a cluster of trees, and spent a few moments with her nose to the ground. There was something very specific she wanted. When at last the proper stick could be located and snapped off of its branch, she returned, much to the old reptile's dismay. Its head was now tucked close to its enormous body. Maybe it knew how to play tug-of-war? Once more the child settled down onto her haunches and began to push the other end of the long wooden limb closer. If it was so eager to bite something, maybe this would do.  

(This post was last modified: Sep 16, 2016, 07:38 AM by Aleris.)

Ryker was nearby when Aleris found the turtle, almost having fallen into a nap when the hissing of the turtle woke him up. The hairs on his back stood up at the noise, knowing it wasn’t anything good. Opening his eyes, he spotted what he knew to be his sister crawling towards a...rock?

But no, rocks don’t hiss...A memory clicked in his mind, one of his mama telling him to stay away from the water if he heard or saw a biting turtle. And he remembered they hissed so that must be what it was. And of course, his sister was stalking closer to it, to play with it. Typical Aleris, wanting to play with everything she could.

“Ris, stop that!” He tried to sound commanding, like his papa when the pups did something they weren’t meant to. But it came out as just a small squeak, his breathing whistling out of his chest due to his nervousness. Even he could tell it was one of those biting turtles their parents had told them steer clear of due to the noise it made. “Don’ wanna hurt ya’self.” He grumbled in her direction as he scooted closer to her, worry settling heavily in his chest. He truly didn’t want to see Aleris to get hurt but doubted she would listen to him anyway. While lost in his thoughts, Aleris had scampered away for a short time and came back with a prize; a stick! Ryker frowned at it, wondering what she was going to with it.

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

@Ryker c:

His voice was what suddenly clued the girl to her brother's arrival, and she withdrew from her plaything to see him plodding closer. "Don't worryyy," she drawled, much in the same way she responded to her parents when they got all concerned. A grin spread across her short puppy muzzle. "He can't reach me," Aleris asserted, lifting her head confidently and turning back toward the turtle. If he couldn't reach her, he couldn't hurt her. Simple. It was then that she scampered off to get the stick, and just to prove her point, she piped up on return. "Shee?" the girl peeped from between clamped teeth as she scooted the limb toward its pointy face.

"He'sh too shlow!" Her voice rose with enthusiasm as she wiggled the stick around, watching his weird turtle face move to follow it with great laziness. Aleris decided to scoot closer in her little play-bow pose, bringing the offending object closer and closer to its feet. The thing's wrinkly neck curved down, ready to meet its annoying wooden adversary. The dark-colored pup bounced it once with a giggle, and the behemoth struck. His hard, sharp beak clicked down onto the foe, snapping the end of it clean off and causing the youngster to jump back and drop the stick with an amazed chuckle.

"He bit it right off! Did'ja see that?" She blurted, glancing between Ryker and the grumpy reptile with her jaws agape. That was so cool. He was faster at snapping a twig than the adults, and it hadn't been that skinny either. The turtle just stared at them, seemingly unimpressed and probably wondering if this meant he could go back to his business yet.

(This post was last modified: Oct 09, 2016, 07:24 PM by Aleris.)

Carefully watching Aleris as she brought the stick closer and closer to the turtle's face, Ryker stayed huddled a few feet away and simply hoped that it would not reach further than the stick and bite for face off. It honestly did not look too happy about the puppies encroachment.  

Yet, thankfully, Ryker jumped at the loud noise that came with the turtle snapping the stick, the crunch shooting through his ears. That was loud. But as he glanced over to his sister, who was excited about what just happened and blurted out how cool that had been.

"It was kinda cool," He meekly agreed, Her excitement washing over him and causing the boy to feel somewhat excited too. It was pretty cool to see a generally slow moving creature move so fast, as blurry as it was to him. He was just glad his sister did use the stick and was not hurt.  Ryker then peered at the turtle, managing to focus on its somewhat grumpy looking face.

"Do...do ya think it'll come after us?" He stuttered a little, glancing back over to Aleris as worry whirled in his chest. "S'not lookin' very happy."

(This post was last modified: Dec 16, 2016, 06:57 AM by Ryker.)

Eris could see that tiny hint of progress she was making with her brother. Just his little admission to it being “cool” had her grinning even wider. Another short burst of giggles bounced from her throat and then all the attention seemed to return to the animal on the bank. Her exuberance quieted some as it watched them, blinking its tiny eyes at the speed of well... snails really. Then Ryker's nervous voice broke the silence, completely grabbing the girl's attention.

"Mmm... nah." She replied, tipping her head a little as she inspected the giant reptile. "But if he did he couldn't catch us," she added quickly, grinning smugly once more. "Not unless you're really as slow as a stick, which you might be," Aleris teased, her wide smile and quickly wagging tail betraying her intent to mess with him just as she had with the turtle. The Lieris girl laughed again, about ready to drop to a play bow when the big thing started to move. Apparently tired of the kids' antics and no longer sensing danger, it turned its great pointy nose around, slowly stepping its fat shelled body back toward the water. Suddenly aware that her part plaything part playmate was leaving them, Eris shifted tactics.

"Hey!" She called, still smiling as she bounded forward once more. This time though, the creature had had enough. It whirled with a speed not completely unlike that of its bite, stopping the young wolf in her tracks. She was still too far to reach, so instead of striking the turtle threatened its pursuer with a gaping pink maw, and the promise of pain between its sharp beaked jaws. Aleris jerked back, teal eyes wide and startled for just a moment. She immediately glanced at Ryker, unable to contain the nervous chuckle building in her chest. "He really is grumpy," she spoke, sounding breathless.

As soon as the annoying pup had backed off, the turtle began creeping backwards; its freaky little eyes switching between the kids and its mouth still ready. Aleris stuck out her tongue as it went, though unbeknownst to her the snapping turtle wasn't capable of taking offense. The girl eased back into her full height as she watched him slip deeper into the Springs and frowned. She'd wanted to play more.