Oak Tree Bend wildcard

For @Sahalie -- Remember that one time I was slower than a can of soup? Yeah...

“Sahalie?”

The pup trotted across the open forest floor, glancing around for her older sister. There were plenty of wolves about – all sorts of different smells seemingly swirled across the gentle, late summer breeze. Curious and interested at the girl was, she simply had not the practice to follow one in particular, or honestly, sort out one from another. The only scent she could recognize without fail was that of her mother; okay, she could probably find Mako, too. Her brother was a stinky boy, after all.

The pup gave soft huff, ears flattening as she bumbled over to the main den and stuck her face instead. It was the middle of the day, and even Marina was not surprised that no one was inside. Still, Sahalie had promised to take her out and show her stuff (if the particular brand of stuff was specified, the young child had already forgotten in her excitement simply because she was getting to hang out with Hal). But how could they go see stuff if she couldn’t find the yearling to begin with?

Tracking back towards the center of the pack territory, the girl slowly came to a halt and lifted her head up. Barks (that sounded much more like puppy yips) echoed through the trees as she tried to summon her sister. “Sahaliiiiiiiiie?”

it is baked potato night so i decided to post here let's share this one 

Sahalie had every intention of keeping her plans with her younger sister, only this rabbit warren had some other ideas. Stuck, as she was, with clumps of dirt packed in around behind her ears, it occurred to the girl now that rabbits might know a thing or two about booby traps. She had not expected the hole to collapse so suddenly with so little force, but maybe she was a bit bigger than she thought she was and the den was poorly constructed. Or booby trapped, she reiterated in her mind, more forcefully, in attempt to make an excuse for this horrible situation she had gotten stuck in. She bellowed down the hole but of course the rabbits would not listen or help her. Sahalie swore five times that she'd never eat another rabbit again but it was of no use.

The only thing she could hope was that her voice was being emitted out of some other back door in this network of tunnels. Unfortunately, she had no idea where that would be or if any of her packmates might wander past this hypothetical hole or her hilariously prone body first. She was not sure if she ought to hope it was the hole.

"Marina," Sahalie called, giving up on bargaining with the rabbits, "Rina!" And then, in a smaller voice, she mumbled to herself, "We interrupt your scheduled play date to bring you a fat girl stuck in a hole. God, maybe @Drift was right...." Maybe she should loose a little weight. Maybe even her neck was fat.

@Sahalie -- What else is slow? Am I an onion now? Do we make a good stew together?

Maybe Sahalie had forgotten about their plans? The pup’s mouth slanted sideways as she considered the possibility – her sister had never done such a thing before, but maybe she was getting old like the other adults? No, that didn’t seem quite right. Plunking her plush bottom on the dirt, the girl sat, determined to wait for the older wolf to appear, even if she had to wait forever.

Marina swallowed. She sure hoped it wouldn’t take that, that would get awful boring.

Thankfully, Hal seemed to hear her silent wishes – in the distance, she could hear her sister’s muffled voice. Was she supposed to find the older wolf? Oh, was it a game? Marina’s tail began to swing wildly from side-to-side as the girl leapt to her feet, bright eyes wide as she tipped her head. There it was again, her name!

“I’m coming!” she crowned in delight, ears swiveling and the second call of her name. Marina set off like a shot, paws thundering across the earth – never did it occur to her that might make it difficult to hear if Sahalie called to her again. Why, she even used her nose, a bit, and once in her sister’s general region, barked again. “Sahalie? Hal? Where are you?”

yes~~~ let's make some stew shall we???

Sahalie's head being jammed into the hole allowed her to produce a megaphone-effect, however, a wolf at the other end of the hole would not have this luxury unless they too brought their mouth close to the hole. As a result, Marina's responses were largely unheard. There were some vague sounds in the tunnel, but Sahalie had a sinking suspicion that the sounds belonged to the residents of the tunnels who were probably a little upset at having their entryway blocked by a cow of a wolf. The girl whined. 

"Marinaaaaaa?" she called again, taking her chances with upsetting any of the remaining rabbits. Besides, she was an Apex Predator™, she had teeth. She could handle a few rabbits. "Marina you'll never believe it. I'm stuck in a hole," quickly the situation was beginning to grow funnier by the minute, and her rueful laughter echoed through the tunnel. "Honestly I'm not sure how to get out." Even if her sister could not hear her, it felt better to keep on talking. She was reminded of her run in with the boy on the mountain, the one who just wanted her to ramble on as he tried to locate her by sound alone. She sort of wished he was here.

Awkwardly, she scrunched her body up to bring one of her hind legs closer to the hole as if to get some leverage. She pushed off, but found her attempt unsuccessful. Her forelegs flapped uselessly above her head. Huffing, the girl tried to at least reach the itch behind her ear with the tips of the nails of her back legs, and in doing so she dislodged a little dirt. "Why, I'll be," she said, surprised by her own accidental resourcefulness. But as she tried to stretch her leg farther she felt the muscles start to stretch and cramp up. "Ow, ow, ow." Sahalie let her hind leg return to a more natural position before giving it another go. She only needed to remove a little soil...

Thankfully, her questioning barks were answered. Marina had no idea her sister couldn’t hear her, was simply babbling to fill up empty space. No, it was her stalwart belief that the older girl had planned all of this out back when she’d told the young Coho they were to meet, that this was a game she’d had in mind all along. The alpha’s daughter gave a happy little yip, her tail still wiggling as she reoriented slightly, following Sahalie’s voice.

Now that she was close, she realized there was a strange echo to the older girl’s voice, but didn’t pay it much heed. Not until she came upon her sister’s exposed rump, that was.

“Hal!” she crowed happily, affectionately bumping the older girl’s flank with her cheek. “Whatcha doin’? Is there somethin’ good in there?” she asked, wishing for all the world she could see inside. Paws thumped against the earth impatiently before the puppy sat, her tail still swishing to and fro as she waited eagerly for the answer. Maybe this was part of the game? Marina couldn’t imagine what that was, exactly, unless maybe the older girl had found something and had dug it up. Or was she hiding? Was it hide and seek? Did she win? Ohh, she liked that idea.

“Hal! Did I win? Did I win the game?”

really short post is really short but surprisingly meets the word count

"Oh!" Sahalie exclaimed, her free half jumping when she heard the muffled declaration of her name squeak behind her and felt something touch her flank. Shouting a bit so she was sure Marina could hear her, she laughed, "Yeah, you won alright! Me...." She paused, her head turning left an right in the dark tunnel, "Not so much..." How long she had been stuck for already, she didn't know, but it sure felt like an eternity. "And now since you won, we get to play a game!" Not the funnest of games, but Sahalie was sure the two girls could find a way to make it fun.

"It's called... GET ME OUT OF HERE." It was hard not to laugh at herself, as she imagined how silly she probably looked from the outside of the hole, butt waving in the wind without a care. "And if you can beat this game, I promise you I'll take you somewhere fun." The girl tried to wiggle her elbows, attempting to twist or move at all to free herself. No avail. "But this game's pretty simply. I need you to dig around this hole and make it bigger. So I can uh.... get out. I'm stuck, ye see."

Sahalie’s voice was still muffled by the tunnel walls, echoing and distorted by the walls of the tunnel. Thankfully, no one had ever accused the Tainn of being quiet, and inching closer, the pup could still hear her sister fairly clearly. Admittedly, she was still expecting the older wolf to pop her head out up until the yearling announced their newest ‘game’.

Ears pricked forward, and Marina pressed her head against the ground without a thought of how she looked, either. What a pair the two made. Two dark wolves, rear end up and tail wiggling around in the breeze like a flag.

But once the older girl made clear the ‘rules’ of the little adventure, Marina gave a soft bark, nodding her head vigorously despite the other wolf’s inability to see her. Stepping around her sister’s body, the child went to work digging, big, fat paws striking at the dirt and pulling up thick chunks as she went. “Did you chase something?” she asked as she worked, unbearably curious about why Sahalie was in the predicament she’d found herself in. “Did you fall? Oh, are you hurt?” Surely the older girl would have said something, right?

“Okay, what about now? Can you get out now?”

"Rabb--ugh!" Sahalie had opened her mouth to respond to all the questions but instead ended up chocked by a wad of loose dirt as the child's paws worked the ground. Noisy and disgruntled, the girl hocked the dirty loogie down the tunnel in the rabbit's direction and decided to keep her mouth closed until she was properly out. Marina's paws made quick work of the caved in tunnel and soon Sahalie felt the pressure on her neck from the packed in dirt begin to lessen. Pretty soon she was wiggling her head about and then—if only there could be a pop!, but instead there was only a yelp of surprise—the dark yearling's head burst from the ground and the force nearly rolled her into a backwards somersault.

Wagging her tail and shaking off the excess dirt from her shoulders and neck, Sahalie looked over at her little sister. Her tongue lolled from her mouth, "Wow! You got me out right quick! Thank you!" But now that Marina had "beaten" the game Sahalie was sort of at a loss for where to take her. Almost anything was fun to Marina, but Sahalie hadn't had any place in mind when she had volunteered the prize for the game and now she was stuck buying for time, trying to come up with something.

"Yeah, I was chasing rabbits until suddenly one of 'em ran in here and I couldn't put the breaks on fast enough," The hole had been torn open so wide it almost seemed impossible that she had been stuck in here. The dark girl laughed and shook her head. "Dunno when I would have gotten out. I was ready to swear off rabbits for the rest of my life."

Nope, no ideas. Plan B: ask Marina. "Now, is there anywhere you've been wanting to go? Hmmm? I can show you anything you'd like!"

(This post was last modified: Dec 16, 2016, 05:08 PM by Sahalie.)

In a delightfully dirty display, Sahalie burst free from the rabbit warren and showered them both with a hail of earthy debris. The young Coho beamed at her older sister, entire body wiggling with the force of her wagging tail. She’d done it! She’d beaten the game – but more importantly, she’d gotten Hal free from her predicament, and all without injuring her sister in the slightest. Puttering forward, the young seal’s pink tongue flashed out, licking beneath the Tainn’s chin a few times before she drew back, eyes growing wide as she took in her sister’s offer.

She got to pick!?

They could go anywhere in the entire world!

It seemed to take an extra moment or two for the possibilities to process in Marina’s mind, the look of abject wonder unobscured as she gazed beyond the vista available to them. After a moment, she ducked her head, bumping Sahalie’s shoulder with her snout. “I wanna go further down the river. Mama takes us to fish sometimes, but we never go that far. Can we see where it goes? At least, maybe, a little bit?”

Even just a little further would sate her curiosity (for today). Marina settled her big, buttercup eyes upon her sister and smiled.

Please, please, please.

"Welllllll," the girl considered, a smile on her face as she leaned away, staring off in the direction of the river, "I don't knowwwww," Spieden usually didn't like the kids going so far down the river that had nearly killed them as children, which was pretty understandable. Sahalie was not as good a swimmer as her former caretaker, but the girl was sure that if something bad happened that she'd be able to fish Marina out alright. There was no glaring warning signs in her mind that it was only recently she that had needed the cub's help to get out of a hole. Everything would be fine.

"I do know where it leads, though," her head whipped back and she beamed, "And I really think you would like it." Already she was on her feet, shaking the last clods of dirt from her dark coat and trotting in the direction of the river. "It leads up to this place called Three Sisters, you see. There are three water falls and they're named after my cousins, who were all sisters. They were the children of Corinna, the woman who founded Oak Tree Bend many seasons ago." It felt good to be sharing this history. "There's the big one, Kisla, and the middle one, Aiyana..."


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