Oak Tree Bend little miss muffet

RE:Lila, you walk right into a spiderweb. @Sahalie anyone else from the Bend is welcome.

The red rocks that rose up, protecting the west of the Bend, she kept to her left. Paws, not too large for her now, tiptoeing atop the red rocks of the gentle stream. She kept losing her balance, toes long cold now. Still she kept at it, singing softly to herself "Down the stream, one to three." Enjoying the game she had created all by herself. It wasn't hunting, or tracking. She was quick to get frustrated when trying to hone those skills, it was better this wasn't so serious. Maybe, she could challenge @Mako or @Rekio to a contest of it. Who could walk the furthest without falling in.

Dark tail twisted behind her as she placed another foot forward, barely catching herself again. Up ahead there was a low tree branch restricting her route. Challenge accepted. She dipped down, ready to navigate, when a sticky mess of string glued itself to her face. "Arghp!" She squeaked in protest, tripping into the stream, throwing her head side to side. What was this? She attempted to wipe it with a wet paw, but by that time the creepy crawler's legs brushed across her forehead. "Momma!" She bellowed. Aponi was out scouting, likely too far to come to her aide.

(This post was last modified: Oct 17, 2016, 05:07 PM by Lila.)

The quiet, simple song had wafted her way as though it were nectar and she a desperate bee. Flipping over from her back, nose twitching in the air as her ears pricked up, Rue tried to identify the owner of the voice. Young, female... Marina, Treyah or Lila? The sound faded as whichever girl it was carried on her way, but Rue peered out from her hiding place beyond those red rocks, temporarily abandoning her past-time of the moment. Lila, she identified instantly, watching as the young pup strode down the stream, and Rue smiled to herself as she watched. She told herself she'd look until the young Aquila disappeared out of sight and then carry on with her own business of tending to her ever-gnawing boredom.

And it was a good thing she did. Something strange happened to Lila, the girl recoiling and twisting in response to some invisible force and fell straight into the stream. Rue yelped at the sight of it, jumping forward even as the child called out for her mother, and maybe it would have been better to let Aponi deal with it, but Rue was right there, she couldn't just not help.

"Hey hey hey heeeyyy," she crooned, skipping up beside the stream and wading in without hesitation, reaching forward to offer herself as something to grab or push against if Lila felt her balance was too gone. Then she saw it, the webs around the pup's face, coating her delicate whiskers and no doubt feeling very strange indeed. Now everything made sense, and Rue couldn't help it; she laughed. "You're all right, kiddo, let's get you out of there."

thank you! <33 @"Ruenna

Forcefully she flipped her head, careening the spider off her fur and who knows where. The feeling of its odd legs did not reside. She was about to call out again, until a voice reached out. Kind, and soothing. She didn't know the voice well, but caught sight of the brown, and silver of Rue. Blue eyes locked on her. A beacon of home. Yes, she could help. Make sure that stupid thing was off. Far, far away.

But, much as Lila tried to stay still, letting her approach. There was a twitch in her shoulder, and she shuddered. Something amused the older one, and Lila frowned not just with her lips, but with a thin scowl across her eyes. She did not find it funny. She wanted to be clear how scary, and just gross it was. That she wouldn't laugh if it had been her. But, then she realized she still wasn't sure if the spider was on her. Lila would need help for that. "I guess, but is that stuperd off me?" Anger forgotten, with eagerness she tried to meet the pair of warm, brown eyes. "If I gottta dunk my face, I better do it now." She half frowned, head cast to the cold water. Another shudder wracking her shoulders. But, she would do whatever was necessary not to feel that sensation again.

(This post was last modified: Dec 07, 2016, 12:18 AM by Lila.)

<33

Thankfully, her mere presence seemed enough to soothe the poor girl at least somewhat - or it stopped the thrashing and screaming, anyway. Rue bit her tongue at the thoroughly unimpressed look Lila gave her for laughing, the mirth still on her face though the older wolf tried to compose herself, to take this a little more seriously. This was obviously a very serious matter for the kid. Carefully readjusting her expression into something more grave and appropriate for the situation, brows furrowed, lips pursed and ears attentively forward, she listened to Lila's pleas to make sure that the spider was gone. Casting a quick glance over the girl's face and shoulders, Rue couldn't see any small eight-legged beastie, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. Anything Lila was feeling, though, was just as likely to be her mind playing tricks as it was reality... but that was hardly about to comfort her, was it?

"All right, I've got a plan," she said, most sincerely, placing a paw on Lila's shoulder to ensure she had the child's full attention and convey the fact that she was, indeed, taking this most seriously. "You count to three, then you dunk, and you count to three again before coming up. Spiders hate water so much that it'll try to escape and I'll spot it and snatch it off you. Then the spider and webs will all be gone. Deal?"

There was steal look to her gaze. If she didn't help her she would holler in hopes someone else would, and she was sure Aponi wouldn't be happy when she relayed the story. Thankfully, Rue decided to take the matter more seriously and offered concern when Lila did not join in her glee. It was seeing the sincere change that helped her on her way to calm herself instead of feel more traumatized.

Earnestly, she catered her head, blue eyes meeting amber. Hearing her out, believing she was really going to help her. As she had thought in the water she would go. Great. But, there were worse things. More importantly Ruenna assured her, she would definitely get the wiggly thing off of her with the rest of its sticky mess. Toes fidgeted against the rocks. No need to drag it out. "Okay. One...two...three!" She sucked in a breath, and plunged herself down, blowing bubbles from her nostrils. Coldness bit the top of her ears, she began to count again. Then pulled herself from the water, gasping for air. "Is it gone?! Did ya get it?!"

Taking things seriously, while not one of Rue's strong suits, was definitely the right call. The last thing that she needed was for Lila's rather intimidating mother to come and think that Rue was making things worse for her youngest precious daughter. The three were so different, @Aponi, Lila and @Kyna, Rue mused, beginning to amble towards her stored notes on them before remembering that there was something more urgent at hand.

The girl counted to three and took a deep breath, and Rue stepped back to try and give herself a maximum chance of seeing anything but... it was a tiny spider on a fast-moving black wolf splashing in the water! Her odds of spotting anything were not that high. But, again, Lila didn't need to know that, she only needed to believe that everything was okay and the creepy crawly was gone, because Rue thought it likely that the beastie had vanished in her first dunking. So she didn't worry too much about not actually seeing anything.

Still, the theatrics were necessary. As Lila surfaced, Rue jumped forward to lick at a spot just behind the child's ear, and didn't answer the girl's questions immediately: instead, she stepped back and very obviously swallowed, tail wagging in victory as she then opened her jaws and let her tongue hang free to show Lila an empty mouth.

"Caught it! All gone!" The dunking seemed to have gotten rid of most of the webs, too, but Rue closed her mouth and reached forward to kiss the side of the child's snout where she could see a few particularly stubborn webs had clung to her whiskers regardless, wiping the wispy wet strands away. "Feel better?"

Lila jerked her body to a stand still as Rue jumped to the rescue, cleaning a piece on the back of her head. Wide, blue eyes the child watched in horror. Then cringed,and shivered as she gulped the icky spider down her throat. Lila didn't think she could ever be that brave. Sure enough there was nothing on her long pink tongue. There was a look of amazement on her little face. Rapidly her tail waved behind her, and the awful feeling left. She'd be more cautious round tree branches the next time she went to wandering.

Eagerly, she stepped closer, and planted a couple licks to the girl's cream chin in thanks. Once more freezing to a standstill, as she whisked away the last pieces of the spider's web. If she should run into trouble again, she would likely call for Ruenna next time. She had come to her rescue while no one else hadn't even heard.

"A huh," she murmured, her tail unable to stop wagging. "Thanks." She offered a crooked smile, a little embarrassed by her show of fear. It was just a tiny thing, but still so gross to be on her face. Pokey little legs and all.

"I can't believe you ate it!" She declared. "You're praaetty brave Rue!" The girl nudged her with her nose, hoping to have her follow her out of the water. She was ready to be back on dry land. Hoped, maybe she'd walk with her for a bit, she wondered about where she had come from. If there was a place here she liked to go.