Hearthwood River here i am

All welcome <3 So hype for Rissy.
@Kisla @Lachesis @Lilya @Lorcan @Inna @Laike @Lekalta @Otter @Mace

Light drizzle
60 ° F, 16 ° C

Risaela was a quiet pup. Even as a tiny, blind creature, she made far less noise than most. She didn't even try to copy sounds or squeak when happy or excited. So when she woke in the early hours of morning that day, it was no surprise that it was silently. Puppy-blue eyes opened to the familiar darkness of the den, where she had been dozing pressed into her mother's tawny pelt. The puppy who was like her but also wasn't her - her sibling - was likely snoozing on their mother's other side. They were both still sleeping.

A bubble of excitement rose in the tiny child's chest - that was good, because she'd been trying to find her way out of the dark for several days now, and had always been stopped by her caretaker or her littermate making noise. But she could get out now, quiet and sneaky-like. The little, silvery-tawny girl extricated herself from her mother's side and teetered over toward where the light was filtering inside the den. It was a big hole - kind of like what it looked like when her mom opened her mouth really wide when she got too sleepy, but with light instead of teeth and a tongue.

It took a few moments for her wobbly legs to carry her over to the den's entrance, and wide blue eyes squeezed shut at the difference in illumination. She wasn't sure exactly what she was looking at - things were blurry when they got too far away - but there was a lot of color that looked close to what was on her fur. She thought she'd heard her mother refer to it as gray, and if so, there was a lot of gray outside. And it smelled a lot different from inside the den; she wasn't sure exactly why. Her nose twitched softly, trying to take it in, and she took a tentative step out into the new world she'd found.

Rissy almost made a surprised sound at the wet that grazed her nose, but it was similar to the baths her mother would give her with her tongue; only cooler to the touch. It certainly wasn't unpleasant, however, and the puppy lacked the common sense to be scared of new situations. So, she bravely toddled her way out of the den, a tiny, delighted gasp escaping her when the light wetness coated her fur. This was great! She couldn't understand why her mom wouldn't want her to go out of the dark, now that she'd come out into the light.

The first thing the puppy did was trip over her own clumsy paws and tumble into a mud puddle, but that did nothing to staunch the child's wonderment and joy. Instead, she just embraced the fall, rolling over and coating her pretty, pale fur in a layer of muck, letting out nearly inaudible laughs of excitement as she played. For the moment, it did not occur to her that anything outside of herself and the adventure of the the light and the wet existed.

Most of Mace's mornings followed the same approximate schedule. He rose early, true to his usual fashion, and spent roughly an hour refreshing scent markings along the western border of the territory. He then made an effort to hunt up some breakfast, which was hit and miss. If he caught anything, as he had this morning, he ate what he needed and took the remainder to one of the whelping dens in the territory. If not, he took from the caches for the same purposes. He would then spend some time refreshing markings on the southern or northern borders before lazing about a little, and would find time in his day to patrol the remainder of the territory when the sun was lower in the sky.

Today was no different. This time, he was headed for the lead female's den with the hind end of a hare gloved in his muzzle. Although he swung by now and again, Mace had yet to meet the woman herself. She was always tending to her pups in the dark of the den, and admittedly, approaching any nearer than was necessary made him feel shy and nervous. He hadn't made an effort to introduce himself to the lady who was likely Maksim's widow. He reasoned that he would find the right time soon enough, or else she would seek him out and admonish him for his laziness.

Either way, it would happen. Today, like all other days, he intended to pass by, drop the hare off in an easily accessible location, and continue on his way. He got as far as dropping the hare off before his ears twisted of their own accord in response to a hushed, breathy squeal. Assuming it was a squirrel or chipmunk, the wolf didn't spend too long looking for the source of the sound. But when he unintentionally spotted it, he froze.

Uhhhhhh, he trailed off as he stared down at what looked like a living mud monster, only it was a very tiny one, and very clearly not a prey animal. Shit, were puppies even allowed to do stuff like that? When Tinley was that small, he was far more protective of her. Mace glanced cautiously around for any sign of Kisla, who was probably even more dangerous and frightening than a grizzly sow in this situation, and when he didn't find her, Mace's brows furrowed and he turned his gaze back to the very muddy Risaela.

No, no, he said awkwardly, lifting a paw and waving it a little as if by some miracle, the pup would understand that, let alone comply with it. You stupid idiot, Mace, he thought. Had it been his own child he would have scooped them up in his jaws and ushered them away, but he was presently torn between a desire to pick her up and get her away from that and a mortal fear for his life if he touched a hair on her head. He was unwilling to feel the alpha female's teeth in his face if he made the wrong move, and at the same time, he hovered close in case she started to do something truly dangerous. Like drowning in mud. That is bad, you are being bad. You... you need to stop that right now. And, because he simply wasn't sure what else to do aside from lifting her out of the puddle, the wolf craned his neck and called out a hesitant, @Kisla? Ah, your kid's gone rogue, what should I do...?

(This post was last modified: Jun 03, 2017, 02:28 PM by Mace.)

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There is a rabbit's nest nearby. +1 Health

LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

Laike had no idea when the children would emerge into the woods. Truthfully, part of him wanted to hide until they were tolerable. He did not like any pregnant woman (more so the pregnant part) and he wasn't fond of small children. If there was anything in the world that could have shaken the strong man it was those things. So when he heard the voice of a male talking about a child he was startled. The thought of merely slipping away was tempting but perhaps he should make sure everything was okay.

The large male offered a gentle woof as he came up behind the dark male. But then he spotted the mucky child. His features shriveled softly. "You shouldn't be doing that.." He voiced softly as orange eyes cautiously stared at the girl. Kisla's daughter? Well then this one was rather important and he shouldn't just waltz off to leave the male with the responsibility.

"What do we do?" He whispered softly to the dark male. The large Artemieva was positive that the mother wouldn't be far but for now, there was a child rolling in a mud puddle giggling. Laike could have just picked the thing up and placed it back in the den but he was positive that 1.) he might get his nose bit and 2.) he didn't want to hold a squirmy muddy child.

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The two most awkward wolves in the pack. Nice.

The mud puppy wasn't aware that there was anything else in the world but the messy stuff she'd found to play in... at least, until there was a shadow cast over her and something started making mouth noises. Curious, but unafraid, the pup tipped her head back, and back, and back, until she had to sit up on her rump with her forepaws off the ground. Her new friend was big, like Kisla, but even more. Plus he was dark like the inside of the den. It was hard to see all the way up to his face, so the girl squinted up at him in confusion. He was talking again, but she didn't know - or particularly care what he was saying. Instead, she dropped unsteadily back onto all fours and teetered over to the new wolf's feet. One mud-coated forepaw reached up unsteadily, but with great determination, to land on one of his own in a sort of greeting.

It wasn't long before there were more new mouth noises, and a new new friend appeared close behind the darker wolf. Only this one was closer to Kisla's color, and he wasn't quite so big. The little pup pulled away from the black wolf's paw and pranced in her own puppy way over to the other man, her paws raising unnecessarily high in her stride. She didn't even bother trying to see all the way up to this giant's face, instead choosing to tip her head back and offer him a bright, toothy grin and a wag of her stubby tail.

As Ris had never experienced anything akin to fear - nor would it be an emotion she'd likely be over-familiar with in the future - she wasted no time in dropping into something like a play bow, wanting to be instant-friends with the two strangers. She had no way of knowing if they were good, or bad, or even in the same pack as her. They were making noises with their mouths at her, talking with words she didn't understand, but that didn't matter, either. She didn't like making the talky sounds, anyway. Wasn't really her thing. But maybe they wanted to play - if so, she would have to show them the mud puddles. They were the best.

With eyes switching between the pup in the mud puddle and the den, Mace slowly crept closer to the pup. He wasn't willing to pick her up and risk Kisla's wrath, but he was willing to stay close in the event she got herself into trouble. There was no sound from the den. He wondered if Kisla was out or just so deeply asleep that she hadn't heard him. He sucked in a breath, preparing to call out to the lead female again, but it died in his throat when he felt the tiniest of weights on his foot.

Mace glanced down to see a teeny tiny paw placed resolutely on top of his, and his face began to melt into a gooey grin. He remembered Tinley at that age. She was much fiercer, far more prone to biting with tiny milk teeth rather than this heartfelt little touch. Without realizing it, the Attaya relaxed his figure and his tail began waving joyously behind him.

He followed the pup's line of sight as she glanced around and pranced away, and his vision landed on Laike. The paler wolf was unfamiliar to him, but didn't smell any different from the rest of the pack or territory, so although Mace's first reaction was to roll his shoulders forward in preparation, he sensed that Laike meant no harm. Indeed, the other seemed just as unsure as he was on what to do. I don't know, he admitted with a wince as the pup slipped into a sloppy play bow. I don't want to piss Kisla off, but... well we can't just leave her out here, right? She's filthy too. How could they return Risaela to her mother like this? They'd both surely be chewed out. Was it better to return a filthy pup, or to avoid touching the pup? Mace really wasn't sure.

He couldn't help the return of his foolish grin as he looked back down to the pup and said, she's so cute though. And before he realized it, he had lowered his chest to the ground as well. He didn't know if he was allowed to play with her, but it felt right to stay on her level either way.

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LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

He really wished he hadn't shown up now. The child seemed to not know personality boundaries and he really shouldn't have been all surprised. It was a child after all. A dirty, muddy, playful child.

The large Artemieva male listened to the large dark male. His company was right and the idea of pissing Kisla off was enough to stir the feelings of nervousness in Laike. Should they return the child clean or herd it back to the den dirty? Obviously, the first one might have been the better option but that involved touching the child. Would the new mother want them to clean off the daughter? Laike didn't mean to be a bit rude but that didn't really seem like his job here.

His orange eyes looked at the large male bowing down to mimic the child's movements. The Artemieva carefully took a step back. "Maybe if you keep her occupied I'll think of some way to get her clean..." She was far too young to dunk into the river so that option was out. What if there was some way to bring the water to her? Maybe if they could find a normal puddle instead of a muddy one she'd simply get in and clean herself. Now he had to figure out where exactly he could find a puddle.

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For a few moments, the giants were making those mouth-noises at each other and weren't paying any attention at all to the young pup. She didn't quite mind it, because there was certainly fun to be had elsewhere, but she did want to be friends and to have them tag along on her explorations. She simply waited, patiently, for them to stop garbling to each other and pay more attention to her.

The second friend wasn't as good as the first, she decided. He was still a friend, but the first one was doing the smiley thing and wagging his tail, and the second one wasn't doing anything to grab her fragile, puppy attention. Just making those weird, mushed up noises and standing there.

Boring.

Puppy blue eyes flicked between the two until her first friend dropped into a play bow that mimicked her own - wrong - one, and she was overwhelmed with the sudden excitement that her friend wanted to play! A soft, awed intake of air was the only sound that escaped her mouth as the dark wolf bent down to her level, and she bounced clumsily over in between his forepaws, wriggling and falling over herself. She tripped and let out the tiniest of chirrups, rolling onto her back to paw at the air, trying to reach the dark muzzle that seemed way out of her reach.

Yeah, Mace agreed hesitantly with a slow nod and a sidelong glance to Laike, I can distract her... I think. Just... hurry! Gods above, has it really been two years since Tin was this small? He was amazed every single day at how quickly time passed him by. He hardly remembered how his daughter was when she was Risaela's age. He reckoned, as he watched the child glance between them with the telltale signs of boredom, that they were much the same. Tinley was perhaps more obedient, but he couldn't fault Risaela for that. She was, what? Two weeks old? Three?

She probably didn't even understand a single word passed between the men.

She did understand how to catch an awkward male subordinate's attention, however. He had only looked away for a second, but when his gaze returned to the soft tawny child, she was right between his limbs. Shit, he inexplicably thought for two seconds before she rolled and began swatting at his muzzle, and from that point on, he couldn't find fault in interacting with her. No doubt he was in for a bite or two from the alpha female if she chanced upon them, but Risaela had him hook, line, and sinker.

Without thinking of the potential consequences for touching the lead woman's child without her permission, Mace began playfully snatching at the cubs tiny paws with his lips, keeping his teeth carefully sheathed all the while.

(This post was last modified: Jun 03, 2017, 02:54 PM by Mace.)

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Laike will be exiting this round but will return in another round or two, depending on how quick yall are <3

LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

Laike was relieved that the dark male had agreed to be the victim of the child's attention. The stocky Artemieva took off without looking over his shoulder. Perhaps had he not been so lawful he would have easily slipped off for the day to leave his packmate to deal with the child. Instead, he truly went off in search of something to help clean the small child. The river was a good bit away but he figured it was his best shot at finding something to clean the child with.

He halted his movement and gave a short call to @Mace that he was heading towards the river. It was better to let the male know what he was doing rather than risk being accused of just disappearing. He did not wait for an answer before he continued to move again. Laike wasn't a very fast man thanks to his bulk but he would do his best to be brisk on his trip. On his way there he would think of some ways to get the water from the river back to the child. He was a man of skill but this was a different kind of skill, one he wasn't too familiar with.

Perhaps he could hold it in his mouth but then didn't that really seem to be a clean thing. Laike sighed heavily. He would figure something out, he always did.

-exit for now-

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