Hearthwood River stop the explanations

Late night, Patchy rain possible, 58 ° F, 15 ° C

LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

He hadn't been sleeping well lately. Laike had put distance between himself and the rest of the pack. He often opted to sleep outside on the roots of one of the large cedar trees. Tonight was no different. He had settled in his normal spot but this time sleep didn't come so easy. Even after what felt like an eternity of tossing and turning he couldn't find comfort. Eventually, he gave up and rose to his paws. His hefty form weaved between the trees as he worked his way towards the borders. He could feel the soft drops of rain falling down in some of the cracks of the canopy of the forest. Perhaps a little rain would do him well.

Without much thought to it he slowly walked around Hearthwood's borders. Nothing smelled out of place and there were no lacking spots. Everything was fine despite him. Laike could only guess so much what might be bothering him. Except the fact that he didn't really feel bothering. He didn't even really feel anything. Sure he could still feel hungry or thirsty, the normal instinctual feelings but other more complex emotions seemed to be a mere buzz in the background. He wondered if he should go see Adelayde again. Surely she would kickstart his heart and mind into feeling something more. She always did.

Laike sighed as he slumped against a tree near the northern borders. What was a fellow to do?

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-slides Risaela in-

She should probably be asleep. She had been asleep, actually, against Matheo's side, when something had stirred her awake. The pup had opened her eyes just in time to see the pale fur of Laike disappear out of the entrance. Instantly very awake, the child had gotten to her paws and trailed after him, utilizing her developing balance and stealth to sneak her way out of the den.

It had been hard to keep track of him in the night, but she had been so closely behind him that she managed to follow her nose. Her stubby tail was raised and wagging hard as she followed in the man's muddy pawprints, paying no attention whatsoever to her surroundings or where the heck they were going. In fact, she didn't look up until she plowed, nosefirst, into a tree that his scent had led her to. A few heartbeats passed with her dazedly looking around to figure out just where she was, but then she caught Laike's scent again and bounced around the tree, overjoyed to find him leaning on it just on the other side.

"W-what doo-in'?" she asked, silvery-blue eyes wide and excited as she pranced up to him, a bit out of breath from the long trek. The young Tainn Baranski gave a few excited wiggles, eager to play or talk or explore or whatever it was that Laike wanted to do. For the pup, life was just really great. She had no complex emotions warring inside of her; no longing for a wolf in Wild Rye Fields. She was just happy to be awake, and out, and she was having fun.

LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

Out of all the wolves and creatures who could have stumbled upon him it had to be the small girl. A heavier sigh left his lips as his fiery gaze looked down to see Risaela standing in front of him. "Risaela," He said a bit sternly but in no way was he trying to frighten the girl. "You should be in bed." Laike was a master of keeping his tone voided of emotions and not wavering his firm tones. The child should not be out here right now and she certainly should not be this far out from the den. He knew the buggers were going to wander but he preferred it if they stuck to their own area. Away from him.

His gaze went back to looking out into the forest. "I'm doing adult things." Also know as he was trying to figure out what was wrong with him right now and wanted to be left alone. Perhaps he paid the child little attention she would get bored and tottle back off to the den. Even if Laike had been in a good mood he wasn't sure he would have been able to entertain her or give her what she wanted. Interacting with small children was not exactly his forte.

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The pale man was quick to chastise Risaela, to which the pup wrinkled her nose in distaste. If he was up, then why couldn't she be? She had no clue how to phrase that question into words, but she did know how to show her displeasure at his little lecture. The pup toddled up to him and reached down to take his tail into her mouth and give it a gentle tug. She'd learned from playtime with Matheo how to bite without hurting anybody, and she used that knowledge to gingerly pull on the plumy appendage. A way for her to try and convey 'if I go back, you go back.'

It didn't take long for something to break her concentration, however. From where her little teeth were fastened in the fur of poor Laike's tail, she spotted something quite peculiar. A very small, very near flash of yellowish light. It dulled as quickly as it came, and Ris dropped the older wolf's tail in pursuit of the odd spectacle.

The light came again, this time right at the puppy's nose. She went crosseyed, her eyes first round and then squinted as the firefly continued to flash before her. "Light!" she enunciated clearly, too transfixed on the little creature in front of her nose to look back at Laike. She wondered, briefly, if he might be able to tell her what on earth this incredible little object was.

LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

Her tugging didn't hurt his tail too much but it was still an annoyance. He gave a hard stern look but it didn't seem to be his looks that made her release his tail. Orange eyes looked to where she was looking. A small flicker of light appeared then disappeared. His ears pressed forward as she exclaimed light. Had she been older he might have scoffed but he simply furrowed his brows. "Yes. Light." He wondered if that would be enough to silence her further but after their little exchange and her biting on his tail he figured it likely wouldn't be.

"It's a Firefly, Risaela." He explained carefully. Laike didn't have much experience with them but he had seen them a few times. The large Artemieva was no stranger as to how some wolves, children and adults, thought them to be some kind of whimsical showing. Perhaps because he wasn't very in touch with his caring side he never saw the whimsicalness about them. Even know with the child obviously interested in it, he couldn't find himself actually caring about them. Both the child and the bug. The child he more or less had an obligation to take care of. That didn't mean he was going to play, care for, and romp about with the small Tainn all day. It was more towards he would do what he could to make sure she was alright and not harmed.

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Though Laike's simple 'Yes. Light,' might not have seemed like much, the approval overjoyed the little Tainn. Enough so that she turned her gaze from the illuminated insect back toward her current babysitter, eyes round and tail waving energetically. "Ee-e-yes!" she stuttered happily, then whirled back around to the bug again. It lit up and floated by her nose again and again, seemingly trying to find a spot on her to land.

'It's a Firefly, Risaela.' Most pups might have tried to repeat the newfound word back to whomever was teaching them, but Risaela was not at all interested in it at the moment. Mentally, she had assigned the word firefly to the insect, but she felt no need to say it out loud. Verbal communication was hard and she wasn't good at it, so instead she chose to study the insect in more detail. "Ooooh," she breathed, holding as still as possible as the lightning bug drifted down to land directly on the tip of her nose.

Ris sucked in a shocked, awed breath, and accidentally sucked the firefly into her mouth. Instantly, her jaws shut on instinct, and she accidentally squished the bug on her tongue. A burst of bitter flooded her mouth and she squeaked, sticking her tongue out and furrowing her brows in irritation. Though she couldn't see it, the entirety of her tongue was glowing from the lightning bug juice.

LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

If she was content to watch the Firefly then he was content to let his mind wander elsewhere. Laike tilted his head back with his muzzle pointing toward the tree tops. Maybe she would tire herself out and all he would have to do would be carry her back to the den. He knew the children were growing practically each day and that soon enough there would likely be little chance of containing them but for now, he could live with knowing if she missed behaved, she was easy to pick up and take to her mother or another sitter. He wasn't some yearling. Babysitting wasn't his task. Laike had a pawful of better things to do.

His head snapped back down as fiery eyes grew wide with her squeak. What the hell had she managed to do just by sitting there? Then he noticed the very faint glow on her tongue that seemed to be dying with each passing second. "You ate it." He sighed with a raised brow. Laike wanted to assume it wasn't intentional but mentioning he hadn't been fully focused there was very much a chance that she had intended to eat the newly found insect.

"Come on." He rose to his paws and motioned with his scarred muzzle. "We'll find you another one." But not really. Laike had every intention to begin walking her back towards the den in a complicated path so he could try to sleep again or continue his moping in solitude.

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She hadn't meant to eat it! She'd only wanted to play with the light - er, the firefly! That was pretty much the opposite of what she'd intended on doing, and her tail drooped around her hocks in dismay. "No..." she whined, ears pressing to her skull, completely and utterly grief-stricken. How could she do such a terrible thing? The light bug had been so nice to her - it hadn't hurt her at all, unlike the mean worm from the other day. She truly hadn't wanted to hurt it.

"B-b-b-b-ad," she scolded herself quietly, too wrapped up in puppy amounts of self-deprecation to see that Laike wanted to take her off. But then he nudged her, and her attention was brought back to the man in front of her again. He seemed to want to take her to find another one, which was awfully sweet, but she wasn't sure it was safe for the little fireflies if she'd already eaten one of them.

Regardless, she got up and padded after him, still droopy and severely disappointed in herself. But then another little light lit up in their path, and then two more after that, and her fragile attention was stolen again. Because those fireflies were so beautiful, and maybe if she was super duper careful she could be around them without eating one again. She really wanted to chase them and see them closer; they looked like the stars in the sky, but right on the ground instead.

She looked up at Laike with a smile, weaving her way between his forepaws to crane her neck and meet his fiery eyes with her silvery. "G-go too?" she asked, tail wagging hopefully. She knew that Laike didn't really like playing or anything like that, but he was out here by himself, and he didn't look all that happy.... Her brows knitted and she tipped her head, forgetting about the luminescent insects for a moment. "Oo s... s-s-ssssad?" the pup slurred, genuinely concerned.

LAIKE ARTEMIEVA

The poor girl seemed devastated by his news of her eating one and he sighed. "It's not bad, Risaela. It's okay. It happens." He explained with a rather firm voice. They were wolves. They could almost eat whatever they wanted including the small bugs that glowed through woods. Maybe they weren't an ideal thing to munch upon but one certainly could.

He was glad that she seemed to focus more on the fireflies around them but that didn't seem to last for too long. Laike halted as she weaved between his legs and he offered a rather annoyed grunt. "I don't know." He said through clenched teeth. "Maybe I'm just a bit too tired. Are you tired too?" The stocky subordinate did his best to ask with a false curiosity that would likely pass as genuine to a child. Laike just wanted to drop her back off the den and go back to laying in the large roots of one of the redwoods. He did not fancy the idea of play babysitter much longer.

The large Artemieva began to stroll again, expecting the child to follow as fireflies seemed to dance here and there on their winding path. If she wasn't tired now than perhaps she would be after he managed to lead her the long way back to the den.

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She was grateful for his firm reassurance that it was all right that she had eaten the light-up bug. However, it did very little to actually help her overcome her tiny puppy feelings of guilt; the only thing that would possibly be able to do that was a full-on distraction. Which, fortunately for the both of them, came in the form of more fireflies and Ris becoming aware of Laike's sullen behavior. Otherwise, she probably could have moped over the devoured insect for the rest of the night.

Unfortunately, the older wolf did not have an answer to her question. He didn't know as much as she didn't know, but he had a guess. Which sounded pretty solid in logic for the pup - of course he would be tired. It was super duper late, so it made so much sense that he'd be sleepy. And that was something she knew how to fix.

It was also something that was currently plaguing the young pup, as well. She wasn't privy to the actual meaning behind his sentence - that sounded enough like he was being genuine to her. The child nodded her head, her jaws parting in a yawn at the very thought of being tired. "S'eepy," she agreed, bumping her head lightly against his leg and turning toward the direction of the den. "G-g-g-g-goooo s'eep, Lllll... eek?" she asked, in an attempt to say his name, hoping that he'd accept her invitation to return to the main den. She knew Inna and Oksana slept away from them all, but Ris liked being surrounded by her packmates.