Willow Ridge Spread A Little Love

RE: Magpies have overrun the forest! A little mother/children bonding time @Elle @Romanov @Adeltra

Enoki Ashrelle

There was nothing that could wipe the smile from Enoki's scarred snout today it seemed as she laid outside the birthing den to enjoy the few spare rays of the sunshine that filtered through the partly cloudy skies above, comfortably warming the darker sections of her pelt while her attention remained fixated on her children playing not too far off. A serene setting if you excluded the constant calls of the magpies that seemed to infest the willow forest as of late. It was astounding to the first time mother how quickly the trio had already grown. Their first steps and first words a thing of the past now as the words they used to talk now skyrocketed and it was near impossible to keep them all in one place for long. A desire to explore and learn more about the world they have been brought into running at full throttle.

Their growing didn't stop there though. Gradually their mother had noticed the physical changes that were taking place as well. Baby blue eyes were all starting to change little by little into other hues. Except for little Elle who's eyes were only growing brighter in color instead of changing colors altogether. As for their fur, there was a drastic change beginning to change with Roman as white speckles were beginning to form along his eye and a front paw. Fur that was once as black as the night sky lightening to a soft gray first which left Enoki to wonder if he had inherited the unique coloration she sported on her own body. Only time would tell.

A yip from one of the cubs had her ears perking immediately, though, gaze searching out the culprit during their most recent wrestling match.

Word Count: 292

Ashbash 2017 - Sebastian Unrau 

sorry for the long delay,. trying to get back into the swing of things.

The growing cream and russet colored pup had wriggled away from her wrestling siblings, Her tail wagging as she bounced along on the dirt, another yip escaping as she caught sight of her mom’s piebald pelt. “Mom!” she chirped happily as she saw the familiar pelt that she had known since birth, a grin on her small white flecked muzzle as she skidded to a stop, just short of crashing into Enoki’s side, her ears perking and angling toward the trees, she caught the sound of something new. Loud, and it seemed to be coming from everywhere.

{b} “What is it?” she asked, turning her nose toward the thick tree line, scooting closer until her small body pressed up against her mother’s silvery pelt. Unsure what to think of the continuous noise, she scoot further in, maybe trying to burrow under Enoki’s fur. {b} “is...is it safe?” she asked, her brightening gaze turning upward so that she could see Enoki’s face, looking for reassurance at this new oddity, that it wasn’t going to rip their world apart and such. She laid down on the Alpha’s fur, taking a deep breath as she listened, her ears perking and flicking all round.


.

Sure enough, the culprit of the yip had indeed belonged to one of her children as amber irises lowered their gaze to settle on the bounding form of the silver and russet child coming at her full throttle. Mere seconds before little Elle would have crashed into her mother's side the breaks were applied and a soft chuckle fell from Enoki's muzzle, leaning her head down to apply an affectionate lick to the young girls crown that doubled as a cleansing wipe to remove the fine layer of dirt that had settled since their last bath this morning. Shortly after another magpie made an obnoxious squawk from up above, catching the russet child's attention.


Inquisitive, a little coal black nose turned toward the treeline and questioned what that noise was all the while pressing her tiny body closer to that of her mothers until she was practically laying on her side. Another soft chuckle escaped Enoki and after reassuring the pup with a gentle prod to her cheek she began to give the young girl a lesson on the creatures that occasionally called the willow forest home like they did. "They're called magpies. Birds that look like me and like to collect shiny things." Annoying, unlike herself.

As if to provide the child with a visual display to back up her mother's words, a single member of the hoard above glided down to the ground and toyed with a shiny pebble. Tossing and pecking at the tiny object with an inquisitive look of its own while the bluish green iridescence of its black feathers glistened in the sunlight with each slight movement it made. Clearly uncaring of the wolves and their presence. "See, there's one now Elle." Studying the bird for a moment, Enoki's attention then shifted back to that of her daughter and gave a small nod of her head. "Yes, it's safe. They can't hurt you." They could try, but a mother would never let something hurt her precious babies. 

There is a family of deer nearby. Hunt Opportunity

While wrestling with Adeltra and Elle had been fun and all, there was nothing like hearing stories and learning new things from her parents. At first, the young Archer had paid no mind to his silver sister departing from their tumbling ball of puppy fur since he was content to have Adeltra's ears and tail to chew on while they tussled, but once he started to hear mother weave a tale of sorts it was game over. Wrestling was all but forgotten now as he wiggled himself free from beneath the weight of his littermate, his developing mind fully enraptured with this mysterious magpie mother was talking about.

"I listen too!" He exclaimed, shoving his sister a final time before making a bee line for his mother's side just in time to catch her mention how the birds liked to collect things that shined. Excitement and wonder crossed Roman's face as his eyes widened, little rump plopping beside Elle at his mother's side. No way was he going to miss this story! Then, a sudden bit of motion from above caught the boy's attention and if you thought his eyes couldn't get wider boy were you wrong as he watched the magpie glide down from the branches and settle its attention on a shiny object just like Enoki had said. "Magpie!" he shouted. Loud enough to spook the bi-colored bird and make it drop the pebble lodged in its beak.

It's Only Dark.

The small russet pup’s fears settled as Enoki reassured her, she nodded slowly before a soft giggle escaped as her mom poked her with her snout, a grin replaced the frightened grimace as she snuggled a bit closer, her ears perking eagerly at the lession before a confused look crossed her face at the mention of the ‘magpies’ looking like Enoki, the girl had the sudden mental image of a weird little bird body with her mom’s head, squawking and making those strange noises, she gulped, great, now she had new nightmare material to experience the next time she closed her eyes, which, she wasn’t sure when that was gonna be now.

The pup gulped again as Enoki said one was nearby, she didn’t want to look, she didn’t want to see the hideous disproportionate demon that was already haunting her overactive imagination. She turned her head slowly and blinked a she caught the shen of the light dancing across the bird’s feather “Is not you.” she said simply as she realized it had looked more like her mother in regards to her fur, not anything else. Before she could ask another question though, her brother literally burst onto the scene shouting.

Elle jumped a bit at the sudden appearance, falling over Enoki’s side with a soft thump and scrambling to stand, her tail wagging behind her in childlike anger that disappeared as quickly as it had arrived as she huffed when he shouted, she responded with a playful yip and lept at Romanov squeaking “You magpie!”

All the work she had put in to reassure her silver daughter that everything was okay seemed to quickly become undone the moment that grimace transformed into a smile accompanied by a giggle then once more transformed back to its original state when she mentioned one of the very birds she was describing decided to come to ground level. There was no missing that fearful gulp and she watched closely as Elle refused to acknowledge the two toned bird at first, slowly turning her head once the sheen of glistening feathers caught her attention and relief washed over Enoki hearing her daughter claim that the bird was not her which brought a light chuckle forth from the dappled mother. Curiosity overtaking the place of fear.


The king of curiosity belonged to Roman, though, as he suddenly charged in on the scene exclaiming he wanted in on this little story time, his own attention shifting to the live action example and another shout escaping his tiny puppy lungs to say the name of the bird himself. Poor Elle was clearly not expecting such sudden loudness and was sent tumbling over her side in a soft thump which she quickly recovered from, but not before shooting her brother an angry look for spooking her so badly. Yipping, the silver, and russet girl lunged for her brother and Enoki laughed watching the siblings begin round two of wrestling, shaking her head.

"Be careful." The first time mother knew all too well how rough and rowdy her children could get when it came to their wrestling matches. Although less extravagant than the markings that adorned her own fur, Romanov was gradually coming into his own unique markings around his eye and paw. Now the Ridge would have two magpies in their midst.

"You magpie!"

His gaze was ripped away from the birds and onto his sister at her words. "Am not!" The young Archer boy cried before he was met with his sister's form. His mother's warning wasn't heeded very well for he met the ground with a soft thud. With an oof followed by a giggle, he swung out a paling paw in hopes it would meet his silver and russet sister.

Romanov didn't think he was a magpie. The birds made loud sounds and picked up shiny things and flew up in the sky. He kinda liked shiny things and occasionally he made loud sounds but in no other way was he like the birds! Of course, the boy didn't account for how his markings might one day make him closer to a magpie, like his own mother.

The young boy would attempt to escape his sister. He wished to discover more about these birds. The first Magpie certainly hadn't seemed to keen on playing but perhaps a second one would. "Maaaagpie." He whispered softly hoping it might lure one of the ebony and ivory birds closer to him. Maybe they didn't like all the noise and Romanov could kind of understand that. He wasn't particularly fond of when others hollered his name!

It's Only Dark.