Pookastone Scowle Poison laced cupcakes

For @Anduin @Vaeda, and @Skoll if he wants to join! Development: The gradual process of weaning begins and they can now follow adults for up to 1 mile from the den. With being allowed to accompany adults, learning continually advances with the aid of social interaction. Vocabulary lists proceed to grow and social or pack norms are picked up on. Estimated human age: 4 years old.

The cubs no longer needed her as much as they once had, and for that, the woman found herself grateful. It wouldn't be long before they were completely weaned, and then they wouldn't need her at all. The thought brought with it a strange feeling, one that she didn't immediately recognize, or care to think about. Instead, she planned on celebrating this new-found freedom with a little trip. Their legs were still too small to make it to the Lagoon, not that she had planned on taking them there anyway. Too much room for error. No, instead she thought to lead them through the maze of stone pillars that made up their forest home. 

Entering the clearing where their rocky den sat, Celandine called out. "Anduin, Vaeda." There she would wait, with her head cocked ever-so slightly to the side, for them to answer. "Come, my darlings."

Vaeda’s life so far had been short and mostly uneventful, which was exactly how she liked it. Aside from some typical sibling rivalry and jealousy the tawny pup was developing exactly on schedule, not a minute faster and not a minute slower. She liked to hear about adventures from her parents but the girl wasn’t so sure that she was ready for one herself yet. Well, not a real one anyways.

That was her thought process as the Archer answered her mother’s call, was that she wasn’t ready for a real adventure. But, one supervised and sanctioned by Mama would be perfectly acceptable. Vaeda wasn’t entirely sure where her brother was - nor did she look to see if he was possibly deeper in the den than her - she was just excited to finally beat him to something. Scrambling out of the den where she had been obediently awaiting a pack members return she beamed, ”Hi Mama.”

Anduin had been napping deep within the den before he heard his mother call, followed by his sister's reply. Scrambling to his feet, he wondered what it was that she'd wanted. He was a little irritated that she'd bothered him while he was asleep, though the young pup already knew better than to disappoint his mama. With a yawn, the boy made his way outside of the den. His sister had obviously beat him to the location, having already answered before he was even fully awake. She was such a goody-two-paws, he'd make sure this never happen again. Not that he cared if he arrived first or not, but boy did he like to irk his sister, almost as much as he hated losing to her actually. "Whu mumma?" The boy asked in sleepy tones.

Celandine's brow rose as Vaeda scrambled out of the den before her brother. She had expected Anduin first, but this was a nice surprise. The woman offered her daughter an amused smile, before her eyes swung to the entrance once more. Surely enough, the boy made his way out too, looking as though he had just woken up. "You can follow me today." She said, before turning, and beckoning them once more with the flick of her tail.

"I'll show you what lies beyond the rocks." Whether they understood every word or not was of no concern. They would someday, and baby-talking them would do nothing for their growing minds. "Someday you'll be able to leave on your own, but for now, we only do this with your father, and I, yes?" The alpha turned to look at her brood, her features far more serious than they had been earlier. Gods forbid her children wander too far, and run into the never-ending stream of coyotes waiting just outside their borders. 

Once they made it closer to the heart of Pookastone, where a collection of large scowle formations littered the Earth, Celandine stopped. "Now stay here, and close your eyes. You can open them again after you've counted to ten. If you find me, I'll have Macha grab you an antler to chew on." It was a silly child's game, sure, but it was as good a way as any to teach them to use their senses. 

In looking for a place to hide, the woman was sure to lay her scent as heavily on the foliage, and formations as possible. Her pawsteps were not muffled either. Their sense of hearing would prove to be just as important in a hunt as their noses. Choosing a large moss-covered rock to settle on, Celandine was careful to flatten herself as much as possible. Now they'd have to use their brains to find her too.

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sorry this took me so long!!

Her Mama offered her a smile when she came out of the den but didn’t say anything. That was okay though, that nice smile was enough of a reward to further cement the classical conditioning happening in her brain. When she was called and answered promptly then nice, pleasant things happened. Vaeda couldn’t help but throw a smug smirk over her shoulder as her sleepy brother dragged himself out of the den, she had finally beat him at something.

Vaeda didn’t need to be prompted by anything other than her mother’s words and she followed obediently along behind her. Eyes wide she watched the world go by around them, all new and pretty overwhelming she might add. Still, they were with their Mama and she had told them to come here so no matter how much she wanted to turn around she knew this was what she was supposed to be doing. It was all very exhausting.

Hm, stop and close your eyes. Well, she supposed that was something she could definitely do but counting was still pretty new to her. Clamping her eyes shut she began to very loudly count, ”One, two” oh what came after that?, ’tree, pour, hive,” This was taking too long, ”Nine, ten.” Close enough. She had been so focused on counting that Vaeda hadn’t heard any of her moms loud footsteps, and her nose wasn’t that accurate either. The pup managed to find her trail and follow it, but unfortunately she walked right by the rock her mother had jumped onto. Then she just kept on walking.

Anduin was just about to retaliate with a growl at his sister's smug smirk, however his brain failed him on reaction time and their mother began speaking before he ever got the chance. The pup listened intently to his mothers words, and for the most part he was picking up what she was throwing down, or at the very least he understood that they'd be going on some sort of an adventure today, the rest was sort of tuned out. Selective hearing.

They wandered off a bit before Celandine began to speak a few ground rules on the apparent game they'd be playing today. It seemed simple enough, find mumma get chew toy. It was actually the perfect opportunity to get revenge on his sister for the.. Appalling display of behavior she'd dare direct directly at him earlier. Obediently, the small boy closed his eyes, though he'd be lying if he said the temptation to peek wasn't almost overwhelming. He listened as his sister counted, and grimaced a bit when she skipped like.. A whole lot of numbers. Was she trying to cheat? No fair!

He followed Vaeda for the first initial part of the game, as she seemed to be on the right track, though stopped once she passed the end of their mother's sent trail. 'Here!' The boy screeched excitedly in thought. But.. Here where? OH!!! Wow momma sure was sneaky! But not sneaky enough!! How'd she do it so fast though?? The boy began digging at the ground in search of his presumably buried mother.

Celandine listened with bated breath as her children counted, and stifled a laugh at Vaeda's apparent skip. They were Archers alright. Once their pawsteps drew close enough, she chanced a glance up. The woman was quick to register Vaeda, but it would seem as though the girl didn't even notice her. Suppressing a sigh, the alpha watched as her daughter ignored the scent trail entirely, and continued on her way. Anduin came just behind his sister, bringing a with him a new wave of hope. Would he pass the test? The thought left almost as quickly as it had come, as her son stopped to tear adamantly into the ground. Maybe if she made some noise? Slapping the rock with her tail, Cela wondered if they'd notice her now.

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Not sure if you guys want to do another round or have Celandine fade out - if so feel free to pp Vaeda as you see fit!

Vaeda was just beginning to doubt that she was going the right way, it had been a few steps since she had smelled her at all when a sound came from behind her. Whipping around her puppy blue eyes searched frantically for her mother. She had to find her before Anduin did! But all she was able to see was her brother trying to dig a hole in the ground. He didn’t really think she was down under there did he? Was that even possible? Vaeda wasn’t sure but she also couldn’t just copy him so she would have to come up with a different plan.

Walking back over to where her brother was digging and somewhat near where that strange slapping sound had come from the girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Then she just started barking her head off as if she had found her prize, ”Oh Mama there you are!” The girl cried with glee, despite having no idea where Mama actually was. Maybe she could trick them into thinking that she did and then she would win. That seemed like a good plan.

Stopping her barking Vaeda looked around pleasantly, tail waving frantically behind her, waiting for Mama to appear and give her her prize.

Despite the slapping noise, Anduin kept digging. He knew the sound had been present, however his little brain was quick to write it off as nothing important when compared to the task of digging for his mother. It wasn't until his sister made the claim of finding her that the boy finally decided to look up. "Huh? Where?" the boy asked, squinting in the direction of which his siblings gaze rested, but he saw nothing. His concentration then went to the location of the slapping noise, and it was then that he could see small bits of the woman peeking ever so slightly out from the moss covered rock. "Oh! Mumma how you get up there?" So Vaeda had managed to find her first after all. The child's pride felt a bit damaged.

It didn't feel like a win, or like she had actually taught them much, but Celandine supposed that this was just how it was. So, suppressing a sigh, she put on a smile. "Good job, my darlings." True to her earlier statement, they would receive their prizes, but first she would place a kiss upon both of their skulls, and lead them back to the den. Perhaps they would be more keen on using their developing senses next time, and just maybe, the woman had a lesson to learn here as well. Not saying that she learned it, of course, but maybe. "Next time we'll try to make it harder, hmm?" Whether that was true or not, it made her feel better to say.

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