Fool's Gold Chasm saucy pans and cheeky woks

RE: Marrah, take shelter! A sudden thunderstorm is about to roll your way.
All welcome, late morning, A few clouds, 26C/78F turned to sudden thunderstorms. Marrah is approximately 8 weeks old

All that remains is the faces and the names

Marrah’s confidence had been squashed more than once by the weather, and as such had taken to hanging out only at the den. If Mama persisted she would follow and go, but even that was taking more and more negotiation these days. Her siblings were not haunted by the same hangups she had noticed, but even their confidence could not quell her phobia.

Today would do nothing but solidify those worries. Marrah had been laying pleasantly in the shade nearby their whelping den, which the children had almost outgrown. It was too hot for the sun, for sure but the girl was making her own game. She had found a stray nugget of fool’s gold near the den, rocky on one side and glimmering on the other. It was a lot of fun to bat it with her paw as hard as she could and see if it landed rock or gold up, everytime it was gold she got a point. There were no other players so really she was guaranteed to win.

The weather, as always, had other plans for Marrah, there would be no games this morning. What had been a perfectly pleasant morning suddenly morphed into dark clouds and booming thunder, complete with sheets of rain. The girl squealed in fear and threw herself back into the cub den, sobbing hysterically in fear. How come this always happened to her?

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

It had taken him a bit of time to wiggle back out of his brain after the scary storm. But eventually it twisted around. Because he would come outside to see the sun, or clouds, or maybe even a bit of drizzle, but no twirling sky or cold wet rocks falling from it. No wind threatening to pull him into the sky. He almost started to wish it would happen again as he got bigger. The wind certainly couldn't hurt him now! Or hurt his ears or his eyes. He wanted to see the sky like that again and learn more.

But it hadn't happened, so he explored as far as he was allowed. Aweho had even taken up collecting things. Pretty rocks, a weird looking twig. A leaf snatched from the sky. Those were the good trophies. They made a little pile outside of their den. He had wandered off to find the new item of the day when the sky got weird again. Weird like when it rained but worse. The clouds were dark and looked so soft. Even though they were filled with a great amount of wet.

This development excited him and he stared up in the sky until the great clear droplets began to paddle down onto him. In a rush of giggles, he bounced around in the rain and then decided to run home, maybe see if his siblings wished to play with him. Even before he got there, he could hear Marrah crying.

"Marrah...ok?" Aweho approached, sopping wet because he wasn't so good at shaking off yet. He didn't go into the den because it would be kind of cramped and he didn't want to get his sister wet.

All that remains is the faces and the names

Marrah was so upset that between her loud sobbing and the shaking thunder booms she didn’t hear the approach of her brother. Tears streamed down and matted against her fur, leaving a salty taste in her mouth and her vision was blurry at best. She didn’t realize that Aweho was with her until his voice drifted down into the den. Sniffling pathetically at his question she whimpered out a simple, ”Nooo,” of course she wasn’t okay! Nobody cried this much if they were okay.

A couple of drops dripped off of her brother and landed on her snout, which only further heightened her hysterics. Gasping as if she had been burned, Marrah recoiled as far as she could into the back of the almost too small den. How was he just standing out there dripping in the pouring rain, and ignoring the thunder and lightning? Suddenly realizing how much danger he was in, Marrah put on her bravest face and leapt forward, trying to get a mouthful of her brother’s fur and drag him inside of the den.

”ts’notsafe.” she forced out through clenched teeth, she had to save Aweho from the storm.

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Marrah yelled at him! Aweho's ears flipped back in nervous offense. He was just trying to be a good strong brother, which was something he was slowly beginning to realize he was actually not very good at. He liked collecting sticks and flowers, and got nervous when adults looked at him funny. And he didn't like being yelled at most of all! A shaky little child, though he grew confident in his own way as the days and weeks passed.

"Jus boomy." Aweho tried to assure her, but it didn't seem to matter as she reached for him with her teeth. He didn't stop her, but made a reach for a nice stick in his pile before he was dragged into the den. And once there, he felt he had to continue to keep his distance in the tiny space. He really didn't want to drip on her. The stick was an offering, though. It was a simple length of spindly wood with bark missing in patches to reveal the soft pale brown wood beneath. Tiny nobbles popped from it where smaller twigs had snapped off.

"Gift!" To make up for the storm.

All that remains is the faces and the names

Her brother was surely just trying to comfort Marrah, and meant her absolutely no harm with his comments. But the child was still floored to hear that the storm was ‘just boomy’. It only steeled her resolve that she needed to save Aweho, he didn’t even know how much danger he was in by being outside the den! Thankfully, he came down easily as she tugged at his pelt, and didn’t put up any fuss before he settled down on the opposite side of the den. Or, what would have been the opposite side of the den had the children not grown so large.

A few drips from his pelt splashed across Marrah’s dark paws, and she watched the drops roll off her toes with wide eyes. The stick suddenly appearing in her concentrated vision caused the girl to startle. She had not even noticed that it had been Aweho’s jaws, she had been focused on getting him into the den.

He was out in the danger all for a stick!? How stupid. Looking up towards her brother demandingly she barked out, ”Why?” Who would want a stick so badly if they might get swept away by the big woosh.

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Why?

Aweho felt the itch to shake, the water on his pelt soaking him and chilling him. But it was not quite something he had mastery of and so kind of wobbled on his feet before he dropped the stick on the ground. Why. That had been her question. "Pretty." He nosed it towards her as he sat down on his damp rear end. He dropped a wide puppy paw upon it and worried at the grey-brown bark with his teeth to expose more of the soft brown beneath.

"Look! Pretty! Try." Surely she'd understand. Look how cool it was. You chewed on it and it changed colors! Outside, there was a dim flash and then a boom a second after. Aweho shocked up, his pelt fluffing into a dark rainclow and he swung his puppy-blue eyes towards the hole. It was so quiet in the den, usually. The huge sound wasn't something he expected to hear in the safe space.

(This post was last modified: Sep 19, 2021, 09:05 PM by Aweho.)

All that remains is the faces and the names

Aweho’s weird would be shake wobble might not have been the most successful maneuver, but it was enough to get some water from his pelt. Unfortunately, there was not much room in the den now that they were growing bigger, which meant when the water flew from his fur, it landed on Marrah’s. Attempting to save herself, the girl did her best to press up against the soft dirt wall, but there was only so much she could do. None of that mattered, she still wanted to know why.

The look of disbelief on her muzzle at her brother’s reason would have been comical to any onlookers. ”Pretty!?” It was a stick. Sticks were not what she would call pretty, especially when the territory’s mighty chasm was filled with sparkly gold rocks. Although she did not think it was pretty, she did find it cool how chewing it changed colours.

Pulling the stick closer with her paws, her head tilted left and right as she examined the soft wood beneath the bark closely. She had taken the branch into her mouth and had given it a few hearty chews of her own and was surveying her work when the thunder boomed again. Her brother jumped and in her panic, Marrah threw the stick across the den, close to the entrance. Pressing against Aweho’s side, ignoring the way he dripped on her, she looked at him worriedly, ”Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Was he going to be mad she had thrown the stick near the danger?

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Marrah was being weird. But he wanted to understand. She didn't like storms or water or think his stick was pretty? She seemed kind of angry and it made him nervous because it also seemed aimed at him and Aweho really didn't like having anyone being angry in his vicinity. It made the air feel more electric than the thunderstorm.

The stick seemed a help though? Even though she didn't think it was pretty she still took it and chewed on it. It made him feel a little better. That was until the thunder shook them both and his startle terrified her. He watched the stick arch across the den landing in the damp dirt at the mouth of it. And then Marrah shoved herself against him. He whined a little and leaned into her, licked at her face for a moment.

"'s ok," He reassured her once he was done with his soothing comforting licks. "No more scared. I c'n help." He licked her more, his tail wagging.

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I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

The girl has been concerned that her brother would be angry with her when the stick went flying. He certainly would have every right to be upset, he had been out in the danger to get it and now she had put it almost all the way back in the storm again. So when he gave her some reassuring licks she was shocked, and relieved, but mostly shocked.

Pressing herself against her brother’s wet flank more firmly she murmured, ”How can help?” It is not like he could make the booms go away, or make the rain go back up into the sky. And she certainly didn't want him to go out looking for another stick or something else to appease her. So she repeated again, but with less panic in her voice, ”How?” She couldn’t see what he could do.

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