Sanguine Cove Life ain't all black and white

RE: Magpies have overrun the forest! AW to anyone in SC! Special shoutout to the other pups!

Diantha was learning a lot of things about the world every time she ventured beyond the den entrance. She liked playing with her siblings and playing with mother, but sometimes she wanted to explore by herself, when it was quieter. Not that she didn't love her siblings, because of course she does. Sometimes they were just so loud.

The young pup made her way carefully from the den mouth, watching out for her mother but not feeling particularly rebellious for wandering off. It wasn't as though she would be going far.

There was a strange, grating noise from above. Di stopped and looked up, nose scrunching in puzzlement. She didn't particularly like that sound. It came again, and this time blue eyes focused on a strange white-and-black bird in the lower branches of one of the trees. It regarded her for a long moment before making the noise again. Di shrieked back at it, trying to mimic the noise the best she could.

<3 <3 <3

The dark shadowy pup was getting better and better at slipping away unnoticed. His sisters' constant bickering was the perfect cover for his escape, and the eldest Eastfall-Slayer child took full advantage. Usually he didnt go very far, staying within earshot of his family. Which wasn't difficult with @Magg's and @Monatalia's constant screeches. Or at least what the youngin' would consider screeches.

This fateful day however he wandered off until his fluffy dark ears were no longer assaulted. Only the tranquil sounds of the forests reached him now. Matos walked slowly through the brush, puppy blue eyes marveling at the trees above. With his gaze sky bound the pup missed the root sticking up in his path. His small ebony frame was sent flying down the small slope, coming to a stop at the base of a tree. His ears rang from the collision, but quickly turned into a strange shriek. Regaining his composure, Matos shook his head, did he roll all the way back home?

The sound reached him once more causing him to search the trees. A black and white bird was perched on the lower branched facing away from him. His dark head tilted in confusion as a similar, but more wolfish, repeat of the sound rang out. What was that?? The eldest Eastfall-Slayer triplet let out his own sound, though keeping it to a bark rather than try to mimic what he just heard.

Movement woke the little blackbird from her sleep. She blinked her eyes to get the sleep out of them. The blurriness went away just in time to see her sister slipping out of the den. Feyre couldn't let this slid if course. How could Di be going out with out her to explore, well that just wouldn't do. She was quickly on her paws ready to go after her sister.

Exiting the den she wasn't careful she just burst out and went running after her sister. She didn't much care if she was caught doing what their mother had explicitly told them not to do. She wanted to find out what Di was upto. She ran following the smell that was her sisters until Diantha came into view.

That wasn't the only thing that had her attention, there was this strange sound and then Di made a strange sound. After her sister's there was a bark but the little blackbird couldn't tell where the bark had come from. Feyre ran up to her sister and nudged her cheek, "Di okay?" She asked her sister worried that something might be wrong with her. At the same time she was looking for the source of the bark.

It would seem her attempt to get away on her own was thwarted. First she heard the crashing - to her ears, anyway - of twigs and leaves, and then her screech was met with a bark and her sister was poking her cheek and asking if she was okay. Di shook herself and offered a reassuring nudge pointing with her nose up at the bird. "Bir," she said, before turning to look for the source of the other bark. She was sure if another sibling had followed her they wouldn't just shout and then hide.

Di padded towards where she thought the sound had come from. "Hi!" she barked, even though she still didn't see the source.

Remaining on the other side of the tree from his undiscovered agemates, Matos' attention remained on the bird perched on the branch far above his head. A small voice was heard nearby, followed by another bark calling out "Hi!". Large puppy ears flopped as the young boy tilted his head in confusion. Did other creatures sound and speak like they did? The shiny black beak of the magpie opened as it added its voice to chorus once more, being followed by the countless other magpies that perched hidden in the trees. Nope - birds do not sound like they do.

Having his own metaphorical feathers ruffled Matos began barking back at the flock, placing his large paws on the trunk of the tree. His stocky back limbs hopped about as he tried his best to reach the bird. Having been so focused on the magpie the Eastfall-Slayer boy didnt realize he jumped halfway around the trunk and into view of the girls. The bird had his full undivided attention, but not for long as surely the Vuesian pups would make themselves known shortly. But if they didnt, Matos would be none the wiser.

Feyre's attention was fully on her sister worried that there might be something wrong. Would she have to go amd get their mother to make things better. At her touch Di informed her about the bird. Orange eyes looked up into the trees where there wasn't just one bird many black and white birds. She sat back a moment wondering when they'd gotten there but it also occurred to her that there were far too many.

Her attention was taken from that when her sister barked a 'hi' into the forest. Well that was interesting until more barks came from the area behind the tree they were looking at. They didn't have long to wait to find out the source of the noise. It was another pup, she wasn't sure she knew his name and if she did she really didn't remember. "Hey," she called out. He was going to make the birds mad at them.

The birds were kicking up quite the ruckus - over what, Di didn't know, nor was she likely to find out - but they were quickly fading to the back of her mind. Her attention now was on the other voice she heard, and soon another dark pup was bouncing into view, hopping on two legs around a tree as he barked up at the birds. She didn't recognize him - he wasn't her brother, that was for sure, but he was small like them and had a similar smell to mama and papa so he must be related somehow.

"Hi!" she shouted again, though for a different reason than her sister's call. Di wasn't worried about the birds. She wanted to meet this strange new friend. "Hi hi! 'M Di!"

The dark boy nearly missed the "hey" followed by many hi's from his unknown agemates behind him. A single dark ear flicked back before his puppy blue gaze followed. There were two girls, who looked like his sisters, but he was sure he had snuck away. How could they have found him? Why did they smell different? And surely one of them would've pounced on him instead of greeting him...quickly the Eastfall-Slayer boy determined these girls were not his sisters.

"Hi!" He excitedly barked back as his conclusion was confirmed when the tawny girl offered her name. Matos hadn't known any other pups besides his littermates so to encounter not one but two others was exciting! "I's Maa-tos" The words felt strange on his tongue as he struggled to say his name. He had heard it plenty of times, but hadn't ever needed to say it himself. His inky muzzle wrinkled at the sound that came out...that was not how the bigs said his name. But his struggle was quickly forgotten as his attention shifted back to his newfound friends. A wide smile adorned his face while his tail wagged happily behind his frame.

Fey stayed close to her sister as they watched the other pup hop around the tree. He sure was barking up a storm leaving her thankful that the birds didn't seem to care too much or they'd all be in trouble. Di seemed very enthusiastic about meeting their age mates and Feyre had to admit that it was pretty exciting. She bumped her sisters shoulder though after she said hi for like the tenth time. The little blackbird thought the boy must have gotten the point by now.

What she could say was that he seemed just as excited as them to be meeting one another. After he introduced himself Fey took it up in herself to step away from her sister. "I'm Fey," she gestured to herself with her nose, "That Di," she went ahead and introduced her sister too. "Wanna be friends?" She asked because why not. He should know what that means, right? She looked back at Di a questioning look in her eyes. What did she think about all of this?

Note for self: Di is 6 weeks old here

Diantha ignored her sister's bump, instead focusing on the boy as he slowly said his name. Di repeated it back. "Maaaaay-toes," she said, then was quickly distracted by Fey introducing them again. She nodded emphatically with the question, looking hopefully back at the boy that looked like her sister but wasn't. "Friends," Di repeated.

The birds overhead were still screaming, but the game of screaming back at them was forgotten. Finding someone new was so much more exciting that yelling at some stupid birds! Birds yelled all the time and they could play that game whenever they wanted. Di couldn't wait to go back and tell Galen about this - he would be so jealous!