Charred Ash Draw Stop, drop and roll

At 1 month old, puppies fully enter their "toddler" stage. They are able to recognize and respond to their names and will, from this point onward, continue to expand their vocabulary. || She's ready to meet and mingle!

The buzzing and humming just beyond the white light had finally sent the curious child over the edge. Since the day her oversized ears could hear, little Aqua could hear the day to day commotion outside become more and more clear and with it came the bubbling urge to discover what it was all about. Today, she would finally brave the scary light that ate her parents and spat them back up repeatedly, keeping her at bay thus far in her short, short life. Maybe even her littermate would want to embark on this adventurous mile marker? Nah. This was going to be her day.

Oversized paws waddled clumsily in a brave fashion toward the beam of light that filtered in through the den's entrance, a deep breath steeling her small body for the unknown ahead as her tail stood flagged at her rump. She could do this. She could do… Suddenly both eyes closed and Aquaria's head turned away as a paw was outstretched toward the light, surely expecting something to go chomp and gnaw off the itty bitty limb. Oh. OH! A single baby blue eye popped open to look at her extended leg then the other opened, her face manifesting a look of pure puppy exhilaration. Nothing went chomp chomp! She still had all five of her toes! She had five right?

A fresh wave of excitement washed over the ebony child and with this new excitement she surged forward at full speed, not quite realizing the paw to body ratio she acquired. Two steps in and the little girl went tumbling forward with an array of oofs and grunts falling from her lips, tripping over those oversized paws and landing face first in the dirt just outside her natal abode. Eyes blinking in bewilderment at what just occurred and from the sudden flood of light.

Garmir was resting near the den site, laying respectable distance away from the entrence and waiting for either Treyah or Draven to show up. He had been scouting outside the pack territory, mostly tracking coyotes and movement of large prey and he was waiting to share latest details. Nothing important really - nothing that justified him poking his nose in and waking up the puppies.

Normally Garmir was keenly aware of his surroundings but this time he was tired enough to fall asleep by himself and not notice Aquaria peek out of the den. He normally slept during day anyways unless he was needed somewhere. He dreamed.

He was standing somewhere familiar - a place he'd often come in his dreams, a place that would have been defining moment in his life, somewhere, sometime in past had everything gone according to plan. He'd been built for it, this singular purpose that later would make him who he was. He was aware someone stood beside him. He did not have to look to know. She was there like she always was. He was to protect her. He failed.

You have left your flank open. Turn your ear before they bite you.

No-one there.

See for yourself.

Garmir jolted awake, taught reflex pulling him out of his sleep as he noticed something was moving nearby. It took a moment for his senses to tune back in and initially he noticed nothing as he had been expecting adult wolf. Then he saw her. His heart sunk and breath ceased. Garmir stared wide eyed the young Tainn that had chosen to adventure outside the Den. She was.. magnificent, a walking miracle. Garmir was so much afraid to move as to not frighten her. Had she wentured out alone? Should he stop her? Let her adventure? He simply laid there petrified, starting to breath only when he begin to feel thumping feeling rise in his chest due to lack of oxygen.

"Aquaria..." -he whispered, his face holding a expression of pure wonder as he managed to finally utter something.

(This post was last modified: Jul 04, 2018, 12:34 AM by Garmir.)

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@Garmir

Developing ears flicked at the tantalizing sound of her name being spoken so softly, breaking the silence and rising the young child's curiosity. This was not the voice of her parents. Those she knew well by now and this didnt match one bit although she did recognize her name. That she had gotten good at!

Squinty eyes tried their best to see through the blinding light and find the mystery caller, but to no avail. It was just too bright out here for her little eyes to see much other than brightness. "Dere?" Aquaria squeaked out. Her variation of asking who's there granted her lack of vocabulary so far in her young life. Was it the dirt talking? Did dirt talk? Curious to solve that theory a single paw lifted and her head tilted to the side, oversized ears flopping with it while baby blue eyes studied the ground. At least the ground wasn't too shiny and made her eyes hurt.

"Lo? Dere?" She squeaked again, brows furrowing in puzzlement as to why the ground didnt respond. "Lo!" She shouted at the ground, patting her paw fiercely against the dirt repetitively. Maybe she had to wake it like she did @Scorpius when she wanted to play!

@Aquaria

Garmir watched the young pup seemingly trying to pick dialogue with the ground itself. It took a moment for him to realized she might have not seen him at all. Knowing next to nothing of pups, least of all remembering his own time as one, the earthen male felt worried. What if she was born with disability? What if her eye sight was impaired? Garmir dared not to even think of such.

Garmir's bewilderment was slowly fading, giving him more room to think little more clearly. She was a miracle to him, but even for high born - least as for the moment, she was so very little and so very vulnurable. Garmir did not dare to approach her, it was not his place, but he was curious as to see what she might think of him. Perhaps it was good she saw him early for he imagined training her plenty in the future - were her protective dad going to let him. If Garmir's plan for future was to succeed, he had to least be able to whisper one of the pup's ear every now and then.

"Hello." -He replied to her while holding his muzzle against the ground as to make his sound come from the ground level. If she thought he was underground or something, Garmir could play along. He could reveal himself to her later - for now it was more important she got used to his voice.

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Well, it seemed that did the trick! Only a few puppy swats later and there was that voice again! Aqua's head tilted in fascination as she listened to the voice speak, baby blues wide and glistening in this new found experience. Dirt talked! Who knew! But why didn't the dirt from inside the den talk before? Maybe it was just shy. Yep, that was it. Aquaria concurred that was exactly why dirt didnt talk before and not because, pfft, dirt totally wasn't suppose to talk.

But the voice sounded so quiet and it was kinda hard to hear. So, being the smartest pup ever, the swarthy child decided to flop onto her belly and press her ear to the ground in order to hear better. It was while in this new position that her eyes caught sight of the big (her term for adults) laying on the ground. Bewilderment was plastered on her tiny face in record timing once she realized that this big was not her mama or dad, immediately lifting herself up and changing position to face the new big with her tail wagging a million miles an hour. All thoughts of the talking dirt momentarily forgotten. Oh the wonderful goldfish mind of a kid.

Curious to see this big up close, the little pup marched right up to Garmir and paused before him, eyes wider than ever seeing all the various Knicks and scars that covered his body. It was this same curiosity that had a paw outstretched to boop one of these scars on his muzzle, gaze meeting his. "Dat?" She asked, neither afraid of the unknown big nor the strange marks he had. He may not be mama or dad, but he smelt like them so that had to mean he was okay.

@Aquaria

Garmir straightened up a little as the pup saw him. Terrifyingly enough the little one begin to wobble towards him, apparantly without fear or concern. Now Garmir was afraid, this obvious from how his body tensed as Aquaria approached him. He thought about standing up and scooting away, but opted on a last moment to stay put and simply let the pup do whatever she wanted to do. Garmir already saw this little innocent being miles above him in status. She was literally a princess and he was but a lowly servant purposed to serve and support her in every step of her life - perhaps some day even all the way to the leadership of this pack.

Dat? The pup asked while pawing his muzzle. Garmir turned his head slightly to the side, closing his eye closer to her. A nervous smile appeared on his face. He did not know what she meant, but for the sake of... keeping up very short worded conversation he replied as gently as he could voice it. "Yes... dat."

Garmir flopped onto his side as to be on her level and pose himself as small as he could be. His tail was waving nervously and the pack scout felt thruly helpless. Please, Treyah, Draven, anyone... save him. He was not supposed to play with those whom were better than him, but he could not tell the pup to go away either - because she was Treyah's daughter.

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Despite believing she had expressed her curiosity well enough, it was made awfully obvious the poor child was not understood. His equally short answer that in essense only mirrored the initial question would not do for the pup. Didn't he know what she meant? Weren't bigs all knowing? This first taste of a verbal impasse stirred a foreign feeling in the child that caused her lungs to exhale a heavy huff for someone as small as she was, cheeks inflating as a result.

Flopping back on her rump, the swarthy girl pondered what she could do to get this big to understand her. Eyes watching the man before her adjust as well to lay on the ground until he basically became one with the dirt. Was he trying to say it was nap time? No! She wanted to know about the marks! Maybe a different word would get her a different reaction. Lifting both paws and coming down to land square on the odd shaped one on his forehead, she asked once more, head lodged between her legs to meet her expectant blues with his one open poison green. "Dat. Hurt?" That should do the trick.

@Aquaria

Garmir was dying. Murdered by Aquaria's innocence (and cuteness no less) with the little one persisting with her quest to know what were the strange marks littering the big one's body. He understood what she asked now, being more direct and persistant with her few choice words. Seeing those blue eyes piercing into Garmir's own green ones almost compelled him to obey, but what could he tell her? How could she understand violence or that sometimes someone might want to inflict harm upon others?

"Yes... big hurt. Worse than bed time." -He replied, trying to emulate sentences that might make better sense to her and her young mind. Perhaps it was better she knew as soon as possible that there were dangers in the world, but he did not want to frighten her with his words or make her meek. If she was to some day assume leadership of this pack, Garmir needed her brave but cautious.

"Another adult bite, like this." -He explaind and then reached his jaws towards her, opening his maw in front of her face and so.. very very gently giving her nip, retracting right away. "Bite hard.. and it hurt!" Perhaps.. this was first lesson he could teach her, concept of friend and foe - one of many to come surely, once she would age.

Teacher demostration 1/3 (maybe?)

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Finally a break through! Sure it took a couple frustrating tries to get her point across, but came it did at last and the learning process in regards to how cruel the world could truly be began in this crucial encounter with Garmir. The first part of this lesson was that these things on his body; bites she would come to know them as, were very scary and according to her teacher were worse than bed time. At this those baby blues widened in a child's version of saying no way without actually using such words since, well, she actually didn't know those words yet. Except no. No she knew very well thanks to her parents.

Then the big man explained these bites further by granting Aqua with a reenactment of how the process was done after teaching her that it took another big to make the marks. The swarthy child momentarily had her train of thoughts brought to a screeching halt as she was suddenly faced with wide jaws all up in her face. He was going to eat her! But she didn't even taste good! Dark lids quickly squinted shut to await her journey into the bigs tummy, but it never came. Instead all she felt was the most gentle of nips. Still, it was enough to make her yip in surprise before resettling her gaze on Garmir.

It took a moment for Aquaria to realize what was happening and the meaning behind the sudden nip, but after a few fleeting moments it all slipped into place for the young girl. The nip didn't hurt, but it was still an action that set in stone that she didn’t like being nipped. Nope, nuh-uh, not one bit. OH! So that was how he got those strange marks. But why did other bigs want to bite another? Were they just trying to play and wrestle like she did with her brother? "Mean." She firmly stated, lowering her head between her paws again to adorn one of the many marks across his face with a tender lick of her tongue. This big was not mean though. She liked this one. He taught her interesting things.

@Aquaria

Garmir again flopped down as soon as she begin licking him, now even turning onto his back and looking at her sideways. He was novice at best when it came to play, but he tried very least. "You are right, Aquaria. Very mean" -He replied to her with a voice much lighter than what usually came out of his maw. A kind of bad imitation of puppy voice, perhaps first attempt from him ever. He wasn't sure if he should talk to her this way or just keep his normal, rough voice. Since they were exploring concept of violence, Garmir wanted to teach her early difference between family and stranger.

"Remember to be careful of adults that dont have smell of your mom or dad in them. Some of them are mean like that." -He begin, looking into her deep blue eyes with his own poison green. He offered her one of his paws, very gently patting her head with it to see if it might provoke her to nip on it.

Teacher Demostration 2/3?

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