Charred Ash Draw back to that boring tokyo

@Arcus ? @Aquaria
A recent heat wave has left the forest drier than usual.
Kind of playing it as if Arcus and Scorp have never formally met just to keep things easy???

Boooooy was it hot.

There was almost nowhere to escape the heat. The shade, which normally was inviting and refreshing, felt only barely more comfortable. Even the den, entrenched in darkness except for when the morning stuck its long rays in through the opening, was filled with stale air and the walls had dried out and become crumbly. Any sort of rough-housing would send showers of dirt clods falling on his head and filling the atmosphere with particles that made him cough for the whole rest of the day. If he swallowed any more dirt he was sure he'd turn into a den himself, collapse right into the ground and make a hole for wolves to lay in.

Therefor today he thought he'd go out in search of something to beat the heat. All the puddles he'd seen weeks before were dried up. No more wet on the ground. Just cracks in smoothed dirt where it used to be squishy and cool. He frowned for a moment, before he remembered there was a creek mother would take them to sometimes (in his very short existence) to drink or wash up. He should go there!

But first he wanted to invite someone. Mother had told them that they had a family member their age who was living on the outskirts of the territory. He knew she was slightly older and that her name was Arcus. He hoped that she liked to play and would come with him to the creek.

Exhausted from the long, hot walk the boy flopped on the ground in front of her den—because who else could live all the way out here? His tongue hung out of his mouth. "AAAAAAAAAAARCUSSSSSSSSSS" he crowed.

Yes that is a-okay by me.

Sometimes, Arcus really enjoyed the summer heat. It made the ground do things and the air look all silly and wavy. Sometimes, well -- it just made her really hot, and when there was no mud to flop in or puddles to splash around, it was decidedly less fun. She was Sahalie's progeny, after all -- she was a thick girl, even at this age, and her coat was dark, apt to suck up heat. Not that she knew it, of course. Archie was equally as likely to seek shade as she was to sit in the sun's harsh rays and complain about it.

She was likely in the middle of such a thing (complaining out loud to no one specifically) when a voice called her name. The girl started. It wasn't Mama or Papa. But instead of being worried or suspicious, she found herself terribly curious. Excited, even! She was on her feet and bounding towards the sound, oblivious of the pack lines or potential danger. It was horribly awkward, her feet too big, her legs too small. If she tripped and stumbled, she pretended it didn't happen, and she found the source shortly. Another puppy!

Her stumpy tail wagged furiously as she trotted right over to greet him, tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth as she panted. "Hi!" Archie chirped, her eyes bright. "'m Arcus!" She had learned how to introduce herself a few days ago -- her poor parents were likely reminded of her name every other moment -- but she got to use it for real this time! And she'd bee practicing for so long!

2 Months: Pups sport a disproportional large head and feet as their skeleton grows towards its adult form. Puppies weigh about 20-30 lbs. (9-14 kg.) and may start to eat small bits of regurgitated meat. At this milestone, they begin to realize differences in their siblings (brothers vs. sisters) and can differentiate adults from children. Most puppies are highly curious and may persistently ask questions in order to understand what they might not know. Their vocabulary might now consist of roughly 200-300 words, including some made-up ones (ie. "mouses," "birdses," "crovens," "breaked," and "hitted.") and combined phrases (ie. "Whassat?" and "I dunno."). Estimated human age: 5 years old.

@Arcus

Scorpius liked nothing better than to be entertained by the antics of others. Slapstick comedy he was especially keen on—likely due to the fact that word play was a bit high-brow for a wolf that barely knew what words were—and the result was great big peels of laughter when he watched double-cousin tripped on just air! Aquaria did this some times, and he—begrudgingly had to admit—did it too, but it was funny seeing someone so big do it. She was a few weeks older and thus a big kid. Like the adults, except Scorpius had never seen a single one of them trip.

However his laughter was snuffed out by a distraction: her name. Scorpius decided her name was weird and she was clumsy, but she was very friendly and he liked her. They would be friends. "Scork!" he retorted, utterly unaware of mispronouncing his own nickname. The voiceless consonants were hard, especially the lip movements. He would get it eventually, in the coming weeks, but for now he was just Scork.

"'S hot," he commented, already making his first small talk. "Hot" he repeated after a second because he could not think of any better way to emphasize that it was very hot. This would be his lead in to the invitation, he decided.

(This post was last modified: Jul 06, 2018, 05:21 PM by Scorpius.)

This was it. This was how poor Aquaria Tainn was going to go. A melty puddle of black puppy goop just like the ones she played in weeks ago that made her fur dirty and clump together if this heat didnt let up. There seemed to be no escaping the heat and to make matters worse? Her little black body of misery seemed to soak up the sun like the flowers soaked up water! It was horrible! Not even the shady retreat of the den helped the poor children keep cool. Any sudden moves or attempts at reclaiming the pup wrestler championship to pass time and oof there came down a dirt clod right on their heads.

Currently, though, Aquaria made due by sprawling herself belly up and tongue out beneath the shady trees, baby blues watching this funny, new upside down version of her world go about its business. Until upside down bro happened to trot on by with that determined; and equally hot, expression that always meant he was up to something and pique her interest. Flopping back onto her belly, the dark coated progeny rose and tailed well behind. It was too hot to bother catching him and running was definitely out of the question.

Stumbling and tripping over paws too large for her body in typical Aqua fashion she eventually did catch up just in time to hear Scorpius introduce himself to some bigger stranger. Not adult bigger but bigger. "Awkwea!" She chimmed in after plopping next to her brother at the mouth of this foreign den, tail wagging behind her. Self introduction was clearly still a work in progress.

Was this that relative their parents talked about? Mama did say it was far and she had walked verrrrrrry faaaaaar. "Who you?" Hopefully they didnt mind introducing themselves again.  

These kids had weird names.

Not that Arcus was really one to judge (just last week, she was variations of Arks, Us, and Arrrrrrkussssss), but that didn't stop her from narrowing her blue eyes for one brief moment, glancing from boy to girl. She felt a little like maybe they were joking...but they didn't have any of those funny looks her parents sometimes go when they were playing one of those games. Those were fun. But Scourp and Awkwea didn't have those silly looks, so she shrugged. Must be their names.

"Scuorp and Awkwa. Squirp? Scoirp? Squirt?"

That sounded more like a real word. That was better. The dark pup hummed and stamped her paws. Names weren't that important, but games were way better! Even if it was hot. They just had to pick a game that wasn't 'Run Around and Bite Papa's Tail'. She hummed for a moment. "'m Acrus!" Her stumpy tail continued to wriggle. "Wanna puddle?"

A puddle sounded perfect right about now. She just needed to find one.

@Scorpius

@Aquaria

His sister's chipper tone exploded in the silence that had fallen between the two new acquaintances and Scorpius groaned audibly. He had wanted a break from his sister, a change of scenery—the landscape of a new face—otherwise—and he thought this was quite obvious—he would have brought her along with him. However, lacking in the finer points of subtlety and creeping she had clearly seen him leave and was oblivious to the fact that no invitation had been passed to her. The boy sent Arcus a quick, pleading look as his sister hit the ground gracelessly beside him.

Arcus had some trouble with their names, but that was fine because they did too. Awkwea was not how mom and dad said it but, the two youngsters could hardly help what the thick tongues could or couldn't do. Notably, Arcus did not seem as bothered by his sisters sudden interruption or the fact that she had to repeat her name, which was a little bit baffling to the boy. Scorpius was left to conclude that she was just polite.

"Big big wet," he said emphatically, throwing his head back the way they came a few times, "There." It was his best way of saying "I can think of something better and bigger than a puddle and its over that way." Like everything else, it would have to do.

Begrudgingly, he looked over at Aquaria, "You come. Maybe." Meaning you can come if that's what you want. Subtext: no one else wanted her to come.

@Arcus Will sneak one more quick Aqua post in after you and @Scorpius to make 3 and serve as her official exit.

This stranger, or Arcus as she would later introduce herself for a second time as, was silly. Aquaria could listen to the older girl try to say their names, especially her brother's, all day. The way facial features scrunched with each new attempt at saying a new variation that was still off from what their parents said so smoothly was gold. Although, she seemed to do a better job than they themselves and it was their names. Maybe later Aqua would do some practicing of her own.

Introducing out of the way, Arcus posed a question that had her little black rump wiggling in excitement. She loved puddles! Puddles were fun and on a day like today would be a good way to escape the blistering heat even if just temporarily. Like a couple minutes temporarily. A puddle couldn't do much for three whole pups unless it was a big one and last the young Tainn knew, all puddles big and small had gone away. Or had they?!

"Big, big wet." Scorpius chimed in and provided a poor source of direction; but what did you expect from pups, by tossing his head back a couple times. Immediately the ebony child was up on all fours in sparked eagerness to find this big big wet and play with the big kids. Unbeknownst her brother wanted nothing to do with his littermate today. Yet.

Before poor Aquaria could grow anymore excited by the prospect of this new adventure with a new friend, Scorpius turned toward her and brought it all to a halt with one unmistakable "Nobody wants you here" look. His words adding salt to the wound. Despite her age, the meaning was not above her.

Swarthy ears once pricked up slowly deflated like a balloon with a leak, her features sagging toward the hot ground with them. Maybe it was the heat making her bro so mean or maybe he was trying to show off for the newbie, but Aquaria wasn't having it. Like a whirlwind her emotions changed on a dime from upset to anger, tiny huffs puffing from her nose while baby blues squinted at her brother then the newcomer but not a single word escaped her lips. She didnt know what to say in that moment honestly. This is was happened for little aqua from time to time. These weird feelings would swirl around inside and despite her best efforts, she just couldn't express herself right and that made the young pup all the more frustrated. At others for not understanding and at herself for not being able to express them so they could understand

A bigger huff passed over her lips now and tiny paws stamped at the ground as she turned herself about and marched back the way she came. Alone. If she wasnt wanted then fine. She'll find someone else that did and have a bigger, better adventure than Scorp. Let the competition begin!