Sanguine Cove I Laugh in the Face of Danger

You couldn’t tell just by looking at him, but the little lion-pup was bursting with excitement! The world was a magnificent place, full of things for him to explore with his newly awakened senses. And now that their mother wasn’t so vigilant about keeping the pups in the den, Leo took every opportunity to go out.   Today, he’d headed in the direction the adults usually came from, the shrubbery full of their mingled scents. He enjoyed following scents, trying to differentiate them from one another, but it was hard when they were all mixed together like this, one on top of the other, on top of the other… The best he could do was just ’pack’ a mingling of a hundred separate notes, but all of them filling him with a warm sense of familiarity.   So enthralled was he with what his nose told him, that he forgot to pay attention to his other senses – a frequent problem for the curious pup. And so, he didn’t notice at first, when the ground started sloping and the shrubbery thinned. Only when he was suddenly out in the open, did the new rush of sensation bring his attention to the landscape before him.   Leo stood, stunned, sizable paws absently kneading at the pebbles which had replaced the soft forest floor. Although his vision was still a bit blurry when it came to distance, the little wolf could tell that what lay before him was a grand sight, the rippling surface stretching towards the horizon, shimmering brilliant blue under the sun. His nose told him it was water, but he had never imagined there could be so much of it in the world. All he could do was stare in awe. ”Speech" Thoughts

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(This post was last modified: Jun 25, 2021, 12:28 AM by Leo.)

Today was the furthest she had gone since her first excursion outside the den, and she was overflowing with excitement as she scrambled through the pushes. She could smell the familiar scents of her packmates on the foliage around her, but she couldn’t tell if they were fresh or not (a skill that Kateri had not yet developed). She moved as quickly as she was capable of (her over-sized paws did not make it easy) in fear that she would get caught, or stopped, by one of her parents or by one of the older packmates. Which meant there was a lot of stumbling, a few face plants that were quickly brushed off, and a pawful of scrapes from the bushes that lined her path.

She did not realize, until the ground shifted from soft, forest soil to small pebbles, that she had been accidentally following someone. Kateri halted to a stop, pebbles skidding beneath her paws as she slouched into a clumsy sit. At first she was nervous when she spotted the tawny figure before her, but once she realized that it was roughly the same size of her a relieved sigh tumbled off her tongue. It was Leo, one of her half-siblings. It appeared that he had made a break for it, too.

She uncoiled herself from the uneven ground and padded forward, her rump swaying behind her as her tail wagged with excitement. She slid up next to him, her shoulder bumping against his, before her denim gaze followed his own.

Ooh!

Was that… was that water?! But why was there so much?!

Wassit? She asked in awe, her right forepaw raised slightly as she hesitated to take another step forward.

Chan had been sleeping near to the triplets when Leo wandered off. Waking up to only two tussling pups rather than three, he frowned and promptly stood, first nosing the den to check for the missing child's scent. Nope.

"Hey @Aquene, Leo wandered off," he spoke into the darkness, voice calm because after all, this was just something growing pups did, "I'll go grab him."

With that he was off, easily finding the youthful scent and following it without trouble. Somewhere along the way, Kateri apparently joined in, and it wasn't long before he saw them on the shoreline. Chan smiled, glad to have found them unharmed and still together. He tipped back his head and sent out a howl, letting everyone home know; everything's okay. Then he walked across the pebbled beach, to the water's very edge and sat. His mismatched gaze watched the children without expectation; he was simply there to make sure they didn't drown or fall prey to an eagle.

He was mesmerized! The brilliant blue shimmered endlessly, holding his attention so fully that he didn’t even notice the other pup’s arrival. Leo was entirely in his own world, until she brushed against him, and he jolted violently, all of his hairs standing on end with fright. Wide eyes turned on Kateri, just as she looked out at the lake, his little ears flattening back for a moment before they rose again, as he recognized his older sister.   “Kati,” He mumbled, quickly washing the startled expression from his features, as his own tail began to wag. At her question, Leo looked back out over the vast blueness, shaking his head in dismay as he had to admit: “Dunno.” He hated that, not knowing and having to acknowledge as much. So, with great determination, he rose on his stubby legs, wobbling only a little as he started to walk down the slope to investigate.   Having her there made him extra brave, eager to cover up his initial startle, and perhaps to show off a little bit too. He shuffled down to the water’s edge, carefully lowering his muzzle to sniff at the surface. It did smell just like water, and up close, it looked like the puddles he’d seen before. Very cautiously, the curious pup lowered his nose towards the surface, only, right as his nose touched, he lost his balance a little, resulting in his entire face plunging into the icy water.   He would have shrieked at the cold and wet, only when he opened his mouth, it filled with liquid, and all he could do was sputter, as he leaned back, managing to free himself from the freezing depths. Still spitting water, Leo scrambled backwards, not intending on stopping until he was well away from the shore. ”Speech" Thoughts

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(This post was last modified: Jul 02, 2021, 11:36 PM by Leo.)