Drooping Willows up, down & all around

The discovering of 'Parkour Playground'.

Eve's adventure to Pookastone Scowle hadn't been all that far from home. After all, though the Willow Ridge rested closer near the shadows of the mountains to the east, the Drooping Willows themselves came just to the edges of the Lagoon. While @Iseldir had a bit of a scare exploring away from home, Eve's adventure left her wanting more.

Again, she strayed from the Ridge even if she did not leave the willowed forest. This time, she traveled north, closer to the Sacred Grove she had never been to. Thr snow storms yesterday had kept the pups locked up the majority of the day and Eve was excited to see what the new snowfall had made of the world. Leaving a scent trail as she went to allow her family to know where she had gone, Eve went to know more of the forest she called home.

Through a clearer patch in the forestry, she found the most wild, weird looking tree she had ever seen! She barks and howls out with a happy excitement for any near to hear it, her youth in full bloom as she bounds over to the twisted, low-hanging branches of the great tree to explore.

(This post was last modified: May 14, 2023, 11:03 PM by Chan.)

Their adventures beyond the borders of their territory were growing more frequent and seemed to be as varied as the children themselves. Daegal had met interesting wolves, Izzy had experienced a strange flight with an even stranger boy, and Eve...

Eve found this.

Daegal had followed his sister, debating sneaking up on her or catching up to incite play. It seemed his decision was made for him when he heard her excited barks and he rushed forward to see what she found. He paused when he saw the twisting branches, blinking at the odd sight, and then ran forward to join his sister. "Eve!" he shouted, jumping up on one of the branches and running further up it off the ground. "Look! I'm a squirrel!" His tongue lolled out in his joy as scrambled on the rough bark.

He wasn't too sure about leaving behind the Ridge these days, but where Daegal and Nineve went, he would go too without hesitation.

And so today they had followed Eve's lead, and lead them she did, to a sight unlike anything he'd seen before. This was not one of the wispy willows with branches like flowing grass, or even one of the sturdy ancient trees he was more familiar with, but a true sprawling giant with great limbs that bowed down to the ground before arching back up. Ferns adorned the borders of its remarkably path-like branches, practically beckoning the children to climb.

Izzy broke into a wide grin and clambered up to his sister's side as Daegal hopped to a low branch, wagging his tail and yipping excitedly. Ears tipped to hear the declaration, his brother is a squirrel now, and his gaze slides to his sister conspiratorially. "Tag?" he inquires to her, before bunching his legs beneath him and hopping to a neighboring path-branch before slinking along it, searching out the silver squirrel in the branches, tail wagging despite his efforts to prowl.

It was not of any shock to her that her brothers were first to join her. The trio were never too far from one another and more often than not, with only one another's company to intertain them. Though their 'pack' was small, Eve was not an unsocial, loner type of girl.

Daegal sped past her and they barked joyously. She bounded up on one of the lowest hanging branches first, having grown down and long the length of the earth. "Biggest squirrel I've ever seen in my life!" She would laugh at her brother's expense and mouthed at the twin-like brother at her side.

Soon, with a single soft-spoken word, Iseldir was off like a bullet, made to go after his brightly silvered and grey brother and Nineve on Iseldir's tail there after as they began their play.

Daegal bounded up the branch, moving as fast as he dared along the twisted branches. They curved dangerously under his paws, but still he scrambled. It was fun, the danger. The higher we went the better it felt. He wasn't particularly high up, but it was far enough now he'd think twice before jumping down. He slowed for a moment, looking at the ground, until he heard claws on bark and turned to see his siblings chasing after him. There was a mischief in their eyes that lit the spark of play in him and with a yelp he turned and fled.

Closer to the trunk he ran, the branches growing thicker until they met he main tree body and he couldn't proceed further. He wasn't so far from the ground as when he'd stopped, so with a quick glance back at Eve and Izzy, Daegal closed his eyes and jumped. He hit the ground hard enough to shoot pain through his legs but he didn't stop. He sprinted to the next branch he could reach and jumped up, back legs flailing until he got a grip and pulled himself the rest of the way up and started on the twisting journey back toward the outer reaches of the tree.

Going to go ahead & reply since Izzy is inactive atm & don't want this to die!

Daegal moved swiftly, running up the think limb of the tree until he reached its trunk. Eve had thought he was trapped like a mole in a hole, but instead he jumped! Eve was hesitant, because it looked like it hurt and where she was behind Iseldir, she could have turned around and went back down. Instead, she jumps too- because if her brothers could do it, so could she!

She tries to do a bit of jump and roll, though does so sloppy and poorly, causing an 'OOF!' escape her mouth and her side hitting rather roughly. Ow. Scrambling back up and shaking out her coat, she takes a moment to collect herself before once more dashing after her pale brother. He was bigger then her, so maybe, just maybe, she could be faster and snag ahold of his tail.

Daegal heard the rush of air leave his sister as she jumped after him and he paused for a moment, glancing over his shoulder to make sure she was okay. She stumbled and shook herself out, and then was after him again. With a short shout of alarm he resumed his flight, watching his paws more than his sister. He didn't know if she'd made the jump back into the branches, but he couldn't afford to stop again! She was certainly faster than him, even though he felt assured in his footing.

So assured, actually, that he decided to turn and leap to a neighboring branch to try and throw her off his trail! Without thinking about it too much Dae launched himself for the next branch. His front paws made contact - and then his momentum carried him over and he flipped in a summersault and dropped to the ground, landing hard and rolling a few times. He yelped as something in his ankle popped.

She was gaining on him. She could see it. Though Daegal was swift to throw her off his trail, thinking fast and leaping for another aligning branch. Something easily don't perhaps, by a cat, but certainly no wolf pup.

She pauses as she watches the act- him flipping, landing, yelping. Her body crouched and ears fell flat as he hit the ground and Eve grimaced. OH, that looked like it hurt.

Quickly, she scrambled down the limb she was on and to her brother's side, barking out for Iseldir to get over there. "Ya okay, Dae?"

Going to fade and archive this!

With Daegal having twisted up his ankle and tried from their running and jumping around, Eve decided it was best to call it a day and badgering her brothers should they protest. It was a very cool tree! Eve wouldn't forget her time here rough-housing with her brother's.