Post by Nyssa on Dec 11, 2010 8:37:57 GMT -5
Wooded Terrain
Nyssa, Arroyo
It has cooled down a little as the evening wore on but it is not uncomfortable in the slightest. In fact, it is one of the most pleasant evenings Nyssa has experienced in some time. There has been much on her mind these past few weeks, ranging from the most blissful moments to the most extreme moods of panic and worry. Now, though, she is resting under a canopy of new green leaves, her cubs curled up against her chest with her legs tucked protectively around them. The female watches for a time as the stars begin to brighten in the darkening sky, pauses once to close her eyes to feel and scent the breeze that carries with it the freshness of recently sprung grass and flowers, and then her attention falls to her children. She has nothing but pride for them, nothing but warmth. She bathes each, gently and carefully, nosing her son and daughter and sighing softly against their fur.
For all the weight of her destiny, Arroyo has been suspiciously quiet and reserved, showing no real indication to be any source of trouble or unusual signs. It's probably a relief in many a ways. Having been half asleep as twilight fell, the grooming of her mother stirs the pale girl to awareness. Her eyes slowly open, still blue in infancy, blinking the sleepy blur from her vision as she squints up to the looming face above her and squeaks out a yawn of recognition. Even half-asleep she would know her mother anyway, or brother or even father.
Her mother shivers her whiskers in response as her daughter rouses, finding a smile blooming across her muzzle without any urging at all. Nyssa's purr deepens in contentment. "Hello, sleepyhead," she laughs a little, smoothing out Arroyo's belly fluff with a few purposeful strokes and then noses under the girl's chin. "My little Arroyo." It is said with such warmth in her voice one would be hard pressed to know that her father, the Chieftain, is so angered by her supposed fate. "You are already everything you are meant to be."
Arroyo is likely oblivious to her destiny, content in her childhood ignorance and the blissful believe that with her family there is nothing wrong with the world. She plants her paws on her mother's nose and muzzle, a purr rumbling up from her chest as she opens her mouth to clamp her jaws on her mother's whiskers and gives them a playful tug with a quiet, happy growl of play.
Nyssa's ears twitch involuntarily at the sharp twinge from the tug of her whiskers, one that pulls her lips up momentarily but after the surprise is gone she finds herself laughing. She wrinkles her nose and bends to nip at her daughter's tiny belly, echoing the girl's growl with a mixed purr of her own. Nyssa curls one fore paw around her daughter to keep her close in their game.
Arroyo plays like any kitten would despite their size, chewing on whiskers and pushing at the muzzle of her mother with her four soft-padded paws. Soon, though, the nips and huffing against her belly causes the girl to squirm and squeak out in protest and wiggle herself onto her paws. She doesn't hold still, though, turning and bouncing forward in a pounce to fling her paws around the much bigger one of her mother.
Nyssa lifts her head and watches as Arroyo frees herself, her content smile never leaving her muzzle as she watches the girl turn her attention to her paw. She wriggles her toes a few times, lifting and moving her paw to one side, then the other, laughing gently at her daughter's ferocity. "A blooming hunter, already?" she murmurs. "Your father would be proud." And she knows that Kein is despite, well... everything. Nyssa bends a little and noses at Arroyo's side still engaging the game of attack the paw.
Arroyo appears hardly ferocious though, despite her straddling bear-hug over her mother's wriggling toes. Instead of setting on a chewing frenzy, though, she just begins to lick her tiny rough tongue over the short fur of her mother's toes. Yes, this is /her/ mommy, she claims her. She purrs while she's licking, her tiny tail flip-flopping back and forth with it's dark sandy-gold tip.
Her mother watches with a feeling beyond contentment, unable to keep from smiling and on this warm spring evening there is nothing that she would prefer to be doing. She checks briefly on her still slumbering son, her free paw keeping him tucked close and safely by before Nyssa looks back at her daughter and sighs in thought. "Arroyo," she says gently, lowering her head to paw and daughter level, waiting to see if the girl recognizes her name and not just the voice projecting it.
Arroyo has heard the sound that was her name enough times, though it took awhile to put together the sound and the non-coincidence it seems to be heard most often when one of her parents were looking at her. Bit by bit she'd put together the pieces. The sound when they looked at her, touched her, and the most obscure of seeming distance reference - though the last isn't entirely clear, the suspicion is there that they might be speaking of her even if not at her. So it is, as Nyssa says her name with a pointed look on her face, Arroyo tips her head back from her mother's paw and blinks owlishly. What?
What a wonder, a child. If her mother's heart did not already swell at just the sight of her two children, Arroyo's reaction may very nearly have cause it to burst. She reaches forward and touches her nose to her daughter's and nuzzles her fondly, bathing her forehead briefly before saying only, "Little Arroyo..." And what else is there for her to say, so filled with joy?
And the sound again. Clearly it appears related to her, but, what does it really mean? She is too young to fully understand the concept of a Name. Wrinkling her nose, she utters a soft breathy exhale before squeaking, "Rrreew?" Hm. She frowns them, flicking her tongue across her nose as though mulling over something, before she utters with a note of punctuation and effort, "Rrr-eoow."
Nyssa watches her little girl and even more she watches the thoughts behind her eyes begin to form, seeing her mind at work and then hearing the process aloud. If her smile would widen it would. What she does do is nod her head up and down once, meticulous and purposeful in the action. "Arroyo," she purrs smoothly, lifting her free paw and touching her toes to the girl's marked chest, "Aaaa. Rrroooy. Yooo." It feels foolish but she does it anyway, drawing out the more easily articulated vowels.
Well, at least her name comes easy to a child's limited pronunciation skills. The little Chosen watches her mother closely and intently, faintly mimicking the nod with a slow bird-like bob and blinks at the poke to her chest. Okay, she's not quiet sure what that means. She doesn't talk from there. "Aaaa... aaah. Aaaahrrr." This is not easy. "Aahrrooeew. Aahrrow...ro."
Nyssa replies with another encouraging nod, "Mmmhmmm, that's right." Around them another faint hint of scented flowers and grass eddies but the young mother is too intent on her daughter that she does not take the moment to pause and listen for what she'd thought to have lost. Instead, she purrs again, "Aaaa roooo yooo. Arroyo," and finds herself unable to contain a whispered laugh.
Arroyo slips her way off her mother's paw so she can sit on the ground in front of her, that thoughtful expression still on her face. "Aah. Row. O-ooh. Ah'rowrow." Well, the sounds are mostly there, just needs refined. Her sniff and firm blink of her eyes up at her mother banish the thought and seem to replace it with a satisfied expectation. She can sound it. Clearly this sound is of some importance. Now... what is it?
"That, Arroyo, is you." Not that Nyssa expects her to understand that at all but it is a step, a beginning, and one of many more to come that she will welcome. Her mother gently pulls her close with her paw, pressing her face against her daughter's side and purring, returning almost immediately to the task of bathing.
Nyssa, Arroyo
It has cooled down a little as the evening wore on but it is not uncomfortable in the slightest. In fact, it is one of the most pleasant evenings Nyssa has experienced in some time. There has been much on her mind these past few weeks, ranging from the most blissful moments to the most extreme moods of panic and worry. Now, though, she is resting under a canopy of new green leaves, her cubs curled up against her chest with her legs tucked protectively around them. The female watches for a time as the stars begin to brighten in the darkening sky, pauses once to close her eyes to feel and scent the breeze that carries with it the freshness of recently sprung grass and flowers, and then her attention falls to her children. She has nothing but pride for them, nothing but warmth. She bathes each, gently and carefully, nosing her son and daughter and sighing softly against their fur.
For all the weight of her destiny, Arroyo has been suspiciously quiet and reserved, showing no real indication to be any source of trouble or unusual signs. It's probably a relief in many a ways. Having been half asleep as twilight fell, the grooming of her mother stirs the pale girl to awareness. Her eyes slowly open, still blue in infancy, blinking the sleepy blur from her vision as she squints up to the looming face above her and squeaks out a yawn of recognition. Even half-asleep she would know her mother anyway, or brother or even father.
Her mother shivers her whiskers in response as her daughter rouses, finding a smile blooming across her muzzle without any urging at all. Nyssa's purr deepens in contentment. "Hello, sleepyhead," she laughs a little, smoothing out Arroyo's belly fluff with a few purposeful strokes and then noses under the girl's chin. "My little Arroyo." It is said with such warmth in her voice one would be hard pressed to know that her father, the Chieftain, is so angered by her supposed fate. "You are already everything you are meant to be."
Arroyo is likely oblivious to her destiny, content in her childhood ignorance and the blissful believe that with her family there is nothing wrong with the world. She plants her paws on her mother's nose and muzzle, a purr rumbling up from her chest as she opens her mouth to clamp her jaws on her mother's whiskers and gives them a playful tug with a quiet, happy growl of play.
Nyssa's ears twitch involuntarily at the sharp twinge from the tug of her whiskers, one that pulls her lips up momentarily but after the surprise is gone she finds herself laughing. She wrinkles her nose and bends to nip at her daughter's tiny belly, echoing the girl's growl with a mixed purr of her own. Nyssa curls one fore paw around her daughter to keep her close in their game.
Arroyo plays like any kitten would despite their size, chewing on whiskers and pushing at the muzzle of her mother with her four soft-padded paws. Soon, though, the nips and huffing against her belly causes the girl to squirm and squeak out in protest and wiggle herself onto her paws. She doesn't hold still, though, turning and bouncing forward in a pounce to fling her paws around the much bigger one of her mother.
Nyssa lifts her head and watches as Arroyo frees herself, her content smile never leaving her muzzle as she watches the girl turn her attention to her paw. She wriggles her toes a few times, lifting and moving her paw to one side, then the other, laughing gently at her daughter's ferocity. "A blooming hunter, already?" she murmurs. "Your father would be proud." And she knows that Kein is despite, well... everything. Nyssa bends a little and noses at Arroyo's side still engaging the game of attack the paw.
Arroyo appears hardly ferocious though, despite her straddling bear-hug over her mother's wriggling toes. Instead of setting on a chewing frenzy, though, she just begins to lick her tiny rough tongue over the short fur of her mother's toes. Yes, this is /her/ mommy, she claims her. She purrs while she's licking, her tiny tail flip-flopping back and forth with it's dark sandy-gold tip.
Her mother watches with a feeling beyond contentment, unable to keep from smiling and on this warm spring evening there is nothing that she would prefer to be doing. She checks briefly on her still slumbering son, her free paw keeping him tucked close and safely by before Nyssa looks back at her daughter and sighs in thought. "Arroyo," she says gently, lowering her head to paw and daughter level, waiting to see if the girl recognizes her name and not just the voice projecting it.
Arroyo has heard the sound that was her name enough times, though it took awhile to put together the sound and the non-coincidence it seems to be heard most often when one of her parents were looking at her. Bit by bit she'd put together the pieces. The sound when they looked at her, touched her, and the most obscure of seeming distance reference - though the last isn't entirely clear, the suspicion is there that they might be speaking of her even if not at her. So it is, as Nyssa says her name with a pointed look on her face, Arroyo tips her head back from her mother's paw and blinks owlishly. What?
What a wonder, a child. If her mother's heart did not already swell at just the sight of her two children, Arroyo's reaction may very nearly have cause it to burst. She reaches forward and touches her nose to her daughter's and nuzzles her fondly, bathing her forehead briefly before saying only, "Little Arroyo..." And what else is there for her to say, so filled with joy?
And the sound again. Clearly it appears related to her, but, what does it really mean? She is too young to fully understand the concept of a Name. Wrinkling her nose, she utters a soft breathy exhale before squeaking, "Rrreew?" Hm. She frowns them, flicking her tongue across her nose as though mulling over something, before she utters with a note of punctuation and effort, "Rrr-eoow."
Nyssa watches her little girl and even more she watches the thoughts behind her eyes begin to form, seeing her mind at work and then hearing the process aloud. If her smile would widen it would. What she does do is nod her head up and down once, meticulous and purposeful in the action. "Arroyo," she purrs smoothly, lifting her free paw and touching her toes to the girl's marked chest, "Aaaa. Rrroooy. Yooo." It feels foolish but she does it anyway, drawing out the more easily articulated vowels.
Well, at least her name comes easy to a child's limited pronunciation skills. The little Chosen watches her mother closely and intently, faintly mimicking the nod with a slow bird-like bob and blinks at the poke to her chest. Okay, she's not quiet sure what that means. She doesn't talk from there. "Aaaa... aaah. Aaaahrrr." This is not easy. "Aahrrooeew. Aahrrow...ro."
Nyssa replies with another encouraging nod, "Mmmhmmm, that's right." Around them another faint hint of scented flowers and grass eddies but the young mother is too intent on her daughter that she does not take the moment to pause and listen for what she'd thought to have lost. Instead, she purrs again, "Aaaa roooo yooo. Arroyo," and finds herself unable to contain a whispered laugh.
Arroyo slips her way off her mother's paw so she can sit on the ground in front of her, that thoughtful expression still on her face. "Aah. Row. O-ooh. Ah'rowrow." Well, the sounds are mostly there, just needs refined. Her sniff and firm blink of her eyes up at her mother banish the thought and seem to replace it with a satisfied expectation. She can sound it. Clearly this sound is of some importance. Now... what is it?
"That, Arroyo, is you." Not that Nyssa expects her to understand that at all but it is a step, a beginning, and one of many more to come that she will welcome. Her mother gently pulls her close with her paw, pressing her face against her daughter's side and purring, returning almost immediately to the task of bathing.