Post by Ahiga on Jan 5, 2008 20:09:46 GMT -5
Characters: Miakoda (Lazuli Beta), Echo (Lazuli Pup)
Setting: Underground Den/Outside of the Den
Plot: Fun on a rainy day!
Midafternoon is, perhaps, once the most lazy times of day for wolves and the Lazuli are no exception. Both the alphas are snuggled up at the back of the den, surrounded by their latest litter, also asleep. The weather outside the den is warm, but the sky is a dull gray. The only sound that comes from outside is silence, broken by the occasional pattering of rain on fallen leaves from the previous fall. The white pup is hovering out the mouth of the cavern's opening, plunked on his haunches with all his attention focused on the world beyond the threshold. His tail slowly sways behind him, every so often ticking out of rhythm with the rain, and his ears are alert and forward. Echo's bright blue eyes are intent on something, and at one point his muzzle drops open in silent wolfish laughter at something he heard or saw. A brief glance back to the others confirms that they're all still in the land of dreams. The boy stands, tail swaying, lifting his head to sniff at the scent of new, wet earth.
Like the other wolves, Miakoda is asleep. Who needs to be up at this time of day? This is unofficial nap time! And the beta is enjoying a dream with twitching toes, lulled by the sound of the pattering rain outside. But there's something missing... Thorne's absence isn't it, as she's grown accustomed to the white wolf's lack of presence. He's a busy beta. But there's something, or someone else missing. Stirred awake by that thought, Mia slowly begins to yawn, and her toes spread as she stretches out. Eyes are blearily pried open afterwards, and after a flick of an ear she looks towards her belly. One pup. Two pups... "Echo?" murmured groggily as she looks from side to side in search of her silent son. Ah-ha! Spying him near the den's mouth, she settles down and watches him both fondly and curiously. "What are you laughing at, buddy?" she asks, reading his body language like a pro.
The gentle stirring behind him causes Echo's ears to tilt back to listen, but until his name is mentioned, his attention doesn't waver from the rain. Initially, he turns to look over his shoulder at his mother and his smile shines brightly and beams lovingly. His tail picks up its pace, and at her question the boy glances back to the outside world, laughing again, and sticking his muzzle out beyond the den confines, getting splooshed by a particularly large drop of water. Surprised, he sits back and shakes his head, snuffling the water away before turning back and padding happily toward Miakoda and nuzzling her enthusiastically. Plunking himself down again, the boy points his nose again to the entrance, fascinated by the rain.
She has the most adorable child in the world, Miakoda's sure of it. Watching Echo is always a treat, and she can't help but giggle at his antics with the raindrops. "Uhoh," she gasps theatrically as his muzzle's splattered with rain, and as he approaches her she lowers her head down to return the nuzzle affectionately, eyes half closing. "You like the rain, huh?" asked as his attention is again stolen away by the outside world. "Rain makes you wet. Wet. Wet." Said slowly and deliberately to him. "What does rain do to you? It makes you wet. Wet." Maybe "wet" will be his first word. A mother has to hope, and though his utter silence is at times troubling, it doesn't seem to be affecting her bond with him. A thoughtful look crosses her face as she looks from him, to the entrance, then back at him. "You're a big boy now, Echo. Do you want to be wet? Do you want to feel the rain outside?" Rain? Outside? With /mud/ and a white cub? This is a recipe for disaster and a lot cleanup!
The boy's ears turn and focus on his mother, his face intent and listening. At first he nods, slowly realizing what she might mean, but the repetition of the single word which he's fairly certain he now understands causes the boy's face to grow a little sour, 'Yes, momma. I heard you the first time.' However, Echo's face brightens instantly when Miakoda mentions venturing outside and he leaves her side with a bound back to the entrance, excited and anxious to emerge into the outside world. He's curious, but at least he's obedient, for now. When it's apparent that mother isn't coming with any sort of haste, Echo whirls around and pleads with a bow and a tilt of his head, then turns back to the rain and takes a hesitant step forward.. waiting. C'monc'moncmon! Outside! Mud, however, is a wholly new concept.
Miakoda laughs at Echo's apparent eagerness to venture outdoors, and she soon rises to her feet and gives another stretch. "I'm coming, I'm coming.." she says within a yawn that has her ears folding back languidly. "The word for today is patience. You have to wait for adults. We're slower than you pups sometimes, and good little boys and good little girls don't rush their elders," she says as she sloooowly makes her way towards the entrance, walking as if each paw weighed something near a hundred pounds. But as she nears him, she suddenly grins and bounds forward to dash past him and outside. "Come on, slowpoke! What are you waiting for?"
Playing the waiting game isn't very much fun, Echo decides, and at one point he issues a breathy kind of sigh that suggests he's getting terribly bored waiting for mother to hurry up. His tail even stopped wagging for a moment and stayed motionless at his feet. Poor darling. When Miakoda rushes past, however, his ears perk and the boy is suddenly alert, grinning at mother's clever joke before he rushes out into the rain to catch her. His lanky awkwardness, however, is a slight stumbling point particularly in wet grass, and his first few steps outside in the rain cause him to trip and fall, sliding to a halt with his hind-end ungraceful stuck up into the air. Echo looks a little more surprised than anything as he shakes the moisture from his pelt only to realize that it's still coming from the sky. The pup glances up, then blinks and sneezes as the water finds its way into his eyes and nose, and he attempts to sit back in order to orient himself again. That, however, goes awry as the grass is wet here, too! Echo jumps up and whirls around to glare at the grass that gave him a rather cold jolt, before a particularly large droplet from a tree lands on one of his ears and, tired of the water picking on him, he begins to bite and snap at the droplets around him. RWAR!
Squoosh, squash! Miakoda's paws squish the soggy grass and earth below as she bounds outside, slipping only slightly on a particularly mushy area of ground but recovering quickly. Ah, rain! With summer just around the corner, she's happy for this little cool down, but she doesn't stop to enjoy the scenery and weather for too long and soon swirls around to search for Echo. And there he is .. the poor little guy! Ears perk up as she watches him fight with the offending droplets of rain, and with a humored look she trots back towards him, tail waving. "You musn't bite it! If you pick a fight with the rain, you'll always lose. There's only one of you and a lot of rain! Make friends. Play. Watch.." She backs up a few steps, ears pressed back, then stands a few moments, allowing the rain to soak into her fur a little. One...two...three! Shakeshakeshake! Hundreds of droplets seemingly burst from her shaggy pelt.
Echo listens, but when Miakoda turns around he gives the offending droplets one last little snapsnap before his tongue drops from his open muzzle and he laughs again, eyes squinting to help them stay clear of all the water. He follows after his mother obediently, stopping only a few paces away, giving the wolfess a rather quizzical look before he gets completely SOAKED by a second downpour of rain! His grin doesn't disappear this time, though, instead it broadens as he bounds forward to tackle one of Mia's forelegs, giving a good shake and sharing some of the water BACK! MWAHA! Done, Echo glances up and wrinkles his nose, clearly amused, before he turns and scampers a few playful paces away, purposefully throwing himself onto his belly and sliding along the slick grass. When his momentum has finished carrying him, the pup rolls to his back and squirms in his silent laughter, sneezing happily.
"Hahaha!" Miakoda laughs as he's drenched, and she lifts her head triumphantly while her tail sways energetically behind her. "Aww, who did that to my poor little Echo? It wasn't me.." she assures with an overly innocent expression on her face. But ack! She's being attacked! As her foreleg is pounced on, she dramatically falls back onto her haunches and eeps! "You're soaking me!" said theatrically in response to his shake, and she squints her eyes closed as if being drowned by waves of water. "My own son!" She's laughing though, which may help to show that she is joking. Soggy ears lift as he backs away and slides upon the grass, and her muzzle opens in a broad grin. "You silly pup, you've made a new game! Is it liiike...this?" She backs up a few paces, then leaps forward to slide on the grass too, but instead of ending up on her belly, she lands on her side with flailing paws, sliding further than himself, and landing in a gooey splotch of mud. Squelch!
The boy pup continues to laugh silently at his mother, but when she goes whizzing by Echo sits up in the wet grass and watches with great interest, glad that he was able to drag mother out of bed and outside into the wet rain! He sneezes happily again before he starts belly crawling Miakoda's way, getting his snow white fur horribly dirty but not caring in the slightest. He is, after all, a might hunter! Lowering his head, he inches toward the pronce wolfess, eyes shining with mischief, before he pounces on a rear leg and puppy gnaws it to the death! However, a strange and alluring attraction comes over him as Miakoda squishes around in the mud, and he peers at the dark, gooey substance that smells like rain and earth. Curious, though his tail still wags behind him, he ventures closer to the muddy patch and tests it with a paw, wriggling his toes in the slimy mess. Heeeeey, now!
Ew, mud. The squishy, gooey.../grossness/ of the natural world. Miakoda wrinkles her nose as she lifts up her head, half of her face brown with wet earth. Very attractive, this. With one ear caked with the stuff, it flops down a little while the other remains alert, and then .. *pounce!* "Hey!" She turns her head quickly to peer at her attacker, and her gnawed leg is wiggled a little. "Help! Help! He's too strong!" she cries with mini-flails, and she flicks her tail to bat the fluffiness at him. But as her attention turns, so does hers and she watches as she experiments with the mud. Oy, look how dirty he is... "You know what? Your father's giving your bath today.." she murmurs, smirking smugly. She gets them dirty, he cleans them up! And Thorne needs the practice. "That's mud," she explains as she sits up. "It's naaasty, see?" She rears up a little then brings her front paws down stiffly, squishing the mud down and oozing it between her toes. "Yuck!"
The fluffiness from above deters the boy from the new miracle that is mud, but only for a few moments. He pats playfully at the tuft of fluff with his dirtied paw, probably on purpose, flinging little flecks of mud at his mother before turning an ear to listen to her explanation. Gross? Echo's head tilts to the side, brow wrinkling in disagreement at the statement of grossness and general ickyness of the mud in question. When Miakoda squishes her paws into the stuff, Echo bounds right into the middle of the puddle and splashes everywhere, pouncing and romping and generally getting mud in every direction. At one point, the pup digs a bit of a hole in the earth only to find that it fills back up. Now determined to show the mud who is boss, the now earthen-hued boy digs furiously into the ground with little regard to where the mud is ending up.
Erp, what has she done? She's made a mud-monster out of her son! The equally dirty Miakoda stands up and takes a half step back, peering down at her now brown paws. Just as she does, her face is splattered with mud droplets and mudballs as Echo begins his busywork of digging a hole. Ducking doesn't help, she finds out as she tries to lower her head so that all of his digging efforts fly over her. "Echo. Hun.." *smack!* A pawful of mud hits her right between the eyes, causing her to squint. He wants to play dirty, huh? Looking suddenly devious, she turns around and begins to paw at the mud too, scooping it up and throwing it back behind her .. right in the direction of the dirty little cub.
Completely preoccupied with his digging (though admittedly he's getting nowhere) Echo doesn't notice that his pawfuls of mud are heading straight for his mother, let alone actually hitting her with them. It's only when he stops to sniff at the rapidly filling in hole that he just made, a large splotch of mud hits him square in the back and Echo whirls around in surprise, flinging more mud droplets everywhere. He shouldn't have whirled, because instantly afterward he gets hit smack in the face and chest with another pawful. The boy makes a little face, because he found out that mud doesn't taste very good, and shakes himself to get rid of it.. except shaking in a mudpuddle only makes it worse. With mother still mudflinging, Echo has little choice but to turn himself back around and dig for all he's worth, chucking pawfuls of the stuff behind him and getting his belly all but covered. Not the ghost mirror of his dad anymore, Echo couldn't care less. His tail high and wagging endlessly, the boy's learning to love rain, and mud, more and more and more and more and more.
Miakoda peers back over her shoulder to see how she's doing, and she laughs suddenly as she sees his mud-splattered face. "Oh no, how'd that happen?" She feigns innocence while painting a look of concern over her face. "Ewww, did it get in your mouth, hun? I told you mud was yucky.." She grins, then squeals cubbishly as he retaliates with more mud flinging. Ah, if any of the pack adults were to see her now, they'd think she was crazy! It's no secret that she's a meticulous groomer of her cubs, and for her to willingly dirty up the palest of them all is an absurd thought. But here she is, playing in the mud as if she were four months old. Splat splat! She jumps away as Echo pelts her with dirt, and she scoots back enough that she's out of the mudhole and back on the grass, looking drippy and brown. "Look what you've done. You've got me all dirty! You know what /that/ means, don't you? You have to clean me up all by yourself."
Success! Having won the mud war, Echo stomps around a bit longer in the puddle before heading over to slightly cleaner grass. The light rain still falls on his pelt, causing the dirt to drip from his fur as he shakes once, twice, three times. Still horribly dirty, the boy rolls around on the damp grass, managing only to smear most of the mud around rather than wipe it off, but it was a good effort regardless. Seemingly no worse for the wear and still hanging on to a large grin, he wrinkles his nose at Miakoda's suggestion. 'What?! That's not my job, s'yours!' Echo's tail taps heartily on the ground, though eventually he stands, shakes again, and totters over to his mother to chew lightly on a foreleg before plunking himself back down, beaming up at her impishly. 'There! I cleaned!'
Miakoda squints her eyes a bit as Echo makes an attempt at cleaning himself off. Well, at least he tried, right? She takes a moment to shake herself before he gets too near, though that's a lost cause and does nothing to help her messy state of being. A forepaw is lifted and shaken as her eyes return to Echo, and seeing that look on his face she lifts her brows. "What? Don't look at me like that. /You/ did it. It's your fault we're so messy, so it's your job to clean me up." She grins and quirks a brow as he gnaws at her leg. "..Was that it?" she asks, sounding humored. "You need grooming practice, young wolf. I'll let your father teach you... Geeze." She takes a moment to look him over. "You're a mess! Thorne is going to be so glad to see you.." Leaning down, she nuzzles the wet cub fondly and licks his face a few times out of habit. "Let's go inside. Rain is fun, but you shouldn't stay out in it too long."
The white-- the muddy child offers his mother a steady look, though behind it his eyes glimmer with the same mischief that they always have, and as she cleans off his face a little bit he returns the nuzzle warmly and swipes her nose with a series of puppy kisses. Mwa! Peering up at the rain, and seeing no end to the gray clouds, the boy nods a few times as he begins to totter in the direction of the den, shaking his body as he goes in a comical kind of trot. It was fun, but now he's all wet'n'junk! The warmth and earthy smell of wolves greets him as he crosses the threshold back into the den, no longer fascinated with the rain, and gives one last good shake down. He's still more mud that wolf, though, but Echo doesn't seem to mind too much as he begins to totter closer to the sleeping siblings. Would they like to know about mud?
Miakoda follows closely behind Echo, biting back a giggle at the funny way he walks and shakes at the same time. Kids. What would life be without them? As young as they are, Miakoda can hardly remember a time when she was without her children, and doesn't dare imagine what it might be like to not have them around. Pausing at the threshold, she shakes off vigorously before ducking her head and entering the inviting den. Ears lift as she notes the direction that he's heading towards, and her eyes dart to Shikoba and Moonbird ..both of which are clean and dry. "Woah, woah, mudball.." she says as she nips at his tail lightly. "You're going to get your sister and brother all dirty. .. Come," she urges as she moves towards a side wall to lay, close enough to keep an eye on the other two, though far enough away to not drip on them. "Lay with me over here."
He's not too far away from his brother and sister, but the tail nip is enough to cause him to jump forward and then whirl around, giving Miakoda a rather injured look and a very pouty lower lip. He can't help but wag his tail slightly behind him, though, and a happy little sneeze tells her that he's no worse for wear, really. A brief glance back at the sleeping duo before Echo shrugs and totters to lay next to his mother, squishy-squishing into her wet and muddy belly before flopping himself onto the dry, packed soil. But the dirt starts sticking to his dripping fur, though he doesn't seem to notice at all, and his tail taptaptaptaptaptaptaps happily against his mother's stomach. At one point, he noses under her belly in hopes of a little pre-dinner snack, snuffling and rubbing the mud from his nose.
"I hope you're not getting sick.." Miakoda muses as he sneezes again, looking at him with a sudden hint of concern. Hm. At least nothing is interfering with his appetite. As he begins to nose at her stomach, she smirks an exhales a slow sigh. "Alright, but not too much, alright? You'll get as big as a bear .. and I mean with fat, not muscle." She slowly eases onto her side and sighs a slow and contented breath before her eyes slide shut. The puppies have teeth and feeding isn't as leisurely as it used to be, especially when all three are arguing for their place. But one isn't so bad, and she falls quiet for a moment, enjoying the peace and comforting smell of family surrounding her. Though soon enough, she begins to hum a slow and melodic song to Echo, or perhaps to all of the wolves who are asleep within the den.
Sick? No, Echo shakes his head and lowers his ears a bit. S'just the way he laughs, s'all. But! With the promise of food, the boy scootches closer to his mother and quietly begins to suckle, content to close his eyes for a while and warm up from their romp outside. After a little while, Miakoda's voice floats into his ears and he stops eating, swiping some of the milk from his muzzle with a cursory lick before lifting his chin and setting it against her side. Echo listens, and watches, though eventually his eyes flutter open and closed at the gentle humming that he can hear and feel from the wolfess' chest. A yawn escapes him at one point as he shuffles around, lifting a forepaw to drape it lazily over Miakoda's stomach.
Setting: Underground Den/Outside of the Den
Plot: Fun on a rainy day!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Midafternoon is, perhaps, once the most lazy times of day for wolves and the Lazuli are no exception. Both the alphas are snuggled up at the back of the den, surrounded by their latest litter, also asleep. The weather outside the den is warm, but the sky is a dull gray. The only sound that comes from outside is silence, broken by the occasional pattering of rain on fallen leaves from the previous fall. The white pup is hovering out the mouth of the cavern's opening, plunked on his haunches with all his attention focused on the world beyond the threshold. His tail slowly sways behind him, every so often ticking out of rhythm with the rain, and his ears are alert and forward. Echo's bright blue eyes are intent on something, and at one point his muzzle drops open in silent wolfish laughter at something he heard or saw. A brief glance back to the others confirms that they're all still in the land of dreams. The boy stands, tail swaying, lifting his head to sniff at the scent of new, wet earth.
Like the other wolves, Miakoda is asleep. Who needs to be up at this time of day? This is unofficial nap time! And the beta is enjoying a dream with twitching toes, lulled by the sound of the pattering rain outside. But there's something missing... Thorne's absence isn't it, as she's grown accustomed to the white wolf's lack of presence. He's a busy beta. But there's something, or someone else missing. Stirred awake by that thought, Mia slowly begins to yawn, and her toes spread as she stretches out. Eyes are blearily pried open afterwards, and after a flick of an ear she looks towards her belly. One pup. Two pups... "Echo?" murmured groggily as she looks from side to side in search of her silent son. Ah-ha! Spying him near the den's mouth, she settles down and watches him both fondly and curiously. "What are you laughing at, buddy?" she asks, reading his body language like a pro.
The gentle stirring behind him causes Echo's ears to tilt back to listen, but until his name is mentioned, his attention doesn't waver from the rain. Initially, he turns to look over his shoulder at his mother and his smile shines brightly and beams lovingly. His tail picks up its pace, and at her question the boy glances back to the outside world, laughing again, and sticking his muzzle out beyond the den confines, getting splooshed by a particularly large drop of water. Surprised, he sits back and shakes his head, snuffling the water away before turning back and padding happily toward Miakoda and nuzzling her enthusiastically. Plunking himself down again, the boy points his nose again to the entrance, fascinated by the rain.
She has the most adorable child in the world, Miakoda's sure of it. Watching Echo is always a treat, and she can't help but giggle at his antics with the raindrops. "Uhoh," she gasps theatrically as his muzzle's splattered with rain, and as he approaches her she lowers her head down to return the nuzzle affectionately, eyes half closing. "You like the rain, huh?" asked as his attention is again stolen away by the outside world. "Rain makes you wet. Wet. Wet." Said slowly and deliberately to him. "What does rain do to you? It makes you wet. Wet." Maybe "wet" will be his first word. A mother has to hope, and though his utter silence is at times troubling, it doesn't seem to be affecting her bond with him. A thoughtful look crosses her face as she looks from him, to the entrance, then back at him. "You're a big boy now, Echo. Do you want to be wet? Do you want to feel the rain outside?" Rain? Outside? With /mud/ and a white cub? This is a recipe for disaster and a lot cleanup!
The boy's ears turn and focus on his mother, his face intent and listening. At first he nods, slowly realizing what she might mean, but the repetition of the single word which he's fairly certain he now understands causes the boy's face to grow a little sour, 'Yes, momma. I heard you the first time.' However, Echo's face brightens instantly when Miakoda mentions venturing outside and he leaves her side with a bound back to the entrance, excited and anxious to emerge into the outside world. He's curious, but at least he's obedient, for now. When it's apparent that mother isn't coming with any sort of haste, Echo whirls around and pleads with a bow and a tilt of his head, then turns back to the rain and takes a hesitant step forward.. waiting. C'monc'moncmon! Outside! Mud, however, is a wholly new concept.
Miakoda laughs at Echo's apparent eagerness to venture outdoors, and she soon rises to her feet and gives another stretch. "I'm coming, I'm coming.." she says within a yawn that has her ears folding back languidly. "The word for today is patience. You have to wait for adults. We're slower than you pups sometimes, and good little boys and good little girls don't rush their elders," she says as she sloooowly makes her way towards the entrance, walking as if each paw weighed something near a hundred pounds. But as she nears him, she suddenly grins and bounds forward to dash past him and outside. "Come on, slowpoke! What are you waiting for?"
Playing the waiting game isn't very much fun, Echo decides, and at one point he issues a breathy kind of sigh that suggests he's getting terribly bored waiting for mother to hurry up. His tail even stopped wagging for a moment and stayed motionless at his feet. Poor darling. When Miakoda rushes past, however, his ears perk and the boy is suddenly alert, grinning at mother's clever joke before he rushes out into the rain to catch her. His lanky awkwardness, however, is a slight stumbling point particularly in wet grass, and his first few steps outside in the rain cause him to trip and fall, sliding to a halt with his hind-end ungraceful stuck up into the air. Echo looks a little more surprised than anything as he shakes the moisture from his pelt only to realize that it's still coming from the sky. The pup glances up, then blinks and sneezes as the water finds its way into his eyes and nose, and he attempts to sit back in order to orient himself again. That, however, goes awry as the grass is wet here, too! Echo jumps up and whirls around to glare at the grass that gave him a rather cold jolt, before a particularly large droplet from a tree lands on one of his ears and, tired of the water picking on him, he begins to bite and snap at the droplets around him. RWAR!
Squoosh, squash! Miakoda's paws squish the soggy grass and earth below as she bounds outside, slipping only slightly on a particularly mushy area of ground but recovering quickly. Ah, rain! With summer just around the corner, she's happy for this little cool down, but she doesn't stop to enjoy the scenery and weather for too long and soon swirls around to search for Echo. And there he is .. the poor little guy! Ears perk up as she watches him fight with the offending droplets of rain, and with a humored look she trots back towards him, tail waving. "You musn't bite it! If you pick a fight with the rain, you'll always lose. There's only one of you and a lot of rain! Make friends. Play. Watch.." She backs up a few steps, ears pressed back, then stands a few moments, allowing the rain to soak into her fur a little. One...two...three! Shakeshakeshake! Hundreds of droplets seemingly burst from her shaggy pelt.
Echo listens, but when Miakoda turns around he gives the offending droplets one last little snapsnap before his tongue drops from his open muzzle and he laughs again, eyes squinting to help them stay clear of all the water. He follows after his mother obediently, stopping only a few paces away, giving the wolfess a rather quizzical look before he gets completely SOAKED by a second downpour of rain! His grin doesn't disappear this time, though, instead it broadens as he bounds forward to tackle one of Mia's forelegs, giving a good shake and sharing some of the water BACK! MWAHA! Done, Echo glances up and wrinkles his nose, clearly amused, before he turns and scampers a few playful paces away, purposefully throwing himself onto his belly and sliding along the slick grass. When his momentum has finished carrying him, the pup rolls to his back and squirms in his silent laughter, sneezing happily.
"Hahaha!" Miakoda laughs as he's drenched, and she lifts her head triumphantly while her tail sways energetically behind her. "Aww, who did that to my poor little Echo? It wasn't me.." she assures with an overly innocent expression on her face. But ack! She's being attacked! As her foreleg is pounced on, she dramatically falls back onto her haunches and eeps! "You're soaking me!" said theatrically in response to his shake, and she squints her eyes closed as if being drowned by waves of water. "My own son!" She's laughing though, which may help to show that she is joking. Soggy ears lift as he backs away and slides upon the grass, and her muzzle opens in a broad grin. "You silly pup, you've made a new game! Is it liiike...this?" She backs up a few paces, then leaps forward to slide on the grass too, but instead of ending up on her belly, she lands on her side with flailing paws, sliding further than himself, and landing in a gooey splotch of mud. Squelch!
The boy pup continues to laugh silently at his mother, but when she goes whizzing by Echo sits up in the wet grass and watches with great interest, glad that he was able to drag mother out of bed and outside into the wet rain! He sneezes happily again before he starts belly crawling Miakoda's way, getting his snow white fur horribly dirty but not caring in the slightest. He is, after all, a might hunter! Lowering his head, he inches toward the pronce wolfess, eyes shining with mischief, before he pounces on a rear leg and puppy gnaws it to the death! However, a strange and alluring attraction comes over him as Miakoda squishes around in the mud, and he peers at the dark, gooey substance that smells like rain and earth. Curious, though his tail still wags behind him, he ventures closer to the muddy patch and tests it with a paw, wriggling his toes in the slimy mess. Heeeeey, now!
Ew, mud. The squishy, gooey.../grossness/ of the natural world. Miakoda wrinkles her nose as she lifts up her head, half of her face brown with wet earth. Very attractive, this. With one ear caked with the stuff, it flops down a little while the other remains alert, and then .. *pounce!* "Hey!" She turns her head quickly to peer at her attacker, and her gnawed leg is wiggled a little. "Help! Help! He's too strong!" she cries with mini-flails, and she flicks her tail to bat the fluffiness at him. But as her attention turns, so does hers and she watches as she experiments with the mud. Oy, look how dirty he is... "You know what? Your father's giving your bath today.." she murmurs, smirking smugly. She gets them dirty, he cleans them up! And Thorne needs the practice. "That's mud," she explains as she sits up. "It's naaasty, see?" She rears up a little then brings her front paws down stiffly, squishing the mud down and oozing it between her toes. "Yuck!"
The fluffiness from above deters the boy from the new miracle that is mud, but only for a few moments. He pats playfully at the tuft of fluff with his dirtied paw, probably on purpose, flinging little flecks of mud at his mother before turning an ear to listen to her explanation. Gross? Echo's head tilts to the side, brow wrinkling in disagreement at the statement of grossness and general ickyness of the mud in question. When Miakoda squishes her paws into the stuff, Echo bounds right into the middle of the puddle and splashes everywhere, pouncing and romping and generally getting mud in every direction. At one point, the pup digs a bit of a hole in the earth only to find that it fills back up. Now determined to show the mud who is boss, the now earthen-hued boy digs furiously into the ground with little regard to where the mud is ending up.
Erp, what has she done? She's made a mud-monster out of her son! The equally dirty Miakoda stands up and takes a half step back, peering down at her now brown paws. Just as she does, her face is splattered with mud droplets and mudballs as Echo begins his busywork of digging a hole. Ducking doesn't help, she finds out as she tries to lower her head so that all of his digging efforts fly over her. "Echo. Hun.." *smack!* A pawful of mud hits her right between the eyes, causing her to squint. He wants to play dirty, huh? Looking suddenly devious, she turns around and begins to paw at the mud too, scooping it up and throwing it back behind her .. right in the direction of the dirty little cub.
Completely preoccupied with his digging (though admittedly he's getting nowhere) Echo doesn't notice that his pawfuls of mud are heading straight for his mother, let alone actually hitting her with them. It's only when he stops to sniff at the rapidly filling in hole that he just made, a large splotch of mud hits him square in the back and Echo whirls around in surprise, flinging more mud droplets everywhere. He shouldn't have whirled, because instantly afterward he gets hit smack in the face and chest with another pawful. The boy makes a little face, because he found out that mud doesn't taste very good, and shakes himself to get rid of it.. except shaking in a mudpuddle only makes it worse. With mother still mudflinging, Echo has little choice but to turn himself back around and dig for all he's worth, chucking pawfuls of the stuff behind him and getting his belly all but covered. Not the ghost mirror of his dad anymore, Echo couldn't care less. His tail high and wagging endlessly, the boy's learning to love rain, and mud, more and more and more and more and more.
Miakoda peers back over her shoulder to see how she's doing, and she laughs suddenly as she sees his mud-splattered face. "Oh no, how'd that happen?" She feigns innocence while painting a look of concern over her face. "Ewww, did it get in your mouth, hun? I told you mud was yucky.." She grins, then squeals cubbishly as he retaliates with more mud flinging. Ah, if any of the pack adults were to see her now, they'd think she was crazy! It's no secret that she's a meticulous groomer of her cubs, and for her to willingly dirty up the palest of them all is an absurd thought. But here she is, playing in the mud as if she were four months old. Splat splat! She jumps away as Echo pelts her with dirt, and she scoots back enough that she's out of the mudhole and back on the grass, looking drippy and brown. "Look what you've done. You've got me all dirty! You know what /that/ means, don't you? You have to clean me up all by yourself."
Success! Having won the mud war, Echo stomps around a bit longer in the puddle before heading over to slightly cleaner grass. The light rain still falls on his pelt, causing the dirt to drip from his fur as he shakes once, twice, three times. Still horribly dirty, the boy rolls around on the damp grass, managing only to smear most of the mud around rather than wipe it off, but it was a good effort regardless. Seemingly no worse for the wear and still hanging on to a large grin, he wrinkles his nose at Miakoda's suggestion. 'What?! That's not my job, s'yours!' Echo's tail taps heartily on the ground, though eventually he stands, shakes again, and totters over to his mother to chew lightly on a foreleg before plunking himself back down, beaming up at her impishly. 'There! I cleaned!'
Miakoda squints her eyes a bit as Echo makes an attempt at cleaning himself off. Well, at least he tried, right? She takes a moment to shake herself before he gets too near, though that's a lost cause and does nothing to help her messy state of being. A forepaw is lifted and shaken as her eyes return to Echo, and seeing that look on his face she lifts her brows. "What? Don't look at me like that. /You/ did it. It's your fault we're so messy, so it's your job to clean me up." She grins and quirks a brow as he gnaws at her leg. "..Was that it?" she asks, sounding humored. "You need grooming practice, young wolf. I'll let your father teach you... Geeze." She takes a moment to look him over. "You're a mess! Thorne is going to be so glad to see you.." Leaning down, she nuzzles the wet cub fondly and licks his face a few times out of habit. "Let's go inside. Rain is fun, but you shouldn't stay out in it too long."
The white-- the muddy child offers his mother a steady look, though behind it his eyes glimmer with the same mischief that they always have, and as she cleans off his face a little bit he returns the nuzzle warmly and swipes her nose with a series of puppy kisses. Mwa! Peering up at the rain, and seeing no end to the gray clouds, the boy nods a few times as he begins to totter in the direction of the den, shaking his body as he goes in a comical kind of trot. It was fun, but now he's all wet'n'junk! The warmth and earthy smell of wolves greets him as he crosses the threshold back into the den, no longer fascinated with the rain, and gives one last good shake down. He's still more mud that wolf, though, but Echo doesn't seem to mind too much as he begins to totter closer to the sleeping siblings. Would they like to know about mud?
Miakoda follows closely behind Echo, biting back a giggle at the funny way he walks and shakes at the same time. Kids. What would life be without them? As young as they are, Miakoda can hardly remember a time when she was without her children, and doesn't dare imagine what it might be like to not have them around. Pausing at the threshold, she shakes off vigorously before ducking her head and entering the inviting den. Ears lift as she notes the direction that he's heading towards, and her eyes dart to Shikoba and Moonbird ..both of which are clean and dry. "Woah, woah, mudball.." she says as she nips at his tail lightly. "You're going to get your sister and brother all dirty. .. Come," she urges as she moves towards a side wall to lay, close enough to keep an eye on the other two, though far enough away to not drip on them. "Lay with me over here."
He's not too far away from his brother and sister, but the tail nip is enough to cause him to jump forward and then whirl around, giving Miakoda a rather injured look and a very pouty lower lip. He can't help but wag his tail slightly behind him, though, and a happy little sneeze tells her that he's no worse for wear, really. A brief glance back at the sleeping duo before Echo shrugs and totters to lay next to his mother, squishy-squishing into her wet and muddy belly before flopping himself onto the dry, packed soil. But the dirt starts sticking to his dripping fur, though he doesn't seem to notice at all, and his tail taptaptaptaptaptaptaps happily against his mother's stomach. At one point, he noses under her belly in hopes of a little pre-dinner snack, snuffling and rubbing the mud from his nose.
"I hope you're not getting sick.." Miakoda muses as he sneezes again, looking at him with a sudden hint of concern. Hm. At least nothing is interfering with his appetite. As he begins to nose at her stomach, she smirks an exhales a slow sigh. "Alright, but not too much, alright? You'll get as big as a bear .. and I mean with fat, not muscle." She slowly eases onto her side and sighs a slow and contented breath before her eyes slide shut. The puppies have teeth and feeding isn't as leisurely as it used to be, especially when all three are arguing for their place. But one isn't so bad, and she falls quiet for a moment, enjoying the peace and comforting smell of family surrounding her. Though soon enough, she begins to hum a slow and melodic song to Echo, or perhaps to all of the wolves who are asleep within the den.
Sick? No, Echo shakes his head and lowers his ears a bit. S'just the way he laughs, s'all. But! With the promise of food, the boy scootches closer to his mother and quietly begins to suckle, content to close his eyes for a while and warm up from their romp outside. After a little while, Miakoda's voice floats into his ears and he stops eating, swiping some of the milk from his muzzle with a cursory lick before lifting his chin and setting it against her side. Echo listens, and watches, though eventually his eyes flutter open and closed at the gentle humming that he can hear and feel from the wolfess' chest. A yawn escapes him at one point as he shuffles around, lifting a forepaw to drape it lazily over Miakoda's stomach.