Word Count → 344
Sophie whimpered as Daire's attention turned to other things, and though she was curious as to what had caught his eye, she didn't dare take her eyes off him; she wanted to know when to dodge. Boothe was not so frightened, trusting his sister to warn him when their father's attention imminently turned back to them. The young boy's eyes traveled over Sophie's shoulder and met with the two strange males, causing the timid male to whimper slightly and tuck closer to his sister. Sophie tucked Bug under his chin, and together they cuddled the doll and each other, frightened and confused by all the strange happenings around them.
Sophie's vision of Daire's man-handling Leon was quite suddenly blocked by a tawny male, and she made a small "eep"ing noise in the back of her throat, ducking her head under Bug's body and shaking uncontrollably. Boothe whimpered beside her, and then barked at Trigger, his ears pressing against his head and his eyes narrowing as he shifted a bit to be in front of the younger Sophie. Neither one of them seemed to have heard Trigger's soothing words; "older" and "male" automatically meant "danger" to them, and had for as long as they could remember. Not that Trigger looked much older...not as old as Leon, or Daire. But Boothe was still wary, and he nudged and bullied his sister into moving away from the hazel-eyed male warily, standing protectively in front of her and her doll.
Sophie weaseled her head under his belly to stare at the three males--the older couple having been visible over Trigger's head, if she tilted her head just slightly up--and then pressed her ears against her head, chomping nervously on Bug's leg. Her eyes flickered from the fight going on a little bit away to the male who was watching them and back, but there was no light of understanding in her eyes. As far as she was concerned, there had been no shining light of salvation; things had just gotten more dangerous.
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The wheel breaks the butterfly
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