Word Count → 1266 :: For Xy'rin! They're in the sugarwoods. c:
Sophie and Boothe hadn't seen much of Leon lately. As a matter of fact, they hadn't seen much of anyone lately; this being because, after a short fight with Leon about their right to wander as much as they wanted, they'd decided to run away. Trigger hadn't seen them go; he probably could have stopped them if he had. But at the moment, nothing their brothers said or did would make them come back; Sophie was too hurt, and Boothe was too angry.
She'd thought them being free from their father was supposed to be a fun thing; they were allowed to do what they wanted, as long as they followed the rules set down. Leon hadn't said they weren't allowed to wander. So Sophie went a little farther than she should have, so what? It wasn't like she'd gotten hurt! She'd met a very nice wolf, actually, one who'd helped her back after her "tiny arrow" wound made it difficult to walk. Leon hadn't needed to yell quite so loudly, or sound quite so angry. He'd acted a lot like Daire, actually, save for hitting them and locking them up.
Well, he'd done that second one for a while. But they'd escaped a few days ago, and run off with their things--their pelts, anyway--to live in the wild. They probably wouldn't have gotten far enough away that Leon couldn't find them, either, if they hadn't stolen Hamza. Sophie was still not quite sure how Boothe had pulled that one off, though he was nearly full-grown, she supposed, or at least looked it. Sophie, set atop Hamza's back, couldn't help but be jealous of her twin; he was over twice her size, now, and she remained nearly as small as she'd always been. She'd stopped being nearly the same size as he was almost three months ago. Boothe seemed to feel bad, too, since they were supposed to be twins, and now they weren't...as such. Sophie looked down at where her brother was herding Hamza through the odd, sweet-smelling trees, her ears pinned back. After a few more moments of this, Boothe noticed, and barked at Hamza to make him stop. The bison did so, curiously enough, and Boothe jumped up to rest his forelegs on the beast's side, peering up at Sophie curiously.
Boothe jumped off Hamza, and circled around the little stand of trees they rested in, searching. Finally he plopped down in a sunny spot, and wagged his tail.
Ever since Trigger had begun making little clothes for them, Sophie and Boothe had been trying to shift. It was incredibly hard, this shifting-thing; as much as they focused, they didn't feel anything. Sophie thought maybe they weren't imagining right, but Boothe was just as sure that there was no imagination involved; you just did. So they tried together, using their own ways, and still nothing had come up.
They weren't as careful as they usually were when they tried this out in the wilderness, and it seemed this time they would get in trouble, as a large cat slunk between the trees, focusing on the two pups. Neither of the Hughes twins noticed it coming until it was right upon them, and then it was only Boothe. He yelped, jumping from their position to shove Sophie out of the way. The cat pounced just as he did, and slammed into his side, making him tumble and roll away, flopping on the floor only a moment later. Sophie's voice froze with fear as she saw her brother fall quiet, and the cat began slinking up to his prone form. She finally whined a bit, hoping he would rise, and when no sound came from him, her chest began to boil.
She'd never felt angry before; she'd never felt anything but happy or sad toward anyone. With her brother still and possibly dead in front of the beast, she felt the anger boiling up her throat in a way she'd never felt before, and then a long, low howl ripped itself from her maw. It was like the braying she'd done before, when she found something interesting, but it soon collapsed into a snarl as she braced herself and then threw her small body toward the large animal. The energy from her anger and her focus on the beast brought on the change she hadn't really been certain she could make, and though it took a long few moments to finish completely, she'd leaped before she knew what was happening.
It went rather quickly, and almost painlessly; the only hurt came from the paw that batted her away, scratching at her stomach, and the shift was done by the time she hit the tree and slid to the ground. She got up, though, and remained crouched on all fours like a feral dog, her hackles rising all along her back even as some dim part of her noted something didn't feel quite right. There was no time for that, though, and she threw herself forward again, managing to grab hold of the mountain cat's tail and pull herself up onto its back. She grabbed hold of its ears as soon as the momentum got her up there, and then began howling right near them, barking and snarling with a wild look in her eyes. The cat danced around, trying to pull her off its back, and the claws struck again on her spine, but she didn't let go.
The only coherent thing that came out of her mouth was a wild scream that sent birds fleeing from the trees; "Get away from my brother!"
Sophie speaks