Word Count :: 328 Mommy! x3

The first victim had been claimed by Skoll Haskel.

The teddy bear had definitely seen better days, probably even days with a human child to take care of it. Human children did not have sharp teeth, though, and the small puppy most certainly did. He’d found the bear underneath one of the beds while visiting the Hotel and immediately claimed it as a prize, tugging it along with him for hours. One glass eye and a button nose had already been chewed off, but now Skoll was ready to finish his prey off.

Batting the stuffed animal on the floor, the puppy growled and leaped at it, practicing his wrestling as well as his dominance. He’d occasionally knock the bear down and stamp around it with his tail up and waving—one of his ways to test his limits as the big boy in the litter.

And now he chewed on it, his jaws squishing the soft body. He let out a ferocious growl by puppy standards then placed one oversized paw on the bear’s tummy, grabbing its ears in his teeth. He gave a tug—then another tug, one much stronger than intended. There was a rip and an explosion of fluff, and the boy fell down on his butt, the teddy bear head in his mouth and its decapitated body spitting stuffing in front of him.

Horrified, Skoll dropped the torn-up toy. He might have been excited about being able to change the stuffed animal like this and actually do something, but right now all he could think of was that he’d get in trouble. Quickly, he looked around for somewhere to hide the bear and grabbed it by a leg, dragging it underneath a chair and pushing it with his paws to hide it. Only moments later did he realize that the stuffing evidence was everywhere, and so he ran around the floor frantically, practically using his body as a mop to hide the fluff.

Word Count :: 328 <3

As busy as he was trying to get rid of the evidence, Skoll didn’t hear his mother step into the house. Usually his ears were trained to the door whenever she went out on one of her walks, but right now he was covered in fluff and on the floor. And so when he heard her clear her throat, his heart pounded and his wide green eyes lifted to her blue ones. Her arms were crossed in the standard parent posture, and he flattened his ears in anticipation.

His tail waved once at being called “sun chaser,” but then his mother spotted the torn-up teddy bear. She only chuckled and smiled, though, so Skoll grinned and bounced closer to her ankles. Soon the bear became a fallen foe instead of a ruined toy as Ayita Catori spoke to it before crouching down closer to him, asking him about the details of the epic battle.

The blonde boy tilted his chin up. “I rippa head,” he declared, now proud of his kill instead of ashamed. He frowned and cocked his head thoughtfully. “Bear coward,” he said. “Not like Prince. Eaaasy victoire!” He grinned and pranced around his mother, arrogant but playful.

“I protect Mom from bears!” he added, glancing tenderly at his Catori parent.

Word Count :: 186 It's all good!

His mother kneeled, ever so kind as she agreed with his proud words. His tail beat the air a hundred times a minute at her praise, and grinned sheepishly as she pointed out that he was still covered with the bear’s insides. Giving his blonde coat a shake, he came closer and sat down so that she could better clean the stuffing from him.

“Story!” Skoll barked, agreeing with widened eyes. He always loved hearing stories from the adults in the pack, even though it seemed a rambunctious and active little cub like him would be not be inclined to sit still long enough for a tale to be finished. But he did love stories, and he loved acting them out especially.

The small taste of the story proved to be interesting, and so he tried to climb into her lap, as if pressing up against her warm fur would allow him to hear better. “Terra said stuff about ’oomans,” he remarked, remembering the day the coyote hybrid had acted out the story of the humans’ demise with him. “I wanna hear ’bout the two wolves!”

Word Count :: 266

Skoll’s green eyes never left his mother as she began the story. Ever since Terra told him about the end of the humans, he had wanted to know more and more about the mysterious creatures that dominated the earth before luperci. He didn’t really understand what the earth could be like so long ago, but he imagined everything pure and green as the gods had fashioned it.

The twist came soon, though, and the boy giggled at the thought of the sun and moon being lazy. He wagged his tail as his mother set him in front of her, but then he frowned as she described the plants and tides suffering without the rise and set of the discs.

His tail picked up tempo again as she explained that the humans knew to go to the wolf for help, bribing them with meat. He giggled again, and his eyes widened as she described the sun and moon chasers.

“Skoll an’ Hati,” the Prince echoed, in awe. She had always called him sun chaser, but he had never heard the legend of his birthright. However, this new knowledge only made him grin widely and wag his tail more; he spun around in a circle and ran across the room.

“I chase-a sun,” Skoll proclaimed, finding one of his balls and nosing it around, galloping after it. He paused then, looking at Ayita. “Do they get sleepy? Skoll an’ Hati? I get sleepy.” The little cub liked to think that he could run forever and ever, but he would have to leave that up to the legendary wolves.

Word Count :: 221

Skoll grinned when his mother explained the legendary chasers took turns resting whenever the sun and moon slept. It made sense. He wasn’t much of a night pup, anyway, though part of that was simply because he was too young to be able to stay up that late—probably much to the relief of his caretakers. He was a handful enough during the day when everyone was awake.

Ayita offered to fix the bear, and the boy lowered his ears with a sheepish smile. “Wait,” he chirped, and he wandered over to the chair where the busted toy was placed. Putting his forepaws on the chair so he could see it, he made little nodding motions as if listening to the stuffed animal then looked over his shoulder at his mother. “Bear say it be good now,” he confirmed; after all, he had to make sure the dreadful creature was reformed before he allowed it in his family’s house. “I no bite no more. You fix an’ make all good’s’new.”

When the Catori woman suggested a game, the boy perked up then scampered around the room without real aim. He nosed some of the fluff into the pile she was making then tilted his head, considering the question.

“Play cheval,” Skoll said, rearing and mimicking a horse’s whinny. “Wan’ be horse?”