Oceane sat not too far from the entrance to the family's den. She was being a good little girl today, she'd found a nice spot of moist rich ground and was attempting to build her own little den in the messy dark soil. Hidden beneith the mounds of snow and piles of leaves the ground had been warm and parted easily below her paws. Everywhere else she'd tried to dig had hurt her little nails and pads but this was just right. The little girl was making a lot of progress in her mind on the muddy venture, she'd already dug a hole deep enough so that she could sit down in the hole and half her rump was hiding. She was growing excited at the thoughts of having her own den.
The work was exhausting though and soon the tan and brown girl had decided to crawl out of her construction site and sit up on the ledge to view the world about her. The snow was a disaster, flecked with brown and black soil from her den. She smiled and shook her little pelt out, scattering more bits across the land as she giggled and stood there with her tongue lulling out looking silly. She hoped her mommy would be proud of all the work she'd done. Maybe she'd be able to make it large enough for the whole family to move into! That was an exciting thought that made her sea foam orbs shimmer as she wagged her tail happily.
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There was something about most pups that she didn't really like. Their cute little eyes and tiny wiggly tails...it was enough to make her want to run in the opposite direction. But there was one litter of pups that she did tolerate. Tayui's. The female had been ill for the last week or so and had been keeping away from them, but now that she was feeling better she was ready to get involved again. The dark wolf often played babysitter for the whelps, watching over them while her pale friend went out to hunt or stretch her legs.
But now they were starting to head out on their own...an all-new danger. She wanted to protect them, to watch over them all the time to make sure that they didn't get hurt. But that was impossible. Most of the time, each of them went in a different direction anyway, and very rarely stuck together as a group. It made it very difficult. Ember held a hare in her mouth, a victory that she had achieved earlier that day. Its pelt was a mixture of white and brown. Did that mean that spring was coming? This was their first winter in this new territory, and her first one in AniWaya, but so far it seemed like the seasons were about the same as they had been back home in Storm.
The warrior spotted the pup as she made her way toward her own den, just a few yards away from the one that the little ones shared with their mother. "Ocnnnn, yuurrr covrrdd in mdd" She said, trying to talk around the rabbit that she held in her jaws. She set the creature down a foot or so away from the puppy, then tried again. "Oceane---you're covered in mud."
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Oceane had seen the dark hued warrior moving towards the new den site and she'd wiggled with excitement, ready to show Ember just what she'd been up to, though too soon she seemed to find out that Ember had noticed the state of her fur. The sea foam eyed child just laughed as she shook some more of the muck from her pelt. "I knows! I'm building my own den!" she said proudly as she turned in a small circle, her eyes shimmering as she giggled and pointed with her nose towards the gaping hole in the ground where once just a mound of snow had stood.
She moved forward until she was inside the little work in progress den and turned around to show the tiny bit of progress she'd made, finally noticing the rabbit that Ember had been bringing with her. "That all for yous?" she said as her sharp little eyes studied the meal. She was a bright puppy and perhaps she was learning too quickly ways to con things from others, Attila could be blamed for that influence. Building dens was hard work and her little tummy gave a protest to all the effort she'd put into her home so far as her eyes cast back to Ember.
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She didn't have a weapon yet--she was still working on that--but she'd been doing things around the packlands lately and hadn't been focusing quite so much on her warrior skills anyway. Ember had cleaned out her den and organized everything inside of it, so she had a little more room in case she did find something. Her den wasn't very big, but it didn't need to be yet. She had no mate or pups of her own, and no had no need for the amount of room that Tayui had in hers. She just needed a hole to sleep in and a place to put a few books and trinkets.
"A den of your own, hmm? But you sleep with your mom and your siblings. You wanna move out?" It would be a little too early for that, probably. She knew that the girl would grow up soon enough. "It's a real nice den, either way." She didn't want Oceane to think that she didn't appreciate the beauty of the hole that she had made. She'd heard that it was good to encourage pups to do things for themselves.
She looked to the rabbit that she'd brought with her, nosing its brown and white pelt. "Usually I don't find one that's half-colored like this one. I'm more interested in the skin...if ya think you can eat it without tearing it up too much, then you can have it."
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Her seafoam eyes watched the older dark hued lady as she asked her about the den. Oceane hadn't really built it to get away from her family, just to show them that she could do something they couldn't, or if it turned out her brothers and sister could, that she had been first, of course. She flicked her small puff of bangs out of her eyes as she giggled and shook her head, her paws dancing in the muddy snow as she admitted. "Don't wanna leave, just wanna built. I can do anythings!" she announced. She could too, atleast, everything she had wanted to try or had attempted to try she'd found a way. One day she'd meet failure, but probably not anytime soon, the silly girl would probably sit up half the night trying to find a way around a problem til she worked it out. Failure was not an option right now though so she didn't bother pondering it.
Those little ocean orbs looked back to the rabbit that Ember had brought as she yipped with excitement at the words that Ember had said. Oceane wasn't a messy eater and she knew how some of the packmates were about the skins of their meals. There were many furs in the sleeping quarters of the den that her family slept in. Little Oceane moved down the mound of dirt where her den was abandoned for the moment and came down to investigate the strange fur of the kill. "It does looks funny" she said as she wrinkled her nose as the strange rabbit. Momma had always brought them white ones. Oceane had never seen a brown rabbit. "Why it look like that.." she asked.
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If any of her family members lived in Aniwaya she would probably want to live with them. Ember had stayed with her father even through parts of her adolescence...so it wouldn't seem odd to her to see any of the Aston children hanging around Tayui for a while. Or around her. She wouldn't really mind that, being Aunty Ember for a while longer. It was nice to get to see the pups and play with them and feed them but not have to take care of them all the time. That was Tayui's job, as their mother. Ember hadn't asked the large female about their father, who he was or anything of that relation, and in turn she hadn't spoken about it either. The dark wolf figured that she probably didn't want to talk about it and wouldn't press the matter.
She looked back at Oceane, shaking her head. "Anything, huh? Well...I don't know about anything. You can't fly, can you?" She questioned. Ember pushed the rabbit nearer to the pup with one paw. "Its coat changes colors with the seasons. Ours don't do that...but some other animals' do, like rabbits. You should eat some, if you're hungry. Have you ever caught a rabbit by yourself before?"
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Oceane had never really thought much of who her father was or even if a father was important. They were the only puppies in the pack so she didn't get to see what a normal family was suppose to be like, not that she really cared to find out either. She was too young to be worried with all the nosy adult aspects of children like the gossip of who a father might be or the scandal of not having a proper father figure in their lives. Instead, she played in the mud and chased her sibling from dusk to dawn, just like it was expected of a puppy. She was doing a pretty darn good job at it too, or she did think so herself.
Puffing up her chest at Ember's words the little girl blew a raspberry at what Ember had said before she giggled. "That's silly! Why would I wanna fly?" She gave Ember a look that said all, she was beginning to worry that the dark hued friend of the family was a little crazy.. not that that was a bad thing though, atleast not to a puppy!
Oceane crept closer to Ember though as she started to explain about how rabbits could change their furcolor when the season's changed. She glanced up at Ember and demanded. "I wanna change my fur color too! That's not fair!" but as soon as she'd said the words the small girl quieted down and took a bit of the rabbit, her mouth full she shook her head at the last question. She quickly swallowed the meat before stating matter-o-factly. "I don't wanna catch rabbits yet!" she wanted to catch fish, but she knew that she couldn't just yet since the water of the steams were frozen. She'd been able to stand on the ice and see the fish swimming below the surface but couldn't dig through the cold layers to capture the strange prey.
[html] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/ ... banner.jpg); background-position: bottom center; background-repeat: no-repeat;"> It's so weird with me playing the adult and you the pup for once XD haha!
If it was one thing that Ember had, it was hunting experience. She hadn't been too good of a hunter at first, as she'd had most of her meals caught by the rest of the family or the pack back in Storm, but as she had grown up and had needed to, she had learned how to hunt for herself. She often used weapons when she could, like a bow and arrows or a slingshot to take down prey from farther distances away. It was a rare day that she would catch something with her mouth or with her hands. She preferred her fully shifted optime form anyway.
She grinned at the youth. "Maybe someday we can dye your fur. You can change its color that way, I guess. I think mine is too dark to do, though." Probably, unless she could somehow magically make it lighter. She didn't know how to do that, though. Ember thought about this for a moment, coming back from her thoughts to answer the pup again. "Well, what would you like to catch? I can show you how, if you want to learn"
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The little girl grinned at Ember as she spoke of dying her fur a different color. She giggled as she shook her head and spoke seriously. "I don't know if mum would like that too much..." she wondered if she would get in trouble by dying her fur. The siblings had tried mom's patience time and time again and still she hadn't ever snapped. She wondered if anything ever really upset her mother. She figured that she would learn one day but right now she was more interested in what they were up to in the here and now. "I guess you wouldn't be able to dye yours.. maybe it will change on it's own though! I bet not everyone keeps the same colors alll the time.." she wondered if her coat could change like the rabbits. Ember said their coats didn't do that.. but she thought that maybe Ember just hadn't met anyone who's coat did change! It was possible..
When Ember asked what she wanted to catch Oceane giggled and admitted right off the bat what she wanted to go after. "I wanna catch fish!" She knew that they couldn't catch them right now, or atleast she didn't think that they could. She'd never known that the ice could be removed or broken and then they could fish through the ice. She had never tasted fish before and the fact that it was something she could have made it that more tempting. Her tail wagged back and forth as she leaped up, hardly able to wait to see if Ember was gonna really be able to show her how to get to the fish. Maybe her nails were sharper and she could dig through the ice. Oceane knew she couldn't!
[html] Very sorry for the wait. Finals and moving kicked my bum.
She didn't think that Tayui would like it a whole lot either, and nodded with a grin. It was probably not the best thing to introduce those kinds of ideas into the pups' heads anyway, even as a joke, because the little ones could decide to take her up on it or take her seriously and go and do the dye job themselves. Ember thought about the young one's request for fish and thought for a moment. There was always ice-fishing, and she was big enough to throw a rock in and break through the stuff. The areas around the reeds in the river was always a much weaker spot than all the others...so maybe there.
"You want fish? we'll get some fish. I have a fishing pole, and all it'll take is a big rock. What I need you to do is look for a spot along the river where there are a lot of reeds, though. Plants that grow up out of the water on our side." She gave the girl the task. She had several hidden poles along the riverside, and she was sure they would come across one on their way to the right spot.
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Oceane really had no idea how dying things worked or even if it was possible. She knew that if she rubbed herself in the new spring grass her beige fur would come out green for a while but it wore away in time and it was quite a messy feat to get the grass stains evenly marked across her coat. She normally lost interest in making the mess of her coat before she was all the way done anyways. Oceane didn't like the aftermath of doing the staining job anyways, it normally ended her with a bath and a hard scrub from her mother or whoever else just happened to catch her first. She wrinkled her nose at the idea and thought it best to leave her fur the color it was.
She smiled up at Ember as she agreed to take her fishing. She hadn't thought that the older woman would but it was a nice little delight to get to go anyways. She nodded her head in agreement as Ember gave her a little bit of duty to attend to as they made their way towards the shore. She barked happily as she waved her tail in the air high overhead before dashing off towards the riverbank. "I'll finds the best spot!" She gleefully tramped through the tribe's lands as she went searching along the edge of the river for a perfect little fishing location.
She had raced far ahead of Ember when she finally called out. "Ember, is this okay!?" She thought she had it now, she hoped that Ember would agree, there was a lot of river to travel along if her spot wasn't the best and her little legs didn't think they could travel all the way to the edge of their territory to find another!
[html] Feel free to PP them catching fish xD
She really enjoyed watching the pups, overall. Ember had been very afraid of them at first, afraid of somehow messing up their lives or teaching them something Tayui didn't want them to know...but she didn't really have any bad habits for the pups to pick up on and never said anything bad in front of them. So Tayui shouldn't be worried. She had slowly relaxed into a position where she felt comfortable around them. But only these ones; other pups still made her a little nervous.
She followed the youngster alongside the river, nodding to her. "Yeah! That spot looks awesome. We'll have a good meal in no one. And when you learn to shift, I'll teach you how to use the rod too so you'll never be hungry" She picked up a big rock from the riverside, throwing it in the area around the reeds. There was a splash, and when she looked back there was a large hole in the ice. "See? It's perfect!" She waited a minute before she put her line in the water.
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Oceane was having a wonderful time actually getting to do something that she wanted for a change. Tayui had said that the children would need to learn skill to better themselves as adults so she could see no wrong in getting Ember to teach her how to fish. Excitement buzzed in her blood as she wiggled and giggled as Ember finally arrived and began setting up. She couldn't wait to see one of the flashy creatures that made such motions in the water up close and boy she really wanted to see what they tasted like! She knew that oneday she'd have to learn to fish another way but watching Ember's method made her curious none the less.
She watched the slush and bits of ice settle in a mass where Ember had thrown the rock as the dark hued woman threw the line in. Oceane watched seriously as the line began to twinge and tighten slightly, as though something was playing with it. She leaned in closer as suddenly the whole string went taunt and she was watching as the older wolf struggled to gain control over the rod. Her tail wagged a mile a minute as she barked happily when Ember had pulled the large fish up onto land.
Oceane moved over to the fish and stared down at it as it gasped for air and made strange flopping motions on the snow. She placed a paw ontop the creature and felt the strong pull of it's muscles as it tried to escape. She wrinkled her nose and commented. "It not the same. Not pretty and graceful." She pouted slightly as she watched as Ember rebaited her pole and cast it out again. She really hoped it still tasted good atleast. It didn't seem to take too long before Ember was hauling in another one, Oceane's tail wagging as she asked. "Eats them now?" Her belly really was beginning to want those strange fish now.
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It didn't really matter if they cooked the fish or not, so she nodded to Oceane when the girl asked if they could eat them. There was just enough for the two of them, with maybe one or two for the pup to take home to her brother or sister. Or maybe Tayui would want some fish; it was usually pretty hard to come by in winter. Ember would walk back with her to give them to the rest of the family.
The dark girl dug a small furrow into the ground, placing her pole into it and picking up a fish to eat. They could catch more while they ate...and then she could put them on a line to take back. "Watch out for the bones. They're small and sharp" She instructed, ripping through the scales of her fish and then ripping small pieces of the meat off to eat.
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Oceane grew excited as she watched Ember handling the fish and finally giving her the go-ahead to dine. She placed one large paw upon the body of the fish, minding the words that Ember spoke as she slid her sharp incisors into the skin and slowly pulled the scaled skin from the soft flaky meat. The flavor of the fish was savored as she slowly dined on the first fish she'd ever helped catch. Her eyes shown happily as she licked her lips, her tail wagging excitedly.
Her eyes darted towards the pole as she watched the line bend and twitch as Ember began to haul in another fish. She panted as a large smile spread across her maw, knowing that mother would be proud of her if they caught enough fish to bring home to everyone else. She really couldn't wait to see their faces when they got home.
The little girl finished her fish as Ember seemed to be winding down as well, she looked at the string of fish that the older girl had as she grinned. "They're gonna be jealouuus." she said matter of factly as her tail started lashing a mile a minute once more. Knowing that her siblings would have been sad for missing out on the excitement.
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