i made this at an airport computer! haha.



In Halifax, Kansas had found a small collection of candldes as well as matches in a small store that specialized in nothing in particular. It was in the early, early morning hours, perhaps a few hours past midnight. He'd been awakened by an unpleasant nightmare wherein Iskata had spoken to him, gray and pale. It wasn't uncommon for him to have nightmares such as it these days. In any case, he'd been unable to get back to sleep, and he sat in the hallway outside of this room so as not to awaken his family with his tossing and turning.



He had shoved a flowery scented candle into a holder and struck a match, lighting it with the awkwardness of being unfamiliar with the task. His book was open in his lap, and by the dim light he attempted to read. But he was reading the same sentence over and over again. Sighing heavily, he leaned closer to the wall, glaring up at the ceiling. He never thought his mother's death would effect him this way. They'd never been particularly close. But he missed her. And now the only way he saw her was dead and ghostly, in his dreams. Absently, he drummed his long, pale fingers against the wall, creating more noise than he realized.

Haha, that’s awesome~~
Still trying to get used to the territory, ^=^;;
Hahah, Gotham=Goddam=Goddamn? ^=^;;;;;;;;
300+


Amata awoke with a start, but what woke her was uncertain. She had had no nightmares, and so she was sitting up with that unquenchable curiosity. Despite the early hours of the night, the little girl was not tired—at least not at the moment. With sleep having been so recently disrupted, she felt quite awake, ready to explore another day. But the darkness of the house made a mutual understanding with the pup, and the hushed silence bid her to do the same. Quietly, the small puppy crawled out of bed, faling in a soft lump on the floor. A quiet, muffled squeak escaped the girl when she hit her nose, and her paw rose to rub. That had hurt! But she didn’t cry—the floor hadn’t meant to hurt her, and she was sure of it. Silently, the pup gave a solemn nodd to the floor before her dual coloured eyes turned out into the quiet, comfortable darkness of the rooms.


Her puppy’s paws and claws were quiet upon the floor, almost like the scuffling of a mouse. She was trying very hard not to wake Mamma or Dadda, or Cambi or, Goddam. Her eyes were caught suddenly by a soft glow—what was that? The creamy pup took off in a quiet prancing, her stubby limbs carrying her to her destination. The room smelled different, like flowers, but she didn’t see any. She only heard a scary drumming sound, but when she saw that it was only her Dadda, which made her very happy. Her fur was pretty like his. He was reading against the wall when she ran up to him. He looked not happy, and the small pup’s smile faltered. "Hi, Dadda!" she whispered in the dark, her stubby tail wagging slowly. "Whats yous doins?" Amata didn’t ask why Kansas seemed sad, although her puppy eyes grew sad with him.

Lmao!



He didn't realize until several minutes had passed that his drumming fingers had begun to hit the wall more violently, and the noise brought him out of his unpleasant reverie. He stopped his wildly-dancing fingers, the image of his mother's dead yet alive face fading from his mind's eye. He couldn't allow himself to think about it too much, or he had not chance of getting back to sleep until morning. And he had things to do the following day. In the spanse of quiet, he thought he heard a soft padding. His eyes strained in the distant darkness, and found the small shape of a child approaching. Oh, no. He'd awakened Amata. Frowning to himself, he shifted slightly to face her, feeling terrible for waking her up. But those startling eyes weren't exhausted - only curious.



Kansas's frown morphed into a lopsided grin. He patted his lap with one hand. "C'mere, sweetie." It was important for her to get her rest, but a few minutes with him wouldn't hurt. He rarely got to spend time with any one of his children alone, and he didn't like that. "I couldn't sleep. So I was reading a little." He laughed softly. Looking at Amata always left him feeling somewhat shocked. She was almost an exact replica of him, save for her one beautiful green eye. It amazed him that someone looked like him not by chance, but because that someone was a part of him. "Did I wake you? I'm sorry."

300+


When her dadda smiled, the girl smiled too, an immediate natural thing as if the father and daughter were speaking a silent language. Her tail wagged with more definition, and when her father invited her over, those stubby legs made choppy steps that slowly covered the distance despite their fast movements. She took a small leap into his lap, her back legs clawing lightly at her father’s thigh as she pushed herself up to sit with him. She sniffed nosily: her dad’s scent was a comfortable one. The dual coloured eyes looked up—she loved it when he called her sweetie. When her dadda explained that he could not sleep, the creamy daughter decided that that must be why he had seemed sad. Sometimes she was sad when she was tired and couldn’t sleep too—then she’d whine saying that she wouldn’t sleep and didn’t need to because it was time to play. But somehow sleep always took over. Maybe it was the same with grown ups too.


"Nos," she whispered, almost matter-of-factly, to her father’s question. "I wakes up by myself!" And she said it as if it were the grown up thing to do. She smiled up at him, her stubby tail wagging against his stomach. There was a brief silence as Amata’s gaze turned from her father’s face to the book. Sitting up, she leaned her paws on his knees. "What’s yous readin’, Dadda?" Her head tilted curiously as she watched the book as if expecting it to leap forward and play with her. Then, as it was with little children, she suddenly lost her footing and fell to the floor with a soft, muffled squeak. That hurt her nose! A quiet whimper came from her as her paws came to cup over her muzzle, big tears welling up in her eyes. But she didn’t cry even though it did smart.

Her little claws dug into his skin as she scrabbled into his lap, and he was surprised by their sharpness, wincing to himself. He kept a hand hovering above her back in case she lost her footing, rubbing between her shoulderblades when she had made it up onto his lap. A brow rose slightly; she told him she had awakened by herself. "Hmmm. Wow..." He smiled mildly, wondering with a bit of worry if she was having trouble sleeping for some other reason. At least she wasn't troubled by nightmares, he thought darkly. She was smiling a pretty smile—Kansas had trouble allowing his own issues to bother him as deeply as usual when his pups were happy.



He almost dropped the book as she lifted herself onto his knees; he shifted to hold it with one hand, placing the other onto her back for a moment to steady her. This was a book he hadn't read to them, one he'd just found the other day. "It's—" But before he could say, she had toppled toward the book and fallen to the floor, hitting her nose. He could have laughed because her fall was a result of her unwavering curiosity, but the soft squeak made him bite his tongue. Her eyes were full of pained tears. "Oh, Mata, it's okay," he said hesitantly. He still wasn't perfect in these situations. He lifted her carefully, licking her nose once. "There... there you go. Here," His legs stretched out in front of him, and he settled her above his knees, holding the book in front of her. "W-want me to read to you? This book is called 'The Yearling'..."

300+


Ow! She really wanted to hit the floor for making her hurt like that—it was not very nice of the floor! But her nose hurt and so she could only sit there with her paws on it to try and make the hurt go away. The giant, warm hands of her dadda picked her up. The blue and green eyes looked at her father’s face. He licked the pup’s hurting nose, and her sniffling stopped. It did feel better now, the pup thought, after that booboo kiss. Her tail wagged several times as she turned awkwardly in his hands to wipe her eyes on his fur. The sad little frown that had worked its way on her muzzle faded into a little smile. Only mammas and daddas could make hurts go away like magic. She was glad that she had fallen while her dad was there—otherwise she could have been hurt for a long time! "Thanks, Dadda," she said quietly, shy suddenly because that’s how hurting herself made her feel.


By the time her father had set her on his legs, the pain was already gone. Her tail wagged with sudden excitement as her eyes watched the book and the black marks that were all over the place like funny bugs. Remembering what mamma had said about the butterfly, the creamy girl was careful not to touch the pages, as if the black marks were indeed bugs and she did not wish to hurt them. "Yeah, yeah!" the pup exclaimed—she loved it when her dadda read to her. Her head turned back to look at him with a bright smile. She wondered what the story would be today—or tonight, she corrected herself. Turning back to the pages, she concentrated for a long time—or what seemed like a long time, for in actuality it was a mere moment—as she considered her father’s words. "Whats a ‘yewling’?" she asked, her tongue trying to pronounce that new word.

Kansas was always amazed by how easily wrongs could be righted with children. Amata had been deeply upset by her hurt nose, and a simple kiss had healed it as well as a bandage might. He was almost envious of her. He wished his pain could be mended by something as easy as a kiss. Her happily wagging tail thumped gently against his chest before she turned to wipe her eyes on his fur. He swept his thumb softly along the corner of first one eye, then the other, wiping away the bit of remaining moisture there. "You're welcome," he said with a warm smile.



The pain had subsided enough for her interest to return to the book, but she looked at the worn pages with caution. He was pleasantly surprised by her desire to be careful. Kansas sometimes worried that his pups grew bored of his frequent reading to them. But, at least for now, his pale daughter seemed interested. He half-hoped it would make her tired enough to want to go back to bed so she wouldn't lose too much sleep. But, of course, he was also delighted to have this time with her. He could have stayed awake for the rest of the night reading to her. Kansas turned and laughed into his shoulder at her pronunciation of "yearling," then cleared his throat and answered her swiftly. "A yearling is... a young deer. One that's a year old. This story's about a human boy who finds a yearling and takes care of it." He paused, waiting for her surely-imminent questions.

300+


The girl’s head turned back to look at her dadda, who had made a funny sound. At first, her face was made into an expression of curious surprise, but it swiftly melted into a lolling smile, her tail wagging as she gave a little giggle. Dadda is funny sometimes, the creamy pup thought silently, and she loved her dadda. When he continued to explain what that word meant and what the story was about, the creamy girl offered a little, "Oh," that was said with a noisy breath. Those blue and green eyes turned back to the book with those funny things on them that were like ants. For a moment, she just stared at it as if expecting to be enlightened. And then her eyes widened as if such an enlightening thing had been found, and she stared wide eyed at that book. "Why woulda human do that?" Of course, only a question came out.


Then the pup, who was always moving without the patience of one older, turned around and moved up closer to her dad’s stomach and sat up against it, her paws sticking up in the air as they folded comfortably against her arms. With her tummy exposed to the air, she pushed her head up against her dad’s fur, smiling up at him. She wiggled comfortably for several moments, as if rearranging his fur to make it more comfortable for her. "Hurry, Dadda!" she urged excitedly. "Before the ants gos aways!" It was as if she were vaguely convinced that those were ants that would move from the page. Then the story would be lost. But whether she wanted her dad to answer her question or read the story, she did not say. And maybe she didn’t know either. She just liked being there with her dadda.

of course, i can't find my copy of the yearling to refer to... >(



When her little face turned back to him, his throat warmed with fear that she had discovered his laughing at her. But either she didn't understand or was distracted by something about his expression, because she gave a mere smile that quickly transformed into a lighthearted giggle. He couldn't stop grinning at her. He wouldn't have ever wanted her to see him laughing at her, but he couldn't help it. She was just too much fun. He waited patiently for Amata to settle down on his lap and let him start reading, but, of course, she had more things to ask him. He snickered for a second, honestly not caring whether he spent the time reading to her or answering her endless questions. "Uh... well, because... it was a baby. Like you. But it didn't have parents, so he decided to take care of it. Humans did that, with animals." Why, he would never know for sure. Humans had all kinds of strange customs that Kansas couldn't begin to understand; much less could have explained.



She seemed to have made up her mind on how she wanted to sit with him, but it wasn't what he'd expected. He let her wiggle around until she was on her back, looking up at him upside-down. Kansas had to choke down another small bout of laughter. He tickled her tummy for a second and then spoke in a gentle voice. "Comfy, silly girl? Because you're right, I'd better start reading before the 'ants' run away."

Hehe, that’s okay!
And sorry for the wait~~
300+


She giggled and squirmed about when he tickled her tummy. It was a funny feeling on her tummy and she couldn’t help but move around. Her giggling, with that young, high voice, rose loudly and uncontrollably, and she forgot that it was nighttime and that nighttime was quiet time. But it was delightful in a way that made her want to get away, so as she laughed and wriggled like a worm that was poked, the creamy pup finally ended up with her tummy against her dad’s. With a playful growl and a small yip, she leapt at the hand that made those funny feelings happen, those puppy teeth chomping down on his thumb with more force than she realized. The playful snarls that squeaked from Amata were far from intimidating, and her smile and wagging tail were far from imposing. For a moment, she completely forgot the book that should be read before the ants went away. But he spoke and the puppy released her hold on him, those little ears picked up as those dual coloured eyes looked up at him, wide and excited. "Oh yeahs!" And then she plopped down again, rolling over and wiggling about so that she might duplicate the seat that she had taken before. With a final, contented sigh, the creamy girl settled down.


Then she remembered what her dadda had said. "So...." she began slowly, the word drawn out as if she were still contemplating the matter. "So, they didn’t eats it?" The large eyes looked back up at him, wondering openly at that. She knew that deer were supposed to be eaten because they were food like rabbits were food. It was strange. Maybe they ate it when it got bigger. But why didn’t the momma and dadda hunt the big food like her mamma and dadda did? "We don’t keep our food...." She looked back down at her paws, then back at the ants as if they held the enlightening answer to her question. But they were silent and it was as if the ants had paused, as if the ants were considering her question too.

Now worries, it wasn't much of a wait at all! <3
300+



The effect her laughter had on him was startling. He felt warmth deep in his chest as the volume of her joyful giggles rose; it felt so wonderful to hear her laugh with such intensity. He loved how he could so simply make her happy; he was beginning to learn that most children were like that. But it was different with his own. He felt accomplished when he did something that pleased them, even if Amata's snickers and snarles were more automatic than anything else. He finally laughed himself, his lips rising over his teeth to show his fangs in jest. He was a bit concerned that their nonsense would awaken the rest of their little family (or others in the house for that matter), but figured he could deal with it if anyone appeared from their rooms to chastise them. They were having too much fun.



Her wriggling had placed her against his lean belly, and he chuckled a little more loudly himself. But the sharp pressure on his thumb made his eyes snap open more widely and he "umphed" in surprise. "Hey!" he said playfully, removing his thumb from the trap, mouthing "ow" to himself. He was very surprised by how strong her jaws were already. Amata responded to what he had said primarily by settling into the position she'd chosen before. He flipped to the first page of the book and had his lips parted to begin reading when she pinned him with another question. With a smile, the boy rolled his eyes and then looked down at her. "You're just full of them, aren't you?" he said playfully.



"I think he didn't eat the deer because he grew to love it. It would be like if I decided to eat you," he said with a poke to her soft little chest. He cringed inwardly, hoping his words didn't frighten her in some way, that she could tell he was kidding.

End soon? ^=^
300+


When the creamy father spoke in protest, removing his thumb from her mouth, the girl looked up quickly, wondering if he was angry with her. But he did not seem to be angry, although, unable to know her own strength, she would not have been able to understand why he could have been angry, and so she smiled instead. As Amata settled down, she gave a little giggle. "Full of what, Dadda?" It never occurred to the pup that she was asking so many questions, so she wondered what she was full of. It couldn’t be food—she was not hungry or full at that time. Maybe she was full of fun, she thought suddenly, because she was having fun with her Dadda. It was nighttime too, so that made everything more fun, as if it were a secret or something.


She laughed quietly, her mind partially working on the first part of her father’s words. "You wouldns eats me, silly Dadda," she exclaimed, absently batting at the finger that had poked her. The young pup breathed noisily as she laughed. Her head was cocked at an awkward angle at this strange revelation. The blue and green eyes stared intently at the pages as she remained quiet, considering the ants on the page. "He loved his food?" the girl asked at length, still unable to comprehend that such a thing were possible. They were fun to watch, she admitted. But then, her young mind could understand the love part. "You wouldns eats me, so you love me, Dadda?" The little tail wagged slowly as she yawned. She sure loved her dadda, she thought sleepily. It was strange how swiftly sleep could come upon the pup. Shifting slightly, the girl looked up at her father, a little smile on her face. "Is not asks any more questions, Dadda," she said. "You cans reads now."

Sure! I's archive it nao.



Yes, their little midnight story time was something Kansas certainly would remember. Though it probably wasn't a secret - he would have been very surprised if Savina hadn't heard bits and pieces of their shenanigans by now. Maybe even the other little ones, too, though he'd discovered that they usually slept like rocks. For some reason, however, his little twin was the exception tonight. "Questions. But that's all right," he added reassuringly. He'd been a curious one as a child, too, though not quite as up front with it as Amata was. Maybe he should have been... maybe that would have formed him into a smarter man.



"Probably not," he agreed with another lopsided smile to his daughter. He was relieved to know that she'd seen the jest in his words. Her voice chimed again, the sweetness touching him in all his sensitive places. She settled down; he saw the new slowness to her wagging tail, the yawn that exposed her sharp little teeth and salmon tongue. Finally winding down. She gave him permission to begin reading, and, the book propped up so she could relax and still see its pages, he stroked the soft place between those stunning eyes. "Yeah, I love you, kid." And with that, he started to read about a boy in the wilds of some unknown and possibly imaginary place, knowing the child would be asleep before they got too far.