WC 361
She laughed like a madwoman as they tipped and went tumbling to the floor. Sometimes she had the most fun when she was falling down. She heard the plate clatter and watched as the cake slid off and made a mess on the floor. Her ears fell back and she stared at the fallen comrade. Crestfallen, she mourned the cake for a moment before bursting into laughter again. She couldn’t feign the disappointment for long.
Accepting his proposal, she snatched half of the piece he offered her, “it’s okay. You eat it!” She cackled as she shoved the piece at him, smearing it on his face again before scrambling to her feet and bounding away from him. She crossed to the other side of the room and took up position behind the table. When Niro chased, she led him on a game of ring-around-the-rosy before he eventually sprang over the table and tackled her. Again the siblings crashed to the ground in a roar of laughter. This time, Orin didn’t get back to her feet or play any other dirty tricks. Eventually, their mirth ebbed to the soft afterglow that followed a silly play session.
“I bet we’ve woken the whole pack up by now,” she mused. “All the way up the Shattered Coast.” She hushed and listened for sounds of any fellow packmates within the Chien Hotel who may have been roused or angered by their games. But somehow no one seemed to stir; or at least if they had they forgave the Takekuro’s their games and did not come to chastise them.
“Hey, I’ve got a new story to tell you,” she said as she finally moved into a spot before the low-burning fireplace. “Want to hear it. . ?” And without waiting for his confirmation, she began the tale as Niro cleaned his face and sat down beside her. This time she told him about the legends a group of tribe-dwelling humans believed about their K-9 companions and the peculiar heaven they believed their pets went to, and how they must take part in helping them get there which typically involved a raven and a dais in the woods. It was a short story, for once, and it wasn’t long until they had drifted into idle conversation. Eventually they stretched out there on the floor, and in the warmth of the fading fire, the Takekuro siblings drifted off to sleep on the morning of their first birthday.
-End-