Never Grow Up

Sophie Hughes · 01-26-2012, 09:04 PM

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Word Count → 462 :: Out of Character text.

X'yrin agreed with her about the naughty special fur, and Sophie wrinkled her nose again. If she'd refused to take a bath, she bet Leon would spank her. Daire had never cared whether they were dirty or not, but since coming into the far more loving care of her siblings, Sophie had learned to take care of herself, and part of that was grooming. It was sort of fun, really, unless you were intentionally dirty. Then again, X'yrin made it sound like her friend was always getting intentionally dirty, and Sophie couldn't help but shoot a glance at Boothe, the corners of her mouth pulling up in a little grin. Yeah, she knew what that was like. Their bed was always covered in mud and other ick after he came home and dragged half the packlands in with him.

She could have continued down that trail of thought happily, and would have said something, too, but X'yrin cleared her throat suddenly and lifted her head, making both puppies snap to attention and look at her as though certain they were guilty of some discrepancy and were about to be punished. Her words did nothing to dissuade these thoughts, at least for a moment; and then, quite slowly, Sophie processed the kindly tone of voice and thought that perhaps their new friend was just worried.

"Um, no, they're not our parents." She said, and glanced at Boothe, seeing he was slowly becoming more closed off and looking somewhat bitter, the way he always did when he was about to be punished. Worried, she leaned over and nuzzled her nose into his shoulder, pressing her ears back and frowning at him. "But they are our c-...care...takers?" She hadn't heard the term before, always referring to the two as "My brother and the man we live with." She supposed that made sense, though; they took care of them. Smiling brightly at having learned a new word, she waved her tail hesitantly, and added even more uncertainly, "We left 'em at the arrow-shootin' range. I told Brother we were leaving, though. Puppies can't shoot arrows." She explained the last part hurriedly, and glanced at her brother, who was staring at his feet, still looking as though he were in trouble.

After a little nudge, Boothe glanced at her, and then looked up at X'yrin and away again, his tail curling around his feet. "Leon said not t'leave the fairgrounds. And we hasn't, really, right?" He scratched his claws through the snow, looking deeply ashamed of himself though why he couldn't quite be sure. They hadn't left the festival grounds; they were just on the outskirts, where all the people camped out and slept. He got the feeling this sort of didn't count, though.

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