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It was a natural part of life, but the nature of the loss was hideous and coated her heart with a hurt she had not imagined was possible to live through. Yet she had to focus on the remaining good in her life; the remaining children. They needed their mother more than ever and she believed it were them that managed to pull her through the days. Chimera was far away and she trusted in the words Damian had spoken, believed that he was sorry for what had happened. In was not in the wispy white Altester of Clouded Tears to carry hatred within her fragile heart, but she knew that she could never forgive Syliat for taking the innocent lives of children. Her children.
The sun had barely begun to climb over the horizon by the time the petite form returned to the mouth of the family den, holding a fat rabbit firmly between her slim jaws. Sleep was hard to pursuit these days and she preferred keeping herself occupied so that she did not fall into the nightmares that had managed to escape the dream and nearly had destroyed her sanity. All wounds would heal eventually, this she knew, and the remaining three children helped this process immensely. Her mate was nowhere to be seen, but she was not troubled by his absence. A beta’s work load was heavy and they had both known this when he had stepped up to assist his ivory mother in leading the pack.
Lowering the dead prey to the floor coloured rich by the dead leaves that accompanied Autumn, Colibri Soul settled near the den entrance, knowing well that some of the early birds in the litter were bound to rise relatively soon to greet a new day. [/html]
[html] Laruku was, of course, curious about the sudden disappearance of half his littermates, but his parents had offered little explanation and seemed upset when prompted so he hadn't pushed it much. With his extremely limited grasp of death, he went on to simply assume that they were away for a while -- when they would be back, he couldn't say, but he did not question that they would be back. He knew they would be. Why wouldn't they? In the meantime, the den was much roomier, and he only had Maluki and Akeni to compete with for Mommy's attention (even though he knew already that he was her favorite).
Blue eyes opened wide in the dark of the den when the small hybrid heard footsteps outside. There were two fuzzy lumps next to him, but Mommy was not among them. Drowsiness disappearing in anticipation of crawling out of the hole first, the child clambered clumsily over his brother and scampered up the slight dirt incline and into the blinding sunlight, gathering momentum as he went. As such, he collided with a pair of white forelegs as soon as he cleared the entrance. Blinking stupidly in the colorful outside, he looked up with a sloppy grin. "Mornin'.
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And where had his siblings gone? His parents had been somewhat vague about their sudden absences, and it was unlike their family to be separate for so long. Acid had been away more than usual—though his father had become known for his sudden lapses in appearance—but as for his siblings, even Maluki, at just a few months of age, knew something wasn't quite right.
He chose to keep quiet, inevitably, for he found he would not be told more than what was necessary. Surely Acidica had been away with their father, though Maluki found he was not too concerned with his younger sister's whereabouts. Of them all, perhaps he liked her the least. Laruku, Akeni and himself were all that was left; Maluki's ear twitched to attention at the stir of his brother, though Akeni dozed on. Words came from outside the den, it being only then that the remaining Soul boy raised his head and noticed their mother also gone. Suddenly inspired with fleeting energy—much like every other morning, really—Maluki scrambled to his feet and skipped merrily from the innards of the den, a beaming smile stretched across his features as bright as the sun.
"Mama," he grinned, bouncing at her heels. His energy doubled that of his brother, especially for such early hours, and the eldest Soul brother dived next at the carcass in the leaves. He paused only to glance his father's green eyes at his mother once more, mouth stuffed to the brim: "Mummaw, when's Dad cummin' home?" [/html]
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The woman was not surprised when the first face appeared from the depths of the family den. A quick lick pursued the little boy as he collided into his mother’s front legs and said good morning. The little darling was irresistible, and she knew for certain that he was meant to be hers. Ivory tail danced about behind her pale form and she beamed just like her earthen hued son. ”Good morning, Laruku,” she breathed lightly, warmth radiating from her voice. ”Did you sleep well?” She leaned over the little thing, giving him a loving nuzzle.
Then, another face appeared from their home’s innards and the woman platinum eyes recognized the similar form of Maluki’s beaming face. The adult turned as he pounced on her heels, aiming to give him a little shove with her slender muzzle. It was amazing how much energy the children could possess mere moments after opening their eyes. ”Good morning, darling,” she said, greeting her first born son. The larger form of Maluki quickly moved over to the carcass before she could even mention it was there. A pallid smile remained on her slim lips, and the pain and loss was temporary forgotten as she watched the two children.
Her face turned back to Laruku. ”Would you like some breakfast before your brother eats it all?” she wondered, allowing a light chuckle to enter the cool morning air as she peered down at the boy. Turning to the green eyed boy, she could only guess. "Daddy will be home soon, Maluki, he's watching the borders so that no bad people can come here." Evil creatures like Syliat and the rest of Chimera. [/html]
[html] Wow! Who sucks at life! Moony sucks at life!
The boy returned his mother's warm greeting with a hundred little kisses, bouncing briefly onto his hind legs so she didn't have to lean down as far. "Yes!" he answered between excited licks, "Even though Akeni snores!" It was true. But mild annoyance at his sister was easily displaced by seeing the white wolfess because she was lovely and beautiful and sweet and always told him nice things and brought food. His father was fun to be around as well, certainly, but Laruku knew without a doubt that Colibri was his favorite person in the world and would be forever. Even still, he pulled back and turned suddenly as the sounds of other footsteps came out of the hole in the ground, followed by his big, fat older brother. The rival has appeared!
The still-blue eyed hybrid had vanished and reappeared at the other end of the rabbit by the time his mother could turn back to him. Little teeth tore somehow managed to tear off chunks of meat that were far too large, and yet he dove into the flesh and fur with such frevor that the pieces were small enough by the time he paused to actually swallow. He bit onto a long strip of meat that pulled up and caught onto a bone or something at the other end of the rabbit, where Maluki was. Instinctively, the boy growled and tried to detach the piece. Unfortunately, the strip was longer than he was tall, so he dug his feet into the ground best he could and pulled with all his weight, dimly aware that this endeavor would likely end with him rolling backwards a few times when the strip inevitably pulled free. [/html]
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"I won't eat it all!" he whined, squinting his eyes at both his brother and mother, but perked his ears and brightened instantaneously when his mother's attention returned. It was fairly often that Maluki forgot of an outside world that lay beyond Clouded Tears borders; there was simply so much to see and do within the packlands that, often enough, he simply forgot he could do much else. However, the boy was an adventuring scamp; though young, he had been scolded numerous times for pushing his adventures far from the dungeon and past the territory lines. Though Clouded Tears, for the time being, occupied his time generally well enough, his curiosities of the outside world were beginning to broaden. Where he got his sense of adventure, he didn't know.
All Maluki knew was that someday he wanted to see it all—and nothing was going to hold him back from that. Nothing.
"Bad people?" he mumbled, then swallowed what was in his bulging cheeks. "Is Akeni bad for snoring so loud?" He snickered a little, then clamped down on the meat once more—something tugged within his mouth, and inevitably he chomped down to halt it. His brother, on the other end of the long strip of meat, pulled relentlessly and dragged his chubbier older brother straight into the rabbit itself. Maluki growled and, stepping in the meat without second thought, dug in his claws and pulled with his neck just as forcefully, regaining ground behind him. Inevitably, that strip would snap. [/html]
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It was a blessing to listen to their extreme innocence. They knew nothing of the harsh reality of life that waited for them out there the young mother wished for nothing more than to shield them away from the horrible truths forever and always. A loving chuckle was released as Laruku’s comment about Akeni led to a peculiar question from Maluki. She could have pointed out that the boys weren’t always silent sleepers themselves, but her daughter was not here to hear this, so she found it was best to remain quiet. ”No, she is not,” she softly uttered, though found it impossible to insert a firm tone in her voice. ”It’s just the way she sleeps. Daddy snores too!”
Silky paws shifted as she observed her two sons and the poor meat between them. A snow white ear pulled back in quiet wonder, for she could not imagine herself at their age. Colibri wished to be able to give them everything that her mother had not; wished to be able to give them a childhood full of love and warmth. There would be no monsters here. Already she had failed at the task of protecting all of her children, but she would not abandon those who still lived. ”Be careful, boys,” she softly breathed as the two puppies started their tug o war with the meat. She believed she knew the end results. [/html]
[html] "'Reggo Marurri!" Laruku snarled between clenched teeth, his little face scrunched up into a more ferocious expression than he was really feeling. This always happened, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to always fight. "Yer fat rrnough ahrready!" His brother pulled forcefully, and so the younger hybrid retaliated with a sudden jerk back, hoping to catch the other by surprise. His forepaws her pushing away at the dirt and grass under the rabbit, which gave him a firmer grip on the ground than if he had stuck his feet onto the carcass itself. His hind feet were even more firmly planted, and each step he tried to take back, he dug them in at a harder angle, determined, at the very least, to be in possession of the larger strip of meat when all was said and done. [/html]
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And just like that, it snapped—caught off guard, the bundle of fur that was Maluki went tumbling backward, head over heels, and stopped only when he landed, with a terrific splat, in the greatest puddle of mud neighboring the family den. He lay there, dizzied, for a few blessed seconds before pushing his small, little body to his haunches; mud wriggled between his toes, between his teeth, boiling at his tongue. He simply dripped of it, his belly and legs coated in it, the fur at his chin and stomach oozing the foul, thick concoction.
Little Maluki sniffed, sitting in that cold, awful puddle of mud, and then raised his muzzle into the air and began whining miserably, little tears at his little eyes, altogether making the most pathetic and heartbreaking of sniffling and gurgling noises in his humiliation. [/html]
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