The morning sun began to shine bright and early, though there were no windows for the light to creep into the small girl had risen in tune with the light that she knew so well. Her little ribbon wrapped tail beat happily against the sands of the shore as she stood on the bare beach, the sky threatening to rain down and ruin her parade but for the moment there was nothing to stop her from venturing forth and trying once more to find her father. She'd learned that the group was not a pack like where she'd been raised but a clan, she thought it strange to call themselves a different name when they clearly seemed to work the same way but such thoughts were not for a child to ponder on long so instead she raced down the beach barking and yipping at the seagulls that would fly away and land down the beach a distance, just giving her time enough to sniff about before racing further after the flock again. The birds were annoying and squabbled all the time, they'd woken her from her sleep and she wanted to make certain they knew that she didn't like their wake up call.
It took the small child longer than expected to begin to become worn out as she sat there panting and glaring up at the birds. They didn't even seem to be bothered at all by the actions of the child and she thought that was pretty rude of them not to even care that she wanted them to think before arguing so loudly while she slept. Snorting at the stupid birds she bared her little fangs, her paws working at the sands, she still wanted to get at the flying nussances but it was so much work on her little legs and they didn't seem to care at all. Life just wasn't fair, but she'd get them one day, yes she would. Zana promised herself that, one day she would get the stupid birds back for interupting her sleep that moring.. somehow.
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He was settling into this new territory, getting used to belonging to a clan and not just wandering like a gypsy. The fur was growing back on his arm but slowly, and he still hid the damaged skin underneath a black cloth as he studied his territory. The morning sun made the dew glisten as he moved from the center back towards the beach. He had barely reached the sand when the sound of tiny barks hit him. Indigo eyes looked for the source before the wind shifted and carried the scent to him. A child, naturally, female and- oh, there she was. Small and cute as a button, like most children. The coyote hybrid was not especially attached to children, but he would not deny their cuteness. She had a ribbon wrapped around her tail, similar to his arm wrapping.
Gig stepped forward, combing a finger absently through his loose hair. Normally he'd have it tied back, but it was early yet. He'd barely been awake for an hour. He approached her from the side, not wanting to startle her, and crouched down. 'Hello,' he started, the edges of his mouth twitching slightly. Giggle didn't smile often. He settled down, crossing his legs. 'What's a little girl like you up to out here?' [/html]
Zana had been sitting there waiting for the birds to come closer, her pretty little orbs glaring at them as her breath slowly began to return to her once more. She decided then that she would get to the birds later, the soft sands beneith her feet were calling to her more than her revenge on the pesty seagulls. She would have her revenge, but she could wait.. atleast until the sands let her be.
She dug her small paws into the sands as she smiled to herself, she was going to dig herself a nice little den all to herself. She'd make it such a large and glamourous den that the rest of the clan would be jealous and want it all to themselves. She wasn't getting very far, really. She had sand flying everywhere and yet she just had a small hole that kept refilling with more and more sand. The cursed sand was just as mean as the gulls she thought crossly as she sat in the middle of her 'den' and sighed.
Suddenly a voice found it's way into her den and the little one's large ears scooped at the noise as she turned her lavender orbs towards the stranger. She blinked once as she tried to puff up her little chest and address the stranger with the bright splash of strange fur on his nose. "S'ana no ups to anyfing! She making bestest den ebber!" she declared as she eyed the male. Out of nowhere it seemed she threw out a strange yet true remark. "yous face look funneh" Of course he looked funny, anyone would have thought such a color on any creature was strange enough. She smiled up at the stranger, not even thinking to ask just who he was.
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The orange-furred child looked up at him. Giggle noted her lavender-coloured eyes, pretty and unusual. She spoke, puffing up her little chest, and he grasped his knees for balance. 'The best den ever, eh?' Indigo eyes moved down to the small hole. 'Would you like some help, perhaps?' Just in case she did, he shifted, settling down on his knees. The girl, Zana, spoke again and he blinked, surprised at the blunt remark. 'Yes, it does,' the hybrid agreed, rubbing his thumb down his muzzle.
Again he noticed her ribbon tied tail, and now being closer could determine that her tail was mostly furless. 'That's a nice bow you have,' He started, curious now as to why she would be missing her fur. 'What happened to your tail?' Had she been born that way? His own fur problem would fix itself to some degree-- he had done a sloppy job in the cutting, and would have bald patches always to commemorate it. Not very good in winter, save for his black cloth. He looked down at the pup. 'My name is Giggle. It is nice to meet you, Zana.' [/html]
She nodded seriously as she went back into her hole to trying to pull sand out of her hideaway. She would need a perfect little den one day, she hadn't seen a million little cottages like the ones that were scattered across the lands where the monster lived. When the male with the strange patch of fur asked if she wanted help she narrowed her pretty little eyes and asked. "Yous tink I no can do its.. because is widdle girl, wight?" Zana was little and she was a girl and she'd already heard too much about pretty little princesses and how all the boys would be after her when she got older. Well, Zana wasn't gonna let any ol' boy catch her.
..but of course Zana was still young and easily distracted. When the male pointed out her pretty ribbon and bow and asked about her tail she pouted and turned her head away in a snobby manner. She wrapped the beribboned ratlike tail around her side and tried to hide it as best as possible with her hindleg. Pawing at the sands she grumbled. "Monstwer threw me in fires.." she said honestly. She didn't like thinking about the fires but it looked like she had to today.
Flicking the fluffy tip of her tail back and forth she lowered her eyes as she smiled shyly. "Nice meet yous.. Giggles?" And like a command she giggled at saying his name, who wouldn't. side and sat her hindleg down ontop the whole thing.
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He watched her attempts, slightly amused. She was too little to gain the momentum needed to push the sand away, to keep it from falling back in. At her words he shook his head slowly, leaning forward to be on eye-level with her. 'Oh, no, it's not that at all.' He had never associated gender with ability. Hell, his sister was a dynamo and she was a young thing herself. 'The sand is very quick though-- you'll not get anywhere unless you push away all the extra stuff, first,' the coyote explained, demonstrating by clearing away the extra sand to reveal a mostly flat layer. 'It gets more compact if you get deeper, and that's the easy stuff to dig at.' Loose sand was still falling into his small, quickly forming hole, and he huffed and pushed it back away. Sand holes took forever to make. 'See, it's not like dirt- so it's very difficult to make a big hole in.' He realised he was rambling again.
Shutting up, he looked back to the child, to hear her speak again. A monster through her into the fires? 'That doesn't sound good,' he replied, and held up his own arm. 'I wasn't thrown into a fire, per se... but you and me are alike.' Giggle carefully unwrapped his cloth, revealing the patchy, furrless skin. 'See? I'm missing fur on my arm.' After a moment he rewrapped it; the cold air was none too pleasant against the bare skin. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, not a smile but close enough. It dropped when she started to giggle, but he didn't comment, not going to harass a child for laughing at something as silly as his name, especially when the name itself commanded one giggle at it.
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She stopped attempting to dig when he started to speak again, her eyes watching as he started to make the hole correctly. Her round little lilac eyes took in everything he did but she didn't comment. She was a proud little number and didn't want to admit or be told she had been doing everything wrong. Instead she began to paw at the sands, watching how they softly just reshifted under her paws, showing that the sands were a sly and tricky substance that she would have to learn to control. She narrowed those orbs at the sands before shifting her eyes back up to the male before her. "I will make it a big hole!" she declaired, she would too, once he got out of her little hole. She would work and work until it was a large hole where she could hide away from monsters.
It seemed Giggle wanted to talk more than help her with her den as she began to try and dig and push sand around the male while he continued to chatter on. Lifting her tiny face up, sand sitting on the bridge of her nose she blinked at the bandaged leg he was showing her as she tried to hide her little tail again. "Not alike!" she pouted. She doubted that he was grumbled and growled at every day after he'd been injured. She had had a constant angry shadow looming over her and hissing at her every step she made. Zana finally looked at the hairless leg that he was showing her and whined. "Did a monstwer get yous too?" she asked suddenly. Was there really a monster in Inferni too..
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He would admit kids were not his strong suit. He didn't understand them at all. The coyote lifted his hands away from the sand, not sure if he should continue to help her or let her figure it out on her own. He inclined his head slightly when she spoke, nodding slowly. 'Yes, you will,' he agreed, eying the minimal progress she was making. Why the child had picked the beach of all places! Hopefully the tide wouldn't come up this high. It'd destroy any semblance of a hole she'd made. The sky was overcast as well, threatening to wash away the den and possibly the child too. 'Want my help?' he finally asked, drumming his fingers on his knee.
Giggle was taken aback by her reply, but didn't say anything. Oh, kids were confusing. A moment later she spoke again, this time questioning him about a monster. A monster? Well, hell, Etcetera wasn't that bad and he had burned the fur off himself. 'No, it wasn't a monster.' He tried to reassure her, recalling what she'd said earlier again. She seemed fixated on that topic. Had she been attacked by someone? He looked at her curiously. 'Zana... what kind of monster attacked you?' he asked, hesitant to make her think about something that traumatized her but still curious. He shifted his weight and glanced at the sky before looking back to her, hoping the sky would hold out long enough for them to finish their conversation, at least.
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Zana was so easily distracted between the male and the flying sands that her progress really was getting nowhere. She was having the time of her life trying to make her own little den though and that was all that mattered. In time she'd discover that it really wasn't as fun as it seemed and she'd either fall asleep or give up and go find something else to do. When Giggle asked again if she wanted his help she pouted slightly but moved over slightly, giving him space to work as she pushed her sand far away from the hole and then went back to making it bigger by worrying at the sides. "Ohtay.. you cans helps I guess." She was so strange but who could blame her, there was a whole beach to play with and this guy wanted to be taking up the space right next to her. He sure was weird.
Her little nose poked out of the sands as she stopped digging for a moment and blinked at the other member. She frowned slightly as he asked about her monster. She shuffled her paws back and forth and spoke down to the sands when she finally did answer. "Monstwer big and golwden swilver. Always growling and snapping.. Dabi and Jebbers nice though.. but theys weren't always there. Monstwer always there." She sniffled to herself as she thought of the monster and the frightening nightmares that had followed the day she'd been thrown in the fire. She couldn't come to the point of outright admitting or even realizing yet that the monster was infact her mother but it didn't matter to the puppy, she wasn't there. Her personal monster was far far away.
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ooc; we should probably wrap this up soon (:
She allowed him space to creep in next to her, and so he did, watching her for a moment before he looked back to the den. After a moment Giggle methodically began to dig out the sand, first clearing away as much of the dry, loose sand as he could. He dug his fingers into it, and began pulling it away slowly, not wanting to completely take over the child's project, just help her get far enough to dig by herself. The sky was still threatening to rain, and to wash away any signs of progress the coyote child had made. Giggle peered up at the clouds and back down, scratching his chin absently. 'Careful of the rain, it'll ruin it,' he said, resuming his digging.
So the monster was gold and silver and snarly and snapping. A wolf? A coyote? Something canine-ish. She named a few names, but they were completely unfamiliar and sort of babbled, so he ignored them. The hybrid was no therapist and he was done prying into the private life of the child. He looked down to the hole and saw that it was deep into the damp sands that would stick together and form walls. He withdrew his hands and patted down the edges, smoothing them down as he watched the orange colored girl.
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She could hear his paws digging close at hand as she worked her way through the damp sands further into the small hole. Her ears flicked back and forth as the soft rumble of thunder seemed to echo from above. She paused in her digging and pulled her head out from the hole as Giggle announced to watch out for the rain. She frowned and turned her sandy face back to the male as she said simply. "But I can't stops the rain.." She frowned at the idea of the rain ruining her new home but suddenly she just sighed and decided. "The rain can has it if it wants.. who would wanna live so close to those awful loudmouth birdies anyways.." She really didn't want to lose her new den but if it came down to it she'd have her excuse for abandoning it already.
She moved back into the den and pushed more sands out of it as Giggle began to pat down the edges. She dug until she was able to hide under her small roof and turn little circles in the small den, which wasn't saying much for her size, but she was growing still. She crept out from under the cover of her den and shook the sands from her fur before turning her happily shining eyes back to the older male and saying softly. "Thank yous for helping me.. Giggle.." She still couldn't help smiling at his name, but she could get away with it, she was a cute little puppy after all.
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He looked down at her little orange face, amusedly. The den was really starting to look like a den, and he feared for a moment his big mouth had turned her off from her project. 'I'm sure they're not always so loud,' the Discens commented, but was pleased to see she didn't stop but picked up again. Giggle stepped back to give her some more space. Before his indigo eyes she disappeared under the ground and then reappeared a second later, indicating the den was appropriately sized. At least, for the moment; children grew so very quickly.
She thanked him, smiling, and he looked down abashedly. 'Oh, no problem, Zana.' He stood up then, brushing the sand out of his grey fur. 'If you ever want any help, with the den or... anything,' like internal monsters, external being a little out of the wimp's grasp, 'just call for me.' The hybrid stood there, awkwardly, for a moment more, before signaling the child with a little wave and turning to wander away, back to the mansion where he lurked most of his time.
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She couldn't believe her ears when the male spoke of the annoying birds. She shook her head, her eyes wide as she tried to get him to understand how horrible they really were. "Noooos, they wakes me wif screams and yelling and.. they is stupid loud bwirds." she just said suddenly with a nod like it didn't matter what Giggle thought. She knew the birds were horrible, he'd figure it out sooner or later if he stuck around, but she wasn't going to just let it keep going on and on. She'd get those stupid birds one day.
When the male decided to leave she watched him go, her little tail wagging at his wave goodbye before she turned around and went back in to investigate her little den. Atleast for a little while she'd have a happy little hideaway but the rain was rumbling overhead and she wasn't going to sit out in her little sand pile and wait for the world to crumble around her. She let out a large yawn before she shook the sands from her pelt and raced across the sands, disrupting the seagull's bickerings as she ran ahead of the sands towards Gabriel's den.
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