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They don't tell you what to say
when your whole life has gone to hell.
Siobhan had been a great help when Ryan had needed to dig a den and she thought of the little girl every time she and Val wandered out to play and Ryan happened to look upon it. Before the pregnancy, Ryan had stayed inside the cave and stored all of her belongings inside. Instincts had told her she needed a den and so she had dug it right outside of the caves. She was glad that she had, now that Valkyrie was born. All of their belongings were stashed either safely inside the den or the cave. It was perfect.
Valkyrie was out playing by herself, smelling and exploring through young and naïve eyes. Ryan sat next to the den with cloth in her hands, working on a new dress for herself. She paused every few minutes to watch Valkyrie play, finding some central feeling of peace whenever she did. There was a love for her daughter that nothing could ever seem to top.
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He wasn't entirely certain why he had felt the urge to make the long trek to Inferni today. It wasn't a particularly nice day. Though the rain had stopped and the sun was more often than not peeking out from behind the clouds. He did miss Siobhan. It had been a couple weeks since he had last seen her. Since they were all getting older, his brother and sisters didn't play together quite so much, simply because they didn't see each other as much. They were all off doing their own thing and he was just as guilty of that as any of them. Lots of the time Mati was with Simon. While he had a better opinion of the other boy than he first had, he couldn't help but still feel a little jealous.
The orange youngster stood out starkly against the white backdrop of the world. The borders of the clan weren't too far away now. He was still mostly unaware of how unfriendly those that lived here could be. Still, something inside him told him not to vocally announce his presence whenever he came. It was better to spot or be spotted he thought. As he reached that invisible line, there was no sign of his white fluffy friend. That was a little disappointing and his tail drooped slightly. Soon though he was distracted by something off in the distance. A smaller pup than he was out playing. A large smile grew on his maw as he slowly walked toward her, tail swaying from side to side. "Hi!" he called out lightly.
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They don't tell you what to say
when your whole life has gone to hell.
Valkyrie looked up and much to her surprise she spotted a reflection of herself. Or so, it seemed. Yet this reflection was much larger and slightly more orange colored, but Valkyrie smiled nonetheless. She hadn’t had the opportunity to meet anyone else who was of a similar age. Of course, she was not yet a month and Haven was clearly several, but Val was so used to all the adults that her thin tail instantly began to sway. "Hiii," she responded, bounding towards the older boy. The excitement in her bones was overpowering. "Who’ah you?" She asked, stopping a few feet away from him and wagging her tail rather furiously now.
Just as before, Ryan failed to notice right away that there was anyone else present. Instead, she was too wrapped up into the steady motion of sliding the needle through the fabric. Her dress wouldn’t take too much longer to complete, she hoped. And the excitement of having something new compelled her to work diligently at her dress.
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His smile broadened as the smaller girl greeted him and bounded towards him. It was strange meeting someone even smaller and younger than him. It was even stranger to think that not that long ago he was that size. Haven laid down before her so that she or anyone passing by wouldn't think he wanted to do her any harm. He lowered his head to look her right in the eyes. "My name's Haven! What's yours?" The boy didn't bother to look for parents around. They were surely close by. And even if they weren't he couldn't fault her for wandering away, especially considering where he was right now!
"Do you know someone who lives here named Siobhan? She's a friend of mine." Maybe if she did know the coyote girl all three of them could play together. That would be fun! Of course the idea of protecting someone was always appealing to him as well. That urge was especially strong he found with the small pup.
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They don't tell you what to say
when your whole life has gone to hell.
"My name’s Valkree," she informed Haven with a smile. She didn’t worry about talking to a stranger now, as her mother had warned, since he was just another youngster like her. Surely he couldn’t do her any harm. "I don’t know no Shivon. Just me an’ mumma," she turned her nose in the direction of Ryan, "over there." She cocked her head to the side as she looked back towards Haven, studying the one white colored ear and those gorgeous green eyes. She was used to her mother’s deep red, and wondered what her own looked like. She tried looking for her reflection in the ocean once, but the waves made it nearly impossible to get a clear picture. For now, unknown to Val, her eyes were colored a baby blue that would eventually develop into something else. Haven’s were so pretty, she wished she could have had pretty jade eyes like him.
"D’you live here? D’you wanna play?" Valkyrie eagerly wanted the boy to reply with a confirmation, as she had yet to discover another playmate closer to her age. Haven, though considerably bigger, seemed like the perfect candidate to the small Inferni girl.
Ryan looked up and noticed that Valkyrie was no longer alone. It was someone whom the woman had never seen before, yet she didn’t feel alarmed. The young male seemed fairly harmless enough, and though Ryan was almost positive he wasn’t an Inferni member (he was a wolf, after all) she didn’t feel any need to throw him outside of the borders. Instead, she just watched for a few moments, curious to see her daughter interact with someone closer to her own age. At the same time, it tugged at Ryan’s heart. How happy Valkyrie would have been had Gabriella lived…
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He liked her name. It was very interesting. Almost sounded like some mythical creature or hero. "It's nice to meet you Valkyrie!" His growing-bushier tail swept at the snow covered ground beneath it. He wasn't too surprised that she didn't know Siobhan. She probably hadn't met too many people yet, being so young. As she mentioned her momma and nodded back behind her Haven raised his head to look. A female coyote sat not too far away working on some kind of project it looked like. Smile turned somewhat sheepish and his ears dipped lightly. "Hi," he called out to her. "I'm just visitin'. I'm from Crimson Dreams." The older femme didn't seem alarmed, but he didn't want her to worry.
At the smaller pup's question he gave her a toothy grin, tail wagging even harder. "No, I don't live here, but I'd love to play with you!" He was always up for some kind of game or another. "Did you have a certain game in mind? Maybe your mom could play with us too." He had always liked to play with his mothers.
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They don't tell you what to say
when your whole life has gone to hell.
"Hello there," Ryan responded, pleased that the boy had introduced himself as a member of Crimson Dreams and revealed no foul intentions. Of course there was the possibility that he was lying, but Ryan didn’t even consider that. Instead, she was just happy that for now her daughter had found someone to play with.
"I don’t know lots of games," Valkyrie admitted to Haven. Sometimes she and her mother would play hide and seek, but other than that, Val was usually left to her imagination. Ryan would tell Val stories at night about magical things, and so sometimes Valkyrie would pretend she was kept hidden away in a room of the mansion and a handsome young boy would have to come rescue her. Of course, those games never got really far. She had no one to pretend to be the boy, so mostly she would have to hide in the cave and imagine that her prince charming was there to rescue her. "What games d’you know? Mumma can play, too," Valkyrie agreed, nodding her head.
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For some reason I keeping imagining an alternate universe where he is lying XD
He wondered if there were many pups here in Inferni. There was Siobhan he knew, and now Valkyrie, but were there others? Maybe there weren't and that's why she hadn't gotten to play many games. Or it could just be because of her age. Apparently she didn't have any siblings. Haven tried to think of what his life would have been like without his brother and sisters. The thought was no comforting and it made him sad. It might not be so bad if you never knew what it was like to have siblings, but from his perspective it was unbearable. They didn't always get along, true, but being completely without them would have been so lonely.
"Well, I know quite a few games. There's things like hide-n-seek, or the question game, or imaginary stuff. There's wrestling too, but I think I'm a little too big for that." Better to say that he was too big rather than she was too small. He knew how to be gentle of course, but he didn't want to risk it and surely her mother didn't either. "Do any of those sound good to you? I could try and think of some others if they don't." If nothing else he was an imaginative boy. No doubt he could think of something to do that they would all enjoy.
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They don't tell you what to say
when your whole life has gone to hell.
"Wha’s the question game?" Valkyrie asked, tilting her head to the side in an inquisitive manner. She had never heard of it, and was sure she had never played it before. Of course there was hide and seek or using their imaginations to create some great play of another life, but those were both things she had done before. She was excited for something new, and so this idea intrigued her.
Ryan watched the two curiously, wondering how they would get along. The boy seemed fairly decent to her, and Ryan decided she would join the two. She went over towards them, and settled herself onto the ground. She folded her legs beneath her like a pretzel and spread the fabric of her dress with her fingers. "What are you two up to?" She asked them both with a warm smile.
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*is procrastinating homework. it's what I do best!*
His tail beat against the ground, sending little flakes of snow into the air. The question game was one of his favorites. "The question game is where someone asks someone else a question and they have to answer it. Then the person who answered asks someone else a question and they have to answer it. It just goes on and on like that." Not only was the game fun but it could also be very informative. Haven loved playing games and loved learning things, so it was the perfect game for him. Maybe if he was lucky he could even teach Valkyrie some things!
The Crimson Dreams youngster was glad to see her mother come over to join them. The more the merrier! "I think we were about to play the question game if Valkyrie wants to. You can ask me the first question Valkyrie, if you want." He figured once they got the game going they could switch up who they wanted to ask questions. It might get boring if she always asked him, maybe she'd want to ask her mother stuff too. Either way he was sure they'd all have fun and get to know each other.
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They don't tell you what to say
when your whole life has gone to hell.
Valkyrie wasn’t sure exactly how this game went, even after Haven offered an explanation, but she figured she wanted to give it a try anyways. "Yeah, let’s play. You guys ready?" And then the little girl thought for a moment, muttering, "Hmmm," while she tried to think of a good question for either of the two before her. "Alright," she started, looking Haven with a grin, "what’s your favorite color?" She was proud that she had come up with a good question, but she could only hope that it was what was expected of her in playing this game.
As a child, Ryan couldn’t ever remember playing a game this like. It did sound rather interesting though, and she figured it would give her an opportunity to maybe learn more about her own daughter. She looked towards the boy from Crimson Dreams once Val asked him her question, and wondered what his answer would be.
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He was pleased the game sounded satisfactory to the smaller girl. Already proud that he had managed to introduce her to something new, even if it was only a silly game. He wondered if this is how his mothers and the other packmembers felt when they taught he and his siblings stuff. He watched Valkyrie with a smile on his face as she thought up a question. His favorite color? Honestly he had never thought about it before, but now he needed to! "Well, lemme see..." Haven looked up to the sky, running all the colors he knew through his head. "I'd have to say my favorite color is gold!" Whenever he thought of himself as a knight he imagined he had shiny gold armor.
Jade eyes turned to Val's mother. "Your turn!" Hmmm, what should he ask her? "What's your name?" It wasn't the most interesting or exciting question, but he didn't know it. It seemed silly to be playing the question game and not ask her for it seeing as he didn't know it. It was polite too.
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Sorry for this horrible wait! :3[html] http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j40/k ... ump/08.png); background-position: top center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
Ryan smiled as the boy divulged his favorite color – gold. Ryan thought about it, thinking of the first thing that popped into her head. She couldn’t help but frown a bit when she realized the first thing she thought of related to DaVinci. The golden rings in his ears was the first image to materialize. She scoffed inwardly, but her thoughts were broken once Haven turned his attention on her.
"My name? Well, that’s an easy one." She offered them both a big grin as she responded, "Ryan Seton de le Poer. Seton is my mom’s last name and de le Poer is my dad’s." There, questioned answered. "Hmmm," she hummed, trying to decide who her victim would be. Logically, she would have decided to pick Val for sake of keeping the circle going, but she decided to shake things up and turn the questioning back onto the Crimson Dreams boy. "So Haven," she began with a grin, "where’s your favorite place to play?" Maybe his answer would even give Ryan some ideas where to take Valkyrie for some adventures. Meanwhile, Valkyrie made an audible squeal of excitement.
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Gold was a regal color in his mind. It was the color of the metal part of the crown that he and his momma Nani had found in the castle. Plus he thought that the bright color matched his pelt quite well. Much better than silver did. Though silver would look better on some of his other siblings. Maybe some would think gold was too gaudy for the kid with the already unusual pelt, but he didn't think so. Showing off was never his agenda and if people thought that he was trying to do that he'd be more than happy to prove them wrong.
Hmmm, Ryan. That was a nice name. Simple. Though now that he thought about it was there really anyone he had met that he didn't like their name? Who would really dislike someone else's name anyway? It's not like they had to live with it and if the person liked their name then who cared. He certainly didn't. Ah, so it was to be his turn again. That was fine, it would get boring if they just went in a circle. Besides he was the one they didn't know. It only made sense they would ask him a lot of questions. "Hmmm, that's a tough one. There's a lot of places I like to play." Burnt orange tail twitched as he tried to think of the best place. "The Ethereal Eclipse is pretty cool. There's so many trees, it almost feels magical."
With sparkling jade eyes he turned back to the young girl. "Your turn Val! What's your best memory?" She might not have many to choose from, but Haven had had good memories already by that age.
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Ethereal Eclipse. Yes, that made sense. It was an area right outside of Crimson Dreams' borders and a place that Ryan had wandered through on several different occasions. It was a beautiful area and Ryan could see why Haven described it as being nearly magical. "Oh, good choice!" She turned her smile onto her daughter, whom Haven decided to ask the next question of. The orange youth had picked a good one. It was an answer that even Ryan didn’t know, and she was eager to find out.
The little girl smiled up at Haven when she knew it was her turn. Grinning widely, she responded with the best memory she had had so far. "When mommy brought me to the beach!" She nodded her head, picturing the sparkling ocean and almost hearing the drone of the waves crashing on shore. "The first time! ‘Cause it was so perdy."
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The Aatte boy smiled broadly as Ryan said that Ethereal Eclipse was a good choice of a place to play. He certainly enjoyed going there. It had been especially nice in the winter. With the dense tree cover he was able to escape the deep snow and cold rains that had plagued the lands for so long. He was so glad that spring was finally coming. He had been born at the very end of fall and so he had never experience warm and sunny weather. It would no doubt make great traveling weather. Much, much better than snow and cold.
"The beach, huh? That sounds nice! I've never really been to a beach before." When his mother and him had visited the castle to the south they had been near the ocean, but hadn't actually gone to a beach. From his memory he didn't even know if there was a beach there with how tall and rocky the ground was. The little girl had forgotten to ask a question, but that was ok! She was just learning the game after all. "Who did you want to ask a question to Valkyrie? Me or your mom?"
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This will be the first time Val has heard of the word 'dad'. :o[html] http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j40/k ... ump/08.png); background-position: top center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
The little girl was beaming back at Haven once he had commented that he thought the beach sounded nice. And it was! Valkyrie loved going there, since she wasn’t allowed to go very far from Inferni. Once she was older and able to really explore the various territories, she was sure to find more adventure. But she had a feeling there would always be a place in her heart for the quiet coastline.
"Ohh, whoopsie," the little girl chimed, having forgotten all about her turn to ask someone a question. "Mommy," she started, turning to face Ryan. "Why you so sad?" Though very young, naive, and innocent, the girl had picked up on Ryan’s recent increase in sadness. She had no idea that the cause of this sadness was their recent run in with DaVinci.
Ryan, surprised by Valkyrie’s question, almost let her face slip. But she managed to hold herself together. How had her daughter known? She offered a lighthearted laugh as she tried to respond, "Well darling…" But she wasn’t sure what to say. She really couldn’t explain things so that a little girl would understand. She started again, "That man we met, DaVinci, is a friend of mine. And mommy was just sad because she doesn’t get to see him often." Well, there, that was close enough to the truth, wasn’t it? In order to move on, she turned to Haven so that she could ask a question. "Umm, let’s see. Who are your mom and dad?"
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[html] Oh snap! The first time Haven heard it it wasn't quite as traumatic as I thought it might be XD
The pumpkin boy couldn't help but issue a little chuckle at Valkyrie's antics. She was so cute! He wondered if that was the way he had looked when he was that size. Except, you know, he was a boy. And not the same color. Well, what he was thinking is if that was what his actions and stuff had looked like. That was a more clear statement. At the small girl's question his jade eyes also turned to Ryan. She hadn't seemed particularly sad to him, but he knew how easy it was for kids to tune into their parent's emotions.
His ears perked up as the name of his uncle was mentioned by the de le Poer lady. Wow, she was friends with DaVinci? But there was something more than that, something she wasn't letting on completely. The Aatte pup was still too young to really know exactly what that was. "DaVinci? He's my uncle!" he piped up. Maybe it didn't matter, but it was an interesting connection they had he thought.
Haven rolled his shoulders a little before answering the question posed to him. "Well, I have two moms. Naniko D'Angelo and Anu. I know I have a dad, but he's never been around. I saw him once, but he gave me a really bad feeling. Everyone says he's sick or something. His name is Conri." He didn't really like talking about the man who was his father. He had two great moms so he found the man somewhat unnecessary. Turning back to Valkyrie he smiled. "Would you like to come visit my pack sometime? Your mommy could come too!" The kid also shot Ryan a grin.
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Figured we could wind this down since it's getting old.[html] http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j40/k ... ump/08.png); background-position: top center; background-repeat: no-repeat;">
"Your uncle?" Ryan questioned out loud, curious about how that was the case. But she didn’t pester him further, and instead, waited for the boy to reveal who his parents were. That, most likely, would clear a few things up for the young Inferni woman.
But, she was wrong. Her brows twisted in confusion because she knew of no relations between DaVinci and said parents. She’d have to ask him about that. "I haven’t met any of them," Ryan admitted, "though I’ve heard Naniko is one of the leaders of Crimson Dreams, right?" Savina had mentioned the name during a walk the two had long ago taken together.
Valkyrie yawned, not really interested in the names of his moms and dad. Instead, the little girl was already growing tired, since she had woken her mother up bright and early that morning. "Mmmm, yes!" She eagerly answered when the question from Haven was directed towards her. "You goin home now?" Ryan, who had been watching Valkyrie before, caught Haven’s grin and returned it.
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[html] Yup yup, sounds good!
"Yeah. When I first met him he had come to Crimson Dreams to see my momma Nani and said that he was her brother." Haven was unaware that he actually wasn't related by blood to the hybrid male. The fact that he and his mother didn't look anything alike never struck him as odd. If DaVinci said he was his uncle then he was his uncle. It really was just as simple as that for him.
The boy nodded his head enthusiastically at Ryan's question and his tail wagged against the snowy ground. "Yup! She's the Commander! She said that kinda makes me a prince," he admitted somewhat sheepishly. He really enjoyed the idea of being royalty. Not for the fact that he thought he was better than anyone else, just because all the knights were usually royalty of some kind or another. It just put him that much closer to his dreams.
Haven noticed the small girl's yawn and knew all too well what it meant. "Well you and your mom can come visit anytime you want. Just call for me and I'll show you all around!" He gave Val a soft, playful nudge. When questioned he realized he probably should start heading for home. It wasn't that late in the day yet, but it was quite the long distance back home. "Yeah...I think I should. But I'm very glad I met you Valkyrie! I hope we can play again soon!" Getting to his feet he shook off his coat and looked to the older canine. "It was very nice to meet you too Ryan."
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