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Emwe nephew.  This post is odd, I hope it's all right. 300+
Creamy paws sunk into the moist, sandy dirt down the shore of the lake, close to the water. The rain had caused Rabbit Lake to swell higher than he'd ever seen it; the grasses around its rim were half-immersed. Kansas left his place beside the water on the highest bank, moving toward the long grass with only a few inches above the water. Beneath the surface, the grass swayed eerily like the ghosts of shipmen lost at sea. He stared at the shifting reeds, wondering what it was like under there. What if it was a world at its own? He suddenly had the rather fantastical desire to shrink to the size of perhaps mouse and swim through the deep water, weaving through the swirling grass that was supposed to be high and dry. The grass would probably rot and die now, unless the water level dropped soon.
Kansas sighed, pushing away his straying thoughts as he slumped to his belly, his hind legs stretched out behind him. Mud instantly caked up the fur along his chest and belly; he probably looked filthy. But it was all right. He didn't care one way or the other — he felt very serene today. Perhaps it was the sun that had lifted the gloom of the rainy month away, taking with it his recently sorrowful demeanor. Odd that the weather should improve right as his life did the same. He toyed with the possibility of that being more than coincidental, that something greater than himself had set the timing so that just as things were brighter, the sun shone again. A small smile curled the corners of his mouth upward, and he exhaled contentedly, lifting his head to watch a flock of Canada geese light upon the surface of the lake with chorus of satisfying crashes.
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His physiology wasn't quite in his own favor yet, despite how he was closing in on adulthood. It seemed as if growth meant in width only or something, for him, because his legs were kind of short and the rest of him was kind of big. In reality he was quite pudgy, having a very very good appetite, but his legs were short for his age, something which would likely even out with time. He was still some good months away from being fully grown, after all. His mind, however, was not wholly up to par with his age, and he had a childish approach to life. He was careless and happy, clumsy and positive, and his silly walk seemed to be a true image of these traits as he walked along in a strange strut. The sky was being pretty and he liked to look up to watch it as he walked, but often when he did that he would stumble or walk into things, so he'd learned not to do it. And he was by a lake now, so it probably wasn't good to look elsewhere because he didn't like swimming. He still liked to glance up as often as he could though, and sometimes stop to just look at it. It was pretty, and Conor said it was almost the same color as his eyes. Conor had strange eyes, but not as strange as Catalyst, because Catalyst had two colors! That had to be one of the strangest things he'd ever seen.
A lot of birds whose species he didn't know suddenly took off and entered the sky, and his bum landed on the ground as he stopped abruptly to look at them. It had to be very nice to be able to fly! To be in the sky, instead of just looking at the sky from down here. It was boring to not be able to fly, and Emwe had thought many times that he envied all the birds because they could fly. Alexey said that not all birds could fly, but Emwe didn't believe that. Why be a bird if it can't fly? And he hadn't seen any birds that didn't fly, either. Except dead birds, but dead birds were dead, so that explained everything. As the birds in the sky flew out of his sight, he got up again and wobbled on along the lake's shore, not until now noticing the male on the ground ahead. He was lying.. in a puddle? Why would he do that? Alexey said Emwe shouldn't do things like that because it made him dirty. Then why did some adult do it right there! How strange! Fascinated, the nosy adolescent walked right up there with the intent to ask him exactly that. Why are you in the mud mister?
Calling people mister was a good thing, he'd learned that. People liked names like that. [/html]
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Kansas lay there for a moment, watching the geese fly into the distance until they were nothing more than a tiny "V" moving steadily further away. He wondered where they were going; maybe they were just enjoying the clear skies after such a long stretch of rainy weather. He grinned in their wake, made light-hearted by the sight of them drifting into the distance, so amazingly free. Kansas felt like them right now; happy and completely at liberty. If he had wings, he would gladly fly with them.
The boy was suddenly jarred from his reverie by the small voice of a child. His first thought was Gotham, but the voice he heard was different from that of his son. He looked over at the boy who seemed to have come out of nowhere, so lost in thought had the young Sadira been. The child asked him about his current position in the mud, his fur smeared with it, and Kansas looked down at his chest and front paws, laughing at himself. "I... don't really know. It feels nice." The dirty mess he was in was located so close to the water that it felt fresh and cool. He smiled at the boy, but his smile slowly faded as he took in his scent and realized that it was very familiar. Firefly. Kansas was suddenly aware that he was talking to one of his nephews, neither of whom had he met yet. He delved briefly into his memory for the boys' names, shaking away the stare that had situated itself upon the younger wolf. "Hey... You're Conor, right? Or Emwe?" He figured he better introduce himself as well, in case the pup should be a bit worried about a stranger knowing his name. Besides, Kansas was absolutely certain that this was indeed a nephew. "I'm Kansas Sadira, Firefly — er, your mom's brother. I'm your... uncle. Yeah."
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Emwe smiled at his logic - it was a logic he could understand very well. In fact, it made every possible bit of sense. It was also a perfectly acceptable explanation, but he knew that if he had done that and Alexey had found him, she would have said that someone his age couldn't do that. But this mister was older than he! And he was doing it, and with good reason. Everyone should do things that felt nice just because they felt nice, and they shouldn't care what everyone else said about it. Secretly, he thought Alexey was pretty stupid when she said things like that, but he never said so because he knew she would not like it. He liked her very much, after all, and he didn't want to make her sad.
His tail wagged behind him, not finding a fitting answer for this male's reasoning. He just liked it. But then the male in the mud mentioned a lot of names Emwe knew very well! In fact, the first one was his brother's, and then his own. Maybe he was a mind-reader, this one. And before he could comprehend why this male knew his name, all kinds of names came tumbling out of him, and lastly the title 'uncle'. An uncle! Oh boy, he hadn't had an uncle since he'd been with Uncle Ly! He never knew his mother had a brother, because his mother had gone away and he never saw her anymore. His tongue lolled out of his mouth while he was thinking of something smart to say so he would be proud that he was his uncle, but no good words came into his head. Standing there for a while, he waited for them, but none came. At last, he stared at him wide-eyed and answered bluntly. But it made sense, he thought, because this male had that white pelt and both the rosea and his aunt Mew had that white pelt. So it had to be true. Hello uncle Kansas! Pausing, he remembered that his uncle didn't know which one he was, Conor or Emwe, so maybe it would be smart to tell him that. Oh and I'm Emwe, not Conor. Conor is much smaller than me.
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He wondered if it was bad of him to allow himself to be seen by others in the filthy state he was in, lounging in the cool of the muddy shore watching birds. Perhaps it was not a good example for the boy. But, Kansas reasoned, there were worse things he could be caught doing by his little nephew. Still, the man lifted himself onto his haunches, revealed an underbelly that was now brown with smeared mud. He watched the boy's reaction with interest; having no clue what his personality was, he didn't know what to expect. If he was anything like his mother, he'd find a way to make his response snide and clever. Kansas was slightly afraid.
But the child behaved in no such way; rather, he reacted as one would expect a six-month-old to. This made Kansas smile again. The pup looked... puzzled, then surprised, and lastly, pleased. The Sadira was sure that he'd named the emotions correctly. He then waited for a name, and when he got it he nodded. He found the way Emwe described his brother as smaller than him humorous, wondering how Conor would react if he'd heard. "Emwe. It's nice to meet you, kid." Perhaps a more outgoing uncle would have given the boy a friendly nuzzle, but Kansas didn't want to push anything. It was probably odd enough for Emwe to meet a brother of his MIA mother. Kansas wondered if he even remembered much about Firefly. The consideration was jarringly sad. "So what are you doing way out here?" He said this with a smile to show the whelp that he wouldn't be "told on," not by him. He didn't know exactly how old Emwe was, but the thought of allowing his own children to wander around at his size was a little scary.
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His brown tail wagged happily behind him as he stared at his uncle. His uncle! Now he had two uncles. The news were just slowly dawning on him, and he found the arrangement strange although he accepted it. Because not that long ago he'd suddenly gotten himself an aunt, too. And then an uncle but he wasn't his uncle really. He was just the mate of his aunt. At least that was how Conor had explained it to him, and Emwe knew very well that Conor was very smart and that he should listen to what Conor said. So now he had what.. two uncles, and one uncle that wasn't really an uncle? But this was a real uncle! He looked cool, too. His uncle said he was happy to see Emwe, and secretly the young male thought "of course!". Who wasn't happy to see Emwe? Everyone were always happy around him, because he couldn't remember a single time everyone hadn't been. With a smile he nudged his uncle on the closest limb he could find - a front leg - and sat down. He wanted to go in the mud too, but he wasn't allowed. Alexey would totally tell him off.
His uncle Kansas wondered what Emwe was out here for, and if he answered truthfully the answer would be "I don't know". Some days he liked to just walk around and maybe find a pond or a beetle, or the ocean. That time when he had seen the ocean and he had met Catalyst, that was the best day ever. At least one of them. He liked to find weird things when he just walked around. His tongue was still hanging out of his mouth as he replied, carefree as always. I dunno. I just walked here and was looking for something exciting and I found an uncle. The art of joking was finally starting to dawn on the boy, and while this could just a month ago have been a statement that would have charmed the adults without him understanding why, he now understood that sometimes adults found it humorous to state the obvious. So he did that, and smiled a special smile, and then sometimes the adults laughed. Maybe it would work on his uncle, too.
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For a moment, Kansas considered playing with Emwe in the mud. He thought that might be a fun thing for them to do together. The word "bonding" came to mind, but that seemed too robotic a term for just getting to know his nephew, the child of his favorite person in the world. Then again, perhaps that sort of thing would be frowned upon by whoever was watching over him and his brother (Alexis, was it?), because it was kind of barbaric. Kansas realized that he did just want to get to know the kid in as easy a way as possible, which was just what they were doing now.
Feeling the unexpected tickle of a small nose on his foreleg, Kansas grinned, flattered by the small gesture. The boy reminded him somewhat of Amata, with his cute forwardness, although his daughter was a bit more obviously hyper. Kansas all-out laughed at Emwe's words, but then shut himself up, realizing that the kid might not have meant to be funny and thereby think his newfound uncle was making fun of him. But the smile on the boy's face told him he had meant to joke. "Not... sure how exciting an uncle I am, but I can try." He flashed pearly fangs in a whimsical sort of grin, as if that could be considered "exciting." "I have some kids around your age, maybe a bit younger. Amata, Cambria, and Gotham—I guess they're your cousins." Hell, Emwe had probably met them already, for all Kansas knew. They seemed to run amuck much more frequently than he was aware of.
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His joke was successful, and a wide grin spread on the boy's face as he watched his amused uncle laugh. Great! Emwe liked it when he could make people around him smile and be happy, it was as if he rubbed off some of his own good mood onto others. It felt really good, too, to laugh with someone. Conor used to be really really sad when they were not as old as now, but he had become happier too and they laughed together sometimes. Uncle Kansas would probably like to meet Conor too, and they could laugh at him in the mud because it was strange to be in the mud, but probably really nice. If he said it was nice then Emwe would believe him. Uncle Kansas seemed like he might like to do that with them, because he was so nice. When people were nice, it was because they liked you, and uncle Kansas seemed to like him since he was nice. Logic didn't fail.
His tail wagged along the ground, moving small rocks and leaves and whatever was in its path. The line of thoughts that went through the young male's mind was interrupted when uncle Kansas spoke again, but his words encouraged another one. Exciting? He was very exciting! Very good! Just think of it! A few moments ago I had two uncles, and now I have three! If that wasn't exciting, Emwe didn't know what was. His face changed when the newfound family member spilled out names - names Emwe did not know. The boy had grown up with his brother and their caretaker as company, meeting only very few other people. Catalyst was the only puppy he'd met that was roughly his own age, and he'd barely ventured outside the Dahlian borders. His face was wrinkled as he struggled to recognise the names, but no link could be found where it did not exist. Finally, he gave in and looked at the adult, face disappointed and apologetic at once. I don't know them. Pausing, he thought of something nice, setting his tail off again. But you're very nice and since you're their dad then they're probably very nice too! A very clever boy, Emwe was. Nothing got past him.
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Indeed, Emwe's shining, magnetic personality caused Kansas to like him very much, but he didn't think he could have disliked the child even if he'd been a mean-spirited individual. His love for Firefly was so strong that surely it would have spilled over to her children no matter what. Although, it was sad that his sister didn't feel able to take care of her own pups. He'd never been able to figure out why, and there was no chance of him prying it out of her. He just had to trust that she had a good enough reason. Certainly, she must. His sister was independent, but she wasn't careless. He was sure she had entrusted them to Alexey because she was fit to care for the boys, and Kansas knew in his heart that this woman took good care of them, whoever she was. He wondered briefly why his twin hadn't asked him and Savina to take his nephews in, but it didn't hurt him at all that she hadn't.
The sandy-furred wolf blinked a few times, realizing his thoughts had wandered way off course, so that he almost didn't catch all of what the kid was saying to him. But luckily he tuned back in just in time; the boy's words were so reminiscent of his own thoughts as he'd discovered that he had more family than anticipated the first few months of his life. It had been baffling as a youngster to have family members pop up out of nowhere. And, like today for example, Kansas was still finding new relatives. "That's... pretty cool," he laughed. Emwe seemed the kind of kid who'd be more thrilled by more family than overwhelmed. Kansas, on the other hand, had been overwhelmed. The boy's reasoning kept the smile firmly in place on the older wolf's face. "They're really nice. You'd like them. Hey... d'you think you'd like me to bring them to visit you and Conor sometime? Would Alexey mind?"
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[html] Sosososo sorry for the wait >_<>_<
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His tail dance joyously behind him and his tongue lolled out of his mouth as he listened to the voice of his new-found uncle. Kansas seemed impressed, probably because of all the smart things he said; Emwe was clever. He knew Alexey was impressed too sometimes. As sounds of laughter came from his uncle's mouth, Emwe joined in, taking part in the amusement and letting his voice ring clearly. His head bobbed up and down in an agreeing nod - yeah, he was pretty cool. And, his uncle was pretty smart.
He was all ears as his uncle shared more knowledge on the topic of his cousins. Really, he's probably be intimidated meeting them, since the world he had grown up in was tiny, but this fact was unknown to him and all he felt was eagerness. He wanted to meet everyone! And, since his dad was the most powerful male in the world, everyone probably wanted to meet Emwe, too. Oh it was so exciting! Again his head flew up and down, now more focused, because he would like that very, very much! And maybe Conor could come too and they could play something cool, or Emwe could show them that place to the south that had lots of really deep holes in the ground that probably were dangerous but if you put your ear to the ground you could hear the trickling of water! It would be so great, so great he probably couldn't even imagine it! Secretly, Emwe Soul was growing tired of the same souls around him, and the idea of new faces and friends held such enticing promises. The eager nod turned into an eager shake of the head as he tried to convince his lovely uncle that Alexey wouldn't mind. "Alexey wouldn't mind and we have lots of room where we live and you could come have lunch or something?" His attention failed him and by the time he reached the end of the sentence he was already imagining the lunch, forgetting about Alexey. It was a good idea.
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[html] wow, this post is crap.
Emwe was smart; Kansas knew by the brightness in those eyes that reminded him so much of his sister. The child's laughing made the Sadira feel accomplished; he wanted to impress Emwe perhaps as much as the he wanted to impress Kansas. He didn't know if he could have handled being disliked by Firefly's kids. Surely, if Emwe felt comfortable enough to laugh with him, Conor might find him to be an agreeable uncle, too.
The agouti boy appeared to be very pleased with Kansas' plan. He thought it was important for his own kids to meet other members of the family. And, again, it was especially important to him because Emwe and Conor were Firefly's sons. He was grateful for any links he could create between himself and his sister, since those they'd established as puppies seemed to be breaking away.
Kansas could almost hear the wheels turning in Emwe's mind. His expression was excited and happy, and the snowy wolf couldn't stop grinning. "Sounds great. I'll see when they wanna go; it'll be soon," he replied reassuringly. Surely Amata, Cambria, and Gotham would be thrilled by the prospect of meeting their cousins. Hell, he was thrilled. "So... how old are you? Can... can you read yet?" Of course it was this that Kansas should ask about.
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[html] Word of the Day
Sunday, September 27, 2009: predilection
Sorry for the wait again, I'm so hopeless 
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His face did not change as he listened to his uncle speak. The boy nodded, when he said it could be soon, and the wag gained speed for a moment as he thought about that. Emwe loved his family, and to him gaining new family members, either close or distant, was like gaining a new friend. Ill treatment from his parents was ignored; the boy's predilection for the positive forced him not to consider such episodes. It was a weakness in his mind, or a defense strategy. Nevertheless, he believed his mother to be elsewhere because she had something important to do, and his father to simply be too busy to care for them. That was why Conor had chosen to live with Alexey. Emwe had simply followed Conor - and he had been more lucky. He had chosen to stay out of his father's way, while Conor had experienced the full range of their father's rage. With these factors in place, it was easy for the boy to manufacture the idea that his parents loved him very much, but that they had legitimate reason to not see him. And he was ok with that! Seeing as his closest family loved him so much, and he loved them, and they were so nice, everyone in his family must be nice. Dim, or damaged - it was hard to tell. In this moment, though, he was content and happy - and that mattered more to his mind, than how it chose to perceive the world.
Emwe replied eagerly to his uncle's questions, happy to provide anything at all. He wanted to impress the male with how cool and smart he was, to tell him everything he knew. The boy would be an easy target for anyone who wished to harm the pack; Emwe would gladly tell them anything they needed to know and never realize he was being manipulated. Another weakness, or perhaps it was the weakness of the world that made him not fit in. He was happy, honest and trusting. The world was not.
"I'm seven months old, but I can't read. I can shift though! Colibri taught me. But I didn't shift today, I didn't want to. Sometimes it feels weird and it makes me tired."
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[html] want to wrap up soon? i'm so sorry this thread is dragging out so long. 300 +
Kansas could only hope that Emwe was dealing with his parents' abandonment in the best way possible. He knew Firefly well enough to realize that she loved her sons, but her wayward nature kept her away. Whatever that meant on a more internal level for her was something the pale boy would never know. But Haku, on the other hand... Kansas just wasn't sure. He'd heard of the horrible things the man had done in the past. Of course, something had drawn Firefly into his arms. But Kansas wasn't a trusting creature, so he remained suspicious of his cousin's behavior. He was glad Emwe and Conor didn't have to live around such instability.
The Sadira smiled ecstatically, his muddy tail waving behind him and spraying bits of dirt to and fro without his knowledge. He was always excited to have a new pupil. He liked teaching all different kinds of individuals, but having the opportunity to help Emwe and Conor learn to read was amazing to him. "If you'd like to learn, I... I can teach you. Conor, too. I'll let you talk to him about it, and then when I bring my kids to see you guys, you just let me know." He smiled through his scattered, excited reply.
Emwe had spoken of shifting. Kansas remembered vividly when he began. He was such a skinny, weak child that shifting had been painful and tiring until he'd practiced it for several months. Emwe looked much stronger than he'd been at that age, so hopefully he didn't share this inconvenience. "Cambria, Amata, and Gotham are almost old enough to start shifting. I think they're excited." He wasn't. It was kind of scary to think of them shifting already. He didn't want it to become a stressful thing for them. "I like this form the best." It was true; he was more comfortable as a Lupus than anything else. It just felt better.
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[html] Hey, no problem! Not like I'm the swiftest of posters lately anyway. Sure, we can wrap it up
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His tail spun at crazy speeds as his uncle offered to teach him reading. Who was it who had ever said that relatives were a bother? The young male could think of nothing that would please him more than spending time with his family, and if he should learn something from it as well... whoah! But reading was very very hard, he had seen books and stuff. Conor had some. His face was bent to the side as he questioned his own skills, announcing his dim wits to his uncle. "Yeah! But reading is really hard, and when Conor struggles to learn it on his own I probably can't know that stuff." One of his more intelligent lines of thought, really. He was impressed with his ability to eliminate reading from skills that he could learn. But, of course, he would certainly try. Hopeful was his middle name, almost, or at least it seemed to be from time to time. His face was slightly disappointed in himself, though, at the same time. Even though he felt smart thinking such things, he couldn't help but notice that the end conclusion was that he wasn't able to learn to read. His tail slowed a moment, but then regained speed; "I would try as hard as I can, though!"
His uncle agreed that shifting was cool - the best! He had the best uncle! Uncle Lubomir wasn't as interesting, because he kept reading things and when Emwe couldn't read it wasn't so exciting. And uncle Jael was... not aronud, he'd never met him after that time. So it was only uncle Kansas left and uncle Kansas was very exciting. They liked the same stuff! His head moved rapidly in agreement. "It is only adults who can shift so I'm an adult, but I don't know what I like best because I like both but sometimes it is nice to have hands and sometimes it is nice to have four legs to run fast." He could blabber on about shifting forever, still so fascinated by his ability to do so. Every time he did it it felt like the strangest of sensations, but he rarely had energy left to enjoy it. Perhaps that would get better with time —he hoped so!
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[html] cool! so let's just fade that they kept talking, and then Kansas walked him at least part of the way home. he wouldn't just be like "oookay now get out."  300 +
Meeting more family had been a stressful thing for Kansas. He liked his family members all right (most of them, at least), but being introverted as he was rendered him nervous when forced to interact with his scores of relatives. As a child and teen, he'd never seen the point. Sure, they were "related," but why was it so essential that he know all of these relatives when he had a nice, fulfilling family to himself? It wasn't until those individuals had faded from his life that he'd sought others, namely Naniko and those close to her. Now that he was an adult, he didn't mind talking with yet more branches of his family, especially wolves like Emwe. Kansas didn't feel stressed at all in the kid's company. He really liked his nephew.
Kansas tilted his head to one side quizzically, not quite understanding Emwe's meaning. Did he think he wasn't capable of learning to read? "But you're smart. I can tell. Believe me, I know when someone's stupid..." Perhaps not the best thing to say to a youngster, but it was true. Kansas caught himself and shook his head. "Ah, you can just give it a try if you like, and if it's too hard we can do something else." He didn't want to force anything upon the boy. There was nothing worse than domineering adults. Kansas almost shuddered, remembering the ways of his father. "Yeah, the shapes are useful for different things. That's for sure." Kansas smiled warmly at his multitoned nephew. He truly did like this boy, and was very happy to have finally met him. Emwe and Conor were Firefly's sons, and so whether his sister liked it or not, Kansas would take it upon himself to make sure the boys were never for want of anything. He'd take care of them in whatever way he could.
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