[Artorius]

Excitement hummed in her blood, toxic and thick and ill-contained. She found it difficult to put that sensation into words. She found it difficult to decipher they why and how behind it. All that she knew, all that she could feel, was an indescribable urge to act—

--to run, to tussle, to roll around, to be destructive in all the right ways.

It was all so challenging to understand, to sit still in the den, to wearily listen to Mother talk about this or that with the coming and going company when all she really wanted to do was bite into something and shake it up! Shake it up like all the older wolves had done but a scant few moons ago, spilling red on the ground with their mean snarls and growls.

It had been terrifying. It had been fun. It had been… something but she just couldn’t put her paw on what. And, goodness, she was far to embarrassed to ask Mother about it, about all the gurgling feelings in her belly and chest and all the rambling thoughts shifting round and round like so many storms—red tinted and striking…

So she’d wandered away from the den, huffing and puffing and grunting—ignoring the lumbering wolf that followed her, a make-shift nanny wolf or guardian or some such rubbish Mother had mentioned. She hadn’t much cared about it, not when all she wanted to do was go go go. Anything to ease that crawling biting itchy feeling in her limbs.

Restlessness, is what it was, but she was too young to really grasp the concept of it.

But it’s why she’s bumbling about, all fat and clumsy, leaping at shadows and snarling at bugs, around a fallen rotting log, that she’d tumble right on over a dead nasty little rat.

It’s… jarring, and she screams.

Typical, isn’t it.

[Blair.]

blood and water, round and round;
         beneath my skin and underground.

The shriek isn’t more than a few yards away, and Blair is almost overjoyed for some kind of excitement to draw her away from the Holy Spirit’s grasp. The yearling had been instructed not to wander very far for good reason- Alteron was still only a hopeful ally. They had ushered them in without much hesitation, agreeing to talk out the terms in a more comfortable setting, but even Blair knew not to discount the possibility of never returning home.

Nouveau couldn’t fuck up that badly.

Though she had to admit, Alteron gave off an energy that intrigued her. She wouldn’t be opposed to visiting again… if things did go well, she figured she would have to. The proposition (moreso a demand) that her father had told her on their walk through the swamps still rung hard between her ears. Betrothal. It could have been a worse arrangement, she was sure.

The child offered a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure the remaining Borogrove posse was off on their own adventures before pushing through the underbrush. It didn’t take long to find the peace disturber. Blair approached from behind, as quiet as a mouse, to examine the situation before her. A pup, larger than her siblings had likely ever been, shocked to tears from the heap of unmoving meat before them.

“A rat?” Was that all?

"What are you afraid of?" Inquisitive eyes peered down at the child who seemed to remain frozen in place. How old was this one? She wondered in the back of her mind just how quickly other species reached their maturity. Having been raised her whole first year with only her own siblings to observe, the genetic curiosities that separated the two had yet to be deciphered.

What was this child afraid of. The rat itself? The fear of death? Disease? “It won’t hurt you. It can’t.” Perhaps exposure had worn down her reaction to the vermin- rats loved the haven they’d found in Borogrove. They peacefully coexisted… for the most part. Without waiting for the pup to answer, Blair was already moving forward to snap the tail up in her pearled teeth to drive home her point.

Nothing to be afraid of.

Mostly.

profile. | borogrove. | doctor.

[Artorius]

For a moment all she could hear was the rapid thunk, thunk, thunk of her heart against her chest. Her entire world, her entire universe, had narrowed down to the unmoving flesh and meat in front of her. She shifted slightly, if only so she could scoot a bit away from the thing as her mind attempted to process what it was and—

And naturally, her performance had been visible to a stranger—literal, in the sense that this was a shiny odd smelling wolf and didn’t carry the usual scent that screamed home to her.  And, despite the fact that lil’ Artie is now combing the space around them—for an adult, in case the other is a bit too strange—she is listening to the fact that the meat-thing is just a rat.

A rat.

O-of course it was just a rat!

She’s quick to scramble to her feet, chest puffed out, fur wild—but she’s steady, at least, and the tremble in her limbs has eased. Scared? Hah!

“I’m not afraid,” She drawled slow and careful, “Mm… it came outta nowhere!”

That had been startling!

But, she won’t deny that there is something very calming about being told that it wouldn’t hurt her, couldn’t hurt her… and that’s enough to get her to ease up on her odd forced posture of not-very-great dominance.

“Good, good…” because, if it’s one thing she understands, it is the concept of pain.

But, the other is moving to snatch up the rat tail in her teeth, “Wutcha doin’?”

She wags her butt a bit, “I wanna see too!”