Toddling about the halls of the ship had finally grown stale - the same smells, the same sounds, the same old rooms had finally become a chore to explore. The girl's curiosity had finally blossomed and she was no longer sated by the ship and it's lonely echos - sometimes not even Zola could be found in her room and the disappointed Armai would hurriedly scamper off to find her father for a cuddle and a nap only to discover he would be missing as well. It was very much time to find out just what was so interesting outside!

Her first few steps were hesitant and unsure; she knew the floors of the outdoors were encompassed in that snow and its feel was less than pleasant for the girl. She pressed her little paws into the cold of the icy ground, shivering with displeasure, before sneaking forward - everything smelled the same.

After only a few steps the girl found herself stepping into a small patch of weeds, she was startled by the sudden obstacle and, angry with herself for coming outside, she curled up in a little silver ball on the snow - shivering and whining for someone to come and carry her back inside.

 

Unlike his sister, Calder was taking full advantage of the freedoms given to him. The ship was abandoned at first light, as well as all those who shared it with him, and he was off exploring the snowy region around it. No older brother and sister to torment him, no little sister to hold him back with her whining and helplessness. It was just him and wide, wild world, and he loved it that way. He was brave, bold, unafraid of anything that might be thrown his way, and being bred to perfection by his father he was sure he was at the peak of the hierarchy. 

But not every day started off that way. Some days were slower than others, and other days he did not venture so far away from the ship that was home. Today he stayed close, suspecting Lian and Zola were further away because of the fact they were not here immediately to pick and prod and belittle him, but there was still someone here. 

The dark colored boy could hear her crying as he skirted around the ship, and though his ears perked toward her, curious about why she was so upset even if he did not understand, his silvery blue eyes were narrowed in irritation by the time he brought himself closer. "Crying again, Armai?" he ridiculed as he stepped closer, his stance dominant and superior once he stopped before her. "Don't you do anything else?" He continued to stare at her a moment, a contemptuous light within his young eyes, though in the end he sighed heavily, exasperatedly. She really could do nothing for herself, could she? "Get up, will you?" he grumbled, stepping over to her and leaning down to offer her his shoulder so she could stand. 

If Armai had known of the special bond Lian and Zola shared, of the way they got along so well, shared their secrets and enjoyed each others company - she would have been green with envy. If Armai had known that her father, Lel, was mated to his own sister - and as such, must like her very much - she would have been left confused and unsure of the truth behind it; brothers were simply insufferable. Armai was sure hers was as ugly and intolerable as the snow she was crouching in, and though she longed to see the ship she lived in, the strong and comforting figure of her father, the mystical elder siblings and even the new mother she'd had little contact with - she was content with not having to lay her gaze upon her litter mate.

But there was no outward scorn in her words, no change of her expression or obvious distress when Calder was around, Armai was innocence, compassion - sugar without spice. She hardly paid attention to the darkness that was the more negative emotions bubbling up inside her, and they were bottled up in her heart as soon as they came to exist. When Calder's taunting filtered into her large silver ears she did not recoil or shy away and instead brightened by his presence; she was happy, in this very frightening moment of being outside, to have anyone around.

He continued, however, to speak with a harshness even the densest wolf could pick up on, and the girl's excitement faltered. As his shoulder lowered towards Armai, a sudden darkness overcame her - his scent was close now, and having it fresh in her mind she found it easier to pick it up around her; the snow became less intimidating. His teasing echoed throughout her head, and, very uncharacteristically, the girl aimed an angry chomp at her brother's offered shoulder.

Armai jumped to her paws and away from her sibling then, her nose high as she began to smell the outside world. Though she didn't quite know what was what she could distinguish the trees from the dirt and the dirt from the snow, there were only slight differences, but differences nonetheless.

The girl suddenly fell back into her usual sweetness, the moment of darkness fading and she cast her pale lilac gaze towards Calder - suddenly very eager to explore and unaware of her violent outburst. She chirped to him, "You's wanna e'splore?"

 

He had tried to be nice. Leaning down to help her up when she was cowering like a brainless baby rabbit was a lot more than he could have offered her, and certainly had not been the first thing to run through his mind. It was only that she was his sister that had caused him to reach out anyway, but his intended kind deed entirely backfired. Rather than be allowed to press his shoulder to hers, to generously help the fragile girl to her feet, he had in actuality given her a clean target, and he only realized the fact after her sharp little teeth bit into his offered shoulder.

"Ow!" The cry came out somewhere between a growl and a yelp, and before he could stop himself he had jumped away from her and stood again at his full height. She had startled him, and for that he was angry. He puffed himself up, curled his tail dominantly, and glared at her through icy, silvery blue eyes, cold and spiteful. "You stupid girl, I was trying to help!" he growled, his pride hurt more than his shoulder, which had already stopped stinging. She appeared unfazed too, her nose high, her attention away from him, and Calder breathed outward in a loud, "Humph." No way was he helping her again.

But she seemed to forget, or possibly not realize just how cross she had made her sibling. She spoke in that sickeningly sweet voice of her, oblivious and demented and caught in a fantasy that was all her own creation. The dark colored boy curled back his lip in disgust at her suggestion, already backing away from her and the clingy-ness he could feel coming on. "Why would I want to explore with you?" he taunted, still smarting too much over her bite to try being nice again. Or at least not yet. She could very easily snap another time.

She was much smaller than him and hardly as menacing as he was in that moment, after the startling bite, with his fur fluffed and tailed curled, glaring and domineering, quite off-put by his darling baby sister's outburst - but she remained unfazed. Perhaps if she could see her brother, in all his furious glory, she would have been frozen in fear of him, but ignorance, and in her case blindness, was bliss. Sweet, innocent, oblivious, bliss.

But she could hear him backing away from her, the faint sounds of paws crunching snow, and her eyes narrowed at him as he questioned her suggestion. It was not an attempt at intimidation (for Calder had already done enough of that) or a sign of frustration, simply confusion, and she answered him as best she could, "Uhm, I dunno - mebbe cauuuuse," she dragged out the final words, thinking, "we's two, you'n'me, are the best brother'n'sister ever and should e'splore t'gether." She then giggled daintily, as if not even being able to believe the words she'd just uttered.

Calder would take some convincing, that much was obvious, and so the child patiently sat herself down in the small patch of weeds that had startled her earlier. It was starting to seem that Armai and her brother were a lot like salt and pepper, completely different, but paired together anyway - and the sooner the two of them figured that out, and tried to get along, would make things easier for everyone.