Not only did Poem have a raven fledgling and he did not, but now he’d been humiliated by her. He still couldn’t believe that he had lost. To Poem. A dark paw splashed the water in front of him, sending a spray of droplets the opposite direction. Noir growled at himself, how was he going to get at Poem if he couldn't even win? She had taken him by surprise, sneaky. Cheater. That was it. Poem was a cheater. He’d have to get back at her by cheating as well. No matter what he had to win next time she started something with him.

He wouldn’t feel like this if she hadn’t interfered with he and Motif to begin with. She was the one that deserved to be attacked out of nowhere. He was the one who had been covered in stink bugs. Noir hoped he didn’t still smell, he had been doused in herbs by his father when he’d tried to come to bed. Surely he he smelled fully on aromatic herbs at this point. He still had phantom whiffs of the bugs though. That was the worst.

He splashed his paw into the water a few more times, the bright spring sun shining brightly onto the glittering droplets. He had to decide how to get back at Poem so he didn’t feel like this anymore. He pushed the thought down as it surfaced. He didn’t feel anything. He didn’t feel the hole that his mother’s absence created and he didn’t feel the humiliation of defeat. He hated the feelings, so he did his best to ignore them all.

Theta had been looking for Noir and Tyto, she had an agenda. To rub her experiences in their faces. Her eyes fell upon Noir first and a clever grin appeared on her face. Walking with confidence in her stride and a hint of smugness in her expression; Theta approached Noir. In an almost sing-songy voice she said “IIIIII left the packlands, I also beat one of your sisters for you”

Theta remembered her spar with the other pup, the one who had seemed so wimpy. It made sense that Noir didn’t like them. Theta didn’t really like them either, if all of her siblings were like that she would hate them too.

Noir didn’t shift as the sound of paws coming his way reached his dark ears. He wasn’t in the mood for company right now. He pointedly looked away at whoever it was that thought they could march right up to him when her voice sounded from a boastful chest. “IIIIII left the parklands, I also beat one of your sisters for you” The mere thought of going over the border brought bad chills to his spine. Going over the border was the reason his mom was gone, in a roundabout way. If Verse hadn’t been so stupid to go wherever she went, Tana would have still remained to take care of them.

The young boy tried to shove her from his mind, it was much more comfortable trying to think of things that would make Poem and Motif feel like he did. He whined to himself internally, nary making a sound as he eventually turned back to Theta. How had she won against Poem but he had lost so thoroughly.

”Going past the borders is always a bad idea.” He said blandly, but firmly. No amount of argument would make him change his mind on that. ”I hope you beat her real good. Was it Poem?” Now she had a bit more of his interest. ”What did you do to her?” What kind of misery did she have to suffer?

Noir said the going past the borders wasn't a good idea, it seemed like Theta was the only one who thought it was. She had fun with her uncle, nothing truly bad had come from the experience yet. Noir seemed quick to move on to his sister so Theta guessed she ought to as well.

Theta hadn't bothered remembering the girls name, or even if it was given. "I beat her real good, she thought it was a spar, but i was fighting for real." Theta wasn't going to mention that she hadn't done much actual harm, that was beside the point. "I don't know who it was she was light blue and that's all i remembered, she didn't seem worth my time anyways."

Theta felt that if she could establish her dominance over the Abaven pups that not only could she run the place, she could run two places! She was clearly better than the Erovrare pups anyways, siblings well...those were implied.

It seemed his sister didn’t have a chance against Theta, Noir felt a little better about being beaten by his half sister. She was always being a pain, and he hated how much favoritism she garnered. Theta didn’t know exactly who it was she fought, but it sounded like Poem. He wouldn’t describe any of his other sisters like that.

”Good, she deserves it.” He didn’t know if he should feel good that Theta had beat Poem, or jealous that he hadn’t been able to. He’d actually been trying to avoid her since the whole fiasco. ”Ugh, I hate her sometimes.” Noir splashed the water again angrily, finding he enjoyed the brief sense of relief.

Theta could understand why Noir hated his sisters so much, the one she had fought seemed too happy for her tastes. Theta was always suspicious of people who were too happy, it just wasn’t natural. Theta would be more than glad to fight the remaining siblings, but Noir had to learn to fight his own battles. It would be no use if Theta beat all of his sisters, then they wouldn’t give Noir any credit.

“She seemed like she deserved it, too smiley” Theta wondered if Noir, with all his sister hatred had actually fought any of his sisters and if he had fought them if he actually beat them. Theta fought with her siblings all the time but none of the times so far had been for real so she didn’t really have a win count to hold over him, but if she had one she probably would. “Have you ever actually fought any of them? Like for real and not just play fighting?”

He wasn’t sure what to make of Theta’s assessment of his sister, she didn’t often wear a smile around him. Noir made sure of that. The only one he didn’t like to see frown was Verse. She reminded him too much of their mom. Though he hated Tana for leaving him, he knew he had to be there for his tiny sister. Not that he didn’t tease her, but he was the only one allowed to do that. Theta’s follow up question made him hesitate, but he tried to hide it from her puppy perception.

”Yeah, Motif and Poem both.” He didn’t know if she’d met Motif.. or even his littermates. However he used her name and continued with his bold faced lie. ”I beat both of them.” He said it smugly as he rewrote the memories in his brain. He would have won against Motif had Poem not interfered, and he would have won against Poem had she not been a big cheater. Noir made sure to make heavy eye contact with Theta when he said it, he always knew his father was serious when he did that. He wanted Theta to know he was serious too.