Each pawstep was dainty as Hel slunk along, ears pinned flat against her skull and her muzzle pressed against the ground. Everything about her was flattened as much as possible against the ground, and her target seemed unaware of her approach. The bird in question was a small one, quick and fluttery, and Hel was intent on it, her emerald gaze locked on the brown thing. She took a few more steps forward, careful to move silently, before coming to a stop a short distance away from the little bird. This she would bring back to her mother, Hel decided swiftly. Her father did not need anyone to hunt for him - he was too strong for that! But their mother was so busy taking care of Aksel that she surely needed some help taking care of herself, right? Grinning a little, Hel leaped forward as a twig snapped, flinging herself at the bird. The thing was gone before she'd moved even an inch, exploding into action and fluttering away with ease, leaving Hel leaping at it and snapping her fangs as it drew further and further out of her reach. "NEXT TIME!" She yelled up at the bird as it flew away, practically taunting her. "He's goin' down next time." Hel muttered sullenly, glaring at the bird. She could have totally caught it if it hadn't been for that twig - speaking of which, Hel knew she hadn't been the one to break it. Had someone else approached? Hel frowned a little, but found her tail wagging anyways. "Hello?" The pup called out curiously, hardly worried about the potential presence of another. "Speech"

Signy had gone farther than she'd ever been able to sneak before. She'd bet even farther than Cissy had gone! The expanse of water she'd found there was soooo big, the biggest she'd ever seen. She didn't know what it was called... it was definitely not a stream, and it was probably not a puddle, which were really the only bodies of water she had officially experienced, and she couldn't really ask her mom about this one unless she explained that she'd been out here, and then her mom would probably yell at her and stuff so... She stared in awe at the water for quite some time before something caught her attention - a hint of motion that resolved into a small dark wolf creeping through the brush. Curious, especially since this was the first wolf she'd seen with her own black coloring, though this wolf was far more gray than black, and on top of that the first real pup she'd seen other than her own siblings, she crept after the would-be hunter. She was doing pretty good, actually. The bird she was apparently stalking hadn't even noticed her at all. Signy giggled silently - that wasn't going to last for long. Deliberately - though not maliciously, she just considered it a great prank - she stomped down on a twig, snapping the small branch beneath her paw with a loud crack. The bird flew off in a flurry, and the other pup leaped about, trying to snap and bite at it before giving up. Suddenly the other pup stilled and called out a greeting, obviously realizing that someone else was that. Darn it, she'd been caught! She mulled over whether or not to show herself, but after a brief moment she stepped boldly out of the cover of the brush and strutted right up to the other girl. "I got you good," she declared triumphantly. "I coulda pounced all over you 'fore you knew it! Hi, I'm Signy! Who are you?" The other girl smelled odd, and it took a moment for Signy to realize now that she was close that it was actually the lack of scent that was odd - the scent that she'd one day learn was the scent of her pack was missing from the girl. She cocked her head to the side curiously as she regarded the lighter colored pup - all unknowing that they were sisters. "Speech"

Hel was pleased by the sight of another pup making its appearance; a black wolf with the same boldly colored green eyes of her father, with golden markings on her face. Ears twitching, Hel cocked her head slightly, struggling to remember why this seemed so familiar. Something about this other pup was so familiar. Crap, this was gonna bug her for a while. Still, Hel thrust her confusion aside with a joyous wag of her tail when the other pup spoke. "You gotted me very good," Hel agreed with a giggle, prancing a little in place as she examined the other pup. "Ahm Helena! Do you has a sister?" Was that why Signy seemed so familiar? She remembered Cecily saying something about a sister, right? Her name had started with an S sound, Hel was pretty sure. Maybe she was going in the right direction with this idea. Hel bounced a little in her spot, giggling at the thought of meeting a sister of her 'best friend.' "You smell weird," Hel observed serenely, head cocking slightly to the side. What was that scent that Signy was adorned with? It smelled a little like their mother, but not like her father. It was weird. But kinda cool. Huh. Hel was a little entertained by this. "Speech"

Signy wriggled happily as the larger pup agreed that she'd been gotten, not even arguing with her about it. This pup knew how to the game went! "Yeah! I have a sister an'a brother! They're Cecily and Taddeo. Cissy's probably out play some'ere else but Tad's probably still at home, I don't think he's as sneaky as I am." Her sister's own bold explorations had the benefit of making it a bit easier for Signy herself to sneak out, since their Mama couldn't be two places at once and Valerius was often away hunting or whatever. "D'you have any sisters or brothers? Where'd you come from? Are you from Valhalla or another pack?" She had recently learned that they were part of a pack instead of just the four of them, that the pack was Valhalla, and that there were more groups of wolves than just theirs, and she thought it was fascinating. So many wolves! There had to be like... a hundred! That was a lot! But Helena had gone on to say she smelled funny, and Signy's tiny face wrinkled up in a scowl. "I do not smell funny!" she protested, despite having just been thinking the same of the other pup. "Speech"

Hel listened for a moment, then let out a joyous laugh. "I know Cecily!!" She proclaimed happily, tail wagging a mile a minute behind her. It didn't surprise her that she knew Signy's sister - to Hel, the world was only as large as Valhalla, even then, she didn't know much of Valhalla. The world comprised of maybe 8 or 9 wolves to Hel, and she had yet to grasp how much more of it there was to see. So it made perfect sense to her that she was meeting Cecily's sister. "I have two sisters and a bwother," Hel began to chatter happily, "Evewest, Acadia, an Aksel. But Aksel's sick..." Hel, trailed off, frowning a little at the thought. She missed her brother! But within moments, Hel was distracted again, "I'm fwom Valhalla! What 'bout you?" She had yet to understand that she wasn't really a part of Valhalla technically speaking, and for all intents and purposes, believed herself and her family to be full Valhallan members. "Do so!!!" Hel shot back, giggling a little. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Normal." vs "Speech." v.s. 'Thought.'