The day is just beginning for the young Carpathian family as everyone rustles awake for the day. Rudyard has had to sacrifice sleeping in past noon and Fern has given up some of her early mornings so that the family can raise as one. The couple herd their children downstairs, making sure that all of them eat before rushing off to do what they want. However, before they can all disperse, the gray woman pulls aside Kipling and Rudy, pulling them along with her as she ushers them outside.

Being born with only three legs does not seem to slow little Kip down but she still adjusts her pace to adjust for his shorter stride. With a smile on her pale lips, Fern says, “Alright! I have something special planned for two of my favorite wolves! Have you noticed how everyone is getting into the cleaning spirit? Well, I know just how we can help!” Once they are outside, she leads the way out to where the pack’s alpacas are housed, talking as she goes, “The barn where the alpacas sleep needs a good mucking out and we are the ones for that job!”

She remains cheery as they go, darting a glance and small smirk at Rudy as she tries to read what he thinks of her plan. Little Kip easily keeps pace with his parents and the trio enter into the huge barn. Several stalls line the sides and she pulls the boys toward the back where piles of hay and tools to clean stand. Fern looks first to Rudy and says, “Rudy, grab some rakes for us please.” Next, she directs her gaze to Kipling and adds, “Kip, grab one of the empty sacks. We are going to put the dirty straw in there. Ready?” The smile never leaves her face as she beams at two of the great loves in her life.


"Fern Carpathius"

Rudy had started to slowly wake up earlier the last few days.  Sleeping in was great when he wanted to go hunting late at night but now he wanted to be available for any other time he was needed.  That didn’t mean he wouldn’t still hunt or patrol the pack boundaries but that he’d just switch to doing them a bit earlier in the day.  Aside from that, it was easy enough to wake up earlier when there were a bunch of wonderful pups in their room.  Squirmy, excitable, and often keen to wake him up.  

Still, Fern enjoyed waking them up at a disgustingly early time.  When Fern had first told him to wake up for cleaning his morning response had been a paw stretched out that happened to shove into her lower jaw.  “Feerrrnnnn…” Peeking open an eye he regarded her, glanced about the room then with a resigned sigh woke up.

Sitting up he noticed only one pup was still in the bedroom and he didn’t appear overly happy he’d been the one remaining. Rudy affectionately nudged his muzzle to the underside of Fern’s muzzle before looking at his son.  “Oh c’mon, think of it.  You get to have more fun with your parents not worried about you getting in trouble on your own.”

They headed out and Rudy nodded at Fern’s idea of where to clean.  To be perfectly honest Rudy didn’t love the chore of cleaning either but it was a task that had to be done.  Chores were shared in the castle, it was only fair.  Really, Fern’s idea seemed a good one for a pup to enjoy.  When Fern mentioned grabbing a rake Rudy slid a rueful grin on his face.  “Yeah, there you go.  Your mom wanted this job 'cause it was the best one for pretending she had a sword in her mouth, just a rake instead in this instance.”

Rudy scooped up two rakes in his mouth, backing up to drag the long things back to where Fern waited, dropping them both.  Once he’d dropped them both he more carefully picked up one, mouthing the thing until he found a good grip to balance the end with the rake end to the upper part of the wood.  “Careful about the alpaca’s Kipling.  They can step on you or kick you if they have a mind to.  They shouldn’t want to but, respect their size and hooves.”

"Speech"

Kipling wanted to go play and explore!  His siblings were getting to go have fun without parents keeping an eye on them!  When told he had to do chores with his parents he’d sulked, making it very intentional so there was no misunderstanding on his feelings.  The boy didn’t ask to be removed of this chore but that didn’t mean he had to pretend to be happy over it.

As they headed towards the alpaca’s Kip’s interest was gained as he thought of the funny creatures but, he wasn’t going to admit to possibly liking the idea.  He’d go between a lope and a trot, refusing to slow them down, at least it didn’t seem like he slowed them down.  The strange animals were so big, and super fuzzy and curly over the majority of their bodies.

Kipling had hunkered himself lower to the ground, starting to sneak up on one when mom interrupted his scheme, telling him to grab a sack.  His eyes looked between fuzzy big creature and boring sack.  A sigh and he stood taller, jogging over to the sacks.  “Can I ride one when we are done cleaning?”  That would probably be more fun, sitting on top of one and making it run about.

"Kipling Carpathius"

As the pups roused and got ready for the day, Caladia cann’t help but notice that Kipling isn’t among their numbers. Curious, the girl turns back, ready to head upstairs and find her elusive sibling, when her mother, father, and Kip suddenly appear. The trio head outside and the girl follows after them, interested to see where they are going and what fun things they are doing. As they head out, she follows at safe distance, trying to remain hidden from straying eyes while still keeping the group in sight.

Soon, one of her questions is answered as the trio enter the barn that the alpacas use. Trotting faster, Caladia enters the barn in time to hear her mother explain their chore and her father and sibling begin to gather the necessary items. Appearing from behind a bale of hay, the girl says, “I want to help clean too!” Without waiting for permission, she rushes over to where Kipling is wrestling with a sack and the pair work it free and move it to where the adults wait, ready to move onto the next step.


"Caladia Carpathius"

Rudyard never fails to make her smile and today is no different. As Fern informs her boys what they will be doing, the gray man teases her by confiding in Kip the real reason she wanted to clean the alpacas’ barn. Humming thoughtfully, she looks to Rudy, a sly smile on her pale lips as she innocently says, “Kipling, have I told you the score between your father and I? You see, I have beaten him… twice. He has yet to beat me.” Eyes flash with mirth as she tosses a wink at her love before trotting over to the stall they will be cleaning first.

Kip asks if he can ride an alpaca after they are done and Fern nods saying, “There are several new babies wandering around. I bet we can convince one of them to let you on for a short ride.” Eyes dart to Rudyard as he warns the young pup of the dangers of being around the hooved animals and she nods, mouth opening to add to that thought when her daughter Caladia suddenly appears. Chuckling softly, she nods in agreement and the young girl moves to help bring the empty sack over.

Once the others have gathered around her, she pushes open the door to the stall and ushers them through before entering and latching the door behind her. There are a few alpacas lounging in the covered stall but most are out in the fenced off yard, enjoying the spring weather. They eye the wolves but do not move, content to watch as the group cleans. Taking one of the rakes from Rudyard, Fern presses a kiss into his lips and whispers, “No rake fights this time.”

Eyes sparkle with joy as Fern turns to inform the pups of their task, “Alright, your father and I will be raking all the dropping of the alpacas together. You two will hold the sack open so we can put them in there. Okay?” Once the pups agree, she nods and looks to Rudy, saying, “Bet I can rake faster than you.” Challenge thrown down, the gray woman takes the handle in her mouth and moves to one of the far corners, methodically raking the droppings and spoiled straw into a pile before pushing it toward where her children await with the open sack.


"Fern Carpathius"

Rudyard quirked a brow at Fern as she informed Kipling about their spars thus far.  Rudyard made an extravagant yawn at Fern’s statement.  “Mmm, yet you notice the small numbers.  She’s only talking about the official fights, they come in all manner.” Rudy had thought of pointing out his practical jokes or ways he’d spooked Fern as victories but then decided maybe he wouldn’t inspire his kid to get into trouble. “but yes, your mom is tough,” Rudy gave in with a grin.  “Still, she didn’t deny my point about the rakes.”

Before there is more to say Caladia appears and Rudy smiles down at his little daughter.  “Hello sweetheart, of course, you can help.” Rudy watches as she runs to help Kipling but his attention is taken from them to Fern, returning her kiss as much as he can with the one rake still in his mouth, it's short but there.

Rudy snorts, rolling his eyes at Fern’s challenge but nodding.  His mind ponders how he’d beat Fern.  It was true she was more used to using objects she held which gave her good odds with the rake but holding and moving the item wasn’t the only part.  He’d just have to work extra hard.  As a dad he had to make a good impression after all.

“Then tomorrow it’s a hunting competition and the tables will be turned.” Rudy grinned in amusement as it seemed often enough Fern studied the blade more as Rudyard put more time into hunting and yet the two had kept the opposite job titles.  Each was ready to do both tasks and it seemed somewhere along the way focuses were reversed.  Not to say Rudyard didn’t train in his fighting skills still or slack off on patrol duty but hunting had always been fun and for a long time, there had been only a few hunters.  Rudy hoped some of his kids, or even his nephews and nieces would take up hunting.

Rudyard moves to the opposite corner as Fern, focusing on the job at hand with a side glance at his kids at points, making sure they stayed safe.  Holding a sack should be safe.

"Speech"

Kip looks between mom and dad about the spar discussion and the boy swishes his tail with an easy response to this.  “Mom, you can spar with dad later while we watch.  We wanna see you beat him.  You’re both the best fighters in the castle I bet.”  Mom and dad were the best, right?

Kipling didn’t want to ride a small young one, he wanted to ride one of the really large, strong-looking alpacas!  A small one was better than none buuut… well, he’d figure it out.  Caladia appeared and the boy rolled his eyes at his overprotective sister, again.  He did love her but she drove him crazy at points with her worrying about him.

A plan started to hatch in his head though and he beamed a smile at Caladia, “Hey, hold this one open.  There are more sacks and since two are raking it makes more sense for two sack’s right?”  He wasn’t going to lie to his sister and say that wasn’t his plan but just not telling her his real plan wasn’t a lie right? Kipling hadn’t said he would get a new sack but just kind of totally made it sound like that.

Once Caladia agree’s Kip heads in the direction of some hay bales left for the alpacas to munch on, he squirms between two of the bales, feeling the hay prickling and poking unpleasantly into his body but there was a goal that had to be met!  The boy flattened his sensitive ears after a few unwanted pokes, eyes squinting to protect them then looked up.  The hey went up high enough he could probably get to the top of the stall gate, job to where it led to the outside area, and hop onto a nearby alpaca!  That was the plan!

Climbing up the hay bale was tricky business, and suddenly having only three legs was more of a problem.  He couldn’t really bounce from where he was and climbing with only two feet made shoving his way up hard.  There wasn’t a lot of room to fall back though with how tight he was packed in so while it was two steps down for every three steps up, small steps at that, the determined boy was ignoring all the pinching biting hay and working his way to freedom!  Adult alpaca riding was coming soon!

"Kipling Carpathius"

As the girl moves to help Kip with the sack, she notices his eyeroll at her appearance and offers him a sheepish grin. Callie loves him and wants the boy to be safe but also, he was getting alone time with mom and dad! Surely, he could understand her wishing to see what was going on? His features shift as he beams a smile at her and a scowl appears on the girl’s face as she looks to her cunning brother.

Usually he only gives her a big smile when he is planning something… Kipling’s speaks and she cannot fault his logic so the girl begrudgingly agrees to the hold the sack open while he goes to retrieve another. Mismatched eyes watch him leave and her mouth is now occupied with burlap. Turning, she finds mom and dad raking piles of poop and straw toward her and Callie quickly forgets about Kip’s escapade.

Caladia moves to help her parents get the dirty, smelly straw into the sacks while contemplating what a gross (but also kind of fun) job this is.


"Caladia Carpathius"

Fern teases Rudyard and he is quick to give it right back at her. He admits she is tough and the woman tosses him an easy wink as he points out to Kip that she didn’t deny what he said about the rakes. Caladia rounds out the group and is quick to help her brother with the sack while the gray woman lays down a challenge to her love. Kip wants them to fight later so he can watch and she looks to Rudy with a raised brow, saying, “Well, I guess the next two days will be full for us. A hunting competition and a spar.”

A laugh spills past her pale lips as she moves to her corner, easily gripping the rake and pulling pile after pile toward the waiting sack. Fern notices that Kipling is missing but thinks that he is probably just getting more sacks for them to fill. With that the gray woman easily falls into a rhythm, working from the back and moving toward the front. Once she and Rudyard have cleared the used straw, she sets her rake aside and takes a breath, asking, “Where is Kipling?”

Allowing Rudy to go find their wayward son, Fern leaves the pin to gather the fresh straw and carefully moves it into the pin with the help of her daughter. Once they are all back together, the group spreads the fresh straw around and calls it day. Shooing the kids from the pin, she latches the lock while Rudyard keeps the children close by. Looking between them, a grin forming, she says, “Good job everyone! Now, bath time!!” Her tone is joyful and, despite all the groaning and moaning, the adults usher the kids back to the castle for bath before releasing them to play.


"Fern Carpathius"