Serene Validis The rains that plagued the lands did not halt their assault on the cathedral, but rather continue to dampen the entire forest. Though it was good for her ever growing garden, it was becoming quite annoying to be either constantly crowded inside the dry den or chilled to the bone outside in the rain. It was a damper on the fun that Serene wished to give her young pups every day of their young lives, for soon their lives would be their own and their mother would be a distant memory as they went off on adventures of their own. The fawn mother sat under the canopy of a nearby tree, searching for what little dry land she could in the storm, when she finally decided on what to do for her children. It was time for a lesson. A lesson on family. The blonde woman would let out a loud but short call into the air, alerting to all members of her family to come home to her. Felicity and Amaris, Pyrrhic and Aureus, even Eligos and Malleus were all called and expected to answer the matriarch's call in a timely manner or face her wrath. Though giving out punishments wasn't particularly her style, that was more so left to Malleus to handle, Serene wasn't in such a forgiving mood as of late. That of course could be because of the constant rains, but nevertheless this meeting was important to the sandy woman. She wanted to make sure her tiny family remained close, and that they knew their heritage early on. She would wait patiently under the tree, the occasional drop falling onto her coat as deep honey orbs watched for signs of her beloved kin. (( Family Thread for the Sereus Pups! Lets try and get posts in, in a timely manner. This thread will also be able to be claimed stat points! )) "Speech" <

SOMETIMES I FEEL GRAVITY HAS IT OUT FOR ME

Splash! Aureus dived into the rain puddle, sending a cascade of water and mud into the air. This was great! Bounding through the underbrush he hit puddle after puddle before scampering underneath a fallen branch. His little hind end wiggled as he spied an imaginary enemy. With a might battle cry he tackled a stick. Seizing it in his jaws he whipped his head back and forth until he heard the satisfying snap of his would-be enemey's neck. "Victory!"

Aureus paused in his antics when he heard his mother's call. Curious, he scampered through the underbrush until he found her sitting beneath the canopy of a large tree. "Hey mom! Did you see all these neat puddles? Do you want to play with me? I bet you can make the best splashes!" He shook himself out, sending a spray of water and mud around him before he looked up at his mother with a big grin on his face.

Speech

What was this? Malleus cocked his head as Serene's call for him filtered through the vines. He could only imagine what kind of trouble their hellions had gotten into today that would warrant the presence of not one but both parents. Pyrrhic, at least, was prone to toeing the line between was what acceptable and what was not, and it wasn't uncommon for the boy to try to rope his siblings into joining in his mischief. He couldn't be certain that the boy was what was behind his mate's howl, but Malleus felt it was a good guess. Reaching Serene, Malleus brushed against her shoulder as he moved to stand beside her. His expression was stern; he was prepared to side with her and dole out punishments if necessary. They had their differences of opinion occasionally, but it was important to him that their children not know that. To them he was careful to always present a united front. Him and Serene were, after all, outnumbered. Aureus was the only pup present when he arrived, but the boy was in good spirits and the call had been for everyone, so Malleus was careful not to fix him with a wilting gaze lest he not be the reason for the call. To Serene, he offered, "Everything's alright, I hope..."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was difficult to keep her giggles under wraps, but somehow Felicity managed it. Her paws were somewhat quiet against the mushy grass, or perhaps simply drowned out by the rain. Either way, she was pretty certain Amaris hadn’t noticed her yet. Her favourite sister (a fact not lessened at all simply because she was Fel’s only sister) was one of her favorite people to play war with, and this stalking was just a new aspect of that. She had heard the call of their mother, and Amaris had begun to make her way over, and Felicity was following stealthily in her wake. Any time Amaris so much as twitched an ear, Felicity froze, or threw herself down into the mud to stay unseen. She was quickly becoming dreatched, and looked like she had been crawling through the mud, with gross junk dripping from her ears, and crusting the outsides of her eyes. She would be more alarmed by that if her mission hadn’t come first. Amaris must not see her. She was grinning ear to ear when they approached the tree their mother had chosen. Just before Amaris could step into the safety of their mothers circle, Felicity attacked. With a great, ferocious cry, she rose from the mud like a terrible creature, her black fur browning and darkened, sticking up in places from the wet. She launched herself forward, aiming to tackle Amaris off her feet “Rooooaaaaar” she howled gleefully "Speech"

"Look, mom, I'm Eligos!" Pyrrhic crowed as he burst upon the scene. Black, oily mud ran from his coat in rivulets. He'd been playing around in the creek when he'd discovered a little recess in a bend in the creek. Large debris had sectioned off a small portion of the creek and acted as a filter. Fine debris had gotten through and over time the recess had filled up with thick, squishy muck. In essence it was a little boy's paradise. He really was quite pleased with himself. Pyrrhic was coated nearly from head to toe in mud. In places the color of his coat shone through, particularly on his sides where he'd been scratching, and it was that that made him think he looked a lot like Eligos. Whether or not that was true was another thing; his imagination bridged all the gaps that kept them being as close in appearance as him and Aureus.

Amaris Abraxas

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When Serene's call rolled over the cathedral like low thunder, Amaris was not one to ignore it. Quickly leaving behind the small fort she was building, the fawn girl began to weave her way through the vines towards her mother's voice. The forest floor, so often dry due to the thick canopy above, was slick with mud. It was fun, it made walking around so much better because you could jump and splash around, or slip and slide your way through the trees. It was a fluke occurrence but the rains that down poured over the grapevines made such a joyous day for Amaris. The one thing that could make this day any better was Fel. She hadn't seen her dearest sister at all, which was odd. Usually they would be out playing together, but Mar simply hadn't seen her today. Suddenly there was a stray splash from behind her, and Amaris turned to look over her shoulder to see if anyone was following her, but all she found was more rain and mud. Weird, she thought to herself, but shrugged it off and picked up the pace.

When she finally caught sight of her mother, two of her other brothers were already there and so was.. dad? Why was dad here? It only meant one thing... trouble. Ears flattened against her skull as she approached more slowly, afraid to be scolded by something she might've done, or simply for being late. She nearly laughed however when she saw the sight Pyrrhic was in, "You look like a-oof!" Amaris was caught off guard when there was suddenly a loud warrior cry, and her mud covered sister tackled her legs. Amaris toppled to the muddy earth with a thud, gasping a little from the wind being knocked out of her; not completely due to the hit, but the surprise of the attack as well. Blue optics gazed up at the monstrous muddy version of her sister before narrowing themselves. "Is that you Fel? You look like a swamp monster too." She would giggle, pawing at her sister's face before rolling back onto her feet.

"Speech"

Eligos was unaware that he was the last of their little family to come to the call his mother had sent out. He'd been exploring every nook and cranny of the great forested territory rather than taking advantage of the sticky mud the rains had brought as some of his siblings had, but he'd probably have been better off if he had been. Nope, it had been in one of those crannies - or was it a nook - either way, it was in one of those that he'd managed to get stuck around his fat puppy belly as he was going through a hole and it had taken him some time to figure out how to get himself out. By the time he'd finally kicked and dug at the sides of the hole enough free his belly he was just as coated in grime, and late on top of that. Trotting along with his Super Serious Face on, just like his father had when he was patrolling, he made his dirty mucky way to the tree where his family waited, making it five muddy, mucky, dirty pups gathered together. Hovering around the edges of the exuberant group, he made his way past them to sit near his parents. Shining, hugely round red eyes blinked worshipfully up to his father, tiny puppy tail brushing wildly against the leaf-litter behind him throwing leaf and dirt around the only sign of the excitement. "Good morning Mama, Papa," he said with all the puppyish dignity he could manage, which in that high piping voice sounded more adorable than dignified, but what was a pup to do until he hit puberty?