The warm spring night is young and the pups have been released to explore. Dad and mom’s companion have been keeping a close on the rumbustious litter as they spread out, finding interesting things to do. Enki has chased his sister and he wrestles with Akhlut, the pair making silly high-pitched yips and yaps as the roll around on the ground. Paws slap at each other and teeth aim for sharp bites at paws and faces. Somehow, in the heat of their fight, Akh ends up sitting on top of him and claims victory by nibbling on his ear. Ouch! That hurts!

Huffing an annoyed sigh at the loss, the marbled boy shouts, “All right, alright! I give!” Eventually Akh removes herself from his splayed-out body and the boy, indignitly pushes himself up to his paws. With another huff and narrowed eyes, Enki sticks his tongue out his sister before allowing the annoyance to fall away and a laugh to burst out. Moving in, the boy gives his sister a playful, but still boyishly rough, headbutt before releasing her to go play.

As Akhlut moves off to do other puppy actives, Enki pauses to give his coat a good, hard shake to get rid of the pebbles that he had picked up while being pinned. They fly off, striking the rocky terrain around him with tiny clatters as his small body sends them sailing. As he finishes, the marbled boy has to brace himself to keep from falling over as his rump suddenly lists to the side. Dang it, he is determined to get the whole, ‘shaking out your coat without falling over’ thing down pat. And he will do it soon! Maybe.

Straightening out his body, Enki casts his light blue gaze around the area, looking over his siblings and father in search of something interesting to do. Nothing tugs at his attention but he does find that their mother’s presence is distinctly missing. A small frown tugs at his pale lips as he remembers how sad she has been lately. Something is bugging her and the marbled boy decides that he needs to go check on her. Heck, she might need a hug! Small paws pull him toward the den, determination in his step.

Enki is swift to arrive at the opening of the den that the family uses and he slows, coming to stop at the threshold as he notices his pale mother’s form laying in middle of the dark space. A frown pulls at his lips as the small pup notices that something feels off but he pushes away his worry as he sees that her back is to him. Oh! He can practice his new technique to fight! Crouching low to the ground, his light blue eyes snap to his mother’s pale tail and the boy goes into sneak mode.

Now, to Enki, sneak mode means; front end low to the ground, butt and tail high up in the air. The pup knows that he is the best sneaky wolf that ever sneaked so his mom won’t even see him coming. His vision narrows as he squints at the target, the pale tail unmoving as he begins to move slowly forward. Since he is ‘sneaking’, Enki loses track of what his mother is doing as he stalks his prey, small paws knocking pebbles to and fro without the boy even noticing. Once he is in pouncing distance, the small boy stops, winding up his muscles in preparation for the final leap.

Eyes narrow further and his butt, still high up in the air, wiggles in eager anticipation. Suddenly, without warning, Enki lets out a sharp, high pitched squeal of excited and jumps forward to try and wrap his forelegs around his target. Catching the tail, the boy lays on his side, growling viciously (well, for a puppy) and nibbling on the appendage with his sharp, needle like teeth. Ha! He is a greatest fighter ever! The tail had no chance!! Happily, the boy rolls with his mother’s tail, nomming on it as he goes.



WC: 679
Total WC: 679 /1500


OOC: Permission to power play Akhlut was given by Kat

"Enki Klein"

Recluse was tired, more so than she ought to be at least. As a mother of young pups just freshly allowed out obviously she didn't have the same energy levels they did but Eraithus had helped to lessen that burden some, no her exhaustion was deeper than that, it sank right into her bones and settled over her whole being like a shroud. She was doing her best to hold it together, to not let her youngest children see her so defeated, and though she loved them she refused to lean too heavily on her older children, it was none of their faults that she was struggling to handle her grief, and on top of all of that, her motherly duties she still had to lead her pack, had to make sure she was available for everyone. It left her with precious little time to rest during good times, and this was certainly not a good time. Eraithus had seen how exhausted she had been and told her that he could handle looking at the pups for a while, and Recluse had done something selfish, slipped away to try and nap. The woman hadn't actually meant to fall asleep in truth, she'd simply found her paws returning her to their den, and almost on autopilot, she settled herself into the warm familiar nest that the family occupied. She found herself drifting off into sleep before she even knew it and her exhaustion meant that Recluse wasn't able to put up much of a resistance and so the woman slept, though it wasn't a total blissful release. Her dreams were incomprehensible, flashes of teeth and claws and fires and a pair of glowing eyes that were overtaken by the all too familiar glowing blue crystal that covered half of her vision, and in all these vignettes she knew she was losing everything, her children were taken by each threat one by one and she was powerless to stop them. A pain lanced through her and in her dream she whipped around teethed barred to seize whatever threat it was that was ruining her life but the pain continued, it throbbed and it intensified and- Recluse's eyes flew open, cherry gaze wildly searching the area around her until she registered that she was safe and sound in her own den, the memories of the day rushing back to fill the space in her brain that had been occupied by the nightmares. She sighed, wanting to hide her muzzle under a forepaw, but the pain... It hadn't gone away. A little quicker than she meant to the woman's head lifted and gaze moved to her tail- Enki had it firmly in his little sharp grip and was playing with it like it was a rabbit. Recluse took a moment longer to calm her breathing before pushing herself to half sitting, her chest lifting off the ground and holding her weight with her forepaws, and the woman chuckled softly. "I have to admit I think you may have won this round." She smiled at the boy, feeling the warm comfort of her affection for her children start chasing away the anxiety from her dreams. WC: 530 (1209/1500) speech think action

The small pup doesn’t understand what his mother is going through, why there is deep sadness that lingers around her. Grief is as foreign concept to Enki as death itself is. All he knows is that his mom is sad and, when he didn’t find her outside, he wanted to make sure that she was okay. The fact that Recluse is asleep does not register in the small boy’s mind as he enters their family den and, since it is nighttime, that means that everyone is awake. His mother’s pale tail catches his attention and the boy immediately stalks it, determined to try out his new skills at sneaking and attacking. The track is clean, and Enki lines up his attack, moving as silently as a small, excited pup can.

Rocks skitter away from his tiny paws and the boy leaps onto his mom’s tail, successfully wrapping his paws around his target and biting away with sharp, puppy teeth. Enki continues to bite when he receives no response from his mother, priding himself on the fact that he was being so sneaky that even his bites aren’t detected! Recluse finally stirs and lifts herself up to look at him and the boy rolls with the tail is mouth. His small arms are wrapped around the tail and he rolls onto his back, exposing his big, round puppy tummy to his mother. The boy continues to growl viciously as he bites, not letting up until his mother admits defeat.

Releasing his hold, Enki squeals with puppy delight as he scrambles to get back onto his paws, puffing out his chest as he struts around until he is in front of his mother. Looking to Recluse, the marbled pup offers his mom a roguish grin as he exclaims, “I’ve been practicing! You didn’t even notice!” He laughs, pale blue eyes filled with mirth as they meet his mother’s loved filled gaze. There is something lingering deep in her pink gaze and the boy notices that she looks tired. He can help with that. A yawn suddenly splits his maw and the marbled pup exaggerates how sleepy he is, small limbs stretching as he plays it up.

Moving to his mother’s chest, Enki throws his body at her, snuggling into the pale fur and murmuring, “All that fighting made me sleepy! Can I take a nap with you?” Sure, he isn’t sleepy and yes, he doesn’t really want to nap but it looks like his mom could use some sleep and Enki isn’t going to pass up some private snuggle time with mom. Mommy’s boy? You bet. Small frame squishes into his mom’s chest as he wiggles to get comfortable, eyelids beginning to droop as he listens to the rhythm of Recluse’s heartbeat. Okay, so maybe he was a little tired.



WC: 468
Total WC: 1677 / 1500

"Enki Klein"

Recluse chuckled as her son boasted about how sneaky he'd been and she reached forward to nose him lightly. "You did very well." No need to tell him she'd been asleep, and while it was true he'd managed to avoid waking her before he'd gotten to her tail her sleep had no doubt made it a little easier, she'd been practically blind to the world, her senses obscured through dream. Her little boy was more perceptive than she gave him credit for and the woman felt her heart swell at his question, asking if he could nap with her and the woman nodded. "Of course, a warrior knows rest is very important." She leaned down again to nose at his head as he got settled into her chest. However unlike her son it seemed that sleep would evade her, and so instead she watched as he fought to keep himself awake, a soft smile pulling at her lips and a soft humming lullaby rising from her lungs. The nightmare lurked in the back of her mind it was nicer frankly to just lay here watching the peaceful rise and fall of her son, his heat a little physical reassurance that he was really there, a little point she used to ground herself in the moment and push away the anxiety losing Kali had left her with. Her children were safe, Enki was right there, sleeping right against her. They were safe. speech think action