floppy lil' tail

Recluse squeezed her son closer to her, gently placing kisses along the crown of his skull. She heard his mumbled apology and took a deep breath, her attention and curiosity immediately piqued by his mention of his tail but she knew what had to come next first. She gently held him and leaned down so that he could hear her clearly. "I know, when I realized you were gone I was so scared. There are things in the world that wouldn't hesitate to hurt you, sometimes so bad that we might never see each other again and I was very scared you'd been hurt badly. That's why we have rules, to help protect each other until you're old enough to protect yourselves better." She explained it slowly, making sure he could understand why she'd reacted how she had.

"But you are safe." That was the most important thing and she kissed his head again. "Come let us return to the den and we can look at your tail together okay?" She would rise to gently usher him back into the den, lifting a forepaw and holding a claw up to her lip, making a shushing gesture and winking to her son. For all the panic she'd just been put though the thing she still cared the most about was to make sure he was reassured and safe.


Speech