Will you smile?
Take
Today, she decided to cheer up her wordless brother. She had caught a pretty, dark scaled fish the other day, and had spent time carefully caring for its scales. She grinned impishly as she looked down now at her creation. The shiny, silvery headpiece was the work of a child, but she was proud of it all the same.
Transferring it to her maw, she bounded along to where she had last caught Take’s scent “Take, Take, are you here?” She asked around her mouthful.
Takeshi had spent most of the morning in an intense training session with Sirius, his honorary grandfather and master. It had been far too long since they’d had such a time together, but it couldn’t be helped with his ailments. Many days he couldn’t even see straight or hold his food down, much less get up to throw himself around. But it had felt good, even if he’d been thoroughly pummeled into the ground by his great, hulking paws.
His muscles now ached seemingly down to the bone. He’d been covered in so much sweat that he’d had to make a quick trip to the subterranean spring within the palace to wash himself, lest he smell like a buffalo. He’d been scrubbed by his Baba’s macaque companion until he practically squeaked, then when he was done he’d wandered to the Main Hall for a bite to eat. Somewhere along the way of digging into his hare, though, he’d fallen asleep. A bit of crusted blood stuck to the corner of his mouth, which was open in a snore as he laid on his scaled side. Drool pooled on the soft pelt he laid on, dampening it.
However, Kit’s voice jolted him awake, the bioluminescence held within his body firing back up until he cast a flickering, orangish red glow to the air around him. He yawned, tongue lolling out over his teeth before closing with a click and he let out a few barks to let her know where he was. His blood red gaze blinked sleepily.
She grinned easily, and settled down across from him. Depositing the scales in front of him, but placing a paw over them so he couldn’t readily see what it was. “Hey Take, you sleepy goose, who scrubbed you backwards” she teased, reaching out her spare paw to swipe at some of the dried blood crusted by his muzzle. She was worried at how sleepy he looked. She thought he was starting to feel a little better, with his newly grown horns no longer hurting so much.
His fiery colored sister was quick to find him, prancing into the room with something shiny in her mouth that he couldn’t quite make out. The fire grand fireplace did well to light up and warm the room, but it couldn’t reach all corners and, as such, it tended to cast shadows on all who dwelled within. His glowing gaze narrowed curiously as she came closer, but the item was quickly shoved under her paw as she laid down and hidden from site. He wrinkled his nose as she wiped at his mouth, joking about his washed backwards. A quick swipe of his tongue over his maw left the taste of hare’s blood, a bit of embarrassment washing over him. Good lord, was he a helpless little pup again? He quickly licked a paw and brought it over his mouth, giving a good few wipes before jokingly sticking his tongue out at her.
The Prince’s gaze pointedly went to her paw, a brow raising in question. He clearly wanted to know what she was hiding.
Catching his glance at her paw, she looked down at it, and then back up at him again. Kit had never had a problem filling the verbal silence left by her brother. She had never had much problem understanding him. “I made something for you. If you feel up to it, maybe we could try it out?” She lifted her paw and displayed the fish scales. She pinged a claw against it. “It’s pretty sturdy, I figured you could rest it against your noggin between your horns. That way, if you're fighting up and close with your horns, you’ll have some defence across your head.” She explained.
She swiped at his tongue and he quickly retracted with a loud ‘slurp’ sound, a goofy grin showing on his dark features. The boy, in front of those he didn’t know, was quite stoic and serious, his dark and demonic image adding to this, but with his family he was a normal kid. He liked to play around with his littermates and make jokes, even if he couldn’t verbalize them. They all seemed to understand him, though, and he never had trouble getting his point across. It was a part of the reason he loved them so much. With them, he wasn’t a weird, mute anomaly (well, to everyone except his father, perhaps).
Kit said she was glad to see him looking better and a pang of guilt squeezed his chest, but he did his best to push it away. He felt bad enough that he’d worried his family and had been out of commission for so long. He had a lot of catching up to do, but he was determined to prove himself still fit for the Abraxas name. She asked if he’d been training and if he’d show her some moves later and he gave a firm nod. His siblings knew he’d do anything they asked of him within his ability. Anything they wanted, they’d have.
Finally, the flame licked girl removed her paw from her trinket to reveal it to him. He blinked his glowing red gaze in surprise, a warmth spreading within him when she said it was a gift to him she’d made herself. It was a patchwork of solid, dark scales, not necessarily as sturdy as the ones that laid on his body, but still protective all the same. It was laid in a strip, with two protruding pieces at the top to shape it like a curved ‘T’ where it would likely secure snuggly to the base of his horns, slip between them, then provide extra protection toward the base of his skull.
The large, bioluminescent boy leaned over to place a big, slobbery kiss to his sibling’s cheek, and when he pulled away, his eyes conveyed the great thanks he felt. He was so lucky to have such an awesome sister. Then, Take lowered his head to allow his smaller sibling easy access to the top of his skull to put it in place.
When she revealed her present to him, Take leaned forward and gave her a big slobbery kiss on the cheek. She giggled and ducked her head, feigning horror as she wiped it off with a pw. “Take! You're running my fur!” she playfully chided him. He then lowered his big head, so the smaller wolf could pick up the gift. She placed a paw on his shoulder to steady herself as she threw the scales over his forehead. Playing with it for a moment to get the adjustment just right. Once it was in place, she gave it a playful tap with her knuckles. “Looks good, now you just need a spar to test it out, right?”
His sister shrieked as he gave her a big, sloppy kiss to her cheek, a breathy, fulled-chested laugh rumbling from him in amusement. She was quick to use his shoulder to steady herself as he dipped his head to allow her to adorn his crown with the scales. He could feel the slight pressure of it settling and pinching the skin between the horns, but as she adjusted the pinching went away and it was much more comfortable. She released him and he gave his head a quick shake, testing the stability and durability of the accessory. She suggested a spar, ever the eager beaver, and he gave her an assenting nod before clambering to his paws.
The pair walked down the hall to one of the many uninhabited rooms in the palace typically left for guests. There, he turned and waited for the girl to get into her defensive position. He got into his own, raising a brow at her to say ”You sure you ready?” before darting forward, rushing to ram his shoulder into his sister’s to attempt to knock her off balance.
Takeshi vs Kitsune for Spar
Round 1/2
Age: under 1
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Heavy
Offensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced tiger claws
Companion 1: Akita, Male - Battle
Companion 2: Japanese serow, Female - Battle
Mutation 1: Ram horns - Offensive
Mutation 2: Scales - Defensive
Mutation 3: Scales - Defensive
Skills: Intermediate Fighter & Intermediate Hunter